Joy!

Getting a head start on my holiday decorating. Hopefully I'll finish before December 1st, so I can enjoy it the entire month (then rip it all down as soon as Christmas is over). I saw this cute craft in Parents magazine and made it while I was sitting in the car waiting for the boys to get out of school yesterday. It looks very festive in my dining room :)

Diorama Drama

3rd grade may kill me.

This months book report project was to create a diorama. Bennett had to read a 100+ page book, write a book report, and then recreate a scene in the story using a shoe box and other misc. items. Ben chose a Phineas and Ferb book to read. Once he was finished, I read it to get an idea of what items he needed for the box. This may surprise you, but turns out, Phineas and Ferb books are stupid. And this book had two different stories in it....two different very stupid stories. Not book report material and definitely not diorama material. So I told him I would find a different book and we would read it together. I decided to look for a Christmas book because it would be easy to find items to use. Cate and I took our weekly trip to Borders and I found what I thought to be the perfect book. Only 108 pages (!) and the title was The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Sounds great, right? Right. Except that it was written in the 1970's and things were written alittle differently then ;) This story is about an ill-behaved group of brothers and sisters who take over a church Christmas play. It's actually a really great story about the true meaning of Christmas....it's just a little colorful, that's all!

As Ben was reading the book aloud to me, I couldn't help but wince at some of the scenes..."you mean they tied him {Jesus} up in swaddled clothes and put him in a feedbox? Where was Child Welfare?"......"behold there came the Wise Men from the East"..."well, it's about time. Maybe they'll tell the innkeeper where to get off, and get the baby out of the barn"...."Oil! What kind of a cheap king hands out oil for a present?"

After Ben was finished, I asked him which scene he thought we should choose. His choices:

1-when the Herdmann kids burned down a toolhouse while trying to make bombs

2-when Imogene Herdmann was caught smoking cigars in the church bathroom

3-the church Christmas pageant

Um, let's go with #3.

So there ya have it...Bennett's diorama book report. So glad it's done and the next one isn't due until January!

Run Like A Girl

Well, for me, it's more 'run like a dying woman'....cause that's mostly how I feel when I run. Today, I ran my second Girl.s on the Run 5k. My first, this past May, was the first "race" I've ever participated in. I started running in March basically to get the hell out of the house at night. Homework and bath time is often ridiculous around here....seriously, if I choose to run rather than help with homework, you know it has to be bad. Anyhoo, one of the soccer moms on Carter's team had started running races and I asked her how she got started...she recommended the Cou.ch to 5k program and I decided to give it a shot. I mentioned it to Brady's preschool teacher(an avid runner) and she peer-pressured me into signing up for the GOTR race. I then peer pressured a few other ladies into it and there was no turning back :) A handful of 5k's and one 10k later (where, btw, Candi and I kicked butt), and I think I'm on the verge of becoming a "real" runner. I average 20 miles a week and am hoping to run a half marathon next year (which, once again, I'm peer pressuring Candi into doing with me).

"are my kids still chasing me?"....true motivation :) Brady finds this shirt hilarious!

This fall, I was the asst. coach for Worthen schools Gi.rls on the Run. It's a program for third to fifth grade girls that helps promote healthy habits, self-esteem, and positive behavior. This is a picture from todays race at Forest Park. It was brutally cold and windy but the girls did fantastic!!!

I keep all of my race bibs on the door of my desk. I write my official time on the back so I can see progress being made :) I'm down eight minutes from my first race!

Can't wait for Catie Bug to start running with me. The race bibs will look so cute pinned onto her Minnie Mouse jammies!!

Student Of The Week

Two weeks ago, Bennett was chosen for "Student of the Week". He got to decorate a bulletin board with pictures and his favorite things. Each day, he chose two different things to take to school to "show off". At the end of the week, his teacher asked each student to write down something about Bennett that makes him a "star". 3rd graders are very funny. Here are some of the responses....

They all start with "I think you are a STAR because....."
-you have nice shoes
-you are awesome and you are the best baseball player ever
-you let me be third place to kick in kickball
-you're very smart
-I think you're cool because you play with me
-you're nice, fun to play with , and you're very attractive (this one cracks me up!)
-you brought in cool stuff
-you are really good at kickball.

He told me that when they were getting ready to announce who the SOTW was, he "crossed everything...my fingers, legs, arms, and even my eyes" in hopes that he would be chosen! Good job Bennett...we think you're pretty cool too :)

Pictures...

Took these yahoos to get their pictures taken today. We haven't had them done since Brady was about nine months old! Can't wait to see how they turned out

Enjoying The Weather

It's been so warm lately. I don't know if I love it or hate it. On one hand, we're still able to play outside every day and my nightly runs are almost enjoyable (almost), but the downside is that I can't seem to get in the holiday mood. I mean, there are only 14 days til Thanksgiving and I haven't even started thinking about Christmas lists.! Oh well, I'm trying to enjoy the weather while it's here...soon I'll be complaining about the cold..eh. Gabby and Grace were over today and we definitely took advantage of the warmth...we played outside for almost four hours :)

Swim Party

Tonight we celebrated Harrison's 3rd birthday with a splash! The kids were so excited to finally get to go swimming again...especially since it was 40 degrees outside!

Boo hiss. Maybe next year

Cate was really breakin' out her dance moves tonight!

The boys love swimming in the vortex, but the current is too strong for Brady to get out of, so when he's ready, Scott has to stand at the entrance and hold out his arm for Brady to grab ahold of when he spins by!

How many days til Paddler's opens?!

To Us!!

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. Please don't look at our children and do the math. Yes, 50% of our kids were in attendance at the wedding It is what it is :)

I found the perfect card to give Scott...and because I'm currently in an Ambien state of mind, I'll share it with you....however, I won't remember any of this in the morning.

A happy marriage is what happens while two good people are busy trying to make it through another year of paying their bills, running their errands, doing their chores, keeping sight of their dreams and, somehow, always finding the time to show how much they care.

Our life is pretty busy, and I may not always say everything that comes into my mind and heart each day, but what really matters in my world is that we are together, and however busy life may get, I don't forget that...ever.

We are crazy busy every. single. day. It's not easy high-fiving each other as he takes two kids in one direction, and me and the other two are headed the opposite way. It stinks to have so many "real" conversations through our cell phones because we are rarely face to face with enough time to talk without interruption. But, for now, this is how we roll. Kids, sports, school, coaching, sports, kids, kids, kids....and we made a very conscious decision years ago that we were going to put everything we had into the kids...even if it means very little time for us. We both agree that the more time we spend with our kids...doing things with our kids, the better off we'll all be. I think we would both agree that no matter how tired and run down we are, we wouldn't give this part of our lives up for anything. BUT....one day.... in the not so near future, the days will be ours.

When we steal time away to actually talk, our conversations always lead to "after kids". Our neighbor is selling his two seater BMW convertible and he sarcastically yelled over to Scott that it would make a great family car. Scott shot back, very seriously, "One day this driveway will only have cars with no more than two seats". Amen Scott Smallie. And I'm going to get a white couch. To me, a white couch=I've survived my kids. And that sounds heavenly!

Happy Anniversary to the best husband in the whole world (even though you wore red on red on red to our date night dinner). Here's to many many many more :)

Halloween 2010

Halloween was a huge success this year. It was a little iffy in the beginning, with Cate having no desire to put her costume on. Even as Brady was dressed as "Darv Vador", she still wanted nothing to do with it. And we bribed, promised, begged...finally the first trick-or-treater showed up for candy and she wanted to go out so bad, but I told her she had to have that costume on first. So, the costume made it on but with the ugly orange shirt underneath. That was not going to work for me. I had to make more promises and finally got her to put the black shirt on, then the dress back on, and then we were done! She looked so cute!!!

This picture cracks me up...Brady is leaning over but you can't see his knees or hands because of his bucket so he ended up looking not much taller than Cate!

At some point, this group of rowdy boys came by to kidnap Carter. Off they went into the darkness doing things I would rather not know about. Actually we had several reports from neighbors that the boys behavior was perfect and they all made it home in one piece.

Bennett is way over Halloween, so we were in charge of handing out candy.

We were a bit bored the first 20 minutes, so he took lots of pictures of random things.

This is his surprised face

******We had over 150 kids parade to our doorstep for candy..it was a wild night******

******Cate walked the entire block with her Minnie Mouse shoes on and now has six blisters on her feet...the price you pay for beauty******

******We made it to my parents house and even trick-or-treated around their hood and then headed to MeMe and Joe's house*******

That's where we realized the kids had not eaten anything since lunch. So, we decided to run through McD's and grab some chicken for a late night snack.

This is how Scott feels about long lines at McDonaldsHow can he be the most patient man when coaching fifteen 7/8 year olds on the baseball field, but got so crazy in McD's line that I thought his head was going to pop off???

Halloween Eve

Twas' the night before Halloween and we finally got around to carving a few of our eleven pumpkins. For the second year in a row, we saved the pumpkin seeds to roast...only to throw them away the next day. Next year we'll get it right....

One day Cate is going to be looking through her baby albums and realize that she has the Minnie Mouse jammies on in every picture for over 3 months.

Bennett is left handed but carved his pumpkin with his right hand. I find that strange.

Brady chose a white pumpkin this year. He was so proud of himself because it smelled like melon :) Scott is clearly giving me a fake smile.

Carter did not want to participate :(

Obviously these two do not have the most responsible parents

Not shocking that Bennett made a "mean pumpkin"

Cate giving Bennett her mean face (also not shocking)

Happy Halloween!!