Fall Fun

Leaf Jumping

Hockey!

At the pumpkin patch

I wish I had taken video of this, Luke couldn't control his laughter

All 3 of my animals :)

Lukie loved this chick, he was talking to her so sweetly

So, it has been a long time since my last post and now I realize that I'm so far behind!!  We've done a lot of fun things this fall, the pictures above are just a few of them.

Soccer Party

 The team (minus several players!)

Showing off their medals with the coaches

To wrap up the boys soccer season we had a party at our house the afternoon of the last game.  The boys had a great time playing both inside and out.  The highlight was definitely the boys vs. the Daddies.  I think the Dad's won...

Blake's Urbanathalon

 Rob, Kevin & Blake before the race

 After...proudly wearing their medals!

On top of one of the many cabs that had to be climbed over

Let the race begin!

Over the taxis and buses

 

On Saturday Blake and our friends Rob & Kevin completed Chicago's Urbanathlon.  It was a 9.75 mile race through the city and along the lake front with 7 obstacles throughout the race.  The obstacles varied from climbing through tires, going over marine barricades and under nets, doing sets of monkey bars, as well as some of the obstacles shown in the videos.  The most difficult by far though was climbing up and down the stairs & ramps inside of Soldier Field.  Blake and Rob even finished in 2 hours, a shorter time than Blake had expected.  I was so proud of his hard work and for finishing the race!!

Chicago Marathon

 Our friends before they started the race

 The Geers are so talented they were able to do so many things while running the marathon, they started on the "l".

 Posing with the infamous kite that we carried around all day so that they would see us up ahead.

 Kevin took some time to smell the flowers.

 Allison was thirsty so she stopped for a drink.

Terry, Kevin's dad, being the marathon pro that he is even stopped for a bite of pizza!

Kevin & Terry running

Allison running

Last weekend we headed out with the Browns to support the Geers in the Chicago Marathon.  The day was gorgeous for watching a marathon, a bit warm for running in one though.  However, all 3 of our marathoners did an amazing job, it was so inspiring to watch all of these people accomplish such a huge goal.  We're so proud of them!!



Bears Game with Chase & Casey

 Before the game, each one of us had a twin # on our shirt

 Outside of Soldier Field

Hanging out in the seats

This is a little footage of Chase & Casey playing their own football game



A few weeks back Blake and I decided that Chase was ready to go to his first regular season Bears game.  He really seems to enjoy watching the games on TV so we invited our nephew along for the event.  Luke and Cassi stayed home with Aunt Dana and they had their own fun at Chuck E Cheese!  The boys had a great time and were able to see a pretty amazing game.  There was a lot to cheer about since they won!  I do think the day was a bit overwhelming for the boys when the Bears intercepted the ball and scored.  The crowd's enthusiasm was a bit much but they settled in and had a great time.  The candy that we bought them didn't hurt either!

New Kitchen Counters!

 The new look!

So after a very successful "do it yourself" kitchen cabinet make-over, we decided to try the next step of re-doing our counter tops.  After some hesitation we did it and boy, it was a lot of work for nothing.  They ended up feeling rough and uneven and didn't fit in with the feel we wanted for the kitchen.  So, we decided to go for it and invest in some nice counter tops.  I'm so glad that we did!  It makes the kitchen look so different and a lot nicer.  We love the way it looks!

Lukie Starts Pre-School!

 Checking out the outside play area at the orientation!

 So happy that Mrs. Cecola, one of Chase's teachers is Luke' teacher too!

 Walking to the building on the first day of school

Luke and Miss Kristin, his other teacher

Luke is off to a great start with preschool this year.  He has officially been going for a month now.  He started off so excited to go the first week and then decided he didn't want to go and gave Blake a VERY hard time at drop off.  His teachers insisted that he was fine once Blake was gone though.  This week was better, still a little hesitant to go in but no crying. 

Luke is excited to share who the snack helper is each day (he keeps telling me it is the same girl!) and actually tells me more than I expected.  He has 18 kids in his class but there are only 5 boys which I'm fine with since he's surrounded by boys at home.  His teachers say that he is so good, which for us is quite a relief since he can be such a stinker at home sometimes!

Chase's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Payton, Tyler and Chase 

Walking to school

So we officially have a kindergartner in our household now!  Chase has been in school almost 2 months now and seems to be loving it!  He loves going to see Miss Gibson each day and is making some great new friends.  He is a lot more talkative about school than I ever expected him to be, which of course, I love.  His favorite part of school is PE with Mr. Jayne and he thinks it is pretty cool that he can check out 2 library books everyday by himself.  We're very proud of his behavior at school.  His behavior at home on the other hand has been very unusual for Chase.  He is defiant about almost everything, from not eating dinner to not getting dressed.  Although this past week things have improved, I'm hoping that it is just a transition to a different life for him.  On a positive note, one thing that I do love is that all last year I couldn't get him to wear anything but warm-up pants and t-shirts.  Now that he is in school, he wants to wear jeans and Polo's, he looks so cute!

A Day in the City

 Having a great time playing with the fire truck

 Climbing down the fire pole like a "real" firefighter!

 Climbing up the big obstacle course

 Our musician!

 Driving Thomas

 Swimming in the hotel pool

Right before school started Blake and I planned a family fun day in the city.  Well, the Air and Water show got rained out so we headed to Navy Pier to the Children's Museum.  The boys had a good time enjoying all of the things the museum had to offer.  Afterward, my sister met us and we had lunch and then some down time back at the hotel pool.
My sister graciously watched the boys (Luke came down with a nasty fever!) while we went to Northerly Island to see the Train Concert.  We loved the venue, we can't wait to see a show there again!  All in all, we had a nice day and night in the city!

Feed My Starving Children Packing

 Graham & Kristy, Blake & I, Allison & Kevin

At the beginning of the school year we recruited our neighbors and headed out to a Feed My Starving Children packing.  We'd gone to a benefit in the spring with our friends Trevor and Jackie and we learned a lot about the organization and how much it does to help children all around the world get meaningful, nutrious meals.  We knew we wanted to do "something" and although it was only about 2 hours of our time, it felt good knowing that we helped make some meals for children that don't have enough food to eat.  It is truly unimaginable considering where we live.  It is definitely something we'll go back and do again, especially when the boys are big enough to join us.