The three guys in back

Some of you know that Andrew was lucky enough to be chosen as a "Junior Rapid" for their last playoff game at home. He got a little Rapids uniform (to keep!) but best of all, he got to escort a player (from the opposing team) onto the field, hold his hand, and stay with him through the playing of the National Anthem - all out in the middle of the field. Being a playoff game, the place was packed! It was also crazy freezing cold that night. Jason and Andrew went, and Jason helped in the locker room, getting all the kiddos into their uniforms. The first picture is actually Andrew (blurry) running off the field after the Anthem. I think the running off the field, into the locker room, was his favorite part! They all just tore across the field. Here he is walking out - Andrew is the very last kiddo you see, he's actually walking out with the goalie - in this picture you can see the goalie leaning in to talk to Andrew. : ) Jason said they talked the whole way out onto the field.

Santa came to our house the first weekend of December - he showed up on a Friday night with some elves, riding on a fire truck. Rang the doorbell and came right in! Had some neighbors over and one by one, they sat on Santa's lap, told him their wishes, and got a bag of treats.

CC: "A gingerbread house, the kind you don't eat, you just play with." Andrew went first, actually! "A thing that moves, that I control with a remote control." Brendan: "Hex Bugs Bridge Battle, please." (A bit more specific than the others!)

Okay, this one will bring a smile to your face, guaranteed. This is Brendan's 4th Grade Holiday Band Concert this week. Keep in mind, these kiddos have only been playing their given instruments for 3 1/2 months. Brendan is one of the "3 guys in back" playing the trombone, nope, you can't see him, but you can hear him! He loved the kudos his band instructor gave them.

Deep thoughts.

CC with reindeer face painting, holding a reindeer cookie.

CC: "Did Santa name the reindeer?" I vote yes - any other opinions? Really, who else would have named them? (their parents, I guess - but Donner was not a great father figure to Rudolph...)

Andrew: "When the day ends, which direction does it go in? This way, that way, or that way?" On that, I said west.

Halloween - before Christmas!

Just had to get the Halloween pictures up before the Christmas ones take over. This pumpkin was an ambitious effort started by Katy, who got frustrated, then was finished by Jason. I learned not to try such an intricate pattern on a HUGE thick pumpkin. We've also learned not to carve our pumpkins until the 30th or 31st so they don't get all mushy and sad looking.
Starting out trick or treating, with the neighbors. Can you tell which are the Bakers? (minus the cat, she's pretty obvious)

This (recycled) costume was the big hit this year. Please note the lego guy "hands" - my favorite part. Yes, he can see - there are small slits in the eyes.

CC's pumpkin!! Drew herself and then we carved together.

Halloween party at Invesco Field (Mile High Stadium)

Pumpkin Patch

In October, Jason took a Friday off that the boys had off from school, so we could all go to Anderson Farms. It's in Erie, about 20 minutes away, and has a big fall-fest type of event. It was a perfect fall day, not too hot and sunny, not rainy. We had a great day!
Love this picture of CC driving Andrew in the barrel train.
This should have been a perfect opportunity for a family picture - 5 openings. One of the Bakers wouldn't cooperate - can you guess who? (do you like Jason's pigtails?)
They had a hay-bale maze with a few "holes" in the bales, for playing hide and seek. They also had huge corn mazes but we didn't get to do those.

Yep, I took this picture. I admit I have never looked this closely at any kernel of corn, to notice - hey, candy corn really DOES look like real corn! How about that??

I swore we weren't going to buy any pumpkins (I'm too cheap, and get them at Target instead) - but out there in that HUGE pumpkin patch, they had over 100 varieties of pumpkin - so cool. We came home with 3 - 2 of them "ghost" pumpkins, you can see them in the background.

Getting along!

Our wagon ride stopped to feed these cows - the feeding part was a little yucky but wow, look how this Highland cow's hair color matches Brendans!!

Brendan with the camera.

These huge pumpkins the kids are sitting on were for sale, $100 each.

Andrew, with game face on!

First days

This year, those first-day-of-school pictures have a different meaning for us. The boys moved to a different school, Jefferson Academy Charter School. It's still very close, only about 6 minutes from our house. It was a hard decision - we loved their former school and had created a nice community for ourselves there. JA (new school) has a middle school and high school, in addition to the elementary school - and we had been on their waitlist a few years, so we jumped in. There were some definite first-day jitters (for me as well as boys!) but so far, so good!

Can you tell it's a pretty bright, sunny day? Brendan: Mom, it's hurting my eyes! Just take the picture!

This was the last day of this bookbag for Brendan - for the first time he has to bring home (heavy) textbooks to use for his homework - this wasn't cutting it. The school recommends the kind of backpack that has wheels, and now I know why. Maybe for Christmas!

4th grade for Brendan, 2nd grade for Andrew!

And the next day, CC had her first day of preschool! She's going to Happy Valley Children's Ranch. So cute, it's almost 60 years old - a little farm, where the kiddos get to feed the animals, brush them, and ride ponies. She LOVES going to preschool - the teachers tell me she's very quiet there (weird!!) but is not sad to see mom go at all!

And now onto the beginning of what has been our lives (really) for the past 2 months - fall sports. Andrew is on a new inter-league soccer team where he plays teams in nearby cities. First year for the jersey uniform for him vs. a t-shirt - love it!

CC is playing soccer for the first time - cutest, cutest thing ever. Her team is called the Ladybugs - and she loves it. She was due to play after 4 years of going to every sport/game known to man for her brothers! Watching those little girlies swarm around the ball, kick in the wrong goal, and constantly look back at parents with a big grin - love it! CC's got an orange ball here, but for her birthday, big brother Andrew got her a purple soccer ball!

And yep, in the middle, that fierce-looking dude is Brendan. (aka "Baker") He requested to play football this fall for the first time, and we dove in. We all learned a lot this season, and as ever so proud of this kid who is not afraid to try ANYTHING in the world...how amazing is that!? He's really loving the game, and Jason is loving that Brendan will sit with him on a Sunday for HOURS and watch the professional games.

Love how CC's looking up at Brendan in this picture.

We're baaaa-aackkk....

Yeah, yeah, it's been forever. No reason, excuse, etc. - just that after a certain point of not posting it then started to seem like an insurmountable task to try to catch up. So, I'm not even going to try to catch up - just post some stuff that I remember or was interesting!

Here's our long-haired little man...no more buzz cuts for Andrew! Been growing it out for a few months now - it's not "styled" here (yep, we even put product in it : )) - but what a cute smile.


And speaking of hairstyles - here's little sister bear after I curled it a bit, and she's wearing one of my necklaces. Funny to see this picture - just the other day picked up the pieces of those sunglasses in the back seat of the car to toss out!
This I do remember - it's September 5 - our 12th wedding anniversary. We splurged and went out to dinner at one of our favorite grown-up restaurants - and brought the kids. Here they are toasting their Shirley Temples. (note that Andrew's hair has been combed recently)
Same anniversary dinner! A couple of weeks earlier - Jason's birthday. I enjoyed the very devilish look and color of this photo! Birthday cake, every year = choc on choc (chocolate cake, chocolate frosting)
Random, but funny - CC dressed herself to step out into the rainy night. She was so excited to have a reason to use the princess umbrella - just doesn't rain that much here!

Fresh from the garden - zucchini. First year growing it, even though I know it's the "easiest." This one we let get a little too big!
More on this later - football for the first time for Brendan. This was the first time he put on the pads and helmet - I was gushing and had to take a picture.
Okay, I've broken the seal of no posts...will do more very soon!!
ps - Mike - your turn!!

...and the last of the Highlights!

Brendan had a total of 4 swim meets this summer, and I posted photos of the first one - so here's the last one. He's so great about being willing to try anything - there's no stroke that he hasn't raced in - so cool! Here he is getting ready for his last race of the day, and the season....

That's his timer saying something to him...wonder what?

Brendan did the IM - Individual Medley - for the very first time in the last meet. That's 25m of each stroke - 100m total which is a lot of swimming for a little guy! He did so awesome - came in second. You'll have to listen to annoying mom voice in the video (it's not all me...really) - B swears he hears us while swimming.

Love this picture of this very handsome red-haired guy.

CC's best little buddy is Megan - little sister of one of Andrew's former classmates. They are so stinking girly and cute together! Here they are holding hands going down the pool slide together!

So since we are now a football family...the Broncos had a practice session at Invesco Field (Mile-High) for free - so we went to check it out. I swear - a minute before some of these pictures are taken - Andrew is happy and smiling - then pulls out this face when the camera comes out!!
There were over 20,000 in the stadium for the practice!

I mentioned a couple months back that our good friends were moving - we were lucky enough to have a few days with them in July in their transition between here & Virginia - we went to a Rockies game and here we are tailgating below...

and here's 6 little monkeys, laying on the bed (plus Hello Kitty).

Whew! That's a lot of summer covered.