Greenway

After a fun morning with Noah and Griffin on the Greenway (off of Rea Rd, by Trader Joe's) I c-a-n-n-o-t believe that its taken us this long to check it out! We loved it. The boys loved exploring, running, picking up sticks. I loved just being there with the boys, outside in the fresh air. Seriously, this is going to be my new favorite spot for Saturday morning fun!

Yeah, Ella!

We are so proud of Ella!  Trisha submitted one of her paintings to the Mint Museum as part of an annual holiday card contest and she WON!!  Her winning piece of artwork will be on display at the Mint Museum through January and Ella will be called on-stage and recognized at the Children's Holiday Party. Her artwork will also be the Mint Museum's holiday card which is sent out to all members. WOW! Check out her awesome artwork here.

Love this picture of Ella with Jonathan from last summer -- looks like she's celebrating a big win.  :)

Veteran's Day

What better to do on a cold, rainy Veteran's Day holiday? Run, jump and slide like crazy with some fun buddies at Monkey Joe's.

Special thank you to all Veterans today, including Mike's dad (a career Marine who retired as a Colonel after 27 years of service, flew C130's, served in two tours in Vietnam, and received a purple heart), and my dad (who was drafted and served in Vietnam). We're extremely proud of and forever thankful for all who have served and all who currently serve our country.

I Seriously Dig These Guys

1st Grade

First grade for Miles has been great so far. I've been joining his class as often as I can. Its so cute to be around the oh-so-big, but-still-so-little kiddos.

Miles' school has a great nature trail. Each class has outings on it a few times a year. Today I joined Miles' class while they took to the trails to learn about habitats. The kids loved it and Miles took many opportunities to be silly with his friends.

Parents are invited to help with some of the kids' "specials" (art, technology, library). Miles' favorite special is technology. He loves those computer games.

Miles' class had a fun trip to Hunter Farms a few weeks ago. Loved being able to join them. The kids fed animals, picked pumpkins, took a wagon ride, watched a cow get milked, and learned about all the food that is made from corn/grain. It was a great trip.  (Isn't the hat hilarious?  Mike and I brought back one for each of the boys from our anniversary trip.)

Miles has really been enjoying his class & teacher this year.  Mrs Reeves was so complimentary of him during parent-teacher conferences, including the work he's doing and how he's adjusted socially. We're so proud of him and glad that he's so happy!

Dana & Brad

I had so much fun this afternoon hanging out with Dana and Brad, snapping engagement pictures of them. Seriously, could they be any more photogenic? I'll post a link to my favorites within a week. This is definitely one of them.

Rennaisance Festival

We checked out our first Rennaisance Festival today, after hearing from the Williams how much they love it.  The traffic to get there was ridiculous (took us an 1.5 hours to get there vs 40 minutes), but well worth it once we arrived.  Unfortunately, we don't have many pictures from the day, since I arrived without a memory card in my camera (the shock! the horror!).  I snapped a few photos with my phone.  They are horrible quality, but will serve as our memory, so I can't knock them too much.

There was so much to see: buildings, costumes, musicians, craftsmen, just to name a few. We were all in awe by a the "man who eats swords" show.

The boys had fun on a little ride. Swing power? Four men pushing it - very impressive.

Final stop was dinner at Macado's - which always reminds Mike and I of our college days in Boone/Roanoke. Afterward, we ventured to the Nascar store so the boys could play. A fun day, even without the camera to capture all the details. :)

The Apple & The Tree

Miles came home from school today very excited about his new glow-in-the-dark bat.  Turns out his teacher investigated each student's desk and Miles had the cleanest/most organized desk.  The reward was a trip to the treasure box.  Another example of the apple not falling far from the tree (Mike's tree, that is).  :) 

Speaking of comparisons, yesterday I said something to Miles about how much we look alike. He looked at me like I was crazy. I said, "oh, you know, we both have brown hair, we have cute little noses" (stretching, I know). He stopped me immediately and said, "mom, your nose is SO MUCH bigger than mine." Nice.

Self Portraits

Miles and Noah are taking another art class this fall.  They haven't come home with as much artwork this session, since they often work on one piece for several sessions; but they created these self portraits yesterday. I L-O-V-E them.  

This is Noah's picture.  He told me its a picture of him "in the bathtub, under water".  I think Noah looks stunned in the picture, maybe he's just realizing that he forgot to hold his breath?

 This is Miles' picture.  He said "its a picture of  me about to get into the bathtub, standing in front of the mirror".  This picture makes me giggle.  A lot.  Its as if Miles drew his future, 13-year-old self.  You can be sure I'll have it on hand to compare, when the time comes.

Halloween

We started our Halloween morning by suiting up and heading across the street to the SouthPark Mall. They had a little celebration for the kids that included a jumpy, craft projects, pumpkin decorating, a costume parade, a goody bag (of course, a goody bag)....

Griffin was only interested in eating the candy from his goody bag.

A fun Halloween morning with the boys!

We spent Halloween night at an annual neighborhood Halloween party (thanks, Allison!). It was too hot for Mike to wear his gorilla costume, so he sported his wig/hat. It was hilarious. I wore a pink unicorn hat and then dressed in pink. I deemed myself a "pinkalicious unicorn" (after one of my niece Mason's favorite books, Pinkalicious). Griffin opted out of dressing up and instead sported a skeleton t-shirt that Grandma & Grandpa had given to Miles years ago (love the sentimental history in this hand-me-down).  He worked it.

Mike, Miles and Noah made this "Halloween Mobile" on Friday. They sculpted a huge box, decorated it with wrapping paper and Miles' drawings, created handles, and cut 2 holes in the bottom so they could "get in". The boys loved it. Miles has already ripped off the decorations so that he can give it a Thanksgiving feel.

The party was full of yummy treats. Noah looks like he's sizing up this cupcake. Believe me, he demolished it.

Meanwhile, Griffin looks like he's ready to cue the Hallelujah chorus here.

Some of my other favorite costumes ---

Loved Shawne's witch costume. She went all out.

Blake killed me in her Octomom/Nadya costume.

And check out this homemade Hungry Catapiller costume that Jack is wearing. Amazingly cute isn't it?

And, just one more shot of Mike. hahaha You can also catch a glimpse of Miles as a vampire --- he had his Bumblebee costume hidden underneath and did a quick change midway through the party. He came up with the idea himself and cracked himself up for pulling it off. :)

I love this picture. Miles documented our costumes at school on Monday. He's taught to spell things as they sound to him. He wrote: "on halloween night my dad was a fisherman and my mom was pinkalicious unicorn and I was bumblee and my brother Noah was batman and my baby Griffin just wore a skeleton shirt"

We only trick-or-treated at 2 houses, due to a torrential downpour, but the kids didn't care. It was great Halloween!