Halloween (yes, I know it's December)

I've been reminded and reprimanded by a couple of friends and family for not keeping this blog updated so here we go.

As you can see from the attached pictures, Halloween was quite a treat for our little Elmo and Tinkerbell. They had a ball trick-or-treating with Mom and a couple of neighborhood friends while Daddy stayed home and passed out candy to all the local ghouls and goblins.

Lucas' 4th Birthday

We just got the kids to come down from their Halloween sugar high and then got them all hyped up again for Lucas' birthday. The actual birthday was pretty low-key with only cupcakes with the family but the following Saturday, we hosted 19 3 and 4 year-olds at the bowling alley. It was very chaotic but a great time was had by all. Lucas made out like a bandit with gifts galore. Miguel and I joked that we should have gone out and gotten a Christmas tree and put all the gifts under it. He would have never known the difference and we would have saved ourselves a great deal of money come Christmas time.

I don't have any still pictures of this event but I know there's video. I'll need to have Miguel's help to upload it but I'll get it up soon.

Thanksgiving in UT/WY

We loaded up and headed West the Friday before Thanksgiving and returned the Saturday following. So we had a full week in the cold part of the world. After arriving at the airport in Salt Lake City, we stayed at a hotel near our favorite breakfast spot in Draper. I know it sounds silly but there are some restaurants and foods that we really miss. Jim's Family Diner is one of them. We just haven't been able to find those favorite places here in FL. So we stayed at a hotel nearby the restaurant so we could have breakfast there then we went to visit some old friends, neighbors, and Miguel's co-workers there in the Salt Lake City area before driving to Grandma's house in Wyoming. We spent a few very cold days with her then went to Ogden, UT to Aunt Becky's house for the holiday. It wasn't quite as cold there but still quite chilly. It was a nice holiday and in addition to all of Becky's family, my brother Gary was also there from MO. It was great to see them as I don't get to see them nearly often enough.

Soccer

Okay - I think with this post, I'll be caught up on recent events.

Lucas is on a soccer team and his first game was on Saturday. His team won by default because the other team didn't show (I think it was a scheduling mix-up) but of course we're not supposed to talk too much about winning and losing because at age 4 we're all winners! So we worked on some of our skills and did a little scrimmage amongst ourselves. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait until next week! Oh, and did I mention that I am their coach? I'm not much of a soccer player but if I can get them all to kick the ball in the right direction and they have a fun time doing it, I'll consider it to be a successful season. The best part of Saturday's game was in the car on the way home when Lucas told me, "your a great coach, Mom." It doesn't get much better than that.

I'll have Miguel help me put some video up here soon as well.

Oh, One More Thing - How Could I Forget About LEO?

When we got back from our Thanksgiving vacation we got busy pretty quickly on getting the house all decorated for Christmas. Lucas and Sophia did an awesome job helping me decorate our tree.

We have an "Elf on the Shelf" that we named Leo. He is our family's magical elf that watches over us during the day and reports back to Santa at the North Pole while we're sleeping. Every time he returns from the North Pole, he lands somewhere different in the house so we have a great time looking for him each morning when we wake up. We're really going to miss him when Christmas is over and we won't be able to see him again until next year.

I am going to miss Leo particularly because he is a great tool for keeping the kids in line. If they start acting up I just start talking to Leo and telling him that he's going to have to report back to Santa that they are not being nice. It's amazing how quickly their behavior turns around. I wish we could have a magical Christmas elf all year around!