10-30, Deer

As you already know, we have a lot of deer in our neighborhood.  I take a few pics a week of them with my phone, maybe post one or two to Facebook, but that's usually it.  Since not everyone is as fortunate as we are (I say this, because we're also lucky enough to have a fenced backyard!), I'm going to make more of an effort to share some of my deer pics.  Here are a few I've taken over the past few weeks.  

The big bucks seem to live on the other side of the neighborhood.  I found these when I took a walk near Emalie's school.  Those are some big boys!  A day prior to this, there had to have been at least a dozen of these big bucks 'hanging out' near the new fence that was being put in at the school.  The guy doing the work stood no less than 10' from the herd.  Craziest thing!!

I complain a lot about our elevated entry into our house (and dad's thinking, "I told you so!" when I admit that).  One of the perks though is this up close view I have of our front lawn from the basement window.  This lady was about 4' from the window, snoozing away.  You get used to the deer around here, but at that moment it hit me how amazing that really is.

I took this picture from our master bedroom on the top floor.  I'm looking down at the same patch of grass as the photo above, but it gives you an elevated perspective of where the deer like to congregate.  Silly creatures!

10-31, Halloween

Here is the obligatory Halloween post: a few costume and friend pics.  Emalie had her costume a good month before Halloween.  She'd put it on once or twice a day, jump around the living room, throw a few webs and neatly store it away for the next day.  Nikolas' costume....well, this isn't even the one I bought him for this year.  He went to school in his sumo wrestler costume, but due to technical difficulties decided to dig out his Grim Reaper costume from a previous year for trick-or-treating.  Oh well, the end result was achieved:  mass quantities of candy.  We took Em trick-or-treating with our neighbor friends, and Nik went with some other friends and had a sleep-over at their house.  I guess he's at that age where it just isn't cool to trick-or-treat with your 3-year old sister!  Thank goodness I can't eat all the milk chocolate (you know, 'milk' and that whole lactose issue).  Poor Em can't eat it either for the same reason.  At least this year, she understands it a little bit.  She holds up a piece of candy and asks,  "does this have milk in it?" And if the answer is yes, she sticks it back in the bag.  It may be cruel now, but when she's a teenager, she'll probably be pretty thankful for all those extra calories she won't consume (that's the tactic I use to console myself, anyway, as I look longingly at that kit-kat bar)!  Sheesh, and living in Colorado, do you know how many news stories were on about thoroughly checking your kids' candy to make sure there wasn't any 'pot candy' given out?!  Seriously, back in the day it was razors and now it's pot.  Not too sure about this crazy world we live in.......  Well, no strange reactions to any of the trick-or-treat candy, so we must be in the clear!  LOL.....sort of.......  Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!!

10-30, Uncle Thad

I don't know why, but every time Thad visits I think of Santa Claus.  It must be the duration of the visit and the kids' smiles!  Sven picked up Thad from the airport on his way home from work on Thursday, and took him back on his way to work on Friday morning.  Now, that's a quick visit!  We had just enough time to put up some Halloween decorations outside, have dinner, chat and watch a show or two, go to bed, wake up, eat breakfast, and say good-bye.  I hope Thad feels it's worth his effort during these short lay-overs, because we sure do!  The only pictures I took this time, was during Emalie's bedtime story.  It was pretty cute-- they all took turns reading to each other.  Hope to see you again soon, Thad!

10-22, Sven's Birthday

Wild and crazy, we are not; though, young and free we used to be.  (Hahaha....sorry, couldn't resist the rhyme.)  And with each passing birthday, 'young' seems to be getting further away.  Luckily, I'll never catch Sven in that race-- he's ahead (albeit not by much).  Since this isn't a birthday post for one of the kids, I'll spare the exaggeration of exactly which birthday Sven recently celebrated.  Again, not wild and crazy, but I think he enjoyed his special day.  We had a great dinner at our local sushi restaurant.  It was too cute when the waitress brought out a 'birthday cake' for Sven when I mentioned we were celebrating his birthday.  The 'cake' was two piled-up scoops of rice drizzled with teriyaki 'frosting' and a candle.  Pretty clever!  We all got a few laughs out of it-- and isn't that the point of a celebration?  Laughs and fun?  (Oh, and they even sang to him.  LOL.....)  Back at home, we all celebrated when the birthday cake I baked actually looked like a cake (vs. a pancake, which is the risk you take when baking anything at 6,000').   I have to admit this pumpkin bundt cake recipe that I got from "Pie in the Sky" (a high-altitude cookbook) was a big hit.  Our small, family celebration seemed to be just Sven's speed as evidenced by his smiles.  Happy Birthday, sweetie-- not another year older, just another year better!