Happy Halloween From My Little Terrorists

So...a few weeks ago we were walking through Costco and passed by the costume section.
I asked the boys if there was anything that interested them and they both picked out the
ninja costume.  I repeat, NINJA costume.  Maybe it's just me, but when I went to take their
picture on Halloween, they looked more like terrorists to me.

Maybe it's the look on Miles' face, maybe it's the expressionless looks on the other two,
but this is one Halloween that I decided not to post a picture of our costumes on Facebook.

Inappropriate costume or not, it didn't slow the boys down at all.  They had a great time
trick or treating.  Even Miles loved it.

He loved walking up to the doors and grabbing treats from the humongous candy bowls.  

 It was super cold, but we had a really fun time, and came home with TONS of candy.
One house even gave each of the kids a book, which I thought was awesome.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Owen's Halloween Parade

Today was the Halloween parade at Longfellow.  After lunch the kids all put on their costumes and marched around the entire block.  Unfortunately it was freezing cold so a lot of kids, including Owen, chose to wore coats over their costumes.  Even without full view of the costumes, it was still fun to watch them.  It's funny because as energetic and outgoing as Owen is, in situations like this where a lot of people are watching him, he gets pretty shy.

It's days like these that I am so thankful I am able to stay home with the kids.  I love being able to be there and cheer them on.  It warms my heart.

Nice work Owen!  You did great!

Hot Chocolate 15K

The Hot Chocolate race is something I've wanted to do ever since I moved to Chicago.
Hot chocolate and fondue when you finish the race...what's not to love??

I always hesitated in the past because it's an expensive race.  It's a crazy concept when you
think about it.  Paying $80 so I can put myself through the torture of running 9.3 miles.
It's silly.  Seems like someone should be paying me instead.  But this year the quarter zip
jacket they gave away looked pretty cool, and my friend Katy was doing it, so it was the
perfect year to finally bite the bullet and check something off my list.

A few days before the race I came home to find a sign in my front lawn courtesy of BFF,
the running group I'm a part of.  It was such a great surprise and made me smile (A LOT)!

Race day came and Katy, her friend and I drove down to the city and made our way to
our corral. It's fun being surrounded by so many people in a race this big.

Unfortunately I didn't train as much as I would have liked, so I decided to run for fun instead
of race.  I knew I could keep my pace up for a few miles, but I wasn't sure about sustaining it
for over 9 miles.  Instead the plan was to run with Katy and her friend at a little slower pace.

It's always crazy down in the city during these races so I told Ryan not to even bother
bringing the kids to cheer.  I absolutely loved having them cheer me on when I raced at the
zoo, but I didn't want him to have to deal with trying to maneuver all three of them through
the crowds.  I had a feeling he wouldn't listen to me, and I was right.

About three miles in I looked up to see Ryan racing across the street with all three boys
packed in the jogging stroller.  It was the best!!  I gave them hugs and kisses while the other
two girls ran ahead.  Seeing Ryan and the boys was the little push I needed to give me the
courage to attempt to pick up my pace.  I caught back up to the girls then told them I was
going to take off and take my chances at racing the rest of it.

I'm really glad I did.  I finished with a time of 1:17:52, which was 54th out of the 984 runners
in my age group.  I was able to keep up a pace of a little under 8:00/mile for the remaining
6 miles I ran on my own.  I was really proud of how I finished and the chocolate at the end
was every bit as amazing as I imagined it.  Totally worth the run!  

Thank you Katy for convincing me to run this year.  I had a lot of fun and loved being able
to bring this ridiculously huge medal home to the boys!

Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm

One of my favorite places to go this time of year is Goebbert's pumpkin farm.  This year it was ridiculously cold the day we went, but we still managed to make the best of it.  The boys decided they wanted to try the haunted house.  No sooner had the door closed behind them,

than they came running back out.  Hey, at least they tried.  Baby steps.

The rest of the time the kids just played and we did our best to stay warm.

One thing we absolutely had to do was our annual family picture in the big rocking chair.  Ryan is so excited to keep taking this picture year after year.

It's a fun way to watch how the kids grow up.

Thanks Goebbert's for another year of fun!

Halloween Carnival

Today I took the boys to a Halloween carnival that we've been going to for the past couple

of years.  It's always a little chaotic, but it's a good way to spend an afternoon and

it's the perfect test run of the costumes.

This year they even had a cotton candy machine, which totally added to the awesomeness

of the event.  It was Miles' first time trying it, and he loved it!  No surprise seeing how

much he loves sugar.

At the end of the day we went home with 3 free Junction diner kids meals, 3 free scoops of

ice cream at Brown Cow, 3 free cookies from Twisted Cookie and lots of little Halloween

trinkets.  Plus they had a professional photographer there.

Definitely an afternoon well spent.