Cute and Crazy

Cute



Crazy



Cute



Crazier. And maybe kind of cute.

Howie turns 8!

I think that Howie had a great day. We did the usual Krispy Kreme breakfast and Chuck E. Cheese dinner. In between I brought him cookies to share with his class and put together a little treasure hunt to find his stash of presents. Being the exact opposite of an awesome mother, I didn't take very many pictures and I gave him an IOU for his birthday party. The treasure hunt was well documented thanks to Howie's father.




Howie had to decide how much he wanted to find his presents. In the end, he thought touching Nina's barbies was a sacrifice he was willing to make in order to find his presents.







Howie ended up with an airsoft rifle and pistol compliments of Grandma and Grandpa Marshall, night-vision goggles thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bentley, and a pocketknife from us. He can do some serious damage in the dark. We will all beware.

Oh Christmas Tree

This wasn't my favorite experience. I was a little frustrated, but hopefully the kids won't remember that and will just remember the fun parts of decorating the tree. Nina and Cameron were bugging us all day to get the tree and decorations down. The house wasn't very clean, but what's new? We finally got the stuff out, but we couldn't pull Donovan and Howie away from their video game. So Matt, Nina and Cameron began putting the tree together. Then the lights wouldn't work so Matt spent several minutes fidgeting with each light trying to get them to work. The whole time Nina was begging to put up all the "most special" decorations. I kept trying to give her assignments, but they weren't special enough. Then after Matt figured out the lights, we get them hung, and all heck broke loose. There was a mad dash to the ornaments and a fight over which one belonged to which kid and "he hung more up than me" and "she took mine" and bla bla bla. In the end, everything looked fine and everyone seemed happy. Well, most people.

The Lights in Littleton

This is one of my favorite traditions. Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, our cute, historic downtown has it's lighting. Santa makes his way along the main street in his sleigh and as he reaches each street corner, the whole section lights up. The lights are so beautiful! This year we were a little late arriving so we went straight to the end where Santa turns on the lights of a huge Christmas tree. Matt took turns lifting up all the kids above the crowd to get a glimpse of Santa. The wind was so crazy making it slightly miserable, but when the kids saw Santa up close and saw the lights around us suddenly turn on, they were so happy and excited. It was well worth the cold and crowds.






Howie giving Nina a better view.

Turkey Trot part II

A friend of mine told me about a free Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and I'm so glad she did. Donovan and I ran a 5K together 2 years ago and I have been wanting to run another race with him. This was such a perfect fit for us. It was a low key event and did I mention FREE?! I was so proud of Donovan! He chatted with me, ran the whole time and beat his last time by over 2 minutes! I hope this sweet child wants to run with me in the future. It would be so enjoyable.

Southglenn Lights

This event kicked off our Thanksgiving break and the start of the holiday season. All the local schools are competing for money from the mall by accumulating points from purchases at stores. The mall awarded bonus points to kids who attended this lighting so we thought it would be fun to attend and nice to add more points for our school's total. We saw the line to meet Santa and decided we would just enjoy him from afar.

Cameron dressed in his very best.



These two got busted for climbing in the empty fountain.



Our little stroller enjoyed it's last outing. It lasted us 10+ years. I think it had a good life.



Donovan and Howie were fighting. Nina was pouting. Cameron was cute and Rex was taking it all in.

Turkey Trot

Donovan, Howie, and Nina got to participate in their school's annual Turkey Trot. They all started out with a bag of tickets with their names written on them. When they completed a lap, they got to put a ticket into a drawing for a turkey. Despite their stamina and many, many laps, none of our kids came home with a turkey. The exercise was lots of fun though.

Guess who finally learned how to crawl

I'll give you a clue, it's one of these guys:



Believe it or not, this is our first child to crawl. Donovan went straight to walking. Howie scooted around on his bum until he walked. Nina followed Howie with the bum-scoot. Cameron also. But Rex! Thank goodness for Rex. I was beginning to think it was me. And for journaling purposes, last weekend Rex learned how to clap and wave. And he is a lean, mean, weaned machine. And he still doesn't have any teeth. And I got rid of our changing table. Just saying.

Thank You Grandma and Grandpa!

Dear Grandma and Grandpa Bentley,

Thank you so much for the gift cards to Dairy Queen! Our parents took us tonight and we all picked out our favorite treat. Our mom was super awesome and forgot to bring her camera. We just want you to know we loved your gift!

Love,
Marshalls 1-5