Pumpkin Carving 2011

This year carving pumpkins it was Team Werewolf (the boys) vs. Team Mickey Mouse (the girls) as determined by Ristow. Christopher and Ristow created some kind of Monster pumpkin while Jess and I opted for the cute pumpkin look.

It was funny to watch Jess tonight. She didn't know what to make of all the activity. She saw me drawing out the design on the pumpkin and thought she was supposed to be doing that too. She drew with pen all over it. Then once we opened it, she watched Ristow pull pumpkin goop out of his pumpkin with a weird look of awe and disgust on her face :) She loved making the "Blech" sound every time Ristow did and finally she reached in and touch the goop herself, with one finger. She was content with that and had fun watching Ris and running around. I guess you have to acquire the desire to touch pumpkin guts!

All in all I think the pumpkins turned out pretty good!

Fall Leaves and Pumpkins

This is Jessica's first fall season since she has been walking. It has been very exciting to see her discover and explore and have the words for all these new experiences. This past weekend I took the kids and my mom to the Pumpkin Farm. We fed goats, went on tractor train rides, the corn maze and played like crazy! It was a blast and so great to watch Jess. I think she tried to pick up just about every pumpkin there.

Today, I raked up what leaves have fallen so far in our yard and taught Jessica the ins and outs of jumping in, kicking and throwing leaves. Though the throwing part she was a pro at ;) We had a leaf fight and buried ourselves in them. New lesson learned ... leaves are very difficult to get out of long curly hair!We laughed and played and had lots of fun. I love this season and am so excited to continue to share it with my kiddos. Though when playing in the leaves in short sleeve shirts because it is 80 degrees outside, it can be kind of itchy ;)

Ristow's Cool Cut

Ristow decided last week that he wanted a design shaved into the side of hair when he got his next haircut. We had a long talk about it and decided to let him try it out.

Christopher took his to the barbershop down the street which was a much better idea than to GreatClips that was going to charge him to two haircuts, one to cut and one to shave the designs!
The guys at the shop were pros and this is what Ristow came home with...
This morning he woke up and first thing he said was "mom, is it still there?" Yes, Ristow it is. We will see how school goes today with him showing off his new style. He was super excited and decided to wear his sharktooth necklace for the full effect. School pictures are next week and he couldn't be happier!

WARNING! Jessica can now open doors (sometimes)

This week Jessica and I were playing in the kitchen and all of a sudden she reaches up and opens the door to the basement. Yikes! I scooped her up, headed to Walmart and bought safety knobs for the door. Crisis averted.

Today, I was vacuuming the house and Jess was running around wanting me to chase her with the vacuum and playing with the cord. I must of been really focused on my task at hand because after a while I realized she was longer anywhere to be seen. I turned off the vacuum and hear a faint "Mommmmmmy!" I couldn't figure out where it came from so I called "Jess, where are you?" I then hear a small knocking on the closet door where I keep the vacuum. I open the door and there is Jessica in the dark closet and all she says is "Hi". I guess she can't quite open all the doors yet :)
That kid sure keeps me on my toes.

My Little Girl

Jessica is different from Ristow is sooooo many ways. Ristow has always been more of an observer at first and then will try something, Jess dives in head first. Ristow never liked to get dirty, Jessica LOVES mud, dirt, water and pretty much anything messy. When Ristow was little he never climbed things he wasn't supposed to or jumped off furniture (nowadays he does), Jessica yells "Parkour!" as she jumps from the ottoman to the couch!

Today we went to the playground and of course Jess wasn't content playing on the little kids playground, she headed right for the big playground suggested for ages 5-12 :) She climbs the ladders like a pro and slides down the big slides with no fear. She amazes me. It is hard to remember at times that she isn't even two yet.
At home she wanted to play outside more and found her special dirt spot under the climbing wall of our little playground. She loves to dig and explore!
She would play outside all day long if she could. Thank goodness for nap time or I would never get anything done inside :)

Warrior Dash

A number of months back I saw pictures of my cousin Carrie dressed in some crazy costume covered in mud. I thought to myself "what in the world is she doing?" Then I read about the race she competed in and how much fun she had and I thought "I want to do that too!"

As soon as I saw that the Warrior Dash was coming to Tennessee, I signed up. I was so very excited about it but wasn't really in shape for it. I hadn't been running in a while and definitely didn't feel strong. So in July I started training with one of Christopher's personal trainers Jason to work on my running and getting stronger. Wow, what a difference. Just in the month of August alone I knocked my fastest 5K time down by almost 4minutes! And, I could actually start seeing the outline of muscles in my arms and back!

By the time Saturday came around I felt super ready (besides the head and chest cold that I got Thursday) I suited up my costume, mostly donated by Ristow's costume bin :), braided my hair for the first time ever and was ready to face the challenge.
The atmosphere was energetic and there was great people watching to be done at the race. Christopher, Ristow and my Dad came to cheer me on (mom was kind enough to watch my sick little girl). The race started off and we faced everything from hale bales to barbed wire to junk cars to climb and giant cargo nets. Crawling on our hands and knees in the dirt to using ropes to pull up over walls. After each obstacle I got more and more excited proving to myself that I actually could do this! As you round the turn for the finish you jump over two rows of fire logs and then dive into the mud pit and crawl across to the finish line! It was AWESOME.
They had a few fire hoses to rinse off in but there were so many people crowding the hoses like a herd of cattle I barely got my face rinsed off. So we threw a towel over the seat of the car and headed home. Of course I was still wearing my fuzzy warrior helmet I got for doing the race :)

I am a still a bit sore today and I have a big bruise on my leg but both of those serve to remind me of what I accomplished and how hard I have worked over the last few months. My training has given me confidence and a more positive view of who I am and for that I am grateful!

I highly recommend the Warrior Dash!

Thankful for Famly Time

This past week we were lucky enough to have Christopher's sister Amy and her little 11month old daughter Alma visit us here in Nashville. We loved having them here! Here are a few pics from their visit.

We went on Saturday to Centennial Park to feed the geese and ducks. Ristow and Jessica had a blast throwing crackers to the geese. Jess wanted to grab them. As we were feeding the geese in the pond, we look behind us and a giant army of geese are closing in from the rear. It was a crazy parade of them. Once they got right up to us we decided it was better to take the kids to the other side of the pond for a while :)

This is what Alma did while we fed the ducks...

Even though Jess and Alma whined and cried and tried to hit each other more than play together, we still loved having that time together. Ristow on the other hand LOVED playing with Alma and making her laugh and was absolutely great with her.

Thanks for making the trip Ames. We love you guys tons!