on the agenda

... for today

~ Take Mom & John to the airport

at 6:00 am

{mom, did you forget that i am on break}

They are visiting Colorado for a few days!

...

~ Bowling with Brad, Sam, Kevin

and Kim and some of her family

{such a good time}

...

~ To Shannon's for just a bit

Brad is painting murals on the boys' walls

...

~ Movie @ The I-max

  Mission Impossible with Kim's family

and Kevin

{we loved it}

...

It was a really great day

but I'm exhausted

Ga' Night!

Christmas Blessings!

Christmas morning started a little earlier than usual this year.

Sam is usually so good about sleeping in. 

He has never been the kid that gets up at 5:00

yelling for everyone else to get up too

He usually sleeps til about 8:00 or so and stays in his room

until we have our coffee brewing and camera ready 

This year he woke up at 6:00, when I let the dogs out

but he stayed in bed, trying to go back to sleep until 9:00

~ he said it was the longest night ever ~
at 7:00 he was still awake and I said 
"let's get up!"

poor little thing always thinking of everyone else

even on Christmas Morning!

We relaxed and played with all of our new goodies

until we headed over to grandpa and grandma's, in the afternoon

 for more family festivities.

We enjoyed eating, visiting, playing with cousins

and eating again

until it was time to open more presents!

a beautiful mess

After we were finished here
we still had one more celebration
to get to


Matt and Toni were having chili
for all of us to visit with 
Grandpa Bob and JoAnn

I love the busy Christmas day
spent with so much family!

Christmas Morning

This is the face of a

truly surprised and happy boy

on Christmas morning

His very own laptop

christmas cookies

Thank You Sissy

for letting

Sam make Christmas cookies

at your house

seriously

Thank You

so much

Blue Man Group

Date night with my guy {my little guy}

I was so excited when we got these tickets

given to us

hello ... tenth row!

I could not wait to take Sam

I felt bad for Brad not to go

but we only had two tickets

I just knew how much Sam would love this show

He seemed excited

and acted excited

until it was time to go

and then he was like

'i just don't really want to go'

{insert broken heart here}

Wha??

How could he NOT want to go see

THE BLUE MAN GROUP

What is wrong with this child

Brad had to have a little heart to heart

with our boy

he expained how excited mom was to take him

because she knew how much HE was going to love it

how she was so looking forward to 

seeing the smile on his face

through the entire show

well ...

he sucked it up

and went

{for me}

Guess who LOVED the show?
yep
my little guy


He sat on the edge of his seat
in awe
wide eyed
a permanent smile
plastered across his face


I knew he would!!
{momma knows}


the bright lights
 the loud music
the visual effects
the hilarious comedy


all things this little guy loves


on the way home
after the show
he said
 he was sorry that he had said he didn't want to go
and sorry if he hurt my feelings
{they were really only hurt for about a minute}


he said he loved the show


After we got home
at 10:00
{on a school night}


he couldn't wait to tell Brad all about it
he talked
non-stop
explaining every detail of the show
and how much he loved it


ahhh
 a great date night
for both of us

Huzzah!

Renaissance Festival 2011

here we come!

We had such a great time last year

that we couldn't wait to come back

throwing knives, axes, stars

shooting bow & arrows

 interesting things to buy

the turkey legs

countdown to candy!

This year for Halloween

 he says he doesn't want to trick or treat

anymore

and I'm just a little sad

he changes his mind

and

we encounter a true zombie

{I know it's a little gross, but he loves all things Zombie, right now
 and HE loves how he can really look like one}

...

Things are in full swing

and I am happy and excited

First we stop by to see our wonderful neighbors

Ray and Paulette

{who love Sam to pieces}

look at Ray pretending to be a zombie

cute.cute.

Then we head on over to my sisters

for our traditional Halloween night out!

She has all the fixings for chili and potato soup

to fill our bellies before heading out on a cool night

Brad gets all the kids faces/makeup ready

Not the cute.sweet.costumes. 

they wore when they were young

but I'm okay with all the blood and gore

they loved it


After the traditional trick or treat route ...

{minus Logan & Dalton, they were out with friends}

where we get to see some of our old friends

that we usually only get to see on this one night

every year

... we headed home to 

count/dump/trade their loot

Everyone had a  fangtastic time

I love this Halloween tradition

I love that our entire family comes together, to see the boys

I love how all the adults walk together, while the boys run from house to house

I love

every.single.bit.

I am so not ready for this trick or treating tradition to come to an end