Eric and I completed our third 1/2 marathon in October. We both had great races as the weather was perfect and he and I had had a fairly good stretch of good training runs in August and September. We so enjoy traveling to St. Louis twice a year to complete the running events but more importantly connecting with Aunt Diane, Uncle Brian and cousin Hannah. We are forever grateful that they are willing to watch the kids while Eric and I participate in the events. This particular weekend we got to see Hannah cheer on Friday night. It was great fun attending her last football game for the season. She'll go to Easter IL next year to study to be a museum curator. Congratulations cousin Hannah.
Aunt Diane always has some fun activity for us to do the Saturday before the race. This time around it was a drive out west to the Wild Bird Sanctuary. We had a wonderful time and got to see lots of cool birds. The grounds the birds were housed on were just so peaceful and beautiful set high up in the trees.
There's a hawk ;)
The bird keeper was showing the kids what she feeds the bigger meat eating type creatures...if I remember right there was raw liver and heart in her little bowl.
The owls were the most fascinating to see. I thought this little guy was just beautiful but they had lots of other species of owls too.
After the bird sanctuary we set out even further west of the city to the Purina Farms grounds. They happened to be hosting a dog racing type show. The grounds were beautiful and these dogs were amazing to watch. So so fun!!
We celebrated Maddox's 7th birthday at Aunt Diane's house around her campfire. This has become our race tradition....spaghetti at Aunt Diane's and s'mores and a campfire the Saturday night before the race. What fun!
You can't see it well but Aunt Diane, Brian and Hannah got Maddox her first live pet...Bella the male (or female in our house) betta fish. Diane got Maddox a beautiful gallon tank with a filter and a little light and tree decoration. I am happy to say that Bella seems to be thriving on Judge Road after a little adjusting to her food schedule :) She sleeps happily in Maddox's warm room.
Race morning...6:30am 50 degrees and clear. Perfect race weather.
Our crew walking back to our hotel after the race festivities.
Kennon told me the beginning of October that he wanted to be a dragon and Maddox, Glenda the good witch. Maddox had a perfect dress for Glenda we just needed to fashion her a staph and a crown. Kennon's dragon took a bit more construction. At one point I was pretty sure I had bitten off more than I could chew but thankfully both kids pitched in to help me get both Glenda's accessories and Kennon's dragon completed just in time for Halloween.
Maddox's classmates at her party. She is in the back row.
Homemade crown and staph and a beautiful girl with dark brown hair just make the costume.
'Make a Mummy out of your classmate'.
Maddox's teacher, Mrs. Welling, is on the right.
We had to sort of guide Kennon up and down stairs as his visual field was severely compromised by the large box on his head!
I love Kennon's eyes.
Phew...finally moving into November pictures. Our neighborhood hosted it's second annual Operation Shoebox giving party. The families in our hood packed about 35-40 boxes that were sent to children in need all throughout the world.
Doing a 'thankful' craft project during the event.
Kennon sporting his 'thank you' card in front of the pile of shoe boxes.
Maddox writing her thankful card.
The second week in November the first graders had a 50's Sock Hop in celebration of their 50th day of school. The kids were encouraged to dress up with high pony tails, slicked back hair, jean jackets and white T-shirts. We borrowed this outfit from a neighbor. The kids got to do 50's type activities ( limbo, hula hoop, hopscotch, hand jive) at the sock hop i.e. the cafeteria.
The first graders....4 classes.
Maddox and her friend Mia at the photo booth.
Maddox and one of her good fiends Avery.
We were lucky enough to be able to host some of Eric's family for Thanksgiving. His brother Phil and his family from Cincinnati, Ohio came on Thanksgiving day for a visit and his sister Lora and her husband Jim came up from Keokuk. We had just a nice visit. I enjoyed cooking a turkey and tried some new recipes. It was great fun to cook a big meal and Maddox and Kennon soaked up the extra attention from their closest in age cousins on Eric's side, Jake and Nicole.
After our turkey day celebration we headed North to Madison or rather Waunakee to celebrate Uncle Tyler and cousin Cashin's birthdays on Friday. The kids had a great time playing together and celebrating the boys' special days.
PJ time, the morning after the party.
We didn't have too much PJ time that morning because we were signed up for an event!! Aunt Brooke and Uncle Tyler's cute town of Waunakee hosted a Holiday Sweater Run event Saturday morning. It was a 5K run or rather walk. All the kids made it through the event although most all in the form of riding in a warm snugly stroller. Carter was the grand champion of the cousins and walked/ran the entire way. Way to go CJK!
Maddox was not into running, or even walking, so she gladly accepted Cashin's warm body to keep warm in the double Bob along with Reid. Kennon took over the single Bob which left Carter without a seat...but thankfully he wasn't interested in sitting.
Photo booth opportunity after the event.
Oh and Grandma Ellen, Brooke's mom, joined us for the fun too!! We'll never pass up an extra set of helping hands. Thanks for joining us Ellen.
After we got back from Wisconsin we took advantage of the warm Sunday and went to pick out our Christmas tree. We went back to the same farm, which is officially for sale now. There was a brief discussion about purchasing it but then the next day came and it was never mentioned again. No tree farm adventures in the Kies future.
Kennon knows when we go to Sam's Club he is likely going to get either a pretzel or a piece of pizza. He and I quite often make our monthly Sam's Club run our lunch stop for the day.
I'll spare you the hoards of pictures I took of poor Kennon and just post these two. He suffered a nasty, itchy rash mid November for about 2 weeks. After multiple Dr. office visits and different diagnoses it was finally determined it was a reaction to a virus he had had a some point. It was so bad...I've never seen anything like it. Luckily it was only itchy for about 1/3 of the time. Hoping that it never comes back!
Somehow these pictures got all out of order...this was before Thanksgiving. We headed over to Grandma Jean and Grandpa Jim's for a Saturday visit. Maddox and Kennon soaked up the grandparent extra attention and activities. Maddox and Grandma Jean made, I don't know how many, turkeys out of cheerios and colored MMs while Kennon learned about the submarine that Grandpa Jim was on in the Navy.
Family picture...including Indy!
Fall held on for a long time this year and we tried to take advantage of every warm day. This is a new park just about 1 mile north of our house. It is super cool with a ropes course and a neat climbing wall. Eventually we'll be able to ride our bikes to the park once all the connecting neighborhoods are finished.
Grandpa Jim was able to come over for Kennon's 5 year old preschool Thanksgiving feast this year. He was just a little bit excited to sing and perform for all of us.
Kennon and his love...his teacher Mrs. Beardsley.
I can't believe this is his last Thanksgiving program at Our Savior.
Kennon punching out the centers of chocolate cupcakes to be filled with strawberry whipped cream and topped with cream cheese cocoa frosting. mmm mmmm!
Maddox chose to get her hair cut the week of Thanksgiving. It was getting so hard to comb and wash in the shower and we talked about donating it. She liked this idea, so after much research we opted to donate to a not for profit called 'Children with Hair Loss'. We have already received a certificate saying they received the hair. We could only donate if it was longer than 8 inches which meant her hair was going to be pretty short after the cutting. But, I think it looks so cute and it is SO much easier to take care of. And it is already growing out. We were already able to get it in a pony on Thursday for ballet.
Maddox had her Winter Choral Program on December 1st. Maddox would sing 24 hours a day if she could stay awake. The kid just sings and sings and sings all the time and asks to have music playing in the house of all varieties all day long. I love hearing her sweet voice. She was very animated during the program and got all the motions down right. She even managed to make it to the top of the risers to 'her spot' with little heels on. I held my breath the entire time!
Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean were even able to make it over for the event!!
Special lunch out and a date at the basketball courts with this little guy.
Maddox at Eric's client open house at The Planning Center.
I got to go on a field trip with Maddox and her classmates last week. We traveled over to St. Ambrose University to see Flat Stanley a very cute musical. I enjoyed getting to spend a long bit of time with Maddox and her friends.
We were lucky enough to win nearly front row seats for Disney on Ice a couple of weeks ago. The show was SOOO good. This year it was a lot of familiar characters and movies…Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzle to name a few. We all had a wonderful time!! Disney just knows how to do it!
Our first snowfall came on a rather warm Sunday morning! The kids put all their winter gear on and headed out to play for the majority of the day. It was so beautiful and a great packing snow.
The weather lady said we were to get 1-3 inches!! Uh….we got almost a foot!
The day of the snow arrival was the family museum's Winterfest. The kids got to see Santa!! Maddox asked for a tablet and Kennon a bow and arrow. Hopefully they've been good ;)
On Saturday I took Maddox to the Nutcracker Ballet. The Quad Cities has it's own ballet company and they are just fabulous. She and I enjoyed the show immensely. I'm hoping to make it yearly tradition for her and I, especially since she loves ballet.
A friend of Maddox's, Avery, was at the ballet too :)
It was ballet on Saturday for Maddox and I and then a family trip to Circa 21 in Rock Island on Sunday…nothing better than supporting the arts during the holidays. We saw Jingle Arrrgh the Way. It was a super cute Christmas musical with an underlying message of 'giving is better than receiving'. Perfect!! We had a great time. So thankful to have access to all these great holiday activities!
He looks so old here for some reason!
With all the snow and cold weather on the way, I thought I'd bring a little spring into the house. Picked up these beautiful tulips today at Hyvee. Such a sweet flower. I probably won't get back before christmas ( unless it's to post our family pictures quick) so Merry Christmas and Blessings to all.
