Christmas Light

In Downtown Englewood there is a house that we try to go to every year. The owners for all out. It is fun to see the changes each year and we love to see our favorite too.

10 years and Counting

December 17th was Tyson and my 10 year anniversary. The following Friday we ditched the kids and went out for dinner. We went to a little Italian place Tyson knew about. The funny thing about the place is.... Tyson girlfriend from High School is the one that told him about this place. He went there alot with her.... After I ate the food I knew why. Sooooo Good. We waited over and hour to be seated. It was a small place of only about 20 table. I guess the best way to describe the food would be authentic home style Italian/ comfort food.

Excellent appetizer of Calamari. I'm really not a seafood fan but I will eat calamari every once and awhile and this was some of the best I have had.

Tyson's plate of awesomeness.

Ann's plate of yummieness. Under the sauce is Chickenbreast and asparagus.

Grandma's Tree

A few weeks I decorated Grandma Great's Christmas tree. She wanted something new so I made all paper ordimantes. I also put paper snowflake on her mirrors and some on her walls and windows. It turned out really nice. She wants to keep them all for next year but they are only paper; I do not think they would be worth it. It reminds me of an old time Christmas before every one had fancey glass bulbs.

My Brother Abe

Abe moved home this last weekend. He will be living with us for a few weeks. It is so good to have him around for awhile.
This is Abe old house downtown Denver. Taydom and Vilate helped Grandma take the moving truck back. They thought it was the greatest thing to ride in the big moving truck.

Cookie exchange

Yesterday my freind hostested a Cookie exchange. It was so fun. I made 10 dozen pepermint butter balls and came home with all of this. I only got the kitcken dirty once and got all my cookies gifts done fast. Thanks Megan, I had a great time.

Parade of lights

Saturday Night we rode the Light Rail downtown to see the Parade of lights. Every year around the beginning of December, one of Denver news channels hosts and Parade of floats all decorated in Holiday lights. I had never gone down to watch it before and so we were all excited to go. It was a great night to be out, about 45 degrees. We had dinner on the 16th Street Mall and met up with some friends to watch the Parade.

Vilate and Lexi

Taydom and Levi

Santa at the end of the Parade.

Friends Megan and Paul.

The kids zonked out on the Light Rail on the way home. The late night and all the excitement on the parade just wore them out.

Home Depot

A few days ago I was at Home Depot with Grandma looking for the last few thing she need with her bathroom remodel. While I was there I notice they offered kid workshops. I've heard about them from others but never really looked into them. Last Saturday Home Depot had a kids workshop. The kids made an art easel. They had the best time. Home Depot had all the tools and supplies for free, all you do is show up. Our local Home Depot's kids workshops are the first Saturday of the month for 9 to 11 am. We will be back next month.

The Nativity

For the past 6ish year the Littleton Stake and other church in the area start the Christmas season with a Creche Festival. It would be the next Thursday -Sunday after Thanksgiving. Hundreds and Hundreds of nativity would be set up in the church for all to come see. There were wonderful musical number in the chapel too. Many of the Nativities would be from other countries. Someone could spent more then 2 hours or more looking at all the Nativities and not see them all. I like to start the Christmas season by going and taking the family.

This year they changed it. They only had a few Nativities sets (maybe 50). The major focus was on the theater performances acting out the story of Christ birth. It was a nice combination of music and acting. I really enjoyed it, and wish my kids could see it. (they were home sick this year.) My cousin Austin was Joseph. He did a great job. The spirit was very strong; a wonderful way to help remember the true reason for Christmas.

I have the best Hubby

This December 17th is Tyson and my anniversary. We will be marry for 10 years. Wow! We are old! We have plans to go the restaurant were he prepossed to me. I am really looking forward to it.

About the bag.....2 summer ago I bought my first Vera Brady bag and just fell in love with it. (They are very popular in New England.) It has tons-o- pockets to put things in and tone-o-room for everything else. I just love it. The colors of my first bag are very summery and I did not think I could use it in the winter and so I put it away and pull out an older winter bag. HATED IT! Tyson told me to go buy another one for winter but I could not find a fabric I liked so I never got one. (I'm a little picky) When summer came around I was so happy to pull out my Vera Brady bag again. I just love it so much. Well, summer is over and it is again winter and I pulled out me old winter bag to use. Tyson again told me to go buy another bag but I'm not is Boston any more and they are no where to be found. I had concluded in my mind that I was not ever going to have a winter bag I liked. And so it went on until one day I was shopping with Grandma and found a very similar style bag in a home decorating shop. It had winter colors and would do but.... I was not in love with it and so I decided to wait and think about it. That night I told Tyson about it and wanted to show it to him. He said he would go with me that weekend and so the day went on. A few days later I was digging thought my older winter bag saying some unkind things about how I could not find things and how much I hated it. Tyson handed me a white box and told me to open it. I asked what it was and he said it was my anniversary gift. I told me it was not for at least another week and he insisted I open it now. Guess what was inside. THIS BAG! I could not beleive it. "Were did you find it?" I yelled. A few weeks ago he had been up north were his parents live and was shopping with his mom. He had been hiding it for at lest a month. It is the newest fabric and I LOVE IT!



Oh... by the way. Did I mention I have the best husband? He is so kind and very thoughtful.

Here is a photo of my summer bag.

Gingerbread Houses

Every December we make Gingerbread house. The kids LOVE it. It is so fun to watch them create something. We save mostof our Halloween candy to use. It a good way to help the kids to not want to eat all their candy. This year we put the house together Tuesday night and decorated it Wednesday morning. The kids had a late start Wednesday and did not have to be at school until 10:30. With getting homework, dinner and baths done there was not time to allow the kids to really be creative without rushing it. I was so glad for the late start day. It worked out great.

Green Eggs and Ham

One of our favorite books is Dr. Green Eggs and Ham. The kids have loved it scene they were very little. They love to act it out. They will take turns being Sam and the the other guy. Some time I have got to get it on video.



Over a month Taydom has wanted me to make Green Eggs and Ham. So I've look for a recipe but no such luck. The other night I did not want to cook so I pulled out the easiest thing to make.....scrambled eggs. I dropped a few drops of green food coloring in the eggs and chopped up some ham lunch meat. Ta Da! Green Eggs and Ham! Taydom was so happy!

Playing in the Snow

Saturday night we got a snow storm, and so after church Sunday the kids got on their winter gear and headed outside. They tried to make a snowman but the snow was to dry it did not pack together. So they made snow angles and just had a great time rolling around and playing. Ofcourse there was hot chocolate and cookies once they came in. Maybe I'm getting old but I don't like to be cold and out in the snow too much any more, but I remember loving the snow when I was younger.

New Blog to look at.

Vilate has a new blog all her own. The address is http://prettyvilate.blogspot.com/ or you can click on the link to the right under Family and Friend.
Please check it out.

Another Tea Party

This weekend we went to Tyson parents house. And of course Vilate wanted to take her tea set. They had a tea party of hot apple cider with left over pie and crackers with ham and brie cheese. Vilate said " This is the best cheese ever." I can not believe how developed her taste is. She is getting so big.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we went to Amy's house for dinner. Everyone had a great time. Amy made the turkey, stuffing and rolls. Mom brought yamms, green bean cassrole, 7 layer salad and a fruite salad. Kelsey brought mashed potatos and eggnog. Abe made a yummy squach soup, and I made the pies. 2 pumpkin, 1 peach, 2 apple, 2 chocolate mousse, 1 peacon, and the 1 cherry. I put 1 pumpkin and 1 apple in the fezezer to save it for Christmas.

Vilate made a wonderful book at school. It was all about the things she is thankful for. She read it to every one. She mentioned family, school, frinds, food, home, and holiday. I was so proud of how hard she worked on it.

After dinner, dessert and dished were done we pulled out the sale adds. I made a list and a plan for the next day. I love the huge sales and the great deals the day after Thanksgiving. I got up at 3:30am and was out the door with in a hour the next morning. I got everything I planned and ALL my Christmas shopping is DONE!

Polar Express

I took Grandma to the Cherry Creek mall the begining on November to have her watch fixed. It's not a mall I usely go to because other ones are closser. At that time they were just setting up the Santa display. Grandma and I spent a little time looking at it. At that time I knew I wanted to bring the kids to see Santa there. It is the best Santa display I have seen. It is based on the movie The Polar Express. We love the Polar Express. Evern befor the movie came out the kids loved to read the book. The Wednesay before Thanksgiving I took the kids to see Santa. I was not allowed to take a photo of the kids with him. The display had a ton of other great photo places. Grandma and Maddy went with use too. We all had a great time. My camera's batters was total dead so I could not get all the photos I wanted. Oh well.... it's just another reason to go back.

Pho (FU)

Vilate and Taydom have been asking to go get Pho the past few weeks. We did not find a Pho resteronts around Northborough and the kids missed it. For those that don't know Pho is rice noddle. It is Gluten Free and so it is on our short list of restaurants we can go to. Vilate got her favoite, Pho with shrip, Taydom got the stand by, Pho with chicken. Tyson had Pho with Stake cabadge, broth and sprouts. I'm not a fan of Pho so I just gone 2 spring rolls. Maddy was with us too. She have never had Pho befor and so we were not sure if she would like it. We were happy to se that she loved it. Sometimes it is hard to get her to try new things but to my surprise she ate so fast.

WishBone mis-happ

The other day I cooked a whole chicken. I set aside the wish bone to let it dry. The kids were so excited once it was time to break it. They made their wishes and pulled. I could not believe how it broke. We were not sure who got their wish. We will have a rematch with the turkey wishbone a few days after Thanksgiving.

Denver Zoo

Saturday's weather was so nice and we went to the Zoo. The kids only need a light jacket. All the animals were very active. I had only gone to the Zoo in the summer when the animal are all laying around. It was quite exciting to see the animal walking around. Throughout the whole day the Lion were roaring. The kids loved to hear them.This is not a good photo but you can still see that the gorilla is looking right at Vilate. The gorilla stood there for a while and just looked at her.

Vilate Favorites were the giraffes or maybe it was the alligators.

Taydom favorite was the blue frogs. We wanted to take one home until we read they were poisones. He still loved then but time not want to take it home.