Chianti and cupcakes

Sounds delicious, right?!

After spending a little time in Rome, Mima and Boppie made their way to their primary Italian destination: a week in Tuscany.  I've seen the photos - it was beautiful, the wine was delicious and the food was decadent.  What a fabulous trip - I can't believe I've not yet been to Italy myself... this certainly provided some motivation!

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In other news, I baked 8 dozen mini cupcakes for the Bug's preschool Halloween party tomorrow.  My thoughts:

• Do you think this is enough to get me on the teacher's good side?
• Is it odd that I still feel a need to get on a teacher's good side, particularly when I'm not even the one in class? 
• How'd I get on her bad side, anyway?
• Thank heavens said teacher considers icing and sprinkles to be an appropriate and fun in-class activity so I didn't have to frost 8 dozen freaking cupcakes myself. No good side in the world is worth that kind of hassle!
• 4-year-olds love to help.  For about 10 minutes.  Then you're on your own with the pressure to make ninety-fucking-six adequately delicious, nutritious and fun-to-decorate tiny cupcakes.
• What the hell am I supposed to carry them to school in, anyway?  Please tell me that several layers deep in a giant tupperware is acceptable with these things.

I guess that's it.  Don't get me started on the glue gun I wielded with authority in the creation of her masterpiece wings.

Surprise!

My family is big on surprises.  I mean, really big.  Various of us have shown up unannounced at graduations or birthdays.  We've been flown to Mexico to catch Boppie unawares.  We've thrown several surprise pig roasts (all at the houses of the surpriseds, which takes some pretty major orchestration).  We love surprises.  And there is no bigger fan of the surprise than Mima.

So imagine our collective pride when we pulled off the ultimate: a surprise birthday party for Mima herself, complete with a great band, delicious food and drinks, beautiful flowers and over 60 loved ones.  The party was Saturday night right in Mima's stomping grounds.  And we got her but good - she really had no clue.  Out of town guests came from New York, Iowa... and my brother with his wife and baby twins from Maryland. 

So Mima, happy birthday to you.  May this year be the most fun - and surprise - filled one yet!  We love you!

Echo Lake and the pumpkin patch

Since Joker had yesterday off in honor of that first great American who stole the lands of our indigenous peoples, we decided to keep the Bug out of school and enjoy a family fall day together. 

First stop was Echo Lake, a very picturesque lake located a stunning 18-mile drive west of Evergreen, at about 10,600 feet elevation.  They'd gotten almost a foot of snow two days prior, and the paths were navigable but clearly covered in snow.  The lake wasn't frozen, but it won't be long up there!  It was beautiful, and we enjoyed a short hike part of the way around the lake.

After we got back home, we hit the pumpkin patch to select our seasonal treasures.  We carved and/or decorated them, and you can see the masterpieces here.  From the left, the Bug-Pumpkin (you'll see she wanted the mouth carved and everything else drawn in marker), the Daddy-Pumpkin (he always goes in for scary), the Bunny-Pumpkin (too small to carve, just right for markers) and the Mommy-Pumpkin (which is pretty much as dorky as mine usually are).

Rome

Mima and Boppie - and, apparently, this kitty that looks eerily like Buffy - are in the midst of an Italian adventure!  They get back later this week, and we are all excited to hear about their travels.  As they reminded us on this card, the girls have many adventures of their own in their futures... and we're looking forward to showing them this wonderful world!

First snowfall

O Colorado and her wacky weather!  Yesterday I went for a jog in shorts and t-shirt and Joker had the convertible top down.  Today?  First snowfall - an inch or so before we woke up, and it kept coming down all morning.

We celebrated by spending about an hour getting the kids into their snow gear, and then going to "Dinosaur Park" here in town.  One of the Bug's school friends was already there, and the two of them ran around like maniacs for over an hour.  The Bunny, on the other hand, stood still and sported the saddest face you've seen.  Like we'd put her in an iron maiden instead of puffy pants and snow boots.

It looks like curtains for our window boxes...

...but 50 bucks says hammock season isn't over yet!