Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We pray everyone has a blessed Christmas as we remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Nana's vist

We were thankful that Nana had a conference in Denver last week so she could stay with us for a few days!  The kids enjoyed her undivided attention - baking gingerbread cookies and making gingerbread houses, playing tons of card and board games, and waking her up early to PLAY!

Thanks for coming to our house Nana!!

Santa and a Sleepover

We had a fun weekend, which included 2 birthday parties, playing hooky from swim lessons to see Santa, and having our cousins for a sleepover!  Our sweet friend Abigail had her birthday on Friday night at Monkey Business (Brian and I even scored some ice cream so we were happy) and then Saturday our friend Gavin had his party at our church.  We got to see Santa (at Remax of all places) on Saturday and enjoyed donuts, crafts and face painting.  Then Saturday night Sydney and Bryce slept over and the kids had a blast!  It was a super busy weekend but lots of fun :)

Lions & Crocodiles

Various members of our family this week have been hit with a stomach bug and then a cold.  Kind of a rough week, but we are on the mend and here are the pictures to prove we are feeling better!  This is a little game the kids love to play with daddy ... he is the crocodile and they are lions.  They growl and attack each other.  They are very ferocious :)

Hope you all had a great week!  And are staying healthy!!

Thanksgiving

We have been enjoying our Thanksgiving break!  We spent Thanksgiving day at Brian's brother's house and ate way too much!  It was awesome!  The kids had a great time with their cousins and we enjoyed the lazy day :)

On Friday, Brian took Carson skiing for the first time up in the mountains at Winter Park and the boys had a great time!

This morning we did some shopping and the kids had swim lessons (our children have decided that swimming is WAY less cool than soccer/gymnastics... but we are going to stick it out!).  Then we drove to City Park in Denver to meet up with some wonderful friends of ours, the Jordan's - we taught with them in Alaska and 2 of their 4 children live in Denver now.  Then tonight we had dinner at Red Robin for Oma's birthday - Happy Birthday Oma!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving break!  We are so thankful that God has blessed us with amazing family and friends.... near and far!

Denver Nature & Science Museum

Today was a free day at the Denver Nature & Science Museum.  Brian has some time off for Thanksgiving and Parent/Teacher comp days, so we headed to the museum this morning - what a great day!  The boys had fun acting like monkeys, Brian even got his workout in checking his heart-rate at the Health Exhibit, and Carson got eaten by a dinosaur!  We love Denver's free days!!

Halloween visit with Nana & Grandpa John

We had a great visit with Nana & Grandpa John over Halloween week!  Carson celebrated his birthday  with some friends at our house and it was fun to have our grandparents there to celebrate with us!  Carson planned the party agenda which consisted of a scavenger hunt in the open space behind our house, hide & seek upstairs, and eating Halloween cookies with milk.  It was a great party!  During the week with the grandparents, we visited the Denver Children's Museum, made Halloween cookies, & had a fun time trick or treating!

Carson is 5!

Carson turned 5 this past weekend and we enjoyed a family party for Opa (Brian's dad) and Carson since their birthdays are just 2 days apart.  The kids have been enjoying the warm weather the last couple of weeks, going to the zoo, playing mini-golf, jumping in leaf piles... and then today it snowed!  It looks like it will be in the 60s by next week again so we just enjoy each day as it comes!

*here are the kids, up at 5:45am on Carson's birthday ready to open presents... like it was Christmas! :)

Estes Park

Brian and Carson went with a friend and his little boy up to Estes Park for the weekend. They stayed at the YMCA cabins and had a great time!  Hot chocolate, mini golf, waffles & s'mores for breakfast, and going fishing were a few of the things they enjoyed.  They even saw some wildlife! (look back by the cabin in the picture of Carson & Brian)  Aliana & I enjoyed a girls weekend - playdate with some friends at the rec. center, organizing closets & cupboards (Ali was actually an awesome help), watching a ton of Dora, going to the library, playing babies, going for a bike ride in our church clothes, and having a sleepover in mommy & daddy's bed :) What a fun weekend!

Brian's Birthday...Go Packers!

Yes, fall is birthday season in the Thomas house and today we celebrated daddy's birthday!  Brian's family came over for the Packers game (hooray they won!) and we got in a family picture with all our gear.  We were teasing Oma & Opa because I think they forgot to make a funny face in our silly picture and are smiling exactly the same :).  GO PACK GO!

**side note:  Now that Tim Tebow is playing for the New York Jets, Carson has since declared his allegiance to the Jets and his beloved Tim Tebow (who is the best because he loves Jesus! so we don't mind too much).