Sparkle

Sparkle, our elf, arrived the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we have had so much fun finding him each morning. If you don't know about Elf On The Shelf, I'll give you a short explanation. There is a book that explains it all as well.

When your elf first arrives you give him a name (This is Sparkle's third Christmas season with us). He is one of Santa's helpers and every night he travels back to the North Pole to give Santa a report. Then he shows up the next morning in a different place. You may talk to Sparkle as much as you want and he can give messages to Santa, but he doesn't talk back. You can NOT touch Sparkle or he will lose his magic powers. We have not had to deal with this at our house, but some friends of ours touched their elf and he didn't show up the next day.

This year, Sparkle has been really creative as to where he is in the morning. He seems to be having a lot of fun while we are sleeping.

Top of the tree.

Hanging upside down on the attic string.

Taking a bath in the boys bathroom sink.

Riding a moose.

Worshiping the baby Jesus with the wise men.

Peeking out of Miller's stocking.

Miles is even into it. He can say his name and loves to look for him. We love Sparkle and will miss him when he goes back to the North Pole with Santa.

Christmas Time

We've had lots of fun Christmas activities going on around here...

TIS THE SEASON

The boys school has a Tis the Season event right before Thanksgiving. The teachers all do crafts and games with the kids, there are lots of treats and Santa is there. Poor Miles, is not a fan of the big guy.

But, he does like mini donkeys. He calls them heehawheehaw's.

SHARING SHOE BOXES

We went shopping and filled two shoe boxes with all sorts of goodies for a four year-old and one year-old boy. Then they brought their boxes to Friday chapel at school.

The kiddos at Chapel. Do you see Miller in the middle looking at the camera?

The kids give their boxes to the baby Jesus.

Miles just sits in the buggy and takes it all in.

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA

The church has breakfast with Santa every year. After breakfast they have crafts, games and a bounce house while you wait for your turn with Santa. Rudolph and Frosty are also there. Miles seemed to like Frosty.

Still not so sure about Santa.

Miller has asked for a new bike, small sword like Peter Pan, microphone and Cars 2 movie.

Surprise 35th Birthday Trip!

A week ago Saturday, Jud surprised me and told me we were going skiing for my 35th birthday. He had even asked my parents to watch the boys and double checked my schedule to make sure I wouldn't be missing anything important. My birthday was Friday, Dec. 2 and we left on Wednesday. We grabbed a bite to eat at the airport and while we were eating, some of our best friends (Jon & Carly Lee) walked in. Yep, another surprise. About five years ago (pre-kids) we went on a ski trip with them and had so much fun. This time was a little different since we were getting a break from the kiddos (they have 2 boys also). We went to Keystone and stayed at Jud's aunt and uncle's cabin.

This was what we saw as we were driving out of Denver and heading to the mountains. Amazing!

We stopped in Idaho Spring on the way to Keystone and had pizza at Beau Jo's. They have this amazing thick crust, kind of like a bread stick.

We decided we were just going to ski two out of the three days we were there. The weatherman said it was going to really snow on Thursday so we decided to sit that day out and wait for the snow. Of course the weatherman was wrong, but we had a great day anyway.

We did a little outlet shopping and went to the highly recommended Arapaho Cafe in Dillon. Wow, the tomato asiago soup is amazing. Actually everything was amazing there. We even went back on Saturday night for dinner and ate in the basement pub.

After lunch, we drove to Breckenridge. We shopped Main Street for a while and went to Hearthstone Restaurant for happy hour and to warm up. It's this quaint 100-year old Victorian house and we got the best table in the house.

Jud and Jon enjoyed a martini.

What a view!

We walked around and shopped some more until we couldn't take the cold any longer. Downstairs at Eric's is our favorite place for pizza. We got the Gigantor so we could have leftover pizza for lunch on the mountain the next day. SO GOOD!

Ready for our first run on my birthday!

The Dudes!

After skiing the first day, Jon put an impressive wine, cheese and salami spread together for us to enjoy before we went to dinner. Turley Zin...yes, please!

We then took two gondolas up to the top of the back mountain to go to Alpenglow Stube (11,444 ft.) for dinner. What a fun experience! I just love this picture of me and Jud on the gondola. It was super cold. I asked for two blankets and the guy passing out the blankets said, "sure, but it's not even a cold night". I quickly explained we were from Texas.

We had a personalized menu.

Dinner was fabulous. We all tasted each others and agreed that Carly's short ribs were the best. The dessert coffee presentation was also impressive (served with white and dark chocolate shavings, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, ground cinnamon, etc.)

What an amazing surprise trip with great friends! How can we make it happen every year?

Thanks honey! You are the best...I LOVE YOU!

GraMary & Grandpa Visit

Jud's parents came to visit a few weeks and we had a great weekend with them. They were able to see Miller's last soccer game and even go to Jud's cousin's baby shower with us. We didn't take many pictures, but here are two great ones we took before church.

We are looking forward to spending almost a week in Nebraska for Christmas.

Soccer is Over

Miller's last soccer game was Nov. 12. The Fire Dragon Horses weren't the best team around, but we had fun and sort of learned how to play. Miller did score at least one goal in almost every game. This is Miller trying to get the ball as hard as he can with the best "mean face". Too bad he's trying to get it from his teammate Katelyn.

I think running through the tunnel at the end of the games was his favorite part. Oh and of course the snack.

Here is the team after the game.

Here is a few of them making silly faces...love it!

We then had the soccer party on Sunday evening in the private room at Fuddruckers. It worked out perfectly and we had a lot of fun. Miller was super excited to get his first trophy.

Miller and Hannah showing off their trophy's. I love how Hannah giving him the "eye".

What an awesome cookie cake with everyone's name on it.

Miller already misses soccer. Great season Fire Dragon Horses!

Miles' Frist Haircut

On Wednesday, I took Miles to get his first haircut. The minute I sat him down in the car chair he started screaming and trying to get up. He didn't stop until she was done and I got him out. I think he thought I was going to leave him there. I should of had Miller go first so he could watch. That's for sure what I will do next time. Here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone.

Here he is before. His hair didn't normally look like this, she had just messed it up and sprayed it.

Here she is cutting his hair. As you can imagine, these pictures were really hard to get. It's super blurry since he wouldn't stop moving.

His hair does look much better now. I kept it a little longer and a few curls still pop up when it's humid.

Zoo Field Trip

Miller's class had a field trip to the zoo and it was my turn to be one of the two parents to go on the field trip. We got super lucky and had beautiful weather. It was cool in the morning and turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. Two children weren't there, so we had ten kids, two parents, two teachers and the bus driver. I wasn't sure how hard it was going to be to keep up with all the kiddos, but it wasn't hard at all. I only counted them about 100 times though. They were all really good.

Here is a picture of the group. Bradley is hiding behind the giraffe.

Taking a break on a bench.

Miller peaking out of the prairie dog hole.

Miller being silly...but what a cute picture.

Checking out some monkeys.

Miller and Hannah as monkeys.

Trick or Treat

A friend of ours has a party every year on Halloween. Their neighborhood has a Halloween parade that goes down their street, complete with a fire truck. We went to the party for about an hour and then rushed home to Trick or Treat. Our neighborhood gets super crazy so all the young neighborhood kids get out early before it gets dark.

We did our whole street. Miles rode in his car at the beginning.

Angry Birds family. I was able to find an Angry Birds T-shirt and Miller loved it and kept saying I was the black Angry Bird.

Love this picture. We have one just like this of Miller at this age dressed as a lion.

Walking up to our neighbors house holding hands.

Such a cutie!

Miles enjoying his first lollipop as we are passing out candy.

We have to set up chairs in our front yard because we have a constant line of kids (most from other neighborhoods that drive in). We had over 400 trick-or-treaters before 7:30. It's kind of fun except for the people that feel the need to drive along the street following their kids. It's so dangerous with that many people walking around. Stop being lazy, get out of your car, walk with your kids and enjoy the special time. Sorry for the rant.