Wonderful Wake Up

I woke up this morning to the sights and sounds of a hot air balloon making its descent right over our house! I've always been fascinated by them--riding in one is at the very top of my bucket list. Having one come a hair's breadth (or so it seemed) from my house, however, seemed a little too close for comfort.

While I gazed at the sight from our bedroom window, (wouldn't want
the neighbors to see me in all my morning glory!) John took the camera
outside and snapped some great pictures. They're waving up there!

Their apparent destination was the open area to the back of Fort Collins High School, which is a very short distance to the north of our home. If I had known of their flight path in advance, I would have made sure to paint a huge sign for my roof the night before that read: "You make an awesome alarm clock! P.S. Come back next week!"

Kristin

Happy Independence Day--Muppet Style!

Ah, the patriotism, the pride, the fond childhood memories this video brings! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDA9NbPAK8o

Kristin

Say Goodbye to #5

Taylor's front teeth have been loose since Christmas. Oh, the drama! Apples have rotted in our refrigerator. Entire meals have been picked at because of the awkwardness. We seriously considered having her screen tested for Slim Jim commercials (where biting with your molars is an art form). *sigh*

Imagine our excitement last week when both loose teeth developed a distinct wobble! Woo hoo! Not much longer now! Visions of tooth fairy booty danced in our dreams. Not much longer now! Not much longer!

Just a...

few... (okay, EIGHT)...

more...



daaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyzzzzz........ (drool, snore, feign continued anticipation)

*snork*

Where was I?

Oh, yeah.

Imagine our intense relief to FINALLY (after an entire eighth day of wiggling, twisting, worrying with her tongue, testing, checking, did we mention it's been eight days since wobble onset?) to announce that #5 is really, really, REALLY, truly, no-we're-not-kidding, seriously people!, well-and-for-good, honestly GONE!

Sweet relief at last.

Kristin

#4 Is A Goner!

After several weeks of waiting, Taylor has finally said good-bye to loose tooth #4! The Tooth Fairy is impressed with her perseverance and has rewarded her accordingly. Her four top front teeth also have a distinct wobble, so it won't be long before she plays the role of Toothless Wonderwoman for a bit.

Kristin

Amazing Grace Il Divo Style

This is how I started my morning:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271552717/bctid1913313052

One of the better decisions I've made lately...

Kristin

Rear Ender Fender Bender

Taylor and I were involved in a rear end auto accident this evening. Taylor had finished Tae Kwon Do class and we were driving home. The biggest thing on my mind was what to make for supper. Then BOOM! We were hit by the car behind us after coming to a stop at a traffic light. The impact threw the car forward a good 3 or 4 feet, but no serious injury or damage was done. Thank God for seat belts! Taylor had eyes the size of tennis balls, but after I explained what happened and checked her over, she said she was fine. I had to count to 10 before I got out of my car though. I felt like the guy in the cartoon! It's wild what threatening my kid's safety does to my equilibrium.

I've only been in one other car accident in my entire life, but thought I knew what I was doing. I got out of the car, greeted the other driver, made sure that no one was injured and then spent a good 10 minutes getting insurance information and closely looking over the damage to both cars. We both agreed that we didn't think either car had incurred enough damage to warrant a call to the police, so we made final agreements about how to proceed and both drove off.

Well, it seems that car repairs are even more outrageously expensive than I was willing to suppose. One bumper, one muffler and a quarter panel adds up to well over $2 grand. (Insert whistle of disbelief here). I'm lucky the other guy was fully cooperative and our stories matched, or I could possibly have been left footing the bill for anything over the first $1000. Lesson learned!

We take the car in at the beginning of next week for repairs and will get to drive around a brand new rental car for a week. I'm probably a huge dork, but I'm a little excited at driving a brand new car around for a week, even if it's a Ford Focus. I'll just wear my sunglasses and a huge hat whenever I get in it... ;)

Kristin

Another Beauty

Same spot, different day. Glorious.

Kristin