Thankful

We truly are beyond blessed.  We have SO much to be thankful for!!  We all have our extremely good health. We all have way more than we need on a daily basis.  We have never been without food/shelter/clothes.  We have a beautiful home with lots of room to play.  We both have amazing, steady, well-paying jobs.  We have such wonderful family and friends who love us, invest in us, support us and pray for us.  We have cars that run and don't have problems.  We serve a loving God who watches over us, protects us and cares for us.  Yup, we're pretty much 3 happy clams.  =)

Thanksgiving was fun this year.  We spent the Eve and the Day with Jen's family and kept things very low-key.  And on the actual Day (in the wee hours of the morning), Brian and Greg went out hunting!  They both got something and came home looking like the cat that got the bird.  (haha! yes, pun intended)

The day after Thanksgiving, we headed up to Estes Park - since we didn't go in October.  We got our usual cabin on the river and thoroughly enjoyed alone time as a little family of 3, except this year we got to see the parade they put on after Thanksgiving AND a fireworks show over Lake Estes (that was postponed from July 4th)!  Noah had never seen fireworks before - you should have seen the complete awe and excitement on that precious little face!

We had to put our tree and inside/outside decorations up a couple days early this year since we knew we'd be gone during the time we usually put it up.   It's been fun watching that little boy of ours get SO excited about everything related to Christmas.  =)  He loves to walk all around the tree and point and make comments about all the ornaments.  And the lights on the tree must go off and on 100 times a day.  (Remember this blog post from last year?)  He also asks every day if it's time to open presents yet.  (Maybe we got a little ahead of ourselves, but we have ALL but 2 presents bought and wrapped!!)

Christmas partying has begun! We have at least 2 Christmas events scheduled on our calendar every week till Christmas.  It's gonna be a busy, but joyous season!

We also have started doing some Christmas crafts and playing seasonal games with Noah.  More to come on that, later.  =)

Hope you all had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as we did!

Preschool Book

Awhile back, we bought Noah a Preschool book.  He absolutely LOVES it and asks to do "Preschool book" all the time now.  =)  We do it when we can.  It's nothing rigorous.  Just something extra for learning and passing the time during the day.

We were absolutely amazed at his progress from (literally!) one day to the next.  "Red" was one day, and "orange" was the next.  Look how well he stayed in the lines!!!  We were beyond impressed.  =) Especially since he's not even 3 yet!!!

And Then.....

We went a different route this year. 

Instead of doing the traditional carving of our pumpkin(s), we let Noah paint his pumpkin!  The idea in our heads of how it would go..... well..... it most definitely didn't end up turning out that way.  It ended up turning out much better than the picture we had originally had in our heads.  We've never laughed so hard in all our lives.  Take a look.  =)

So we laid out the tarp, the paints and staged him for a picture. (Cheese!)

And then..... the painting started......

..... still doing good.....

..... and then..... he wanted to paint with Daddy.......

..... and then...... with Mommy......

..... and then..... he squished his hands together, squirting paint all over and making funny noises.

"Hmmmm......." (you can actually SEE the wheels turning in his head!!)  =)

And then...... he thought it looked like fun to paint his arms......

..... and then his legs......

..... and then his shirt and his HAIR......

..... and then his face (with some added help).  =)

Ta-da!  He was one HAPPY mess by the time he was done.  Paint was everywhere unexpected (and we mean everywhere - fridge, cabinets, floor, him, US!)

The next morning, after the paint had dried, we let Noah decorate it with some Halloween googly-eye stickers. 

What a ginormous treat for such a little boy.  =)  How fun it was to just "go with the flow" and not worry about plans going a different direction or paint getting all over things.  =)

Trick-'arrrrr'-Treat

Our Halloween was a two-fold celebration this year.  Our house has never had this much candy in it before.  ;)

Sunday night, we did something we've never done before - we did a "Trunk or Treat!" Some friends at church live out on a f 'arrrrr' m and had a bunch of people over for a hay ride, a scary maze, games, a potluck dinner and then trunk or treating out of the backs of vehicles.  We joined some friends who did a "pajama/slumber party" theme and hung out in the back of their van in our comfy clothes, and let Noah steal the show for our family.  He was Jake - from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  It was a gorgeous day/night for being outside, but as the sun went down towards the end of the party, we started to get very chilly.  So we came home, snuggled in front of the fire and had hot chocolate.  =)

Tonight, we did our usual "Safe Trick or Treat" in downtown Monument with our neighbor friends and then p'arrrrr'tied with them afterwards.  After dinner, we went around the neighborhood and did some more trick-or-treating.  We had SUCH a blast! 

 

 

So..... our little man's BIG (and we mean BIG) obsession for the last 9 months or so has been the Disney TV show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Not only is he obsessed with the show, but he LOVES anything pirate related.  So what are we to do?  Indulge him.  =)  Pretty sure on some of these things we got some "cool parent points."  ;)

We couldn't resist.  Seriously, Jake jammies!?!?  How awesome is that?!?!

Found this at a pirate store in Alaska.  That made his whole trip right there.  =)

 

"Arrrrrr!" Fun hook and foam sword that Mimi got him.   

 

Got this "team treasure chest" in Alaska too.  The chocolate "gold doubloons" we found when we got home were an added bonus.  =) 

 

He made this in Sunday School this past week.  SO very happy about having another sword! =) 

 

Mimi stocks up on these for him at her house - and often has some in her purse....  ;) 

 

Score!  

 

Printed these for him to color from the Disney Junior website.  TOO fun! 

And of course, the super cute Jake costume (which thrills his soul to no end!) - which after tonight will just be fun dress-up clothes.  =)

We've Been BOO-ed!

Gotta love good, clean fun. Especially with this particular holiday coming up. 

Tonight, our doorbell rang.  When we answered our door, no one was there - except the "phantom ghost" and the goodies he brought along with him.  =)

Kinda reminds us of when we got "flocked" back in 2007.....  =) (Click here to see.)

Weekend in Denver

It's always fun to get away from the norm.  So that's what we decided to do this past weekend.  =)

We spent Friday-Sunday in an amazing hotel (which according to Noah had a "very fun pool"), tried a bunch of fun/new places to eat, shopped, took the little man to ride the light rail (since he's a fan of trains), visited a pumpkin patch and just had fun spending time together for Jen's birthday.

Playing with pizza dough while waiting for our pizza.  He loved cutting it, smashing it, tearing it apart, coloring on it and throwing it (oops!).  =)

 

At the pumpkin patch!  He LOVED the goats.  "Those goats are really sweet, Mommy! I want one!"

 

"Where's MY pumpkin, Daddy?  Here it is!  This is the one I want!" 

 

Making us chase him through the corn maze.  Over 30 minutes we did this!  =)

 

 

Love.

 

Rubber duck races! 

 

He was absolutely beside himself with excitement.  Who'd of ever thought....  Most likely, you'll see us riding it again in the future for the heck of it.  =)

 

"Look, Mommy!"  Oh boy.....

 

 

And that was our weekend in a nutshell.  =)