Christmas is Coming

Jamie making toffee and our Christmas sign loaded means Christmas is on its way.

Decorating the Tree

We set up our tree on the 21st of November but it had some lights out so we didn't end up finishing the decorating until the 29th.

Shun the Sun Run

Emmy decided she wanted to run the 10k during Gilbert Days. I wanted to run the half marathon so Jamie said he would run the 10k with her. She trained really hard for the 10 weeks leading up to it and was ready for it. Wacey and Jenny made her this cute sign to wish her good luck.

Her and Jamie both did awesome. There were 10 kids in the 13 and under age group. She ended up 3rd.

Here she is getting her 3rd place pin. I am amazed at her. There is no way I could have ran 6 miles when I was 9 years old. We had charged her IPOD the night before but something must have happened because it quit after 2 miles. Their run didn't start until 9 and it was hot and she still ran the whole thing. I was pretty proud of her.

I ran the half in 1:53:29 which was a couple minutes slower than the past couple of years but it was good to run it.

Saving Rook

On Saturday November 12th, Jamie was out back working on our sprinkler system. The kids had been begging him to go swimming so he told them they could. Well of course, the water was too cold so they were kind of just playing on the outside of the pool, there was no one in it. Jamie was on the other side of the yard and not really paying attention. Well Rook was walking backwards and tripped and fell into the deep end. Jamie never heard him go in. He just hears TJ yell "Dad, Rook" and then he sees TJ dive into the pool. By the time Jamie got over there, TJ had his arm around Rook and was struggling to get him to the edge. If TJ wouldn't have seen him go in, I don't know if Rook would have gotten to the edge. We have worked with him on being able to get himself to the edge, but I think the water was just so cold that it took his breath away and he kind of panicked. I was so proud of TJ for just jumping in and not waiting for Jamie to get over there. TJ has had 2 water safety classes since he started going to scouts in May. So Jamie told the story in church and thanked TJ's scout leaders. Well that spurred on a couple of different events. TJ's guitar teacher, Sister Williams, is the merit badge counselor over water safety so she gave him a certificate and gave him little water toys for the whole family and then the scout master, Brother Martin, talked about him at their pack meeting and gave him a special coin that had a young man wearing the armor of God. I think TJ was a little embarrassed by all the attention.

The Eye of the Tiger

I got to go on Addy's field trip with her to the Phoenix Zoo. One of the neat things this trip was the animals that were built out of legos. Most of them took between 40,000 and 80,000 legos and hundreds of hours to build. They were pretty cool.

The spider monkeys are always a favorite. While we were there this time there was some kind of little squabble and several of the monkeys started hissing and yelling and as soon as that happened this little baby jumped on the back of another monkey.

The girls also got this snake to follow their finger around so they thought that was pretty cool.

It was a fun day with this cute girl. I love her dearly.

Soccer

TJ had his year-end soccer party on November 9th. He had a great season! He is a natural and I love watching him play.

Evie's 5

Evie's 5!!! I can't believe she will start school in 8 months. It is just so crazy to me. For her birthday she wanted to go see the movie Trolls. So Jamie took them to see it on Saturday while me and my mom were at Time Out For Women. She acted like she liked it. Her actual birthday was on a Sunday so it was pretty low key. We started the morning opening presents. Grammy and Papa got her Anna and Christoff from Frozen. She also got The Peanuts movie with the "little red-head girl" in it and a new karaoke machine that she was pretty excited about. Emmy got her a new doll which she loved. After that we went to church and then ended the day with cake and ice cream. Wacey and Jenny came over and my mom was still here and got to celebrate with her.

At 5 years old, this girl loves to read and play with Rook. She is so ready for school she can hardly stand it. She has finally embraced the color of her hair and will now tell you it is red instead of pink or blue. She is adorable and I love her.

Time Out for Women

I got to go to Time Out for Women with my mom on the 4th and 5th of November. We went to eat at Kneaders Friday night and then headed over. Friday nights' program was awesome! John Bytheway and Alissa Parker spoke. Alissa's daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. They both were so amazing. Saturday morning we went back for the day. It was good but not as amazing as Friday night. It was a nice couple of days with my mom.

Loose Tooth

I looked at Evie yesterday morning and noticed that one of her front teeth was sitting at an angle that clearly wasn't normal. So I wiggled it and it was all but ready to come out. I didn't even know it was loose. By the end of the day, we got it out. So she lost her first tooth, on November 1, 2016. She is still 4. That is the youngest that any of my kids have lost their teeth. The tooth fairy brought her $3 and a bag of skittles.