BETWEEN Thanksgiving & Christmas!

It's been an incredibly busy season around here but none of which we haven't enjoyed.

To back up a bit (like all the way to Thanksgiving) there are a few things we don't want you to miss (although sadly still missing so much)! 

In this season of "newness" and "change" for us, these are a few of the pinnacle events:

Kai accompanied me to the rollerskating rink for my YMCA class graduation. It was his 1st attempt on skates and he did awesome! In 2 hours, we made it around the rink about 5 or 6 times together. He balanced only holding my hands and we only had 1 major wipe out together.....meaning he fell to the ground and needed help up and I pulled something and just wanted to lay there :)

Process Skate Ministry was also super blessed to be able to buy a shuttle bus to haul skaters to and from the skate parks, for mission trips, and for outreach opportunity! It's awesome and the guys love it! Thanks to all our supporters and contributors for believing in God's call to love these skateboarders!

Although crazy busy, we were able to hit a few holiday parties/traditions! Derrick and I got an evening out together and decided to go Ugly Sweater Style....yeah it wasn't the theme of the party but we rocked it well!

We went downtown CO Springs to watch the Christmas Light parade with our great friends, the Tadlocks! We didn't get there early enough for curb side seating, so the kids perched on shoulders for a good view! We did remember chairs and blankets (lugged by stroller through the crowds although barely used) and sipped hot chocolate to get into the Christmas/winter spirit even though it was like 60's most of December.  

We had our 2nd annual get together in Denver with a few college friends and their families! So fun to keep in touch and hang out together a few times a year now that life is so different! We are growing exponentially!

 We had our 2nd annual Skate Church Ugly Sweater party & white elephant exchange as well! It was slightly thrown together this year....since we had moved into our house only days before. The menu included hot dogs and brauts, chips, Egg Nog, soda, and cookies (yikes I know). The guys make us laugh...they ate it all and a few of them remembered their sweaters! 

  Kai also had his 1st preschool Christmas program! We all dressed up to attend the program and then birthday party for Jesus in his classroom afterwards.  He knew all the words, although I never heard him practice. He gave us like 10 thumbs up from the bleachers between songs. So precious! We ate punch and cupcakes together in his classroom and he shared a special gift ornament he made for us.

We picked our Christmas tree this year from a tree stand (which we've never done) but it was a new and different experience! We got a beautiful fir tree, much less "charlie brown" and much more expensive than we usually choose in the woods :) Shopping through the isles of trees was somewhat like hiding in the clothing racks in a department store for the kids. They loved it.

We only managed cookies for my cookie exchange at work before Christmas. The kitchen didn't produce much until the other cookies we frosted ON Christmas Eve. The kids helped by unwrapping the kisses to top the cookies for the exchange. I was all about the help this year as it was hard enough to find all the pans and ingredients to cook anything after the move and renovation!  

Although Christmas is a busy season by nature and with moving added to the mix it became just that 3 fold, we are grateful for family and friends who helped us so much by helping pack, move boxes, babysit, etc and we are extremely grateful our kids who are flexible and gracious to us during change, disorganization, and pure chaos. 

More to come on our Christmas with family and our NEW home.

thankful turkey times

1. We got to sit 6th row in the endzone at the Broncos vs Chargers game this past weekend! I've been looking forward to an exciting, not-every-day date with my hubby for months now (we don't get out much these days). The criteria for earning the ticket (from a Broncos "nut" like Derrick) was being able to name 7 players on the Broncos team this year. It seemed a somewhat daunting task considering I've only sat to watch part of 2 games this season however I do HEAR about specific players quite often! Without the help of the TV or anything else, I did name them; barely, by the skin of my teeth! I named some first names, some full names, and some last names......but hey, they were all 7 names! Besides the fact that it was MY birthday gift as well as Derrick's from his parents, I made the cut!
 So amazing until........migraine hits. I'm covering my nose and mouth to breath into my orange cheerleading towel from the game due to diesel bus fumes as we walk a mile back to the car. Then I'm coping and trying to keep the meds down, lying in the front seat............. then cop lights are pulling Derrick over for expired tags on our van (oops I thought it had been awhile). Finally, after my head is really spinning we are on our way to pick up the kids and I'm puking in the coffee mug. Nice. Great way to top a long awaited date :)

2. We have a trytophan-induced, fat, and lazy turkey drawn up on our wall with colorful feathers expressing our THANKS this season. It was a fun art project to write out the BIG and small ways we feel blessed this year and this week together and give our lazy turkey some spunk! Happy Thanksgiving!

3. My childhood obesity prevention class I teach at the YMCA graduated this last weekend and we celebrated at Skate City! I haven't been rollerskating in years! It brought me back to all those Friday night school gatherings at the roller rink skating hand-in-hand with some nerdy boy and all my birthday parties at Dakota Skateland taking laps in the skate ride for the birthday girl only! Needless to say, lots of fond memories on the rink. So I thought I'd pass the love and take Kai with me and let him get a feel for it! We started out a little rough and I think I may have pulled something (not really but I am sore), but we ended much improved! Only one major wipe out including both of us!

Me bracing Kai or Kai bracing me??

After our 2 hours skating we probably made it around the rink 5 times together!! :)

4. I have a few parenting realities that are crawling under my skin lately. The reality of raising kids is when their "ugly" and your "ugly" is all too similar. We've been working on many respect issues with Kai in the past weeks and sometimes when I see his frustration seeping through during discipline, it's scary to see myself responding in the wrong way right through him. The other reality of having these 3 munchkins so close in age is the things of one child are learned by another child through osmosis. Some days if I hear one "potty word" then I hear it automatically x 3 a million times a day....which could drive a sane person straight into insanity! Just saying....

5. The house we are trying to buy is pending, still. It's been pending since mid-Sept. We are so thankful this season for the sellers for sticking with us. We are also so thankful that our landlord is letting us stay put in our rental house an extra 2 months!! He has been beyond generous! We are praying that all things will be confirmed and signed before we enter this Christmas season!

Gobble-tee Goo-k

~Happy Halloween 2012~

Yes, all of these pictures are of this Halloween celebrated over about 4 days. Not ONE of the kids costumes were the same at any given party. 

I have decided that options may just be the key to less fuss. I hate talking my kids into wearing their costume, or messing with accessories falling off, or arguing that a cowgirl does NOT wear ballet slippers but DOES wear a shirt:) The thing that makes me smirk the most about costume selection is that my kids LOVE to dress up! It's our main staple for play time at home. They pick them out and put them on themselves and mostly choose the outfits that are logical together.....western wear goes together, dance attire goes together, superheroes have appropriate weapons, etc. So it baffles me when Halloween rolls around and we have selected and/or bought a special outfit that they would chose to boycott and argue about wearing it!! What's the deal with that?  

So in light of all that, I have learned to pick my battles on this one. Halloween costumes will never be one of them. In addition to the fact that I never plan ahead when it comes to costumes anyway it also may help me avoid the SUPER SCRAMBLE. So, they picked the costume they wanted for each party this year (with a minimal amount of direction anyway) and none ended up being worn more than once. Go figure. I guess it IS like having Halloween each day when you have a large dress-up bin!

We did Trunk-or-Treating with great church friends at the farm (friends property). The kids ran wild through a semi-haunted hay maze, chased barn cats, and picked at a wonderful potluck (that we adults thoroughly enjoyed) so they could get straight to business collecting candy from each car's trunk! 

Kai a SWAT member, Addie a cross between ballerina & gymnast, and Eli a one-eyed pirate. 

One-eyed E was quite proud of this manly mustache. When walking from car to car he was quiet to say "trick or treat" but lingered around at each trunk to make eye contact for his "thank you's" So precious!

Warm and happy to collect some sweet treats! She is wearing a turtleneck, a long-sleeved unitard and a leotard with a tu-tu with white socks and ballet slippers! Again, she chose this "costume." 

Eli playing a throwing game to receive his candy!

I voted myself most warm and cozy costume. I'm very willing to pull this one out again next year! We decorated the back of the van with spiders (spiders are super creepy in our house recently especially since we've been finding BLACK WIDOWS everywhere now that we are packing to move--yikes).

We went to our playgroup Halloween party! It was an art getting this pic....more than half the kids there are 3 or under. We had spooky treats and played ghost bowling and pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. It was a wild time!

Addie was a ballerina, Kai was a SWAT member but less accessorized, and Eli was Mator from Cars.

Instead of tramping around from house to house, we decided to hit a church Harvest Party. There were games, face painting, food, etc. TONS of kids in fun costumes but also requiring waiting in line for activities.

Kai and Eli were cowboys and Addie was in her unitard with a different tu-tu and different sparkle shoes. We could just call her a "dancer."

Waiting in line patiently.......

 Each of the kids got their faces painted! 

Eli requested a "cow." Not sure where she was going with this one....slightly disappointing. When we reminded Eli to say "thank you" to the lady he gave a turned-up-nose-look and shook his head. Poor guy.

Addie LOVED her butterfly full face! 

This cowboy needed a horse.....pretty amazing if you ask me! I like how she tied it right into the sideburns he already had! :)

Our lil happy dancer (right before her meltdown)

Derrick taught Kai how to sort his candy.....yah, I know, who really does that? My OCD husband taught him the categories for taking proper candy inventory. Oh gezzzzz

Well, we all stayed safe and will be rationing our load of candy for weeks to come. I feel like there's always need for extra emphasis on thorough toothbrushing habits this time of year in our house! I honestly look forward to the years I sit at home waiting for the doorbell to ring with little tykes vs prowling the streets!  Hope you Halloween was more happy than spooky.

Fall flies

Our fall has been filled with baking pumpkin muffins and more importantly eating them, cuddling up on the couch together for family movies and pumpkin carving. It's been filled with much much more, but man it gets away from me. 

My little bakers. Addie and Eli dump in ingredients and Kai cracks eggs or helps prep some ingredients. It's hectic baking you could say! I have great memories baking with my mom and brothers as a kid. The licks of batter or dough are what I recall as the highlight! My kids are following in my footsteps. I think that's what they are waiting for in this pic!

Boys Best Friend.
Kai and Scout have become closer buddies. He's taking more responsibility for her by
 helping feed her breakfast and supper and giving her lots of love and attention. He includes her in his play and talks to her regularly. I have busted them on the couch and the Love Sac together (which is not allowed).

Cheese Ball.
We laugh at Eli frequently. He has always been our funny man. We question him daily if he learned ________(whatever he's doing) at "Funny School." He thinks it's hilarious and plays it up every chance he gets! Every time he finishes something he states "I cashed it" (picking up on his Daddy's goofy phrases). He's molting right out of his toddler skin and into early preschooler mode. He's speaking in mostly complete sentences and throwing much more complex and manipulative tantrums (lucky me).

This little Diva loves to dress up (partly dress up as you can see) and dance. She chooses a dance outfit and instructs me to crank up the music in the kitchen. She's all sassy OR all sweet as usual but bordering along drama queen as well. She's working hard on dropping her afternoon nap, which is the culprit to sassy and drama queen modes later in the day :(

Each of the munchkins carved their own pumpkins this year, each with a different face. Eli was hesitant on touching the "guts" at first but Addie jumped right in! Yes, she's in her underwear. It's hard to capture home life without her being at least half naked these days.

Gettin' the guts out

A little too much? Derrick drilled nostrils in Kai's pumpkin.

With their finished and lit pumpkins!

Other Highlights:

• The kids and I got to go on Kai's 1st preschool field trip to Fountain Creek Nature Center. They enjoyed the animal education puppet show more than the actual nature hike to my surprise! Great program. 
• God provided GREATLY at our 1st ever Process Skateboard Ministry Fundraiser. We raised enough $ to buy a van/bus for transportation, outreach, mission trips, etc etc. Check out skateprocess.com if you don't know much about this ministry.
• We continue to wait to close on our NEW HOUSE. We've had multiple delays this month and we are daily trusting OUR plan is not the BEST plan. 
• Halloween costume parties are on the calendar in T-minus 3 days and I have yet to even give it a thought! This is fairly typical of me :(

Happy Fall.

Celebrating Kai Christmas Style

We had GREAT chaos with 3 of our 4 cousins over Kai's birthday weekend at the North Pole! There are 7 of them 7 and under.....it's always WILD! Always FUN!

It was the first birthday we've celebrated together ever, so we did it right! Thanks Papa and MooMoo!

The kids rode SO many rides. We did as many as our little hearts desired! It was very impressive how brave and enthusiastic the 3 little ones were!

Addie posing in the sleigh

Eli psyched about his ladybug

My cutie niece, Ella

Everyone on the very fast roller coaster

The girls spinning the tea cups

Cousins age 7 and under....minus little Tessa (1) who was sick

Eli the bus driver

Kai blowing the candles on his Rice Krispie treats

YUM! Kai, Drew, Ella, Addie

Eli sandwich with Uncle Garrett and Derrick

Kai is 5! Thanks Papa and MooMoo

Aunt Mimi and the troops with Santa

Sleigh ride with Papa and MooMoo.....it is really an art to get all these faces looking and smiling at once!


Loved spending our day with family! I left with 2 thoughts from this extravagant day,  "why don't our cousins live in CO?" and "why have we not been here before?" 

Kai James

This guy is FIVE today!

Probably no different than every other mom whose first child turns 5, but I gotta say it:  

Man, time really flies. How did he get SO big?

This last year has been lots of changes for this growing boy;

He rides a pedal bike alone without training wheels,

He goes to preschool,

He digs "man time" with Dad,

He enjoys artwork especially when it includes glue or scissors, 

He sleeps on the top bunk,

He's growing as a helper and role model with his lil bro and lil sis,

He still loves weapons and imaginary play,

And he is constantly applying life's lessons!

Happy Birthday to our KAI-MAN! A BLESSING that started out in such a small package and just keeps growing bigger and better in every way!

Happy Apple Farm

Happy Fall!

We ventured south to Penrose, CO with friends on Friday to enjoy Fall and pick apples at the 

HAPPY APPLE FARM.

Great thing is.....they had apples, berries, AND pumpkins!

Campbell, Kai, Eli, Addie, and Reese waiting for the hayride back to the car.

It's a very cute orchard, dazzled everywhere with Fall decor.  I loved the colors, corn husk bundles, pumpkins, hay bales, scarecrows, etc! We picked raspberries, apples, and 1 small pumpkin. Something for each to hold. We took a hayride out into the fields (Eli's favorite part), sampled berries to our heart's delight (Addie's favorite part), and reached for the most plump, worm-free apples with the apple picker tools (Kai's favorite part). A beautiful day and great time enjoyed with good friends (my favorite part).

Kai and Addie climbing an apple tree.

Campbell and Kai .....buds.

Hayride groupies. 

The berry pickers!

This girl LOVES her raspberries!

The "girls" LOved their berries I should say....Reese sampling a fist full.

Kai going for the good ones.....using the apple picker.

Eli was Mommy's helper holding the bag and sampling multiple apples in the process.

Now, what to do with 10 lbs. of tiny apples? Shall I attempt apple pie, taking a stab at homemade crust? A peeling nightmare FOR SURE.  We will see how the week pans out.....not feeling the cooking vibe amidst a busy week thus far. However, late night sweet treats are my weak spot. :) Enjoy Fall as the long sunny days slip away from us.