Aunt Kathi

My Mom's sister, Kathi, was in town from Florida for a couple of days after Thanksgiving. A couple of my uncles, my brothers family, and my family got together at my Mom and Ed's for a nice little party. We all had a good time catching up.

My Mom and Kathi -don't they look alike?

Kathi, Eileen, and Terry

Notice a Pattern?

I downloaded 4 days worth of pictures to the computer today and was amazed at how many pictures I have of Harper eating! She is just so cute and messy that I can't resist capturing it!

Hint! Hint!

Harper must be offended by Delaney's breath because several times over the past few days she has gone up to Delaney's bathroom to get her toothbrush and toothpaste which she has then brought down to Delaney and said, "teeth" as in, "Please brush them!"

Thanksgiving at Boo's

We spent the day out at Dad and Barb's to celebrate Thanksgiving. It has been a loooong time since we've been there! The weather was perfect and the food was delicious! We all enjoyed riding the horses and the 4 -wheeler.

Neither Harper nor I were too thrilled to be on the horse.

Jon and Boo give Delaney some riding tips. Buck was a very patient horse.

She loved wearing the helmet :)

Listening intently to Uncle Kenny's instructions.

Walker - the biggest horse they have

We took our old pumpkins out to give the horses a treat. Little did we know that they had never seen a pumpkin before and weren't too sure about eating one.

Uncle Kenny helping Harper pat the horse. She was a little nervous being around the big animals.

Ken took Delaney on a ride around the property.

My sweet girls

Mommy and Harper

Isn't this a great picture of Ann and Cody?!?

Jon and his girlfriend Alina along with Walker

Playing in the leaves

Feeling much braver

The horses love their carrot treats!

Allan went out on the 4-wheeler for a while.

Boo and Harper

Hoarders?

Claire came over today for a couple of hours. It's been since summer since she's been over to play! It took less than 10 minutes for Delaney and Claire to change into dress-up clothes and have every single toy dumped into the tent because a monster was outside! These pictures look like they are destined for the show "Hoarders".

A cute picture of Claire reading to her baby.

GCSD95K

Today we did our second Family 5K, a fundraiser for the Granite City school district. It was only $10 per person! The weather was foggy and chilly, but we still had a good time. I always like to go to Granite and see old friends. The route was two times around Wilson Park plus some more on the highschool campus. Harper was having a hard time because we kept passing playground equipment and she didn't understand why she couldn't get out and play. I was too out of breath to talk to her and console her! We walked some (why do I keep signing up for 5Ks and not training for them?) and finished in under 35 minutes.

Afterwards they had a 1 Mile Fun Run which Delaney did. It was her first running race! Allan and she "ran" it in about 12 minutes. She wasn't actually interested in running because she wash so busy people-watching. She insisted on getting a drink at the water station and wanted to throw the cup down like all the other runners. She got a medal for finishing and she was oh so proud!

After the 5K but before the Fun Run

And they're off! Delaney kept her hands in her pockets most of the time.

Harper ran her own race while we were waiting.

Allan told her that she had to run when she turned the corner towards the finish line.

I absolutely love how she crossed the finish line with her arms out to her side like she was flying!

Proudly displaying her medal.

Kansas City

I had two days off of school this week, so we decided to go to Kansas City for a long weekend with the Buschs and Rudds. It was our first trip away without the girls! We had so much fun shopping, eating, taking the Harley Davidson factory tour, shopping, eating, sleeping in, shopping, eating, going to a comedy club and being silly! Allan and Brian actually squeezed in a half marathon! It was great to get away, but I sure was ready to get home to see my girls!

A big thanks to my Mom, Liz, and Danielle for watching the girls for us! When we got home, Delaney said, "Mom, you guys can go on a longer trip so I can stay more nights at Honey's house!" I think that can be arranged :)

We ate at a fun Italian place called Buca de Pepo, that was a fun, family style restaurant. This meal was at about 10:30 the night before Allan and Brian had to get up to run 13 miles! At least it was a carb-laden meal...

Allan finished in about 1 hr 51 min. He said it was a hard race and that he almost quit in the middle of it. His knee was bothering him and he had a terrible head cold. I'm proud of him for sticking it out!

Brian was close behind at 1 hr 58 min - excellent time for his first race! He finished in the top third of all males in the half-marathon!

We ate lunch at a place called Blanc Burgers that had delicious milk from a local dairy.

And ate dinner in the Power and Light District at a brewery (don't remember the exact name). It was SO good!

75 Degrees?

Harper was looking at book that had a picture of gloves in it and wouldn't be satisfied until she had her own mittens and hat on. It didn't seem to bother her that we're supposed to have a high of 75 today.

Kids First Fall Festival

The girls had their class Fall Parties today. I took the day off work and was lucky that Delaney's class even got to be on stage. Allan went in to work an hour late to see and my Mom stopped by on her way to the gym. Unfortunately, the sound system wasn't working well, but we got to see Delaney and Harper both sing and dance. Even worse, I was having camera issues and wasn't able to get any pics or video! So sad about that.

Right after worship, Harper's class went on the wagon ride. I was able to go with her. It was nice to be able to see her friends and hang out with my friend Shannon. It was also great to get to talk to Harper's teachers. Guess what?!? They don't give Harper a paci at school and didn't even know she took one! Her secret is out! That totally makes me see that I am a sucker and am letting her have it way too often!

I went home for about an hour (during which I figured out my camera problem), then went back to Delaney's class party that started at noon. They had a good time making two crafts, playing two games, and eating a special snack. You could tell that all of the kids were affected by the time change. Delaney was almost falling asleep in her chair!

She painted and pine cone with peanut butter, then dipped it in bird seed to hang in the tree. They also made a picture frame.

One of the games was Pin the Leaf on the Tree and the other was a corn toss game.

Shannon helps Parker with his frame.

Me and my big girl

Delaney and Mrs. Marguilla

Delaney's whole class along with some parents.