Turkey Leftovers

My use of the word "leftovers" is my not so catchy way of doing a quick recap. It is within this post that I attempt to share the "leftovers" of the past little while. Here's a synopsis of what we've been up to;

Tree lighting ceremony, preschool potluck, round 1 of stomach bug for poor Cruz followed by round 2 of stomach bug----surprisingly, no one else in our household caught it (knock on wood), a quarantine away from our friends due to aforementioned stomach bug, Turkey Day, a Holiday Glow Parade and a BIG OLE FAT FIRE IN THE PARK THAT WON'T GO AWAY!!

You might sense my tone of extreme bitterness in the last tidbit of information I mentioned. That is because I am bitter. Our Thanksgiving plan of a nice 4 day weekend together was snuffed out by the fire. Ugh, the same fire that started when I was in Ireland was burning and pretty much minding its own business until right about the time I put the Turkey in the oven on Thanksgiving day (no joke). Due to unseasonably warm temperatures and high winds, the fire KICKED up and it was decided to no longer let her be.

Before I sound like a bitter fire fighter's wife, I will say that I am grateful that this fire is close to home so Mark can sleep in his own bed and come home for dinner. He is getting pulled in every direction and making a valiant effort to do as much as possible to help at home and spend time with us. He even braved the Holiday Parade crowd and met up with us halfway through. It could be worse.

I'm doing my best to do snow dance voodoo rituals so we can continue on with life in what should be the OFF SEASON.

But enough of this Debbie Downer Stuff! How about some pics of some of the good stuff instead.............




























Let The Holidays begin!

Love Notes

It all started back when we did the trial run "pre-pre school" in St. George two summers ago. In an attempt to ease Coop's nerves and let him know that I was always thinking of him, I gave him a little "love note" to put in his pocket. That way he could take it out and look at it or even reach into his pocket and feel it if he was starting to miss home.

Well it stuck. I gave him a note each day for camp this past summer and now each day for preschool. It gives him a sense of excitement to see what the note will be when I present it to him before we head out the door. The unveiling has become part of our getting-ready-for-school-morning-ritual. I had no idea until recently just how proud he was of his notes. Apparently, he shows them to his classmates and teachers. I'm glad they make him feel special. That was the goal.

Problem is, I'm running out of creativity. I doubt that I'll be able to keep this up through college.

Halloween 2012

Estes Park does Halloween up right! This year was so much fun. Last year was our initiation to EP Halloween and we were excited at just how cool it was. We had only lived here a couple of weeks at that point and we were even more excited about our new town based on how cool the celebration was.

This year was even more perfect. There is such a sense of community and EVERYONE participates. Down Town is blocked off to all cars and all of the shops give out treats (including DONUT HOLLS and CARAMEL APPLES!!!). They even do a Thriller Dance on the hour throughout the evening. It was fun to celebrate with all our friends this year and feel even more a part of our community. Last year we nearly froze once the sun went down but this year it was down right balmy and we could have lingered well into the night. But we had a chili party to head to after trick treating.

Halloween 2012 can go down as my favorite EP Holiday thus far. The whole family (minus one) dressed up. My costume was very last minute. I decided to dress up as Go Diego Go! and wrote Swiper on a t-shirt for Mark so he didn't look like such a Scrooge. A friend of mine was Dora. I couldn't decide if I looked like Diego or a poorly dressed lesbian. You decide. Luckily I had two cutie pies by my side to off set my poor outfit decision.

Side note: someone in our family is OBSESSED with Diego and it isn't myself, Mark or Cooper. I know for a fact that I had one super fan for the evening and that was all that mattered.


Coop, the "fire dog"




Poor hand-me-down, Cruz. Luckily, we can still get away with it. His choices were either a lion or a dragon. He chose to be a "baby dragon".




Diego and "his" number #1 fan.







Bearded lady, ring master and Strong man.
Our Circus Family Friends.



Our little friend, Sofia wore our chicken costume. Her daddy was a chicken too!



Thriller Dancers....











Cruz met a new friend at the Chili Party........

Carving & Painting

Just because I know you are anxious to see the final products from our successful pumpkin patch outing..........