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.

Fall Fotos

After a roller coaster summer, our fall has been just the change of pace that we needed. I've always wanted to get family photos to show off the beautiful autumn colors here in Colorado. This year I didn't think we would be able to work that in because Scott was still recovering, and I missed signing up for the mini-sessions of our usual family photographer during all our craziness. I'd heard about another local photographer who is a mutual friend with several of my friends, and so the timing worked out to schedule a mini-session with the fabulous Courtney of CKE Photography. Our photo shoot took place at a park where Luke has played baseball and football, and it was the perfect setting with the sunset and fall foliage. Enjoy our collection of family photos.

Love the fence, the trees, the quilt.
Everyone is looking pleasant.

Our new favorite family photo!

 Reid's face here cracks me up! So mischievous!

 Grant wonders what he got himself into
with this photo shoot.

 This melts my heart. These two sweet boys.

 Our Favorite Season

 Senior photo?

Luke looks so grown up here!

 Blue Eyes & Freckles

 This shirt really made Reid's eyes stand out!

 About 5 minutes before this, Reid was crying

because Luke smashed his hand. Thank

goodness for quick recoveries!

Love the lighting. Love his expression.

"You want me to sit still?"

 The Happy Couple

Our crazy, loveable, silly crew!

 A few in black and white.

Because 36 is a milestone birthday...

You wouldn't typically think of 36 as a milestone birthday, but after the year that Scott has had, this was one big birthday to celebrate! Since the last year held many health surprises, I decided it was time to share a good surprise with him and throw him a surprise party. His birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so the party was scheduled for Sunday afternoon with cookies, apple cider & beer. Low-key but high on the fun factor! The plans all game together well ... I should have known things would get tricky at "go-time."

Last week, I asked Scott what he wanted to plan to do for his birthday. This question was actually more to figure out "How can I plan to get you out of the house for a few hours to get ready for the party?" He mentioned that he'd really like to go mountain biking on his birthday, so I thought that would be perfect. He could bike for a couple hours and come home to a house full of "Surprise!" Except someone decided to lollygag. A LOT. At about 11 a.m. (2 hours before people were supposed to arrive at 1 p.m.) I started to nudge him to leave for his ride.

Me: "How about you go mountain biking now?"
Scott: "Oh, I think I'll mow first then go for the ride."
Me: "It's so nice outside. You really should go NOW!"
Scott: "But I think I want to get the work done. Then play."
Me: "Nah. It's your birthday. You can mow later. You should enjoy your day."

He then proceeded to call 2 different friends to go mountain biking. At this time I was really sweating it because I knew if other people were involved that would very much complicate the plan and timing. Fortunately, the first friend had been invited and was aware of the party but declined due to family in town. The second friend was injured so he couldn't go. Before Scott could call a third friend, he decided to just get ready and go, and Luke decided to join him. Keep in mind neither Luke nor Reid knew anything about the party because I was afraid they would slip up and tell. In the midst of his taking-his-own-sweet-time, Scott also decided to watch that guy do the space jump ... and he talked on the phone some, too ... and he ate some lunch ... and he put away some laundry. While the stalling was fine, I was getting a bit worried that he was taking TOO LONG and wouldn't leave so I could get ready for the party! I even had to call Dad & Kathy for some possible back-up if they could help me get Scott out of the house with some fake car trouble or a computer issue. We had figured out several back-up plans if necessary.

At 12:55 p.m. (people were set to start arriving in 5 minutes), Luke and Scott were ready to leave. Having to think on my feet, I rushed out just as they were about to depart to catch Scott.

Me: "Hey, do you think you could run to the grocery store really quickly before your bike ride to pick up some steak so I can make stroganoff for dinner tonight?"  (That is one of Scott's favorites so I chose the dish wisely.)
Scott: "Why don't we just go out for dinner?"
Me: "How about we eat dinner here and go out for dessert?"
Scott: "Umm ... Okay."
Me: "So would you mind running over to the store to get the meat so I can get it in the crockpot so it's ready for tonight?"
Scott: "I guess so. Do you need anything else?"
Silently I thought ... "Yes, I needed you to leave an hour ago!!"
Me: "No. That's all. Thank you." (Smile.)

Anyway, Scott and the older boys made a quick run to the store. In about 20 minutes, the friends who arrived early helped me to pull together and set up everything for the party ... table set, cookies on platters, cider warming, beer in the cooler, etc. At one point, I called Scott to check in and remind him of something (actually I was seeing where he was in the grocery store run to estimate when he might be back!)

I took some old photos of Scott and made these

signs for the cookies with funny little sayings.

When people saw these old photos of Scott,

everyone commented how much 

all our boys look like him! So true!

 My wonderful friend Julia helped with some cookie-baking!

 "Sure ... we'll all smile for a sugar cookie!"

When he walked in the door, a house full of people were crouched down in our living room. After a delayed suspenseful few seconds while I talked to Scott on the stairs, they yelled, "SURPRISE!" He was genuinely shocked and had no idea! Mission accomplished! The funny part is that he had yet to take a shower for the day because he was going mountain biking, so he had to dash upstairs early in the party to shower and change! (Note to self: Always shower early on your birthday in case someone has a surprise in store for you!)


We had a fabulous afternoon laughing, sharing stories, sipping on cider and pumpkin beer, and sampling cookies. Scott so deserved to have a day celebrating him, and this was perfect! He said that there were some clues he should have picked up on looking back ... like when I made the comment of "I haven't really cleaned the house in quite a while" as I was frantically trying to pick up and clean in a not-so-conspicuous way. Or when we were at lunch on Saturday, and the boys brought up about the "secret cookies" we had made. I made a batch of cookies each day the week leading up to the party. One day I made sugar cookies, and the boys helped me. I just explained we were making cookies for the birthdays, but then we whisked them off over to Papa's freezer so they wouldn't be found by Scott. I played off the "secret cookie" comment that I'd made them for a sorority alum event. Scott believed that reason ... thank goodness!

 Papa & Grant at the party ... best buddies.

Funny side story: Any time the doorbell rings

during the day, Grant will go racing for the

front door yelling, "Papa! Papa!"

hoping that he's coming over for a visit.

Grant is a little disappointed when it's 

just the UPS guy and not Papa.

 Julia, Britny & Jeff

 The Birthday Boy with friends Nadine & Scott

(and Grant sneaking around in the background!)

So much fun. Such a wonderful birthday. A very happy birthday to you, Scott! May the year ahead be filled with improved health & much happiness!

And in case you were wondering ... after the party, Scott still got to go on his mountain bike ride with Luke AND mow the yard. A mighty fine day indeed!