A NOT-SO-SUBTLE CLUE

If you haven't seen The Fox yet, please click on over and check it out.

This is our not-so-subtle hint as to what our family Halloween costumes will be this year:

And we're not the only ones who are slightly obsessed with this crazy song...

PUPPY LOVE

Forgive me if I've already mentioned this here, but James has now told us THREE times "I really wish God would make a puppy for me!" Therefore, we are in limbo about the dog adoption situation. On the one hand, we've always said that we'd get a dog once one (or both) of our kids started asking for one and they were old enough to help with feeding duty. On the other hand, dogs are a LOT more work than cats are, not to mention the fact that Cora is still terrified of most dogs. We've broken the waters by talking about it and taking a trip to the local humane society, and we've all sat together looking at different dog breeds online. Only time will tell, but we are certainly closer to getting a dog for James this Christmas (or his birthday) than we expected to be, so we shall see...

P.S. This is Molson and Barley. We got to take care of these sweet pups this weekend and James was more than happy to go along with me and make sure they ate their food and medicine and went potty and had fresh water. He particularly likes Molson. Probably because he's just a sweet old man. Decisions, decisions...

BIKER MORNING

Enjoying the gorgeous COOL weather before the rain starts!

BBQ WITH CHICKENS (not BBQ'd chickens)

We have a new coworker on our team, so Cari and Mike hosted a BBQ for our team members to get to know her. The kids were pretty pleased to get to spend the evening with their buddies Jacob and Bridger, and playing with their cats and chickens and jumping on their trampoline. They were completely EXHAUSTED by the time we headed home. And we were pretty pleased to have an evening of adult conversation while the big boys happily looked after the littles for us!

Too busy enjoying their ice cream sandwiches to smile for a group photo...

SERIOUSNESS AND SILLINESS

 This weekend's soccer games were a mix of seriousness and silliness.

First the seriousness.

Cora:

James:

 Then the silliness.

These guys are two of a kind sometimes...

This guy is our ringer. Can you guess why?

Instead of the umbrella and iPhone this weekend, we opted for the sun tent and water painting:

DUAL HAIRCUTS

THIS BOOT WAS MADE FOR WALKING

Jay's appointment went well yesterday. He had an x-ray, and all we know from it is that "everything looks fine and there is nothing to see". Okie dokie then. Also, when Jay demonstrated his ankle alphabet writing ability, the doc cringed and said "no, no, no!" Apparently he was only suppose to be doing up/down mobility exercises, not rotation exercises (his ankle is WEAK right now and he needs to strengthen it before rotating it). The nurse made a mistake with her instructions... Any-who, he is currently weaning himself from the scooter and boot (walking/standing for 5 minutes at a time, 6 times per day today, increasing in time and frequency over the next week and a half until he's walking around in the boot all day). In 9-12 days he will be off the scooter completely and out of the boot, and into an ankle brace. No more rotation exercises, just body weight exercises (at least for the next 4 weeks, which is when his next appointment is scheduled). Once he's out of the boot and into the brace, he can drive, so in less than 2 weeks we'll be a driving TEAM once again! Yesssss!!!

Jay's take on all this is also YAY!, but also "owie, owie, owie". His ankle has zero pain (NONE, for real), but his nerves are on edge and every step causes insane tingling in his feet (not the fun "oh that tickles" kind of tingling but the "my arm fell asleep and now that it's waking up it feels like my hand is covered in tiny biting bugs" kind of tingling). He's slow and off balance and a little nervous, so he's tense and experiencing some back pain during this transition. I'm anxious to see whether there is any swelling tonight (well, I know there will be some, so let's say I'm anxious to see how MUCH swelling there is). When not doing his prescribed walks, I'm encouraging him to keep up with sitting/resting and keeping his leg elevated. Fingers crossed this gets easier for him soon and he feels better and more stable once he has more mobility back.

K4 UPDATE

James' K4/K5 class is on a tight schedule:

8:00-8:10  Routines/Restroom

8:10-8:20  Skills Development

8:20-8:30  Reading Circles

8:30-9:00  Bible Study

9:00-9:45  Writing

(9:40-10:00 on Tuesdays they have a structured PE class)

9:45-10:00  Snack/Restroom (James brings his own snack each day, rather than group snacks)

10:00-10:20  Numbers

10:20-10:50  Activity Time (Science/Poetry/Art/Social Studies)

10:50-11:30  Recess/Restroom

(10:50-11:40 on Thursdays they have a music class)

11:30-12:00  Montessori Centers

12:00-12:30  Lunch

12:30-2:00  Nap (James only naps 2-3 days/week and reads books quietly on the days he doesn't)

2:00-2:30  Circle Time

James is now 6 weeks into this school year and we are seriously loving his new teachers (in addition to Ms. Tina, he has another teacher who is there for the morning hours to help, since his class has 14 children), his classroom (so much more organized than his last classroom...), and all the kids in his class. It's been great having the 4- and 5-year-olds combined (in my opinion) because the older kids are a little calmer and more focused, and they are generally setting a really good example for the younger kids. I don't know of any "problem" kids in his class (unlike Cora's class, but that's for another post...), and for the most part, he is still getting good reports (hooray smiley faces!) most of the week. He's had some bad days (what 4-year-old doesn't?) and we're working through some behavior issues at the moment (getting him to FOCUS and follow directions, which we're currently having trouble with at home too), but we're pleased with his progress over the past 6 weeks and the fact that he is just so very happy to go to school every day (some days he gets upset when we get there to pick him up because he wants to stay longer). 

His teacher has really been working hard on pre-reading skills for the past month (especially phonics and "blends"), so we've been upping our game at home as well, with extra stories at bedtime and mixing in books on phonics and sight words. Their class will begin reading in November and we want James to be ready! As long as we can get him to FOCUS, he will be, so we're working on ways to help him with that. Let me know if you have any suggestions for us! So far, we've started asking him to clasp his hands when he starts getting fidgety or isn't paying attention, which has the added benefit of getting his hands out of his mouth (why are so many Marchies doing that right now?! SO GROSS!) He is suppose to clasp his hands and put them in his lap, then direct his eyes to us (or his teacher). His teacher's biggest complaint at the moment (now that the thrill of the new mulch on the playground has passed and he is no longer getting in trouble for throwing it...) is that she will ask the class to begin their seat work by writing their names at the top of the page, and when she gets back around to check on James after 5-7 minutes, he still hasn't done it. Because he's busy talking to another student or goofing off. He's already been moved from the 4-year-old table to the 5-year-old table (which is smaller and populated by older, more focused girls and no boys to rough house with), so we're looking for other ways to get him to focus faster and get to work. (He also has a focus problem at lunch, preferring to play and talk rather than eat, and his teacher recently moved him to the green table to eat ALL BY HIMSELF so that he'll actually sit still and eat his food... This should bother him, but instead he tells us that he likes eating at the small table by himself. Whatever. As long as he eats?...) 

Anyway, that's basically where he's at right now: loving school and all aspects of his day there, getting along with his classmates, and working towards reading later this fall, but having some bad days here and there when he's not focusing and getting his work done. We know kids go through different phases though, so we're not worried. The bad days tend to be Mondays (which are hard on kids and adults alike) or days after a bad nights sleep (we need to cut out "scary movies" because he's has a few nightmares recently...), or even days where we know he's had a poor breakfast (not wanting to eat, or only eating something that isn't really an ideal choice as a breakfast food). We just want to help him in any way we can - to make sure he stays on schedule with the rest of his classmates and to assist his teacher with keeping him focused and productive!

Here are a few examples of some of his recent seat work to give you an idea of what he's doing lately:

He has a hard time with the letter S. It's ALWAYS extra long and loopy!

We love that his class is doing so many pages with puzzles, patterns, sequences, and listening exercises lately. He seems to be really good with them (he's always been good at making connections, we think) and he's always extra proud to show us these types of pages vs. the ones that are just tracing and writing letters.

14-MILER DONE!

 Alright. We got out there this morning and got that 14-miler DONE! And actually enjoyed ourselves. I'll admit that the last 2 miles were hard (sore joints, mostly, but also getting hungry), but it was a great run and I was really proud of us for holding a good pace the whole time (even with walk breaks to take our Gu's). We ran almost all the hills, even the big ones. They're getting easier every week. We actually finished these 14 miles faster than we ran our trail half last month, by about 5 minutes. Sweeeeet! And we look pretty awesome in our vests, eh? (I know, the picture is dark and hard to see. We started at 5:30am and took the photo about 6 miles into our run, so the sun wasn't fully up yet. It's fun running in the dark.)

We had excellent motivation to finish those miles too... Sophie Belgian Style Ale and homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with maple frosting. Both were absolutely delicious. They went well with our post-run stretch session in the shade. And did I mention the weather was perfect today? A big storm went through Friday night - Saturday afternoon, so we bumped our run to this morning and enjoyed temps in the low 60s the entire time. SO GLAD fall is arriving here on schedule!

Here's the cookie recipe for anyone who wants to make them this holiday season (I'd link the original place I saw this, but I can't remember where it was!)

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup Crisco

1 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

(I combined regular and mini chips, just for fun)

Blend the first 5 ingredients together, then add the remaining ingredients, except for the chocolate chips. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Frost cookies.

Frosting Ingredients:

3 TBSP butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 TBSP milk

powdered sugar to consistency

(I used somewhere between 1-2 cups. I think...)

Boil the first 3 ingredients for 2 minutes. (Careful not to burn the sugar! I did a low boil, not high.) Once everything is dissolved and bubbly, turn it down and start adding the sugar. I added it in 3 batches, and just kept dumping it in and stirring until the color and consistency resembled the maple frosting of donuts. To frost the cookies (once they're well cooled!), just hold them upside down and swirl the tops into the pan of frosting (use TONGS or your fingertips will melt off). Don't attempt to spread the frosting on with a knife... if the frosting cools at all, it won't stick to the cookies. I learned the hard way. Also, make sure the frosting is on LOW while you do all this because the sugar burns easily... really easily.

GGMAMA'S 98TH BIRTHDAY

LOVE this photo of GG and had to share it!

Wish we could have been there for her birthday this year. We can't wait to see her in November!

KEEP CALM AND SHOP ON

Next time I'll be smart and visit the book aisle FIRST, then finish my shopping while the kids are happily occupied and QUIET...

P.S. Fall/Halloween books are my FAVORITE! Seriously love everything about this time of year!

RAINED OUT

Since the kids' games got rained out today, here's a shot of Cora from practice yesterday.

She's all about the high kicks...

RAINY DAY

We thought we'd let the kids try something new since we had 12+ hours of rain last night/today. Video games. (Yes, James played them on our vacation this summer with his older cousin, but he's never played at home before.) We started with some old school Dance Dance Revolution, but the kids couldn't get the hang of it. Neither were they impressed with their mama's dance skills. Of which I have none. I can hit those dang arrows though. Most of the time. We moved on to Lego Batman and it was an instant hit, especially with James. Cora couldn't figure out the controller to save her life (or, Robin's Life, technically) so she decided to just yell at it... "Robin, go UP the stairs!" Not so effective...

UPCOMING 14-MILER AND RAISING THOSE MMR FUNDS!

I have 10 days left to raise my goal funds for the Million Mile Run, and I KNOW I can do it!

But I need your help please.

My current mileage for the month of September is 65! (I'm not sure why my tracked miles under Event Details says 67.35... they take them directly from my MapMyRun account, so something must be getting lost in translation.) Regardless, that leaves me with 35 miles to run in 10 days (and $145 to raise!), and since I have 42 miles on my schedule for those days, I know I'll make my goal even if I miss a run or cut one short (I've been dealing with some shin pain this week). I guarantee you that I WILL run 100 miles this month! In fact, I have my first run longer than half marathon distance planned for this weekend (a 14-miler that will cover all the main roads of the military park) and I'm not the least bit nervous about it. I'll be out there with my good buddies, the weather will be gorgeous (even if it rains while we're out there, at least it will be COOLER), and we all have new badass hydration vests (thanks to The Clymb for their awesome sale) to keep us well hydrated and store enough snacks for a small army. My goal is to take at least one photo of us out there looking so awesome. (That is sarcasm, obviously. I, at least, will be a tired sweaty mess, likely wearing the giant compression socks and a goofy hat on top of the fancy vest. Though we ARE kinda badass these days. And really, the vests ARE cool, in a "highly functional" context...) Anyway, I'll check in later this weekend and let you know how it went. In the meantime, please send me your good running vibes!

GETTING IT DONE

 Jay goes to the doc again next week and we're all very anxious to hear what she has to say about his healing progress. He's following her directions for self-rehab to a tee (taking off the boot and stretching/drawing the letters of the alphabet with his foot in the air a few times per day), and while he doesn't have a lot of forward/backward motion yet (and can't curl his toes yet), the side-to-side/diagonal motions are looking good and strong. He's SO OVER having to ride around on the scooter and is really hoping she lets him off the hook a week early (or, at least, doesn't ask him to stay on it longer than another week after his appointment). He's ready to get his mobility back! I know this because 1) he yells at that scooter and occasionally smashes the wheels against the floor when it doesn't cooperate, 2) he no longer holds it carefully after climbing into the car until I come around to retrieve it - instead he lets it roll downhill to the trunk and has a good chuckle about my having to chase it down before it makes it into the parking lot, and 3) he's getting so fast wheeling around on it down the hallways at the office that coworkers are threatening to post speed limit signs. It's true.

I have to say though, that while we were so worried ahead of the surgery that things were going to be complete chaos at our house for 12 weeks, we're actually all doing just fine. Yes, the sole-driver role is as difficult as we expected it to be (logistically speaking, but I admit I am highly enjoying the extra time we are getting as a family - we have a lot of good talks in the car, and a lot of fun dance parties...), but luckily Jay has been able to contribute more at home than we expected (though perhaps he's doing more than he SHOULD be doing...) and the kids have been really good about helping out more to make things easier on us. It's true that I'm up a little later at night and earlier in the morning (no hitting snooze!) to make sure the daily chores are accomplished and we can get to work/school on time, but the essentials ARE getting done, and the rest of it can just wait.

Daddy helps Cora get ready for soccer practice in the front seat. Improvising, he does it well.

ERDC OKTOBERFEST

The ERDC Castle Club hosted their annual Oktoberfest event this afternoon (quite a bit earlier this year), so Jay and I stopped by for a free beer and pretzels before picking up the kids (they stayed for aftercare today - we've been doing Tuesdays/Thursdays since soccer started because it makes more sense to just go to practice straight from school rather than go home in the meantime and have to make extra trips around town). If the Brats had been ready when we got there, that would have been Jay's dinner. And if we'd had more time, we'd have enjoyed our allotted 2 free beers (but that would have been a bad idea for me, as driver). The pretzels were delicious though, and we enjoyed a quick 30 minutes of adult socializing before heading to the school. The kids were quite pleased that we brought them their very own pretzels.

BARLEY'S ANGELS GOES TO BELGIUM

While I don't often blog about it (because I usually forget to take pictures, unless I'm texting bottle photos to Jay to see if I'm trying something that would be new to him, and because I take enough photos of the kids that it's kinda nice to not have the camera attached to my eyeball when I'm on a mamas/ladies night out), I've been regularly attending the MS Sippies Barley's Angels meetings since they started back in February (they occur once/month), and they recently decided to do a worldwide tasting tour in combination with our usual goal of testing food/beer pairings. Last month we went to Mexico, helping Lisa choose a new brew to replace Corona as the mainstay on her menu (I believe we picked Pacifico, if I recall correctly - I tend to always order off tap at Martin's, so I have no idea what their bottle selection currently looks like). Anyway, we tried 4 or 5 different Mexican beers and paired them with chips and salsa, and chipotle chicken. It was pretty delicious, and a bonus that we all drank for free because we were "helping" Lisa pick the new beer. Doesn't it feel good to help a friend?!

 

Continuing with the goal of traveling abroad, last night we visited Belgium. We sampled Hoegaarden White, Yazoo Rye Saison, New Belgium's Fat Tire, Westmalle Dubbel (Trappist), and North Coast's Brother Thelonious (thanks for the recap Sandy, I never would have remembered them all!) We paired them with chocolate (yum!), sharp cheddar and smoked gruyere, red pepper jelly with goat cheese, and panna cotta with raspberry puree and peaches (pictured below, and it was AMAZING).

 It was our biggest turnout yet (I think there were a dozen of us there!)

"STONEHEAD" JAMES

This boy is as excited about Halloween as his parents are. And we are proud.

He's been begging to wear his other "stonehead" jammies already too, but we're trying to hold out on the long-sleeved skeleton until aOctober is officially here. We're still using the AC in our house around the clock, and the boy sweats like crazy in his sleep as it is. He's also been asking for a "stonehead" Halloween costume (which could be a skeleton, zombie, or pirate, depending on what he finds at the store, since his label of "stonehead" applies to all 3 categories). And the skeleton sweatshirt I got him is already hanging on his jacket hook by the front door, just waiting for a cool breezy day...