Zoo Lights @ the Denver Zoo

Members of the Denver Zoo got a special sneak peek at the Zoo Lights display this past weekend. We went on Friday night and it was so pretty. I can't even begin to imagine how much money they have tied up in Christmas lights. Each tree around the place had tons of LED lights all over. I wish I could have gotten pics of everything but it was impossible with my little camera. I knew I should have taken my big camera. Oh well, I still got a few shots of us enjoying the festivities. Clayton's Dad had given him a huge thermos recently so we took it filled with hot chocolate. I brought each of our Christmas Starbucks travel mugs so that we could drink and walk around at the same time. It was wonderful! The only downside to going on going the first weekend of the event was that there were too many people. We weren't about to wait forever to get on the train and Santa's line was unreal. We ended up skipping those 2 things. Maybe we'll go back and do the things we skipped. If you live near the Denver area, I highly recommend Zoo Lights. It won't be open again until 12/11 and the hours will be from 5-9pm.

Hayden

Emerson

Pumpkin Roll

Hayden and I made a pumpkin cake roll today. I thought that it would be hard to roll up but it was rather easy. I hope it tastes as good as it looks!

I am a bit bummed that no one is coming over for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I have always hosted for family. Heck, we even hosted in our little apartment in Raleigh when we were both at NCSU. We had no money back then but I still managed to do the full spread. This year Clayton's birthday managed to fall on turkey day so we will celebrate that too. Maybe we will go to the movies or something?

BTW-I have changed my blogger template and managed to lose all of the blogs on my sidebar. If you don't see yours listed, will you please leave me a comment with your blog address? I want to add them back.

Deep & profound thoughts on my baby turning 5

It is unreal how time seems to fly now that I am a mom. It seems like just yesterday I had to use a stroller and change diapers. Now I am the mother of a 6yo and a 5yo. How weird! I never thought that I would make it this far, lol. Once I had my babies, I couldn't wait until this point because then I wouldn't have to contend with baby or toddler crap any longer. Being 5 means going to school and understanding rules. I am thrilled to finally be at this point. I used to be so jealous of the moms that didn't have to deal with babies/toddlers because their lives seemed so much easier. I now know that it is easier in some respects but more difficult in others. Just because my kiddos are more self sufficient doesn't necessarily mean it is a cake walk. For instance, I don't have to worry about sippy cups but I do have to deal with occasional spills from regular ones, kwim? It is nice to not deal with washing all those sippy cup parts but I miss not having to worry about spills. Oh well. I will take not having to deal with diapers, bottles, teething, burp clothes, onesies, carriers and strollers any day over the occasional upset that a 5 year old deals me.

Being 5 means more independence but it comes with a price. I now serve as a constant mediator and it is super annoying. I have to settle arguments between my kiddos because they both want their grievances heard. The youngest no longer simply succombs to the bossing around that my older one dishes out. Emerson used to just be passive and let Hayden rule his world. No longer is that happening, lol. My boys now think that they can do many things for themselves that they don't understand fully why we won't let them (like walk to/from school by themselves, get things down from a tall shelf or walk through a crowded parking lot without holding our hands). These things may seem minor but it can be really frustrating to constantly battle my boys' newfound independence. They want to be more self-reliant and I want them to be too but it isn't always in our best interest to just let them be on their own. They still have a lot of growing up to do and I am thankful that they still *need* us.

Anyway, enough about that. Here are some fun pics of Emerson on his special day (11/8):

Emerson laying across my glider and footstool

Opening gifts (he LOVED everything!)

He almost blew out the candle before we sang to him. He stopped himself just in time, lol.

Halloween 2009

Hayden as Optimus Prime

What a ham!

Emerson as...hmm...something evil? demonic? Skeletor?

Let me just say that this costume is pretty scary but it was a compromise. Emerson wanted to be the guy from Scream with blood flowing down his face. Ugh. I wasn't about to allow that costume in my house. Hayden was terrified of all the costumes Emerson wanted so the Scream guy was most definitely out. He settled on this one knowing that he couldn't wear the mask nor the evil necklace that came with it to his preschool party. That was okay by him so everything worked out well. He did make quite a few parents chuckle while he was TOTing because he was so little to be such a scary character. Who knew that a 4 year old would want to be something so demonic?

more Halloween pics

Clayton's pumpkins-Mario and Luigi

Emerson trick-or-treating at the Leal's (our friends across the street)

Now this is hilarious. You saw how scary Emerson looked, right? He was too chicken to go up to the doors because he was afraid that a dog would run out and attack him, lol. He would peek around the corner of every house until he knew it was safe to proceed to the door.

Blizzard pics-October 28 & 29, 2009

Emerson smashing snow on the back door

Don't ya love how the snow stuck to the fence?

Look at how much snow piled up on the table. It was unreal! You would think that it was December rather than October. What's really strange is that we were in shorts 5 days later, lol.

More blizzard pics

Emerson

Hayden

Pumpkin Patch (a little late, lol)

Clayton showing the boys how to find the perfect pumpkin to carve

Emerson-4

More pumpkin pics

Swan Gourds

Hayden-6

Going Crazy for Bon Jovi & My Scrapbooking Weekend

Yay!! Bon Jovi has recently released their tour dates. I have been trying to win tickets for us this week and I am going nutso listening out for the cue to call in on the radio. I have came so close. You need to be caller 9. I have been caller 1, 1, 7 and 5. I believe the give-away is going on until Friday so I still have a little bit of time left to win. If I don't score then we will be buying them via pre-sale on Friday. Free would be so much better though. Speaking of Bon Jovi, I already bought the album. It was released yesterday. You can purchase it on Amazon (the digital version) for only $3.99 until Friday and then it will return to regular price. You can't possibly get it cheaper anywhere else.

This past weekend was a total whirlwind. I left on Friday to head up to Estes Park. I met a bunch of fun gals up there for a scrapbooking retreat. We had so much fun. I completed my recipe and Christmas lunch boxes. I should have done them 3 years ago but I just kept procrastinating. I will get pics of them soon. I took off early on Sunday morning to get home because that was Emerson's 5th birthday. We had family come in for a little party for him. He got some cool gifts and had a great day. I can't believe that my baby boy is 5!