It's been many years since I've driven a car on a regular basis, but the initial weird-ness of feeling as if I'm sitting on the pavement has passed and I'm now enjoying zipping around in the little thing! And grocery shopping is a dream! No more hoisting my little self up into that huge Sequoia... well, we still have it because it's great for road trips. But the poor thing is just sitting all alone wondering why it's being neglected... or maybe it's just happy to be in park. :)
Maddox doesn't care to wear skates, so he just gets pulled in the sled!
The boys certainly surprised me with their talent on the ice. They were speeding along like they do it all the time! They've been on ice rinks before... not a lot, but they've been on ice. Well, this ice is VERY different. It has ruts and grooves and cracks (yes, cracks!) and is not smooth by any stretch of the imagination! Oh, and there's NO walls to cling to!
But they skated along like they've been doing it all their life. I suppose the in-line roller hockey helped out quite a bit.
Me, on the other hand... I just couldn't quite keep my feet steady! I don't remember having this much trouble on an ice rink, but it didn't matter. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it truly helped it feel like Christmas!
When Maddox had had enough, he and I sat on the side and watched... and amused ourselves with the camera.
Truly a wonderful memory!
Above she is talking to the group about her darling little screech owl. The group loved her, as they always do!
The boys had a fun time dressing up like cowboys in the museum.
Before she left, she let us handle the birds. Below is me with E.T. (stands for Extra Terrific), the Great Horned Owl. 
E.T. is 26 years old and has been in Doris' care the entire time. She was taken from the nest illegally and imprinted onto a human, so she was assigned to Doris since she would never be able to survive in the wild. Doris uses E.T. to educate kids on why we don't ever take birds from their nest. 
Doris is able to tickle E.T. on the beak and feathers, but no one else would ever get away with such a thing! It's amazing to see her relationship with this gorgeous bird.
Cara was legally taken very young for research purposes, but has been in Doris' care for the last 26 years. Cara is very friendly and loves for you pet her on the head. We didn't keep her out here very long, because she's originally from Florida and this Colorado mountain weather was not her cup of tea! See how her feathers are all ruffled out?! She was C-O-L-D!
It is always a joy to spend time with Doris... she has truly become a cherished member of our family.
While in Allen, we also got to see our old house since our friends bought it! Thanks, Cindy, for showing us around! The place looks fabulous (even though you painted over my stripes... *teasing*!) and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in your new home.
The dinner was fabulous, and the company even better. So good to see you guys... thanks, Mark & Debbie, for hosting. As always, it was beautiful.
After dinner, some chose to go outside and enjoy the afternoon, as Mark & Chandler above. But others could be found in the typical lounging position, as demonstrated by my nephew, EJ, here:
Mason and Morgan had a long-anticipated opportunity to spend the night with their buddies. Here's Mason with his good friend, Andrew. 
In order to drop him off, we had an opportunity to visit with some of our friends too... here I am with my good friends, Jill & Jazen.
There were so many more people I wanted to see, but it was off to east Texas to spend a couple days with my parents before we made the long drive home.
It was such a lovely trip... despite the long drive. The boys really did quite well taking into consideration they sat in such close proximity to one another for about 15-16 hours! 
Just look at how much they love each other!!
So I zoomed in a bit so you could actually see what he was photographing! As the story goes, Mason made it all the way down the yard without hitting anything, but then ramped a snowbank at the driveway and came to an abrupt (and painful) stop on his buttocks. Fortunately, the helmet kept his noggin' in tact.
The next pair of photos is of Morgan. He learns from Mason's mistakes (sometimes), so he managed to stop BEFORE said snowbank.
And where, do you ask, is little Maddox during all of this death-defying excitement?
Shoveling the yard, of course!
And then I made one for Maddox:
I've already started working on Mason's, but it will be a while yet before it's finished. Here is the fabric he and I picked out for it:
I needed a new hobby like I needed another hole in my head, but somehow I always find the time for the things I enjoy the most... and right now, it's quilting!
He had a blast this year - really taking the whole "Trick or Treating" thing to heart! Of course, we had to swap a lot of candy between the boys due to Maddox's allergies... he got all the Smarties and Starbursts, while the older boys got all the chocolate. Oh, and Mom got all the Twix bars... Everyone was happy! We went to downtown Evergreen where the shops hand out candy. It was a wonderful time - they start early, so it's safer and everyone can see each other's costumes! We all preferred it over the typical neighborhood walks. Just another reason to love our new home!
We did manage to get ONE group of Trick-or-Treaters at our door that evening! We were very impressed that they made the trek all the way up our driveway. Turns out, it was a neighbor's daughters and their friends. Good thing I had purchased a bag of candy "just in case"! Needless to say, they were WELL rewarded for their strenuous jaunt to our front door. :)
I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
Michael was out every couple hours plowing the driveway so we could get out if/when we needed to.
But big snow means big fun! Maddox couldn't wait to get out and play... here he is all prepared (minus the coat) in his snow suit.
Do you think he was having fun?!
His hat (that Grammy made for him!) kept sliding down over his eyes, making it hard to see! But it did keep his little head warm!
Mason and Morgan had fun creating snow angels...
...and teaching Maddox how to do it as well!
Believe it or not, Morgan is in here somewhere. He stayed in there for a good long time, and he was amazed that he didn't get cold at all! That's what a good snow suit will do for you.
Maddox liked helping us shovel...
Even Abbey had a good time in the snow! She's hard to photograph because she's so fast, but if you can imagine, she hops around in the deep snow like a baby lamb! It's the cutest thing! Of course, she gets covered in snow "dingleberries", but she never seems to mind! She digs her face in the soft powder and gets a big mouthful of the yummy stuff... and she'll even chase after a snowball, searching frantically to find it so she can return it for another throw. City dog turned Mountain dog, that's for sure!
Alas, after all the fun, it is time to come in and warm up by the fire. Just look at those little rosy cheeks!
And when Mother Nature has given us all she has, we wake up to a glorious day of blue skies and sunshine! Notice Mason down in the corner (red coat).
We had a dazzling display of icicles!
And Maddox discovered what a true POPSICLE is! He enjoyed licking it...
Finally, here are some shots of the igloo that Mason and Morgan worked on! They piled up a huge mound of snow and then dug out a hollow space inside... it was big enough for Mason to get all the way in - almost! Of course, he couldn't turn around in there, but he sure had a good time making it!
So Happy Halloween to all of you... hopefully you won't have to traipse through snow to do your trick-or-treating like we will! But first, we've been invited to some good friends' house for a PIG ROAST this afternoon! (I bet they had to dig quite a bit to create the pit!)