Wednesday, December 2, 2015

November part 1 (mostly pictures)

We were spoiled by having my Mom come for 3 weeks during November.  We worked hard while she was here and painted my kitchen/living room and all the ceilings on our main floor. 
We tried to do something each morning, and then would spend the afternoons working on the painting.  Some mornings mom woke up before us all (and we get up early) and painted early.  I seriously don't know what I would have done without her, because painting with two little curious "helper" boys is tricky.  

We showed her Golden, Co.









We went to the museum of life and science.
And did some shopping.
Up Buffalo Bill's mountain (Lookout mountain)






To Tracen's soccer a few times.

And Mom even babysat a few times so Luke and I could go on a few dates. 
We went to the zoo.
And we spent time making Christmas treats, like caramel, fudge and dipped some chocolates.
One night Luke went to a football game and I had plans of us having a girls night, but we were both so tired from all we had been doing that it didn't quite go as planned and I ended up asleep on the couch.  We made up for it by going out for dinner another night and getting a bunch of appetizers, and my favorite - POUTINE.

Tracen has been so excited about us finally getting snow and he asks everyday if he can go and shovel, he is quite a good little shoveler.





And then Dad, Jenelle and Erika, Jamie and Chet came to spend American Thanksgiving with us... more to come about that.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Canadian Thanksgiving



 Nothing makes me feel homesick like the holidays, especially the ones that are celebrated in Canada, and not in the USA.  I had my first bout of real homesickness since moving to CO when Thanksgiving *in Canada* was coming up.  We were still in our tiny apartment with our table that fit only 3 chairs and I wanted to celebrate with our friends but we couldn't fit any in our place to eat, with all our kids.  I decided that I could at least bake a pie, and hope that would make me feel better.  Our friends invited us for dinner on the Sunday before actual Thanksgiving and asked me to bring the pie.  When we walked around to the backyard we were welcomed with even MORE friends and "OH CANADA" playing.  I was trying so hard not to cry and just felt so overwhelmed with the love I felt. 

Luke and I have both felt it and expressed it to each other a few times, but we know that we are in the right place for us right now.  It is hard being away from family, but nothing beats that feeling like this is where we are meant to be.  It doesn't hurt that our friends all live away from their families too, so it makes us all a little more like family.  

Big thanks to the amazing friends we have made, and the way they took us under there wing and made a Canadian Thanksgiving to remember and even more to be grateful for.
















The food was all so amazing! I need to get recipes for everything, and we already had a girls morning learning how to make the buns (or rolls in the US) that Amanda amazed us all with.  And thanks to Suzy for literally being a professional photographer and getting some photos of the day!



Monday, October 5, 2015

Bubble Guppie Party

Drat-- these photo's are not at all in the right order and I am far too lazy to correct them.  With Meika and Tracen having their birthdays only a few days apart, and us being in the same place the week before it just made sense to have a party. 

Angie and I had just come off of helping with Jenelle's wedding *we never did take a picture of the wedding cake fail* and I wish we lived close so that we could always throw parties together.   We didn't have too many ideas of what we would do for the party, just mostly that the theme would be Bubble Guppies.  Meika has a striking resemblance to Molly, and Tracen to Gil, and it turned out to be really fun. 
Good thing Candi was there to play with all the kids.
Angie got hair chalk, and we colored Tracen's hair blue, and Meika's pink.

The dollar store was a goldmine for our made up party games.  The kids had to wear goggles like Goby to play "fishketball" and then they went fishing as a shark.  We also had bubbles and a ring toss (like the movie "Puppy and the Ring"... and I know WAY too much about Bubble Guppies).









I made my first ever cupcake birthday cake, and with the help of Pinterest, Bubble Puppy turned out great.