5K FRIDAYS!

Since our virtual 5K race went over so well back in early August, we had a request to continue the trend. There actually aren't that many virtual races out there, and that's OK, since we didn't really RACE anyway. More like we completed a good workout with a large group of friends. So we figured Halloween was a great excuse to plan another one, and decided to keep it on a Friday after work, as that worked really well last time. Hence the creation of "5K Fridays", which we hope to do once every couple of months. Today's run followed the same 5K loop at the military park as last time, was run immediately after work, included some new faces, and ended with a boisterous dinner at our favorite restaurant instead of a park playdate (because it was COLD, and the sun is setting so much earlier these days). In fact, it was so unexpectedly cold that most of the kids stayed home and our planned group of attendees was short by 4 adults. Those of us who braved the chill had a good workout and the evening events were a great way to kick off the weekend! Thanks for coming out guys!

Not pictured: myself (photographer) and Al (who arrived late, yet was still able to catch us before we got to the end!)

HARVEST FEST 2012

Today was the kids' Harvest Fest celebration at school, which includes treats and cakes and sugary drinks and a bouncy house and crafts and game stations. When I arrived at 11am, hoping to snag some cute pictures (and pizza), the little ones were already being herded inside for lunch and naptime. Glad I took a few photos this morning!

I asked James to show me his Batman pose. The boy definitely knows the difference between a Batman and Spiderman pose!

I had told Cora to get dressed while I took photos of James. Apparently she thought the wings needed to go on before ANYTHING else. Note the undies at least making in at the #2 priority spot...

Fully clothed and ready to be a butterfly fairy. I DO believe in fairies! (And yes, I had to tie the wings on so that they didn't slip off.)

Preschool Halloween parties are FULL of superheroes and princesses...

I made Pumpkin Poo favors for the kids to share with their buddies.  So I suppose they ate greasy fake cheesey poofs in addition to all the candy and cake today.

As soon as lunch was over, Cora laid down for nap, tutu and all. She was asleep before I made it out of the room.

STILL LOVING THE HALLOWEEN SHIRTS

PRIMARY MONTESSORI CLASS SCARECROWS

I'm glad we're not the only ones that went the 2D route. Poor James suffers from a mom who lacks creativity... and remembering to start school projects earlier than the night before they're due.

SOMETIMES

At the park this afternoon, as I was swinging James, I was watching Cora climb around on the play set. She was so cute, singing to herself and dancing around, that I smiled at James and said "She's such a sweetie pie, isn't she?" His reply (after tilting his head to the side and thinking about it for a couple seconds)? "Sometimes."

ALICE AT THE ZOO

Tonight we went to the annual Boo at the Zoo event and had a great time. Of course, we spent the majority of the day putting our costumes together. There is no doubt that Team Lindsay is BIG into Halloween!

Alice in Wonderland characters: a flamingo croquet stick (who actually LIKES to be held upside down), Alice (when James saw me come downstairs dressed like this after nap he said "Uh oh Mama, you're gonna fall down the hole!"), the Mad Hatter (indeed!), and the Cheshire Cat (who happily wore those pink and purple striped jammies and pink glasses for hours, and thought he was the coolest thing ever)

Team Sanchez met us there, and Manu was the cutest little Spiderman!

(Don't mind Cora looking short, she was mid-jump)

Little Leo wore James' parrot costume (from when James was 7-months-old, though it fit Leo like a charm!) and was just absolutely adorable walking around with the big kids! He reminded me of Blue from the movie Rio, who was too scared to fly so he walked everywhere.

The whole crew!

There was carousel riding...

...and basketball playing...

...and animal exploring...

...and show watching...

...some attempts at photos with Halloween props...

...and definitely a little madness!

We skipped the haunted hayride this year (we asked, and just as I remembered from last year, it was scary - and rated for kids aged 10 and up), but hit everything else available (except face painting). The train was a great way to end the night and calm the kids down a bit after all the excitement inside the zoo. We didn't leave the party until 8:30pm, well past the kids' bedtime, yet we still drove up to Five Guys for burgers and the kids stayed awake most of the way home. While we waited in the car for daddy to get our dinner (and while I changed the kids into their jammies - note to other parents, ALWAYS bring the jammies if you plan to be out late, it's a life saver!), James told me "I had a REAL good time mommy! Thank you!" Definitely another successful October family adventure! 

Love my mad man!

MY BIRTHDAY "PERSONAL DAY"

Thank you all for the well wishes today - I did indeed have a great birthday!

I decided a couple days ago to take a personal day, so after dropping the kids at school, I hit the gym for a short run (which was cut even shorter than planned due to shin pain - NOT happy about that part, though I did enjoy my 9:00 miles in my new shoes with my new Garmin!) and some lap swimming (it takes me half an hour to swim a half mile - that seems so ridiculously slow to me!). And some spa soaking... Then it was off to the salon for a cut and color, followed by a short massage (which definitely made my legs feel better!), followed by a yummy lunch date with my Jaybird. I then had just enough time to hit the store for more Halloween supplies before picking the kids up from school. They seemed worn out from yesterdays excursion, so we skipped the park and went home to paint and craft instead (they both have Halloween school projects due tomorrow anyway). After his class, Jay came home to pick us up and we all went out for Mexican food at our favorite restaurant. We ended the night with presents and family phone calls (and Cora throwing a fit that lasted 3.5 hours... she didn't go to sleep until 11:30pm!), and I'm pretty sure I've started a new annual tradition for myself. Every mama needs at least one mental health day per year, right?

And in case you're wondering, I was serenaded 4 times today. This may have been the cutest version:

PUMPKIN PATCH FIELD TRIP

Being such big kids now, this was not their first field trip to a pumpkin patch. It was Cora's second (her first was last year to a local farm) and James' third (his first was in 2010, to that same local farm). This year, being at a new school (we moved to AMCA last October, but it was after the pumpkin patch field trips), we took a longer trip to a bigger farm (Nichols-Boyd, which we visited with James back in 2009 as his very first pumpkin patch trip). Again, I have MANY photos from our pumpkin patch adventure, so I'll try to keep the captions to a minimum...

To start the day, Sophie and I loaded all 4 kiddos in the van, which brought on major excitement from everyone (except Leo, perhaps).

Upon our arrival, we went to check out all the cool animals.

Is your Mama a Llama?

 

Then we loaded the entire preK group into a giant tractor wagon for a hay ride tour of the farm.

Yes, the kids and I were all dressed in red. I told you I'm one of those moms that likes to match (or at least coordinate) with her kids. I picked red for today so that I could find my babies in the crowd more easily (a very smart idea, by the way, since once again I lost sight of James a few times - the kid has REALLY got to learn not to run off and quick!)

Checking out more animals (including the Zedonk) from the wagon

I caught Manu petting Cora... It was so sweet and so cute, but definitely makes me wonder about her teenage years! Just a tiny bit of upper back skin exposed and Manu couldn't help himself. You should have seen the smile on his face!

See what I mean about "giant wagon"? Here the kids were calling the catfish up in the pond for a snack, saying "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" as instructed by our farmer.

This was my attempt at getting a sweet photo of James leaning on the wagon railing while passing the beautiful sunflower patch.

 When the wagon stopped, we all piled out to pick out pre-picked, toddler-sized pumpkins, play in the mini corn bins and hay bale mazes, and swing from potato sacks.

Cora couldn't lift the pumpkin she wanted...

...but James was able to pick up any pumpkin he chose...

...so Cora recruited her big bro to get one for her too.

I tried SO HARD to get a pretty picture of my babies in front of the sunflowers, but it didn't work out. I'll spare you the dozen attempts, since this one pretty much sums it up anyway... Cora picked a flower while James was trying desperately to hold her hand and pose nicely for mama so that mama would let him go back to playing and he was extremely concerned (that Cora destroyed the flower, and also that mama was going to make him stand there forever trying to get a good portrait). Don't worry, I gave up immediately after seeing this look on his face!

Cora's turn for a sour face. She literally COULD NOT WAIT for her turn on one of the potato sack swings. She was pacing and fussing, and completely ridiculous...

...and once she snagged one, she refused to get off and share. I had to pry her hands and legs off. And then she ran to another one way far at the end of the row where none of the other kids were playing, so she could get another turn right away. Completely obsessed with swinging!

 After the hay ride, we took group portraits. They look like they REALLY like each other, right?

 Bringing the 3 preK teachers in helped reign the kids in closer though. Here they're all yelling "Pumpkin Patch!" Except for my kids. Cora is scowling because she's totally over portrait taking and just wants to go run and play. James was looking for Manu.

 Next up? Picnic time!

 I could easily have sat there snacking under that huge oak for an hour or more, but this pumpkin patch is extremely commercialized, and since they had 800 kids visiting today, they moved each school group through the motions pretty quickly. We had a 30 minute slot for lunch.

Oh well, the kids were pooped anyway.

 Always a sign of a good day well spent!

And P.S., since I know some of you will ask, yes, we turned James forward facing just for the trip. It's SUPER hard to hear anything he says when he's in the back row rear-facing. It's amazing the things we've taken for granted having him rear-facing for so long... the first minute and a half of the trip he basically sat there with a dumbfounded expression, mouth hanging open, not sure at all what to think of his new situation. I started to worry he was going to be mad/upset. THEN he realized he could see everything that I was seeing, as I was seeing it (or perhaps he thought he was seeing things BEFORE me), because he spent the rest of the trip pointing out every little thing as soon as he spotted it (and he's more observant than I am, so we had a very loud and chatty drive). He also started acting as a backseat driver part way into the trip... "Hey mom, that's a stop sign. You have to wait your turn!" He goes back to rear-facing in the Jetta tomorrow, and will stay that way until his birthday. Or at least through our Christmas travel, and after we buy him a new car seat.

LITTLE ANGEL

I think about my little angel far more than once a year, but this is certainly a good day to share with others who are also remembering their little lost ones. 

Hugs and prayers to you all.

CURRY FARMS ADVENTURE

The kids are scheduled for a school trip to a pumpkin patch next week, but because Jay and I can't afford to take time off work on the same day when we don't HAVE to (i.e. we're not sick or vacationing), I'm going as the solo chaperone (we split field trip duties pretty equally throughout the year). Since Jay isn't going next week, we decided to do a family pumpkin patch trip this weekend, to someplace new! Our family pumpkin patch trips over the past 3 years have included Nichols-Boyd Farm (2009), Canton Corn Maze (2010), and Farmer Jim's (2011), so this year we headed WEST instead and went over the bridge (for the second time today - though this time not on foot!) to Louisiana to visit Curry Farms.

I have a LOT of photos from today (and these don't even include the ones that Jay took with his fancy camera and photographer's eye), so I'll just let them speak for themselves...

Recap for those locals considering visiting Curry Farms:
This place is definitely worth the drive! It's no further than Nichols-Boyd, it's just in the other direction. There is a LOT more for the kids to do (all ages, not just big kids). Cora was able to participate in everything except the pedal cars & tricycles, since she's too short to reach the pedals, and none of us paid to do the Pumpkin Chunkin' (but the kids probably couldn't have done that solo anyway). Activities included a big corn bin, hay bales for climbing, slides, swinging tunnels, petting zoo/animal viewing, corn maze, REAL pumpkin patch (great for photos), pre-picked pumpkin store (better for buying, so you didn't have to carry them around - although they did have wagons for that purpose if you're so inclined), caterpillar choo-choo "train" (little ones can ride in a parent's lap, 3-year-olds and up are definitely fine to ride solo - it doesn't go fast), adult AND kid sized bouncy horses, off-road tricycles, pedal cars and a race track, face painting, bean bag toss, an old truck decorated for portrait taking, hay rides, duck races, and a rubber tire horsey swing thingy (any kid big enough to hold on TIGHT can ride). The cost is $8 each (2 and under are free, though they let James in free too), but pumpkins cost extra. We ended up staying for 3.5 hours (crazy, right?!) because after picking out our pumpkins, the kids asked to go back and play again, and since we didn't have any previous engagements... They're open until 5pm, but we stayed until past 5:30 (they were having a birthday party, so they didn't kick us out), and the light at the end of the day would have been perfect for portraits (had we not already taken them, and had the kids still been clean). The kids seriously had a blast, there was lots for us adults to do too, and we think it's the best pumpkin patch we've been to yet!