Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving this year wasn't our typical. It was our year with my family and my parents were headed to West Virginia. There really just isn't enough room for us to stay there any more with my 5 and Jennifer's 4, plus my parents. Plus, we really didn't want to stay in a hotel for the holidays. We planned on celebrating with them the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

My crew and Jen's crew headed to our good friend Melissa's house and did Thanksgiving in a non-traditional type of way. We had chili, awesome appetizers, and some good dessert. No one was running around, stirring gravy, mixing mashed potatoes, or making sure the marshmallows weren't burning. So heavenly!!(Even if I don't really cook, ever, at Thanksgiving:-))

I also realized something interesting about my boys. They are quite maternal. Funny. Elise(Melissa's daughter) has this baby that pees and poos. Really. The doll really goes in the toilet. It's quite hilarious. I honestly feel sorry for the mothers out there that have to endure this type of thing, seriously. But we had a good laugh and my boys were obsessed with the thing...maybe b/c they're obsessed with anything that has anything to do with toilet talk.

Sam LOVES Melissa's daughter and follows her around. Well, they both follow each other around. Ugh! Not ready for that yet.

She's such a cutie. We love having extra females around, that's for sure.

Turkey Trot

I consider myself a runner. I run. I run several times a week. But I have never run in an organized race. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I make excuses like, "I have 3 kids and don't have any time to train for one. I mean, I do want to cross the finish line with a good time". Or maybe there is a fear of seeing all of these hard core runners...you know the type...they can tell you how many miles they have run in a week, month, and year and their average mile is around 5 1/2 minutes or something like that. Then that fear would become a reality as I would watch each of them pass me making each stride look ever so easy and graceful. However, I decided to put aside all my fears this year and Taylor and I signed up for the annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Race in downtown Cincinnati. It is a 10K...or for those of you out there who don't know how long that is, it's 6.2 miles. Not a long run for runners, but I don't normally run 6.2 miles everyday...I don't know many women with kids who have the time for that anyway. But I manage around 4-4.5 miles which is pretty good for a girl with 3 kids. I know I keep saying I have 3 kids...sorry.

(The night before, Taylor and I wanted to see what would happen if we let the boys put themselves to bed on their own. When we got up the morning of the race, we found them all in Conner's bed. It was so cute that I had to take a picture. I had to add that as part of this monumental day.)

We dropped the kids off at my sister's and headed downtown for the "big" race. It was actually fairly warm...upper 40's and sunny. It truly was perfect weather for running. We had to tie these sensors to our sneakers to get our time when we crossed the finish line...I think mine was messed up, ummm, because I could have sworn I crossed the finish line way before an hour, but when we checked on-line, my time was just over an hour. Oh well. I finished the race and I loved every second of it. And surprisingly, there were lots of people like me...moms who don't have tons of time to be a serious runner, but just want to stay fit and healthy. And there were the hard core runners, too. The winner of the race finished in just over 30 minutes. Pretty good. Hmmm...I wonder if he has 3 kids. ;-)

Here we are after the race, feeling awesome.I was also loving the fact that my hubby, who could have finished the race at least 15-20 minutes before I did, decided to run with his wife. He's so sweet, huh?

Another Family Wedding

I am doing some catch up here, but Taylor had yet another cousin get married this fall. His cousin David got married in Michigan. It was a cool, crisp day and the ceremony was actually outside...brrrr! However, it was a beautiful setting and they said their vows as the sun was setting. Very romantic! The reception followed in a heated tent right next to where the ceremony was held and was a blast. Our boys were invited, thank you Lauren and David!! Let me just say that I was not aware my boys had such dancing skills. Conner had some moves I was completely unaware bodies could actually do, but nonetheless, he was doing them. All 3 boys became center of attention as they put on their dancing shoes and went nuts. I wasn't sure whether to laugh hysterically or run in horror. I kept envisioning them in high school, hormones and all, trying to get "the" girl by doing some crazy movements with their hips. Alas I was brought back to reality and enjoyed the fact that everyone loved watching them and complimented us on how cute they were. Here's Taylor and Conner busting a move, props and all.

Sammy Sam met a cute little girl and spent the night flirting and playing cards...kinda scary how this came so easy to him.

And of course, it is always so great to see Taylor's family. Lots of cousins, lots of craziness, lots of fun!! Loved it all!