The Giving Machine

This year the church put a giving machine in Denver. As soon as I heard about it I was really excited, and knew I wanted to take our kids down there. I looked online to see some of the things that were available for donations and knew the kids would like it. The kids have been earning money the last couple of weeks so they could take it down and buy something themselves. When we got down there they were overwhelmed by their choices. There were tutoring sessions, clean water, meals, chickens, pigs, and a dozen other things that they could donate to others. The kids were really excited to buy a pig but it cost more than any of them had, so they decided to combine all of their money to get a pig. I ended up buying some clean water for a family. And Jeremy got excited about the toilet worm - I don't even know what that means! 

There was a choir down there singing Christmas hymns in Franklin Square. Even though the actual giving did not take very long we didn't really want to leave because it was such a great atmosphere down there.

I'm glad my kids felt so happy about spending their hard-earned money on ways to serve other people. I hope the giving machines compared to Denver again next year.

The Nutcracker

The girls and I love our annual Nutcracker tradition. We drove downtown to watch the Denver ballet.  We love the atmosphere. We love seeing everybody dressed up. We love the music and the costumes. We had a great time. Once we were done we went to get caramel apples to top off our afternoon. It was wonderful.

Risas Christmas 2019

I look forward to the Risas Christmas dinner every year. I love the company and the food. But most of all I really loved dressing up. It's not very often that a girl gets to feel glamorous.

 

In years past Jeremy and his partners have all coordinated by getting crazy suits. This year they decided to take a classy route and all got three piece red suits complete with top hat and cane! The top hats and canes put them completely over-the-top and I loved it! 

As a group we look amazing.

 

We spend all evening talking, chatting, laughing and just having a general good time. This year the entertainment was a pianist who took requests and pulled off an Elton John number too. 

I'm so grateful that we are able to go to these parties and work for such a wonderful company. Jeremy really respects Jeff and all that he has done. We count our blessings that we are able to be numbered among his friends.

Orchestra concerts and the fate of little brothers

I have to say that Cambrie's orchestra concerts are becoming more and more enjoyable the more she practices.  I'm impressed these kids are trying to hard to learn how to play these instruments.

  

Even while Jeremy and I were thoroughly enjoying ourselves, Kelton thought it lasted a little long.  I guess that's the fate of little brothers.

 The well-earned cookie at the end of the concert.

Christmas train

"We went on to the train.  And then we sat down on the Christmas train.  And then we waited for Santa.  And then we told him what we wanted. I said I wanted a pet fish.  And we ate food.  I like the Christmas train because we told Santa what we wanted."  Kelton

"We were very rushed to hop on the Christmas train, but we made it.  We didn't have to wait very long in the line, but it was cold.  Very cold.  We hopped on the train, sat down, and saw these delicious treats in front of us!  I wanted to eat all of them.  After a little while Christmas lights started popping up outside.  Since it wasn't nighttime they didn't glow but still were really cool.  Some examples are an elf village, a snowman having a snowball fight, penguins sliding on their bellies, and Santa's workshop.  Finally Santa came.  We all asked what we wished for.  Cambrie wished for a snake.  I wished for a beam (which I'm still waiting for by the way!).  Kelton wished for a fish, and so did Daxton.  It was a really fun experience on the Christmas train.  Another part that I really liked was going over the really tall trestle.  We were given candy canes and little bells.  After we hopped off we went to get warm by the roasted chestnuts.  We tried a little sample and the guy serving us gave me some little gems that were purple.  I really had a good time on the Christmas train."  McKenzie

 "Don't steal my soda!"

Gymnastics Christmas party

McKenzie can find friends anywhere, but it's nice to see her so happy with her gymnastics friends.  They did a secret Santa gift exchange at their level 3 party, and McKenzie loved getting things for her friend, Violet.  We went to Claire's where McKenzie's mind was blown by all of the fun, sparkly, totally girly things we found there.  She ended up with a pair of earmuffs for herself and was very excited.  

At the party the girls made gingerbread houses.  At least, I think they did.  I saw them at the beginning trying to work on it, but when I went back a few minutes later I didn't see a house.  I saw girls eating candy and frosting off of gingerbread house pieces.  

Here she is trying to guess who her secret Santa was.  She was at a little bit of a disadvantage because Tolly wasn't even there!  

She had  a wonderful time and I hope that as she moves up to level 4 she feels as welcomed and happy.

iFly

The kids were amazing super troopers as we hosted over Thanksgiving.  McKenzie put Emma to bed every night, even if it meant reading her stories and singing endless lullabies.  Daxton didn't complain once about Emma or Graham sharing his toys.  Cambrie and Kelton were all-around amazing helpers.  They helped with anything and everything I needed.  After our guests left, Jeremy and I told the kids that they had gone above and beyond, and we were rewarding them with a trip to iFly, an indoor skydiving facility.  It was a lot of fun.  I was a little surprised that even Daxton wanted to participate.  Here we are all getting geared up.  

These guys look like they're ready to fly!  

McKenzie was the first one into the tunnel.  I assumed that with her body awareness she'd do great.  I wasn't wrong.  In fact, all of the kids did a great job in there staying steady and in control.  Cambrie surprised me a little bit because she had a huge smile on her face.  It's not very often (now that she's a cool teenager) that I get to see true and free smiles from her.  She was giddy in there.  Daxton was the wild card.  I had no idea if he was going to participate or not.  I was very surprised that he wanted to without any timidness at all.  Inside you could tell he was a little nervous, but his instructor held him and kept him under control which was great.  Jeremy has been once before so he had a leg up on experience.  He even did a full 360 degree turn which none of the rest of us managed to do.  However, the instructor told us later that it's not very often he can even let go of first time flyers.  He let go of every one of us and let us try our hand at it.  At the end of our last round we did a high flight.  That was incredible.  The instructor supports you and takes the both of you up all the way to the top of the tunnel.  We went up and down, up and down, and I laughed out loud.  Everyone loved it so much that we bought a return pass.  We have no choice now but to go again!  Rats!