Thanksgiving in Texas

We made the long, long journey back to Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. It was the first time back for me and the boys since we moved in April, and it was so wonderful to see our friends and family again! I failed to get as many pictures as I should have... for instance, I don't have a single picture of us with the Thomsons. They were our backdoor neighbors, good friends, and gracious hosts for this trip. Thank you, Scott & Debra, for always making us feel so welcome. We can't wait to return the favor whenever you can get up this way!

Here is Maddox on our old playset, which is now in the Thomson's yard. He is just about tall enough to actually enjoy it now!

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.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was held at my brother's house. Here is Maddox with his favorite Uncle...

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!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving...
Michele

The Newest "Best Thing Ever"

...snowboarding!

Michael and the big boys have gone a couple times already to Loveland to try their hand... er... feet at snowboarding. They have all been completely intoxicated by its thrill factor. Enough so, that they feel it necessary to brave the stumps and trees in our yard just to have one more run...

I apologize for the photos. Michael took them and he doesn't usually get too close to the subject... Mason's in there somewhere in a red coat.

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!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We enjoyed ours in Texas with old friends, neighbors, and, of course, my family! They truly made the 15-16 hour drives worth it. Miss them already... but we don't intend to make that drive again any time soon.

Michele

The Quilts

Moving to the mountains has encouraged me to start up a new hobby... quilting! I have been enjoying my first projects... quilts for the boys! They are very simple in nature but still beautiful and fun to make - I think they are sometimes called "rag quilts". It consists of two layers of soft, cozy flannel with some batting in between to keep them warm on our chilly nights. The first one I made was for Morgan:

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!

Here's to warm, snuggly nights!
Michele

How We Spent Halloween

First of all, Happy Birthday to Michael! I'll show you a picture of his gift later... but first, I need to catch you up on Halloween. I never showed you what Maddox dressed up as:

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!
Michele

October Snow

You've all heard about it... Denver got hit with big snow. Well, here's what we endured...

When it was all done, we measured between 2 & 3 feet.

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!)

Michele

Halloween

I thought you might want to see the boys' costumes this year... we didn't dress Maddox up yet, so I'll show him to you another day, but here is what Mason & Morgan came up with:

Yes, our little Mason is quite the nerd. :) He even won a contest for funniest costume at his Boy Scout Troop meeting on Monday night!

Morgan is our mad scientist...


Isn't Halloween fun?!

Michele

Jack-O-Lanterns...

It was a cold, snowy day here in Evergreen today... perfect weather for staying in and carving our pumpkins! ('course, we had to warm those pumpkins up by the fire first since they had been sitting outside on the front porch!) Mason and Morgan both have pumpkin carving contests through Scouts, so I was sure to let them each design their very own faces...


Morgan was having big fun...

And here's how they turned out... this first one is Mason's:

Here's Morgan's:

And here's my pumpkin:

Hee hee! Okay, here's mine:

I hope it stops snowing long enough for us to put these out on display!! Maybe we should've given them all shivering faces with goosebumps. Then they might look a little more natural out on our porch. :)

Michele