having our fun!

I never got around to posting- but Saturday we ran the Holiday Hustle and watched the glow in the dark parade in downtown Maumee. It's our fourth year in a row doing it- and it was definitely the coldest that I can remember!  The race was fabulous- but after we stopped and the sweat froze it became pretty miserable.

The race itself was especially fun because I ran with my 5K class. I just taught an eight week class at the YMCA called 'train to run your first 5k'.  It was so much fun. I loved the people in the class and I loved running the race with them!  I told them they need to run a warmer 5k before they decide to give up on running altogether. Most of them loved the race despite the frigid temps.

 Here is another shot with a bunch of the ladies from the class.

 A bunch of friends from church also ran it!

 We tried bundling up the rugrats as much as possible.  Ike fell asleep before the race even started- and Zeb loved seeing all of the Christmas lights!

 I didn't actually run in my pj pants- they were just keeping me warm until we got moving!  kent and I ran the race together and took turns pushing the stroller. These kids are getting so heavy.

 After the race- we waited for what seemed like FOREVER for the parade. We should have just gone home. It was waaay too cold and the parade was a little on the lame side this year.  Both kiddos were freezing- and I couldn't feel my toes. The idea of the parade is quite magical and festive- but the execution this year was lacking.

 On Sunday we stayed in all day to thaw out and relax.  We made our own thanksgiving dinner so we could eat leftover turkey sandwiches all this week! Plus I got a turkey for free at Meijer- so we had to cook it up before it went bad!

 We also put up our Christmas tree.  We caved and got a fake one last year on clearance (six bucks!).  I was sad but Kent said no more to the live trees.  He claims that he's still picking up pine needles from last year's fire hazard of a tree.  I think he just hid a stash somewhere and pulls them out periodically to show me.

and here are some funny pictures of Ike trying to do a somersault.  I really thought that he was going to snap his neck. It was ridiculous how far he'd bend on it before realizing he wasn't going to be able to flip over that way.

He is such a monkey.

Thanksgiving Shopping

We started off Thanksgiving week a little early with a shopping trip up to Ikea.  The closest is up near Detroit so we made an afternoon of it on Tuesday.  It's been so nice to have Kent home!!

I love Ikea and I'm super glad that it's far away so I'm not tempted to spend buckets of money all the time.  Plus, when we go it's kind of like a mini vacation.  The kiddos love the children's furniture section.

And for a little while we actually got to drop Zeb off at Småland and run around with just Ike.  I think that both rugrats were quite happy about the way it worked out.

We also got to have lunch in the cafeteria. Ike wanted nothing to do with the meatballs.  I don't love them, either.  Kent ate all 15.

 This kid is obsessed with stuffed animals. He's already got a gazillion so this dog wasn't about to come home with us- but he loved it nonetheless.

We left Ikea with a small bounty of chachki.  Bowls, cups, candles, etc.

For our Black Friday shopping adventures-we were going to camp out at Target- but at ten PM as I was checking the deals one last time- I realized that our items were all available on their website for the black friday price with FREE shipping! I bought everything online right then. Then, instead of catching a few hours of sleep early on, Kent and I hit Walmart at midnight when their deals started.

You know you've reached adulthood or momhood or something when you hit the midnight sales for these.

These bins were 2 bucks each.  Nobody else was even near them. No lines, no stampedes, nothing.  We picked up six, paid for them, and made it home in just a few minutes.

Laney and I decided to get up early and brave some of the crazier crowds in the morning. We hit the gap (50% off everything!!), forever 21, old navy, target, best buy, big lots, and meijer.  The deals weren't all that fabulous- but we got a few good items.

We especially loved this Santa Claus.  Can you tell what nationality he is?  because he had the most ridiculously thick and hysterical accent.  He couldn't see out of the costume head and just kept giggling: "I can't see!  I can't see!" in the funniest Japanese accent ever.  They were outside of a Japanese Store and were so so funny.  Maybe I was just really tired.

 Later that night we finished off our Black Friday at the outdoor mall again.  We waited in the FREEZING unbearable cold for twenty dollar giftcards!
 
I may look like a fool- but I'm the only one that dressed appropriately.  Unfortunately that meant I was the one who waited the entire hour in line while the others took shifts to come and visit me.  They passed out hot chocolate and cookies while we waited, though.  

Laney had to use Milly's blanket on her head.  It was in the single digits with the wind chill.

Ike kept asking for a "jacket, please!".  He didn't realize he already had his coat on.

 Then when we got in the car both rugrats kept complaining that their hands were hot!

 It was crazy cold- but we met some fun people- saw some friends- and got eighty bucks for our time. Totally worth it and a black friday tradition.

mmm good.

With our beautiful crazy fun host and this giant delicious turkey, our thanksgiving was perfect!

We spent the day playing outside with Eddy and running through the creepy woods,

going on a great after meal walk to make room for the best desserts EVER,

playing a few rounds of 'pin the hat on the turkey',

watching football and toy story three,

and just being with family laughing and laughing.

 There were 25 people for dinner!  and here are just a fraction of the shoes.

 The starkeys are the most gracious hosts- always willing to share their home and food with us and let our raucous children run amuck.  I really can't express just how great it is to have 'family' close by!  It was too wet for the AK 47s this year- but they promised we'd get to have some fun next time we came to town!

Oh- and, of course, we ate and ate and ate. I still feel bloated.

The day was wonderful. Down to the very last second -which was spent at midnight waiting in line for 12:01 to strike so we could buy, buy, buy!  :)  more on our shopping adventures in a later post!

I absolutely love Thanksgiving!  Now let the Christmas festivities commence.  Bring on the snow and the decorations and the music, please.

Their faces are going to stick like this.

 Zeb makes funny faces all day and begs for me to take pictures so that he can see them all.  He's getting pretty good at a lot of faces.

Earlier this week I had to shower while Ike was awake- so I put on a movie for he and Zeb. I came out to find Ike with this. 

 Who does this?!  I have no idea where he came up with the idea to play with the drawer from the dishwasher.  Luckily it was empty.  He loved that it had wheels.  Such a weirdo.
 

 Kent worked his last crazy week this week and we started our celebrations on Saturday!  He has the next two weeks completely OFF!   no work. no school. nothing.

He surprised me on Saturday by getting a babysitter and taking us to Harry Potter. I am not ashamed to admit that Harry Potter plays an important role in the foundation of our marriage. Number seven did NOT disappoint. I LOVED it.  I want to go and see it again.

I wanted to take a picture at the theater to document our fun but Kent has a hard time with pictures in dark places. His eyes can NOT stay open with the flash.  I bet we took 30 pictures (before the movie started). Seriously.  Finally (after six years of marriage) we realized that if he just doesn't look at the camera directly- he can keep his eyes open. That's why this picture looks so ridiculous.

 And now we are rereading number seven. I didn't remember ANYthing.  It was ridiculous.  I can't wait for the second movie to come out. I really love harry pottter.

In 30 days the next chapter of our lives opens.  I'm really excited and just a little bit nervous.  Kent interviewed at a number of places and now we just sit and wait to hear back as to where we are headed come June.  I don't think it's much of a secret as to where I want to go- but I will be happy no matter the outcome.

Any requests from would be visitors?

In no particular order- the top options are:

Dayton

 San Antonio

Norfolk

and Bethesda (DC area).

Or maybe we'll be going somewhere totally unexpected?!  you know, the military has been known to do that :)

lots of pictures of crazy boys.

I think that all the rugrats did this weekend was PLAY.  These kiddos love to run around, wrestle, giggle, and be crazy.  And Ike likes to wear undies over his diapers.  He loves batman the most.  He tells us when (after) he goes to the bathroom and asks to sit on the toilet- but I am NOT ready to potty train so we talk about it a lot and I hope that he's just as excited about it in six or so more months :)

 Zeb was extra happy this weekend because his pal, Sam, was in town from Indiana.  They even got to have a sleepover one night.  They giggled and giggled a lot.

 We also got to go swimming with Sam- and lots of our other great friends!

 These blocks are some of Ike's favorite toys right now.  He loves to count them, stack them, and knock them down over and over and over again.

 These two also really love their bunkbeds. Ike is still sleeping in his crib- but I'm not as nervous about letting he and zeb climb up and down the ladder and play up top. Ike has such good coordination and really wants to be big like Zeb- so we let him play.  Zeb kept asking me to take a picture of his legs while he was up there. I think it looks rather creepy. Almost like it's just a pair of legs with no body. Zeb loves the shot.

 Kent gave the kiddos buzz cuts before church yesterday and I am so happy.  Their hair was getting very straggly.  I like short, easy hair.  Let's hope I don't get any girls.

And finally- their silly faces. Zeb taught Ike how to do it and I swear he's going to rip his face off or something. He does it constantly and pulls so dang hard on his cheeks! It's got to hurt.