Thanksgiving break

With a whole week off from school for Thanksgiving break, we played hard.  From skiing in the mountains to bike riding down in Denver to Lego camp for Jonas to swimming at the pool to Thanksgiving dinners to Christmas parade, we had a blast!

Matt and I have reentered into this new stage of life where we bought ski season passes again and are able to go together as a family or get a babysitter for us to go as a couple. Let the season begin.

Our first day on the mountain with Jonas was a few weeks ago.  We headed up with some friends, Asher and Cohen, to Araphoe Basin.  The morning didn't go as planned.  We barely made it down the hill that was not the bunny hill. 

At least hot cocoa in the lodge cheered everyone up.

Are next attempt was to Keystone where they had a magic carpet open for beginners. The 4 of us decided to make a day out of it.  With new owners of ski passes, we rode up the gondola to the top of the mountain.  The view was astounding and the ride was epic.  The boys first time on a gondola.  Silas was thrilled while Jonas sat tight next to mom.

Another first for Silas was snowskiing.  And I couldn't believe the strength and courage he had to clip in those skiis and point them down hill without hesitation. He is born to go fast! Watch out!

The day was mildly warm and the boys were exhausted.  Keystone had these wagons to use to get back to the car.  Brilliant idea!

The last day of vacation, we revisited A-Basin in which they had the bunny hill open. Yea! Silas experienced riding on the chair lift for the first time and enjoyed going down fast.  But after a few runs, he was exhausted.

For Jonas, he was just getting warmed up.  After the 5th run, he decided to not use the pole(that I have been using to steer him) and skiied down the hill by himself.  He did it!  I can't believe we have reached this point.  After 2 years(4-5 times a year) of teaching, it finally clicked with Jonas.  From then on, each run got better and better with his turns and edging. It was remarkable to see the improvement in one day. Matt was so excited to be able to snowboard next/behind his son 27 runs together.  Impressive! With consistency of skiing days, I believe Silas will be where Jonas is this season.

Our annual Friends-giving day came together so smoothly and delicious! Matt prepared the turkey in the fryer while 3 other families brought sides.

Tom and Matt nibbled bites while they carved the turkey.

Kids stayed busy with turkey coloring pages and crafts.

What a great time with friends!

For 3 days, Jonas joined other Lego lovers in a day camp.  The class was called Jedi Engineering, it was like they designed the class just for Jonas.  He explored many ways of constructing and refining x-wings to droid units.  With this class, Jonas' imagination and engineering skills enhanced even more.  The instructor told me at the last class, "Jonas will go far with what he knows already and his ability to focus is impressive. I can't believe he is not even 5 years old yet and was learning quicker than the kids in the class that were 7 years old." Reach for the stars, Jonas!

Thanksgiving day was at Matt's parents house. It was a quiet year without Laura and Andy there but we still enjoyed our time together as a family.  Pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and a "turkey-less" Thanksgiving dinner.  It was surprisingly fantastic and we didn't have to lay around to make the food digest afterward.  

Instead of playing football on Thanksgiving dinner, we drove to Fox Run and climbed on the climbing wall.

Plus played a little soccer.  

As we continued to wait for the big dinner, we went on a brown bag turkey hunt.  We dressed up as Indians, 

picked out some strong spears,

and went hunting in Grandmom's back yard.

The boys enjoyed the search and making sure it was died.

Thanks Grandmom and Grandad for a wonderful day!

Our next annual stop, Estes Park Christmas parade.

The Christmas season has started and I'm so excited for all the traditions we have as a family!

i'm tickle about...

There's been a few things that I have been tickled about this fall and I had to share on the blog.

Jonas' second recitation was outstanding.  He told me the best part about the program was watching the bigger kids recite their school knowledge and that he wants to learn those songs too, i.e. states/capitals and apostle's creed.  I still can't believe how much these kids can learn, they are sponges!

Human M

 Silas is an expert at performing yoga poses while we do school at home.

Five Little Pumpkins by Silas Helton

My leaf jumpers!

 My good friend, Jamee, took our family photos again this fall.  Here is a preview of them.

Rock Climbing class

These 2 boys have been asking to start up rock climbing lessons for months.  Now that Silas is old enough at 3 years old, he was able to take the class with Jonas too.  When Jonas was 3 years old, we signed him up for the same class.  Click here to view his 1st experience on our blog.

I apologize there's no sound on these videos.  It's a learning curve with a new camera.

It was such a blast to watch them improve week by week and to see their self confidence boost.  By the last class, Jonas asked the instructor what the different rocks are for on the wall.  The instructor told him there's different routes to denote the level of difficulty of climbs.  That was a challenge Jonas was up for:) From the first class, Silas had no hesitation to climb the wall or repel down with his big brother. He was so strong!  I can't imagine how strong he will be when he is a teenage.  Yikes!

Halloween festivities

This year's Halloween festivities seemed to last forever.  Jonas and Silas were so excited to dress up in their Star Wars costumes to several events.  The first outing was at Lookout Mountain Nature Center where they had a non-scary Halloween festival that consisted of a guided trail hike to learn about the creatures in the forest, crafts, and storytelling around a campfire with hot cocoa.

Our next weekend was a Harvest festival at Colorado Christian University.  Jonas(Luke Skywalker), Silas(Darth Vader), and Asher(Spiderman) started off trunk or treating around the college students cars that were decorated and the students passing out candy.  This was the first encounter with Halloween candy for our boys, and they were excited.

 They had games, inflatable slide, barrel rides, and more.

Candy! Candy! Candy!  After this day, Matt and I started a Lego fund with them.  Any candy piece they put in the fund, it would be worth one Lego dollar.  Jonas LOVED the idea and started shopping online for the Lego set he was dreaming of...The Millennium Falcon!  Silas came on board with the idea too(just because of Jonas' enthusiasm).

 Back at home, we crafted a slew of spooky and fun crafts.

 Cutting and decorating Halloween sugar cookies was a delight for Silas and me.

Getting ready for a Pumpkin Carving Party at our friends house, the Bullis'.

Pumpkin Hands!! 

 Here we are as a Star Wars family. 

Dad as Han Solo and I as Princess Leia...we were ready for a battle!  Several times through the night, Silas would say to Jonas "Luke, I am your father." It was so hilarious!

Carving pumpkins was the highlight of the night.  Jonas wanted to make a scary face and Silas found a pattern of bats.

 Monday story time at the library was a time to dress up in their costumes again(the boys decided to switch costumes), listen to some spooky children's books, and trick or treat around the library.  Another place to collect candy for the Lego fund...they were at 75 Lego dollars so far.

 Safe Halloween at Bear Creek HS(where Matt teaches) was a big hit.

 Last but not least, Halloween night around our friends neighborhood.  Jonas was running from house to house...he knew that he needed 23 more pieces and he was determined.

At last, the day after Halloween and the boys made it to 150 Lego dollars for the Millennium Falcon.  I think they were pretty proud of themselves.  And we are so thankful that candy is out of site for them.