Thanksgiving Holiday with the Dittos

This Thanksgiving, our hearts were filled with much gratitude ... for health, happiness, time with family, rest & relaxation, and beautiful weather. What a fun-filled week with Jami's Aunt Marcia and cousin Matt visiting! We loved having them here (and that they were up for any and every adventure with our crew!) Here are some Thanksgiving week pics of our good times and great memories!

 Sunshine, shorts & sun ... a beautiful day

on the Gleneagle Golf Course!

The guys enjoyed some time golfing

while Marcia and I hit the Y for TRX/Kettlebell class.

Reason #57 why it's cool to have Matt visit ...

he lets you drive the golf cart!

 These two are quite the pair...

always looking for their next adventure!

Time for a Thanksgiving morning hike.

Wobble before you gobble!

A lovely family hike through Fox Run Park.

 You can never have too many cooks in the kitchen.

The more, the merrier!

 Papa was as our fabulous wine connoisseur

for Thanksgiving dinner. Delicious wines
from Cameron Hughes & chocolates, too!

Kathy & Grant (who looks like

 he's up to some trouble!)

Our first year of having a kids' table!

Kathy made the most 

beautiful pumpkin pies!

Our table set for the feast.

Reid added the piece of bread

(perhaps he thought the "placecard

pears" needed a buddy?!)

Not the original plan, but it

added some rustic charm and 

showcased Reid's culinary creativity!

Time to carve the turkey!

Oh, how Mama loves the kitchen!

It was truly a pleasure to plan and prepare

Thanksgiving dinner with our menu

inspired by the Food Network.

Post-Turkey Trampoline Time!

Fun for everyone!

The weather was so nice we enjoyed

dessert on our patio. Oh, and some people

enjoyed some tree-climbing!

Leading up to the Dittos visit, the boys talked

non-stop about going to play laser tag with them.

So we headed off to Brunswick Zone XL for

some fun Friday morning!  

Time for our annual Swedish meal!

Scott made the Nelson family recipe for

Potatis Korv (AKA Swedish Potato Sausage).

Our Crew from Thanksgiving 2012

Thanks to all for a fabulous week!

Batman LIVE!

For Birthday #6, we gave Reid tickets to see the performance of Batman LIVE! on stage at World Arena. Big bro Luke joined Reid and Mom for this night out to the theater. What an amazing performance with trapeze artists, stunts, superheroes suspended from cables, acrobats ... just WOW! The boys talked about their favorite parts of the musical the whole ride home.

 Our first seats were pretty high up!

Because there were so many open seats,

we got to move forward!

Our Favorite Bat Fans

Halloween '12

Sometimes I have high hopes that all 3 boys will want to dress within a similar theme for Halloween. How fun would that be! Well, not everyone bought into the idea for this year. So for now, we'll just say 2 out of 3 is pretty good, and Luke is an underwater stealth ninja who protects creatures of the sea like Octopus Grant and Shark Reid. 

Leahy Brothers in their Halloween Finest for 2012

We love the annual tradition of trick-or-treating

at Dad's work. Those engineers have great candy!

 Photo Reenactment. No mothers or small 

sea creatures were harmed here.

Yes, that's Luke's game face. Don't mess with him.

 Do my eyes match my sweet 

velour octopus outfit?

And yes, my chin strap is 

mighty snug, but I'm tolerating it.

For now, at least.

 Thing 1 and Thing 2

It's the Principal and Asst. Principal

at the boys' school!

 Time for the Halloween Parade at school.

First up ... Shark Reid & his 

kindergarten friends.

 3rd grade line with Ninja Luke.

 Time for some neighborhood

trick-or-treating!

Strolling the neighborhood with the crew. 

Hitchin' a ride.

 CANDY!!!!!!!!!!

The Great Pumpkin (Patch)

With our rockin' autumn weather, we ended up hitting the pumpkin patch 3 times! Here are some pics from our pumpkin adventures. Grant was old enough this year to really enjoy the fun of fall. Of course, the older boys showed him all the ropes!

1, 2, 3 Leahy Boys.

The Tube Tunnel

 Not So Scary Scarecrows

 Ready ... Set ... 

 Wheeeeee!

 "Mom, this pumpkin patch is a blast!"

 Reid's 1st Horseback Ride

with Rosie the Pony

Angry Birds. Pumpkin Style.

The boys launched mini pumpkins

& gourds toward a jumbo haybale.

 

WATCH OUT!

 Mom couldn't let the boys have all the fun!

While the cat is away...

... The mice shall play! With Scott & Grant in KC for the weekend, the older boys and I had a blast exploring Denver by hitting a fun park and taking a long bike ride on the South Platte Trail. 

Perhaps the coolest rock 

climbing sculpture EVER!

Same park ... super fun seesaw!

One side seems to be doing all the work,
while the other guy is just hanging around.

 Biking on the South Platte Trail,

we came across a pumpkin patch!

 Fall colors at sunset. Beautiful.

 Scenic stop.

A 60th Surprise

October is a BIG birthday month for our family, and this year we had a special milestone birthday to celebrate with Scott's mother Margie turning 60! Scott and Grant flew to Kansas City for the weekend so they could join in the festivities. Here are a few photos from this memorable weekend.

Cousin Stratton teaches Grant 

the finer points of driving!

The Guys

Sawyer, Scott, Paul & Eric

(with Grant in front)
Margie had no idea that Scott, Grant
& Eric were flying in ... Surprise #1!

Grandma Margie & Grant at dinner

Funny story. These may look like jeans,

but they are actually lounge pants.

Their name ... FUNGAREES.

I got Scott these pants for his hospital stay,

and then we decided his brothers needed

these as a special token of thanks for their

visits to see Scott while he was in the hospital.

Walgreen's sells pure awesomeness!

Surprise #2 - A big surprise party for Margie
on Sunday afternoon with family and friends! 

Aunt Juli steals some time 

with Grantman. Super sweet!

Special thanks to Juli for sharing 
all these great photos!

Hello, Cappos!

This week we were thrilled to have the Cappos nearby in Denver visiting for a conference. During the week, Aunt Mary Ann joined us for a day of adventures in Colorado Springs including a trip to the pumpkin patch, lunch at Salsa Brava, and a tour of the Air Force Academy. Talk about a day packed full of fun! The following night on Friday we joined Bruce & Mary Ann for dinner at the Ol' Spaghetti Factory in Denver, and Papa & Kathy joined the party, too! Oh, what a fun evening 'round the table with this lively crew!

Swing State

This post is in no way meant to be political ... just some observations about living in a Swing State.

We live in a heated time as the election draws near. Today I received two political phone calls. When we returned home from our daily errands, there was some political literature on our front door. The campaigner must have watched me come home, so he was kind enough to stop back by our house to share his spiel. On any given day, we receive 4-5 direct mail pieces (covering both candidates). And then there are the TV commercials. Every single commercial break. Monopolizing the airwaves. We had some friends visit in June, and they commented on the commercials back then. (I didn't realize televisions in other states weren't bombarded like ours.) And then last week, we had family in town who commented again about our Swing State dynamics. Then this conversation came up...

Reid: "Mom, Obama has made some bad decisions."
Me: "What?! Where did you hear that?"
Reid: "On TV. They said Obama has made really bad decisions."

I used this as an opportunity to share with Reid about marketing and advertising and why some people pay for advertisements so they can share their opinion, but that not everything you hear on TV may be true about Obama or Romney. And how we need to respect that everyone has their own opinion. And how we should also be respectful of the person who is elected as our President because he is our leader. (Yes, this was a heavy conversation with a 6-year-old.)

So all opinions aside, these next 2 weeks should be interesting living in our Swing State of Colorado. Until then, I think I will stop answering my phone (unless I know who it is). And watching TV (hey, there are no commercials on Netflix!) And answering the door. Okay, maybe not that last one ...  but perhaps I'll post a sign like this.