Catching up!

 Last weekend was the final race of the series!

 Taylor and her competition.  Taylor pulled off a first place win in this race but finished in 2nd place overall in her group.

 She was super-pumped to get her first medal ever.

 Emmy was right there with her.

 We're not exactly sure what happened to Chase in this last race.  He was super-ready, and determined he was going to get first place.  Well, he obviously seems to be having the time of his life in this picture.  He was out for a Sunday stroll, looking around, enjoying the scenery!  We thought something was wrong with him but he said he just decided to let other people go in front of him this time.... who knows?  He had fun though!

 And got a medal!

 We carved our pumpkins this week.  

 The kids were more helpful than usual in the process!

 Chase would not touch the insides.

 Taylor was all over it and happy to tease Chase about it.

 I let the kids draw the faces on and then I cut them out.  When I lit up Chase's he was completely scared of it! (His is on the right above.)

They posed for a picture but still wouldn't sit too close to them!

 It was costume day at ballet on Monday.  Six out of ten girls came as Elsa!

 I'm not much of a braid-pro but I'm getting better with lots of practice.  Thought this turned out pretty well!  She will be wearing the wig tonight!

 And even better than Halloween is that birthday presents started to arrive in the mail!

 Frozen slippers!

 The next day she waited by the mailbox, just in case!

 The waiting was making her go crazy!

 But it was worth the wait!  Notice the trail of discarded mail behind her!

 Jackpot!  Three pairs of new shoes!

 Including these sparkly, high-heeled gems.....perfect for playing tennis in the driveway!

 Elsa was off to preschool today.

 All set for a class party.

Most of her class - she was the ONLY Elsa there - amazing!

 A little crafting.

No words for this one!  

Caught up on the pictures just in time for Trunk or Treat and a birthday!

More sports and such

Definitely put in our time at the football field this season!  Chase got to watch a game with Kaleb.  He even brought some extra Hawk attire so they could look like real fans together.

Baseball has been great.  Most weeks he's been able to see Kaleb there too.

 Still running.  It is crazy how much they have looked forward to this each week.  The last race is this Sunday.  Chase is far right and Bryce is near the left.  

Taylor still doesn't run in a straight line but she loves it.  Little Emmy even got in on the action last week.  That is her on the left and Taylor is in the middle.

The kids finally got MeMa out at a race!

We went to a baby shower for Vanessa.  The girls are looking forward adding another girl to the mix in December.  That poor baby will be their new doll!

 Picture day at school.

Working the cash register at the book fair.  She thought she was hot stuff.

 More football.  We finally gave in to Dave's request to get there early so the kids would go out on the field to watch.  They lasted about 10 minutes.  Chase did enjoy getting  "a fist bump from #7."

 Taylor requests a photo with Max all the time.  Poor dog.

 And finally, it was cowboy spirit day at Chase's school today.  One day he will be mad that I dressed him up like this but for now I'm glad he's a willing participant!  He even has his sheriff badge on but you can't really see it in the picture.

Good Citizen Award

 Chase was pumped to get the Good Citizen award for Responsibility at school.

(Finally decided that it's time to get a "good" camera....enough blurry pictures already!)

 All the 1st graders.

Happy fans.  Taylor was quite bummed that Chase "didn't even share a bite of his donut" with her!

Long Weekend Fun

We managed to squeeze in all kinds of fun over the long weekend.

The fun started Thursday night at the Hawks game.

Then Friday morning we were up early to celebrate our good buddy, Christopher Columbus.

 Chase's teacher had the idea and just asked someone to put it together.  It was a hit.

 Chase came home from school with this masterpiece.  It's a picture of me, him and Melinda at a Reds game.  Melinda looks to have had a little trouble getting dressed and I have a neck about 2 feet long.  Some would say this is accurate....me, not Melinda. The eyes aren't supposed to be scary, he just ran out of time!

 Taylor got some early birthday gifts when the grandparents rolled into town.

 A new outfit.

 Some consolation gifts for the poor little brother.

 A Barbie lip gloss phone.  Never was there a better combination.

 Saturday I took the kids to an inflatable place with a group from church while Dave took his mom to the movies. 

 It was  good time.

Taylor was excited to sneak along on what was really Chase's trip.  

 The rain messed up plans for a baseball game on Saturday afternoon and even tried to take over Sunday as well!  We managed to sneak out to the pumpkin patch between the raindrops.

 Chase's view of the hayride.

 My view.

 Looking for the perfect pumpkin.

 They found about a thousand that were "the one"!

 Chase's favorite was this little green one.

 Taylor found a few too.

 Her favorite.

 The final picks.

 The reason we even go to get pumpkins.

 Always worth the trip.

 He wouldn't even look up for the picture.

 Back at home, Taylor requested this photo.

 Monday was a day off from school and the sun finally came out so we went to putt-putt.

 Thankfully, there are no injuries to report this time.

 Altering the scorecard.

 Hole-in-one!  He always manages to get one!

 The plan was to go bowling if it was raining.  Well, it wasn't but we had plenty of free time after putt-putt so we bowled anyways.

 Not a bad day.

 Sure beats going to school!

 Completely frustrated (Chase) and thrilled (Taylor) that they tied!!!

 The real reason they like going to the bowling alley.

Lots of fun packed into the weekend, now it's back to the real world!