Donuts With Dad

Here is a picture I got from the secretary at St. Joseph from their donuts with dad last week.

Preschool Picture Day

They were ready for their first school picture day.  

The Race!

I was lucky enough to run a marathon with my sister-in-law today. After training all summer, it was a relief to finish today. So many miles we both put in training this summer and we pushed each other to the end. The setting was Cuyahoga Valley National Park and despite what the name implies, it was not hilly at all. About 95% of the course was on a trail path next to the Cuyhoga river and scenic railroad. With the leaves changing, it was nothing short of beautiful--and so was the finish line!

The weather was a brisk 42-48* but perfect for running. The sprinkles held off until the last few miles of the race, too. Sarah and I finished at 4 hours, 22 minutes and 45 seconds. I finished 15th in my age group (there were only about 30). John and the kids made the trip and it was nice to see them at miles 6, 11 and 18. It adds a spring to my step whenever I see them.

The trail was beautiful

Homecoming

We took the kids to the Avon Lake Homecoming Parade today. Somehow in the girls' three short years they have learned that parades=candy. And they are right! I think the collected a grocery sack full of candy today. It was a beautiful morning for a parade, if not a little brisk.

Avon Lake Newspaper took their picture--we will see if they make it in.

gathering candy

Fun at the Library

Thursdays----our only open day---has become our library day. They have story times sessions at 10:00 and 11:00 and we have gone to one of these sessions since the programs started three weeks ago. The girls are enjoying the craft after the story time and then they play at Discovery Works. Discovery Works is great because they change out stations, puzzles, toys, etc. but they keep most of the big stuff there. I realized today that Elizabeth can name all the letters of the alphabet while we worked on a puzzle today. She also knows some of the sounds. She is getting close to spelling her name (she can spell Anna's and Kate's names, however). She will write the letters, E, L, I and H. Kate and Anna are picking up on naming the letters too, however, they can't name them all. They are both close to spelling their names and I have been working on writing the letter K for Kate and the letter A for Anna. And Anna is finally getting her colors right most of the time. She loves to color and will sit for quite a while coloring. I think she will probably have the best penmanship when she starts writing.

Elizabeth will play with this bead table for twenty minutes at a time. She loves it.

Anna insisted on reading me a book. She mostly told me the colors of the pages.

This lock puzzle is a favorite of all my kids. Kate played with it today for a while.

Since it was in the mid 70s today, I picked up Jack from school and we went to a "new" park. Jack always wants to try something new. So this one we have seen and we have never played at, until today. Here are the kids running the bases. The playground was behind us and I didnt' get any pictures of the kids playing there.

We Are Ready For October!

Love that they wore these shirts last year...and the tights the past two years!

Getting ready to watch Mary Poppins

First Day in Uniform

Today was the first day for uniforms for Jack!

Backpack view