CO/WY Trip

We had a fun week up in Colorado and Wyoming. We spent a couple of days in Fort Collins, celebrating (some more) Adam's birthday. What can be better than swimming, Toys-r-Us and Chuck E. Cheese? Tuesday afternoon we drove up to Cheyenne, so Grandpa could do dental exams on all of the boys. Adam had to have an extra procedure done, too. Thank goodness for free dental care and Grandpa. Talking about teeth--Adam lost two teeth while in Cheyenne. On Wednesday, Adam and Matt spent the day with Grandma, which means McDonalds, chocolate chip cookies, and new toys, while Robert, my sister, Holly, and I drove down to Denver to go to the temple. We didn't have Thanksgiving on Thursday because Derek, Alexis, Evan and Greta (my brother and family) weren't arriving 'til 6pm. We went to the Salvation Army during the morning and volunteered. My mom and stepdad also happened to be driving their truck through northern Colorado on Thursday so we all got to see them. That was a fun and unexpected surprise. Adam and Matt were enthralled with the big semi and all of it's buttons. Holly and I got up before 5am on Friday and headed out to do some shopping. I found some good toy deals. The great thing about shopping on Black Friday is I'm always home by 7am. Adam and Matt really enjoyed playing with their cousins, Evan and Greta. I wondered how much the boys would pay attention to them since they aren't quite two years old yet. But, they had great fun together. I think Adam and Matt loved the attention Evan and Greta gave to them. I was a bit surprised how patient Adam and Matt were with them. We had our big Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. Then on Saturday we went back down to Fort Collins to Owen and Kim's house (brother and sis-in-law). They train and board about eight horses on their property so Kim gave the kids pony-rides. Matt wasn't up for it this year but Adam really enjoyed it. In fact, he went twice. We then headed into town for some close-to-authentic British fish and chips, which were yummy. We're picky about our fish and chips since we've had the real thing from our relatives and travels in England and New Zealand. We burnt off lunch at the swimming pool. It was a fun Thanksgiving trip. We hadn't been anywhere for Thanksgiving for the past four years so it was nice to go and especially to have everyone there.

Hip, Hip, Hooray...

...It was Adam's birthday! Doesn't that face prove he had a great day?! Adam loved his birthday. He said he wanted to eat junk food all day...so he did--doughnuts for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and of course, his favorite, McDonalds for dinner. He wanted to stay in his pajamas all day...so he did--until 5:30pm when we went to McDonalds. He opened his gifts in the morning and spent the day playing with them. After dinner, we let him rent a movie from Hastings and stay up late to watch it. Last month he decided he didn't want to have a birthday party with friends but instead do a fun, special activity. Tomorrow we're heading to Cheyenne, WY for Thanksgiving break. On the way, we're stopping in Ft. Collins, CO to go to Chuck E. Cheese and Toy-r-Us. We even found a killer deal ($45) at the Hilton, so we'll stay a night (even though it's only 45 minutes from Cheyenne) so the boys can swim and have fun.

Hip, Hip, Hooray...I'm 7!!

Posing with his presents. Thanks Grandmas, Grandpas and Nanna for the fun presents!

His version of cake and ice cream was a bit different this year. He wanted a KitKat Ice Cream Pie and SpongeBob cupcakes. He enjoyed both.

Happy Birthday

Today is Adam's 7th birthday! Here he is posing with his new glasses.

I'm a Pretty Princess

I warned Matt if he dressed up in my clothes, I would take a picture of him.

Attack of the Naughty Boys

For those of you with boys, you know that potty humor simply comes with the package. They are born with a potty humor gene. Sunday evening Adam and Matt were going to town, talking about anything and everything that involves potty talk, male anatomy, bodily functions , etc. It dawned on me that next week we'll be spending time with our niece and nephew for Thanksgiving. My boys are going to corrupt them! They will no longer, especially Evan (he's a boy--he has the gene), have innocent, nearly 2 year old, minds and vocabulary. Matt is thrilled about this prospect. He wants to try to teach Evan how to burp. So, Derek and Alexis, if you read this, we warn you and we apologize in advance.

Low-Key

The Primary Program is over! Hallelujah!! This was the 4th one in six years I've been in charge of. The kids did great, everything went fine, and thank goodness, I've got a year before I have to do it all over again. I intentionally planned nothing for this current week, so I could simply relax and enjoy doing nothing. The boys are doing well. Adam got his glasses and likes wearing them. I'll post a photo as soon as possible. He looks like a little professor. Matt keeps us laughing--he is a hoot. He's loving preschool and is starting to get out of his 'shy' phase--which is great, because he's beginning to share his sense of humor with others, and not just at home, with us.

Sad Day

It was a sad day today. This morning I finally put away my summer clothes. I wish I could wear shorts year round. It's always hard for me to do this, simply because I don't want winter to arrive. I guess I can now officially start my countdown to spring when I can pull them back out again.

Dr. Appt.

I took Adam to the doctor today. My baby needs glasses. He seems so young to get glasses. He's very excited, though. I remember when I was 8 years old, we were visiting my grandparents and cousins during the summer. My 12 year old cousin, who I thought was super cool, had both braces and glasses. In retrospect, she probably looked a bit dorky, but to me, she looked awesome. I told my mom a number of times that summer that I needed both braces and glasses. Go figure--it must be an age thing to want to wear glasses.

Halloween '09

Is there anything better than Halloween for a kid? Maybe their birthday and Christmas, but not much else. Halloween is pretty hard to beat. Adam and Matt were anxiously counting down the days until Saturday. It was all very exciting but boy, was it a busy week. The beginning of the week I was busy helping Adam's class, teaching piano, going to Liberal for Adam's appt., finishing up the Primary Program (at the library since our hard drive and printer are kaput but that's another story), going to a luncheon and visiting teaching (and that's what I can still remember). The second half of the week was dedicated to Halloween activities---and there were a bunch. Friday morning I helped Matt's preschool class with their party. Then went straight to the church to set up the Primary's activity for the ward party. From there we went to Adam's school to help with his class party. We got home and had a message from the library saying that Adam had won a pumpkin. So we raced over to pick it up. Ate a quick dinner and went to the ward's party and trunk-or-treat. Saturday was a bit calmer. We took the boys to see "Astroboy". We hadn't been to a movie in a few months, so they enjoyed that. Their Grandma had sent them some McDonald Dollars, so we went there for dinner. By that time, they were more than ready to start trick-or-treating. We left the house about 6:45 and were out 'til 9:00. They had SO much fun. The first hour they ran from house to house. The weather was great. We didn't even need jackets. We just went around our neighborhood and didn't have to drive anywhere. It was great. Most of houses were participating. One of them had set up a haunted house. It was sooooo good! We went twice.

Here's Matt's preschool class. He's kneeling, first one on left.

Here's Adam during his school's Halloween parade.

Matt was GI Joe. Getting him to cooperate for a picture is like trying to get a donkey to cooperate. I finally told him he could act tough and didn't have to smile. Whew, what a lesson in patience.

Adam is Dan from Bakugan (Japanese anime). Don't tell him I put this picture up. He, on the other hand, loves to take pictures and will ham it up.

YEAH, WE'RE TOUGH!!

Checking out their stash! Notice Adam's pile is larger--Matt gave him everything he didn't like. There is a dentist in town that is buying Halloween candy for $1/lb. The boys picked out what they don't like and we're going to take it in tomorrow, so they can earn a little money. The dentist is then sending the candy to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.