A jog-a-thon and an exciting day in the neighborhood!

The kids had a jog-a-thon fundraiser at their school where they had to run around their field for a half hour and see how many laps they made. I was impressed with both Jesse and Grace. Each lap was a 1/4 mile. Grace ran 6 laps and Jess ran 8...definitely more than I could do. Good job kids.Dylan also "unofficially" ran about 10+ laps. The different grades ran at different times and we were there all day helping pass out water and marking laps, so he ran with every group that came through and enjoyed spraying them with water.Sadly, I did not get any pictures of Jess, I was too busy marking laps as the kids ran by...Bad mommy! The kids had a great time and were able to feel like they were helping raise money for their field trips and such. Fun times.

We have a usually very (extremely) quiet neighborhood. We have been here for a few months now and rarely see anyone about. Apparently, all you need is a good sink hole to get the neighbors to come out of their houses.This happened on the street below us where the kids' bus stop is. We enjoyed watching the digger and men as they went about their work. I'm sure they loved having all these grown ups and kids running around while they were trying to repair the pipe! After this excitement was over we headed back up to our house and was met by this...A couple of firetrucks and police cars in front of our next door neighbor's house. Apparently our elderly neighbor, Gary, had passed away in his sleep. We spoke to his brother and he had been struggling with heart problems for quite a while. We had only spoke to him a few times since living here, but the kids felt sad for him. I'm just glad that we know that he is no longer suffering.

And now we have gone back to the quiet.

Uh Oh!

Here comes trouble!


Yes, he is now mobile! Can't sit up, but is scootin' all over the place. Ain't he cute?

Pumpkins, some funny shaped balloons and a two wheeler!

Now how's that for a title? I know you are antsy with anticipation, so off we goooo!

Grace had a field trip to the pumpkin patch...fun was had by all!On the last few days of Balloon Fiesta, they have what they call the special shapes rodeo (and at night they call it the glowdeo where all the balloons stay grounded, but they inflate and glow from the fire) Friday was the first day of the rodeo and this is what graced our skies.We saw Nemo, the Energizer Bunny, Darth Vader and many more. We were even able to catch up with the sun.Yes, we were all in our jammies, we just jumped in the car, not intending to get out, when we saw Sunny Boy here landing next to Walmart. We just couldn't resist the photo op. However, as I was getting out of the car to take the pics, I remembered that I had a big hole in my pajama pants...Luckily I had a sweatshirt that I tied around my waist.
Balloon Fiesta ended on Sunday and we sure miss all the balloons flying overhead.

Friday night, Grace finally braved the two wheeler and is now off and running.I took her training wheels off last week to put on Dylan's little bike. She was a little upset, but being the mean mom that I am, I told her that she was too old to ride a bike with training wheels (and I didn't want to go buy some new ones for Dyl!) We tried to get her to ride it for a few days, but she would just cry for her training wheels. Finally on Friday we got her to try it. She was a little afraid at first (which is unusual because she is not my scaredy cat) but then she took right off. She asks all the time now if she can go practice...I think she needs a bigger bike!

Housekeeping Habits

Do you have certain days that you clean certain rooms or do certain tasks? Or do you clean on an "as needed" basis? How does that work for you? Tell me about your housekeeping routines...I need all the help I can get!

We love Balloon Fiesta!

To kick off balloon fiesta week they do a lift off at the elementary schools all over town. So, we got up early Friday morning to head over to the kids' school to see the balloons inflate and launch. It is really so much fun to see.

And then on Sunday morning we woke up to this amazing sight...

Balloons filled the sky and flew over our house. It was really a spectacular view that we had, the pictures don't do it justice. We even jumped in the car to see some of the balloons landing just a ways up from our house. How much fun.
The balloons were up again this morning and will continue until next Sunday. This is definitely one of the best parts of living here!

Eight Months

Our little James is 8 months old...where has the time gone??? He cut his first tooth this morning and we had a weight check on him. He is now 14.6 lbs (3rd percentile) Still our little runt, but cute as he can be. Our little dairy-free experiment did not garner any noticeable difference, he is still growing at the same rate, so I am back to a normal diet...yippee! He didn't gain, I didn't lose, so I celebrated with a slice of Costco pizza after his appointment...Yum!
At 8 months old, he is rolling, scooting a little, but not sitting up unassisted just yet. He seems to be following in Jesse's footsteps in this regard as well, so I am expecting it to be any time soon. He is sleeping through the night (most of the time) and is just such a little joy to have around. We love our little Jamesy-bug.