Jacob's Recital

Jacob has been taking piano lessons from my Aunt Melanie since the start of the summer. As I expected, he's doing great. He has always loved puzzles and math and so I knew this would be something he would be good at and love. His first recital was a couple weeks ago. He played 3 pieces. 2 of them were duets with me. He thought that was really cool. He was the only student to not make any mistakes (even I messed up).

During the Game

Aaron's family came to this game. Jackson, Rainey, Ashlyn, and Larkin had a great time running around and watch the game through binoculars.

Baseball

This was Jacob's first year in 'real' baseball...not T-ball. He did great and improved a lot during the season. And, although we weren't supposed to keep score, his team only lost one game!

Happy Halloween!

This year, Jacob was a TMNT (teenaged mutant nija turtle), Rainey Jewel was a 'kitty cat', and Larkin was a frog. The frog costume has been worn by Jacob and my 2 newfews, Jackson and Ryan. So Larkin is the first 'woman' to sport the awesome frog and she rocked it! I was surprised that she would wear it even with the hood. But, the biggest shocker was that Rainey let me draw a nose and whiskers on her face...and she loved it. For the past 2 years, she has not allowed an offical costume. She would never wear them.

Run.Drive.Sleep?Repeat

On October 24th-25th, I ran the Ragnar Relay race from San Antonio to Austin with 11 other 'chicks'. It was the most fun I've ever had. I can't remember when I laughed so hard. Our team was split into 2 vans. Runners 1-6 were in the first van and runners 7-12 were in van 2. I was in van 1. We started the race on Friday morning at 9:00. Our first runner began at the start with several other teams. After a runner's leg is finished, she hands the 'slap' bracelet to the next runner and she takes off. All the while the runners in the van are cheering her on. We were not allowed to stay with the runner the whole time, so we would drive ahead and let her pass and then drive ahead some more. I thought that I would be bored and so I brought a book and other things to do. I was so wrong! We talked, laughed, and cheered on our runners the whole time. So, after everyone in our van had run her first leg (we had 3), we went back to a hotel to shower and rest....then back to the exchange point to run again....and then again. Some of these girls were already friends of mine. But, there were 2 girls in my van that I did not know very well and 1 that I didn't know at all. We spent so much time together and went through so much that I now consider them good friends and miss them because I don't ever see them anymore. So the 'chicks' is because our team name was the CTR's...Chicks That Run. We wore CTR green shirts and a friend made iron-on CTR shields with 'chicks that run' for the back and a running Chick for the front. The same friend decorated the 2 mini-vans that we drove around. As the final runner was approaching the finish line, we joined her and ran it in together! We had such a great time, but we were very tired....especially the girls that were in van 2. They had to run in the heat of the day twice and their hills were really, really bad. But, the best part of all was something that we were not expecting....WE WON (for our all-female division)!! With the teams getting different starting times based on their average times, we had no idea who we were competing against or how close the times were. This was an experience that I will never forget. Thanks for such a great time! I love you Chicks!