Halloween 2010

The princess ballerina and the astronaut

Future baseball star

Pinata fun

Bounce house

Every year our neighborhood has a block party/chili cook-off for Halloween, everyone pitches in and we get a bounce house for the kids. It's tons of fun and has been going on for several years. This year there were three generations from one family there and they all had attended at some point. There was also a couple that came in from Oklahoma just for the party. It's great to see such love for a neighborhood. We are truly blessed!

Camping 2010

Dad and his two favorite kids

4 month old Sampson, he can't do that now

Playing on the "rocket ship"

Already mesmerized by fire

Love the woolly caterpillar

We made our annual October camping trip again this year and again had so much fun. It keeps getting better as the kids get older. They love being outside and Jason and I get so much refreshment from being with Grammy and Papa.

My First Half-Marathon

Finishing in 2 hours 5 minutes and 12 seconds

Smiling and a little sweaty

Dad and Isaac (Kadyn was there too, but didn't get any pics)

Our friends Jon and Linsie and Baby Chiles (who should be here any day!!!) supporting me at the race.

As some of you remember I started training for a half-marathon and changing my eating habits several months ago when I reached my max weight ever (except when pregnant, but still only 13 lbs lighter than my delivery weight with both kids!). My plan was a little derailed in May when I had my LEEP procedure and couldn't run or workout for ONE MONTH!!! I tried to eat healthy, but found that when I wasn't working out I wasn't caring as much about what I put into my body...but through it all I have lost a total of 12 pounds and feel great, not to mention I finished my first ever half-marathon on October 3rd and did it 5 minutes faster than my goal time. I felt great the entire race and only felt a little fatigued after sprinting the last mile! I do kinda regret not pushing myself the entire race, but the two weeks prior I had been fighting a cold and hadn't finished training like I would have hoped for so was a little concerned about injury and pooping out in the end if I pushed myself early. It really was so much fun and I can't wait to do my next one! It's been a week and my legs are itching to run again. I didn't do any weight training during my run training so I have returned to the gym and will be alternating weights and runs, but I am not planning on doing anymore crazy long runs until I start training again. I do have to say thanks to my amazing husband and kids, they worked around my run schedule and every week when I would reach a new distance milestone they would be waiting for me at the house and would start cheering when they saw me: it was a huge motivator to finish strong and I couldn't have done it without them! Now if Jason would stop suggesting ice cream at 9p.m., he knows that's my weakness!!!!

In The Wake of Sampson...

The sweet, innocent, playful Sampson

The accidental bite from the above said dog...doesn't he look like a Precious Moments?

The bored kids waiting in the ER to see if we needed stitches

Dr. Pingle cleaning out the bite

NO Stitches!!!

Yes, yes, yes, I know what everyone is thinking...dog bites kid, dog goes away, which is what I completely agree with, EXCEPT when the dog is just jumping around and teeth and face accidentally meet, which is what happened in this instance. Anyway, Sunday morning (when I was getting to experience the rare joy of sleeping in since Jason was off and we were headed to the second service at 11) I woke to crying and I am not going to lie, I ignored it and tried to go back to sleep, but it got louder and I realized it's right next to me...so grumpily I rolled over to a sobbing boy and an apologetic dad. We took a look and consulted our favorite pediatrician Jon, who happens to be one of our closest friends, because apparently I can handle flying in a helicopter with a critically ill kid and be confident in my skills to keep them alive, but become retarded when it comes to my own children (thanks for pointing that out Jon!)...and after deciding that we didn't want to mess with such a good looking face, we headed to the ER. Luckily, after some numbing cream and a good wash out it was decided that no stitches were needed and it already looks much better! Ironically enough, that afternoon Kadyn whacked her head on a piece of trim we had on saw horses to paint and cut her face too, which of course was met with, "I need to go to your hospital too mamma." She's such drama!

Isaac's New Walls

This house renovation has been a slow and tedious process. I picked out this color when we started last Oct (isn't that insane it's been almost a year!!!) and so when the kids were going to be gone over the holiday weekend I thought I would take advantage and get Isaac's room repainted! The only dilemma is that he really, I mean really, wanted his room to be painted green...but that just wasn't my vision! So, Jason and I worked hard and go his room painted, the baseboards almost finished (we are making them all the same throughout the house) and the doors switched out (again, so they're all the same). I have bedding picked out for when we find a full/queen bed we like, but since the only thing I can find that I love is at Pottery Barn Kids it's going to be another long process! The color for sure continues with our theme of dark colors, but I personally think it's amazing with the white trim, I am very happy with it! As for the fate of the green (Isaac was happy with his blue too) we are going to paint the inside of the closet green if he still wants something green.

First Day of School

This is Isaac's second year at CCLS and with Mrs. Berner.

He loves going to school and has made lots of great friends.

We are still slightly undecided about what we are going to do

next year, but probably a third year of preschool only because

he would turn 5 in July and then start Kindergarten in August,

it just seems really young to me, but we're still talking so any

suggestions would be appreciated!

Sampson

8 weeks

9 weeks

11 1/2 weeks

This is the general attitude of Annie ("Why does he keep sniffing me?")

There is a new boy at our house, his name is Sampson and he is going to be BIG! He is a Great Dane, Jason has wanted one for a long time and I finally conceded. I got the best end of this deal: I don't get up with him at night or in the morning when he wants to wrestle at 6am. He is a really sweet dog and learns very quickly and within two weeks was sitting by the door when he needed to go outside. The kids love playing with him and he is learning to keep his baby teeth to himself!