Christmas Whirlwind

WOW! The past couple of weeks have flown by! I have so many pictures I want to share that I'm going to have to pace myself. Grandma Susie and (Great) Grandma Dot arrived from Wichita on the 20th and Monica and her family arrived on the 23rd. They arrived from Houston, Tx. We had been hoping for a white Christmas and we got it! We did some sledding in the front yard and on the sledding hill the day they arrived...

Here are some pictures from the 23rd. I will try to post Christmas pictures soon!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Nestle giveaway.. who doesn't love chocolate?

Check out this great Nestle giveaway over at Sittingonanoak All you have to do is leave a comment to enter the giveaway. Also Terra has a great fudge recipe on her post!

On a side note... I hope you are all doing well this holiday season. Yesterday was Connor's last day of school so he is officially on break. Alex has one more day. I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks to relax, enjoy christmas with family and friends and of course eat too much! I'm trying to pace myself but I know when grandma arrives with her yummy treats (hopefully some of her famous fudge). I won't be able to contain myself... Let the sugar buzz begin!!

We are also looking forward to Monica, James and the kids to arrive. We haven't seen them in over 2 years so we are very excited. Alex is so anxious to see his cousins he can hardly stand it!! Every morning he asks me "how many days til my cousins get here??". They live in Houston so we were really hoping to give them a white Christmas... There is a little snow in the forecast on the 23rd, lets hope we get enough for the kids to sled and have a good snowball fight!

My shopping is almost completed. I have lots of wrapping to do but it's one of my favorite things to do and I like to do it with Susie (My MIL). She is the best wrapper I know. Her packages are always beautiful. I'm looking forward to sitting up a big table, grabbing a glass of wine and wrapping and rapping :-) away!

I hope you all are enjoying the holidays. What are you up to and what are your holiday plans??

Fa-la-la Bad Haiku Festival

Join in the fun with the Fa La La Bad Haiku Festival over at Laura's Catholic Teachers Musings blog.


Christmas songs are swell

I love some Michael Buble

Cant beat his crooning!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXr7sx9aHgg

Wordless Wednesday

Decorating the tree

Well we've had our tree up for days but I've been a little under the weather so we hadn't decorated it. I woke up this morning finally feeling better... after about 10 days! I thought maybe I had a sinus infection. I finally broke down and went to the Dr. yesterday. She said it could be an infection or it could be viral. She gave me a prescription for an antibiotic. I decided not to fill it right away because if it was viral it would go away on it's own. I'm convinced that it was because I decided to break down and pay my $30 co pay that I'm now on the mend.. Wouldn't you just know it.

Anyway since I was feeling better we decided to decorate the tree this morning. Connor said he didn't want to because it was too light outside. At first I thought he was on one of his emotional roller coasters that he's been going on lately but after some thought I understood that the ambiance just wasn't right for decorating. After awhile he came around though and we did get it decorated.

Do you have any traditions when it comes to putting up and decorating the tree? We usually put ours up close to Thanksgiving, either the day after or the weekend. The boys usually do the majority of putting on the ornaments. They love to look at ornaments from years past. Alex especially enjoys finding his "1st Christmas ornament". He also has several penguin ornaments. Connor loves moose and has several moose ornaments that are special to him. Grandma (Susie) has given us many ornaments over the years and we always enjoy seeing them. Grandpa (Dick) has a special shamrock santa that he made one year... Mark and I still have one from our first Christmas together. I especially love the ones the kids have made at school over the years. I think they become more special each year that goes by.

Here are a few pictures...

From Decorating the tree 2009

From Decorating the tree 2009

From Decorating the tree 2009

From Decorating the tree 2009

From Decorating the tree 2009

From Decorating the tree 2009

From Decorating the tree 2009

From Decorating the tree 2009

Great expectations

Mark came up with a great idea. He thought it would be fun to go to a Christmas tree farm and let the boys pick out a real christmas tree! We have not had a real tree since the boys were born. We always used to buy real from one of those places that cut them down and sell them. The boys have never known the wonderful smell of a real tree at Christmas. We thought they would be really excited. So we got all ready to go and drove to the "Christmas tree farm". When we first arrived we were looking around as we drove up and were a little dissappointed that the trees didn't have a very pretty shape to them. Right away I started visualizing a little spindly Charlie Brown tree.. but then I thought "that's okay, it's all about the experience, it doesn't have to be perfect." Okay, so now I'm back in the mood. But the boys aren't with me. They are walking around unenthusiastically. We decide to leave the tree farm in lieu of another we heard about that was just down the road a few miles. So we pack up and head that way. As we pull in we see that these trees look a little better........until we get up close. We just couldn't find the perfect one. I found several that would work but the boys just weren't into it! They said they would rather just put up our artificial one! What???!! What is wrong with these guys? I thought they would be so excited to cut down their own tree. I had visions of it tied on top of the Suburban and happily trekking home.........but no. So Mark and I shrugged our shoulders in confusion and headed home.

In all honesty I think their blood sugar may have been low. They wanted to eat asap. I can't think of any other explanation.

Alpacos (looks like a mix between sheep and a llama)

Wordless Wednesday

Alex and friends on a snowy day a few weeks ago on our back deck.......now why didn't I think to get one of him and Connor for our Christmas card????

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. For the first time in years maybe ever, it was just the four of us. We decided not to have a turkey but to have a little King crab and tenderloin feast. I have to admit I missed smelling the turkey cooking during the day. We spent the day getting our Christmas decorations out and putting up our Christmas lights. Oh, and of course playing family football. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving to Connor if we didn't have our Thanksgiving family football bowl............ as an added bonus the Broncos played in the evening and won!!

We missed being with extended family but all and all it was a nice day. It was a beautiful sunny Colorado day!

Catching up...

I'm not sure why I lost my zeal for blogging but I think it's coming back! It's been on my mind the past few days. Maybe my writers block is coming to an end.


As you all know we were very busy with football for the past few months. Both boys went to the playoffs. Connor's team lost in the first round and Alex's in the second. Both boys learned a lot. As most of you probably know Connor has always been passionate about football. I think it was a little bit of an eye opener to actually play tackle football. It was a big commitment (at least 3, 2 hr practices a week and a game on Saturday) Also the intensity of the coaches was something for him to get used to. I think he will spend the next few months digesting and analizing if tackle football is really for him.


Alex really enjoyed his teammates and had a lot of fun, most of the time. I honestly thought he would hate it but wanted to give him a chance to decide on his own. I think he was a little surprised at first by the intensity of the practices and coaches but after a few weeks he was actually eager to get to practice. There was one boy in particular that was kind of a trouble maker and he loved to harrass Alex. Well, he obviously didn't know that Alex has him Mom's temper.... One day during a tackling drill, something just clicked in Alex, he had had enough. He put his anger into his tackling and really caught this boy off guard when he tackled him to the ground. The look on both their faces was priceless!

Connor took a few pictures of Alex's last game...

From Alex's last football game

From Alex's last football game

Alex not looking too happy

From Alex's last football game

Halloween Fun

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Snow Day in Colorado!

It's snowing!!!!!!! My alarm went off at 5:45 this morning. Of course I immediately hit the snooze button. Mark came in before the snooze went off and said "Schools cancelled, you can go back to sleep". Those were the sweetest words. Connor was pretty happy about it too..haha. Alex is off right now anyway. I slept a little longer and then got up and looked out the window. The snow was really coming down. I walked into the living room and Mark had the fireplace going, the dogs were curled up in their bed and the best part.................Mark was making my Espresso. It doesn't get much better than that.

The boys got up soon after excited about the snow and the day off.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Are you crafty??

I'm not and sometimes I wish I were. Connor has always loved Halloween and every year it's a big deal for him to figure out his costume. We always visit the costume stores several times before he makes his selection. Yet, he never really seems quite satisfied with what he picks. I think if I were more crafty I could help him come up with something really cool and unique. I fear this may be his last year for trick or treating and I was really hoping to help him come up with something special..........but I got nothin'!

He is seriously considering this..... a taco, yes a taco. So I really need some suggestions quick!!

He wants this costume but add Kanye West shutter shades. Isn't that fabulous??

A Day at Miller Farms

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Fun in the snow

We had a little snow a few days ago and the boys were anxious to go out and play in it when they got home from school. A few minutes after they went outside Mark beckoned me to the window, he said "You have to come and see this". After seeing Alex with his swim goggles and Connor in shorts and long socks I had to grab my camera and run outside.

A Wonderful Weekend....

We had a great weekend visiting with Tamara and Lila! They are visiting from Houston. I took some pictures of the boys playing with Lila. She is only 1 yr old but you wouldn't know it. She can get around like nobodys business! It is so nice to have them here. We miss you Mike!

Celebrating Tamara's birthday

Echo Lake

Weekend before last we took a drive up to Echo Lake. I wanted to see the fall colors. The trees were beautiful on the way up. We took a picnic lunch and walked around the lake. It was a beautiful fall day here in Colorado!

Mark, Dad, Connor and Alex walking down the trail...
Alex stopped quite a bit to practice skipping stones across the lake...
Connor enjoying the view
Alex being patient with me while I snap a photo

Wordless Wednesday

Max and Skylar "spooning".

Photo taken by Grandma Susie

It's snowing in Colorado!!!

I couldn't believe it when Mark said "Look outside, it's snowing!" It had began as a light rain that turned harder and then suddenly turned into snow. Alex rode his bike to school for crying out loud!

Every year we usually have a contest to guess what day the first snow will come on. We didn't even get a chance this year. It snuck upon us. Is snuck a word or is it sneaked?? Either way, you know what I mean.