Oh Christmas Tree

Our Christmas trees are always a little scraggly and this year is no exception. The kids love to go into the woods to find the perfect tree. It's more about family-time than looks, which I love. We all crossed the road (which is a big deal for the kids) in front of our house and picked out this beauty:

Half Marathon

So tomorrow's the day for the half marathon! I have been training for 16 weeks for this run and I'm starting to get a little nervous. I got up at 5am this morning already thinking about it. I know I can run 13.1 miles so I'm not sure where this anxiety is coming from?!? And to think, I am only half-way to my goal of a full marathon. I will be a basket of nerves for that run!

There are a good size group of us running the race, so I am looking forward to all of us running together and encouraging each other. My college roomate is coming into town for the run (and the other 2 roomates are local) so we decided to do a little girl's night out tonight and have dinner before the big run. I am excited about visiting and catching up with them.

Today I need to totally clean my house (straighten, vacuum, mop, wash sheets and clean bathrooms!) and finish our schoolwork for 2010. We take off December to focus on Christmas, so the kids and I are really excited about some time off. Maybe I can employ Piper to help with the housework...

Turkey Day

We spent all afternoon yesterday with my family celebrating Thanksgiving at my Papa's house. As long as I can remember, I have spent Thanksgiving Day at my Papa's house so I love that my children are getting to experience that tradition. Hopefully we will continue to do so for many years to come! We had so much yummy food that I had to wait a few hours for dessert. The kids are not old enough to look forward to the yummy food like we adults do. I wish I could go back to that mindset and enjoy running in the front yard more than eating!

This is my mom and the boys right after we arrived, they still have their jackets on.
And my mom and Piper. I couldn't get them all to slow down at the same time for a picture all together!

Chad and Papa chilling in the living room.

My sister and baby Stephen.

My Aunt Lynn, Cousin Blake and Mom.

Abe and Chad sharing a snuggle.

Baby Stephen exercising his legs. At not quite 8 months he is already crawling and pulling up! Ashley is going to have her hands full keeping up with Stephen!

I went to grab something in the other room last night and came back to find Abe passed out on the couch with Daddy! I hold him on the couch every single night while he falls asleep (and I have done that since he was born), but last night he was too tired to wait on me!

Thanksgiving Prep

We have had a productive day today, starting at the YMCA with a nice run, the grocery store and then the farm & garden store for chicken feed. We picked up milk & eggs, visited friends for a few minutes, then home for lunch! We just finished cleaning out the chicken house which has been on the to-do list for a few weeks and I gave all the kids a bath. I need to work on cranberry salad for tomorrow's Thanksgiving festivities at my Papa's. Piper and I worked on pumpkin rolls all afternoon yesterday, so those are completed. I think the only thing left to make is succotash. I think I will put that off until tomorrow.

I am looking forward to all the Thanksgiving celebrations coming in the next two days!

More kid pics

New pictures of the kids

So I attempted the annual, impossible task of having the children's Christmas and Birthday photos made. It seems to get less impossible each year, praise God! I was so impressed with our photographer, who evidently had young children also, and he got some great pictures of all three.

This was the best group photo. I had them dressed in Christmas PJ's so it would look like Christmas morning photos.
And these are the cutest ones of the kids by themselves:

I ended up buying way more than I had planned, but they will make great Christmas presents for grandparents!

Camping Highlights