Me and My El

I am so blessed with so many wonderful friends and today my sweet friend Melissa gave me such a gift! Thank you Melissa for watching my rowdy boys all day and giving my Ella and me a day full of wonderful memories, that we will always cherish!

I was so excited when I woke up, I was going to get to spill the surprise that I had been holding back all week! I don't think my girl could of been more excited when I told her that it was going to be just her and I, all day! We dressed up cute, dropped those boys off and then we hit the town, girls day!!

First stop was the salon. Mommy was in desperate need of a haircut and miss Ella was in need of her very first manicure!

Look at those awful split ends!

Yes definitely in need of a mani

Picked her polish

Isn't she adorable, everyone in that salon just loved her. I think she made their day, I know she made my day!!

Getting her hair braided and waiting for her nails to dry, such concentration.

After we finished getting beautified, we set out for lunch. On our way, we had to stop at a garage sale, we are both suckers for a good yard sale. We found some treasures, and now our bellies were ready for lunch. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We enjoyed our drive to Evergreen with the windows down and the breeze in our hair, singing loudly.

We had lunch on the river at a cute little pizza place. We enjoyed our lunch while we watched the ducks swimming around below.

Examining her amazing nail color choice, she can't get enough of it.

Showing me her nails

After lunch we walked down by the river to examine the ducks more closely

We stopped at a cute little consignment store, Ella picked out a new outfit.

New dress, new shoes, new hairdo, and freshly painted nails, you are looking at one fabulous feeling girl!!

One more nail shot

I just love spending time with my sweet Ella and I can't wait until we can do it again!! We had such an amazing day, one we will both never forget.

When we got back home, before we went to pick up the boys, we had to get a few more pictures to document this day. We set up the tripod and did our own little photo shoot. Ella stood while I focused on her, I hit the timer, ran over and then we posed. It was so much fun. We must of done like 20 different takes and giggled the whole time. I just love these pictures of us and every time I look at them I will remember our special day together!

I had my day in court

Yesterday I went to face my fate.  Why is going to court so dang nerve racking?  A few things in life really turn my stomach and one of those is an unknown room, with a black robed judge, that can take my money.  That nervous feeling comes, you know the one that makes you feel like you have to go to the bathroom really bad, but when you try to go nothing happens. The same feeling can come upon you when you like someone and get those butterflies, but in this case it was the bad nervous.   Going 40 in a 20, in a school zone, requires me to appear and show my face in court, so I have no choice.

I went inside and first had to check in with the bailiff, then I was told to have a seat. The waiting begins and again I start to go over in my head all that I am going to say to this judge.  But the problem I am having is you don't get to see the judge that is appointed to you. I am sitting out in this holding room with two double doors in front of me. Behind these doors sits the judge that I am about to face.  How am I supposed to come up with a proper explanation if I don't know what kind of judge. Man, woman, old, young, cranky, happy, nice, mean.  All these factors will help me put my words in order and give me an upper hand.   One of my biggest fears was having to see the officer that pulled me over, she was just down right terrifying.  

It's weird when you are sitting out there with all these other convicted traffic violators. You get this feeling that everyone is starring at each other, trying to figure out what each person could be here for, as if you could tell my looking.   Of course they couldn't possibly be as innocent as you! Then you have the ones that are coming out of the courtroom, who have already faced the judge and were given their sentence, saying things like, "thats a bunch of bull."  And now I am really nervous, this must be one tough judge. 

So now it is my turn, my name is called and I'm about to throw up.  I walk through the double doors and there he is. The cutest, sweetest, little old man judge that I had prayed for, he wasn't even wearing a robe.  I have two options, I can have my 6 point violation lowered to a 2 point violation, or I can be on a six month probation. If I take the probation and I don't have any tickets within six months, they will just dismiss the charge all together.  What? I don't have to tell you the six point essay I planned on my drive here, all the words I perfectly put together to convince you to rule in my favor? The tone of my voice that I practiced to make me sound sweet, innocent, but professional and remorseful, is no longer needed?  Good thing he saved me from that, I would of sounded completely ridiculous.  After I choose the 2 point violation, just so I wouldn't have this hanging over my head for 6 months, he looks at my record and tells me that because I don't have any previous violations (good thing records don't transfer from state to state) that he is going to lower my fine even more.  This fine usually cost $250.00, he only made me pay $110.00.  Not sure if my sweet smile and charming personality swayed this adorable judge, or if it was just standard procedure, but I am one happy criminal!!

The guy before me, not so lucky. He had five tickets within a ten month period, and walked away from this one $375.00 poorer.  One more violation and he was looking at jail time, yikes!!!!

I thanked the kind judge and gave him one more smile, then basically danced out of that courtroom.  When I stopped to pay my fine I had to make sure to tell the clerk all about this wonderful experience.  Not sure if she wanted to hear my story, but I had to say something, I was glowing with excitement. She smiled back me and was happy I was happy!!!

Well I saved so much on that stinkin ticket, time to go shopping. Thanks to my wonderful angel of a friend Heather who was watching my rugrats, I had some time to hit up some stores. Heather you are such a huge gift, and I was brought to tears today on my drive to town thinking about you and all you mean to me, love you!!  

My master bedroom has been neglected since we moved in, it was time to give it some much deserved attention.  All my bedroom treasure finds coming soon, stay tuned!!!!

The Snickers bar

It's amazing what a simple jester, something we think anyone would do for someone else, can have such a big impact.  The other day at work, Erik offered a woman a snickers candy bar because she was going into diabetic shock.  I didn't even hear about this until a week or so later, when I read an email that was sent by the sales rep of the couple in need.  Who was this good samaritan on the job?  


Here is the email that was sent:

From: Karen Klein
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 1:25 PM
To: Kelly Carbajal
Cc: Chris
Subject: Good Samaritan Swinerton construction worker

Kelly, can you please pass this email on to Swinerton management.

On Saturday I took an elder couple (the Krendl’s) into the building around 11:30 AM to see several residences. While in the building Mrs. Krendl, who is diabetic, had a very sudden sugar low and forgot to bring her sugar tablets (or something like that) with her. It very quickly turned into a near emergency. She was fading fast…. Upon getting to the ground floor one of the construction workers, named Eric who was just about to get on the elevator, overheard us talking about her needing sugar immediately and the dire straights she was in. He very kindly offered her his snickers candy bar and asked if that would help. Mrs. Krendl said YES and told him he saved her life.

So A BIG THANK YOU to ERIC for his kindness and helping her out. It was absolutely very close to an emergency situation.

Cheers,

Karen

Karen Klein

Sales Specialist

Four Seasons Private Residences Denver

represented by Lauriel Property Group LLC

720.241.0601 office

303.324.9359 cell

www.towerprivateresidences.com

From: Kelly Carbajal [mailto:kcarbajal@towerprivateresidences.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 1:44 PM
To: Dan McIntosh; carminem@grupodenimusa.com; twalsh@confluenceco.com; Wayne Osborne; David Wermerskirchen
Cc: Dan Wolf
Subject: FW: Good Samaritan Swinerton construction worker

Hi all, please see the email from Karen below.

We would love to find out who Eric is and get him something for his kindness. If somebody could please find out for me and send me his info I would appreciate it.

Thank you!

Kelly Carbajal

Marketing and Sales Manager

Four Seasons Private Residences Denver

Right after the snickers bar was offered, the husband of the woman was overwhelmed at Erik's kindness, and immediately wanted to reward him.  He kept saying you saved my wife's life.  He pulled out his wallet and offered Erik a large amount of cash, that's how thankful he was.  Of course Erik said no way, you are not giving me anything, it was just a snickers bar.  

Makes you think that we should keep some type of candy with us, in the bottom of our purse, just in case someone is in need!!

Good job honey, I am glad you could save the day!!!  By the way, what were you doing with a Snickers bar?

Snow pies

I did think my kids had some common sense, at least the basics, but after Saturday I am not so sure.

On Saturday I had just had it. Erik has been gone working for over a month without a day off, and that translates into, no break for me. The snow came back and I found myself in a slump. Almost like I was going back into hibernation. The first day of snow was kind of fun, but then after a few days, it really started to bring me down. So all that to say, on this particular Saturday with Erik gone again, I wasn't in the mood for much. I decided to take a personal day! I retreated to my office and checked out for the morning! I did of course still have my mommy ears on, but mentally I tuned out!


So this is the result of me taking the morning off!!

Yes you are seeing this correctly, they are making snow pies in my living room!!!

This part of my kitchen floor was very clean!!

Getting good use out of various kitchen items

Thank you Matty for opening and spreading an entire bag of rice in the pantry!! When I first saw this, I just closed the pantry door.

Helping themselves to many snacks, again I just didn't care, eat what you want.

Finished their snacks. My goodness have I not taught them were the garbage can is, seriously?

Many more goldfish not pictured. But they all got picked up, mostly by Matty who snacked on them throughout the morning!!

At least they went in the bathroom and got the good bath towels to mop up the mess!!

Despite the fact that they made this massive mess, they are great helpers when they put their minds to it. We had it all cleaned up in minutes. Many hands get the job done quick. My morning off was so worth the 20 minutes of cleaning we had to do. After we cleaned up, it was naptime, perfect!! I regrouped, took a nap, and then I was well rested to start the evening!!

Colorado Rockies

My girls have started their baseball career. It all starts with t-ball!!! I just love our Bailey t-ball little league. They are so cute out there chasing the ball and not really understanding the rules. We say that t-ball players have a 3 second delay. If you have had a little one in t-ball then you know this scene well.

First practice was of course freezing, we have a foot of snow on the ground right now for goodness sake. They did have fun, but I think we as the parents had more fun watching them. A few of the kids during practice kept asking, are we done yet? At practice Ella had been playing pitcher position and it was now her turn to bat. When she hit the ball, she chased after it, picked it up and then ran with it to fist base, she was very proud of herself!

Miss Ella is so cute out there, she is so tiny. When they fitted everyone for their t-shirts they had small, medium, and large laid out. When it was Ella's turn to be fitted they didn't even measure her, just handed her a small and said, it should shrink a little honey!!! When she runs from base to base she has to hold her helmet on as she runs. But boy does this girl love the game, and she is good too!!! She is a lefty, maybe pitcher awaits her future!! Sometimes though the princess comes out and she looks at me while she is running to first and does a sideways glamour pose. She runs without looking where she is headed, so much like her mother!!!

Last Saturday at the game I was busy taking pictures and Jon came up and told me he had to go potty. I said in a minute I would take him and I wasn't really paying attention, as usual. I turned around just in time before he dropped his drawers. He couldn't hold it, I don't blame him, but my goodness guy at least turn around. He was on the grass to the side of the field facing the game, I guess he didn't want to miss anything. Well I did catch him in time and spared everyone a show!! When I took him to the outhouse to go he said," I am not going in their, I will fall in and drowned." It is a scary site, not to mention just plain gross. What an awful way to die!! So we chose a nearby shrub, and took care of business. Remember we live in the mountains, this is normal!!

The girls painted Jon's face with red marker before we left for the game, guess they thought he needed to support them with some team spirit!!

The best part of a t-ball game for the supporting siblings is the concessions! Good thing suckers are only 10 cents, it's a long season!

Keira, Jon and Sawyer enjoying their ring pops!!!

At the last game Ella wanted to play catcher, here she is all suited up, just adorable!! She loved every minute of it!!

So I felt a little dumb at our first game when I asked the coach a question. I asked if in t-ball do they only run one base per batter no matter what? He said well yes because otherwise they would all just get home runs. Hey I am new at this baseball thing. If you don't get it, think about it!!!

Go Abby

Sittin on the bench, being cute, waiting to bat!!

It was very cool that they got to be the "Colorado Rockies." We had just taken all of them to a Rockies game. We found out their team name a few days later and they were so excited!!!

GO ROCKIES!!!!!!

Christmas in May

We moved to Colorado the first week of October and it snowed that first week.  It was a very big storm.  Having just come from VA we were loving it.  The winter has not been that bad, the snow comes, the snow goes, and we get warm days in between.  I am not complaining, in fact I think it's great.  It is going to be 72 on Sunday, it will all be gone in a few days.  Why not enjoy it, it might be the last we see of this white stuff, for a few months anyway!!!!  But I did think spring was here and this is what I woke up to this morning.

These are some pictures off of our back deck, such a beautiful morning!!!!  

Cute little baby icicles in May!!!!

I am surprised they still want to go out and play in the snow.  I didn't feel like bundling up the baby and Ella wasn't feeling good, but Jon and Abby had to go check it out!!!

This is not spontaneous, I did tell them to hug each other, but it's still cute!!!

I am off to get Abby ready for school, no school delay in this town!!!