Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

We enjoyed a fun-filled, yet relaxed Thanksgiving long weekend.  We were able to visit with lots of family and friends enjoying beautiful sunny weather outside.  We made a Thanksgiving tree again this year and the kids have been working hard to fill it up before Thanksgiving arrives. Cheese, snowmobiling and skiing top the list, so I think it is safe to say we are ready for winter:)    

Thanksgiving Snow

We have had a great week of Thanksgiving preparations including Audrey becoming proficient at using the food processor:)  We were very fortunate to have a great snow storm just before that gave us some fantastic snow for playing outside and sledding... It was a nice break before Thanksgiving!

Turkey Trot 2014

This year's Turkey Trot was significant for Noah because it signified that he had come full circle with his running.  It was at this race last year that he set the goal for himself to be able to run in a 5K.  James had also been training to run his 1 mile fun run which he was so excited for.  In the days leading up to the race I tried to convince both kids to opt out of the race, but neither of them would change their mind.  So, with Gabe on call and cloudy, windy weather at 35 degrees out, we ran.  James did great in his race and seemed unfazed by the weather.  Once again, the men's basketball team ran with the kids to motivate them and made it all the more special.  Noah and I had a bit more difficult run and I was afraid that he would decide not to run after that race, but instead he, very insightfully, realized that he needs to train a bit more before running that far. All in all, Noah seems to feel very accomplished and I am so proud that he set such a goal for himself and attained it. He is already talking about which races he is going to run in next spring/summer:) 

Late Fall

Although the temperatures have been chilly we are still managing to enjoy playing outside.  Our pond  had a thin coat of ice today that the kids took some time to explore. Audrey has been very much into copying all of our activities.  Yesterday she got the fingernail clippers, took off Noah's socks and started pretending to cut his toenails... she was pretty proud of herself too:)  Ben has become a bit more responsible in keeping himself entertained if he wakes up too early in the morning.  This morning when I walked in to get him he was having an elaborate picnic with his cars.

Veterans Day 2014

I would say that the stars aligned for Veterans' Day this year. It was sunny and 55 degrees.  Gabe had the day off and was able to join us for the parade in Brewer.  I know that I have said this before, but they have such an impressive parade celebrating veterans. So many bands, ROTC programs, girl scouts, boy scouts and just so many veterans both walking and riding the parade route.

As always, it was an emotional and very heartwarming day for my dad and us watching him accept thanks and handshakes from so many people.  The kids are getting old enough to start to understand what this is all about, so neat for them to be part of it too.  The girl scouts even gave dad two thank you cards, one specific for the air force... he is pretty proud of these cards... so much so that he let me take his pictures with them. Just a nice reminder that doing something small of someone can make a big difference:) After the parade and lunch the kids got to play with Trey at the Children's Discovery Museum before heading home. 

Halloween 2014

The kids have been anxiously awaiting halloween since it ended last year.  At some point this summer they decided to all be superheroes and they mostly stuck with it.  James decided a few days before that he wanted to be a ghost so he could shout "BOO" at people and scare them.  The compromise was that he be a superhero ghost... I was very thankful that Noah was a ghost two years ago so we had the costume on hand:) The boys insisted that Audrey wear the unicorn, but we were able to convince them that it would get dirty outside, so they agreed to leave it home after pictures.  The kids had a half a day of school so we had more time to celebrate.  We bobbed for apples and made caramel apple fondue.  It was beautiful weather for trick or treating without coats and we found the perfect neighborhood downtown to loop around.  All of the kids just loved trick or treating, even Audrey.  There were a few houses we tried to get her to skip so we didn't have to walk up to the house too, but she wouldn't have it.

Fall Happenings

The last few weeks of October have been spent watching James play basketball (the top picture is of Audrey eating her supper on the bleachers), a scarecrow festival downtown and more running. Two weekends ago Noah and I ran the 1st annual 5K trail run at Titcomb Mountain (our local ski "mountain").  This was pretty challenging for Noah (and me) because it was running on an unfamiliar hiking/mountain biking trail up one side of the mountain and down the other... plus it was fall and the leaves covering the wet ground made conditions less than ideal.... we both fell more than once:) He finished it though and was pretty proud of himself at the finish line.  Last weekend we ran in a more traditional 5K road race supporting the Fit Girls of Wilton club with a beautiful run along the lake.  This felt like a piece of cake compared to the previous race and Noah easily beat his previous best time by over a minute.  I don't think that it will be too long before he can out run me...

Last Sunday after church we checked the corn maze and pumpkin patch off our list for the fall and had a really fun time with friends trying to navigate the "big maze".  It did start raining, but not until we finished so we were very thankful for that! That night we got our pumpkins carved and are now ready for Halloween.