Happy 4th Birthday Evan T!!

Cole was excited to go to the Rainbow Party Room this afternoon to celebrate his buddy Evan's 4th birthday. The kids all had a blast running around the room and especially playing with the soft blocks and battling each other with them. It's all fun and games though until someone gets knocked down and cries! Pizza, snacks and cake later.....there were a lot of wiped out little boys. Cole and Evan had been in class together but since Evan's birthday falls later in the year, they got split up this year. Bummed about that. Evan will also be a year behind in school but that will be ok.....Cole can look out for his buddy at LES! 

I see you Mommy!

Luke, Will, Cole - Cole's buddies

and his little girlfriend, Lily - Luke's sister

Pizza and snacks

Mommy loves her little Cole-man!

Happy Birthday Evan!!!

Operation Christmas Child

You know, it can sometimes be hard to explain and teach your kids that there are some little boys and girls not as fortunate as them. I try to talk to Eli & Cole and let them know how fortunate and blessed we are for our house, clothes, food and family as there are a lot of people (big and little) who would love those things. Keeping kids grounded in American society can be a hard thing. It's a challenge that Tim & I take very seriously. All that being said, we do love when Christmas comes around and we have the opportunity to participate in Operation Christmas Child through our church. Last year we tracked our boxes (packaged for boys the same age as Eli and Cole) across the country to their final destinations in Malawi. 

This year we were excited to participate again. Knowing that a little boy somewhere would enjoy opening his shoe box of goodies and seeing that someone he doesn't know cares about him is really what Christmas is about. While Eli & Cole love opening presents, we wanted them to think about presents for others too. When we shopped for the shoeboxes, we made sure to remind them why we were shopping and what we were shopping for - for someone else, not them. We wrote our friend in whatever country a letter telling a little about the boys and hope we'll eventually get one in return. We have some friends who have so maybe one day. =) As the boys get older, we'll look for appropriate volunteer opportunities to do as a family. I have visions one day of serving a meal at a soup kitchen together. 

Letter to our new friend

Shoeboxes ready to go!

Taking them to drop off at our church

"I gave a shoebox"

Basketball - Games 3 and 4 (and Visitors!!)

Last Friday night (the 15th), Eli's team had their 3rd game of the season - the Nuggets versus the Lakers. The kids are all business when on the court and it's fun to watch them improve. There is no score kept, no shot clock and very liberal calls on traveling (ok no calls on traveling). It IS a teaching league and it seems to be a great environment for the kids to learn the game. Coach Steve is an awesome coach and Eli is having a great time. 

Pledge of Allegiance - always before the game, love it!

I HAD to take a picture of this little boy - I loved his headband and wristbands. 

Eli looks huge!

Rebound Nuggets!

Had to take the sign again, everyone loved it so much. 

Today, Eli had a fan club for Game 4 - the Nuggets versus the Spurs. Grandma C came up last night to watch his game and Grandma & Grandpa N were here for the weekend and to see his game as well. The kids played great and it's starting to look like an actual game as the season progresses. I just love the whole team's excitement. They loved when anyone on the team does something good - score, rebound, whatever....they cheer. It's awesome to see. 

Pre-game snuggle time with Grandma C

Eli made an incredible shot during warmups. This is blurry but his face was one of complete awe - and he looked over to see if we saw his shot. 

Defense! 

Cole and Grandma C

Eli's fan club

So glad Grandma C was able to come up for a game

Loved having Grandma & Grandpa N here for the weekend and glad they got to see the game. 

Of course, we had a little post-basketball football game. 

Grandma is ready for anything

with her grandsons. I'm not sure where she gets all her energy!! 

Me and my Mom - we don't get pictures of us often. Love you Mom and thankful for all you do!

Go Nuggets!

Basketball Game #2

Today, Nuggets versus the Spurs. We were supposed to play a different team but the schedule was changed last minute. This the same team we played last weekend. Pre-game, Cole & Eli made a "Go Nuggets" sign for us to hold up during the game. It was a huge hit and I loved seeing the kids on the team smile when they saw it. They played another great game. They're super awesome on defense, need to get better on rebounding and shooting but they're working hard! 

Making their sign

GO NUGGETS!! (Cole standing at the baseline during warmups.)

Hands up Defense!! Eli is playing forward here. They are only allowed to play zone in this league. 

Dribbling down.....this was a pretty tough team, hard to score on

Kinda blurry but Eli got some air here!

Window art

We've discovered that you can write on the windows with Crayola markers and they just wipe off. And the boys LOVE it! Today they created an under the sea scene for me. 

Creating....

It's kinda hard to see but there was a shark and a pufferfish along with other sea friends. 

Captain Lewis and her Underpants

I took the day off work today to volunteer and enjoy Eli's school's fun run - their Trot for Books. It was a fundraiser to buy new readers for the school. As part of the book theme, each class selected a book and created their class flag and tags related to that book. Eli just told me last night that his class was "Captain Lewis and her Underpants". I totally thought he was kidding but sure enough....they were "Captain Lewis and her Underpants"!! They had pink underpants cutouts on lanyards that we stamped for each lap they ran. One grade at a time ran around the track. Eli amazes me with his running. He is just so natural at it and, again this year, I think he ran the most laps in his grade! He ran 6 laps to equal 1-1/2 miles!! And he finished his 6th lap just as they started finishing up. I'm pretty sure he could have run another! It was so fun to cheer on the kids, stamp their "underpants" and send them off for another lap. The best part of all was when I left the classrooms, the kids gave me a HUGE group hug that pretty much left us in a pile up on the floor. =) 

School mascot - Cub pride!

Captain Lewis!!

Mr. Cool

Ready.....set.....GO!

Class flag

End of lap 1

Getting his stamp from Captain Lewis

Another one

I have no idea which lap this was....he was just so cute!

Post run - happy boy

Eli and Captain Lewis

So proud of my Eli

Eli's pink underpants!!

Our leaf walk

Tonight we went on a leaf walk around our neighborhood. We've been admiring the leaf colors as we drive so we went on a family walk to admire them in our neighborhood. The boys told me what to take pictures of so we could remember the pretty colors. Maybe next year we'll make it to the mountains to look at the leaves up there!