Mother/Son Dance

This year marks our 4th Mother/Son dance.  It's typically in the spring, but they switched things up a bit this year.  Word on the street was the PTA wanted to get one more use out of the Winter Wonderland decorations that they had been using for the Father/Daughter dance so they moved our dance up.

As usual, we went with Heather and Sullivan for dinner at Noodles beforehand.  Once at the school, the boys did their typical running around acting crazy but they kept checking in and even asked us to dance quite a bit.  I was starting to think JP may be getting too old for the dance, but now I'm guessing we may have another year.  As soon as he's done, I'll be hitting the gym with Ryan!  Now, I'll just relish in the great one-on-one time we had last night.  As my friend Heather said- "So glad they still think we're cool!"

The photographer is always so good.  She told me to tickle JP. I'm thinking my hand looks a little crazy, but I love the big smile on his face!

JP and all his buddies.  They have been getting their picture taken the past few years.

Us along with Kate, Ben & Josh and Heather and Sullivan.

Cutting the Christmas Tree

Last year, we went to the mountains for the 1st time to cut down a tree.  The experience was not exactly the best, but when I asked the kids if they wanted to do it again this year, they all said "yes!".  Joe and I reminded them all of how they needed to behave even if the weather turned out to be cold and they all agreed they would be superstars. 

We headed out the Saturday after Thanksgiving to pick out our tree.  We again met the O'Reillys, the Balluffs, and lots of other friends in Conifer and then made a caravan to Buffalo Creek where our permits are from.  JP was especially excited that Rhonda and Luke came too, so he had a friend to play with.

The temperatures were close to 20 degrees warmer than last year.  I just looked back at my post from last year and saw it was 34 degrees out.  Joe and I thought it was only in single digits!  This year was in the 50's and the it made all the difference in the world.  We must have searched for well over and hour and no one complained of getting cold.  In fact, I was carrying everyone's gloves and hats near the end.

We finally decided on a tree.  I'm sure it will look smaller once we get it inside, but out in the woods we thought it was pretty great.  We cut it down and headed back out to the cars and the party.  By this time Ryan and Caitlin were ready for a break and some food.  Next year, I think I'll bring some snacks in the woods to keep them energized! 

The O'Reillys supplied the chili and everyone else brought food to share.  We had fun visiting with everyone and catching up.  The Stokeld's brought their 2-yr-old triplets which was a treat.  It's hard to even remember when ours were that little!  JP helped Joe load up the tree and we headed back to Denver.  Everyone agreed it was a success and JP declared that we got the best tree on the whole mountain!

The hunt begins:

 

Ryan found a tree just his size:

Silly girls:

I think Madison could have stayed out there all day.  She was having the best time.

We found "the" tree!

Our attempt at group shot.  Ryan was ready to head back!

Timber!

Action shot!

Double the triplets!

JP had so much fun with Luke:

George & Ryan = Double Trouble:

The girls found some "mistletoe" in the woods.  Daddy showing Caitlin how it works:

The whole group:

Packing the tree up for the ride back to Denver!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had an extra special Thanksgiving week this year.  Typically, we do a low-key day with just the 6 of us.  Everyone was excited when we learned that Carolyn and Paul were going to host Thanksgiving dinner at their new house and that Grandmom & Pop, Gretchen, Elizabeth & Matthew plus Kathryn & Scout would be joining us!

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.  The trio hadn't seen Elizabeth and Matthew in a couple of years and didn't really remember them.  It took no time at all for everyone to start playing together and having a blast.  Matthew, Willa and the Trio are all the same age, so it was so much fun having 5 4-yr-olds running around.  They are at a great age where they are really starting to play with each other.  I especially love how close Elizabeth and JP are.  Even though there is a 2-yr difference between them, you would never know it.  They have so much fun playing together and I think JP adores her as much as she does him.  She even got to "sleepover" one night and that made them both so happy.

Grandmom and Pop stayed at our house the whole time which was especially nice.  The kids loved all the extra attention they received.  I was grateful that Grandmom jumped in a took charge of our Thanksgiving contibutions that included a lemon cheesecake with gingersnap crust and a yummy cream cheese olive dip.  All I had to do was gather the ingredients and supply our traditional sparking grape juice for the kids to drink.

We were able to get together several times during the week and even got to catch up with The Edgars one night which was a treat.  Thanksgiving itself was a fun day filled with yummy food and lots of family and friends.  As always, we have so much to be thankful for and this year we are especially grateful for family making the trip out West!

Tuesday night the kids put on a music show!

JP had his first cello recital!

Willa and Elizabeth on the Triangle and Xylophone:

Elizabeth sang a song:

...and Caitlin & Madison did some ballet moves for everyone!

 Thursday the kids were quick to start playing as soon as we arrived:

Matthew:

Elizabeth & JP trying to sink one some Battleships!

Chef Paul cooked two delicious turkeys on the grill:

Grandmom & Gretchen helping to preparing the food:

Scout made a new friend Gus:

 Joe worked up his appetite pushing kids higher & higher:

Our attempt at a group grandkid shot.  We had to include Scout too!

The kid's loved their little tables and their sparking grape juice!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving kept the kiddos entertained while the kitchen was cleaned:

Lots of yummy desserts were the perfect way to end the evening!

Halloween 2012

It was a great Halloween this year.  As usual, we received our first snowstorm less than a week beforehand and the kids were beyond excited.  When the trio woke up and saw the snow one of them said "Let's see if there are presents downstairs!"  By 9am all the kids were outside playing.  It was fall break for the kids and just enough snow for a great day of fun.

By the time Halloween came, all the snow was gone and it was near 70 degrees.  It was so nice for the kids to be able to trick-or-treat without coats.  JP started the night with his friends and then went out with just Dad to finish off.  The trio headed out early and then came by to drop Madison back home.  She wanted to pass out candy rather than collect it.  As usual, there were hundreds of kids and everyone had a blast.  Now that the kid's are getting bigger and collecting more candy, we decided to drop most of it off at a local dentist for Operation Smile that gives candy to the soldiers.  I took the trio to the toy store and let them each pick out a new small toy.  JP decided to only give part of his candy up.  I really can't blame him as the 1st 8 years of his life he never had to.  He did let go of about 1/2 of it though and I picked him out a little treat as well. 

We were so proud of JP.  He wanted to be Bullwinkle the Moose this year, but we couldn't find any ready-made costumes.  He decided to just make his own!  I think this kid can make just about anything with a little cardboard & duct tape.  He went from this:

 To this!

 JP and his pals Spencer & Ty:

Ryan as Finn McMissle from Cars:  I wasn't sure Ryan would actually dress up.  Earlier in the day at their school party Ryan wouldn't put on his costume.  He didn't bring his Cars one, but an old Spiderman one of JPs.  He said he thought people would laugh at him in his Car one for some reason.  Then when he got to school he put on the Spiderman costume and immediately took it off. I did tell him if he didn't dress up at night then people wouldn't know to give him candy.  That did the trick, he wasn't about to pass up the free candy!

Caitlin wanted to be Minnie Mouse this year.  The funny thing about her costume was it didn't come with a wand like Madison's did.  This caused a bit of controversy.  We decided to make our own Minnie wand.  Caitlin found a stick in the yard and I glued on a star with a picture of Minnie on it.  A few ribbons later and her problem was solved!

Madison wanted to be a ladybug this year. Her in those fuzzy pom-poms were just about the cutest thing!

The whole Halloween crew!

As with tradition, we always go to Brian & Steve's house first for some special treats.

 

My little ladybug handing out treats!

Dad was very proud of his CU pumpkin.  Although I don't have a great pic I should add that everyone picked out some great looking pumpkin ideas that we made at Tracy's 10th annual carving party.  The girls each picked out a different style unicorn to make.  Ryan chose Thomas the Train and JP designed his own Qbert video game pumpkin. 

After all the counting and sorting, JP came up with 192 pieces of candy this year.  Wow!

To the Pumpkin Patch!

We decided to hit the patch early this year to get a good selection.  Unfortunately we decided to go right before a storm was rolling in, so it got very cold!  We were able to find some good ones and then head home for some hot chocolate and homemade caramel apples we bought at the patch!