Best Ever

Ok, my sister sent this to me and I think it's the best gift she's ever given.  It's hilarious!  This year's "Elf Yourself" has really outdone itself.  Thanks Stacey :)

REGINA SPEKTOR!!!

We were lucky enough to see one of our favorite artists in concert this last weekend.  Regina played at the Fillmore in Denver (such a cool venue - small and intimate!).  She was A.MAZE.ING.  I really can't believe how talented and creative she is.  we loved every minute of it!  Here we are waiting for the show (Jupiter One opened and were really good - the lead singer actually played the violin for Regina).

And for your viewing pleasure, here's a montage from the concert - you do NOT want to miss the middle a cappella song she did.  So great!

Snow, snow, snow

This is what it looked like outside just a few days ago (this is the drift on our roof!):

It completely dumped snow!  And today it was 70 degrees out.  I LOVE this weather!  It makes you grateful for everything - you want to enjoy the warm weather for a week and then enjoy the snow for a week.  It's wonderful!  We went sledding for the first time, too - the kids loved it.  Maybe next time we'll take our camera along...

BEFORE last week's big snow, we had one little snow that the boys just had to play in.  Here are a few pictures from that:

Needless to say, they love having snow around this year!

Before Halloween we took the boys to a pumpkin patch.  We had so much fun there - they got to paint pumpkins, pick out one to carve and play in a bouncy house and straw maze.  It was a blast!

And another totally random note: 

Landon has decided that he doesn't like taking naps all the time anymore, so some days we find him like this at around 5 o'clock:

Halloween

We finished our Halloween early this year!  We went to two trunk or treats and it's a good thing we did - we now have two feet of snow outside!  Here are some of the highlights:

Jack Sparrow  

Do you think Landon was excited to be a pirate??

Donald Duck

The doughnut hang - not quite as good as the Berkeley Ward Krispy Kremes, but still a hit!

Checking out the candy

Pumpkin carving!  The boys decided to make a "happy" monster this year and each of them helped me carve.  They loved holding the little knife!

They painted these other two pumpkins at the pumpkin patch:

End result:

Halloween cookies!  My Mom used to make these witch finger cookies for my school class each Halloween - I loved it!  I thought it was time my kids learned the tradition.  You can see what they enjoyed the most: snitching the dough!

The end result - the fingers were more bloody than usual :)

Then off to our last event with both our pirates:

And the final picture of the night:

Oh yeah....that's going up on his wedding day :)

Clubhouse Conversations

Landon and Parker recently acquired a really cool (cheap!) clubhouse that they LOVE.  We have it set up in our living room right now and they have been in that thing non-stop.  They call it the "Cool House" - maybe they heard me wrong? - and they have the cutest conversations in there.  For example:

#1

L: Hey Parker, we have to do this because it's an emergency!

P: Ok!

L: No, not like that.  Only emergency noises.  Then we can jump like this.

P: Ok!

L: Good job Parker!

#2

L: Hey Parker, do you want your socks off?  Here, your feet are warm.  I'll take your socks off and then put them back on when your feet are cold.

P: Ok!

L: I always look out for my brother.  But sometimes I don't.

#3

L: Hey Parker, come sleep in the tent!  I cleaned out all the toys so we can sleep.

P: Ok!  (goes inside)

L: No, Parker, you need your blankie to sleep.  Go get it!

P: Ok! (goes and gets it, goes back inside)

.......quiet.......

L: Sweet dreams....

P: Sweet dreams Lannon!

Those are just a few - so cute.  I try to listen as much as possible because they just crack me up!  I'm sure you noticed that pattern with Parker...he says "ok!" to just about anything his brother suggests.  Landon loves having him in there with him.  If Parker ever leaves, I hear Landon yelling "Parker!  Come back in the cool house!".  I hope this lasts all winter :)

"S" is for....

Landon has been very excited lately about what letters say and what words they spell.  I hear "S says ssssss like SALSA!" all day with all of the letters of the alphabet.  Well, most of them - I don't think he's figured out what Q says yet.  In honor of this, I made an "S" meatloaf.  Landon loved it, Scott laughed when I took it out of the oven (which, let's be honest, was the whole goal), but I must say that it was a HUGE meatloaf.  Next time we'll have to do a "little S".  

A few weeks ago my friend Rachel and I put my canning equipment to good use!  Apples were abundant and on sale, so we made some delicious apple sauce!  I swear, this stuff could be used as pie filling it's so good (with no sugar added!).  The apples were just amazing this year.  

Landon and Brandon (Rachel's son) had a blast peeling a few of the extra apples.  Thank you Williams & Sonoma for this wonderful contraption!

Implants

I have my appointment and am taking the plunge!  I am talking about a TOOTH implant, by the way :).  It's pretty funny to see people's faces when I say I'm having implant surgery, though!  I'm REALLY excited to have a tooth instead of a gap in my smile and I'm even more excited to be able to chew on both sides of my mouth again!!  I am, however, slightly nervous about the actual surgery.  I've never had anything "implanted" in my body - only things taken out (tonsils, teeth, etc.).  I know it's not a big deal, but I am a little bit worried.  What if something goes terribly wrong and I end up with no tooth and a huge infection!?  I really trust the dentist I'm going with and I know there's an extremely slim chance of anything strange happening, but still.  Anyway, my appointment is in a week - wish me luck!!