western themed lunch

Sometimes I have to pack different things for different kids for their lunches.  (Caden and Isabelle can't stomach a banana, for instance, but Kami and Madeline love them.  Right now Caden is only eating sugar once a week for a scout merit badge that he's doing.)

When the lunches are different, I have to label the bags.  Isabelle helped out this morning with a big star on her bag, a huge heart on Madeline's and nothing much extra on Kami's (except for her middle name).  For some reason Caden got the fanciest bag with a hat, boot and horse. I'm sure he will be so proud to sport this lunch bag at lunch time! Heehee

living in a snow globe

Thursday morning we woke up to 11 inches of snow! Although it was awfully early, it was very beautiful and we couldn't help getting excited about it.

Caden shoveling a path to the bus -a picture i took on my phone to show Shawn, who was gone, what our snowfall looked like! (yes, it's still working on getting light outside when the older kids get on the bus after 8:00!)

Abram was rearing to go outside and play in it, and since he had no siblings that he could tag along with, I got to go play in the snow for a couple of hours.  Before we went out I got him all excited about building a snowman, so when we got out and discovered that it wasn't good packing snow there was no turning back.  We had to build a snowman with a spray bottle in hand!

Abe didn't like riding- here he is pulling me in the sled-good arm work-out for me:)

Suddenly fall decor didn't look like it fit anymore

After the snow melted quite a bit it became great packing snow, and the kids spent a couple of nights working until after dark building a snow fort.

This fort got up over Caden's head and looked like a castle with turrets by the time they were done

They day after they completed it, everything warmed up and the snow melted. I think we are back to fall just in time for Halloween.

Re-cap of cross-country

When cross country started this year, Caden surprised us by saying that he wanted to go out for it, too! So he and Kami have BOTH been running their legs off for the last couple of months.  It's been fun to watch!

homecoming, so he had red face and hair!

Cross country isn't something that Caden loved, by any means...in fact, after most meets he was usually down right grouchy!...Even though he was a front of the middle of the pack runner, if you know what I mean, and that didn't seem like anything to be ashamed of, he would be unhappy with the race.  I therefore wondered what had made him decide to run, and he said he was tired of people asking him what sports he played and having to tell them that he didn't play any! Plus he said that he liked to be in shape.  Sports really aren't something that he cares about, and he excels so much in everything else that he does that I think it offended his perfectionist spirit that he didn't also do a perfect job in this. I like him and think he is a neat kid without sports, but I was very proud of him for trying something new, and I think the whole experience was good for him.

What a handsome kid!

Kami runs because she loves it, and she had a great season that ended in a very frustrating way:(    Her fastest 5K time was 21:08 and we can see that she still has potential to get even faster because she was improving by at least fifteen seconds every race.

awards ceremony at one of the meets she placed in- I believe she got 6th place in this one. (The first ten runners that come in place, and if the meet is REALLY huge, it's the first twenty runners)

during a race - she passed this girl!

serious runners have seriously gross feet!

The frustration came for her because her goal for the whole season was to run the race in 21:00, and she was so close to it and we felt like she could even exceed it, but then one week before districts Shawn took her to run hill intervals on Monday because the coach was planning to do some track intervals on Wednesday. The coach changed his mind and ended up doing the intervals on Tuesday.  Kami did those two hard workouts back- to- back, over- trained, and her legs got heavy feeling and wouldn't do anything.  She didn't have enough recovery before the last race and ended up getting one of her worst times ever. She was SO disappointed that she couldn't do her best and didn't reach her goal. She was over it by the next morning, and is making plans for next year, but it is disappointing.  She IS, however, glad to be able to call more of her time her own! 

fall

One of our favorite fall activities is picking apples.  There is just something about an orchard, in the fall, with the crisp autumnal air, and apples so delicious- so much better flavored than anything you'd find in a store- that you can't stop eating them!  Now I just need to get busy with making apple sauce before they're all devoured...

gaps

Isabelle came up with a new way to lose teeth this summer. While trying to get onto a hammock at my parent's house, she was flipped over and she fell off flat on her face and loosened her two front teeth.  That night, she had a sleepover with her cousin, Anne, and one of Anne's little brothers bumped one of the loose teeth from her mouth. (Luckily, she was at my sister, Heidi's house, because a much more attentive and wonderful and generous tooth fairy found where she was that night:) A day or so after allowing the other tooth to dangle grotesquely, she finally asked Shawn to pull the other one out.

What darling results, I must say!!