Family Fun Run

On Friday Cherry Brook Primary school where Nick and Shane BOTH go, hosted a family fun run to raise $$ for a new kindergarten playground.  They did it last year for the older kids play ground and it was a HUGE success.  This year I would say the same and wonderful idea.  

The bonus was, as I picked up Shane from his classroom, he had just found out he was awarded Curtis the Bear as a sign of his 'courteous' behavior all week.  In the teachers note - she said Shane was so kind hearted that he wouldn't even hurt a tiny bug!  So TRUE of my sweet guy.

So now Shane is a CELEBRITY at the fun run since the older kids remember having his teacher and being excited to be selected by Curtis the bear too.

We popped over to Nick's class too - (I got to surprise Nick earlier that afternoon as Mystery Reader - I brought in the Sneetches as I remember being a Sneetch in our 2nd grade play - a few years back - Such an awesome book - if you have it - also read the one later in the book about the pale green pants - its another leadbetter fav...)

Here is the race starting line - its literally a lap around the entire school and playground.  The PTO put fun obstacles throughout.  The kids could run the lap once to qualify for the 1k and the older kids opted to run twice to nap the over mile bragging rights!  (Of course Nick snagged that!)

Here he comes crossing the finish line!

Nick and Shane ran the race no problem - should I be at all surprised that this guy did too?!?  Yes, the entire way and here he is crossing the finish line!!  Chris, great job.  Haha.  Just kidding - you were amazed that DREW did it right??  He is literally one body of muscle, energy and determination.  That Drew...

A beautiful fall day, and yes, Popsicles from the girl scouts was a huge hit for this family of runners.

A little playground time afterwards to seal the deal on a Fab Friday

New England

All the things I love about here - I can escape to the 'quintessential life.  My husband and I can be entrepreneurs

make time and money work for us instead of working for time and money

we can have just the house we need

we can run and enjoy the fall leaves

we can be part of my parents life

we can just slow down

we made these choices

.  

and love seeing places like this as God's way of saying - yes, you chose wisely

Shane's photo skills

Payback

mountain goats

Hiking is tough

I hope to never grow tired of seeing this spot and hope to take the time more often to just sit there are be surrounded.  Thank you for all the reasons we are here.

Drew Dude

Oh Drew Dude  

Ah this little dude can really drive me batty sometimes.  He is VERY admit, his requests go on repeat - - even when I do acknowledge them! - He cannot handle 'divided' attention - so those little times when I sneak a glance at my phone to text a friend in search of a life line outta here he instantly rebels.  Great.  But it is teaching me something........... 

Yup, turn that off and play with me - or hand it over and I will play the phone.  So true.  I am trying to turn it off more and more - eye contact, conversation - one on one time.  Why can it be so hard and so much easier to fill it with other things....

So here is where we started the day.

A little jump zone and time with friends and no phone.  It really did feel good.

Thank you to my friend Jessica who sent this book to me.  Its a great reminder of the phone can be handy but it doesn't replace true interaction - great reminder for this time of year too.

Yes, Drew Dude - you sure are tough - but one of the things I am thankful for are those eyes when they smile.  

More days with Diane!

We had a LONG weekend over Columbus day and since Diane and I hadn't seen each other since September we deemed that TOO LONG.  So we linked up at a cool pumpkin patch in Coventry so the kids could enjoy some fall fun and we could catch up.

They had TONS of these super cute cut outs that the kids loved

my little pumpkin ghost

a magic school bus of our own.

These 2 are the furthest things from witches.

but these 3 do have a tendency to scare me.

o.k. these 3 really scare me - and the Blake photo bomb

my pumpkin

a little hay ride

Anna took care of Drew

The hay ride lady was SUPER chatting telling us about the trees, pumpkins, Halloween, you name it.  All the kids wanted to do was bury themselves in hay and all Diane and I wanted to do was catch up.  (we were literally right across from her so it made it more challenging to ignore her - but we figured it out!!)

Next up was to watch Eve and Anna and their horse back riding lesson.  What an awesome treat and how wonderful to see these 2 so confidently on their horses. 

While the girls were walking around the horse ring, Diane craftingly gifted the boys with her thoughtful gift.  Love her Whimsy!

Nick had to put together the puzzle saying "we are going to see WILD KRATTS"  the boys favorite show - IN PERSON at UCONN - Diane rocks and we cannot wait!

as we were leaving Eve jumped out and took the time to show me what she was learning on my old flute!  I was so touched that she included me like that and I love that the flute is having more life with her.  Thank you ladies for a wonderful girl fix - Love you all.

Fall and Brrrr

We had a bit of a cold spell and since we cannot turn the heat on until 1 November (Leadbetter policy as yes, the heat works (we think).  The boys were curled up by the space heater Saturday morning.

Its the time of year where I literally want to take a photo almost everywhere I go.  I really love this spot.

Just picking up the kids after school is pretty!

Guess what is coming (we hope) LOTS of snow!  And guess what just arrived - a birthday gift from Barbara and Wyland who just blew through on their way up to Liz and Tam's in NY.  Just 24 hours after they left, this sled arrived!!  We are enjoying fall now, but cannot wait for winter.

its the kind of days where you just want to wear a flannel - all day!!  This is what I looked like 20 minute before my best buddy here Mary Picked me up to go out on the town in West Hartford.   

One of our classmates Megan ran the Hartford marathon and is a rep for SpiBelt - a SUPER cool running belt.  She has completed 2 Ironman's and has amazing determination.  It was so motivating just have to cocktails with her on Saturday.  (better than staying in my flannel I guess) 

Thanks Mary!

After the high school reunion a few week back, I realized how many folks live in the area.  On a quick trip to the bars we managed to link up with 2 other class mates too.  Honestly I could sit for hours and talk to these guys about all the different paths life has taken us since the days of SHS.  Thanks Brian and Amy for joining us too.  Since we forgot to take photos the night of the reunion we took a few here.

Projects

We are suckers for projects and quite frequently don't have the right tools, or know how to knock it out - but what we do have is enthusiasm and mission completion!!  Here is Chris asking for my help putting in the zip line the Friday before Shane's party (that was held inside!)  He was not blinking at the camera but basically saying, seriously, I asked you to pull the cable and you are taking a photo of me.  Gosh, I just love this guy!!  If he wasn't holding a wrench and the rest of the cable he might be snatching my phone!!  But I have this photo and his act of love!!

Here is a cool industrial piece that I found from a sweet girl on craigslist - she has a flare for this kind of stuff - and I don't, but this is what we transformed it into - now it corrals the kids workbooks, pencils, coloring books, paints etc..  and looks kinda cool 

One of the biggest quandaries in our home is what to do with the family room.  We started with the TV on the mantel - too high and that 80s shelving until to the side has got to go.  Why waste effort in painting it...  so we took it out and bought a buffet cabinet (on craigslist) we love the cabinet - but not the positioning - so the cabinet moved to the dining room (where it wanted to be in the first place) and we (Chris) painted the wall and mounted the TV.  We are getting there...

Drew is 3 - SER-IOUS-LY!

Amen to that.  I hope its true that either the age of 2 is tough, or 3 - because if that is the case - 3 is gonna be awesome!  I will have to admit - as I write this over a week later, I will take Drew at 3 over Drew at 2 ANYDAY.  Drew is Bold, he is strong, he is opinionated and he wants to make folks laugh.  He wants to make his brother's laugh and he wants YOU to be part of his life.  He WILL not settle for second fiddle and you better put your phone down and pay attention.  There are many days I wonder what god is teaching me through Drew and many days that I KNOW  what god is teaching me though Drew and wish he would give me a break once in a while.  

Drew - you literally ROCKED our world since the moment your dad and I found out we were pregnant.  I took that pregnancy test on a whim right before a girls weekend in Garmish - the darn thing showed up +?  What!?!?  Life is more beautiful, stronger, and blolder than ever.  Love you kiddo.

Since his birthday is on Tuesday we got to go to school together - It was super cute to see him in action.  The teachers reported he was chattier with momma to show around.  Here we are handing out his birthday snack for his buddies.

count out those pommegranties 

We thought wearing matching spider shirts was a pretty rad idea. 

Loved imagining what his heart feels like as everyone is singing to him. 

That afternoon my mom snagged him for a few hours and a birthday lunch at McDs!!!  Yeah Om!

Now for the family celebration - a beautiful fall afternoon.

How old are you?!?!

Wow - look at all that loot, where do you start?! 

Drew needed minimal help diving into his gifts - but they were offering LOTS of help 

He isn't quite sure what to think of the monkey 

Pretty sure he knows exactly what to do with that! 

again, the top earned for the birthday gift thoughtfulness - Nick - Since Drew always asks if he can get on the bus with the boys in the morning, nick decided to get him a toy bus!  And a space helmet (I joke as its often we would like to send Drew to space - but really since he like Curious George and a book about space - but who knows. looking back at this picture in 20 years maybe Nick was onto something....) 

there goes the remote control monster truck!

Its a family night of hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill! 

what better than to be surround by the folks that would love you the most!   Thanks Mom and Dad for making him feel super special

with the gifts opened and played with, the cupcakes were the perfect finale=) 

Happy Birthday little guy! 

As a note post birthday - life as a 3 year old is getting better.  That night he literally said Thank you - with NO prompting at all!  The look on his face all day said that he really felt loved.  That is truly all we can ask for.  Bedtime is making strides inthe right place and there is hope we will all soon love this set up of having a 3 year old.  Go Drew.