Festival of Trees Weekend

This first picture was from Girl's Night Out last weekend. These are some of my friends, Sabrina, Anita, Lori, and Teri.

We've made it an annual tradition to get together with Brian's mom and siblings for the Festival of Trees weekend in the Quad Cities. On Friday night we enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner and the next day we watched the parade. We bundled up and braved the elements. The hot chocolate, big balloons, and festive atmosphere made it a lot of fun.

Hot Chocolate 15K

This past Friday I headed into Chicago with some fellow Rock River Road Runners. We picked up our race packets, loaded up on carbs at Harry Caray's, and stopped by the Redhead Piano Bar. The next morning we braved the elements and headed down to Grant Park for the race. Anita and I ran the whole thing together in 1:19, averaging an 8:34 mile pace, which I was happy with. We had Ghiradelli fondue and hot chocolate afterwards. That evening I met up with Brian and my parents for the musical, Million Dollar Quartet, and then we had a nice dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my parents without the kids around. What a special weekend!

Anita, Heather, Pat, and I sported our Sterling track shirts and got stopped by a couple people from our area.

Final Halloween Activities

There are a million and one Halloween events in our community and I think I overdid it this year. Brian was gone all day Saturday to the Iowa Hawkeye game, so that evening I took the kids to the Halloween party at the YMCA. It was really fun. They had carnival games, bounce houses, dinner, costume contests, and a limbo contest. We hung out with the Petersons. The highlight was seeing Jadon and Leah do the limbo contest. By Sunday night trick-or-treat, the kids seemed to be going strong, but I was completely burned out. I think I'm recovered now, but hopefully I'll pace myself better for the upcoming holiday season.

Trunk or Treat

Our church had a trunk or treat on Saturday. Deb and I decorated the back of her truck like the Garden of Eden and took turns passing out candy. Brant, Amie, Kylie, and Dylan came and spent the day with us. Jadon also had fun running around with Brecken. There was a petting zoo, bounce house, tractor rides, hayrack ride, and lots of games, in addition to the trick or treating. We had a great time and our "trunk" even won 1st place.

Jadon's Party at School

Unlike the parties at the Y, where all the parents come and stand around taking pictures, I only had time to snap 2 pictures at Jadon's preschool party. There were only a few of us parents there and we were able to help quite a bit. First, the kids paraded through a couple classrooms. Then they did Halloween centers in their classroom. They made several crafts and played with playdough. Afterwards they enjoyed their special treats. It was a fun party.