Exercising

This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids! I was out with my mom's group for a rare quiet dinner on Pearl Street when I got this picture text from Max.  

He said that he was watching TV downstairs when he realized that things had suddenly become really quiet.  When he went upstairs to see what was going on...

he found that the kids had taken all of the clothing out of the closet and that they had climbed up the storage boxes to hang on the bar.  

When he asked them what they were doing they yelled, "Exercising!"

Max said they fell two seconds after he snapped this photo and they both kept laughing.  

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday full of all things friends, family, and fun.  

We kicked off the season with our seventh annual Friendsgiving. Katie and Kevin York hosted this year and everyone pitched in by bringing a dish.  

This is always one of my favorite days of the year.  

Tom moved from Vail to Denver this year and  he has become a staple in our gatherings. Chance and Savannah adore him and think he is the best to play with. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving day in our home.  It was just the four of us and Nick.  

Nick, Max, and I all worked in the kitchen and were pretty pleased when we realized we pulled off a full and real Thanksgiving dinner.  

Max roasted and brined the turkey for the first time and it turned out amazing!

Chance and Savannah were super helpful in the kitchen as well.  They love to pour ingredients in a bowl and to stir.  

Chance fell off of our bed while we were all in the kitchen finalizing everything for the meal.  He knocked his eye on the side table pretty good and got his first black eye ever trying to reach for the remote control.  

Once he realized his eye was black...he refused to pose for anymore pictures.  

Which we all thought was kind of funny.  

The Friday following Thanksgiving, I traveled to Nebraska with the kids to visit my parents and my Grandma and Grandpa Drake.  

The highlight of the trip was definitely riding around the nursing home with great grandpa and his scooter. 

My grandmother hosted a wonderful dinner and I got to spend time with my mom and dad and see all of my aunts and uncles.  

It was wonderful to be surrounded by family.  I have no idea why I did not take photos of everyone when we were together. 

We returned home on Sunday to spend the day with Max and give him a break from slaving away on the final stages of the garage.  

Instead we put him to work and made him help us set up our Christmas tree.  

I thought if I let the kids help hang the ornaments that our tree might have a greater shot at staying in tact for an entire month.  

It totally worked and both Chance and Savannah were thrilled to help.  

Savannah especially loves when the lights blink!

We truly have a lot to be thankful for!

A few of our favorite things....

Things are non-stop around here. Which might help explain why I am about to play major catch up in updating the blog.  

The days are busy, but they are full of fun.  

Flashlights, dance parties, and hiking are currently a few of our favorite things.  

We love flashlights.  We ask to play with them every night.  We find flashlights and shadows magical. 

We watched the original Peter Pan with Savannah the other night and the next day I noticed her waving to her shadow and saying, "Hi, Peter!"

We also love to dance.  Especially in the morning.  

Savannah hops around the room, 

and Chance runs all over yelling, "Get those jitters out and shake shake your booty!" 

I have no idea where he comes up with some of the stuff he says.  So funny!

I've also have over a hundred Chance selfies on my phone.  

 Lastly, we have spent a lot of time on the weekends hiking.  We usually go to Red Rocks just because it is so pretty and close.  Savannah still wants to be held most of the time, but Chance is getting pretty independent.