With our special-order Sun Prairie Grass-Fed Beef, we prepared two delicious pot roasts, using two different recipes, and homemade pumpkin pie with the last of our garden pumpkin for our Christmas Eve meal. Everyone ate it up, even picky little Riona! We then opened our presents and watched as the girls squealed over every little item. The best was when Mythili and Isabella opened their iPod with an amazed expression and Isabella said, “I’ve wanted an iPod my whole life!” which is probably, sadly, true.

The next morning, Santa brought Isabella a Barbie scooter, Mythili yet another Barbie set with formal wear for Ken and Barbie, and Riona a new train set to add on to the one we already have that she cherishes so much. The girls just LOVED their Santa presents–he somehow knew exactly what to get them! Truly magical!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner, the best Christmas dinner ever–prime rib that Dad gets for free every year from his job. As usual, it was mouthwatering, and just writing about it now makes me already look forward to next year.

By the weekend, everyone was gone, and I felt like I was running a bed and breakfast, washing a million sheets–again–and cleaning up holiday remnants. After a couple of days of recovery, we celebrated Dad’s birthday with snowshoeing and cross country skiing in the mountains, then came back into town to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the Mentzers. We partied hard to bring in the new year, and the kids, as usual, had a total blast.

And here we are, MLK day, year two of us participating in the Denver Marade. I’ll say it again–I loved it last year and I loved it again. It makes this day so much more meaningful. But if you’d like to read more about what the Marade is like, check out my new writing blog: Step Write Up.

So, that is what I’ve been busy doing, in addition to working full time, running the Girl Scout troop, selling cookies, and spending quality time with three little girls every day… life is good.

We’ve been busy with activities almost every weekend since Christmas. Besides the snowshoeing, we finally renewed our membership at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and have already visited three times including today. I have taken the girls twice so that Bruce could work on homework. One of the times, we went to the Planetarium for the first time, seeing some Zulu animated adventure to learn about the planets. Mythili’s career goals at the moment, heavily influenced by her favorite exhibit, Space Odyssey, are to be an astronaut/painter. She wants to paint while she’s in space. Isabella wants to be an artist like Grandma. Needless to say, they all loved the show there and the neverending round screen.

We also participated in the Martin Luther King, Jr. “marade” for the first time this year. Marade is a combination of the words parade and march, and was actually coined by the former mayor’s wife, Wilma Webb. The Denver marade is the largest MLK event in the country. We decided to participate this year because the temperature was 65 degrees. We met at City Park next to the MLK statue and walked downtown along Colfax Avenue to Civic Center Park, 2.1 miles. This time, I just took Mythili and Isabella and the umbrella stroller, so they took turns riding in it. It was a beautiful day, full of friendly faces of all colors and walks of life, and happy onlookers cheered us on. As we walked, I told them all about Martin Luther King and his influence on history, as well as pointing out a bit of Denver’s historical buildings and the importance of Colfax, the longest uninterrupted city street in the nation. The girls didn’t whine a bit, especially when I piled them on top of each other for the 2.1 mile trip UP capitol hill on the way back and bribed them with a stop at Lik’s, the SECOND best homemade ice cream in the city (nothing can beat Bonnie Brae). I have to admit, after the beautiful walk and the subsequent trip to the zoo that was having a free day, it really made me miss living in Denver. I miss all those old neighborhoods and being so close to the huge parks with their gigantic trees, the cultural facilities, and just… the urban atmosphere. Despite my early childhood upbringing in a small town, I have really decided that I am a city girl.

Yesterday and Friday, we celebrated Isabella’s sixth birthday, though the official date is Tuesday. This year, she had her neighbor friend Kiara spend the night. We took everyone out to Cici’s Pizza, not my favorite place, but exorbitantly affordable. The kids love the buffet and the balloon lady. Then we came home, they watched the new Tinkerbell movie, and went to bed SUPER late (10 o’clock). The next morning, they went over to Kiara’s for chocolate chip pancakes and then came back for us to go to Skate City. Isabella, an amateur skater, just liked to dance around in the middle of the rink underneath the spinning mirror ball. We then came home and had a nice crockpot meal of smoked paprika chicken with broccoli and acorn squash on the side. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for lunch and the “red” Waldorf cake. Isabella loved her presents of dresses (especially the “spinny” dress Grandma bought), the colored pencil drawing of the little girl under an umbrella, and some over-the-shoes roller skates which she put on promptly this morning, rolling across the main level floor and waking up Bruce and I.

So, she’s six… soon to be fifteen! She’s already full of sass, independence, and is not afraid to talk back. But she also still likes me to read her stories, cuddle with me on the couch, and is still a bit frightened about going to a friend’s house alone. I just can’t believe how quickly they grow.

Meanwhile, Bruce and I have been super busy. He is taking 11 credits and has class 3 nights a week. I recently started training for a new part-time job at the University of Phoenix Online. My evenings are now fully dedicated to online forums and assignments, while he is either gone or working on homework. We’re both looking forward to the end of the school year when we can just breathe… gotta love the teaching schedule.

Our winter wonderland has hardly felt like winter at all. Can’t wait till spring, especially since in Denver, March is the snowiest month. Gotta love the paradoxical city of my heart.