Celebrating Seventy: Part Two

At last, Mom and Dad arrived on Monday to make the party complete!

We had plotted and planned a fun week for my mom, showing her sights unseen in the area, spoiling her with pampering and good food, and spending a lot of family time together.  The boys were still in school, so they couldn't join us on many of our daytime adventures, but the evenings were packed with togetherness...and carpools.  In the early part of the week, we toured the awesomely weird town of Manitou Springs and had a fancy lunch at the Cliff House Hotel.

The next day was pampering day!  We dropped Mom off for a morning massage, after which Leah and I picked her up for a girls-only mani/pedi.  By that point, we were feeling so fancy, that there was nothing other to do than go for High Tea at Glen Eyrie's beautiful Highclere Castle.  Following that, Mom was whisked away for a romantic night with my Dad at the Broadmoor.  It was a fun day of surprise after surprise to treat a woman who deserves all the best things!  

Celebrating Seventy: Part One

Time for some April catch-up!  It's been a busy month, filled with family visits and celebrations.

This month, my mom hit that magical milestone birthday of 70, so we wanted to make sure we could celebrate her all together as a family, Conlins, Lewises and McKenzies.  It was settled that everyone would gather in The Springs at the start of the month while Kai was on his preschool spring break.  Leah and Jason came into town first with little Kai and Isla, so we had the weekend to hang out and get the kids settled, hit some soccer games and visit Garden of the Gods with them before Mom and Dad arrived.  The boys loved the extra time with their cousins!  Happy hearts!

The Bits: March 14th Through March 31st

And that's a March Bits wrap!

Book Fair life!

Vegetarian shepherd's pie with sweet potato topping, apple pie and chocolate silk pie...must be Pi Day!  YUM!  With the book fair going on all week and a long afternoon and evening shift for the 14th, I was only able to throw the shepherd's pie together in the morning.  Thankfully, I had help from Marie Callendar for the dessert pies.

Daylight Savings spring forward hangovers for all!

It kills me when he signs his name "Tom."  So old and sophisticated sounding!

Now that is an award to be proud of!  Way to go, Ben!  Be the light!

When seven people is too many to draw!  Haha!  I sure feel lucky to have this wonderful big family, too!

Even though he told me that he learned in school that leprechauns are imaginary, it didn't stop Tommy from setting his trap to try to catch one!  Another year, another failed attempt.  But the Lucky Charms consolation prize is always happily received.

Three great student-led conferences for our boys!  It's always so fun to see what they are up to at school.  Tommy was counting down the days for it, he was so excited to share with us.  And this was Josh's last!  These guys are growing up way too fast! 

Happy St. Pat's!  Corned beef and cabbage salad--I just can't do boiled--and (root)beer!  Of all the boys, Luke loved it the most.

First day of spring break, so...snow.  Of course!

All cleared for moderate activity, and good to go for regular activity once we pass the two-weeks-since-concussion mark, as long as his headaches don't return.  Hooray!

Me, my man and a heckuva bucket of popcorn!

A great pre-roadtrip Saturday with cancelled soccer games!  We spent the morning cleaning house, crossing off a lot of to-dos and getting rid of an abundance of clutter.  In the process we stumbled across a few treasures, like this entry from Zac's third grade journal.  I attended a memorial gathering for the father of an old Bellevue childhood friend and had a great soul-fueling lunch with some of my favorite ladies.  In the evening I took Z and B to see Eddie the Eagle, since they had missed out on Zootopia.  Such a great movie with two awesome guys!

Thankfully, we missed the blizzard while we were in Arizona, but that doesn't mean we missed out on all the spring break snow.  Spring break started with snow and ended with snow--and had snow in between!

Snowy day fun with the littles!  "The Fiennest Hair Cuting Place Shop (with signs for seating: person get hair cut; hair cuting person)."  Tommy is the best! 

And so stinkin' cute.

Getting this email felt like Luke was getting his letter to Hogwarts!  All the older boys have wanted to go to School in the Woods, our district's 4th-grade-only naturalist school, but the program is so popular, there is a lottery and they didn't get their name drawn.  There were actually crocodile tears from Ben; it still makes me sad he didn't get to go, he is the perfect candidate for this school.  But Luke is in and he's thrilled, and so are we!  It's going to be a great program for him, a lot of hands on and outdoor learning.  Now we will just have to make sure he's well bundled up for the winter months!

Midday date with Adam!  Batman V. Superman.  We left feeling a little conflicted about it.  Always rooting for you, Superman!

The storm front moving in, reminding us a little bit of The Nothing from The Neverending Story!

"This is what's cruel about springtime, no matter how it treats you, you can't stop loving it."  Barbara Kingsolver couldn't have captured our feelings about Colorado's crazy spring weather better!  I don't know if' we will ever get used to the crazy spring weather here.

Our darling academic letterman!  Such a smartie!  We are so proud of you; go Z!