giving thanks

For Thanksgiving this year, I was very thankful that my family could come visit us in Colorado! There was much love, laughter and gluttony involved and we all enjoyed several crucial activities specific to the holiday weekend:

The first order of business was, of course to go out to the national forest and find our Christmas tree... Again, I am thankful that we were able to share this post-turkey tradition with visiting family. However, I'm not so sure that certain visiting family members were too happy about participating.

Sam preferred to have a picnic in the car...

... but Hamp was all about helping pick out the perfect tree!

Also on the agenda for the weekend was fun & games ~ in the form of football/basketball/soccer/bowling/baseball games in the playroom! ~ with Aunt Jei and Uncle Alec. Something about those two brings out all the smiles in the boys!

The next order of business ~ watching Georgia vs. Georgia Tech. Now you may remember that Dad-O is a Tech alum. Well, Mojo is a Georgia Bulldog, so things were a little tense Saturday night. Sam made sure to cover his bases, though. (smart kid!)

And finally... there were presents.

Happy Holidays!!!

kindergarten thanksgiving celebration

Hamp's class celebrated the holiday with a traditional "feast" and a little dancing?! (the turkey tango, anyone?!) Sam and I were glad we were invited - and glad we had friends to play with!

This picture was staged... I couldn't help myself.

The sign on the stage said "Dramatic Play", which seemed to speak volumes about what these turkeys were doing!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

rock stars!

When it's cold and dark by 5pm we have to be creative at home.... consequently, we have a lot of dance parties in the living room. I'm sure you know by now that these boys have moves, but did you know that they can rock out, too? Oh, yes - we have a Jonas brothers effect in the making!

cowboys vs. indians

The Meeker Cowboys had their final game of the season this weekend - a playoff game against the Yuma Indians! History was rewritten as the Indians prevailed over the brave Cowboys...

Despite the game's outcome, the boys spent a great Saturday afternoon with good friends and lots of snow! We were a little skeptical about going since it was 8 degrees when we woke up that morning! But no worries... it warmed up to a comfortable (bearable?!) 23 degrees or so. Nothing a little hot chocolate and good snow pants won't take care of!

wild boys

Hamp and three of his buddies playing outside after school.

These pictures are the epitome of 5/6 year old boys.Swords on a trampoline... what could go wrong?
And if this is a foreshadowing of a what they'll be doing a decade from now...
...let's just hope once they do learn to drive, they do a better job parking the car!

swinging

My boys have always loved to swing - since they could sit, they could swing and be happy for long, long minutes. It was, in fact a great day when Hamp learned to "pump" on his own and no longer needed the constant push. (although, he still enjoys a good "underdog"!)

As we were at the park earlier this week, I took a couple of pictures of the boys on the swings and I found myself feeling nostalgic in a "how many times have I taken pictures of these guys on swings?" kind of way. So I put a little retrospective together for mostly my, but perhaps also for your, enjoyment!

HAMP

at 9 months old

then 3 years later...

and again at almost 4 years old

and then, last week at 5 and a half!

SAM

at 8 months old

then again a few months later

and last week, at 3 and a half!

November 2007

November 2009

a Halloween retrospective

By the way, came across this picture of Hamp in 2006 as the infamous Captain NoBeard. I can't help myself sometimes to look back at the older child at the same age the younger is now. It reminds of how much fun we've had!

my little pirate

Sam and mom made a good, swash-buckling pair last night for Halloween!

Poor Hamp wasn't feeling well enough to go trick-or-treat... but he found good purpose in being the candy-hander-outer for the kids coming to our house!

Meanwhile, Sam really got the hang of things and thoroughly enjoyed all the Halloween activity!

Even pirates need to take a break sometimes.