Let's do a little catching up.
The week before Thanksgiving the seven of us and my parents headed up to Virginia Tech for a football game. The weather was great and the seats were great, even if we were right next to the opposing team's band... then again maybe the girls were not as whiny as I expected simply because I couldn't hear them! Before the game we stopped by Doug's grandmother's house for a quick visit. It was great to see her.
The day before Thanksgiving the kids were surprised when old friends came back to VA for a visit; they moved from our neighborhood to California in the summer of 2008 and have been missed terribly. What a fun reunion it was and we hope to make it out for a visit sometime in 2010.
Thanksgiving began with the annual Turkey Trot in our neighborhood. This year all three boys ran. Caleb ran and finished first out of our family.
Price ran with Doug and completed the whole race, which is great for Price because while he is a good athlete, running is not really a favorite sport.
I ran with Evan. I was surprised he agreed to run three miles and once he wanted to cut out a part; he is so competitive and I think he realized he couldn't win but I tried explaining to him that it was finishing that mattered, that his dad and I never even finish in the top half of our races, and that this was a long race for a 6 year old, I think he understood. Now Evan and I have very different running styles ~ I am ssslooowww but steady and he likes to mix it up ~ some sprinting, some walking, some hurdling of puddles. I was more sore the next day than I was after the half-marathon! See how foggy it is? Let's just say I don't recommend running up a golf-course driving range in fog. We all got very, very lucky... both the thirty-something runners and the poor lone golfer who was quite surprised to see us all come from the same place he had just hit a ball into. After the race we went home for the Thanksgiving feast, complete with our fried turkey... PaPa once again did a fabulous job! It was a great day, as was the Black Friday shopping the next day.
The house is almost all decorated for Christmas and there are a few ornaments I want to write about and I am starting today with the above because I don't think I talked about it last year and there is a story... in case it is not obvious. Price made this last year. As they were finishing them up I ran into his teacher and she was concerned that we would be upset that he made his snowman black. We laughed. She tends to like things neat and pretty and well, this falls into more of the "interesting" category. Price said he just wanted to make his snowman black and his friend Nick did too.
This year we have been visited by an elf. He visited the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the first time and brought a book with him to explain why he was here. The boys wanted to name him Tommy and Brynn wanted to name him Zart so his name is, drumroll please, Tommy Zart. Every night he reports to Santa what went on here and comes back to a different spot in the house. So far he has done this every night without fail but we will see if he can keep it up; after all this house has so much activity I'm thinking there might be a day or too when he is just too darn tired to move. Evan & Price do not seem the slightest bit concerned about any behavior being reported; they just like to get up 30 minutes earlier now and compete to find him and argue if one gives a hint after finding him. I am not going to quote exactly here but the day T.Z. was straddling the bathroom light, Price's first words were about how he was sure the light was squeezing a certain body part that rhymes with huts. Now, Brynn is more concerned about behavior and reminds her brothers often that they are being watched and now, when she gets in trouble, she is three times as dramatic because she knows that means she is getting no presents even though we tell her that mistakes happen and there is plenty of time to be good between now and Xmas. Caleb really has no interest in T.Z.
Brynn has her dance recital next week. I'm not sure that all the pieces really go well together but she can work any outfit... isn't she cute? Her dance teacher mentioned after class on Monday that she needed to learn how to do a backward roll and today she was so proud to have mastered it!
Tomorrow we attempt our Christmas card picture. I'd use the above if we didn't have four other children. This should be fun.
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