The end of fall soccer and a Wicked 5k

Holy cow - did this weekend go fast or what?! 

We had a pretty eventful weekend, which always seems to make it go by so much faster than usual.  Friday evening my sister-in-law, Jackie, came over with her daughters.  We were going to make our t-shirts for the 5k today and the kids planned on watching a movie in their pajamas.  We ordered in pizza and got right to work on the shirts.  8 shirts later...

Saturday morning the boys both had their final fall soccer game and of course, the weather drastically changed over the week and by Saturday morning it was 35 degrees.  We froze our butts off, but the boys both won their games and ended the season on a great note! 

I think we're all ready for the season to come to an end.  The boys decided they want to start Ninja Warrior Training at a local gymnastics center, so their first class will be this upcoming Wednesday.  I'm also going to get Sean started in piano lessons.  There's a first grade parent who actually teaches piano, so that makes it easier when you already know someone.  Sean will continue on with Catechism and they will both start up swim again soon too.  Probably after the new year.

After soccer was over, we came home for some lunch and rest.  The cold took a lot out of all of us.  I snuck away for a pedicure and some shopping at Kohl's.  The boys needed some sweat pants and I had some Kohl's cash that was about to expire.  I came home and finished up a delicious recipe, Chicken French Dips by DailyDoseOfPepper.  And then it was time to carve pumpkins.

It's always so much work.  The prep work, the actual carving, the clean-up, the seeds, etc.  We were all exhausted at this point and the boys had been a bit difficult all day.  But, we did the best we could.  We decided to let them just carve a simple jack-o-lantern and Scott carved Scooby Doo for the boys.  I baked a batch of seeds and cleaned up.  Of course, Hocus Pocus was on in the background and then it was time for bed.  For everyone!

This morning we were up bright and early for the Wicked 5k in downtown Plymouth and the boys were running in the Monster Mile.  Their mile started at 8, so we were downtown by 7:30 while it was still dark out.  The boys did great!!  They both ran the entire way.  Sean came in at 11:12 and Evan was in at 12:06!  They got their medals and treats, compliments of Panera.  Josh took all the kids back to their house while the rest of the adults did the 5k at 9am.  I was really proud of myself!  I ran the entire way and kept a consistent pace.  I finished at 35:10.  We went out for brunch at Red Olive afterwards. 

I had a great experience and so did the boys!  We'll be doing it again in a few weekends to celebrate Jackie's birthday and to do the Kona Chocolate Run.  I'm feeling pretty good about myself today...

We all came home and decided after homework and some laundry, it was going to be a relaxing day.  I had a movie marathon with the boys: Goosebumps and Nightmare Before Christmas while we built puzzles, played with Imaginext, and worked on making Clementine Jack-o-lanterns for Sean's class party this week.  Scott cleaned out the garage and both cars.  

My legs are a little sore, but I'm happy that we had such an active and Halloween-filled weekend!  This work week is going to be so awesome!  I have two field trips (one to the DIA to see the "Ofrendas" exhibit and one to Mexican Town to eat and see all the altars throughout) and we're celebrating Day of the Dead all week in all my classes.  Class parties, a half day, and trick-or-treating for the boys this week.  It's going to be a fun one!

A weekend of haunts!

It's a warm, rainy Monday morning and I'm struggling at work today.  We had such a nice weekend, spent mostly with our neighbors and it has me not wanting to be here at work today.  I went to bed way too late last night watching Sons of Anarchy on Netflix and I'm paying for it today.

Friday night, we took the boys out to dinner at Los Tres Amigos.  The food was the best it's been and I enjoyed my medium Margarita on the rocks!  We sat outside on the patio in short sleeved shirts, which seems hard to believe given it's the end of October.  After dinner, we went to the "spooky houses" on a street near our house.  It's an annual tradition and we love checking out the new things they've added each year.

We got home at dusk and the neighbors were playing outside.  What was meant to be 15 minutes letting the kids play, turned into two hours.  The weather was warm, we all had our outdoor lights on, and the kids enjoyed getting to spend time together (there hasn't been too much time for that this fall with school and activities).  They ran around dressing up in old Halloween costumes playing while the adults had some beers and talked.  It was a nice night!

Saturday, Evan had a soccer game in the morning that they won!  He even scored his first goal this season!  Woo hoo!  After soccer, we took the boys to Costco for lunch and to get some items.  We hadn't been since school started so we were overdue.

That evening we had our neighbors, Shelley and Nevaeh over for a bonfire after dinner.  The kids made s'mores.  Scott ended up staying with the three kids while Shelley and I went to Hush in Westland.  It's a haunted attraction that her husband helped design the props for.  He was working at it that evening so he got us in the VIP line for free.  The wait for the regular line was over 2 hours since it was Sweetest's Day, so considering we made it through the the VIP line and through the haunt in 30 minutes was pretty exciting.  We saw Mojo in the Morning from channel 95.5 with his older son and his younger son.  They were two groups ahead of us.  It was such a fun night!  We came back and put the kids to bed and enjoyed the fire with Scott for a while.

Sunday was the Pumpkin Palooza in downtown Plymouth at noon.  We made breakfast, worked on homework and thank you cards with Sean, and then got them dressed up for the Palooza.  This event is always so much fun, but seems to get more and more crowded each year.  Especially since the weather was in the 70's, it seemed like everyone and their brother was there!  The kids enjoyed it and we left after an hour.  I hate to complain, but...it was hot!

Evan had another soccer game at 3.  While Evan was playing soccer, Sean had a play date at his friend Corey's house.  The kids played with the neighbors before and after dinner and we did a simple BBQ and ate on our deck since it was probably the last warm day of the year.  I ended the weekend with a 2 mile run on Hines Drive before it got dark and we had the kids in bed by 7:30pm since they had two late nights.

I was loving the crunchy leaves under my shoes as I ran.  My first 5K is next weekend with Scott's family, so I need to log some miles in this week to make sure my endurance is ready.

It was a great weekend and I'm really looking forward to next weekend with the boys' last soccer games, the Wicked 5K in Plymouth, and more time with friends and family.  And then...Halloween and Day of the Dead!  Two field trips next week will have me extra busy, but it's a fun time of year both at home and at work.  Time to get back to work...

Our fun fall weekend!

Hooray for cooler temps this weekend and fall colors!  I have been waiting quite some time for it to really look and feel like fall!  Now the rain...I could have done without.  Especially considering we had many outdoor events planned this weekend.  I'm hoping and praying that my boys stay healthy this week since we had a cool, wet weekend.

Friday night was Friday the 13th, so we made dinner at home and let the kids pick a spooky movie to watch in their pajamas with popcorn.  They picked Frankenweenie, which is such a cute movie!  After the boys were in bed, Scott and I had some spiked crock pot cider with cider from last Sunday in Grand Rapids at Robinette's.  We watched a scary movie...one of those Paranormal Activity movies and it was awful.  But, we had a nice evening home, nonetheless. 

Saturday morning both boys had back-to-back soccer games.  My parents came out to watch them play in the pouring rain.  Sean's team won and Evan's team came close to winning, but lost by one goal.  Evan played his heart out.  Neither of the boys have scored yet this fall, but they've had so many close moments. 

The rain slowed down enough for us to drive by the Plymouth Township Fire Department for their open house.  We go every year and didn't want to miss it because of the weather!  We had pizza there for lunch, the boys got to put out both a real fire and a pretend fire using the fire hoses, and they picked pumpkins out for the Charity Pumpkin Patch.  It was fun for an hour!

We all came back to our house to watch the Michigan game.  My mom and I got to work making a nice dinner and the boys were enjoying running around in their Halloween costumes and building Legos with Grandpa.  It was a nice afternoon!  There was Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes, a Broccoli-cheese Casserole, and Salad for dinner.  Yum!

And then we were off to Greenfield Village for their Halloween Nights!  We were bummed that it was drizzling most of the night, but we still had a great time!  They had a new path this year that was a bit different.  At first I was worried they were going to leave out the Grim Reaper and the Headless Horseman, but they just put them both at the end.  In the end, most of the parts were the same and they added a few new twists.  I appreciated the beer stand at the beginning this year.  I had a great hard cider as we walked around and off course we stopped to watch black and white cartoons while having Detroit Donuts!

With the rainy weather and a later time for us, I didn't bring my good camera.  I was disappointed with my older cell phones photos, but it was the best I could do.  I can't wait to get a new phone for Christmas! 

Today we woke up and made a nice breakfast.  The boys and I were off to Clinton to ride the Fall Tours Train!  I have to admit that I regretted buying the tickets, given how busy our weekend was already.  The thought of driving 45 minutes there and then back was enough to make me say, forget it.  But, we toughed it out.  Scott stayed home and grocery shopped and took down our ceiling fan in our bedroom to replace with an LED light fixture.  The train ride...was a waste of time and money.  There wasn't much in the way of fall colors that we could see from the ride.  It went 20 minutes backwards and then 20 minutes forward, meaning we saw the same path twice.  Sean and Evan were restless on the train and were bored.  We could only play so many rounds of I Spy...

I took the boys to Panera once we were back in Plymouth and we went to the library to get some new books for Sean to read and some Halloween books and movies.  We hadn't been to the library since the end of the summer, so it was a nice change of pace.  At home the boys played in their costumes, did homework, and played outside with Scott while he cleaned his garage.  We actually lost power partially tonight just as we were sitting down to dinner, so that put a kink in the Sunday evening plans.  Luckily, after bathing the boys with their camping lanterns and reading their new books with flashlights, it came back on just before they went to bed.  Phew!

And just like that, another weekend is over.  I'm off to read on the couch and eat some homemade apple crisp.  Goodnight!