Attention Denverites - Book those babysitters!

Denver Restaurant Week is coming! I love Denver Restaurant Week. Okay, what can I say, I like to eat out. If you are not familiar with it - Denver Restaurant Week is a week (Feb 23-29th this year) where restaurants all over the Denver area have fixed menus for $52.80 for two people. The menus normally include 3 courses and some include wine. The website has not yet posted the menus for this year, but the participating restaurants are listed. The list is amazing! It is a great way to try new restaurants and such a good excuse for going out to eat. I hope to get to Cuba Cuba and Chinook Tavern this year. Denver friends, if you are interested in a girls night out that week - let's put one together!

Pete and I have learned that you do have to make reservations early as many of the restaurants will book up quick. So call those babysitters and book them!

Vente House, Tall Green Tea or Non-Fat Sugar-free Vanilla Latte?

From the looks of the weather map this morning, pretty much no matter where you live, you are feeling the same way as I am this week - COLD! I don't know if it is actually colder than it was in December, or if it's just that December snow is festive and January snow is depressing, but it just seems cold, cold, cold. So it just seemed fitting that this month's drawing will be for a $10 gift card to Starbucks. My very favorite coffee place.

So will it be a vente house, a tall green tea or a non-fat sugar free vanilla latte for you? What is your favorite drink to warm up with this winter? For me, it is the very straightforward vente house. What can I say, I actually like coffee, no syrups or fanciness for me!

Any time you leave a comment this month, you will be entered in the drawing. Good luck!

January's family devotion

This month's family craft and devotion is up. Just click on the link on the right hand column. The devotion is titled "We are wonderfully made." It focuses on three scripture verses which illustrate how God has purposefully crafted each person in his image and to be a unique person. The craft is to make personalized snowflakes. Here is the picture of our family's snowflakes.

Last Friday night we sat down before dinner and had a great time creating our snowflakes and going through the readings. One of the most surprising things was that my husband Pete is apparently an expert paper snowflake maker. Who knew! His is the blue one. Mine is yellow - and yes, I actually tried!

Looking back on Friday night, I am amazed that we actually did it. I asked Pete to be done with work by 5:30, I had the materials ready to go, but at about 5:15 the kids went NUTS. Sarah ended up in her room in time out. Emily had a huge fit and was crying in the family room. Pete took one look around and asked, "I thought we were having family time?" (Can I hear a collective groan from all the mommies out there?) But we pulled the girls together, sorted out their fight and settled them down. We ended up having one of the nicest evenings we have had in a long time. The girls really got into making the snowflakes. I am so glad we stuck with our plan and didn't just give up, put in a movie and call for a pizza.

As you can see in the photo, our snowflakes and key verse are hanging on the door out to our garage. It is great to walk by as we start our day and head out into the world. I hope this devotion and craft will be a blessing to your family. I would love to hear about your experiences or better yet - see a photo of your snowflakes!