Thanksgiving

    We had a really nice Thanksgiving this year.  As usual, I feel like we have so, so much to be thankful for.  I feel we are so incredibly blessed.  We have two amazing kids that are seriously more than we could have ever hoped or dreamed of.  We are being blessed again with another baby in March.  We are such lucky people.

     Since we went to Buena Vista early this year, we spent actual Thanksgiving with my family.  The kids and I decided that we wanted to spend Wednesday night at my parents house.  They love sleepovers at my parents, so I figured it would be a perfect night to do so.  We woke up bright and early on Thanksgiving morning.  We all enjoyed delicious cinnamon rolls and homemade hot chocolate.  What a special breakfast.  As we ate, my mom and I enjoyed our tradition of looking at all the sale ads.  We mapped out our plans for shopping.  

    Every year I usually run the Turkey Trot.  I decided to take this year off.  I get very discouraged by how slow I've become (I know I have a good excuse), but I wasn't in the mood to just run it to run it.  Instead, I ran on my parent's treadmill.  I still got in four miles and it was still an excellent start to my day.  

    After my run, we watched the parade and hung around the house.  My mom and I eventually started cooking for the day.  Slowly, the rest of my family began to arrive.  The kids were so excited for their cousins to be there to play with.  Ella and Ahslyn had a lot of fun together.  My mom has an entire toy room at her house.  She has saved a lot of our old toys and the kids just love going into the toy room and playing.  The girls were really into playing house and dolls this year.  

    After a lot of work in the kitchen, it was finally time to eat.  The food was excellent and everyone stuffed themselves silly.  The kids had their own table as usual and their favorite part was the sparkling apple cider.  After we ate, it was time to tackle the dishes and clean up.  After that was done, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and letting our food digest.

     One of the neatest parts of having kids, is the traditions that we get to do with them each year.  My family had a lot of traditions growing up and its definitely something I want to pass on to my children.  One of my mom's traditions for years has been to set up a ceramic Christmas village in her window.  A couple of years ago Ashlyn started helping her.  Ashlyn really likes doing it and looks forward to it each year.  This year, Ella was finally able to help too.  Those girls were beyond excited to get everything out and set up the little Christmas village scene.  It was heartwarming to watch.

    Before we knew it, it was time to head home.  The kids were all very upset they had to leave their Grandparents house.  They just love it over there so much.  I don't think we could have asked for a nicer day spent with loved ones which is what we are most thankful for.  

Dawson loving his special breakfast.

Silly girl

Ashlyn loves to help my mom set the table.  She was very proud of her work this year.  I  think she did a great job!

Ashlyn worked really hard at school on some Thanksgiving art projects.  She was immensely proud of her work.  Since she did such a nice job, we decided to hang them up in the dining room so we could all enjoy them while we were eating. 

Here is a close up of the turkey she made. 

One of  the pilgrims she made.  She is very proud of these.  She cut and colored them all by herself.  They were so good, her teacher hung them in the window of their classroom. 

These two handsome little boys, were having a great time playing cars with each other.  Jameson is finally getting old enough for Dawson to start playing with.  I just know they are going to be the best of friends. 

Dawson loves wearing his dad's hats.  He is showing off his Back to the Future car. 

Drinking their cider. 

Toasting each other. 

They did a lot of toasting. 

Time to eat!

Uncle Bryan always wins the award for fullest plate. 

Ashlyn setting up the village. 

She takes her job very serious. 

Ella helping out

What a nice job they did!

Cuddling together after all their hard work!

An Early Thanksgiving

     Thanksgiving was a little different this year.  We usually spend Thanksgiving day in Buena Vista with Joey's dad and wife.  This year, because of work, they decided to host Thanksgiving on Monday instead of Thursday.  I was off on Monday, so we decided to head to Buena Vista on Sunday.  We got up there in time to spend most of the day up there.  The kids love going to their Papa and Grandma's house.  They always have a lot of fun.  Joey's dad made his famous meatballs for dinner which were amazing as usual.  We spent the evening watching the Broncos lose to the Patriots.  Even though they lost, we still had a fun night.
    On Monday, we spent the day relaxing around the house while Joey's dad worked on making his Thanksgiving feast.  He is such a good cook and I always look forward to eating his great food.  As usual, the food was so good and we all ate way too much.  I had to work Tuesday, so after we ate Joey and I headed back home.  Dawson and Ashlyn stayed up in Buena Vista to spend the next two days with their grandparents.  They had a great time with them. 

Since we were nearby, Joey drove up to the cabin to check on it.  They had gotten a lot of snow up there.  He took some awesome pictures. 

The town of St. Elmo in the winter.

They get a lot of snow up there!

Our beautiful cabin looks a lot different in the winter.

Joey and I both really like this shot. 

Dawson eating his Thanksgiving meal

Loving some bread

Silly kids

Two Front Teeth

   I think Ashlyn's favorite song this Christmas is going to be "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".  Ashlyn noticed that her two front teeth were wiggly some time ago.  I was really hoping that they would stay put for awhile.  Last Friday, she came home from school and her teeth were in a bad state.  One of her top teeth was literally hanging sideways dangling by a thread, and the other was pretty loose too.  Her teeth looked pretty bad.  Joey tried pulling one, and she wasn't happy.  She went to the bathroom to take a look and sure enough she came out with the tooth in her hand.  She was very excited.  The tooth fairy paid her a visit that night leaving fairy dust in her room.  On Saturday, her other tooth was very loose too.  She was taking a bath with Dawson and said he some how made her lose it.  I'm still not sure what happened, but when I came in the bathroom she was holding her other tooth.  The tooth fairy made another visit that night. 
    Ashlyn is especially proud to the the first one in her class to lose her two front teeth.  It's quite an honor I guess.  She talked a little funny at first, but she has gotten better at talking normally.  She really does look too darn cute without her two front teeth.  I'm hoping they take a while to come in.  She has now lost a total of 5 teeth!!!

Toothless girl

She looks so cute!

Does she look big or what? I can not getting over how fast she is growing!!!

Back to the Future Car

   I feel like I haven't really mentioned Dawson much on the blog lately.  There has just been so much going on.  Dawson is one funny, funny little boy.  He is constantly making us laugh.  He is such a sweet and loving little guy.  He has recently really gotten into hugging.  Multiple times a day, he comes up to me and says, "I want to hug you" and gives me a big hug.  It warms my heart each and every time!
     A few months ago, Dawson discovered how to climb out of his crib.  I was planning on keeping him in his crib for as long as possible (or until we needed it for the new baby).  After he climbed out a few times, we decided it was time for him to get a big boy bed. We headed up to Ikea to look at toddler beds.  We picked out one that he liked.  He transitioned really, really well into his new bed.  Dawson literally didn't sleep through the night until he was almost a year old.  He has more than made up for that with his champion sleeping now.  He is such a dream child when it comes to sleeping.  He consistently takes a 2 hour plus nap each day, and goes to bed very easily.  When he is out, he is out for the night.  He loves sleeping in his big boy bed.
     Dawson has another new obsession and it is the movie Back to the Future.  Joey's favorite 80s movie has always been Back to the Future.  He can watch that movie over and over.  Years ago, a coworker of his gave him a little Matchbox Delorean car like the one in the movie.  Well, one day Joey decided to watch Back to the Future with Dawson.  Dawson immediately fell in love.  He found Joey's car, and it now doesn't leave his side.  He refers to is as his "Back to the Future Car".  It is a very tiny car, and I can't even begin to count the amount of times Joey and I have had to search the house for that car.  He gets very upset if he can't find it.  It is the cutest thing ever!

Sweetest little boy in the world!

Jumping in his "big boy" bed

Ready for bed.  That is his Back to the Future car next to him. 

His new little sidekick

Showing off his car

He is honestly one of the happiest little boys in the world.  He is always smiling. 

Ashlyn's Party

   For her birthday party this year, we let Ashlyn pick where she wanted to have it.  She picked a gymnastics place again this year.  I guess she had so much fun last year, she wanted to do it again.  We picked a different place this time that is much closer to where we live.  Ashlyn also got to invite girls from her class. She was very excited to have her friends from school come celebrate her birthday with her.
      The gymnastics place has a huge open gym area.  The party host took the kids to three different stations over the course of an hour.  They got to go down a huge bounce house slide, ride in a cool swing, jump on trampolines, and jump into a huge foam pit.  Those girls sure had an awesome time!  I wish I could have bottled up the adorable giggles that kept coming out of their mouths.  They were just too sweet.
     After an hour of play time, it was time for cake and presents.  We headed up to a party room to finish the party.  I have always made Ashlyn's birthday cakes.  This year I was not inspired so we just bought one. She didn't mind a bit.  The party guests filled up on lots of cake and juice.  Then Ashlyn got to open her presents. She got lots of great gifts.  She got a lot of Lego sets which is awesome because she loves Legos!
    Ashlyn's party was absolutely perfect.  I don't think I could have asked for a better way for her to celebrate turning six with her friends.  A great time was had by all!

Getting ready to head to the gym.

The awesome slide

Ashlyn trying out the slide. 

Ella having a blast on the slide. 

Dawson really liked the trampoline

This swing was the coolest thing ever.  The girls absolutely loved it! They let out such squeals of delight and joy when they got pushed.  I decided that they need a swing like that for adults to go on. 

What fun!

They could not get enough!

Heading to the next station

Listening to some rules.  Ashlyn was too sweet holding Dawson and Ella.

Trampoline time!

Our little jumper

Dawson jumping again

The ball pit was so much fun!  Since Ashlyn was the birthday girl, she got to jump in first.

Look at all those kids in the pit.

Dawson got a great kick out of being thrown in

More play time

Enjoying some refreshments after all that playing!

Ready to blow out her candles

Eating cake and giggling with friends

Present time!

Seeing what she got

Handing out goodie bags

Time to say goodbye.