A lovely fall day

As many of you know I am a working mom. I love my job (RDH) and I also loves the days I get off to be with Maya! I have been blessed with only having to work 3 days a week though, so I have Wednesdays and Fridays off to get a feel of what it is like to be a SAHM. I love reading the blogs of all of the SAHM's, but I would love to hear more about moms who work also (I know you are very busy).
So here is what one of my days off looks like, a wonderful fall day.....

Home-made play-dough. 1 cup salt. 1 cup flower. 1 cup water

We call this the "Macaroni Activity" M says mmmmm

Ingredients: Macaroni shells and glue
M-for Maya
M-for Mommy
M-for Monsters
M-for Macaroni!


We went outside to collect leaves

Maya's friend Camden came out to join us






Maya and her boots, always wearing boots

I love fall days with Maya....

Community

I know I have mentioned before, but we are surrounded by a great community here and great support system, they are like family!

For labor day we had a late afternoon BBQ with some of our friends. It is really fun now that most of our friends have children, it just makes getting together even more fun! We went to Fox Run Park, my favorite park here! We grilled, played corn hole, ate, and watched the kids play, such a lovely fall night, totally loved it! I was totally proud of my husband who made the corn hole game, he has mad wood crafting skills!

Can you believe my husband made this game? yes the gray and red cornhole game, he is amazing!

We also had our small group fall retreat in September. This time we went up to Longmont, CO where Heathers parents were gracious enough to let us take over their beautiful home! To bad I got the miserable stomach flu and was throwing up and sick the whole time. My friends where great though, helping to take care of Maya and let me rest some. We had some great discussions, great food (even though I coudln't eat....sad), and a great couple as our speakers. Retreats are always great get-a-ways and great times to connect.

4 of 6 couples (2 couldn't make it this year)

We love our friends!!

Home renovations, kind of

I did a few small things around the house this summer, nothing major, just enough to add a few touches and utilize our space!

I bought some new towels for our bathroom for $1.38 from Kohls. About once a month Kohls sends a free $ 10 coupon and you can buy whatever you want and you only have to spend at least $10. So you know what I do. I spend exactly or slightly over the $10 and just get free items! It did take me 2 months to buy towels for our bathroom, but we really couldn't beat the price!

We bought an organizer from Home Depot with a gift card to put in the upstairs hallway since we were giving up our extra room for our roommate Hannah ( I will write about her soon, love her!)

I have been wanting curtains for our living room ever since we moved in 4 years ago! I just haven't found anything that I like...... until I found these at cost plus, also utilizing a $10 off coupon.



I also changed a few picture frames in our dining area

Our final project is what we call our "secret space." I do need an area to do my craft projects and since we no longer had our extra room available I really didn't want our master bedroom to become a craft mess.... so we utilized our crawl space! My wonderful handy man husband built me a custom craft table, put some wood and carpet down, added lighting and waahla!! our secret space!

It is filled with Mayas art and some old photos, nothing matches, and I don't have to keep it clean, which I love!


We told Maya we had a special surprise for her and we revealed the "secret space" to her and she absolutely loved it! We go down there together and do crafts, she colors and paints, and we just spend time together, I love the time with her!

Family Craziness

The month of August was family craziness month because beside my brother coming to visit, my parents came and Brett's brother, Travis and family came also. Wheee it was a whirlwind, but so much fun!! It was so exciting that is is how Maya was almost the entire time family was visiting


I love having my parents, they are just such a big help and it is so nice to have them enjoy life in Colorado with us.

My step-day Ed also did the marathon up & down Pikes Peak while he was here. Ok, seriously, who can do that??? I think that is one of the biggest accomplishments a marathon runner can have, to run up a 14,000 foot mountain! Maya was even so proud, she said "Grandpa go up Pikes Peak!" She even remember this several weeks later when we pointed to Pikes Peak she repeated that same phrase.

Travis and family arrived a few days after my parents and of course we had to spend sometime at the pool, because the weather was gorgeous!!!

love these girls!!

My parents always offer to let Brett and I go on a date night while they are visiting and this particular visit they got to watch all 3 girls while we went on a date night with Travis and Shanna to our favorite place Amandas Fonda


We like the the outdoor patio atmosphere at Amanda's Fonda more than anything, but a delicious Melon Margarita does help enhance the visit

When we got home from the date, we came home to this....... fun and chaos!!



On Saturday we went to Fox Run Park, probably my favorite park!! Imagine what the most beautiful day at the park is like..........and that was our day; perfect weather, picnic, family, playground, bubbles, it was so fun!






















We also had a BBQ at PaPa's house that evening. Yami (PaPa's girlfriend) also joined us for dinner. I am sure the girls agreed that the popsicles were the best part














We all went to Church on Sunday while Grandpa Ed did the Marathon up Pikes Peak. For dinner we went over the Bruce and Lynns (Mayas adopted grandparents) for another BBQ. I think it was one of the nicest nights outside ever!








































We had so much fun with all of the family, but farwell came too soon, especially for Travis and Family



We still weren't done enjoying the fun with my parents though, before they left we headed down to Manitou Springs (no we didn't do anything sinful) and went to the arcade, did some window shopping and ate chocolate.




I love spending time with family, miss them so much already....