October: Trick-or-Treat

For Halloween this year, both boys were adamant about their costume choices. Alex would be “Firefighter Alex” and Zach would be a cowboy (Joel was a chicken - so cute!!). We were lucky, and found perfect costumes for them…of which they both wear random bits and pieces now and then. Halloween was a busy Saturday. Our day began with a end of the season soccer team costume party; the kids’ favorite treat was the gummy eyeballs that were floating in the green punch – spooky! Next, we went to HP for the annual company trick-or-treat event, and the boys braved the Haunted House. They wanted to go through a second time, but the line was way too long. Then, it was onto the Peyton Drive cul-de-sac carnival with our neighbors. Each family brought a game/activity, and the kids enjoyed going from one “booth” to the next, winning prizes and having fun with one another. Finally, the boys helped me hand out candy to the hoards of kids who braved the cold. It was cute to see the awe on the boys’ faces as they gave candy to cool, older kids. We had great trick-or-treaters this year – everyone was really polite, even the teenagers. They were nice to Zach and Alex, which the kids loved. We also went to Harvest Farm; we went on a hayride, through the petting zoo, roped "calves" and checked out the bunny village. We’re ready for next year!

October: Oink, Oink!

The Pickett house got hit hard by the Piggy Flu. We hadn't even had a chance to get any flu shots when we got knocked down for a full two weeks by H1N1. Seth and Zach had it the worst; Zach ended up on antibiotics to prevent pneumonia, and Seth ended up on antibiotics to prevent bronchitis. Alex got antibiotics, because the flu morphed into yet another double ear infection. I was sick for 3 days, and fortunately, was a lot better off than everyone else. Once everyone's course of antibiotics were complete, they were all much better. Hopefully, we'll stay snout-free for the rest of flu season.

October: 1st CSU Football Game

We took the boys to their first CSU football game. Unfortunately, we chose the wrong game to attend. This fall has been one of the coldest and snowiest we’ve had in a loooong time – arctic cold for days at a time. So, of course, the day of the game is absolutely frigid. The kids were troopers, making it through half the game before we finally called it quits. They enjoyed the band, and even got to experience the cannon that is fired whenever CSU scores a touchdown. The final straw was when the concession stands ran out of hot chocolate. Fortunately, we had plenty of hot chocolate at our house. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies, and enjoying hot chocolate and warm blankies. Consider the day a success.

On the Road Again!

My mom and her family in Iowa organized a surprise 60th birthday party for my aunt Maureen. We had planned on staying home – I had a closing coming up, and Seth couldn’t miss any school. Then, Seth found out he was being sent to Arizona for work, and my closing was clear and ready to go, so I had a crazy idea: I could drive myself and the boys to Iowa for the weekend, and surprise everyone! It’s only a 10 hour drive…well, 12-ish, with a potty-trained kid in tow. No big deal, right?

Actually, it ended up being okay – the kids were great on the drive, and thought it was a fun adventure. We made it in one piece, thanks to the GPS, and in pretty decent time. We made it in time to spend time with the families, and were happy to be part of the surprise party. The boys loved playing with the cousins, 2nd cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and anyone else they met. We also spent a morning at a farm, riding on a tractor-pulled wagon hayride, and checking out the pumpkin patches and cornfields.

The drive home was a little less enjoyable, because both boys were very sad to leave and kept asking me to “turn around and go back to Auntie Maureen’s house, pretty please!” We’ll probably be making that trip again in 2010…but I probably won’t be driving solo.

I am no Sporty Spice

Sports are an important part of life with boys, I’ve learned…somewhat reluctantly, I’ll admit. I’m not exactly an athlete myself, so I don’t usually think about sports much. Seth, on the other hand, loves them; since we hope our kids become well-rounded, we plan to introduce them to as many different types of hobbies and activities as we can. Our hope is that they’ll find something that they enjoy doing.

Evidently, soccer is not something Zach enjoys doing. He spent the season more interested in what others were doing – “others” here meaning all of the kids on the field…not only his teammates, but the other team as well. He would kick the ball occasionally, and enjoyed running around, but that was mostly it. Baseball was better – he’s still a little young for tee-ball, but was able to attend a baseball clinic to get some exposure to the sport. He enjoyed hitting the ball, and standing in outfield; he was pretty good at throwing and worked hard on catching.

Alex enjoyed kicking the soccer ball around while Zach played, and also took a shine to baseball. My three boys spent many a summer evening in the backyard, practicing hitting, throwing and catching. “I’ll show you how to do baseball,” Alex would say to me as I watched from the deck. He would proceed to set the ball on the plastic tee, and swing with his little bat – the swing came complete with a "baseball" grunt when he hit the ball...which he did surprisingly often.
All in all, it seems as though we will sampling several sports over the next few years. I’m ready.

July: Camping

Fun Week concluded with a camping trip in Estes Park. Last year, we camped overnight in a little one room cabin; this year, we graduated to camping in a tent. We figured we may as well go for broke, and brought the dog as well – go big, or go home, I guess. Once again, the kids took us by surprise, behaving as though they were born to camp. Even Jack did well, spending most of the time laying in the warm dirt, and occasionally perking up when he caught a whiff of some interesting scent. We all slept in one tent, and while it was fine, we’ve decided we need to upgrade tent sizes before next summer – it was just a little tight. We did all the usual camping activities – roasted hot dogs over the fire, making s’mores and even popping a Jiffy Pop over the camp stove. Our site had a big “mountain” for the boys to climb, and we’ve come to the conclusion that they’re part mountain goats. The kids used their battery powered lanterns once the sun went down, and actually settled down pretty well in the tent when bedtime came. All in all, camping was a huge success!

July: Water World

During our Fun Week, we continued to add to our list of “First Adventures” by taking the kids to Water World with the Sippys. As I write this, it’s December – freezing temperatures and Christmas just around the corner. But, once every other week or so, one of the boys mentions “Water World,” usually asking if we could go back…it left quite the impression. They loved the “dinosaur ride” (Journey to the Center of the Earth) the most, but enjoyed the entire experience.

July: Go Rockies!

Whenever embarking on a new experience, particularly one that costs money, we feel a sense of trepidation. How will the kids react? Will they love it? Will they hate it? Will they sit and enjoy the experience, or will they throw a fit and eventually force us to abandon ship? This trepidation is magnified when the experience is in a public venue.

Thankfully, we didn’t need to worry – the boys are finally both at the age where they think everything is an adventure. The Rockies have a great ticket deal – you buy a “family four-pack” of tickets to the game, and you get a free hot dog and soda. We got a four-pack and invited my dad to join us, since Alex is young enough that he doesn’t need a ticket.

We were a little worried when we met “Dinger,” the Rockies dinosaur mascot – neither kid thought this was a good idea. We all suffered through the picture; next time, they should be excited about meeting a real-life dinosaur. The kids were excited to hang with the “Gramp-ster” and he spoiled them by buying them whistle-suckers at the ballfield store.

Grandpa showed the boys how to properly crack open a peanut, and the kids enjoyed the freedom of dropping peanut shells on the ground without getting into trouble; he also showed the boys how to keep score, which held their interest for exactly one minute, but kept Grandpa and Seth busy throughout the game. The Rockies played well, and even won!

July: Zach is 4!

Zachary turned 4 this summer, and requested a "Go, Diego, Go" themed birthday party. I totally dropped the ball on making invites (I have no idea how July came so quickly this year), but thankfully, my mom got them taken care of instead. Auntie Coley outdid herself with the cake design, about which Zach was over the moon.

The birthday party kicked off a week of fun; Seth had the week off work and we intended on making the most of it.

Bear With Me...

If you're reading this, chances are you've received our Christmas card, and have made your way to our blog to catch up on our year.

Although, at the end of 2008, I made a vow to be better organized and to update the blog more frequently in 2009, I have fallen extraordinarily short of that vow. In fact, I didn't update our blog once before Christmas in 2009. Yikes! So, please bear with me - I'm working on updating our blog, but it may take me a little while longer. Please return for the fall/winter portion of 2009.

Thanks! Happy holidays!!

June: The Boys' 1st Trip to the Drive-In

When Alex was a few months old, we attempted to take the boys to the drive-in. We figured he would sleep, and Zach would watch the first movie then sleep during the second. We had to leave before the first movie even started, because both boys were, shall we say, very unhappy with being stuck in the car. During the past couple of years, we hadn't repeated the experience.

This summer, we thought we might have better luck. Both boys can finally sit through a full-length movie at the theater, and are mobile enough to move around inside the car, which is exciting for them. In grand tradition, we got pizza and snacks, and let the kids bring special toys to keep them busy while we waited for the sun to go down. We had a blast! The kids thought it was cool, and both fell asleep before the second movie even began. Definitely on our list of things to do next summer!

May: Naughty-Bad Dog Escapes

We decided to take the kids and dog to the lakes by Judy’s house on the southeast side of town. As we were running around the house, getting the necessary items together, one of the kids accidentally let Jack out through the garage door. Zach alerted us, but by the time we made it out the door, he was nowhere in sight. Usually, when Jack gets out, he thinks it’s a fun game – we chase him, he runs away, we slow down, he lopes around us (never getting near enough to be snagged by the collar), and takes off again. But he always stays within sight. Today, however, he was gone, gone, gone.

We walked up and down the street, but couldn’t find him; we ended up driving through our neighborhood, trying to spot him running through the streets. We figured he’d get tired (he’s not in the best shape these days, thanks to his naughty habit of eating everything in sight all the time) and end up just walking around, but no luck. Finally, we went to the Humane Society, just in case he’d gotten picked up by the Animal Fuzz. Luckily, someone had just called to let the HS know they’d found a white Lab running around our neighborhood. In the end, we got our naughty-bad dog back – apparently, he had encountered a jogger, and just started running alongside him. The jogger couldn’t shake him off, realized he had probably escaped, and graciously kept him in their yard until we finally got in touch. Once we got him home, Jack was one pooped pooch.

We weren’t going to reward Jack with a trip to the lake after that, but we decided making him sit on the leash in the middle of all that nature would be the perfect punishment. (The lake has tons of birds….) The boys entertained themselves by throwing things into the water – sticks, leaves, grass, rocks – and Jack was forced to observe nature while tethered.

May: Rocky Mountain Hiiiiigh, Colorado

For the first time in our 8 years of marriage, we bought a season pass to Rocky Mountain National Park. The boys love the mountains, thanks to our drive through them to get to and from California. We decided to take them hiking, starting with easy walks around Bear Lake, then progressing to longer walks in various areas of the park. Today, we took them to Glacier Meadow, but weren’t able to make it up the trail to Alberta Falls – too snowy still. We saw a ton of wildlife – bighorn sheep and elk, primarily. By the end of the day, I was beat; the kids, however, were still full of energy. Seth had mercy on me, and took the boys to see Boulder Falls while I read in the car. Huge rocks, running water and the freedom to run around in the fresh air – the boys were in 7th heaven.

Zach's Preschool Memories

Zach finished his first year of preschool in May; his music teacher put together a super-cute program, in which Zach played a rain cloud.

He also made some cool "bug gloves," and spent the summer filling his bug jar with rolypolies and any other bugs he could catch.

In September, Zach began pre-k, which is his last year in preschool. Yes, that means he'll be in kindergarten next year, and Alex will be starting preschool...but we'll get to that in 2010.

Zach has learned a lot so far this year; he surprised us the other night by counting (with minimal assistance) to 100. He also surprised us one day at the library by reading the word "Dinotopia" with no assistance. His artwork is also showing his maturity - whereas last year, the people he drew were simply circles with lines coming out of a few places in the circle, now his people have necks, fingers, eyes and hair. Doesn't sound like much, but I guess it's a big deal in determining preparedness for kindergarten. He's also attending a Spanish class on Wednesdays, and loves to incorporate the words he learns in his everyday vocabulary. Fortunately, it's rudimentary enough that we know what he's talking about; also, fortunately, Alex is picking up much of what Zach learns.

We just attended his Christmas program - this year, he graduated to playing a squirrel. "Squirrel, squirrel, shake your bushy tail!" True to squirrel form, he ran past too quickly to get a good photo of his costume.

Back in School

Seth got accepted to the Professional MBA program at Colorado State University. The program takes two full years to complete, and he began this fall, so he'll graduate in May of 2011. 

His first semester went really well - he's enjoying the classes, although the workload is pretty heavy. He just got his grades back, and is carrying an A- average. Pretty awesome, considering he's still working full time at HP and has a family to care for as well.

Jack and the Birds Who Love to Torment Him

As you probably know by now, Jack is a Labrador Retriever. Labs are, by nature and design, hunting and bird dogs. Jack, however, is neither. A majority of the time, Jack thinks he’s human; sometimes, he thinks he’s a cat. He’s pretty convinced he’s the boss all the time.


Behind our yard, we have a retention pond. It has been seeded with “natural” grasses, and after 6 years, it’s finally starting to look cool in the summer. Cattails, reeds, croaking frogs, and birds…lots of birds. The HOA planted several trees throughout the retention area, and there are several along our and our neighbors’ fences. Lately, the birds have taken to teasing Jack; as soon as he’s outside, they swoop over our yard, flying from tree to tree, making sure to pass near enough to Jack to make him think he has a chance at catching them. Then, the birds land on the 10’ tall trees on the opposite side of our fence. I’m pretty sure the chattering, chirpy sounds they make once they land is equivalent to bird laughter at Jack’s frenzied barking. He’s such a dope!

*On a side note: your computer is not playing tricks on you - his feet are pink. He chewed up one of the kids' stuffed animals, and was caught, pink-pawed.

May: Project One 2009

Our church does a HUGE community service day each year called “Project One,” as you may know from our blog last year. This year, we had over 1,300 people working on 110 projects, including 4 schools, in Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley. What a phenomenal way to serve God by serving our communities!

This year, we worked on the mobile home of a woman in Fort Collins. She was wonderful, making us dozens of cookies while we worked on several projects. The day was overcast, and we had some drizzly moments, whcih was unfortunate, since our projects were all outside and required etiher power tools or paint.

We were able to get our projects done, and had a great time meeting new people.