2nd Annual Santa Party

The Carlson's hosted their 2nd annual Santa Claus party.  We arrived around 5pm and luckily Santa wasn't scheduled to arrive until after 5:30 (and a surprise for all the kids).  Shortly after we got there, we got the kids all in the basement, but keeping them there was no easy task.  Santa finally arrived and all the kids were so excited.  He did a great job of reading out their names, reading the Night Before Christmas and then having each one sit on his lap and receive a gift.  They all had to wait until the very end until they could open their gifts.  I wasn't so sure Ryan was going to go up all by himself, but he did great and couldn't wait to tell him he wanted Legos for Christmas.   Keith took great photos to capture all the precious moments!

Scooters Program - Day 1

We signed up Avery and Ryan for a 3 week ski program at Copper in December.  It started on Dec. 8th.  We saw the weather forecast and knew it was going to be cold ( 0 degrees before the windchill), but the reminders from the ski program were clear - there were no make-ups.  Prior to the first lesson, we stocked up on hand and toe warmers, long underwear, ski socks, etc. so they would be able to stay as warm as possible.  We left our house a little before 6am and it was a little slower due to the weather. We know now why people pay for parking and lockers!  We got the kids off to their lesson which started at 8:30am.  The first thing they learned was how to carry their own skis :)!  We then had breakfast and headed back to the car to grab our stuff (we did consider for a few minutes of not skiing as it was so cold, but that just didn't seem right!).  We did a few runs and took a break for lunch and checked in on the kids, who were doing great.  Then, made it out for a few more runs before it was just too cold to keep going. Which, was too bad as there were no lines and great snow! We picked up the kids at 2pm and made our way back to the car.  They told they loved it and were excited to come back next week - excellent!!  And, they were both out pretty quickly!

Santa Party

Andy took Avery and Ryan to Chase's house (one of their best friends from the old Primrose) for a santa party.  The kids played and did arts and crafts before Santa arrived.  Avery did sit on Santa's office but Ryan opted out. They had fun seeing their old buddies - Chase, Grady, and Tyler.

Karate Party

Avery and Ryan's classmate, Ian, had a karate party for his 5th birthday.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was pretty cool.  The kids spent time introducing themselves, learning about the 4 areas of focus for karate (mind, body, eyes, and ears), and doing exercises.  I loved seeing Avery and Ryan doing planks, push ups and sit ups!  They also did some relay races. Then, they enjoyed pizza and cake and took turns at the pinata!

Jimmy Fallon

A month or so ago, we decided to get tickets to Jimmy Fallon, who was coming to town on Friday, Dec. 6.  I took the light rail downtown and we had dinner at Row 14 Bistro at the bar since we didn't have a lot of time before the show.  Jimmy opened the show and also performed in between the four other comedians that also performed. All of the comedians were funny and the crowd was really energized. It was great to see Jimmy live and especially before he takes over the Tonight Show.

Book Club

We had our annual book club ornament exchange at Amber's house.  Their tree was amazing, which they actually went and got Christmas Vacation style! It was great to see everyone and we enjoyed our ornament exchange. I happily ended up with the family truckster ornament from Christmas Vacation and it even plays the Holiday song.  It was a hit at our house!

Party

We decided to have a party on Sunday after we were back from Kiawah to celebrate my birthday, watch the Broncos vs Chiefs, and have a housewarming party.  We had nice weather, which meant the kids could play outside! I made a buffalo chili and a white bean chicken chili, that both turned out pretty well.  And, pizza for the kids. It was great to see everyone and see all the kids playing well together. We recycled the great party supplies from the birthday celebration in Kiawah.  Andy made a great poster of me over the years!