Preschool-letter 'J'

 

Decorating Jack-O-Lantern muffins. 

We did a lot of jumping this week and learned how to jump rope.

The best sound ever

Sorry Ben, I had to post this...but I know everyone can look past your silliness and see how great of a dad you are.

Eli's giggle is the sweetest sound to my ear.  Any stress just melts away when I hear it and I am so, so thankful for his laughter.

Wonderful Weekend

 I broke in my new trail shoes on our Saturday run.  It was such a beautiful morning that we felt like we could have run all day.  

*This was our first long run together.  5 miles in the books! 

 I think I may have Ben hooked on distance :) 

Really wish I would have stood in prettier leaves :/

We made a family Target run and actually only came home with the essentials on our list...I know, I'm proud of us too.

Ben scoured Redboxes all over the area for 2 days and we finally snatched up 'Monsters University' for our family movie night.  Ben made margarita pizza and the kids and I made caramel popcorn.

Colin doesn't care a lick about TV and just wanted to run around the room destroying everyone's popcorn, so he got sent to bed extra early so we could really enjoy the movie...and I did!  We all snuggled on the floor and munched on popcorn and I loved every minute.

We agreed that we would make it more a priority to watch more movies with our kids and have planned a caramel corn cook-off...my mom's vs. his mom's recipe...stay tuned.

Ben and I have been dreading Sunday for months.  Seriously.   Someday I will like Daylight Savings.  Someday when my children actually sleep past 7 am, I will like it.

We took naps Sunday afternoon and then I took the kids to the park while Ben cooked a BIG batch of Indian lentils.  Have you noticed Ben does most of the cooking on the weekends?

It was a little chilly, but we had a really fun time.  I love that Colin is big enough to just throw in the wagon.

P.S. I am more sore from pulling this wagon to the park, than I am from the 5 mile run!

 

Hot chocolate was a must when we got home.

 

All the kids were asleep by 7 pm last night and were up at 4:45am!  

Here's hoping for more sleep tonight.

My workout buddy

Friday mornings are just flat out crazy in our house.

I teach a class that starts at 8:15...the exact time that Alison's bus comes to pick her up.

So I've arranged for her to go to a neighbor's house early to go the bus stop, but that means that our early morning consists of breakfast and dressing sleepy kids and rushing off to the neighbors.

This Friday was crazier than normal.

It was character day at school, which meant I had to invent a red fairy costume in the wee hours of the morning and then arrange flowers down the side of Alison's hair.

Next time I'm making her pick Cinderella!

I got the kids set and scooped Colin out of his crib and threw him in the car, pj's and all.

After dropping Alison off, we rushed to the Y and got there the moment my class should be starting.

Here's the kicker...the child watch was dark.  No one was there to work!

The sweetest man in the world, who works at the front desk took Colin out of my arms and said he would watch him.  The poor kid was still in his pj's and wet diaper and hadn't had breakfast!

5 minutes after my class should have been going, I walked in with a weepy Eli, who just wanted to go play.  Not knowing what to do, I plopped in front of my equipment, handed him a couple of balls and the iPad and started class.  He sat there quietly for awhile, kind of in shock of what was going on.  Then Irma brought him a couple of candy bars and he perked up.

He actually did fabulous...only asking a few times if we could buy a new game.  Several of the participants asked if he was always this good.  Yes, he's usually quiet and pretty calm, but he did very well for a last minute "sit here and do nothing for an hour" situation.

Colin survived too and child watch workers arrived just as I was finishing class-well over an hour late!

We got in the car and Eli asked, "Do all mommy's teach?"

It was funny to watch it sink in when I tell him I have to teach.

Thankfully we had friends come play for the day so he was able to get all his energy out and have a special treat just for him.

Halloween '13

We had the best Halloween ever...which says a lot because we are not Halloween people.

We tried to convince the kids this year to think of something they wanted to be and then we would all help make the costume.  Then we remembered that we are not crafty...creative maybe, but not crafty.
Thankfully the kids weren't too sold on the idea of being cotton candy or a pumpkin anyway.

So all of our costumes were hand-me-downs;
Alison-Cinderella
Eliot-Superman
Colin-Dinosaur

We met several families at a friends house and had a kid friendly dinner before trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.

A couple of our friends took Colin, Alison ran around with one of her good friends and we were left to soak up the awesomeness of Superman.

It was seriously one of the best evenings of my life.

I was dreading trick-or-treating because I didn't think we would ever get Eli to talk or look at the people handing out the candy.

But our shy, quiet little Eli came out of his shell like I've never seen him.

He was flying through yards, yelling, "Superman to the rescue!" and would leap up the steps saying, "Trick-or-treat please!" several times.  He would even look at them and say thank you.

I'm not often a tear-up mommy, but I definitely choked up a few times that night.

I think he got double the candy just for his extra cuteness.

This was the lot the kids came home with.

Ben and I felt like we were kids again and I begged him to sort it with me.

Lucky for me, Eli doesn't like chocolate anymore, so I'll just have to help him with those pieces.

Words of encouragement

 

 

Today is not about perfection, but about peace, hope, life, vision and love. 

Today, in the midst of all the mess, 

smile, laugh, sing and dance to the rhythms of God's signing.

~Sally Clarkson