Transformation Complete - I'm FIVE!

What?! Kasey is Already FIVE?  (ok... I get that he is closer to 5 1/2 by the time I am posting pics...sigh...).  At any rate; better late than never!  This kid wanted a Transformer party and we think we nailed it!

There is something special about turning five in the Cannode house... it is your first friend birthday party.  We were thinking five friends since he is turning five. That turned into Way more since Kasey wanted to invite both his regular friends and school kids and evidently; if you invite one school kid... you invite them All!  This is what Chaos looks like, my friends!

We made Taco in a Bag for lunch and it was a huge hit with both kids and adults!  It was the only time during the party that I felt a little bit of sanity remained.  Here are some adults taking a break from the craziness.  I call it 'hiding from children'.

Kasey was so thrilled to be able to show off his toys to all of his friends!

Amy came up with the brilliant idea to do a pinata in December... that meant we couldn't do it outside in the snow.  No worries... we have some engineers in the group to figure this out!

 Everyone took a shot first blindfolded... then we tried giving Kasey a chance without the blindfold.  That Transformer was Tough!  Ok... next trick.  There are strings on his back that will allow the candy to drop.  Lets give that a shot!  This might have been my favorite part of the party!

 One... Two... Three!  CANDY!!!!

Karsten was a pretty good sport that only Kasey's got to choose which friends were invited.  Karsten was happy as long as Mason got to come to the party too!  BFFs!

We were so glad that David and April decided to head south to check out their chaotic future.  I am hoping to provide them with guidance of 'what not to do' during a child's birthday party for when Holly gets older.

What would possibly make every single child in the house congregate in one space together?  Oh yeah....

Time for cake! Kasey's transformer cake was lovingly made by our former neighbor, Sandy! Delish as always!

Henry, Kasey and Karsten taking a break to let their cake settle.  Although, the break didn't last too long.  Kasey got Beyblades for his birthday and we couldn't wait to try it all out!

Oh yeah, one more thing.  Did we mention that we hosted this divine party out of one dorm fridge and three coolers?  Yep!  We have not had luck lately with our appliances.  In October, our deep freezer in the basement quit.  This was of course the same week Kris was bringing home an Elk for our freezer... great timing!  Good thing Jim and Sarah were so willing to hold onto our elk meat for us!  Then, in a sick twist of fate... our upstairs side by side freezer went kaput three weeks prior to Kasey's party!  What????  Thankfully, Scott and Elizabeth had some spare room for our frozen goodies.  Ok - we didn't lose very much of our food to spoilage, but how do we host a birthday with no fridge and WHEN will we get one back?  We were told delivery would be the day of Kasey's party and most likely 'during' his party.  So, like any normal parent... we told Kasey this was his birthday present!  He was so thrilled that he started stocking it immediately!

After the excitement of the party and the fridge delivery, it was time for the remaining kids to calm down to Kasey's new transformer movie (Thanks, David and April!) while the parents relaxed downstairs.  Wow, That was a Party, with a Capital "P"!  And I am tuckered out!!

CSU's Amazing Season

My original idea?  Well, it was to have each CSU game in their own post... then, I realized I was behind... Ok - I will just put them all in one post and break it out by game.  Um, we are now in APRIL and I still haven't posted the fall football season.  New Plan!  Here are a few of my favorite posts from all of the games we had this year with US Davis (Sept 13th), Tulsa (Oct 4th), Utah State (Oct 18th), Wyo (Oct 25th), Hawaii (Nov 8th), New Mexico (Nov 22nd) and last but not least Air Force (Nov 28th)!  We also went to a bowl game this year, but .... on second thought; lets not talk about it.

We really lucked out with some warm tailgates this year! It was wonderful weather and always wonderful friends who join us to make our tailgating experience complete!

OK, they weren't "all" warm weather games, but we make the best of it.  Ninja Turtle & Minion hats helped!

Some of you ask why we take a 4 hour round trip to come to these games... This next picture tells you Exactly why.  Look at the love for each other in their eyes and smiles.  They can't get enough of each other.  Come to think of it... I am pretty sure we can drive 8 minutes to see these two smile together.  They both live in Parker!

One of my favorite things this past year was Karsten's excitement about the games!  He LOVES watching the ROTC do push ups each time CSU scores.  In fact... he joined them all season long. Believe me, it was so great that everyone in our section was watching Karsten over the ROTC guys after every score!

Sometimes all that cheering really tuckers you out.  I will admit... after I took this pic; I might have closed my eyes a second or two as well ~ during halftime of course.

Our last game of the year was located at AFA, Colorado Springs.  It was great seeing the game from a different perspective and on a different field.  The refs were awful, I lost my voice yelling at their bad calls and we didn't end up winning this game, but I am definitely not sorry we took the trip down south.  In fact; I think this drive was A Lot closer to us!  Just might become an Air Force fan due to the commute... maybe not! :-)

 The game might not have been as pretty as desired, but you can't beat this view! #NoFilter

OH! I almost forgot... Here is the Real Reason we spend an ENTIRE DAY in Fort Collins on Game Day!

Bonus time!  We also went to a few other sporting events that I might as well cover in this crazy blog.  Erika joined me for a fun Rockies game with my boys.  Great time was had by all ~ Plus, Rockies Won!

We also had a great Broncos season (Thank you again for your seats, Arnie and Marilyn!).  We really enjoy our view and are entirely grateful that Gma and Gpa Cannode and the boys enjoy the view from our living room.  Love Date Day!

Well, why not try to hit every sport in one blog!  We also follow a couple of home teams.  Some, we are lucky as they come visit Denver (Go Fighting Sioux!) and we get to see them play and others we religiously watch in the comfort of our own home.  Either way, here are a few pics of us supporting our other favorite sports teams.

 "O"..... "H".....

 "I"..... "O"!!!

How was that for a fast year in sports!?!