Tastes of fall

Every fall my mom and I spend a whole day making tons of applesauce that we can freeze and eat throughout the winter and the rest of the year. Jack was really excited to have a more hands on roll this year. We even talked about it for a few days leading up. I shouldn't have been surprised when he said he was done after five minutes. Thankfully both kids played great all day since they were getting less than an ideal amount of attention. We used a whole bushel of apples and made about 15 quarts this year...mmmm good!

9/29

Yesterday was Josh's 28th birthday. He was able to take last Friday off from work so we enjoyed and extra long weekend as a family. I love 4 day work weeks! The kids and I made him cupcakes, his favorite yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Usually everyday the kids like to wait outside on the front stoop for Josh to get home from work. It was raining yesterday so inside the door is the next best thing.
Waiting anxiously and excitedly to sing Happy Birthday to Daddy
Jack got this stick from a Make a Wish event we went to and calls it his cheer stick. The other night we were at a high school soccer game and made Josh wave it in the air and cheer for him as he kicked his soccer ball around. Josh felt very manly waving his purple cheer stick around :)

I love this picture of Jack looking at Josh because it shows just how much he loves his daddy

More of Ellie and her hats. She continues to find more things around the house that can be turned into apparel or something she can put on her body.

Little Piggy

You would never guess by the size of her, but Ellie actually out eats Jack about five to one. I never realized how little he actually eats until Ellie came around. In addition to three full meals a day, she is snacking all the time. Friday night we did a little grocery run after dinner. One item on the list was deli turkey. Since marrying Josh he has convinced me that there is no better way to eat deli turkey than to have it shaved so thin that it is falling apart into little pieces. Anyway, It's best to eat just after being cut and between Eleanor and Jack alone they consumed at least a 1/2 pound before we even left the store. Ellie was literally shoveling it into her mouth with the back side of her hand. The cashier gave us a pretty funny look when she saw the bag labeled 1 pound of turkey with hardly anything left in it.

Ellie and Daddy enjoying snacks after nap time

The Faces of Eleanor

I feel like I can count on one hand the number of pictures I have of Eleanor smiling. Despite what all the photos show, she really is a happy girl...a significant, stubborn mind of her own, but still happy. I love these pictures because if you look close you can actually see all the snot and drool coming off her face.

She's Her Own Person

Here's just another example of Ellie's desire to always be wearing something "odd" should i say. This is a cute little kids apron I bought for Jack when I was in KC this summer. Ellie will find something around the house and follow me whining until I put it on her. A couple nights ago we were headed out for a high school soccer game and Ellie cried for 15 minutes before we left for me to put Jacks fleece jacket on her. I caved and needless to say she looked ridiculous in a brown hooded fleece about 4 sizes to big!

I was messing around today with some of the features on our video camera software. Here is a "Nostalgic" version of playing outside the other night. For some reason it repeats the beginning part featuring Ellie, but I wasn't about to take the time to correct it. Hopefully I'll have time to do some more fun stuff like this soon.

My Buddy

Jack LOVES his daddy, but I would definitely call him a mamas boy. Aren't we cute?

We finally just got around to letting Jack pick out a toy with some birthday money he received. He picked this 60 piece John Deere puzzle. I wasn't so sure he would be able to do it with out help. I was wrong. He put it all together by himself with only a little coaching on the side. I was so proud of him!

Accessories

Many people have asked me throughout the year if I have noticed many differences between having a boy and a girl...Oh Yes! Eleanor has this recent love of hats and shoes. The funniest thing about the hat is that instead of picking it up and putting it on she bends over, butt in the air, and sticks her head inside. And even though she started wearing shoes only a few weeks ago, she is crazy about them and wants them on all day long. What a goof.

She's Walking

Ellie started taking more and more steps late last week. She's definitely walking now!

Construction

Jack puts these worker goggles on all the time, I don't why i've only thought now to take a picture. He looks so funny, yet takes himself so seriously when "working on something" He'll often grab some of his tools, come to me and ask "so, mom what do we have to work on today?" One of his favorite things to do is cut down this pole in our basement.

Jack and Hailey working together to cut down the pole.

Reed's Lake Triathlon

After an intense and busy summer of training, I finally did it! Yesterday was a big accomplishment for me as I finished my first triathlon. My whole family came out to support me and I had such a great time. I didn't have a lot expectations other than wanting to finish under 2 1/2 hours...my time: 2.29:41 The swim and bike were both a little faster than i thought, and the run took a little longer. The weather was really cold in the morning(55 degrees as i jumped in the water), but turned out to be about 70 as crossed the finish line. God really blessed us with a great race day smashed between 2 days of rain. Josh and his mom both took some good pictures. Here's a little view of my day

Getting ready to swim with a few of the girls I trained with

#290...The funniest thing about this is I picked up my race packet and was marked on Friday night. Nobody told me it would rub off all over my sheets! I don't just mean black smudges either. The actual #'s 290 are on written backwards on my sheets now! I'm guessing since it's permanent marker it won't come out in the wash either :)

Finishing with a Smile!