reese cousin weekend

Last weekend our Reese cousins came to visit. We drove down to Egypt to Denver's Mecca of fine Mexican dining, Casa Bonita, in a snow storm no less. Katie was pretty enamoured with the cliff divers. Notice Alex's cheeks stuffed with sopapillas. It was nice to see that some things don't ever change - I'm pretty certain all the games in the arcade are the originals, from Ms. Pacman to the skeeball machines. Katie ended up sleeping up at Oma's house with Kat and Griffin all weekend - I'm surprised she made the transition back to her own home. Oma pulled the mattresses into the family room so they could all sleep together.

Oma was out of control on the projects and fun. Friday the kids made gingerbread houses - thankfully Alex was asleep for the candy and frosting fest, or he might have become cemented to some gum drops. My favorite quote from mom was 'How did I ever do all this?' This was after having all 4 kids for a sleepover - not anywhere close to 7! Alex slept in his own bed the rest of the weekend.

Saturday Oma took all the bigger kids to see Madagascar 2 and we met them at the Pearl Street Mall. We did not end up staying for the Parade of Lights, but we did get to see a peek of the Fairview Marching Knights setting up. Sorry Dave, your kids did not seem that impressed to see your old marching band. Opa's concert got skipped because everybody was too tired.

Sunday I arrived up in Boulder to see a paint studio had taken over the kitchen. Oma had cut out a nativity set for Kat, Katie and Griffin to paint, and found a number of other fun Christmas shapes to paint.

Griffin was a great sport and let Katie boss him around all weekend.

Monday Oma brought the bunch up to our house, where we were just going to hang out. Crazy Kat snuck into the kitchen to make nougat for some candy, and put Oma and CA Kat to work wrapping chews. No pictures of that adventure, but many of you will get to taste our efforts.

Kat and Katie had numerous tea parties and played games. Katie thoroughly enjoyed having two folks at her beck and call for an entire weekend. Hopefully they both survived as well and will want to come and visit us again!

Here is Oma at the end of all the festitivities. Everybody was a little worn out from all the fun, but I know she'd do it again in a heartbeat.

One more reason for you all to come back to Colorado!

giveaway

Because I have the naive hope that I will eventually actually win a giveaway on the net, here's a link over to Design Mom. She's doing 12 giveaways for Christmas. Really cool stuff. Go take a peek - and if you win and don't want it, you can always re-gift to me!

christmas cards

If I were going to send out Christmas cards this year, this is what I would do:

I would have my friend Christine make a sketch of our family, instead of trying to get everyone to look at the camera with a decent expression on their faces all at the same time. I met Christine when I was going to school in Berkeley a million years ago. She is still the most creative girl I know. She can walk into a thrift store and in two seconds find a semi-decent looking item and turn it into something fabulous in the blink of an eye.

The only problem with Christine is that she lives in Washington and I live in CO, so the odds of us being neighbors again are pretty slim.

The decision to skip the Christmas cards for right now has made things much more relaxed around here. Maybe we'll go for Valentine's Day.

rental non-rant

I hesitate to actually state this out loud, but instead of killing us off this month, the rentals are going AMAZINGLY well. In November, our 2 best tenants told us that they would be moving out. One set bought their own place - we're happy for them, but I was also crossing my fingers that their closing wouldn't go through - and the single guy needed more room. The 2 bedroom just wasn't enough space for him and . . . whatever he needs space for. Your guess is as good as mine.

Every other vacancy we've had has taken a month to clean up after the old tenants and then fill with the new ones. A month with no rent. We were faced with a double whammy for December, on top of a potentially very busy Thanksgiving spent doing repairs and painting.

Both tenants left the units spotless and in good repair. All I had to do was get the carpets cleaned. We didn't even have to paint! For both units, the former tenants were out one day, and the new ones could move in the following day. You might be thinking 'whoop-dee-doo. What's the big deal?' I, however, am still in grateful shock.

winter?

Here's one of the main things I love about Colorado: A few days ago we took a walk around some nearby lakes.




















This morning we woke up to SNOW! FINALLY!! Alex was loving it. I guess it's time for mom to go find some snow suits. Jeans are just not going to cut it!

two months of max

The Maxster is turning into a super smiler.

Seven is getting tired of sitting still for these growth shots, but I'm still slightly in charge.

Alex has moved from body-slamming hugs to trying to pick Max up. It's so cute to see how much he loves his little brother.


Dad and Max like to rock out to Guitar Hero. Too bad the music is so terrible for that silly game!

Katie and Max are buddies too.

'Tis the season . . .

The season for maximum torture for Alex has officially begun! We put up the tree downstairs at Oma's on Thanksgiving. Man did Alex's eyes light up when he saw those lights come out of the box!


The Christmas decorations went up at our house the day after Thanksgiving. Alex went down for a nap, and then woke up and saw tons of new things to explore. A tree with lights and sparkly glass objects, books with shiny covers, balls covered with glitter, an advent calendar with ornaments whose pockets are just within reach. All things that are accompanied by the word 'NO.'


Today I decided to complete the torture process: the candy advent calendars are now in play. Go figure - the concept of one candy each day might be a tad advanced for Captain Handsome. Luckily, his mother the genius left out a bowl with miniature Reese's peanut butter cups on the table that worked out just fine to satisfy his post-lunch chocolate craving. At least he put the wrappers back in the bowl instead of spreading them all over the table. The fun is just beginning! I haven't even tried to dip with him running around yet . . .

(In case you're wondering, the reindeer on the advent calendar does indeed poop out the candies - while singing, no less!)