I'm Thankful For . . .

Ann Bennett's homework yesterday was to write at least 3 sentences about what she is thankful for. They were going to post them outside the classroom. Her list was:

I am thankful for my family.
I am thankful for food to eat.
I am thankful for my dog and my cat.
I am thankful I do not have to eat shrimp every day.

SERIOUSLY!

Double Digits

I don't know how it happened, but my big guy is 10! Sometimes we drive each other crazy, but I'm so proud of him. He just had a fantastic report card. He's working hard to get physically stronger. He's memorizing his Bible verses for Sunday school and growing in faith. And, in general, I see him making more sense of the world. He asks really interesting questions. He's also lucky to have some good friends, and he's learning what it means to be a good friend and team mate. I'm so thankful to have a son in my life. He's taught me a lot, and he is certainly my first born. I hope he knows how much we love him.

Anyway, today is his birthday, and it was also the annual Turkey Trot at school. About 10 boys and 10 girls from grades 3-5 qualify for the race. They run a mile and the best times are entered. Well, Bryant made it into the race. Today he ran a mile in about 7 minutes! (Carey says 7 min 6 sec to be precise.) To me, that is doggone fast! The winner ran it under 6 minutes. I was a bit worried about B this year because he was home sick yesterday. He finished about the middle of the pack. Being a non running kind of person, this is one of the most amazing things my child has done. I wonder what kind of a runner he would be if he did ANY training. I kept telling him and Tanner (our neighbor who was also in the race) to go practice, but neither one of them would listen to me.

Mark, Garren (2nd place, 6 minute mile), Brad, Bryant

Finish line in sight!

More birthday updates to come. We're having our first spend the night birthday party this weekend, so pray for patience!

Dad and Carolyn Visit

OK, I just lost my first post on blogger. UGHH! Fortunately (one of Bryant's spelling words this week), I had just started. Anyway, I'm very behind with my blogging, but I'm determined to catch up. Dad and Carolyn visited the weekend before Halloween. As usual, Dad helped us get some things done around the house. Carey always feels like we abuse Dad when he comes here, but the man likes to have a project. This trip, he repaired a window, fixed the swing set, hung a coat rack in AB's room, fixed the chain on the chainsaw and helped cut down a tree, bush and part of another tree. Ann Bennett believes Grandpa can fix anything. When something breaks, AB very often says, "Maybe Grandpa can fix it." We are so thankful he is here to help us, and I'm especially thankful that I learned to at least try to do things on my own. I'm not the greatest, but I guess I learned a little from being Dad's reluctant assistant. Thanks Dad.

We did manage to have a little fun. We went to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher. While it is not the Atlanta Aquarium, it's still a really good aquarium, and it's a lot easier to get into!

The snakes were really active and came right up to the glass. It must have been close to feeding time because I have never seen them this agitated. It was creepy and kind of cool at the same time.

The alligators were all swimming up close to the glass as well, except for this one napping beside the water. Well, his eye is open, so I guess he was just resting.

The touch tank. AB's dislike of shrimp apparently extends to touching sea creatures as well. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to stick her hands in the tank. She never touched the horseshoe crabs, but she touched the starfish and some other creature with prickly spines, but I can't remember what it was. Bryant on the other hand was far enough in the water to get his shirt wet.

Bryant inside the crab, AB had to be convinced this was safe too.

On the trails outside the aquarium.

Requisite silly picture. Do your kids think a silly pic is always necessary?

P.S. The adults were able to eat shrimp without AB pitching a stink fit for it even being at the table. I think that might be progress. Baby steps!

Happy Halloween

Ann Bennett decided last year what she wanted to be this year, and she stuck with it. She wanted to be the Amercian Girl Doll, Elizabeth. For those of you not versed in AGDs, she is from the 1700 Colonial times. Ann Bennett was delighted to actually be Felicity -- Elizabeth's friend. We have to thank Annabelle, who loaned us her costume, and Kristine who MADE this beautiful dress. Ann Bennett loved it and felt like a princess. I was thankful she wasn't in a "hoocha momma" costume! Ann Bennett's only disappointment was that it was cold, so she had to wear a shirt under it.

Bryant could not decide what to be. He was going to be a hobo -- where he even knew that word, I don't know. He thought about being Harry Potter and then a mummy. The day before Halloween, I was on the internet trying to figure out how to throw together a mummy costume, but I decided if he wasn't concerned I wasn't going to be either. He's almost 10! He finally decided to be a football player, Phillip Rivers. He's a former NC State player now playing pro. I was happy since it cost me NO money this year.

Dean (A-Rod), B (Rivers), Mac (Carolina Man), Marshall (hobo)

Anne Catherine (Laura Ingalls Wilder) and Ann Bennett

The whole crew -- that's Griffith as Dracula

The proper ladies curtsying at the block party.

The boys move so fast it's hard to get pics of actually trick or treating!

AB found this crazy headband when we got out the pumpkins and wanted me to wear them. I decided to be festive. Carey stayed home and passed out candy.

Back at AC's house after trick-or-treating. Wendy's twin 1 year old neices went with us for a while, but the girls could not really get their hands on them. When we got home, those babies and their mom were troopers! The girls were picking them up. Ann Bennett's held babies, but usually she is sitting down with someone handing the child to her. This time she was picking them up off the floor and holding them on your hip as you do with a baby. It was kind of cute to see, but I was a nervous wreck! I did not want to make a trip to the ER on halloween.

Anyway, I hope your halloween was fun, and I really hope the candy doesn't create horrible behavior for the next month! I forgot to take a picture of all the candy the kids brought home, but trust me, there's a ton.

Pumpkin Patch

One problem we have had with your kids getting older is that their activities make it harder to do all of the fun fall stuff that goes on. When the kids were little, we always went to a church that has a huge pumpkin sale to support their youth group. It was fun. It didn't take forever, but we stayed and played a while and always had good pictures. This year, I bought a pumpkin from the grocery store just to make sure we had one, and it never even got carved. We are pitiful! I'm so glad my sister, Sandy, started a tradition out of carving the pumpkin to make sure it always gets done. She was smart.

Anyway, on Monday night, Bryant's teacher called and said she wanted the kids to bring in a pumpkin roughly the size of their head "for a math activity." I thought they'd measure, weigh them, graph the info, compare sizes, etc. It turns out that they carved the pumpkins. Well, they opened the pumpkins, pulled out all of the guts and counted the seeds. He came home with an empty pumkin that had something like 401 seeds. Some of the seeds also came home, so at least we have seeds to roast!

In the past, there have always been tons of pumpkins on 10-30 for cheap. But, this year, I went to 3 grocery stores and the church mentioned above and found NO PUMPKINS! We ended up having to go to a nursery to get a pumpkin, and we had to pay full price. But, the upswing is at least I have a few pictures of my kids with pumpkins. Ann Bennett is all about making sure we photograph everything. We went after school, so they're in their uniforms instead of fall clothes, but who am I to be picky?