This Tiger Didn't Get His Windshield Shattered

Our Tiger earns a Bobcat...love how Pack 780 makes this into such an event: they dim the lights, have all the adult leaders chant around a huge Native American drum, and as they pound, they give the boys their war paint, lead them in a few pledges (I'm pretty sure I promised to give up our Swiss bank account numbers, but I couldn't swear to it), and usher them onto the path to Eagle. Apparently I'm supposed to help in that endeavor. Hm.

Given our family's discomfort with fundraising, it's hard to believe that Shaney finished third in his den with popcorn sales. Nearly impossible to believe, come to think of it.
And just because it was such a great shot: the only solution to keeping an entitled chocolate lab away from your Happy Meal.

It's Christmas, All Over Again

The Crawford yuletide season begins here: historic downtown Castle Rock's 74th Annual Starlighting...our third year participating in small-town Americana, one of the big selling points of this community.
Live nativity, hot chocolate, carolers, horse-drawn carriage rides (see last year's Starlighting entry regarding our avoidance of that epic line, even though it was lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with...them?). Dang this economy! Budget cuts means no fireworks this year, but I'll take out the thinned crowds anytime.
But, baby, it's cold outside...

After what seems like oodles of posts featuring "normal" shots, may I present Shane, back in true form? I have no idea how this is even physically possible.

The blessed event (a daytime pic would be more instructive of how cute that star looks perched on Castle Rock, but would entirely miss the point).

Matt still can't believe he spent a Saturday afternoon bundled up on Wilcox Street just to watch someone flip a switch, but it's all good: it gives me eighteen kinds of goosebumps to live in a town where you can still have a civic ceremony wherein someone offers a prayer, carols are sung, and regardless of your level of belief in the traditional trappings of Christmas, you respect others' rights to honor those traditions. Model it, America. It's our only hope.

Decking our halls: Gracie, donning a holly berry wreath as a crown. She's rarely without one.

Trimmin' the tree...we sprung for a live one this year (we didn't get our act together in enough time to procure a permit to cut our own tree at a state park nearby, but Lowe's is scenic, right?). Thanks to many, many years of Grandma K's raiding of Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments and bringing them to us each Thanksgiving dinner, we have more flair than any tree can possibly hold. Each of those ornaments is a special story and memory, and I get overly sentimental and (don't tell anyone!) not a little snippy when one is dropped. Watch your back when you come near my tree, people.

Evie placing the traditional U2 disc on the top of the tree...how the kids wished we did something more traditional and predictable. They've come to the wrong house for that, now, haven't they?

All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go...

All Hallow's Eve.
Halloween is a mere notch beneath Christmas in this hacienda...we nabbed the crew on this gorgeous late October afternoon many hours after the 7 a.m. warm-up for Eve's far-away swim meet, and immediately before we put socks on Shane and headed up the street to a neighborhood open house. Hated to blow them off early, but it must needs be that we race home for our traditional mummy dogs and orange soda floats, and the usual wrangling over whether or not their candy buckets were sufficient for their needs. Daddy did the honors this year, while I stayed home, doling out candy to hardly anybody at all. Hmph.
The boys suffered the worst indignity possible this holiday: mom ordered the wrong costume size for the coveted Clone Trooper WITH FULL HELMET costume , and were forced to wear last year's gear. By the purest of miracles, they woke up alive and socially acceptable the very next morning and every day thereafter.

The mammoth snowstorm three days prior to Halloween held all of Denver hostage, which isn't a bad thing: school cancellations, loads of sledding and hour upon hour of movies, popcorn, homemade cookies and computer games kept us delightfully behind the eight-ball with holiday prep. The ward Trunk-or-Treat went off without a hitch, and even provided these great snow piles for our goblins' lounging pleasure. I'm sure they were every bit as comfortable as they looked.

Alice, walking through her Wonderland with all the other Pre-K students in their custume parade.

Officially THE cutest Halloween party craft idea I've ever seen, and I've worked quite a few soirees in my time. I'm horrified to acknowledge that it wasn't of my making. But is it cute enough to birth another child, just so I could use it at their Halloween party someday? I didn't think so, either.

Finished product: two carved, two painted, all cute.

Shaney-Shaney-Bo-Baney-Banana-Fana-Fo-Faney-Me-Mi-Mo-Maney...

October 30, 2002. Lovely day to deliver a boy. So I did. Seven years later, he guts pumpkins. It's like we've come full circle.
Our boy Shane...the only words that do him justice are "irrepressible" and "uninhibited". Myriad adjectives apply and all, but will inevitably fall short when describing my super-bright, energetic, single-minded, perfectionistic angel baby, pictured here with his current love in life: the Power Miners (cue dramatic music and strobe lights here).
Mrs. Yoshioka's first grade classroom has proven to be a whirlwind of delight: little man can't wait to bound out of bed, inhale an Olympic-sized amount of breakfast, and head off to Clear Sky to run and giggle and push all the boundaries the way only Shane can. I've mentioned before that kindergarten was not his favorite experience, and to watch him blossom in this environment has done all of us a world of good.
Shane just wrapped up his fall soccer season, and has been wowing all comers in his swim stroke clinics (still has a backstroke that'll knock you out!)...and when you're an athlete at this level, your nutritional needs can be best met by this sample lunch: four (4) chocolate-chip cookies, apple juice, Starburst, Smarties, two (2) Tootsie Pops, and a couple of fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls.
When he blows out the candles on that birthday cake, here's my wish: that he always holds that unbridled enthusiasm, joy of discovery, tenderness and confidence. I love this kid like crazy cakes, and I dare you to resist him.