It's all good . . .

Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa

We had the most fantastic Thanksgiving with Kevin's parents.  

They flew into Denver on Wednesday morning, and Kevin and the boys went to pick them up, while LIly and I got down to business with baking day.  While we waited for them, Lily helped me make an apple pie, chocolate peanut butter cream pie, a pumpkin roll and finger jello.  Yum!  I also got the turkey brining.  It was a busy day.

We went out to dinner with them that night, since who wants to cook dinner on baking day? :)

The next morning, Grandpa Dennis and Arthur were up and playing bright and early.  Grandpa brought the cutest Jake and the Neverland Pirates to make with Arthur :).

Kevin was really sad that he still hasn't been cleared by his doctor to play football, and so he had to miss out on the annual "Turkey Bowl."  Instead of getting out to play with the guys, he and his dad played catch in the backyard with Lily and Derek.  They had a blast.

And it was such a gorgeous day (about 60 degrees), that Arthur had to come out and play too.  He loved showing Grandma his sliding skills.

Although, Arthur couldn't be left out of the the football fun.  He was in heaven running around with the ball.  It was the cutest thing ever!

After football, Lily and Derek played Star Wars Life, and they even convinced Grandpa to join in :).  The game ended in an epic battle between the two sides of the force, since Grandpa had gone to the "dark side."

Meanwhile, I was busy cooking and finishing things up.  It sure was nice to have Valerie there to help out when things got crazy :).  I only had two crazy things happen.  First, my fresh green beans spoiled, and so we replaced them with frozen peas at the last minute.  (So much for my caramelized bacon green beans - oh well.)  

My second crazy thing was that I accidentally cooked the turkey upside down.  Yes - upside-down.  The funniest thing, was that I was slathering the thing with herb butter, I kept thinking to myself, "Where are the breasts??  We aren't going to have any meat, because there are no breasts on this turkey."  Yeah, I still can't believe I did that.

In spite of my insanity, the dinner turned out wonderful.  And we even served them on the china I acquired last year, which made it seem extra fun and fancy.

Arthur's favorite thing at dinner was the jello.  He said it so adorably!  He made it into a 4 syllable word, and was so cute, we just kept giving him more.  (And yes, his hair is crazy.  It has Nutella in it from his lunch.)

That evening, we watched "Muppets Most Wanted" and ate all of our yummy desserts.  It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

The next morning, Arthur was up early and reading with Grandpa this time.  He also got Grandma to read to him late on.  He loves to read.

After everyone was was ready for the day, we headed out on an adventure.  Our first stop was Amy's Donuts.  This place is crazy!  I have never seen so many donut choices, and they even have about ten different things that you can fill your donuts with.  Yum!  It was so hard to choose.

Then we headed to Ft. Carson to go bowling.  We had such a fun time and laughed and laughed.  We had the bumpers up, and Valerie decided that they were her favorite thing :).  Kevin did amazing, and the rest of us did pretty good.  But no matter how we did, Arthur would cheer for us and give us a high five :).

Then it was off to lunch at Smash Burger, one of our favorites :).  After that, we went to Target - yes, on Black Friday.  Because we were there after noon, most of the big sales were over, and so it wasn't even very crowded.  We were there to find some Legos for Lily and Derek to build with Grandpa.

When we got home, the kids, Kevin, and Dennis went downstairs to watch "The Empire Strikes Back" while they built an AT-AT (aka: Walker).  They had so much fun!  And it took them two days to finish it, and so it made for extra fun.

While they were in the basement in Star Wars heaven, Arthur entertained Grandma with his pretend violin playing.  He also decided that he wanted to play the drums.  Soon, he and Grandma were having a "jam session," which was the cutest thing ever :).

Saturday turned out to be decorating day for me :).  I hadn't planned on it, but I just couldn't help it.  I knew I wouldn't have any time after Sunday, and I had lots of great helpers at home.  Some of my helpers were a little over helpful, like when Kevin decided to put the Yoda puppet on the top of my tree :).  And even though he and Dennis sang the "Grinch" song to me, the Yoda did not stay :).

Later, Kevin and his dad went golfing, and Lily and Derek got to do a really fun project with Grandma. They made candy trees out of Reeses Peanut-butter Cups, white chocolate and Hershey's Kisses.  They turned out super cute!!

That night, after a dinner of Crepes, we had to show Grandma and Grandpa the "Baby, It's Cold Outside" video.  All the kids love it, but Arthur especially.  

 

After we watched it the first time, he asked for it again, and we let him - he was so cute!  This time, however, he wasn't content to sit still.  He jumped off Grandpa's lap and started doing the dance moves and singing along.  The very best part was the end, when he did the big finish, singing at the top of his lungs - perfectly on key. If only we had it on video :).

Sunday was our last day with Kevin's parents.  Since we have 1pm church, we had lots of time to hang out together before church.  And luckily, Kevin didn't have meetings until 11:30, which was awesome.  As we watched "Music and the Spoken Word," Arthur busted out his fake violin skills once again.  And Grandma's favorite part, was when he started conducting the Tabernacle Choir.  We really can't make this stuff up :).

After church, it was time to say goodbye.  We had such an amazing Thanksgiving holiday with Dennis and Valerie, and we miss them already.  We sure are grateful for the wonderful memories we made though, and for all the wonderful blessings we have been blessed with.

More November Fun

It has been a good couple of weeks, although they started out cold.  Very cold.  I mean subzero temps and that it was so cold that the kids had two days of delayed school because it was about -20 degrees.  

It was not fun to have it be so cold, but it was fun to have the kids home for a few extra hours with the kids.  It also gave us a chance to wear all the fun hats that my parent's friends gave us :).

It may have been the reason that Arthur decided to wrap up in his blanket.  Either that, or he was fashioning himself a cape.  Being in our family, I am more inclined to believe it was a cape :).

Derek has had some great times in Cub Scouts lately. He got some new den leaders and they have been doing some awesome activities - like making this fun turkey recipe holder :).

Lily has also had some great times lately.  One of her best friends at school was in the play, Snow White.  She was "Sneezy."  It was a really cute play, and she and I had a great time watching it together.

Lily also had some real excitement when she won thrid place in the PTA Reflections contest for her original composition for piano.  She won a ribbon and a small reward, and it gets to go on to the county level next :).

And we can't forget Arthur.  He is just as fun and silly as ever.  Like the other night after dinner, when he found the leftover peas, climbed up to the table and just started shoving them into his mouth with the serving spoon :).  And he had to get all the peas that fell on the floor too.  Funny guy!

And Kevin and I have had a lot of fun lately taking advantage of the fact that we have a babysitter at home.  It means that we get to go on weekly dates, which is awesome :).  This past Friday, we went on a double date with my friend, Natalie, and her husband, Joseph.  We went bowling, and had a blast.  I started out awesome, getting a spare and then a strike.  Unfortunately, after that I went steadily downhill, but I did scrape by with a 105.  Kevin won it all, of course, although it was pretty close for a while, since Joseph even bowled a turkey.  And somehow Natalie got the craziest split I have ever seen - and she did it twice!

After bowling, we went to dessert.  Kevin and I got a chocolate milk shake to share, and Joseph and Natalie got pie.  When they brought out the dessert, they gave them 5 spoons to eat their pie with, which was hilarious.  We couldn't figure it out.  One spoon for each bite?

It has been a great couple weeks, and now we are ready for all the Thanksgiving prep and fun that this coming week will bring :).  

Christmas Scripture Countdown

 

About eight years ago, I made a scripture Christmas advent to read with my family each night in December.  It is such a fantastic way to bring Christ into your Christmas celebrations.  I loved doing it, but it always bothered me that I didn't organize the order of the scriptures very well.  I have been wanting to revamp it for years, and yesterday, I finally got it done.  

Now that I have it reorganized, I needed to make new cards.  First, I printed them on white cardstock, and then I cut them out.

 

Then I glued the white cards onto red and green cardstock, alternating days, so they would go in a pattern of red and then green.

Once they were all glued, I cut them out and was ready for the final steps.

And because I want them to last for years, I laminated the finished cards.

Once the cards were all laminated, I punched a hole in the top corner of each, and then put them on a ring.  You could also use them in an advent calendar and pull out a card each day.  I just wanted to keep them all together, but it is totally your choice.  Here is the PDF for you to download so you can print it out yourself :).

Download Scripture Christmas Countdown

A Weekend with the Taylor Family

We had the most wonderful weekend with our friends, the Taylor family.  They arrived on Friday afternoon, and I met them at a park in Black Forest to take their portraits.  Years ago, when Lily and Abi were just babies, I took their portraits.  It was when I was first starting, and was still using film.  I have been wanting to take their portraits again for years, but it hadn't worked out until now.  We were even blessed with the one nice weather day this whole week.  The portraits turned out great, and we had such a fun time :). 

That evening, once we got home, we got the kids all settled and then left our awesome girls, Lily and Abi, to babysit the other kids.  They were so looking forward to getting to see each other, and thought it was really fun to get to babysit together.

While they babysat, Beau and Saundra, Kevin and I, Beau's cousins, and our mutual friends, Kellie and Brian, all went to dinner at Tucanos.  We had a delicious dinner, and had a fantastic time talking and laughing together.  It was a wonderful night :).

The next day, the kids just played and played.  Lily and Derek had been counting down the days until their friends came, and they took full advantage of having them here.  

And Kevin and Beau got to watch sports together, and even tried to convince the youngest kids that football is just as good as Baby Einstein :).  Good times.

They had to leave after dinner on Saturday to head back to Cheyenne, and even though we were sad to say goodbye, we had had a fantastic time with them.  We sure are blessed to have such wonderful friends :).

Patriotic Derek

Last night, Derek had his third grade concert.  Because it was taking place the day before Veteran's Day, the theme for the program was "A Musical America."  All the kids wore red white and blue, and Derek dressed up in his his dress shirt and tie, and he was so handsome.  

(It was an insanely crazy night - long story, and so I didn't actually get to see Derek dressed without his coat on before the concert, and so when he got on stage, I had to do a little miming to get him to tuck in his shirt and fix his collar.  He was all put together by the time the program began though.)

He did such a fantastic job! He has always loved to sing, but was often distracted during his performances.  This year he sang out for every song and flashed me his gorgeous grin all the time.  And the songs were so much fun - some I hadn't heard in years.

For "You're a Grand Old Flag," all the kids pulled American flags out from behind them and waved them in the air.  It was so much fun!

Derek was in heaven as he waved his flag in the air.  I think his favorite part, was the surprise of everyone having them hidden, and then bringing them all out at once.

The concert was fantastic, and only lasted 30 minutes, which is perfect.  And I loved the decorations hung up on the walls - poppies and soldiers :).

 And just in case you want to watch Derek in action, here is the video of his concert :).  This is part 1:

 

And here is part 2:

 

Random November

Our first week of November was nice and low key.  The weather was still surprisingly gorgeous, in the high 50's every day.  I loved that we could just use a light jacket where ever we went.  Especially with Arthur.  He is my errand buddy, and the other day, as we were driving, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that he had found his travel pillow.  What a silly guy!

Speaking of being a silly guy, the other night at dinner, he loved the creamy chicken noodle soup so much, that he decided to lick his bowl.  It made for quite the mess to clean up afterward, but it was a super cute mess :).

Another thing that has been happening lately, is that Kevin has been at the piano.  He is singing a song for the Christmas program at church, and so as he practices, I get the benefit of hearing him play and sing.

The kids also add their music to the mix.  Recently, Lily wrote an original composition for the Reflections contest at school, and we are eagerly awaiting the results.  And Derek is coming along so well with his piano playing!  He is almost finished with his level three books, and he is only 8, almost 9 years old.  Here is a sample of his playing.

 

Another fun adventure we had this past week, was going on a double date with our friends, the Colemans.  We went out to diner at Qdoba, and then went over to Dart Warz  - a Nerf Gun place in town.  I had bought a Groupon for us to use, but when we got there, not only did they not let us use the groupon, they said they weren't letting anyone in for another 45 minutes.

Our plans gone, we did what any parents would do when they are kid free - we went to Target :).  We looked at Nerf guns to make our own dart gun experience, glanced at Christmas present ideas, and then tried on sunglasses and fedoras :).  

Afterward, we went to Kneaders and got dessert.  It was such a fun night, and we are just loving having Lily as a babysitter.  It is making date night a much more regular event :).

And so it has been a pretty simple week, but a great one.  The next few weeks are looking to be a little bit crazier, and so I am enjoying the simple and low key while I can :).