It wasn’t me. As usual.

Mayan (Starr), Sarah (Sookie) and friends spent a recent weekend in Estes Park and went snowshoeing in the mountains. I pinched a couple pictures off of Facebook to share:

The crew! Mayan is wearing the pink hat. Sarah in the blue.

The view!

A recent pic of Starr and her friend Sookie, while ice skating the other night.

They are growing up all of a sudden. Starr is thinking about graduation, Sookie is student teaching…sigh. They are no longer kids.

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
–Mother Teresa

It’s not my box, but it is Starr’s. A birthday gift from Sookie. The note says:

This box is supposed to be a feel good box that you’ll fill with fun memories and feel good moments. Then, when you feel down, you’re supposed to open it up and feel all better!

Sookie contacted some of Starr’s friends who wrote a few sweet notes to get the memories and good feelings started. Starr said that there were (happy) tears shed when she read the messages. What a great gift!

It is just really sweet, really cute and quite meaningful!

I mentioned a while back that Starr and friends went to Estes Park for the weekend a few weeks ago. Here are a couple pics from the trip:

The whole gang, except Sookie!

Love those smiling faces! J, Starr and Sookie.

I believe that this was taken at The Baldpate Inn, but I could be wrong!

This is the Chapel on the Rock at Saint Malo…isn’t it beautiful!?!

This picture would be more meaningful if they were actually at the top of their climb/hike. I hear that they were less than halfway! Go them!!

Really reaching their destination!

As usual, Sookie managed to pack a lot of doing, seeing and fun into the weekend. I would love to have her with me on all of my future vacations!!

Okay, not me, but Starr and Sookie! They went on a bike ride/picnic the other day and had a blast! Here are a couple of Sookie’s photos from the day:

Skye is in Europe this Summer singing opera all over the place with her college opera group. From her Facebook updates, it looks like they are having so much fun! But we kind of miss her around here!!

All of a sudden my house is a disaster. And it’s stressing me out.

Starr and I moved the last of her furniture home from her apartment yesterday. She hasn’t lived there since last December, but left the living room furniture so that her roommate and the girl who sub-let Starr’s bedroom would have a place to sit. We had to hire a mover because…stairs…lifting…truck…more stairs. Spending way more than the furniture is worth, but knowing that replacing these items wouldn’t be cheap either. What to do? Anyway, it’s done.

I found out this morning that our hair stylist/colorist is moving to California. Sarah has been our stylist for six years, Starr was her very first official client and she has always done a wonderful job with Starr’s difficult and unique hair. Over the years we tried so many stylists who just didn’t get it, we felt so blessed to have found Sarah. I knew deep down that we couldn’t keep Sarah forever, but I’d hoped. I am seriously bummed!!!

Starr, Sookie and friends are headed to Estes Park for the weekend. They are planning to have tons of fun! Knowing them, I am sure that they will do just that! Sookie’s family owns a cabin in the area, so the kids have gone up for a weekend in the summer for a few years now. This year one of their plans is to go on the ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel. Fun!

My plan is to clean and pick up the house so that it is no longer stressing me out and enjoy the peace and quiet relaxing here at home. A good book. A glass of wine or two. Maybe a home pedicure? In order to achieve my goal of a relaxing weekend, I need to get busy!!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Found on Neatorama this morning:

Ross Butter’s Dinosaur Ballet

Butter says:

I got in touch with my inner child. He made me do this.

Kelly says: The stretching dinosaurs reminded me of this picture from Starr and Skye’s 5k last year:

Sookie and friend making me laugh, as usual.

Starr and friends went sledding recently. They always take great pictures, so I wanted to share a couple. She joined Sookie, Skye and M for fun on the “slopes” and then brunch. They had a great time. Sadly I think it was this day, or the next, that M’s family home was gutted in a fire. So sad, but thankfully no one was injured.

Sookie, Skye, Starr and M inside a snow fort that they found.

Starr and Skye…there is something that I just love about this picture.

Skye, M and Starr—Love those smiles!!

Last night, Starr, Skye, Sookie and C (the Friends Vacation crew) went to the movies. After buying their tickets, Skye and Sookie took off to the restroom leaving C and Starr together. In a moment C decided that he needed to use the restroom too but loudly expressed “concern” about leaving Starr all alone.

Just then a woman walking by with her significant other leaned towards Starr and purposefully said “Run away!”

Starr was actually shaken by this. She is wondering just what was meant and what she is supposed to learn from the moment and spent quite a bit of time late last night journaling the incident and pondering her feelings about it.

Has anyone ever said something like that to you? A bit of random oddness from strangers?

Have you ever said something unexpected to a stranger??

Starr was Pocahontas (or just any female Native American) this year for Halloween. I don’t have any pictures yet. I didn’t get to see it in action. She made the outfit herself, using my old clothing. She actually used the sewing machine. I was impressed! And relieved. There is a part of me that wants to help her make the costumes. I love the creative part…how to make it happen. I also love seeing the results of my/our efforts. Although, usually I try to keep it simple because: There is another part of me that is just flat out lazy!!

One of my most recent assists was Minnie Mouse, Starr’s freshman year.

Skye as Pepper (Sookie was Salt!) and Starr Halloween 2007

She had the dress and necklace, we just bought some craft foam and ribbon and I  created her ears–hot glue and a plastic headband! I think this was the simplest costume we ever put together! My kind of costume. She usually opts for cute, but did do a zombie cheerleader one year. We picked up a nifty vintage cheer skirt at the thrift shop. Fun and cheap!

Since I am feeling a little nostalgic about being involved in the festivities tonight, I thought it might be fun to visit a Halloween or two from when she was younger:

At four she was Jasmine, a totally “out of the box” costume, except for that necklace (collar?)—which was something we found in my jewelry box—I think it is from the 80′s. This is the first year she ever actually went out. It was her second costume. At three years old she was a bride, it was really cute, but we didn’t go anywhere. Did I mention LAZY?! Yeah.

She was five, and just HAD to be a clown. I bought the wig, and a little makeup kit, but pulled together the rest from Savers! We will never know why, but she decided that it would be appropriate to say thank you at each house as Elvis Presley, “Thank you, thank you very much,” accent and all. It was totally hilarious! We laughed so hard that night and many nights since just talking about it. Silly girl!

I do miss being involved in the costume creation and although it has been many years since I walked with her on her rounds, I miss that too.

I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!