A small dent in playing the "catch-up" game

Whew! This is crazy just how busy I've been! I have had so little time to actually put a decent post on here that it is way long overdue. Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather be busy than bored wishing the time would go faster.

Short tid-bit day I think as I have to take advantage of every precious second of the kiddo's morning nap.

Went to Colorado.

Had a blast.

Enjoyed hanging out with the family.

Little Miss with her Amma and Papa

Little Miss with her great-Grammy.

Enjoyed the mountains.

Gorgeous Pikes Peak

Totally loved running on my old running trails.



Enjoyed eating at great restaurants.

At McGlinn's Irish Pub in downtown Colorado Springs. (Very yummy curry sauce by the way.)

The munchkin trying to get the bite of Black Forrest Cake from my mouth at Eidelweis.

Entertaining the kiddo while dining at Adam's Mountain Cafe in Manitou Springs.

Visited old familiar spots (sigh...so many beautiful memories).


Shopped a bunch. :)

Introduced new foods to the kiddo.

The munchkin after eating carrots for the first time.

Tried (and continuing) to make the kiddo's baby food...and having fun while doing it!

My baby turned 6 months old!


Airplane rides not so bad despite doing it solo.

She's growing like a weed. At her 6 month check-up she was 26 1/4" long (90%) and weighing in at 15lbs 7ozs (48%).

Yoga baby. Think her legs are getting too long for this car seat?

So then we came home. And we jumped back into a groove. I guess you could say we hit the ground running. We quickly (okay, more like I) unpacked everything from the trip and regained a sense of order in the house.

Then I decided to paint some more of the house. I chose to do not 1 but 2 rooms! Eek! What was I thinking? Well, I'll tell you. I was thinking, and I was right, that I could totally do it...no problem.

Originally we planned on doing the lower half of the dining room a darker color and leaving the trim white. Then when I painted it was a bit of a debate. I believe at this point we will be going on with our original plan. It needs a little more "pop" now that the front living room (attached to dining room) is the same color.

Completely painted!

Another view.

A before shot of the dining room.

After painting the dining room.

The deck(!) is finally, finally underway! So excited.

All the bags of concrete used to pour into the footers. Lots and lots. Amazing that all that went into those holes and filled them up.

Our deck! (In pieces and parts.

Apparently a rare find in this neighborhood...a building permit. (Ooo!!! Ahhh!)

This is exactly what the county had to inspect before any further work could go on. Seriously. It was a 30 second inspection that I'm almost positive consisted of "yep, there's a hole, there's a hole, and there's a hole..."

The kiddo is adding new foods to her palette every few days or so. She's doing great. Carrots were a big hit. Squash and peas weren't so bad either. Surprisingly applesauce makes her shudder, gag, and make funny faces.

We were going to have sweet potatoes last night...but...hehe...yeah. Did you see last nights picture? Let's just say that I'm used to doing 2 large sweet potatoes in the microwave and not 1 small one. Seriously, listen to Rachel Rae's advice on "the nose, knows!" Its true and sound. I did not. I walked into my kitchen a little later to find smoke barrelling out of the microwave. My house (not just kitchen) still reeks of stinky smoke. Lovely. Kinda hard to air it out when its hot and muggy (of course that just started up this week) so I don't want to open up all the doors and windows (although we're doing it for a little bit). Needless to say, no sweet potatoes last night. We instead tried out peaches. The verdict? I'll let you be the judge after viewing the pictures.

So instead of sweet potatoes at dinner, we decided to try out peaches.

When she wouldn't "bite" I decided to take the peach out of the teether bag. Typical kiddo fashion, she poked at it...

...and then gave me this face. Seriously, isn't she a little young for this?

Learned a valuable lesson the other day. Pulled the kiddo out of her car seat to put her into the Bob. Didn't notice anything amiss. That is, until I put my hand under her just as I was lowering her into the stroller. Two thoughts went through my mind. 1) "Please let this be a figment of my imagination." and 2) "Please let this be a bunch of baby drool in a strange place if not my first thought." Needless to say, it was neither 1 or 2. Yeah, it was, you guessed it...a very messy situation. Of course the super mom that I am (wink wink), I had everything under control. I had diapers. I had a plethora of wipes. I had a couple of extra outfits. I even had lavender scented bags to put the poopy clothes into. What I did not have? An extra shirt for myself. Yeah, there was no denying that I had a nice smear or two--okay, so the whole front half of...stuff...all...over...my...shirt. Yuck. Thankfully, as a true Coloradan, I had not 1 but 2 jackets stashed in my car. Worked well enough despite being a hot summer day. Lesson learned--stash an extra shirt for both me and Phill in the car for future occurrences.

Well, looks like that's all from me for now as the kiddo is up and about ready to explore more of her world. So I'll leave you with this last pic for today. I took it last Sunday as I was getting ready for church.

Future American Idol contestant? Singing "The Potato Mash!"