Motley's Tree Farm

Rob took the day off yesterday, so we decided to go to Motley's tree farm to cut down our Christmas Tree. It was a really fun place. They have a petting zoo area with goats, chickens, a pig and a donkey. Max and Kate were both in heaven!

Kate was really excited to have the animals right at her level.

I usually don't put pictures of myself put on here, so here is one for you Mom!

I'm pushing the kids on the horse swings.

Kate in a normal swing.

Max doing "airplane" on a swing.

Kate exploring the picnic table.

They had a really cute cow train. I was just posing the kids in them, when the driver came over to pull us around.

We were located in the rear of the train.

I had Kate on my lap, Max had his own car, and Rob brought up the rear. The driver was CRAZY! He put the pedal to the metal and drove on all the bumpy dirt roads, through the mud, and then (Rob's favorite), he drove in 2 or 3 tight circles to whip the last cars around! Rob was laughing and laughing. Max wasn't sure what to think until we ended the ride, and then he declared we should go again!

We watched a few pig races. It was pretty entertaining. Max felt like he needed to sit in that exact part of the bench. Maybe it was the best view!?

Go pigs go!

We hunted around, and found the perfect little Virgina pine. It is the smallest one that Rob and I have ever cut down, but it is a great tree.

We loaded the tree on top of my car, and headed home.

We decorated a lot of the tree last night, but today as I was snapping pictures, Kate was smiling and smiling for me! So cute!

The tree!

The mantle with the stockings. Max woke up this morning so excited to see stockings and a tree with ornaments! He is getting very excited for Christmas. Come to think of it, I am too!

Happy Holidays!

Pics

We love going to the zoo. We have a season pass, and we go there frequently. Kate can finally pull herself up to standing, so she has loved seeing all the exhibits.

Fish

Penguins

Gorilla

Turtles

Flamingos

Tortoise

Giraffe

On Tuesdays/Fridays, we try and attend a playgroup that our church puts together. Here is a quick snapshot of part of the group at the Two Rivers Bridge.

Max insisted on walking that little plastic dog the whole time.

Max and Kate both love to play on the trampoline. We usually play a game that we call "To Kate, to Max, to Mom!" which consists of me passing a ball to Kate, she rolls it to Max, and he kicks it to me.

Max is pretty good about entertaining Kate. When she starts crawling around, he will get down there with her and either chase her, or lead her. He does it at the post office, Kohl's, or anywhere else I put Kate down on the ground.

Playing in the leaves over at Ron and Judy's house.

Last Saturday we went to Memphis for several different reasons. The first reason was to meet Lolo's buyers (they came up from Georgia). Here we are saying goodbye to Lolo.

After dropping off Lolo, we went over to the temple. Rob and I were able to drop Max and Kate off at the church while we went inside. It was so nice to be in the temple together. From there we went to lunch at a fried chicken place (the name is evading my memory). It was really good (and VERY fattening) food. They had "corn nuggets," which is fried corn. Delicious, just super fattening. From there we went on over to one of our favorite stores- Costco. We dearly miss Costco. Sam's Club just does not compete against Costco in terms of quality or service. We left with a cart full of fun. We made one last stop on the way out of Tennessee- Harbor Freight. Rob made a few purchases, and then we started our trek back home.

Now that Lolo is gone, Kate can play on the sand table we have outside. She loves it. Lolo also really enjoyed it, so she would jump up and on it whenever it was open. Max could handle Lolo on the table, but not Kate.

Monday I raked leaves in the backyard. Max was my big helper.

Here Kate is hamming int up for the camera. She was so funny.

I realize she has cross-eyes, but she was very focused on looking at the camera. Such a cutie!

What was Max doing during this photo shoot? He was passed out on our bed. He had missed his nap earlier, so he was exhausted.

I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. We are getting together with our neighbors. We have really been lucky to have such wonderful neighbors. We planned the menu last night. I will be making a lot of bread! Yum!

Sold

Lolo has been sold.

Rob is sad.

Max is neutral.

Kate doesn't say much.

I am CELEBRATING!!

October

In October, we got a piano... for FREE! It's a little bit older, but it fills our needs.

We found the leather lazy boy at a garage sale. We rearranged our living room to make room for it.

Rob took Max to the emergency room one night after Max tripped on his way up the stairs. His top tooth went all the way through his bottom lip. Max had a great time waiting to see the doctor. They didn't get home until 1 am!

Kate started mimicking Max (he licked his lower lip after having it glued back together).

Max has been really creative. I was doing my workout upstairs, and when I finished I went into his room and asked him what he was doing. He said he was, "Building bridges." He is so smart.

Rob invited a couple of his work friends to hike Pinnacle Mountain with us. Tyler brought his girlfriend, Rachel (they are holding Max), and John brought his wife, Mollie. When we got to the park, there was a Mountain Man festival on, blocking the entrance to the west trail head. We had heard stories of the east side, but somehow we got off the trail on the way up and had a great hike. However, we found the correct trail on the way down, and it was a tough one. We actually had Lolo with us as well. I carried a screaming Kate down most of the way, but eventually Tyler took her as he was faster than me. John carried Lolo down for us, and Rob carried Max. Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea for us to take everyone, but we didn't know we would be going on the east side! We all survived, and I ran back home afterwards.

Ron, our neighbor, and Max doing "King of the World!" at the top of Pinnacle Mountain.

Max thinks it's fun to get in Lolo's kennel. I think it's' pretty gross.

Kate has learned to pull her self up to stand. She is a really quick crawler, but now is trying to do the walking thing.

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat at the church. Max, a "Rio-Bird" and Kate, a Chick-Fil-A cow, were thrilled to go through their pumpkins full of candy.

We went to a pumpkin patch with one of our neighbors. Max couldn't believe the BIG spider hanging from the ceiling.

Kate posing by the pumpkins.

We went on a hayride.

Max and Kate in the tractor bucket.

Max insisted on pulling Kate in the wagon.

There was a beautiful sunflower field behind the pumpkins.

They also had goats, among other animals, to look at.

I ran my first ever 1/2 marathon! One of my goals for this year was to run one, and lo and behold it is done! Rob didn't take any pictures of me actually running, but here I am with Max enjoying some of the post race food. It was a really cold start (in the low 40s), but by the end of the race I was able to run in just a tank, short, and gloves. I feel like I ran a smart race, but I would have liked a faster time. I finished in 1:51, an 8:31/mile pace. I placed 11th in my age group (there were 107 in it), and 250th overall (out of 1506). I think if I hadn't had surgery a month prior to the race, I could have completed my training and ran an 8:15 mile. My goal is to get to eventually run a 7:30/mile pace.

The kids on Halloween, just before starting their trick-or-treating. Max typically remembered what to say when he went door to door, but a few times he said, "Happy Birthday!"

Max and Kate emptied their pumpkins of candy in our room (several times). Kate was hilarious and kept on diving back into it when we would try and move her.