Friendsgiving and Savannah can CRAWL

This past weekend was busy!
Max and I were both slammed with work and we had a number or unfinished projects that we had started the weekend before that were not complete. 
We thought we were going to spend Friday night cleaning up the house and getting ready for company, but Chance and Savannah had other plans. 


Chance found these funny glasses in one of the places that I was cleaning and it turned into hours of laughter and entertainment. 

Oh well....I just got up early on Saturday morning to finishing prepping our house because we were hosting the 5th Annual Friends Thanksgiving for all of our friends here in Denver. 
I can't believe it has been five years already, but I checked the old photo documents and it's true. 

Friends Thanksgiving has become such a tradition that Drew and Tina wanted it to be over this weekend while they were back visiting family so that they could be a part.  I'm so glad that they could come.  It was great to see them again!

Max decided to expand his culinary skills this year and he went all out in roasting the turkey.  It turned out to be so juicy and delicious.  Max did a great job. 

Everyone in the village made an appearance at Friendsgiving.  We always do a pot luck style so everyone pitches in. 

We had an amazing spread with everything from home made stuffing to gourmet cheese.   

It was so much fun to have everyone together!

 

Savannah spent all night trying to figure out how to go from that army crawl into the real deal, but she just couldn't quite figure it out. 

Chance was exhausted by the end of the day.  Playing all day with his 30 something year old uncles is very tiresome apparently. 

On Sunday....

Savannah figured out how to crawl! She was up on all fours and moving like crazy. 

She could not be more proud of herself. 
It has been a blast to watch her explore. 

We rounded out the weekend by spending time with Max's co-workers in Castle Rock for a goodbye party for Eric.  Eric and Max have worked together at Wallace Engineering for a few years now and Eric has been a great mentor for Max.  Eric left to take on a new engineering adventure in Saudi Arabia on Monday morning.  We can not wait to hear how it goes. 

We are so blessed to have so many truly amazing friendships. 
It was great to take a weekend to stop and look around at all that we have. 
We have much to be thankful for. 

 

Building Cars and Benches

A few weeks ago Max and I hopped over to the new Mexican restaurant that opened on Pearl St. to try and figure out our plan of attack on life. 
We quickly realized that our to do lists were the same, but in much different orders. 

It took some talking, some beer, and some guacamole, but we agreed on an order of priorities and then spent the weekend crossing off our tasks one by one.  


Our list led us to Lowe's on Saturday morning.  Shocking, I know!
Max needed to order insulation and dry wall for the garage and there happened to be a kid's building workshop at the store at the same time. 
We had never been to one of these before, but we will definitely go back. 

They give each child a building pack with instructions on how to build something. 

This workshop happened to teach how to put together a wooden race car. 

Chance was very focused and serious.  He followed all of the insturctions and did not want me to help him until he asked for it. 

Max helped with the finishing touches and then our race car was complete. 

Chance was so excited when it worked!

We spent the rest of the day at home working on small projects around the house and playing with the kids. 

Chance tried pop rocks for the first time which was hysterical
and

Savannah just wants to be in the middle of everyone. 

I'm not sure she is loving all of the hugs that she gets from Chance. 

She is such a curious and sweet baby. 

Max spent most of the weekend building a bench for the dining room table. 
I love our table, but we needed more seating because we always have more people at the table than chairs. 

Not a problem anymore. 

All in all it was a quiet and productive weekend. 
Nothing beats having nothing on the agenda and being able to snuggle with these two for as long as we want. 

 

Halloween

Halloween is such a fun holiday!
The energy in the air is contagious.  Who doesn't get giddy about candy and pumpkins?


I changed all of my family therapy sessions around so that I could have the afternoon off with the kids.  It was necessary too because Max was traveling for work.  I was a little nervous about how Halloween in our neighborhood and two kids by myself was going to go.

As usual....I worry too much...because everything went perfectly fine.

We started the night off with Ms. Barb.  She is such a big part of Chance and Savannah's life.  I wanted her to be able to see the kids dressed up and be the first to give them candy.
(This was the ONLY house that Chance was not afraid to trick or treat at!)

 

Isla came while we were trick or treating too.  She is the only other child (besides Chance and Savannah) with Ms. Barb at daycare.  Needless to say, she is Chance's little buddy.
Isla was dressed as Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
She is such a sweetheart.  

After Ms. Barb's, we headed back to our neighborhood to trick or treat before dark.  

Chance was so excited, but Savannah decided to nap through it all.  

 

Trick or treating in our neighborhood, turned out to be kind of a bust.  Chance did not want to go to the doors of any houses that he was not familiar with, and I was not going to leave Savannah asleep in the stroller alone on the sidewalk.  

So....I gave Chance a choice.  I told him that he had to walk up to the doors by himself to get candy or he had to go home and pass out all of the candy that we had at home to other boys and girls.

Chance looked at me for a good minute and then said, "I'd rather do that!"
So we went home.  Which turned out to be a great decision.  

Chance was so excited about all of the Trick or Treater's that came to our door.  

Lauren also came over to help, which was awesome!
She ordered pizza and made a salad for dinner, while I managed Clark Kent, the teddy bear, and the hundreds (possibly thousands) of children that came to our door.
Gotta love friends that just know when you could use a hand!!!

Chance loved handing out candy while in costume!
He was so much fun! 

 Did I mention that we had A L O T of kids come to our door!

Chance was a rock star candy distributor!


We decided to end the night by handing Lauren our final piece of candy.
We had to turn out the lights and leave a sign that said,  "tricks only"  because we had so many kids come by.  

We ended the night by watching  the Toy Story of Terror Halloween special.   

I love these little kids so much!
I'm not going to say that the night wasn't hectic, but it was definitely fun.
Can't wait until next year.  

Trunk or Treat

Two weeks ago we had our friend Matt Lewis visiting with  his family on vacation. 
We haven't spent any time with Matt and his wife Elizabeth since their wedding, and this was our first time meeting their son Jacob as well. 

We spent all morning playing with the kids in the park and then we treated ourselves to lunch at Hanson's on Pearl St. 


Chance and Jacob loved each other and played together so well. 

We spent the entire afternoon/evening at the Eakin's. 
We watched K-State football.  Told old stories and watched all of the kids play. 

Lewis was smitten with Savannah. 

After the game we all headed out to  a Trunk or Treat in Danny and Laura"s neighborhood.
It was crazy! Max and I got our first real taste of suburbia in Denver.  There were children in costumes e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e

It was so much fun!

We loved spending time with everyone and dressing up all of the kids. 

The Eakin's dressed up Miles as Mr. Rogers. 

Savannah was a teddy bear,

Jacob was a pumpkin and Chance was Clark Kent. 

The church members just handed out candy from the trunks of their cars in one huge parking lot. 

Some of the people got really creative with their stations. 

The kids all loved running around.

 

Chance is now a fan of Halloween. 

It was a great day with old friends!