Gobble Gobble!

We totally forgot to take pictures at Thanksgiving, but I do have a few cell phone pics! They finished the "porch project" (post to come) the day before Thansgiving, just in time to get our house back in order, cleaned, and get ready to host 18 people for Thanksgiving :) It was chaotic, and nuts, and pretty much a big blur. The kids had been sick the week before and I was sick that week, but life goes on. We had a great time celebrating with friends and family, and we feel truly blessed to have each of them in our lives.

The "kid" table - complete with chalkboard place mats and little sets of chalk for each person

The "adult" table... aka, anyone over the age of 40!

My sister, Meredith, and 2 of our cousins... we truly didn't plan our coordinating outfits.  However, our sisters (my sister and their sister) were also coordinating, and they weren't even here!  How funny is that?!  We accidentally did this one other Thanksgiving - we all wore green.  Go figure!

Halloween

Better late than never, right?! Here is a little glimpse of our Halloween fun! Todd and I both had to work that day, but the pharmacist scheduler was nice enough to move my hours to the morning instead of the evening :) The kids had a costume parade through the school where all of the Kindergarten and First graders get to dress up and go through the whole school. It's pretty cute and the kids love it. Thankfully, my co-workers helped me make it there for about 20 minutes so I got to snap a few pictures!

Kate, parading into the courtyard with her class

One of our sweet friends we found in the courtyard while waiting for his big brother

Brett and some of his classmates parading in... he is Optimus Prime

 

Brett's class

Kate with some of her classmates - she was Merida from Brave

Kate's class - all of the Kindergarten teachers dressed up like cupcakes!

Later that evening our neighbors had their annual Halloween party... Todd dressed up as Cousin Eddie

All of the neighbors at the Kiz House!

I even found some fellow Pirates!   ARGH!

Can you tell I was in a Pirate mood?  Maybe it's still leftover from Kate's Pirate Rockstar Party in July!

And the pirate ship!

Worst mom ever!  I totally forgot to snap a picture of the kids in their costumes on Halloween night!!  I do have a cell phone pic I'll post on the blog though.  Oops!

Ta da! Blurry cell phone pic!

Pullen Park

Good friends, good weather, good park, good times!

Kate & Drew

Tammy and sweet baby Leah

Love her!

Brett climbing everywhere

Kate climbing everywhere too

And Drew - he might've been the biggest dare-devil of the group

Kate loved swinging under the huge trees

The Pullen Park train

Say "cheese!"  Thanks for catching this picture, Tammy!

Friends for literally half of our lives!  We met when we were 16.

Loving the tire swing

Waiting for the train to depart

My sweet girl :)

Heat!

Way back in July I sort of stumbled on the fact that the Miami Heat were playing an exhibition game against the Charlotte Bobcats in Raleigh. Todd is a huge Heat fan because of Dwyane Wade (former MU player). I decided to get him tickets as an anniversary present - really good tickets :) Sadly, D-Wade didn't play that night, but he was there, and it was a fun game.

Pre-game

There wasn't much defense... don't pretend you're shocked.  It's NBA pre-season.

Half-time show was pretty entertaining!

Coach K was there... sorry, I just threw up a little bit.  Blech.

D-Wade (far left) cheering on his team mates

 

At the end of the game, James came over and gave his wrist bands to two little kids in the crowd.  They were ecstatic!

Charleston's Carrier Classic

Todd and I were lucky enough to make the trip down to Charleston, SC for the Carrier Classic game between Marquette and Ohio State.  As a Carolina grad, I will be the first to admit that the MU alumni do it right!  There was a huge party at a state senator's beach house; then everyone headed to the game.  In case you missed it, the game was cancelled due to condensation on the court, but the experience of being on the air craft carrier for the game was pretty amazing.  The MU players stayed out on the court for easily an hour after the game to sign autographs and take pictures.  They were really good sports about the whole thing.

I absolutely love Charleston, so I really enjoyed hanging out around the city the following day.  It was absolutely gorgeous weather - a perfect day for sight-seeing, and walking everywhere!