Maple Leaf Race!

Noah's first race! The Maple Leaf 5k. Tony and I decided, based on what Noah has been doing at Cross-Country this season, that he should attempt a 9 minute mile pace. I knew he could have probably gone faster, but being his first race, we didn't want him to burn out too fast. He has run as much as 5 miles in one workout before, but that involved stopping at each mile and taking a few sips of water. Tony ran with him to pace him, using his Garmin.

Here they are before the race:

Right as the race was starting:

It rained pretty hard before the race started and at the beginning, then rained hard again during the race. Noah was cold from the rain and his hands were really cold.

They did it! Completed in 27 minutes and 1 second! That is less than a 9 minute mile. (A 5k is 3.1 miles).

So proud of Noah! And he was happy to finish, just really cold. His hands were really cold. I think if it wouldn't have rained, he would have been able to finish faster!I think Noah has a special God given talent for running. I tell him often that he needs to work hard to develop this talent, as God has blessed him with it. If you see him, please tell him congratulations and encourage him in this sport. I think there might be great things to come if he will allow God to do it!

What to do with $.99 Pineapples?

Aldi currently has Pineapples for $.99 each. Zeke and I love to eat pineapple. I also use pineapple to make Sweet and Sour Meatballs. However, Tony LOVES LOVES LOVES dried pineapple. Unfortunately, our dehydrator is currently not working. I've sent it to my Papaw to see if he can get it going again. My friend, Kelly, to the Rescue: She has let me borrow her Super Duper dehydrator to dry the 6 pineapples I bought! After cutting them up and filling it up, I think I could have used 3 more pinapples in this thing! It can dry much more than our tiny little thing! I can't wait for it to be finished. I'll post a picture when it's done!

Trunk or Treat at our Church

Eli and Caroline

Zeke with his best friend, Madi.

Fall Festival with some friends

Some friends of ours invited us to a fall festival at their church!

Darts

Donut eating contest!

Our kids had so much fun! They had carnival type games that the kids loved.

We planted this tree in summer of 2001 when Noah was 1 year old. It was smaller than Tony at the time! 8 years later, it is huge and so pretty!

Great Pumpkin Hunt

Zeke had a Pumpkin Hunt at school. Here are a few pics. I had the 4k helper stay with my class so I could go and do the hunt with him.

50th Day of School!

1st Graders celebrate the 50th day of school with a 50's day. They dress up and do all kinds of centers from the 50's. It was lots of fun!

I made these "hamburgers" to go along with the root beer floats. It is a cupcake bun with a brownie burger and icing lettuce and ketchup. The french fries are sugar cookies. There were really yummy and most of the kids liked them!

The kids also played 50's games, like hula hoops, paddle balls, jacks and slinkies!

It was a really fun day!

Mummy Dogs!

This was our dinner Sunday night: Mummy dogs (with apples and pretzels)

And a cute Halloween treat for dessert!

Pumpkin Patch!

One of our traditions is to take the kids to the Pumpkin Patch. We have done it every year since Noah was old enough to go! The kids love it, it's great fun outdoors and just good fun, family memories! Of course, this was the first year we had to pay for ALL of us and it cost $50! But so much fun!

Pajama Day

Zeke said he didn't want to wear pajamas to school, b/c you should wear clothes to school. However, when we went to bed Tuesday night he said that he would wear pajamas. So he wore these! Here he is in chapel with his class....isn't he so cute?

Crazy 8 Day!

Eli wore a crazy shirt, put on 8 tatoos on his arms and wore a number bond for 8 on his face! Hope they had fun today!

Sweet Memories

Zeke loves to play with his big brothers, but so many of the things they like to do, he can't or doesn't understand. Today he was wanting to play with this ball and his brothers... with a little encouragement, they started playing all together. I know this wouldn't be Noah or Eli's top choice of what to play, but it made Zeke so happy and I think they had fun, too!

Sweet memories - I hope they will always find ways to have fun together!

Eli LOVES soccer!

I have a hard time getting pictures of Eli playing soccer now that he's on a bigger field, but these turned out pretty good!

Adventures of 3 boys!

These are pieces of a tent making kit that BeeBee bought for the kids a few years ago. We play it with it that way sometimes, but usually when we get it out they end up building other things and using their imaginations in other ways! Today it was spaceships. I love watching them play together!

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Zeke's first Klondike: