Pumpkin Fun

Schools are closed today because of the hurricane/nor'easter/blizzard or whatever Sandy is.  We had a chill morning and then it was time to carve pumpkins!

 

 After the top was off Makayla dove right in.

 Conner wanted nothing to do with this...  He never even touched the guts! 

 Makayla did awesome - she got almost every seed out all by herself!

 Conner was so proud of all his hard work (meaning he played while I did it all then came back for the picture)

 Makayla helped come up with this design.

 Silly pumpkins!

 After the carving mess was mostly cleaned up, we decided the keep the mess going and repaint the ones that got washed off in the rain last week.

 Hard at work.

I have lots more indoor activities we can do and from looking at the weather, we are going to have plenty of time to do them all!

Ouchie bonk

An unfortunate meeting of Kona and Conner on the concrete steps resulted in a little bump on Conner's head. Even with an ice pack and a bandage he still looks cute!

Chillin on a Saturday morning

Catching up

We've been staying pretty busy around here! Thankfully I remembered to take a few pictures during all the fun!

Last week we painted pumpkins. And Conner got to join the fun!  He was pretty excited!

 

 Ready to start (or eat?)

 

 At one point Conner said "I working hard!"

 Makayla's masterpiece

 And Conner's

 The finished products!  (I put them outside by the front door and sadly a heavy rain washed most of the paint away :(  Guess we'll have to paint again!)

 Saturday we celebrated Jason's birthday.  There's a lot of candles on that cake!

 On Sunday Jason worked on reinforcing the playset

 While he worked hard outside, we decorated Halloween cookies

 We took a peek outside, then stayed inside...

 Makayla was very patient while Conner had his turn, but I think she was happy to have the kitchen back to herself :)

 The finished swingset!  SO much better!

 Then last night we decorated a Haunted Gingerbread House. 

 They worked so nicely together!

 Makayla's side!

 Conner's side!

Out for a little ride

Fun in New York

We loaded up the car and headed to New York Thursday right after school.  Jason had some work meetings on Friday so the kids and I had a chill day.  The weather was beautiful in the afternoon and perfect for playing outside.

 

 Since we don't have a whole lot of leaves in our yard, Mary raked up a big pile and Makayla had a great time playing in them.

 Makayla and Warren had so much fun playing together

 Grace loved the leaves too!

 The three of them had so much fun!

 And then there's this guy...  He didn't want anything to do with the leaf pile!

 One of these days Conner will join the fun!

 After leaf playing, Makayla did a little swinging.  This swing can go "high, high" which she loves.

 Playing nicely together :)

 Saturday Jason and I were able to do a little shopping and enjoy a kid-free lunch.  It was great to spend a little time together - and not be doing a race!  We got back in time to see Makayla zipping around on the 4 wheeler with Uncle Matt.  Conner was curious but didn't get on until Jason was driving. 

 They loved playing on Warren and Grace's playset.

 Such a ham (when he wants to be :)

 More 4 wheeler fun

 Before dinner we tried to get a good picture of the 4 grandkids - success!

 Makayla and Conner certainly have their moments where they are fighting and driving each other crazy, but then there are moments like these...

 Love these kids!

So silly

The Chicago Marathon

Last Friday night Jason and I headed north for the Chicago Marathon.  We arrived at my Aunt Fran and Uncle Drew's house late that night and enjoyed catching up with them over chips and a beer.  We got to sleep in the next morning (so nice!) before going out to eat a HUGE breakfast.  We checked out the expo that afternoon, then back to their house to rest up before race day. 

Sunday started early as we headed into the big city with 45,000 other racers.  Check out our training blogs for the rest of the race details.

Before the start.

 

And after the race!  

 

 

The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing on the couch watching football and getting ready to enjoy some real Chicago Deep Dish Pizza.  I'm pretty sure I ate all the calories I burned while running...

Monday morning we slept in again (love it!) said good bye to Fran and Drew, and Jason and I headed into the city to do a little sight seeing.  We decided to do a double decker bus tour since walking was pretty painful and slow!  The sky was clear, the weather was perfect, and this was a great way to see a lot of the city without having to leave our seat!

 

 Lake Michigan, it looked more like the Caribbean!

 It may look like we are smiling, but its really more of a grimace of pain as we stood up...

 Such a beautiful day!

We got home late Monday night and were excited to see the kids when they woke up on Tuesday.  A HUGE thank you to my mom for staying with them so we could go race!