Christmas Cookies

The kids made over 200 cookies the past couple of days for friends, neighbors, and family members.  Thankfully they are all getting to the age where I can give them a recipe and they can mostly make it by themselves, especially Avery and Amelia.  In fact, aside from making sure the cookies didn't burn in the oven Avery and Amelia both made a double batch of two different cookie recipes each.  Aggie ate whatever dough her sticky little fingers couple grab and said "mmmm" with every bite.  She seemed to lose clothes as our baking endeavor proceeded into the day.  At one point I put her on the potty, left her there to grab some cookies out the oven, and when I was finally redirected back to Aggie she was off the potty, almost naked with only her apron on, and back after some left over dough.  This girl loves cookies!  

Christmas Tree at Mulhal's

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to Mulhal's to pick out a Christmas tree.  Mulhal's was so darn charming we might just go there next year for a repeat experience.  The kids loved walking into the greenhouse to be greeted with donuts and hot chocolate.  Avery couldn't get enough of all the plants and greenery in this georgous green house.  I think he might have found his future summer dream job in this perky little place.  And just when we thought the place couldn't get any better we found a reindeer amongst the Christmas trees.  The kids were in heaven!     

Thanksgiving 2018

This past Thanksgiving we headed to G.I. for some turkey and homemade pumpkin pie.  The boys kicked off Thanksgiving break with an early morning hunt, while the girls and I headed out to see some old friends.  That same evening we made a trip to Aurora to preform a mini-piano concert for Aunt Bonnie.  On Thanksgiving Day I participated in a 5 mile Turkey Trot before stuffing my face silly with holiday goodies.  Kathy cooked the turkey and most of the sides, which were all delish.  We added a couple of side dishes to the mix and for the first time ever roasted a pumpkin and made a pumpkin pie from scratch.  After feasting Shane and I took the kids to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather.  It was a good Thanksgiving!

Halloween - The Goonies

The weather leading up to Halloween was cold and rainy.  In fact, to my horror we had a decent covering of snow mid-October.  However, Halloween night was just perfect!  There was a touch of chill in the air but not to much and most trees still retained their auburn leaves.  

This year we all dressed up as the Goonies gang.  The movie  "Goonies" is a family favorite and picking out characters was almost as fun as dressing up.  Everyone was convinced that Aggie would make a perfect "Chunk", and she did.  

We were all a little disappointed that the 40 somethings seemed to be the only people who recognized our "Goonies" theme.  I realize that others my age grew up watching movies like "Goonies", "Breakfast Club", and "ET", but I wrongly assumed that we were all sharing these same movies with our own kids.  I mean seriously every boy needs to see the Statue of David scene and Chunk's confession to Momma is priceless, but I digress.  

After a good solid hour of trick-or-treating, where Aggie fully and willingly participated the whole time, without a single break, we called it quits.  The kids rushed home to do what they always do...engage in some serious candy trading.  After which we all sat down and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and then without a lot of coaxing everyone hit the hay.  It was a good Halloween.    

The Goonies

Shane as Sloth

Diane as Mamma

Avery as Brand

Amelia as Andy

Audrey as Data

Aggie as Chunk