Thanksgiving Fun - Part 2 of 2

After the pictures we moved on to some real fun!  Last year we did gingerbread houses and it got pretty interesting with our houses.  This year we made it a bit more simple with some gingerbread men.  Here is Gage and Mom working the frosting bottle on their man.

Cousin Madison was all dressed for the occasion and loving the red sparkles.

Not to be outdone, Gavin applied his sprinkles quite liberally and was excited about his product.

Here is Karl and Sarah working together on their gingerbread man.

We finished the day off with one more picture of the family.  I think at this point they were highly sugared and a bit restless with the endless picture sittings, but I think we got a decent picture in the end.

Thanksgiving Fun - Part 1 of 2

We were at my (Brent's) mom's house for Thanksgiving this year.  Gavin and Gage made the name plates for everyone for the tables.  As you can see, they did an absolutely amazing job making turkey name plates and Gavin helped write all the names.

Here is Grandma jumping in for a quick card game to keep the little men occupied while we wait for dinner.  It seems to be working as there are smiles all around.

We took advantage of having the entire crew there to take some family pictures.  This is my (Brent's) side of the family.  With this many faces and people it's hard to catch a good picture of everyone.  I think this is the best of the bunch, though.

Here is everyone plus Great Grandma Swindler and Aunt Lou Jean, JC, and Shannon.  I have great memories as a kid having big Thanksgiving celebrations in Kansas with all my aunt's, uncles, grandparents, and cousins.  I think we might have had close to 30 people at some of those celebrations and it is always quite fun amidst the madhouse.

Here is the picture of our family.  I think it turned out pretty well and everyone made it through the long sitting picture sessions in one piece.

Snow Day!

These two love a good snow day.  Here is Gage getting all suited up to go and we were even able to get a nice hugging picture.  Gage has moved on to wearing Gavin's old snow pants now and we have had to get Gavin a brand new set.

These two actually race each other to see who can shovel the most snow off of the driveway.  I can't say that I put an end to this friendly competition, though I felt like I should pay them for the effort.  I have to say I (Brent) still need to do a bit of cleanup after they get tired or bored, but it's fun to be out there with them working away and playing in the snow.

Gage decided he was done with the shoveling and decided to move on to snow angels.  He had a pretty good time, though there wasn't a ton of snow on the ground.

Here is a picture of Gage and Mommy after the outdoor fun trying to get warm.  Gage loves wearing a ski hat around the house just for fun.  I have to say he looks pretty solid in it!

Grandpa Bruce Visits

Grandpa Bruce tries to make it out to see us in Colorado at least once a year.  Here is a picture from this year's trip.  Apparently, we weren't doing anything exciting in this picture but the boys always enjoy him coming.  He has a time-developed patience and is really good at jumping right in to build stuff or read to them and do whatever they deem is fun.  I am hopeful that next year we can make a trip with the whole family out to the East Coast to visit Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Emily for the first true family trip that direction.

ABC Climbing Class

Our boys have certainly grown more confident and improved their climbing skills over the eight week class session.  I remember the first time Gage was using the auto-bole (which he is above), he was very scared to let go of the wall so that the device would lower him all the way down.  Now he climbs up with ease and does tricks on the way down.

I love this picture of Gage as he looks back to find Mom watching him from across the room.  He has some amazing natural ability and is so strong through his shoulders and arms.  He must obviously get this strength from his Dad. 

This picture actually shows Gavin and Gage both climbing at the same time next to each other.  Gavin is coming down on the purple wall, which Gage is just about at the top on the right of the gray wall.

What has been also great about this program is how much they have been learning about the climbing basics.  Here is Gavin learning how to bole someone.  They girl on the wall is basically relying on Gavin to bole her correctly in case she falls, although coach Alex has a hand on the rope still just in case.  This is pretty amazing that Gavin is already learning to do some of these types of things at such a young age.  He has really loved the experience, but we are continuing to work with him to make sure he is a good listener and under control while listening to his coach.

Still Loving the Leaves...

It seems like our trees have grown enough now to provide a never ending supply of leaves for our kids to pick up and play in.  This picture above looks like a few day old pile of leaves that is surrounding by a bunch of new arrivals.  It was an excellent opportunity to make a bed out of it.

This relaxed state soon gave way to a nice wrestling and rolling session.  It was hard to tell who was winning, but they were certainly having a lot of fun judging by all the laughter.  It's fun to watch them be boys and play around, but we do throw out a few reminders to be a bit careful so that nobody gets hurts.

I think in the end they decided to hug it out.  They also did a bit more work towards actually gathering the leaves into bag-able piles.

Home Depot Craft Day...

I (Brent) had heard about these Home Depot craft days from one of our friends and I thought this would be right up Gavin's alley.  I didn't quite know what to expect, but you register ahead of time and then just show up during a 4-hour time window.  Gavin was predictably psyched and I am happy that we can do some father-son things together for some special one-on-one time.  When we arrived they gave us an apron, some goggles, a wooden kit with something to build and sent us off to find a spot.

As you can see above, the project was to build a wooden sailing ship.  Gavin built the entire thing by himself and then painted all the parts.  I helped with the paper sails, but that is about it.  Although when we showed up there were probably only 10 other families/kids there, by the end there were probably 30-40 families/kids there.  It definitely sounded like a construction going with 40 different people pounding in nails and all the commotion.  I think Gavin had an awesome time and was proud of his work.  After finishing the project, they gave him a special pin to save for his apron.  I am hoping we can do another project soon.