Photos to finish up 2015

Because the blog was actually created for the grandparents, not for me (thought I do love it myself), I thought that they deserved a post that actually had pictures of the grandkids and a whole lot less of my literary clutter. So don't cut me out of the will just yet! And for John and Debbie, don't print these - there just *may* be some prints already on order for you. So now, in no particular oder (SOME order, not not exact), are the photos of the last 2 months of 2015!

School Halloween parade - Elsa and Bumblebee. Our first foray into face paint, since no masks were allowed.

For the real Halloween we did Elsa's hair up right and turned it white(ish). She was very pleased!

 I even indulged in some makeup. She looked AND felt like a queen!

 Ethan was a pirate. He only wore the hat for pictures, though, and the rest of the night he looked like a scruffy prince not-so-charming

 Patrick's finished dragon costume - it was lots and lots of work, and he was very proud of the result

Eli's full costume. We particularly loved the mask!

 Ethan's pumpkin was "Frankenstein," according to him

 Eli wanted a bat. It looked awesome for 12 hours, but when left outside the sneaky neighborhood squirrels had a pumpkin feast. The next day we were forced to bring the pumpkins inside, where they suffered the fate of warmth and already being carved, becoming too moldy to light come Halloween. Dang. At least we got pictures of their hard work first!

 Caroline's owl. The 3-D beak was the first thing to be squirrel-ized

 Patrick drew his pumpkin himself. I loved the classic Jock O Lantern look!

Eli turned 6! We enjoyed a night out at Dunkin Donuts.

 He wanted an owl-themed birthday party, so I made an owl cake and decorated balloons to look like owls. We had a few friends from church over and ate (this) cake and ice cream.

 He got some great presents....

 ...including a new bike! He's a master at 2 wheels and ridiculously tall for his age, so he has a 20" bike.

Thanksgiving at Joy school - the kids got the entire week off elementary school so they all joined in at home preschool and made lovely turkeys.

 Our Joy School group - Brycen, Eliza, Eli, Jaxen, Caroline, Patrick - Ethan undoubtedly finished his turkey after 10 seconds and decided it was "free play time" instead.

  Christmas - we spent the morning at our house in Pueblo, then went to Parker where my parents, Karl, and Tom and Melody were all visiting. Kari and my mom made a delicious Christmas ham and all the fixin's.

 Same table, different view.

 Same meal, at the kids' table. The cousins are so cute together!

As long as we were already in Denver we made it a point to visit Joe's grandma, Eva. She had fortunately made chicken noodle soup the day before - our kids' absolute favorite!

For Christmas the big kids got costumes - I found them on after-Halloween clearance, but there wasn't anything great in Ethan's size. He just loves wearing the boy's old dinosaur costumes, thuugh, so that works well. The boys are Power Ranger Dino Charge, a new P.R. show that merges their obsession with dino's and Rangers. Caroline is, of course, Anna from Frozen Fever.

 FANTASTIC personalized pillows for each kids, plus great books to read while they snuggle the pillows - from Debbie and John

 Street signs from Joe's aunt Sherrye - so cool!

 We did Christmas Eve pajamas, then drove around town to look at lights. Unfortunately I misjudges Caroline, who was too big for her size 5 pjs, so we bought another pair the next week.

Christmas Eve for mom and dad. A silent night...

 Our Christmas tree

Eli showing off his new kitty ornament from Debbie and John

 Caroline placing her kitty ornament

 There it is! A cat angel

We enjoyed our Christmas advent Calendar! So special

Mom's homemade Christmas advent - each envelope contained an activity, like making gratitude bags, learning verses to Christmas songs, reading scriptures, shopping from the Angel tree at church, cutting out snowflakes, etc.

 Sledding in Parker the day after Christmas. This is Ethan flying off the disc!

Flying or not, he had a great time!

Grandpa giving Amelia a push

Patrick gets a good start down the hill

Joe and Caroline about to take the plunge

The sledding crew before heading out - it was sooooo cold that day!

Ethan playing in the snow back home

Patrick, Eli, and Amelia

 Super-cute cousins

Snuggeling at home in the couch. I couldn't believe they all fit!

This was Thanksgiving week at the Zoo Lights in Pueblo. We went with my parents on the last night of good weather that week, and it was a great show!

Not even cold enough for a real coat!

 
If you made it to the end of this, you have my respect! Hope you enjoyed a ridiculous amount of pictures of my kids and family being regular kids and a regular family, because we sure had fun making the memories together :)