Marathoners!

Ryder was trying out his new sweatshirt before we left for Brody's Marathon!

The two runners in our family!  What a great weekend seeing them both achieve what they set out for!

It was a rainy day for Brody's Marathon completion on Saturday.  Addisen and Ryder were troopers through it!  Ryder couldn't be seen because he was under the poncho in the stroller!

Brody was going to run the 1.2 miles himself, but then with the rain and all of the people he decided to have dad come along!

Go Brody!

We are so proud of him!  I know Jim took a lot of pride in having his son want to run in his footsteps!  Brody was very proud of himself too!

On Sunday we were off to watch Jim run in his 3rd Grand Rapids Marathon.  It was a cold morning but we wouldn't miss it for anything!  Grandma and Bobo joined me to help manage the kids and all of the stops!  Bobo is becoming a pro at driving us around!

High Fives!

The two best cheerleaders on the course!

Run Daddy Run!

 

It was a race to the finish line for us spectators!  We took a wrong turn and ended up getting there with only about 2 minutes to spare.  Jim called (yes he is crazy...he uses his bluetooth headset to call me while he runs!) to tell me that Brody could run to the finish line with him.

Brody was scared to try to run fast enough but I'm glad he decided to try!  This will be a picture they will cherish for a long time!

We all made it!

Daddy and his biggest fans!

Brody's 6th Birthday

Saturday was Brody's birthday!  We went to get our weekly donuts and decided to celebrate with a candle!

When Brody didn't finish his donut I knew something was wrong that morning.  Shortly after he was complaining of a stomach ache and I was scrambling to figure out what to do about his party that afternoon.  By 11am we knew he had the stomach flu!  The poor guy...on his birthday!  Luckily everything worked out with moving his party to the next day and we even had one more friend that could now make it!

By the afternoon he was feeling a lot better and we were feeling awful that he was sitting at home on his birthday.  So we decided to head off to the zoo!

We gave him a watch for one of his presents and he was eager to use it at the zoo!  When we got there we realized that they would be closing in 45 minutes, so he had us on a tight schedule to make sure we saw everything!

Birthday boy with his brother and sister!

 

Ryder was happy to be along for the ride!

 

Seeing how their hands compared to the Spidermonkeys.

My little penguins!

It happened to be a Penn State Game day too!  So everyone had their gear on and we stopped at a local watch party on the way home.  The staff was sweet enough to run next door to buy candles so Brody could have everyone sing happy birthday to him!

Even though he was feeling kind of sick he had plenty of energy to open presents!

On Sunday we headed to Jester's Court for his birthday party.  I think this might be the last year for the big party...Seven 6 year old boys is a lot to try to manage!  It was a great day and he had the time of his life!  I am so thankful that everything worked out!

Ryder stayed home with Grandma and Bobo and started to official crawl while we were gone!  He has been doing the army crawl for weeks...but now he was up on all fours!  Can't believe we missed it!

 

My annual birthday picture - watching Brody and our tree grow every year.  I can't believe this little guy is six years old.  It seems like yesterday that I found out that I would be expecting my first baby!  Wow - how things have changed...how Brody has grown.  He surprises me every day with the things that he knows.  He loves math and exploring the "why" and telling you facts that he has learned about things.  He is sensitive, something I didn't expect, but I think will be a great attribute as he grows older.  He loves his little brother and sister.  He is wise beyond his years, often talking about things that I wouldn't expect from a child.  He is intrigued with Heaven and often talks about people that have gone to heaven and even about the idea of us going to heaven one day.  He is good for me...he makes me laughs, he challenges me to be more patient, he makes me want to be a better mom...a better person.  I couldn't imagine my life without him - he has taught me so much in his 6 years!

Fall Time Fun!

 Jim and Brody headed to Indiana to see their first Penn State Football game together.  Since they were heading south I decided to take Addisen and Ryder to Grandma and Bobo's for the weekend.

While we were in Charlotte we headed to the Country Mill with Grandma and Aunt Jenny.  It was a HOT and HUMID day!  Addisen had a lot of fun picking and sampling all of her apples!  She even picked pumpkins out for herself and Ryder.

Brody and Jim had a little rain while they were at the game but that didn't stop them from enjoying themselves!  Brody's first picture with the Nittany Lion.  I have a feeling that this will become an annual event.  Lucky for me there are 3 boys and 2 girls in the family...so while they have their boys weekends Addisen and I can pamper ourselves!

When Brody got back to Grandma and Bobo's on Sunday we had his first birthday celebration.  He was nice enough to share the day with Grandma since their birthdays are just a day apart.

Presents from Uncle Neal, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jim, Aunt Mary and Grandma and Bobo!

The birthday celebration continued during the week - opening presents with Nanny via Facetime.

More presents with Uncle Steve and Aunt Ellen via Facetime.

Brody's class had their first field trip this week.  They  headed to a local orchard.  Brody had a lot of fun picking apples, pumpkins and petting all the animals!

This was the week that Brody was Superstar in his class, too.  What a week!  Jim and I visited the class on Friday to do a few crafts and read a book.  We finished our visit with some birthday cupcakes!

   

 

I just can't believe my little baby is six this week!