Thankful.

This Thanksgiving holiday, we packed up the crew and headed back to Kansas to spend time with the ones we love ... in some of our favorite places we love. It was nice to take time out of the hustle and bustle of life to share time together, give thanks, and count our blessings. Speaking of blessings, here are a few of our favorites from this past week...

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For these blessings, we are thankful.

We are thankful...

for autumn art projects from creative little minds.

We are thankful...

for a wall of handmade turkeys. To help the boys better

understand the meaning behind Thanksgiving, we made these

handprint turkeys with notes of why we are thankful.

And yes, that one turkey is thankful for video games!

We are thankful...

for good times with uncles, cousins, fathers, brothers.

We are thankful...

for really cool restaurants with dinosaurs!

In Kansas City, we went to lunch at the

T-Rex restaurant at the Legends.

We are thankful...

for sharing fun memories with our cousins!

We are thankful...

for Scott's family being all together over Thanksgiving.

We even celebrated some early Christmas festivities, too!

We are thankful...

for spending the morning

decorating cookies as a family!

We are thankful...

for small helpers in small aprons. Too cute!

We are thankful...

for little hands who love to try new things!

We are thankful...

for the lovely ladies in our family!

We are thankful...

for a delicious Thanksgiving meal with the Goff family!

We are thankful...

for a Thanksgiving dinner full of our favorite

family recipes just like Mom used to make.

We are thankful...

for a dad and his daughters.

We are thankful...

for a PARADE! Wamego had its annual

holiday light parade. Apparently, Santa has traded in his sleigh

for this shiny red combine ... the parade entry for Craig's company.

We are thankful...

for smiles, laughs, and a week of good times!

Colors of Christmas.

What better way to kick off the holiday season than with a tour of a poinsettia greenhouse! Today we joined several friends for a tour of Dutch Heritage Gardens, a 6-acre greenhouse that grows poinsettias for grocery stores and retail garden centers across the state of Colorado.

A few points about poinsettias...

• This facility houses 60,000 plants. It was a sea of color!
• The only true colors of poinsettias are red, pink, and white. Other variations are painted.
• It takes about 6 months for poinsettias to grow. These are planted in June.

This is our second year to tour this greenhouse, and the vivid colors of Christmas are something to see ... red and green at their best and brightest!

"Luke, wait up!"

Reid dashes to catch up with big brother Luke!

The rows of plants were endless.

Sweet boys.

Papa (who is quite the gardener himself)

joined us for the tour, too!

Mama & the boys.

Pint-sized Thanksgiving dinner.

For several months, Reid has been attending "school" at our church in the Parents' Day Out program called Little Lambs. He's one of the older children in the class, and he really enjoys the time with his friends and his two teachers Ms. Jean and Ms. Consuelo. To celebrate fall and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the families in the class gathered together for a luncheon. It was so great to meet the other parents and Reid's school pals!

Reid with his school friends. Ms. Jean is pictured in the center.

Ms. Amber (the substitute teacher) is on the right.

Mom, Dad & Reid at the school luncheon.

Adventures of Autumn.

Falcon football.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, we are blessed by the village that surrounds us ... our great neighbors. We socialize often while the kids play. We plan neighborhood dinners and impromptu get-togethers. We watch each other's kids in a pinch. We take care of our village, and our village takes care of us.

Over the past year, we have shared so many fun memories with our neighbors. This past Saturday brought a new adventure -- an Air Force football game -- complete with tailgating, jets flying over, parachutes, and a big win by the Air Force Falcons over Army! This was also a special milestone for Luke and Reid -- their first football game!

Our tailgating crew!

Kat & Jami

Kindergarten buddies Abi & Luke.

(When Luke goes on his first date,

let's hope Reid doesn't tag along and eat snacks!)

Tiny tailgaters ... Luke, Braeden & Jacob.

The grillmasters Scott & James.

Our tailgate had a special treat --

James made homemade brats!

Good grub!

The cadets rushed down on the field to do push-ups

each time after the Falcons scored!

Little Air Force fan.

Mama & Luke cheer on the Falcons.

*Special thanks to our neighbor Melissa who shared some great photos with us!

Dino-mite Adventure.

The weather this week has been gorgeous, so we took a little road trip over to Woodland Park for a dino-mite adventure at the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. They have a great collection of displays, hands-on exhibits, video presentations, and even a working fossil laboratory.

The boys stand beneath a large sea turtle.

(It had a much more complicated name actually...)

The boys and a dino friend (with some big teeth ... EEK!)

This outdoor dino is trudging through some

of last week's snow that still remains in Woodland Park.

Trick or Treat!

Carving pumpkins at Papa's house.

It seems we've been anticipating Halloween for months. The boys decided long ago what they wanted to be for Halloween, so it was as though the festivities could not get here fast enough! We decided to take it a step further to incorporate costumes for the whole family within the same theme. Enjoy the photos that follow ... and may the force be with you!

The Leahy family in Star Wars style!

At Chewbacca's day job as an engineer,

his company hosted a family trick-or-treat event.

This is Chewbacca in his "casual Friday" work attire!

Yoda (Reid) & Anakin Skywalker (Luke)

Off to fight some evil forces in the snow!

These 2 Jedi Knights gave Princess Leia

a ride on the sled!

Yoda Snowda.

Chewbacca & Co.

We had a crazy week of weather leading up to Halloween.

We had 2 snow days mid-week and a late start day on Friday,

but the weather cooperated just in time to have

Luke's party at school. Check out all the great costumes!

Name That Tune.

One funny side of Reid's personality is that he loves to sing. Loudly. He has been known to belt out a tune in the grocery store. At school. Whenever the mood (or melody) strikes him. His repertoire mostly includes hits by John Williams. Who?! You know ... the guy who wrote the theme songs for Superman, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars! Enjoy Reid's performance in this video, a fun snapshot of his musical side at age 3. (Oh, and you might need to turn your volume down for this one. Remember ... he sings loudly.)

The brothers.

There is one constant that we can always count on ... Luke and Reid to keep us on the go. The following photos are a compilation of the brothers' adventures from the past month ... some pics are from our time in Kansas, others from our early snow in Colorado.

While in Kansas, Aunt Janette and Uncle Dick

took the boys to an alpaca farm...

... and to an outdoor museum with a train ...

... that also had a lot of antique farm equipment.

(Thanks for the photos, Aunt J!)

Reid chauffeurs Wild Man Luke,

while driving the 4-wheeler at Dalton's house.

Funny faces all around.

Hot cocoa break.

Birthday boys.

In October, we are lucky to have 2 birthdays to celebrate. Back to back. Father and son. Reid and Scott. Happy 3 and 33, guys!

Candles in Swedish pancakes (Reid's favorite!)

Candles in Wheat Chex (Dad's favorite!)

Stop buggin' me, brother!

Luke gave Reid these cool bug-eyed glasses.

Feliz cumpleanos! Birthday dinner out at Salsa Brava.