October snow!

We had our first big snow in October this year . . . the kids had fun sledding, snow boarding, eating cinnamon rolls, drinking hot chocolate and making snow ice cream (this was the first time we tried to make snow ice cream ~ it earned rave reviews from the critics!)

Anna's half birthday (a little bit early)

Anna's 'half birthday' always falls right around Thanksgiving and just before our anniversary. This year we wanted to avoid feeling like we were squeezing it in during the holiday season . . . so, we celebrated early!

Anna had been talking for weeks about wanting to go ride a horse or a pony. She also regularly tells us that she wants to see various animals (zebras, giraffes, monkeys, etc) ~ not your run of the mill suburban pet store animals . . . clearly zoo material! And (drum roll please!) the day we had set aside for our special time with her happened to also be a ‘free day’ at the Denver Zoo =)

We wrapped up our time with some ice cream and a quick stop at Chuck-E-Cheese (mostly because we had some extra tokens). Fun, fun, fun with a sweet, sweet little girl!

Celebrating Daniel's 9th bday

Daniel turned nine a week before Halloween. Nearly every birthday at our house starts off in the same way ~ everyone gathering around the kitchen table singing to the birthday child (or adult), "birthday donuts" for everyone, a picture with the "birthday bear" and a few gifts are opened.

One of Daniel's gifts this year was another set of marble tower pieces to add to his marble tower (he actually received the first marble tower on his 3rd birthday! ~ see the sweet, chubby faced photo below!) He's been spending lots of time lately enjoying coming up with new configurations for it and racing his marbles down it.

We took the day off of school, spent a lazy morning playing and then went and helped with/visited the goats in the afternoon. After we returned home, we had Daniel's all time favorite meal (tator tot casserole) for dinner and Anna helped make a big "cookie pizza" for dessert. The night before Daniel also had me take a picture of his "last dessert as an eight year old"! (hence the photo below of him enjoying some ice cream . . . silly boy!)

Almost a week later, we also enjoyed a party with some of our favorite friends. Fun times!