October Review

It is crazy to me how fast the days go by. I can’t seem to find time to keep up on everything, so the blog has suffered. Seems I am doing more “month in review” posts lately! So, here is October in Review:

October 7: Family Portraits by T Kern Photography. I wanted the fall outdoor scene for our portraits this year. We had a gorgeous day, and even though most of the leaves were gone and brown, Traci did a great job of still capturing fall. Lesson learned – when taking pictures outside, need to have glasses that are not transitional lenses!! We ended up taking Leah’s glasses off for most shots as she looked like she was wearing sunglasses! I think next time, I will just take an old pair and pop the lenses out. 

October 10-12: Leah participated in Junior Cheerleading Camp sponsored by Cambridge – Isanti High School Cheerleaders.  The girls had 2 days of teaching with the cheerleaders. Then, on Friday Night, the Junior Cheerleaders cheered with the high school cheerleaders during the first half of the football game and performing at half time. Leah even had to stay for the second half to watch the game! She ditched mom and dad to sit with her good friend Abby! She loved every minute of this experience. As some of you know, for a few years, when asked what she is going to be when she grows up, she answers: a cheerleader and a teacher!

 October 16: Amber and I got to spend the day with Beth and Noah. We have been trying to get together FOREVER, and it finally worked out!! Good time with a good friend and her handsome baby boy!

October 18-21: Road trip to Michigan to visit Grandpa Shorty. Joe, Leah, Amber and I took off for Michigan at 4:30am on Thursday and arrived at Shorty’s place around 7:30pm! We figured if we got the girls up early, they would go back to sleep, but no such luck…I probably did more sleeping on the way there than they did combined! Leah is an excellent traveler. Amber did well for 2 ½!! We had a nice visit with Joe’s Dad and the rest of his family in Michigan. Leah ran and jumped up to give Grandpa Shorty a hug as soon as she saw him. Amber took some warming up, but it wasn’t long before she was sitting on his lap! Now, whenever we see a man with a mustache who is about Grandpa Shorty’s height, Amber yells out “Grandpa Shorty.” So cute!! While in Michigan, we spent some time with most of Joe’s family there, we did a lot of swimming and we made a stop at Bronner’s (the world’s largest Christmas store)!  When we went to Uncle Les and Aunt Sandi’s place, the girls got to spend some time around the horses and dogs. Yes, we have some fraidy cat girls. They both needed encouragement to pet both animals and they spend a good majority of the time in the house on the couch as they did not want to be by the dogs. Crazy girls, not sure where all that comes from! It was great to spend time with Grandpa Shorty, but our time there quickly ended. We headed home on Sunday. This time, after getting the girls up early, there was a lot more sleeping in the car! We did have one unexpected stop when Joe witnessed a car in front of us hit a deer on the freeway!  

October 27: I ran the Monster Dash ½ Marathon in St. Paul! What a great day for a run. A little chilly had the start, but not bad once I was running. Joe missed me at the finish, but glad he was there to support me!! I was very happy with my time: 13 miles in 2:14:25!

October 27-28: Leah went to a Halloween sleepover at Jam Hops Gymnastics with 70 kids! She went without knowing if she would know anyone there. She was hoping maybe someone from her gymnastics class would be there, but, better yet, one of her friends from school was there! She had a great time. She reported to us that she stayed up until midnight, and fell asleep when they started to watch a movie!

October 28: Pumpkin Carving. Joe, as per our custom, was the designer. Leah and Amber had some interest, but they did tire out of the process about midway through the 4 pumpkins. I helped Leah and Amber clean their pumpkins and do a little carving as well. Amber really got into the cleaning – at one point, I looked over and she was on the table cleaning her pumpkin. I quickly got her off (after taking a picture, of course)! Leah barely needed any help this year cleaning her pumpkin. It is hard to believe how independent she really is!!

October 31: Halloween. Leah was a cowgirl, and Amber was a Care Bear. Both girls had parties at school/daycare during the day. Leah’s school had a parade which she just loved. Once home, we got on their costumes, mandatory picture time (yup, crazy picture lady here), then we were off to trick or treat. We went to Grandma Mary’s, Nonna and Grandpa’s house, a few houses around Nonna and Grandpa’s, then, after dinner – waffles made by Grandpa, yummy, we finished up with a stop at our neighbor’s house and our house! Amber did well at saying trick or treat, and both were great about saying Thank You! They also both had just as much fun passing out the candy as they did getting the candy!!