We had a super Christmas. It comes and goes so quickly! We spent Christmas Eve decorating cookies with friends and then enjoyed a family dinner of Chinese takeout. Yum! Bode was certain he DID NOT LIKE Chinese food but changed his mind after one bite (orange chicken and moo shu chicken). The boys opened their Christmas jammies and then very excitedly sprinkled the magic reindeer food on the lawn, luring Rudolph and his pals just in case they needed extra motivation to make it to our house! We read Olivia's Christmas and The Night Before Christmas for our bedtime stories and then put little boys to bed so Santa could visit. Christmas morning was a hoot. I thankfully did not get called into work and got to see Bode come down the stairs and take in the Christmas bounty. Oh he was excited by how full his stocking was stuffed and by the Geotrax train set Santa left. I woke Keegen up after awhile (he was tired after crying/talking all night. Too wound up for Christmas like his dad??). Bode and Keegen and Doug played with that train all the live long day. Love it. The boys enjoyed literally every gift they opened and took time to play with them all. Many gifts were greeted with, "Oh. It's beeauutiful!" There was much dancing with the truck music. And they were thrilled by Grandpa Bill and Grandma Di's bounce castle and Grandpa Mark and Grandma Alicia's tent and tunnels! We have decided we have the coolest basement around. We also enjoyed delicious eggs Benedict (or "Fenafeh" as Bode pronounces it) and orange julius. That evening our good friends the Lowerys came over for fondue and fun. The kids played and we chowed, exchanged gifts and had a really lovely evening. We enjoyed talking to everyone on the phone and missed you all!

Bode Shakes His Booty

Erin's family Christmas gift to Bode was the new Cranium game where you pack a toy truck before the music and timer goes off and pops everything you've packed back out. It says for ages 6+. So her note to me on the back of that gift was basically, "Don't kill me. I had to get this for him. Hopefully he can find his own way to play with it in the mean time..."

Well, he's certainly found his own way to play with it!...



P.S. Please excuse the Michael Jackson move!

When Trampolines Fly

So, Doug and I are hunkered down for the night. Happy that there will be no more work until after Christmas. Enjoying some pistachios and clementines. Flipping between "A Christmas Carol" and some Discovery Channel thing on squids. The boys are nestled soundly in their beds. It is a wild storm outside, but nothing too out-of-the-ordinary for the highland plains of Colorado.

Suddenly I hear this crazy noise and a crack and a crash. I hear Doug say, "Oh. My. Gosh. The trampoline is in the neighbors' yard." The fence is broken and the trampoline is upside-down almost on their patio.

This is no lightweight trampoline. This is super-heavy-duty and BIG. Doug buried part of it in the dirt and still it had lift-off.

Last year we lost our glasstop patio table to the wind and the fence.

We bundle up and go out to talk to them (it's almost 10PM) but no answer. So i write a note stating we're aware of the trampoline situation, we'll fix it and we're sorry. Stuff it in a ziploc baggie and put it on their door.

Is there some sort of earth-force trying to get us to talk to these neighbors?

And why couldn't it have been their shed that blew away?

And, no. We will not be replacing the trampoline until we move to the west-side away from the awful wind.

Decking the Gutters

Doug actually got the lights on the house a couple of weeks ago. Which was quickly followed by a lot of snow and ice before he was able to connect the extension cords and give the lights some power. So this weekend he got those up and running and i finished my apple fan a la Colonial Williamsburg! Doug kindly cut out the wood, spray painted it and slammed some nails in them for me to skewer the fruit. We're really happy with it. Fun to have something a little different (we aren't the giant inflatable snowglobe-types. i know, TOTALLY BORING but hey). I didn't think to measure where i wanted it to be hung after i'd put the leaves on it, so it's hanging too high. But no worries. That pineapple is sure to rot any day and we'll be up there to replace it and lower the fan. Merry Christmas!

Who Can It Be Now? (Doug's Post)

Yesterday, Bode and I were playing balloon soccer in the basement. Apparently, I wasn't fun enough because 10 minutes into playing Bode informed me that we would "Now begin pretending that my best friend Z and his sister L are here playing with us". After getting over being offended that I wasn't meeting expectations that imaginary friends could, we spent the next hour playing games with Bode's pretend friends. I had to "help" Z kick the balloon ball, was chastised multiple times for getting in Z and L's way and when we were wrestling, each time I would tackle, toss or tickle Bode I would be informed "here comes Z Daddy" and would have to mime the same motions with his imaginary friend. It is much more work playing with imaginary friends then I thought it would be (but I was very good at it).

Then Bode and "Z" went up to go pee pee in the toilet. A few minutes later Bode came down and informed me that he had peed and washed his hands, that "Z" had peed but hadn't washed his hands yet (I could hear the water running up there). So for the next 3 minutes and 20 gallons of water, I had to convince Bode that Zeke needed some help turning the water off (he told me time and time again that Z would turn the water off when he was done).

Finally, dinner time and we had to pull an empty chair right up next to Bode for Z to sit in. Bode wasn't eating much so I had to tell him that Z had almost finished eating all his dinner and that he better hurry to catch up. Bode asked Ashlee to cut up his Pear for him, which she did and then he asked her to cut up Z's pear. Ashlee half-heartedly waived her spoon in the direction of the empty chair and continued to eat her dinner. Bode paused, looked at her and said "Mommy, did you cut up Z's pear? Are you sure? Because you just went like this (as Bode limp-wristed, half-waived his fork in the air)." I just fell apart laughing. Ashlee felt like she was going the extra mile by making any conciliatory move in Z's direction, but Bode called her out and let her know that she needs to sell it better than that.

As we got ready to go read books for bed time I overheard Ashlee ask Bode "It is almost bed time, don't you think that Z should go home now and sleep in his bed?". To which you could almost hear Bode rolling his eyes as he responded "Mommy, NO Z's have come to our house, DUH" (the DUH was implied and has been added here for emphasis and to convey the eye rolling).

It is sometimes hard to win in the Bode-Imaginary-Kingdom.

P.S. - Z was back with us right after breakfast this morning (good luck today Ashlee). :0)

Fa La La La La Ta Da!

Finally. I got Doug's stocking back from the finisher. She did a beautiful job. --i'm so happy with it! Here are pictures of the boys' stockings and our mantel and tree (click to enlarge the mantel pic so you can more fully appreciate the stockings and ooh and aaaah and all that good stuff! ;) ).

This is a picture of our tree all lit up. Please enjoy. Doug really really likes a lot of lights. And so do i. Unfortunately, there are so many lights on this tree that it blew something (a fuse? burned out the cords? no idea) tonight and we no longer have a lit tree. It was really nice while it lasted!

Breckenridge

One of our many things to be grateful for are our good friends. We've been very blessed in that area over the years. Some of our dear friends here in the Springs were kind enough to let us use their condo in Breckenridge this past weekend. What a treat! We headed up Friday morning and left Saturday evening (since Drew had to be at the airport early this morning). It was such a nice getaway. Very relaxing. A change of scene is a good thing sometimes.


Saturday, i hung out with the kids while Drew and Doug headed off to the slopes to do some snowboarding. Doug is a skier, but wanted to try boarding. He's a pretty naturally talented guy and was starting to pick it up when a 13-year old blindsided him, tripped over his board and smashed his face into the tip of Doug's board. When Doug went to help him and see if he was ok, he was literally spitting blood and teeth. Teeth pulled out by the root. Luckily, this kid's dad is a dentist who promptly came and shoved his five bottom teeth back into their holes, told Doug not to worry, "he knocked out his top teeth last year." But Doug is completely scarred for life. He thinks he'll stick to skiing. Drew faired better and had a great time on the mountain. I thought about taking a ski lesson since it's been so long since i've truly skied and i was always all speed and no brakes. But i'll have to do that another time. Once they got home, Drew and I enjoyed a walk and chat through the shops in town.


Bode enjoyed sledding behind the condo. I didn't think he'd ever want to come back inside. Too much fun! And his winter gear kept him nice and toasty. Keegen wasn't as psyched by the snow. He liked being outside in it but just sat. He wanted nothing to do with riding in a sled or walking in the stuff. Maybe next year


I'm so glad Drew came for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to have some family here to share it with. We ate a lot and talked a lot and just hung out a lot. I hope he comes back soon!