House Update

Front View

Great Room

Playroom


Well, the hard wood floors are in, the sheet rock is finished, siding is about done and the trim work is nearly complete. Now they will put in the kitchen, cabinets and paint. I am so excited I can hardly stand the wait! Here are a few pictures of the progress.

Atlanta Half Marathon

Finish Line

Well Deserved Hugs

I made a goal to run in the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving morning and despite not being as prepared as I wanted to be, I ran it anyway. I had about a million excuses circling my brain but really felt like I needed to complete my goal. Gratefully, there was gorgeous weather and I finished the race just after 9am and in time to head up for the turkey shoot. Thinking about seeing my family waiting for me at the finish line kept me chugging along.
Jackson and Kate had even made me a big sign that said "GO MOM" and they were so excited for me to see it. When Jackson finally did see me he told his Dad, "I think Mom could have won the race". How cute is that? The faith that children have in their parents is powerful (misguided at times but powerful). :)
I am looking forward to the next race and am trying to convince Jason to run one with me. We'll see...These pictures were taken mintues after the race, hence the very rosy face.

Turkey Shoot

Turkey Dad

The Crew

On a mission

Left overs

For Thanksgiving we went up to the Puzey's home in Cumming, GA. with our good friends the Andersons. We always have fun when the mass of us get together and this was no exception. The Puzeys have this fun tradition of having the Dad's dress up like turkeys and the kids taking their turn at whacking them to bits with paintballs. It was such fun (for the kids that is)! After that excitement we had a wonderful meal and the kids enjoyed playing all afternoon.
Although the Dads are still nursing their welts and bruises I think that they too had a great time. Here are some pictures of the fun event. Can't wait until next year!

You've Got to be Kidding Me!!!

Buckle Fracture

Hugging the Wall

Jackson Skating

Jackson and his Buds

Well, Jackson's last day with a splint on was Thursday. Boy was he excited too. He even participated in PE on Friday and his coach said that it was so good to have him back.
So, on Saturday we went to an ice skating party for Jackson's friend Zoe. I was getting ready to post the cutest pictures of the kids from that day. It was the first time that Jackson and Kate had gone skating and they had a blast! Jackson fell a couple of times and cried that his wrist hurt but it wasn't very impressive and I thought he'd feel better with time. Well...last night he woke up crying telling me that his wrist hurt. Today I had to work in the ER so I had Jason bring him in for an x-ray and sure enough he broke his wrist! It is a buckle fracture (not nearly as big of a deal as the last break) but he will have to get another cast for 4 weeks. Poor guy!!!
I decided to post the cute pictures anyway and the new x-ray. Hopefully he'll be out of this cast by Christmas...

The Comeback Kid

After missing 7 weeks of the fall soccer season due to his broken arm Jackson made it back for the last 3 soccer games. The boys had learned a lot during his hiatus and Jackson had to work hard to try and catch up with his teammates. He ended up having a great final game though. As luck would have it, he will be able to play with the same crew in the spring. Here are a few shots of his last game.
When the coach gave Jackson his trophy he said that it was for "Jackson - The comeback kid".

Siding

Back of the house

Where the porch will go

Great room

They began putting the siding up last Thursday and now the back of the house and sides are nearly complete. I think the siding on front of the house will be completed tomorrow. I have chosen a color for the house and will test a small patch out next week. That task has been the most challenging of them all for me. It's a big commitment.
Not too many more decisions to make at this point. I have to choose the type of stone for the front porch, pillars and fireplaces. I also have to choose interior colors. I am having a friend with an interior design backround help with that though. I'll post some pictures of the front in the next few days.

Windows and More

We are very excited with the progress on our home. We have the plumbing, electricity, windows and staircases in. It is so much fun walking around and envisioning moving back in. The inspections have been happening this week and I think that next week they are going to start working on sheetrocking and putting up the exterior. Now I have to choose the tile and paint colors. Pretty fun!

Our Little Gobblins

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

We had such a good time last night with the kids! This year Jackson begged me to dress up so I finally caved. It usually isn't my thing but I tried to get into the spirit of it and ended up having a lot of fun. Jackson and Kate especially liked my black eye make-up. They said it made me look spooky. Next year Daddy has to step up too.
This was the first year that I didn't help to choose Jackson or Kate's costumes. Jackson really wanted to be Luke Skywalker but we couldn't find a costume in his size so he settled for Obi-Wan Kenobi. He especially liked wielding the lightsaber and torturing his sister with it. There was no question in Kate's mind that she would be the little mermaid. Her favorite part of the costume was her sparkly shoes, until they kept coming unlatched all evening. Ava's peacock costume was the cutest thing I'd ever seen and looked even cuter on her. Her little tail even bobbled up and down when she walked. I am quite sure that I took a hundred pictures of Ava last night. Too bad she'll be too big for it next year...

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Family Shot

Look at those pumpkins!

Too cute

This was the best shot of the crew

We had a fun family night on Monday with our good friends the Hatch Family. It was kind of late in the month but we had to get those pumpkins carved before Halloween. Jackson chose the bat and of course Kate wanted the "Kitty". She is all about Hello Kitty these days. Who knew a butternut squash could be carved? Troy is a man of many talents! A great time was had by all as usual.

My First Slide Show - Pumpkin Patch

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Thanks for the tips Carly! Now to work on the header...

Bobcat

Jackson worked really hard with Grandma Anderson this past week to achieve his Bobcat badge. He was given the award on Thursday the 26th. He loves scouting so far and is asking me daily if I want him to say the Cub Scout Promise or Law of the Pack. He's got them down!

A huge thank you to Grandma Anderson and her help with everything from sewing the badges on, to making leaf rubbings, fall placemats and mowing our lawn with Jackson! She is amazing!

Go Kate!

Kate is enjoying soccer more and more. Not only did she not cry this time (although she did slump her shoulders and pout a few times) but she took the ball from one end of the field to the other and scored a goal! Go Kate!

I had to laugh when I saw these pictures and noticed her protruding tongue while concentrating on getting the ball and kicking it. I think that every one of the pictures taken of Jason playing tennis have him biting his tongue. Like father, like daughter!

Kate's favorite time of the game is still the end when the parents make a tunnel and the kids run through while we cheer. Then snack time. Does life get better than that?

Miss Independent

Boy is Ava getting to be her own person. My friend Anne said on Sunday, "What a big personality in such a little body". She sqwaks loudly when we do something that she doesn't like/want including feeding her. Meal times have gotten considerably messier in the last month! Notice the progression of messiness and the removing of clothes.

She also is very adept at shaking her head no or nodding yes to let us know her preference. Gratefully, she is usually such a happy girl and we are trying to let her grow and do on her own.

Happy 7th Birthday Jackson!

We can hardly believe that Jackson is 7 years old! When I was waxing nostalgic on his birthday, thinking about the turmoil involved in getting him here, I told him that 7 years ago we were in the hospital waiting for him to arrive. I said that when I saw him I fell in love. He smiled a huge smile and told me that he did too. Cutest thing ever?!!!

It seems that kids end up getting at least 3 birthdays what with school party, friend party, family party, etc... These pictures are from our little family party. I continue the tradition of ice cream cakes which is so yummy. Jackson got a new bike for his birthday, Floam, Star Wars V and Over the Hedge. What do you think his favorite present was? That's right...FLOAM. I could have save a lot of money!

Cast is Off!

Thrilled would be an understatement in trying to describe how Jackson felt about getting his cast off. He was incredibly patient over these past 7 weeks and I don't think that the full arm cast really slowed him down at all. That being said about a week before his cast came off I noticed that he began putting check marks on our family calendar. When I inquired as to why he was doing this he said so that he could count the days until his next doctor's appointment. What a trooper. He wasn't complaining to me but just quietly counting down. It was like Christmas morning though on October 26th when he woke up. I am just glad that we had an 8:15am appointment! His arm is slightly deformed still but the orthopedist assures us that this will continue to straighten. The orthopedist also told us that the next 2-3 weeks are a critical time and to try and remind him to be careful and not fall down! Are you kidding? The boy is 7 years old. He falls down walking into the next room. Wish us luck!

Oh, notice the cute Tiger Cub uniform? Sewn patches are courtesy of my ever talented Mom and no we don't dress him in the uniform daily. He had a pack meeting that day. :)

Fall Festival

As if I don't have enough going on in my life I agreed to chair the fall festival at Jackson's elementary school this year. This has been 4 months in the planning and although it was a tremendous amount of work it was a blast! We reportedly had the largest turnout ever and the kids had a wonderful time. I am already roped into doing it again next year but now that I know what I'm doing it shouldn't be too difficult. Gramma and Grampa Hansen were visiting with us and were able to share in the fun. They were unbelievably helpful and we couldn't have done it without them. Well I guess we could have...but there would have been a lot less fun!

Pumpkin Patch

Grandma Anderson is visiting from Montana this week and what a special treat it is to have her here for Jackson's birthday! Today the kids were out of school for a teacher preparation day so we took advantage and went to a pumpkin patch. While we ended up at a different location than originally planned the kids had a blast anyway. This pumpkin patch had a large caged area where the bunnies jumped around and the kids could pet/hold or hop after them. It was the highlight of the trip but the kids are also looking forward to carving the pumpkin (or watching Daddy carve it).