An evening out

We generally have the opportunity to go to several very nice Christmas events every year. We also usually only choose one so we can spend lots of time with the kids during the holiday season. So here we are, ready to go to our country club's Christmas party. Our babysitter is taking this picture. I love it because you can see how pathetic my children are being about not getting to go. Nixon has put on the "pouty face" and Noah really thinks I'll pick him up and caring him around with me for the rest of the evening. So funny! They act like we leave them out of the fun all the time...by the way, we are taking them to Disney World for a week just after Christmas this year.

Gingerbread Housed decorating

So Michael is so good at all these activities with the boys, and they adore it! Noah joined in this year, making his own Christmas train while Nixon made his house. Noah has a sweet tooth so he spent a lot of time licking the "glue" off the house but Nixon did most of his piping and decorating on his own this year. They turned out great! Nixon decided he and his friends should eat them for dessert at our Christmas party the next night. And they did..the train at least...their tummies couldn't hold both. If Nixon doesn't grow up to be a chef one day with all the cooking he does with Daddy then he is going to make some woman a fantasticly helpful husband:)

Preschool Christmas program

There just isn't anything more precious than 4 year olds doing a Christmas performance-songs, bells and puppets included. I loved every minute. Nixon loved every minute of eating cake and ice cream afterwards:) A proud mommy moment to see him up there...isn't he getting so big?

It's a Wonderful Life

I am so very thankful for my life! What a great Thanksgiving!

My husband and the boys cooked all the food. Everyone came to our house to celebrate. We missed Bud and his family:(

Nixon helped make all the placecards and learned how to set the table. What a special time to spend with him.

The boys may have only eaten rolls and potatoes but the conversations and the rest of the food were great too!

Then it was off to the Broncos game which we won big:) Hooray for holidays!

Halloween

Michael has a special place in his heart for Halloween. His grandfather used to run a pumpkin patch for little kids to come and pick out pumpkins. So Halloween was always a busy time for his family. He really enjoys making it special for the boys. Our Mickey (Noah) and our Great White Land Shark (Nixon) were very busy this year.

Daddy loves carving pumpkins with them. This year Nixon designed his own, and Daddy did a Mickey for Noah. He got them into the action of scooping and cutting. Nixon loved it and worked hard. Noah lost interest very quickly.

From Boo at the Zoo to Halloween birthday parties with friends to trick or treating itself, we got full use of their costumes this year. We went around the neighborhood in our golf cart (so fun) and the boys came home less exhausted with packed bags of candy that they will never eat. Neither one of our boys really digs candy yet.

I am beat, as our flag football party was at our house on Halloween day as well but the memories are well worth it. Halloween just wouldn't be the same or as fun without the boys.

For the love of snow...

I finally got a snow day last Thursday (all the rest of the school districts had Wednesday off too) so we got out to have a little fun:) Noah got cold right away and went in. Nixon could have stayed out all day. We had snow ball fights and tried to build a snowman. He made snow angels all over our front lawn. All in all, a great way to spend a day off from school.

Disneyland

Michael surprised us with a trip to Disneyland over Labor DayWeekend!
It was such fun for the kids and exhausting for the parents. I had no idea how nuts kids get about meeting the characters! It was 102 degrees the first day we hit the park but the kids didn't care as we rode, ate and played our way through Disney and California Adventure over 3 days. Great memories and great pics-these are a few of hundreds:) We will hit Disneyworld this December and it can't come soon enough. Nixon says he "misses his big friends".

School has begun!

Am I just getting older or does each new school year make me more and more tired? I am exhausted and still two days more with new little kindergartners to work with . They are darling but the darling children I am missing are my own. I love summer too, as my friend Jamie wrote in her blog, because I get to have a schedule open wide to be with my boys. As the school year comes, I feel like I am fitting them in which is awful. I do love teaching but always feel guilty (as you wrote about too Jamie) as I try to pursue the things I love each day. Right now, as I blog, they are dumping every toy we own on the floor downstairs. But I don't care because I just want them to be happy this time of year....

Noah is 2!

Well, as Nixon put it, Noah is finally 2! We celebrated with family and lots of friends at a Music Playhouse birthday party this past Saturday. Everyone had a blast running around and dancing to the music. Noah seemed to be most interested in the food because it was an early morning party and he hadn't had breakfast. He carried his bagel plate around almost the whole time. Now that Noah is 2, he still insists that he is 1, but we all enjoyed sharing in the day with him. My baby is getting big!

Burro Days

We went to Fairplay to celebrate Burro Days-an annual tradition there which

is kind of like a fair with rides, food, etc. Apparently the theme this weekend

was rain because that is pretty much all it did. We did manage to get in a tiny

bit of fishing and some exploring outside the family cabin with the kids. And,of

course, there is always time to shoot a bee-bee gun. The kids had fun visiting with their

cousins. I enjoyed seeing the property that has been in Michael's family for years and the

cabins that his grandfather built by hand. All in all, a wet, but fun time.

Celebrate good times...

We spent the weekend in Omaha, NE (without kids) to take part in the wedding of our friend, John. We had a great time seeing old friends and going out and about Omaha. When we returned home yesterday, it was my birthday so Michael sent us home first class to celebrate and my kids sang to me (so cute:) and made me surprise cupcakes. It is fabulous to be back to my boys and I can't think of a sweeter way to celebrate my big day.

July 4th

Okay, so we've never really celebrated July 4th that much but I'm trying to get into it more. Michael golfed in the morning, and we had a great time at a barbecue with friends in the neighborhood in the evening. Nixon and Noah got to do fireworks for the first time, and Michael took all the kids for rides in our golfcart which was a hit. (Finally a use for this thing that is taking up space in my garage!) Anyway, it was a tradition in the making.

Smores

We have a fire pit. Which, unfortunately, we never use. So...what better way to break it in than by making some smores. The night before Independence Day we got to it. Really, I think I enjoyed it more than anyone but Nixon seemed to get into it too. He hates chocolate (so weird) so he had graham crackers with gooey marshmellow. Yum!!

Nixon's first time fishing

Nixon got a fishing pole for his birthday so Daddy decided it was time to try it out. They headed to Roger's Grove in Longmont. At the end of the day it was Nixon 1, Daddy 3 seaweeds (as Nixon called them). The boys can't wait to go again over the July 4th holiday!

A week away

We spent the end of June at the Isle of Palms in South Carolina with my family, as we do each summer. The kids swam from dawn to dusk. There was great Southern cuisine and lots of time with relatives. Nixon also celebrated his 4th birthday there. Michael and I got in a great dinner date at the Peninsula Grill in downtown Charleston. We highly recommend the Children's Museum and the Aquarium there which the kids loved. It was a jam-packed and fun week away. Good thing, because we ended up getting home at 4:30am when we flew back due to a delayed flight. Oh well, you can't have everything:)