Happy Halloween!

We had amazing weather for trick-or-treating this year.  After our first snowfall and some chilly temps, I was happy to see the temperatures rise as Monday grew closer.  For trick-or-treating, Alex was Cookie Monster, Josh was Facebook (laziest costume EVER) and Mattea was a rockin' pink pirate.  Some explanations are needed.  See below.

Alex begged me for this hat he saw at the store.  I told him his Dad would not let him out in public wearing it, but he insisted that he couldn't live without it.  I admitted that he looked cute, so I bought it.  It's a blue hat with eyeballs at the top.  He added a blue shirt with a duct-taped "C" on the front and "M" on the back and some blue shorts and called himself Cookie Monster... worked for me!

Every year since we have lived in Colorado, Josh wants to be a ninja or something like that.  So, we go out and buy him a costume and then the day of the Halloween party at school, he changes his mind and wants to be a football player.  This happened a couple years in a row.  This year, I told him that I wasn't going to buy him a costume since he would just end up being a football player anyway.  The day of the Halloween party, he decided he really didn't want to be a football player, so he borrowed a zombie costume from a neighbor.  Seriously.  When it came to trick-or-treat time, Josh grabbed a bag and left the house on his skateboard.  I asked him what he was dressed up as and he replied "I don't know.  Nothing, I guess."  Oh Joshie.  So, I explained that it's part of the fun to dress up and that he shouldn't expect to get any candy if he doesn't dress up.  So, he got a marker and wrote "Book" on his face.  Get it???  Facebook.  Bahahahahahaha.  Okay, I must admit, that is pretty funny... but a very lazy costume.  I guess he can get away with it since he's so darn cute!

Mattea was easy.  She wanted to be a Monster High girl which is basically this cute vampire looking girl.  It's all the rage, ya know.  I had purchased a daily deal for an online Halloween store, so I told Mattea that I would buy it from there.  Unfortunately, they didn't sell those costumes on that site.  But, Mattea was very flexible.  We found a "Rockin' Pink Pirate" costume that looked close to the Monster High girl costumes and Mattea was happy with it, so we ordered it.  When it arrived, she was ECSTATIC and put it on right away.  She looked more like a pirate than a vampire, but I was totally cool with that.  Whenever someone asked her if she was a pirate, she said "I'm a rockin' pink pirate".  She cracks me up!!!

We had a fun night trick-or-treating.  Alex had dinner with Jacob Kilburg, then did some trick-or-treating and ended up "working" the Kilburg's haunted house they set up in their garage.  Josh, Mattea and I trick-or-treated with Mattea's friends, Naomi & Giovanni, and the neighbors, John, Holden and Harlei.  The highlight of the night was trick-or-treating at Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker's house.  I was surprised to see Demaryius at the door handing out candy.  I went in for a high five.  I just HAD to.  Hope you had a spooky and fun Halloween!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 43

We had our first snow of the season before Halloween.  The kids had fun playing in the snow .  Mattea made snow angels and a snowman.  Indy doesn't seem to enjoy the snow as much as he used to!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 42

I bought some curlers for my hair, but I will give you one guess who begged me to use them in her hair???  But, look how cute she looks even with curlers in her hair!

Cody had his 3rd birthday on October 18th!  He celebrated by eating Frosty Paws with the neighbor dogs and playing with his new toy.  He loves his toys!

My anniversary flowers were so absolutely breathtaking.  I took several shots of them as they opened up fully.  The yellow one is Mattea's... she kept close tabs on that one.  We are such lucky girls!

Josh made breakfast for us (without wearing a shirt!!!) and it was SO delicious!  French toast, scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage patties, apple slices and yogurt.  YUMMY!

Josh had his last football game of the season.  We had a blast watching the Spartan Bronze team this year.  Next sport... basketball.  Bring it on!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 41

The weather cooled off for a bit, so it was a good day to make a big pot of chili and some homemade apple crisp. YUM!

Josh & Mattea built a fort in Mattea's room.  The best part???  Their plan all mapped out on the white board.  LOVE it!

Indy has always been a picky eater.  Lately, he is very choosy about which pieces of food he will eat and he makes quite a mess while he eats.  I am always picking up little pieces of dog food in the kitchen.  I love his expression here.  I would imagine he is thinking "Really?  A picture of me eating???  That's the best you can do?"

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today is a special day.  It's the day that Jeff and I vowed before family & friends to love and honor each other through sickness and in health, for richer for poorer until death parts us.  In today's society, long and happy marriages aren't necessarily the norm anymore which is pretty sad.  This roller coaster called marriage has its up and downs, its twists and turns, but as long as we are riding together, we are always smiling at the end of the ride. 

Jeff got home early from work for a change which was a really nice gift!!!  Shortly after, the real gifts started coming.  The doorbell rang and a delivery man had a HUGE spray of roses -- 15 red ones for me and 1 yellow one for Mattea.  Jeff is so thoughtful and ALWAYS brings Mattea flowers when I get some.  Along with the flowers was a wonderful array of spa products sure to make me feel & smell delicious!!!  As if that wasn't enough, Jeff handed over a bag from Biondi Diamond Jewelers.  (I guess it's a good thing to have your wedding anniversary land on payday!)  He picked out a gorgeous sterling silver ring that is incredibly unique.  I love it! 

The boys were at a sleepover, so Jeff, Mattea and I went out for a nice Italian dinner.  Jeff & Mattea shared a plate of pasta, I had some yummy lasagna, we enjoyed some fruity cocktails and followed it up with some turtle cheesecake & chocolate cake (complete with candles!).  Mattea kept us entertained with conversation... she is super funny... and she had the waiter in the palm of her hand by the time the entrees came out.  What a fun night!

Fun Facts
Months we dated - 19
Months we were engaged - 21
Tracy's age when we got married - 23
Jeff's age when we got married - 22
Years married before we had our first child - 3 1/2
Years married before we had our second child - 5 1/2
Years married before we had our third child - 9
Blissful years we have spent married - 16

Pictures of the Week -- Week 40

Cody sliced his foot pad, so we tried to bandage it, but he kept tearing off the bandage.  I didn't want him messing with it, so in lieu of getting him a cone for his head, I used one of Mattea's Hello Kitty socks to cover up Cody's boo-boo.  It didn't last long, but it was sure funny while it did!!!

Mattea & Josh made root beer slushies today. They were quite pleased at how well they turned out.  (Yes, Josh is often shirtless.)

Alex & Josh's friend, Mikey, had a sleepover.  In the morning, they helped themselves to some cereal.  They mixed multiple types of cereal together and ate it.  I thought it looked disgusting, but they seemed to like it!

Apparently, the cereal wasn't enough, so I made the boys some pancakes. We added some whipped cream on top for fun!  (As you can tell, Josh added his own.  And he's also shirtless.  Again.)

The boys got all their gear on for an "airsoft war" in the field.  Don't they look bad ass???



Pictures of the Week -- Week 39

I took Mattea to the Taylor Swift concert at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver.  Just like last year, we had a blast!  We decided to sit further away this time since it was much too loud for Mattea at the concert last year.  We ended up in the "nosebleed" section, but she didn't mind a bit.  My pictures aren't too great since we were so far away, but that doesn't matter.  We enjoyed the music, the atmosphere and our girl time.  Taylor puts on an amazing show.  Her encore included her strapped into a balcony zooming over the crowd.  It was out of this world!!!

 

Jeff gave Josh a project.  He had to shovel rocks on the side of the house to uncover the beat up weed control cover, put down a new cover and then shovel the rocks back.  It is a tough job and Josh is working at it slowly, but surely.  He did get a little bit of help from Mattea.  He's still got quite a ways to go.  I would say he isn't likely to be a landscaper when he grows up.

Josh and Mattea decided to reward themselves with some brownies.  They are quite the little bakers!