forgotten & no pictures!

I can't believe I forgot one of my highlights from yesterday!  While cleaning and rearranging a few things in the house Charli came across a sticky mustache that she got from only God knows where.  She put it on and said to me, "Mom, I mus-tache you a question"!  The sight of seeing her with a stache was great, and the addition of her comment made it even better!  I wish I could have captured that on video...she thought she was hilarious!  I am sure she heard it on TV or a movie, but it still cracked us up!

She has convinced Chad to stop shaving until Christmas.  At first I thought this would quickly go away, but now it has been at least two weeks, maybe three and neither of them have forgotten.  I fear they may be in it to win it.

....oh facial hair, why must you be a topic of interest in my home?

girl & spelling crazy!

We had a busy and fully weekend, and had beautiful weather for it!  Chad went to 'deer camp' to get ready for next month so the kids and I took full advantage of making our own rules :-)

Harper has been cracking us up this week with his crazy talk and funny phrases.  This week he has been modifying his counting to sound like "ah-leven (11), ah-twelve, ah-thirteen, ah-fourteen, etc...followed by giggles!  He has been totally girl crazy this week remaining consistent with his sole girlfriend at daycare, but making many changes day to day with the adult crowd!  I started as his #1 girl when he asked if I would be his girlfriend forever.  The next day he asked to call "Aunt Manda" and asked her the same thing...I was demoted.  Even she didn't last long before being replaced by his high school babysitter, Taylor.  

Charli has really enjoyed learning to read and spell words.  Today she asked how to spell "dam", and asked if she was right with her guess of "D-A-M".  When I asked her how or why she would use that word she went on to tell me that when there is too much water and it isn't supposed to go into another spot there is this hill-thing called a "dam" that gets put there!  I was glad to hear it!  

The stories between these two could go on and on...so I will let the pictures do the talking!

who doesn't love to make spontaneous chocolate chip cookies?!

Charli had two soccer games in a row this weekend.  After the last whistle blew Chad took off and the kids and I started on our fun adventure!  We headed North to do some shopping and hit the pumpkin patch.  These two had a blast chasing each other around and enjoyed the wonderfully sunny weather in October!  We didn't hit the patch last year as Harper was in his big ole cast, and Charli went with school...so it was fun to see them enjoy it together.  

 this picture makes him look like he has no upper body and is all legs!  While he has grown a few inches since his birthday in June, I assure he does have a torso! :-)

 these two were on their best behavior all day, I was so proud of them!  When they would see other parents having a hard time with their kids, Harper would come to me and say "mom, I bet they don't get to do something fun tonight.  They are not being good listeners!"  Brainwashed, just the way I like it! 

I may consider building one of these in our basement for our teenage years...

 I love this picture!  The quality is horrible, but Charil's face is priceless!  As she was walking buy this friendly fella licked her arm!

 While I was loading Harper in the car and making sure our shoes didn't make a huge mess, Charli loaded all of the pumpkins herself!  She is one strong cookie!

 This was one of our fun projects while Chad was away...

Charli wanted her colors to be all mixed together and she wanted the names of her colors to be showing so we would always know what colors she picked!

 her finished project!  Mixing the colors makes for a much different outcome, but having it be unique is what makes it so great!  She is excited to hang it in her room!

Harper had a little different strategy.  He wanted the names of the colors "on the bottom" and had a rainbow look.  I thought they may get tired of waiting for the wax to melt, but they were both equally excited to see the other's work of art!

 He was super excited and proud of his work! I would like to say I caught him blinking in this picture  but he was just so cheesy and excited that this was his legit smile face!

The finished projects!

 our next project was to paint the little pumpkins we got on Saturday...so many ideas and so little pumpkin space! 

After the pumpkin patch we went shopping and the kids each got new boots for the fall.  Charli fell in love with these the second she saw them!  She loved to strut her stuff with this exact outfit the rest of the day.  She looked like she was ready for a trip out west.  Rachelle...when can she come?! 

Saturday morning before soccer I ran the "We Can Walk, Run, & Roll" 5k event sponsored by CCH in Columbus with my friend Rachel.  We had fun, wish I could have stuck around after I finished but literally had to rush to soccer.  Chad and the kids even made it, just in time!  I was literally about 20 yards from the finish line and they got to the fence to see me finish!  My time was about 45 seconds per mile faster than last weekend and the weather was much-much-much nicer!!!

Another busy week is about to start and Charli's last soccer game on Saturday.  It is starting to feel a bit like fall....

color me a good time!

This weekend I traveled to Iowa to have some long overdue girl time with my BFF from the east.  The reality is, I was only as far east as Des Monies, IA...I just can't make myself admit to spending (and enjoying) time in Iowa!  Teasing, of course!

Courtney and I have been friends for years...over six years actually.  We met when our first born were babies.  She kept me strong when Charli was in treatment, and kept me sane through my second pregnancy and birth of our son.  Weeks later, she called me to tell me her oldest was diagnosed with cancer.  Some of you may remember that, I went straight to (our old) blog because I wasn't sure how to process that information.  Fast forward three years and everyone is doing well...and now a forth child is in the mix with their second son born in the middle of their cancer journey.  We have had a lot of experiences together but this weekend we had another first.  We ran our first 5k together.  This was not Court's first, but it was our first together, and it was my first 'official' 5k.  We did the color run in IA, which is the same race I posted about this summer.  We had a great time.  It was cold, it was windy...but it was worth it!  (I am hoping the "We Can 5K" in Columbus is a little warmer this weekend!)

We enjoyed some great girl time including shopping, coffee, dinner, drinks, pizza, and football!  Good times with good friends is medicine for the soul!!

None of this could have been possible without Chad being super-dad on the home front, he gets lots of props!!

 these guys cracked me up!  I could totally see one of my nephews doing this.  There were 27,000 runners at this race which made it the largest Color Run they have had in North America yet!  I think they blew the doors off of the event in Omaha!  (however, the run in Omaha was about 70 degrees warmer AND the sun was shining, with NO wind!!)

Brenda * Courtney *Brenda*Courtney ;-)

these cancer moms were running with a purpose!  We each had four ribbons on.  We each gave two away when we were asked what they were for!  Spreading awareness wherever we can!!!

post run!  We were not as colorful as we could have been...the wind took the color faster than we could catch it!  

Way to Go Derek!!!

I have amazing nephews, all nine of them are pretty special in my book!!  Here is a story about one of them, this was found in the Humphrey Democrat and Norfolk Daily News this week!!  You can click HERE, or follow the link below! 

http://www.norfolkdailynews.com/news/decal-honors-relative-who-battled-cancer/article_cf838d28-0c9d-11e2-af6a-001a4bcf6878.html