A Busy Weekend...

We were quite busy this weekend as I am sure a lot of you. On Friday morning, black Friday, I got up bright and early 3:45am to go shopping with Diana!! Can I tell you how excited I was to be able to do this after our 4 years in England. I only had a short while as we were leaving at 8am to go to Wisonsin for Andrew's cross country race. The time shopping went quickly but I had FUN!!

The race was at the University of Wisconsin Parkside in Racine and the weather could not have been better. At race time it was 35 and sunny with NO wind...it actually felt warm when compared to the meet we were at a couple of weeks ago. It had snowed earlier in the week so Maggie spent her time playing in the snow and entertaining herself. Christopher enjoyed himself too but he probably would not admit it. Andrew ran in the frosh/soph boys race and he had a really good race. His final time for the 5K was 17:48 and out of 215 runners he placed 70th. This was his second best time for the year so he felt good about how he did when compared to other runners from Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan,North Dakota and Nebraska. There were a lot of runners :-) He says he would definately go again as he loved running the course.
On the way home we stopped at the Jelly Belly factory and hoped to take the tour...WRONG! The line was huge and we were not prepared to wait so we just went into the retail store instead and did a bit of shopping. We also went to a cheese place on Friday and bought some yummy cheeses too.

A New Door...

We FINALLY got a new front door this weekend. We thought we would have to order one as we wanted a right hand inswing but Tim was able to find one in the store. Yeah....instant gratification!! Tim didn't even wait to get started on the project~he installed the door last night. It looks so much better than the old one and lets a ton of light. We will paint it next summer when we do the other painting.

A COLD meet

Today we traveled for the Nike Midwest Cross Country regionals. The weather was absolutely MISERABLE!! The temperature was about 35 plus the 15-25 MPG winds plus rain it was the worst conditions the kids ran in all season. Andrew ran in the Frosh/Soph race and considering the terrible weather he did pretty well. This provided experience for running on the state meet course as well as run against the top runners in the Midwest from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Missouri.

Permit and Published

Looking back I can remember the significant milestones that the kids have reached: first word, first tooth, first step, first day of school. As well as the more exciting ones like learning to tie their own shoes, potty training and the ability to dress themselves! As they've gotten older the milestones are not so life changing but they still mark the passing of time: the first day of high school and today a new milestone ~ Andrew got his learners permit.

For an assignment in school, Christopher had to write an essay and submit it to a national competition. This week he received a letter informing him his essay was selected as high merit and is being published! In typical Christopher fashion he was not phased by this honor at all :-} His mother, on the other hand, thinks it is pretty cool.

I wish I had something exciting to write about but to be honest this week was rather uneventful. My first week at work went well...however, I got the first of what I think will be MANY colds this winter. I guess I will go ahead and get the flu shot afterall :-}

I did....DID YOU??

My civic duty has been completed and I voted today after work. Well... actually after I had my hair cut first. One has too look good when they vote :-} I had a very short wait ~ I was in and out in about 10 minutes. Tim has the tv on and it is amazing how the news networks are already projecting winners of states - that has always amazed me.

I will post photos from the cross country state meet tomorrow.

Maggie is 9!!

I am a day late on blogging about Maggie's birthday! Yesterday, November 2 she turned 9.

I was not on the computer all day and forgot about a post until I was reminded about it this afternoon:-}

She had a great day and received many presents...she will be sending thank yous later this week.