Picture of the Day -- Week 41

October 9th – Jeff & I met up with Julie & Kevin in Las Vegas for the weekend. We had a fabulous time walking the strip, taking in the sights and trying to win it big!


October 10th – Today, we took some time to catch the Broncos and Cowboys football games. Kevin & I got our picture taken in our NFL t-shirts in front of the Sports Book with tons of TVs, comfy chairs and betting service.


October 11th – We had dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Julie & Kevin bought us a wonderful bottle of Riesling to celebrate our anniversary. Then, we explored the Wynn... what an amazing hotel! We had such a fun weekend!


October 12th – Joshie had his shirt off after his shower and we were commenting on how ripped he is. Of course, this resulted in more flexing and Mattea jumping in on the action, too. It was hilarious! Josh definitely wins best abs in the family!!!


October 13th – We set up the badminton set in the front yard and the kids play it all the time. I typically have to retrieve at least one birdie off the roof each day.


October 14th – Happy 15th Anniversary ~ to my best friend, my partner in crime, the ying to my yang.


October 15th – Alex brought home this light-up mouth piece from school today. He won it for the magazine subscriptions he sold. Thanks to all who helped him out!

Picture of the Day -- Week 40

October 2nd – Jeff helped out with the laundry today in a big way. He was slightly annoyed with me taking pictures while he did it (in fact, he claimed he would stop helping), but I took a chance.


October 3rd – We took Indy & Cody to PetsMart to get groomed today. They looked so great when we picked them up. Their fur was bright, shiny and fluffy.


October 4th – This morning Mattea requested breakfast in bed for no apparent reason and I brought it to her. I hope she returns the favor someday!


October 5th – Mattea knew that Grandma Carol & Grandpa Pete would be staying in her room when they came to visit, so on her own, she packed up her stuff & moved into our bedroom.


October 6th – Mattea cooked lunch for her & Josh today. She makes a mean mac ’n cheese!


October 7th – Grandma Carol & Grandpa Pete came for a visit to see us and stay with the kiddos while Jeff & I went to Las Vegas to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. They all had a great time!


October 8th – Grandma Carol & Grandpa Pete took Josh & Mattea to the Denver Zoo today. It was their first visit to the zoo. Alex missed out on the fun since he was in school. They had a really fun day!

Crazy Hair Day

Today is Crazy Hair Day at Rolling Hills Elementary. As hard as it is for us Dolan's to be crazy (okay, it's not so hard!), we did our best. Drum roll please! Presenting Crazy Josh and Crazy Mattea...

Mattea can read!!!

Mattea has really been learning alot this year in kindergarten. She is fascinated by words and the sounds they make and is SOOOOOO excited to finally be reading. She has been doing sight words since preschool, but has really come a long way since then. While she has been tracked off, she has been doing flashcards and sounding out whatever words she sees. She also loves to write. She will write long letters and bring them to me to read. Many times, the words are not spelled correctly as she can't yet understand how to incorporate the vowels, but she is doing a fantastic job. When I say she loves to write, I mean it. I just found a tablet out in the living room today. It says "Peeee" and "I nee to poop". A little too much information, but cute nonetheless, right???

On Wednesday, we went to the library to get some books. She picked out five books (cuz she's five!). They are all the beginner level reader books and she blasted through them. I love to hear her sound out each letter and then look up with complete joy on her face when she figures out what word those sounds make. I'm glad I captured this on video. Enjoy!

Picture of the Day -- Week 39

September 25th – Josh plays hard and wore through another pair of shoes. It was time for some new kicks. I hope these hold up for awhile!


September 26th – Since Josh & Mattea are off-track for three weeks, I hit Michael’s for some crafts to keep them busy. They were really excited to paint, color, play with “Pluffy” clay and create with fuse beads.


September 27th – Mattea has gotten into playing card games, so I dug out some games I have had since the boys were little. She LOVES Old Maid and she seems to be lucky just like her Dad… she beat me three times in a row!


September 28th – Josh and Anders had fun playing video games during track-off. It doesn’t get much better than that!


September 29th – Mattea completely blew me away with her painting skills. She loves to draw and she was very creative with paints as well. She made a butterfly, a tiger, a rainbow and lots of wonderful creations.


September 30th – Today was the Grandview High School Homecoming parade. There was definitely excitement in the air as the kids lined the street waiting for the parade to start. They enjoyed watching all of the floats and collecting lots of candy!



October 1st – Fall is my favorite time of year. I don’t go too crazy with decorating, but I did add some seasonal touches to the mantle.

Picture of the Day -- Week 38

September 18th – There was a Cinnabon at the Mall of America, so each morning we got a Cinnabon for breakfast. Oh, it was SO bad, but SO good.


September 19th – Denise and I laughed a lot while we were at ScrapFest. We stayed up late scrapping, took naps, walked a million miles around the mall, did some make & takes, took some classes and generally just had a blast!


September 20th – I brought Mattea these Hello Kitty ear muffs back from my trip to Minnesota. She fell in love with them instantly. So much so that she wore them to bed! With those and her sleep mask, she was quite a sight!


September 21st – It was a rainy day, but that didn’t stop Josh from playing outside. He was kicking the football with one of his buddies… completely oblivious to the rain.


September 22nd – Josh, Mattea and Hanna had a lemonade stand today. They were so cute calling out “Lemonade for Sale – 25 cents” and telling people they could have it for free if they didn’t have any money.


September 23rd – The kids had the day off school, so I took them to “Squishy Park” on my lunch break. We had a picnic lunch and then the kiddos (& our neighbor, Nick) played while I read a book. It was a gorgeous day!


September 24th – Tonight we went to the Rockies game with Donna, Mikkel, Jakob and Erik Haug. I had a blast chatting with Donna while we “watched” the game. The kids had fun cheering on the home team. I think my favorite part was actually after the game. They had the most amazing fireworks show!

Picture of the Day -- Week 37

September 11th – Today was Mattea’s first soccer game. It was one of the cutest things ever. We cheered hard and she played hard. It was lots of fun for all of us!


September 12th – There are lots of kids in our neighborhood and luckily, several of them go to middle school. Abby, Nick, Gunnar, Jacob and Alex walk to and from school together each day.


September 13th – Josh lost a tooth today at school. Mattea couldn’t help herself… she just HAD to get in the picture, too.


September 14th – Mattea likes to wear dresses and play with dolls, but she is most definitely a tomboy. I found her on the porch today with a “roly poly” crawling on her leg. She was laughing and having a ball. When she cupped her hands around the bug, I noticed her blistered hands from doing the monkey bars (all.the.time) and a bloody band-aid on her knee from falling on the playground.


September 15th – Josh read this book for school. Although he is in 4th grade, it’s actually a book he will read when he’s in 5th grade. He loved the book and was delighted with the ending.


September 16th – Today is picture day at Rolling Hills. Mattea’s hair was all curly and she wore a pretty dress. Josh had on a plain t-shirt in this picture, but he did have a nice shirt to put on over it for the school picture!


September 17th – My BFF, Denise Jacobsen, and I met up in Minnesota to attend ScrapFest 2010 at the Mall of America. It had been quite a while since we had seen each other last, so we made the most of it.