Happy 40th, Chip!!! More parties, art, and plays too. :)

Here is mom and dad's white elephant gift that stayed at our house.  This is suppose to make its way up to Victor, but I'm not sure Kessler is going to give it up. ;)

A little more Thanksgiving art that I could not, not get in here.  Ruby, a girl after my own heart, led her own art project on Thanksgiving day.  She taught anyone who wanted to learn, how to make this turkey and encouraged them to write what they were thankful in the middle.  They were hanging all over the house.  I especially love the Trump looking one below. :)  I think it was Owen's.

Okay, now on to Chip's 40th birthday party!  It was a big deal for us and turned out great.  We catered it with food from Mazza, a favorite restaurant of his.  And, Chip found this awesome band, called The Proper Way, who killed it playing original music and covers for four hours straight.  Amazing really the highlight of the evening.  I mean, that and Mike Amatto's presence.  He and Missy made the trip for a very short visit, which was really special and meant a lot to Chip.

We skied during the day at PCMR with friends...

and then partied at night.  Good times and an awesome way to bring in as many awesome people to celebrate Chip's amazing 40 trips around the sun.  

Ruby and Owen's art is just awesome.  It makes my heart so happy.  I love the people, their little expressions, and positions, and now all the writing too!  It is just too much.  Kindergarten has been so great for us all. :)

Chip got to have four days of celebrating...one day for each decade. He and I got to ski BTH on Monday.

Early season conditions were surprisingly good.  Chip makes it look better than it probably was, but still.

Tuesday he made an appearance in this summer old man outfit from Tina and John.  Hilarious.  

airplane reversal...

The elves are out and here, are enjoying a morning snow storm. 

Ruby and Owen were happy to be elves this year and got really creative with the project we did.  They painted with cars, and hands, and brushes, oh my!

We also have been getting in the spirit by attending our local and phenomenal performances by youth theater of Junie B Jones as well as the Nutcracker by the local dance company.  This town is insanely awesome to live in, in case I haven't mentioned that lately.  

Jimmy and Jessica had a mascarade party this year.  Everyone had to try on the mask I borrowed from Daisy.  It was a great one. :)

Dinner with neighbors.  Last minute and a delicious follow up to the Nutcracker. 

Sunset view from my driveway.  Amazing.  So grateful.

Here is the bulletin board of our last two art projects in Ruby's class.  Time to take em down and make space for the latest and greatest, our houses.  So much work but so fun!

Giving So Much Thanks

Gifts are the love language of a few of our family members, and Ruby and Owen love it!  Aunt Mindy brought trick/ gag type gifts this time and they were hilarious!  It's not about the nail.

Colorado DuRoss' joined us for this Thanksgiving, and Erika's birthday! 

T-day.  Here we go.  18 people, two turkeys, go!  Turns out we could have gotten away with one turkey...note to self.  So much other food, we had WAY too much turkey.  I'll be eating turkey for months to come.  And, Ruby and Owen don't really care for it, so that is awesome.  Ruby announced a few weeks ago that she doesn't like meat because she doesn't like eating animals.  I knew one of my kids would do this.  Complicated eating, here we come.  She does like to make dinner now and offers multiple times a week so we got that going for us. :)

I bought a big canvas the other day.  Then, Erika shows up and I started doodling with her.  Next thing I know, we are creating this huge group mural of Summit Park.  It was really cool how it all came together.  All of the kids and most of the adults helped in some way.  SO fun.

Even the Legos ate Thanksgiving dinner.

Luckily it snowed a lot the night before so we could get out for a sled run before dinner.  SO grateful for this.

Ruby played her special song for us.  Abby looks on.  She has watched Ruby practice so often I am pretty sure she will know how to play by the end of the year.

Art project is continuing.

Food project is continuing also!

And, it is go time.  We did a mannequin challenge which was a highlight for me too.  Will have to get that video loaded.

Oh man, up to this again.  After a few tries, we did eventually get it to the second floor!

Black Friday, get out and hike, play, treat day!

Finished product.

Piled up on Mindy.  This is the go pro perspective on a dog pile. :)

An appetizer of science. :)

And then, everyone was gone, and our house was empty, and we figured we'd get ready for Christmas!!