Our visit from Mimi and Poppy and Uncle Andy

Well it's already mid fall and the leaves around here are in full swing on there way to covering our property for yet another year. The kids are getting excited for the big leaf piles and Mommy is beginning to feel the onset of another cold and dreary winter. As you can tell the blog has officially taken a backseat since the beginning of August and mostly because Marathon training has taken over my life. Not that I would change it, I really enjoy all the running but it has left little to no time for fun things like blogging and cleaning closets. I still occassionally cook dinner but have definitely feed my fare share of chicken nuggets to the family over the last few weeks. I am up to mile 19 in my training and if you would have asked me when I was at my first mile twelve in September how I ever got to 19 is just amazing. Following a training program just somehow works and you just get it done. This past weekend Tracy, Gwen and I traveled the roads of Swedesboro and Woodstown and had a beautiful Sunday run through quiet traveled roads with beautiful scenery and great conversation along the way. Of course at mile 16 I was wishing we were done, but we kept going and the finishing of our 19 miles sure did feel good. I have a set back week this week to 12 miles and then next weekend is the biggie "20" and then the taper begins. We are just about 5 weeks away from an incredible experience and a huge accomplishment checked off my bucket list!!!!

A few weeks ago Mimi and Poppy decided to take the Auto Train to visit us and Poppy had his HS reunion in Wildwood. The kids always enjoy all the time they can spend with them and we all had a great visit. We had Mike and Emily over for dinner with our whole family and invited Emily's parents too. It was really nice to finally meet them, they are a lovely couple and we are very excited for Mike and Emily's wedding next fall. We had a fun time taking pictures the day of what Connor called the "midnight feast" but we did all the pictures before everyone got there and then I forgot to pick up the camera to take pictures at the dinner.

 We got to show off our new front porch(well its almost finished, still waiting for a good weekend to paint the cement) with our rockers and the painted front door. Everyone really likes it and I can't wait for it to be complete.

 I was able to sneak a quick little peak of my nephew, Colton who is getting so big and almost ready to crawl. My little girls are growing up so quick and beginning to look more and more alike all the time. Meggie is beginning to run around more and getting faster trying to keep up with Mara and Connor. She loves to go to the soccer fields for practices and games and says "run, run" and wants to be like Mommy and run around the track. She actually does do a little trot and it is really cute to watch.

Samara has reached a new milestone as she finally has left Mommy and Daddy's room at night and is ready to be a big girl. She has made it almost a week so far sleeping in her own room and we couldn't be more proud of her. She woke up the first night a few times and a few nights after but last night she slept 12 hours straight through with out calling for us to come and lay with her. I put new comfy tee shirt sheets on her bed and she thinks they are so cozy and warm.

A week after Mimi and Poppy went back to Florida, of course everyone with colds, from our kids having a two week spell of bad colds and coughs, Uncle Andy came to visit. We decided to just stay in for the weekend instead of going out to dinner since Meghan loves to scream in public places. We all went to the soccer games and then spent a weekend watching football and building a rollercoaster. Well, watching Uncle Andy build the roller coaster I should say. He spent 6 hours on Sunday building a K-nex rollercoaster and I'm sure we will never see one of those again. Wow, is it time consuming and there is no way a kid could ever put something like that together. It was pretty cool though after it was put together and the kids really do enjoy playing with it. So a big thank you to Uncle Andy for spending his entire Sunday building for the kids.

 And there you have it, the amazing 6 hour roller coaster. Really makes you think about all the time that goes into building a real roller coaster! The fine details that are involved, this came with a book about a 1/4 inch thick and had about 47 steps.

As you can see just pure joy and excitement on these little faces and that's what it's all about. Aunts and Uncles are always there to make you smile!

Meggie has found a new liking and obsession and it's baby dolls and bows!

 She is always carrying around a babydoll and we went to the store to get Mara a new prize for sleeping in her bed and she picked out a $5 sticker/marker princess book, Connor picked out a $35 beyblade, and Meggie picked out a $3 doll. So we know which kids are going to take after Mommy and which kid is going to be just like Daddy. As for the bows, Meggie will not let you take her out of her crib after her nap or night time with out getting out of the crib and immediatley picking out her bow for the day. She has to pick it and then Mommy has to sneak one that matches and pretend that I am putting the one that she picked in her hair. She is going to be all about the glitter and glam when she grows up for sure!