Soren's 2nd Birthday Photo Shoot

We took Soren to have his picture taken for his 2nd birthday last week. Here are the photos from it!

Thank you to JCP in Canton, MI for the images

Take You Child Outside Week, Fall for Novi, and the Primary Program

This week was yet again another busy, action packed week. It was "Take Your Child Outside Week", so there were many activities set up around Novi for this, and we also attended the Fall For Novi event. Finally, we had the Primary Program today, which went really well.

On Monday, we had a fairly relaxing usual day. I took Soren to the gym while Keira was at school. I actually didn't have anything else to do today while Keira was at school, so it was great to not have to rush around.


That afternoon, I realized that one of my potted plants had started to grow into the ground through the bottom of the pot. I made an attempt to permanently plant it, so we will see how it does. It is a mum, but I am not sure if it is the hardy variety or not. Keira and Soren enjoyed "helping".

We finished off the day at Maybury. I got in a nice run and Keira and Soren were able to play a bit.






On Tuesday, we went to Lakeshore Park for our first "Take Your Child Outside" activity. They had a fun "hike" planned followed by a birdfeeder craft.

We hung out for a little bit afterwards, but then headed over to Heritage Park in Farmington to meet up with my visiting teachers and a few other friends from church. It was great to get together with them, and Keira and Soren had a blast playing in the sand. I usually don't let them in the sand, so they took full advantage of it and got super messy. They both needed a bath when we got home.





On Wednesday, while Keira was at school, I had planned to take Soren to an outdoor storytime, but it was very wet, so it was held inside the library. This was probably better, since we were enclosed in a room and Soren wouldn't be distracted by the park.



I just ran today when ryan got home, and Keira and Soren had fun outside while Ryan cleaned up his bikes. They wanted to help again too, and love playing with the hose.

On Thursday, we had a low key day. We did a few errands and hung out at home. The diaper boxes are a constant amusement for the kids.



We also went to our playground, but didn't stay long due to Keira tripping and falling and wanting to come home.


Friday was a busy day. Keira went to school, and then we had Soren's two year pictures done at JC Penny. They have changed their website, so I am not sure that their is an easy way to get the images into a slideshow like I have done in the past. I am going to have to copy screen prints of everything into paint, since the "download" button has disappeared as an option. After pictures, we went to McDonalds, which is always a favorite.

On Saturday, we did more errands and then attended the Fall For Novi event at the Civic Center. It had some pretty intense demonstrations. The first was was pretty scary, and Keira hated it. I hope she doesn't have nightmares or become too afraid in general of fire, as I was as a child. They set a room on fire, and then put it out, to illustrate how fast fire spreads. The entire room was consumed in under 3 minutes. They did 2, one with sprinkler systems and one without, and we only watched the one without, as it was just too stressful for Keira. They also had many of the city's fire engines on display, and Soren LOVED being able to sit inside one. In fact, he asked to have the door closed so he could go for a ride! A fireman climbed the 100ft ladder, and Keira and Soren had a blast in the bounce house. I was glad we ran into Kimberly, Dale, and their children, as Keira enjoyed playing with Paige, and it cheered her up a bit since she was not nearly as excited to be there as Soren. Soren is so perceptive. He noticed a helicopter approaching, and I thought little of it. He said the helicopter was coming, and I acknowledged it, but then realized that it really was going to land at the civic center. We rushed over to see it land, and Keira enjoyed seeing that. A second one arrived just as we were leaving, so we saw the UM helicopter land from the road.

Ryan had his final "official" group ride of the season today while we were gone, and we arrived home about the same time. I went on a short run, as I am officially signed up for a half marathon next weekend, and am in my taper for the race. That afternoon, Ryan went for a real hike at Lakeshore Park with his scouts, and then we had our usual pizza for dinner tonight. It was a fun day.

On Sunday, we had the Primary Program. We got up really early and got to church with plenty of time to get everything ready. It went super well, and everyone really felt the Spirit. Keira even said her line, and Soren handled being in the audience better than I thought. Kris and Linda came too. I am glad it went well, and am very glad that it is over. It was a ton of work, but worth it. I took a huge nap afterwards, and then we had a relaxing evening at home.




Up for next week, we will be having lots of cider and donuts, as Soren is turning 2, Keira has a field trip, and I will be running the Brooksie Way Half Marathon.

INSANE Weekend of Fall Fun!

This week was Keira's first full week of school, and I am still trying to get my weekday routine down. We also had a HUGE weekend. We had pretty much everything we love about fall (except going to a football game) this weekend. I hate to brag, but it was pretty awesome. It was also amazing that we actually did everything on the schedule.

Monday started off busy. Keira had school, which goes by so fast. After Keira's school, we went to the Novi Sports Park to play for a bit. Keira and Soren always have a great time.





That evening, everyone went to the Novi Running Fit for a free Martha Stewart Fun Run. Apparently, it was happening all over. Cristina and Linda both came out for the run. They had wooden spoons and a choice of tee, apron, or towel. Since it was a fun run, it was a quick pace for me, but probably very leisurely for Cristina and Erin, who I ran with in the lead group of ladies.


On Tuesday, we had a low key day. Keira and Soren had fun playing with chalk outside, as well as going up to our playground. We got to see the pool being drained, which was rather intriguing to Keira and Soren. They pumped the water out and into the parking lot drain, which caused the water to build up in the parking lot. I was surprised at how fast it went. We only watched it for a few minutes, but we could see a noticeable difference in water level from when they started to when we left the playground.





On Wednesday, while Keira was at school, I really packed the morning. I went to the gym, and then I had my last physical therapy session. Yeah, I am done, but I still need to do exercises at home on an ongoing basis to keep up my ankle strength. After that, I took Soren to his first library storytime by himself. He really enjoyed it, as usual. He was very excited to check out the book "School Bus" again today, and brought it to storytime. School Buses were a theme for today, so Soren was enthralled by the stories. I just loved the look of anticipation on his face as he waited for the school bus to appear in one of the stories. It was all he could do to stay seated.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
I'm a little Teapot
The reading of the school bus books!

Keira, clowning around after school.

The TIA workouts are starting to wind down for the year. I made it out for a quick workout. We are sponsoring a 5K this weekend, so it was nice to hear more news about how it is coming together.

On Thursday, I went to the dentist for my jaw pain. I really don't know much more about the cause, but I did go ahead and get all set up for a night mouth guard to prevent me from clenching or grinding, so hopefully that will help. It was a bit of a dreary day, so we just did a few errands and stayed inside most of the day. I found some of our past Halloween stuff, and Keira has been very excited that I am letting her use last year's costume for dress up. She is putting it through its paces, so this years costume will have to wait until after Halloween for dress up, so that it lasts.



Friday was the start of our fun busy days. While Keira was at school, I swam and had a presidency meeting. It was "yellow" day at school today, so everyone was asked to wear yellow. We met up with Valerie, Katie, and Luke to play for a short time after school was out.





Here are a few of the things Keira has made since school has started. She hasn't made many large craft-like projects like last year, they are more like worksheets.





That evening, we went to Three Cedars Farm once Ryan got home from work. This is always a blast, and we need to go again when we have more time to play. Soren loved the train, as expected, and Keira was able to pedal a "tractor" by herself this year. We also let them play in the corn box. It wasn't as messy as we feared, although we did have some corn make it home with us.

After Keira and Soren were in bed, I ran out to Panera to pick up a baked good donation to take to the TIA race in the morning.

Saturday was the HUGE day. Ryan got up first, and headed out to the Celebration of Cycling for his final 100 mile ride of the year. It was a tough ride, due to the weather not cooperating. Ryan did complete the entire thing, despite having a large number of his group take the 50 mile route. We left a short time later to head over to the TIA/MPVA first annual 5K at the Bonefish Grill in the Novi Town Center. I had volunteered to work registration. It was a low tech race, but we had a pretty decent turn out for a new race, especially since it had a lot of competition with other events today. We were able to stick around until just after the start, and I was able to get some Marathon bar sampling done as well. It was a good change to be on the other side of racing and helping out. I heard the after party brunch at Bonefish was excellent too. Mary (in pink) won for the ladies, and is a fellow TIA athlete. We were raising funds for the Michigan's Paralyzed Veteran's Association.

We left the race to head over to Lleyton's 2nd birthday party at the Ypsilanti Firehouse Museum. It had a large collection of antique fire engines and gear, as well as a firehouse set up to tour. They sounded one of the antique truck's siren by cranking it. It terrified both Keira and Soren, but thankfully it didn't ruin their experiences. The children loved the enormous stuffed Dalmatian as well as the children's play area in the basement. Since the weather had been suspect (it rained on the drive over), we opted to move the outdoor portion of the party to Greg and Ellyn's house, where we enjoyed lunch, Parmenter's cider and donuts, and of course, birthday cupcakes. On a side note- It was really hard for me to figure out who's cider and donuts won as far as being a favorite, as I did a taste test once home, eating one from Three Cedars and one from Parmenters side by side. They are different from each other, but I don't know whose is better, to be honest. Perhaps by the end of fall, I will have made a decision.

After leaving Greg and Ellyn's, I had one final stop planned for Keira and Soren- MSU's Tollgate was having their Fall Festival open house. It was really fun last year, and this year did not disappoint. We didn't have a ton of time before it was scheduled to end, but it was enough for Keira and Soren to pick out pumpkins, do some crafts, and eat a ton of popcorn. They really liked the bug exhibit, and didn't want to leave that at the end. I was actually a little glad for the light rain (Ryan was done by this time) that came through right as it was ending, because it made it easier to pry Keira and Soren away from the farm, since we didn't get to do a hayride or see the animals up close.

As if we hadn't done enough today, I had also signed up for Spinning Madness, and event sponsored by another cycling/tri club, Team Mongo (who are all really fast and awesome). It was an all day spinning event outside of the Bd's Mongolian BBQ in Royal Oak, right on Main Street to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland County. I had signed up for the last slot of the day, which actually was a TON of fun. I really struggle to log miles on the bike, and this was a fun way to do it. The people watching was great, as it had dried out and the temps were perfect for people to be hitting the town for the night. We had almost a constant flow of people walking by, and got many of them to donate into the bucket. It was a blast, and the hour few by. I got in over 30 miles in my hour, but that was with no wind, rain, hills, or much resistance. This is something I would totally do again, but try to bring everyone.


Sunday was a much needed day of rest. Things went fairly smoothly at the Primary Program practice. We got a few more bugs discovered and worked out, which is what we need to be doing. Keira even said her part TWICE when prompted by her teacher. She didn't want to practice it with me at all this week. I don't know what she will do next week when the chapel is full, but I am just happy that Ryan, who helped with the reverence meter in the back, got to hear her say it. Who knows how Soren will do next week with me on the stand and him not. We just had a relaxing afternoon at home.



I also hung some metal stars on the wall today. I felt like I got a great deal on them at Costco earlier in the week. It has been a while since we have made any non-seasonal decor improvements in our condo, and it was well worth the total of $10 I spent.


Up for next week, I am really not sure! I just know we won't be going to PT or the dentist this week (I hope).