FHE Idea

I thought I'd share a Family Home Evening lesson that went really well for us tonight. Ryden picked the topic of "You are Special/I am a Child of God". We talked about how even though everyone is different, we are all children of God and we are all special. We talked about how we all have special talents and that everyone, no matter how different they are from us, have something special they can teach us. First we read the book, You are Special, by Max Lucado. Then, we went in the kitchen where Ryden passed out a bowl of plain cookie dough (ie no chocolate chips yet) to each person. Then, everyone picked a kind of candy from their Halloween bag and chopped it into little pieces. These served as the chocolate chips. When everyone finished with their dough, we made the cookies. While they were cooking, we went around the room and said why we thought each person was special. Finally, we ate the cookies. When we tasted them, the kids discovered that even though they were all different, they were all yummy!! We had a great time, it was a great way to use up some Halloween candy, and they learned a good lesson. Use it if it interests you!

Our first snow of the season!!

On Friday, November 14th, we had our first snow. I didn't expect it one bit!! It was 65 degrees the day before, but on Friday morning we woke up to snow covered ground and snow still coming. I was so excited. I LOVE playing in the snow. As soon as Kyler was off to school and Enoch was off to his meeting, Jordan, Aspen, Ryden and I donned our gear and headed out. We had a blast. We had a snowball fight, made snow angels, and built a snowman. And, then, without much warning, I got tackled by Aspen and Ryden. It was so much fun.

I've had complaints that I'm not seen in enough pictures on the blog. Well, not this time! If you look closely, I'm in the red coat on the bottom of the pileup :)

Aspen and Ryden immediately started a snowball fight. As you'll see in the video, I did not expect what happened next when I started filming Jordan. What a good sport!

For the record, it's hard to take pictures when snowballs are being thrown at you!

It was Jordan's first time playing in the snow. He seemed to be having a great time!! He was so cute out there. Check it out:

The Snow Globes

One of the traditions we've grown to love about Denver is the snow globe display at a local mall here. It's a lot like the Marshall Fields' Christmas Windows for those of you from Chicago. The perk, though, is that they're located inside instead of outside. A big perk if you ask me. Well, 3 years ago, when we came to visit my brother for Thanksgiving, we went and saw the snow globes. That year the theme was "The Chronicles of Narnja". I remembered it and couldn't wait for them to start this year. This year the theme is "Polar Express". We went this week with our playgroup. It was so well done. Each globe had a button you could push and something would happen. One globe showed a portion of the movie. Another had Tom Hanks voice calling, "All Aboard". Another showed the ticket with the word "Believe" punched out. The third snow globe was big enough for you to walk through. As you walked through, snow fell from above. Naturally, this was the kids' favorite one. They played in it forever, never tiring of the snow falling down. Ironically, as we walked through the mall, one woman asked us if it was really snowing that hard outside!! I had to laugh. Apparently, she hadn't been to the other side of the mall yet!

Anyway, check out the photos and then get really tempted to come for Christmas. We promise to take you! That's an invitation and a plea!

Learning to Read

I'm so proud of Ryden. He announced several weeks ago that he wanted to learn how to read. So, every day, he and I will spend some time together reading while the kids are at school. He never forgets. He looks so forward to his reading time each day and he's doing such a great job. Check him out!

An Unwanted Critter

Two weeks ago, we had a little critter decide that he'd rather warm up in our garage than brave the cold outside. Luckily, just as Enoch was leaving the garage, he noticed a tw0-foot long snake come in and hide behind a pile of concrete mix. It took several minutes, but finally we coerced him out and into the garbage can so the kids could see him later. Naturally, when my neighbor, Annie, came to pick up her son from our house, he told her we had found a snake. Little did I realize how much she loved snakes. She quickly grabbed the snakes and let the kids come up and touch it. They were so excited. She is such a fun neighbor. I just love my neighbors (the people, not the snakes ;)

Once the kids (and Annie) got their fill of the snake, we headed out to a nearby hill to let him go.

I have to tell you about these neighbors. They're so much fun. They have a little boy Ryden's age named Dawson. They play all the time together, but for some reason Ryden won't call him by his name. He always calls him, "The friend that lives 2 doors down". What a nut. Foster, the one letting the snake go in the video, is so sweet. He's in 5th grade and goes to Kyler and Aspen's school. Every day, he stops by and picks Kyler up to go to the bus stop. If I don't quite get to the bus stop on time, he walks them home. What a kid!

Old but Hilarious Video

I'm going through some old pictures to put together Aspen's scrapbook for the year. I came across this video taken before my blogging days. Enoch and I got such a good laugh, we thought you would too. Enjoy!

Fun with Grandpa Hicken

The next night, Brent and his family came back for a BBQ and Hot dog Roast with Grandpa. If you can believe it, we celebrated Halloween with 75 degree weather. It was beautiful. So, we took full advantage! It was so much fun spending time with all the family. I have to admit, I tried something new tonight. Instead of the traditional Hershey bars with the S'mores, I had one with a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, one with a Ghiardeli Mint Chocolate Bar, and one with a Ghiardelli Pecan Pie chocolate. Any way you do it, they're all way yummier than a plain old Hershey Bar. I highly recommend it. It was so yummy!!! I got a kick out of my nephews, though. Apparently, they don't like S'mores but love to roast marshmallows. They'd beg and beg people to want more so they could cook them but never had any themselves!!

Brent, Dad, and Jordan in the smoke by the fire

Jordan and I staying warm by the fire.


Enoch and the boys, barbecuing. If you want a yummy and easy grilling recipe, get some Chinese Sweet Chile Sauce. Mix 5 Tbs of the sauce with 1 Tbs soy sauce. Put them in a gallon size bag with the chicken and let marinade for 2 hours. Grill and eat. YUMMY!


Talon, stoking the fire.

We couldn't let Grandpa go without some of this expertise. Our downstairs bathroom toilet had been running water since we moved in. Our goal was to get that fixed before Grandpa left. Well, a new pump and 2 trips to Home Depot later, we have a toilet that works great!! We also have a working ceiling fan, a repaired hole in the wall, a door that now fits its frame and a new toilet seal on the other toilet. He keeps thanking us for all we did this weekend. I don't remember doing anything besides handing him tools!! Thanks Dad!! But, the expertise I'll never be able to repay him for was his incredible "know-how" secrets he left with our kids:

Like how his arms get longer and longer

And how he can "crack" his nose

Aspen tried and tried, but finally gave up because her nose hurt too much!

Halloween Parties Galore!

Boy, was this the week of Halloween Parties. Fortunately, I just let the kids pick out of our dress up bucket each time we had a party. It sure made Halloween easy for me!

Our first party of the week was the Trunk or Treat at the church. As soon as the kids got off the bus that day, they insisted we decorate our trunk. They did a pretty spooky job of it!


As we entered the church for the party, 4 fourth-graders called out, "ASPEN!!!". Apparently, they were Aspen's "big buddies" at school. They come once a month, I think, to spend time with the Kindergartener's and help them with a craft. They were so excited to see Aspen and she was equally thrilled to see them. They asked me if they could take her with them for the rest of the night. I thought for a split second of the luxury of one less kid to take care of (Enoch was home with Jordan) and immediately responded, "Of course!" Then, we met up with Brent and our cousins. Brent offered to take Kyler and Ryden while I manned the treat-giving by the trunk. There I sat, with no kids to take care of. It was so fun!! And, best of all, they had a blast, too!

The next day, Ryden had a great party at Joy School. He and the other kids had practiced some fun Halloween songs. Check them out!

And for refreshments, they made us homemade Halloween cookies. Sunny did an awesome job of pulling it all off!!

On Friday morning, we headed to the school for a school parade of costumes. Kyler went as an astronaut.

Then, later that afternoon, we headed back for Aspen's kindergarten parade. Per tradition, she was a princess yet again! I helped with her school party, which was so much fun. Here's a funny story, though. The morning class was supposed to join in the all-school parade that Kyler was in. Since Aspen's best friend was in that class, we were waiting for them to come in. But, they never came. I asked her teacher that afternoon what had happened. It turns out that a teacher dressed as a 9 foot alien had come by and a few of the kindergarteners had gotten scared. As Mrs. Kline tried to console them, the parade started moving, with the alien right in front of them. She was bending over, explaining it was a costume, etc. Not, being able to see around the alien, and wanting to stay focused on the kids, she just followed the gown of the alien. 15 minutes later she realized that she had just followed this teacher around the school. He wasn't part of the parade and had gone nowhere near the parade route. By the time they figured it out, it was too late!! Of course, the parents of that class were disappointed when their kids never showed up, but they had a good photo op later in the room! It made for a good laugh later, though!

Finally, on Halloween night, Grandpa Hicken, Brent, Sunny, Talon and Sierra came over for trick-or-treating, soup in a pumpkin (YUMMY!!...Sunny made it) and games. We had such a fun time trick-or-treating. I will tell you, I don't think there's any chance Sierra will ever be fed peanuts when my kids are around. As soon as someone would open the door, they'd yell out, "She's allergic to peanuts!" The poor, unsuspecting people. They'd feel so bad if they couldn't find anything in their buckets without nuts. It took about 12 houses, but the kids finally understood that they really didn't need to say anything. Sierra could give all her nutty candies to her dad, later. (a perk he actually looks forward to, I think)

Another funny moment of the night happened with Sierra (my neice). The other kids had already run up the steps to our neighbors house. Sierra and I were running up behind. Somehow, she didn't see the foot-high step leading to the door. She hit it and feel flat on her face. Her bucket fell and her candy spilled into the bushes. Sad, you'd think, and it was. But, Sierra just jumped up and cried out, "Trick-or-treat" as fast as she could. Meanwhile, I picked candy out of the bush and brushed her off. The funny part came about 10 houses later when we came to another house with a high step. She went to the door, got her candy, and came back to Brent and I, exclaiming proudly, "See? I didn't lose any candy at this house!" Brent (who hadn't been with us at the first house) was a bit confused until we filled him in!

Once the trick-or-treating started dying down, we came home, put the kids down and played a hillarious game of Mad Gab. It was so much fun just staying up late and playing games.

We hope you all had a great Halloween!!

Carving Pumpkins

Halloween week started with our favorite Family Night activity....

Carving Pumpkins!

I only bought 2 pumpkins, so this year we had each child draw a nose, a mouth, two eyes and two ears. They then voted on which ears, mouth, nose, etc. they wanted on each pumpkin. Here's Ryden with his blueprints:

In the end, the pumpkins turned out pretty neat! When we were all done, we baked us up some yummy pumpkin seeds. I'm so surprised how much my kids love those seeds!! You'd think they were candy!

The End of a Soccer Season

Our week ended with Kyler's last soccer game. He had a great team this year. Because of the move, we registered late in the season. As a result, we didn't get to pick our team. Of course, that's really no big deal when you don't know anyone, but it meant that Kyler was on a team with kids from a completely different school than his. But, in the end, it turned out perfect. The kids and their parents were so much fun. They played a great season...they didn't win much, but they had fun. Here's a few fun shots of Kyler:


After the final game, we hosted an ice cream party and awards ceremony at our house. It was so nice having all Kyler's friends over. I'm glad he got to meet so many great friends. Here's a picture of the coach talking to the boys before the trophies were handed out. I would have gotten a picture of Kyler getting his trophy, but just as that was about to happen, a few of the younger siblings in the background thought it would be fun to wrap the climbing rope around them as they went down the slide. A Mom squealed just as the coach's son went down the slide with the rope around his neck. SCARY!! The good news is we got there in time, he was fine, and the rope came down right away. The bad news is I missed the trophy ceremony.


Soccer was fun, but now we're moving into a new season with new interests for Kyler. He's decided soccer is fun, but not what he loves. He starts basketball in a couple of weeks with Enoch as his coach. Tomorrow, though, he starts Chess Club, which he is so excited about. His best friend, Hayden, signed up, too. They're both looking forward to the District Tournament in December. I can't help but think of the movie, "Searching for Bobby Fisher". Enoch and I keep joking that we're going to be the nervous, uptight parents in the back room hoping our kid will win! I can't wait.

Pre-Halloween Halloween

Saturday, we did a little early Halloweening. I have to admit I've never been so grateful for a trunk full of costumes as I am this year. I just don't feel like I have the time or energy to be creative and make costumes. But, thanks to Mom and Dad and all the costumes they've given my kids over the years, I have a plethora of choices for the kids. It's a good thing, too. Saturday was just the first of 4 different Halloween celebrations the kids are a part of. Anyway, Ryden went as a very cute Peter Pan, Aspen as a beautiful fairy, and Kyler was Micky Mouse. We also took Kyler's friend Hayden with us.


A local Physician's Plaza was doing an early Halloween Celebration, complete with haunted offices and trick-or-treating. This secretary didn't spook Ryden one bit, though.


After trick-or-treating, we went outside where the city had ambulances, fire trucks and police cars for the kids to climb in. We also got a picture with Rocky, the Denver Nuggets' mascot!!

Day of the Dinosaurs

On Wednesday we headed to the museum of Nature and Science for their dinosaur exhibit. It was so amazing! The kids were a little spooked, though, we they turned the corner and were stopped by this:

We saw all sorts of cool dinosaurs. Here's Stegosaurus:


Long Neck:


and T-Rex.



The kids also each got to make some silly putty.


And, they got to be real scientists and help liquid water turn to gas right on their hands!

Slumber Mania

We just started what I think is a great idea!! For years now, Enoch and I have consistently gone out on a date together each Friday night. Well, a few months back we looked at our budget and realized that babysitting was one of our biggest expenses. We kept trying to keep our dates relatively cheap, but babysitting always cost us $20-30 each week. So, when we moved here, we started a date night coop. Once a month we have all the kids over for movie night while their parents go out. The rest of the month is ours for free. We love this group of kids. Here they are on their first date night movie night. (For those of you interested, the 2 girls by Ryden, the girl by Aspen and the boy on the chair are all Ryan Hunt's kids)

A Zanny Zoo Day

Last Saturday was free zoo day here in Denver. We went as an entire family, meeting up with Brent's family while we were there. Let me tell you, it was a zoo (pun intended). They estimated that at least 20,000 people were coming to the zoo that day. Even so, it was a blast. I love the zoo here. We had been once before, but on a limited time schedule, so we had missed a lot of the exhibits. The kids loved the giraffes and elephants, of course.

But, they were especially mesmerized by the tropical paradise exhibit, complete with Komodo Dragons, turtles, snakes, and crocodiles. Our picture didn't turn out, but I was amazed at the HUGE anaconda they had. I'd hate to come up on that in the wild!!

You can hardly see it, but there's a huge crocodile right between their heads!
Jordan loved watching the turtles!
The Komodo dragon

The kids were shocked to see they didn't quite measure up to a polar bear!

It was neat to see how much the kids have soaked up from the movie Planet Earth. Throughout the day, one of them would squeal, "Mom, remember this animal from Planet Earth? He's the one that_____" and they'd fill me in on all the unique things the animal did on the movie.

And to top it all off, it was 80 degrees that day. What a perfect day for the zoo in late October! Did I mention I love it here?