new race track

snow....

eventful week...

Tonight we opened a few gifts at our house:) You'll see a mouthful of m&ms in BJ's mouth. Ah to be four and seven years old!




BJ's school had a super fun party too, where I just floated around with BJ. I had such fun, as did he. They made gingerbread puppets, iced gingerbread cookies (BJ only licked off the icing), and Santa stopped by. How sweet of him to take time off from his busy holiday operations to come see the kids. The kids all brought one wrapped book from home to share in a gift exchange which was lot of fun. It's so neat to see kids excited about new books.



Friday both boys had a fun xmas party at their schools. CJ's was all science related, which was a fun and different way to organize a party! I was in charge of the "Christmas Catapult" station where the kids predicted then catapulted a Santa, a hersey kiss, a xmas bow, and a xmas ring. They really had a great time and you wouldn't believe the science vocabulary these first graders have.


Thursday night CJ had a Christmas Concert. One of his Christmas surprises for us was that he was chosen to play one of the musical instruments in the program! This was a BIG deal and I have no idea how he managed to keep this a secret. He was really hoping to get to do it. It was such fun. He was so excited about the program, that he woke up early that morning and fixed breakfast for everyone.

BJ's Christmas Party

new personal record

Today I ran 13.1 miles for the first time EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
And I wasn't absolutely zonked by the time I was finished, although I'm sure I'll sleep great tonight.

Weather Forecast....highs/lows for week....

5-Day Forecast

Monday

11° F | -1° F

Tuesday
4° F | -4° F

Wednesday
13° F | 12° F

Thursdsay
14° F | 6° F

Friday
8° F | -6° F

OH MY GOSH!!!! I just had to post how extreme this cold feels! This arctic blast is unreal. At least the sun is shining. Everything you touch is cold it seems. The high tomorrow is supposed to be 4degrees!

When I left to the gym this morning at 5:50 AM it must have been close to 5 degrees. It has warmed up to 10 degrees I believe now.

After I took CJ to school this morning and came back to take a shower and pick up Rick and BJ, I walked into the house and didn't see BJ anywhere. I asked Rick where he was and he said, "Go look in his bed..." So I did, and there was a little ball curled up under his many, many blankets. When I said, "Hi BJ, are you going to get out of that bed?" He said, "Call me when breakfast is ready." Seems as though he was ready for breakfast #2, as he had rice krispies and a poptart for breakfast already when CJ was eating. That cutie pie.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It's been a LONG time since I've had time to post! We've been beyond busy. Last weekend we did open our Christmas boxes to decorate a bit. BJ was so happy to see old Santa (in pictures above). He insisted on sleeping with him a few nights. So much fun to see our special ornaments. The boys remember them from last year, esp. the ones they've made.

And you see from the other pictures the beautiful snow that has finally arrived. Actually came all of a sudden it seems to us. We scurried yestersday to get the snow tires put on before the next round of winter comes (Monday?). When the boys went outside to play, it was really somewhat blizzard-like, with the winds blowing the frozen snow, but they stayed outside anyway. BJ is able to put on his own snowsuit, jacket, gloves, and boots this year and that is VERY exciting!!!! Many thanks to Gina and family for sharing all their snowsuits/gloves with us. Now we have some to grow into, and some to replace cold/wet ones.

This morning we have awakened to a little more snow on the ground, probably 6 inches or so, and 10 degee temps outside! YIKES. They say that is supposed to be about the high for today. Definitely no running outside for the next few days:)

Toothless builder

We had two visits from the toothfairy this holiday weekend. One on the eve of Thanksgiving and again Thanksgiving. CJ's smile is absolutely adorable!

CJ is showing you the car he built all by himself Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He approached me Thursday morning about 10AM and said, "Mommy, I just don't know what to do. I feel like I need to build something." Fortunately, his mommy thought ahead for once and happened to have this K'nex set in the closet. It's pretty cool, with a motor in it, which makes it a little different than his other lego creations. There are over 220 pieces in this one.

turkeys in disguise???

BJ's school has notified us that there are some turkeys this time of year in disguise! Who knew? BJ says they wear a disguise b/c if people see them without their disguise, they will want to eat the turkeys. And look who we found hiding at our house...Spider Turkey!

Flat Stanley Visits Mimi and Enno in Holland!

45 1/2 miles this week

This is a new weekly record for me and I'll say I'm proud of it.

I felt good this morning, running the last 6 miles for the week. I went to the rec center to run, only to find out they are closed this weekend for recarpeting. So I hit the road on foot, which on the one hand is very healthy for me to do, but it was a chilly 40 degrees (sun blocked by the clouds) and my toes were frozen for the first mile. Running outside felt great. I don't get to do it that often since the time change. I've noticed that when I do run outside, my pace is a bit faster than what I do on the treadmills. I averaged a 9:10 mile today, which might sound slow to some, but I'm quite thrilled with it:)

Many people out of town this week for Thanksgiving (the university is closed all week)and very peaceful running through the normally bustling campus. I made it to the top of ole' Watertower Hill (which is like a mountain when running!!!) and it always feel so liberating to run back down the hill, passed the golf course, looking out over the town. By the end of the run, I was in shorts and tee, sweatshirt wrapped around waste, which tells you that I did in fact warm up.

The pictures posted above were taken over a month ago, just before the leaves started to really turn colors. This green tree space is actually along my running route from this morning.

Thanksgiving Feast

A yummy feast today at BJ's school, in good company with so many family friends. Strange how in just one year, since last year's feast, we've gotten to know so many more of the families that BJ goes to school with each day. We are so blessed. BJ is showing you his pilgrim hat that they made. The children also made placemats, which I'll keep forever, and turkey placesettings that were darling. Such fun. CJ's best friend in first grade, Dylan, has a little sister who goes to BJ's school. BJ and I sat with Dylan's family today and had a good time visiting. Now we're looking forward to our own family feast this Thursday:)

BTW, joyously celebrating, this proud mama, Topher finished his first chapter book this week, all by himself, thanks to a little encouragement from his precious, precious teacher. She understands his ability and really holds his feet to the fire, not just getting by, if you know what I mean. We're thrilled b/c the world of chapter books is SO much fun and his world is going to change!

And Flat Stanley is apparently making some visits...CJ's teacher read to his class two postcards this week, one from Granny and one from Grandma and Grandpa! Keep your eyes open, as Flat Stanley may be coming to visit you soon as well! We actually have two Flat Stanley's going in our family, as mom was so clever to download one in Holland for us:) I happened to be in his class volunteering this week just as she had started sharing the postcards/letters and it was delightful conversation shared between the children and Miss T and myself. What an awesome activity! CJ grinned from ear to ear when he found out that it was a postcard (x2) from his family:) Mom, I think I still need to get you their school's address so you can mail your post card....yikes!

Happy Thanksgiving Week to all!

on the edge

Hmmmm...not sure how to describe this moment of discovery that made Rick and I laugh and laugh last night.

On the one hand, we were delighted that BJ took his glass to the kitchen from the breakfast table without being asked to do so...

on the other hand, with all the counter space to work with, you see his placement selection. Indeed, on the edge!

That's our BJ!!!

My we did laugh!

daddy's birthday

keeping us busy...

Baby quilt made for friend using the vibrant, cozy, soft fabrics mom sent me from Holland.



Making candy apples on Halloween morning...

Production at BJ's school...

These were shared with us from a friend at BJ's school. We haven't had the time to download our own footage from our cam, so I'll just post these for now. It was a really cute production where the kiddoes sang a few songs. These are just little clips that will give you a taste of the fun the kids were having.

Ha ha...I just listened again to the first video, and the kids are singing, "my grandma is a tickler, a tickler, a tickler.." and they are doing a tickling motion. The song was full of different sounds with hand gestures.

BJ's yellow mask on his head signifies that he is a duck.

Halloween party at school...

Oh my. What a FUN morning I've had. The school district is closed today for parent conferences so CJ was DELIGHTED to go to BJ's school today, who happened to be having their Halloween party this morning. These teachers, who are INCREDIBLE, invited the children to dress up and they had a full-blown, completely organized party, in the dining area of the building. There were round tables set up with different activities.

You'll see in all the pictures how precious the children are in their costumes. Can you imagine the effort that these teachers will put into helping these children all day to tie and untie so they can go to the restroom?

Patience they have overflowing from their teacher veins. And look at the darling teachers!!! Cat in the Hat, an Orange Crayon, Dracula, and my favorite, Raggedy Ann (or a rag doll). Raggedy Ann just moved here this summer from Branson, Mo. for her husband to attend graduate school at the university. The orange crayon and Raggedy Ann are BJ's teachers this year. The Cat in the Hat and Dracula are BJ's teachers from last year.

They had a good old fashioned cake walk (see video). Candy bag decorating. Mask making. Play-dough station, which the classes had made earlier this week. Ghost-ghost-witch (similar to Duck-duck-goose) game on the stage. Snacks. Etc. Fun was had by all.

And to top it off, apparently every year this sweet preschool walks across the street to the Courthouse to go Trick-or-Treating at the offices within. I guess all the offices bring candy and treats JUST FOR THESE LITTLE PRESCHOOLERS! How precious is that?! Don't you imagine the adults at the courthouse just love seeing these little cuties in their costumes, breaking up the "work day"?!!!

Let me upload some pics and video now. I love the one of BJ dancing and eating at the same time...
Can you believe how tall and skinny he looks? You'll notice he opted for the old favorite "Spiderman" costume, even though he has a brand new Batman in the closet at home:)


BJ at the cakewalk. Just so happened he won this cakewalk while I was filming. Look how excited he is to go select his cupcake:)