Thanksgiving...

I didn't mention what a nice Thanksgiving we had!

First, we had to go run the local turkey trot for the the 2nd year in a row. And, for the 2nd year in a row, I beat Rik - this year by 15sec. I have to gloat just because this is the only thing I will ever beat him at - he's just done El Tour 5 days before - so he's tired - I can only get him when he's down! There he goes - #54....

And me in the pink skirt....

We celebrated Thanksgiving then at Rik's parent's house - I made the pies - pumpkin, pecan, lemon meringue, and vanilla pudding. Does anyone know how to not have pecan pies boil over when you bake them? Everyone I have ever made has. I'm tired of the house smelling like smoke when it's done.

My sister came to visit as well - the kids loved playing games with her. She is probably very sick of playing LIFE now!

Hat's off to Caitlin!

Caitlin got picked as Student Council student of the month! Yay! Her teacher sent home a really NICE letter about her and gave her a $10 gift certificate to...

She went this weekend and got a book - it's called Eclipse - which is part of the Twilight series of Young Adult books. Apparently they are all the rage - "Vampires with Values" is what I was told! Actually, I did read the 1st one just to see what all the fuss was about... and.... OK.... I love Edward Cullen now too! ;)

Anyway - YAY for Caitlin - we're so proud!!!

Our El Tour finishers!

Yesterday was El Tour - a very fun and exciting day around here. The kids are a little upset that they have to get up at 5am on a Saturday, but, it's only once a year! We went down to the Convention Center to find Rik at the start - it was easier than last year for some reason - they seemed a little less crowded together. If you can't find him - Rik is the one in the UPS jersey.

Then on to the Kid's Ride. There were 400 kids and their parents riding in this. Philip goes FAST!!! Here he is after his ride with his well deserved medal....

Then we went and drove to the 75 mile point to find Rik again.... he looks pretty good for 75 miles doesn't he?

And back to the start/finish line....

The kids made this really cool sign while we were waiting for him to come back - we're going to have to watch the El Tour highlights show - there were at least 2 official El Tour photographers that came along and videotaped them making their sign!

And here he is - 109 miles later - with a time of 5:39:42... at the finish line - almost 1/2 hr faster than last year! Yay! Too bad he had his crash in September and the flu this week - he might have won the race!

Guess why Philip is excited...

Any guesses? He found out he made the B team for flag football at school today. He was convinced that he wasn't going to at all - and now look! Stay tuned for football photos - games start the week after Thanksgiving!

Cross Country...

Is over for the year - but Philip had a fun time! It was off to a slow start as the first meet was cancelled and the 2nd one was postponed due to the school they were traveling to being in a lock down situation! Eep! He did his best at the 2nd meet they went to and got a ribbon - the top 30 got ribbons and he was 23rd in the 5th & 6th grade boys. Yay Philip - look at him go!

Halloween...

Here are a few pictures from our Halloween...

Isn't this the coolest sign for us? I was disappointed that the K wasn't a C in the Kaitlyn, esp since everything else is a C word, but, I bought it anyway because it made me laugh. The spiderweb on our door looked much cooler before the wind blew for about a week and I could never get it to look the same again.

And, here is Dumbledore..

And our fairy...

And them both together...

Our traditional pumpkin carving. I was using Caitlin's camera that night (mine had dead batteries) so I obviously didn't know how to get non-blurry pictures, so, hopefully you get the idea. Caitlin did Garfield, Philip did the bat house, and Rik did the skull.

We had A LOT less trick or treaters than normal - too bad I went out and bought some extra candy! We were all in bed at our normal times - Wow!