Trick-Or-Treating

On Halloween night the kids could choose to wear anything from the dress-up box. It was really cold but I was astonished at how much candy they collected from the short trip around our little neighborhood. Here kids, let me just help you with that...

Kids and friends ready to go...

Roar! Give me more candy!!!

Such a princess.

Two-fisted Smarties action.

I think you'd be disappointed with those, buddy. They're just pretzels.

Trunk or Treat '10

We decided months ago what our family costumes would be for the church Halloween party this year, and I've been busy sewing (yes, sewing!) them. Since I've sewn about five items in my entire life, this has been quite an adventure. But they seem to have come out alright. It's not by any means an original idea, but the kids were sure excited about it! We were so busy with the event that we didn't get a group shot, but here we all are:

To infinity and beyond! Jake has been wearing his costume quite often lately.
(And yes, we bought his.)

Alex did not think it was cute or fun or adorable to be one of the little green martians. But eating sucker after sucker eased the pain of it. (Yes, we bought his too.)

Haley as Jesse. Giddyup!

Rob made a great Woody, but I decided that platinum blond is most definitely not the color for me. Still, it was fun to go as Woody and Bo Peep, and the kids thought it was wonderful.

Carving It Up

Carving pumpkins is always one of those activities we put off (The mess! The slimy pumpkin goo! The kids + sharp carving instruments!) but something that is always tons of fun once we get into it. I love to see what they come up with for designs.

Great Excuse to Get Out of Town

Late in October we heard that some old friends were going to be in Minneapolis for the weekend. I had been looking for an excuse to get out of town so we quickly canceled any commitments and headed to "the Cities." While Scott and Sarah attended a wedding, we made our usual rounds to guitar stores and favorite shopping spots before meeting up with them. We had planned to go to an apple orchard, but with the wet weather we decided to explore the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center instead. The mist and fog made it feel mysterious, and the kids loved exploring it all. Thanks Scott and Sara, for a great weekend!

Such a cute couple - can you believe this is their fifth baby?!

Lovely to see some plants, since ours at home had withered weeks before.

4-year-old + bridge over a freeway. Need I say more?

Pumpkin Patch '10

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch was blessedly warm this year. We spent the afternoon playing in the hay, exploring the haunted forest, playing hide-and-seek in the corn maze, and picking out a few good pumpkins.

Jake battles the skeleton head.

King of the....giant hay-bale pumpkin head?

Go Team!

Today was Team Spirit day at Haley's school and the kids were invited to wear their favorite sports team jersey. We're a little short on sports jerseys at our house, but luckily had this in the dress-up box.

Fargo Mini Half Marathon

One sunny and unseasonably hot (90 degrees) Saturday in October, we headed down to Fargo for another half marathon. I had trained for months and was hoping to improve my time by quite a bit - shaving a full minute and a half per mile off my previous time. Unfortunately two days before the race I came down with a flu and spent my race-prep time downing tons of vitamin C and hoping my fever would go away.

By race morning I was feeling better, if not quite 100%, and headed to the starting line. The first 9 miles went great - I was right on pace & feeling strong, and got a good boost seeing Rob and the kids along the course. And then I BONKED. I felt like I was still on pace, but every time I looked at my watch I was going slower and slower. Pretty soon my body gave up and my head followed shortly thereafter. If someone had offered to give me a ride to the finish line I would have taken it - I was too tired care any more! All my reserves built up by weeks of training had been wiped out by the illness. So I walked the remaining 4 miles to the finish line and finished with almost the same time as my first half-marathon. I did finish, and I will be beating my time someday...as soon as I stock up on hand sanitizer.

The BEST part of the day, and the whole reason I signed up for this race to begin with, was that my friend Amy ran it (her first half-marathon), and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. WAY TO GO AMY!!!

Alex guzzles while waiting for mom along the course.