Halloween at School

Today was Noah's Halloween party and costume parade at school. I love his school! His teachers did all of these creative snacks... soooo cute! Here is a picture of Noah holding his orange jackolantern. His teachers hollowed out oranges and cut them into jack-o-lanterns for each kid. I can't imagine the amount of work that must have gone into them. Amazing!


Here are some of the other snacks they made: fingers (cheese sticks with a frito "nail" on the end), magic wands, bones (breadsticks with rolled up ends), ghosts, and pumpkins:


Darth Vader (Noah):

Other party pictures:

Lining up for the parade:

Miss Kacey tying on Noah's cape: Buddies:

Rock Chalk #1

Look who is #1! Yeah, baby! (Lists are completely stolen from Suzanne's blog.)

AP Top 25
1. Kansas (55) 0-0 1,612
2. Michigan State (5) 0-0 1,515
3. Texas (1) 0-0 1,397
4. Kentucky (3) 0-0 1,372
5. Villanova 0-0 1,347
6. North Carolina (1) 0-0 1,320
7. Purdue 0-0 1,284
8. West Virginia 0-0 1,115
9. Duke 0-0 1,064
10. Tennessee 0-0 897
11. Butler 0-0 864
12. Connecticut 0-0 844
13. California 0-0 800
14. Washington 0-0 776
15. Michigan 0-0 578
16. Ohio State 0-0 465
17. Oklahoma 0-0 410
18. Mississippi State 0-0 393
19. Louisville 0-0 335
20. Georgetown 0-0 326
21. Dayton 0-0 318
22. Georgia Tech 0-0 301
23. Illinois 0-0 282
24. Clemson 0-0 217
25. Minnesota 0-0 172
Others Receiving Votes
Maryland 171, Siena 112, Notre Dame 107, Florida State 92, Vanderbilt 90, Syracuse 83, Oklahoma State 65, UCLA 63, Florida 53, Wake Forest 50, Xavier 42, Gonzaga 37, South Carolina 28, Kansas State 24, Brigham Young 21, Northern Iowa 16, Tulsa 16, Mississippi 15, Texas A&M 10, Missouri 8, Boston College 6, Pittsburgh 4, Western Kentucky 2, Utah State 2, Virginia Commonwealth 2, Old Dominion 1, Holy Cross 1.

ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. Kansas (27) 0-0 770
2. Michigan State (3) 0-0 732
3. Texas 0-0 676
4. North Carolina (1) 0-0 653
5. Kentucky 0-0 635
6. Villanova 0-0 620
7. Purdue 0-0 586
8. Duke 0-0 528
9. West Virginia 0-0 501
10. Butler 0-0 408
11. Tennessee 0-0 406
12. California 0-0 370
13. Washington 0-0 364
14. Connecticut 0-0 361
15. Michigan 0-0 279
16. Oklahoma 0-0 244
17. Ohio State 0-0 241
18. Minnesota 0-0 151
19. Mississippi State 0-0 149
20. Georgia Tech 0-0 136
21. Georgetown 0-0 134
22. Dayton 0-0 130
23. Louisville 0-0 123
24. Clemson 0-0 114
25. Syracuse 0-0 111
Others Receiving Votes
Maryland 100, Illinois 83, Siena 72, UCLA 59, Vanderbilt 38, Oklahoma State 29, Missouri 28, Xavier 25, Gonzaga 24, Notre Dame 22, USC 22, Pittsburgh 19, Tulsa 17, Kansas State 16, Brigham Young 16, Florida State 15, Florida 13, Wake Forest 13, San Diego State 8, Creighton 7, Boston College 4, Texas A&M 4, Southern Illinois 3, Utah State 3, Cornell 3, Memphis 3, Mississippi 3, UNLV 2, South Carolina 1, Northern Iowa 1.

Happy Anniversary to Joe and Sally

Dan and Noah and I recently returned from Iowa where we helped Dan's parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. It was great to see Dan's family and Noah had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa, for sure! Happy anniversary and congratulations, guys!

Another Snow Day Tomorrow!

Woohoo! School is cancelled again. That's good because I have a big decision to make by 3:00 tomorrow and it will give me time to think with a clear head.

Snow Day!

We had a snow day today. No school! Woohoo!! Dan and Noah and I had to go shopping this morning before everything shut down and get Noah a new coat, snow pants, boots, hat, and gloves because everything from last year is too small. Then, while Dan and Noah napped, I went on an epic snowshoeing hike by myself up in the hills where the bike trails are. Totally beautiful! After that, it was snow angels in the backyard with Dan and Noah and Japhy and now Dan is making chili for dinner. After dinner, the Monsters Vs Aliens Halloween special is on, so we will sit by the fire and watch that with hot cocoa. Can't think of a better day!

Denver Half Marathon Race Report

First of all, this was the most fun half marathon EVER!!! I had so much fun, mostly because my friend, Erika, from college was here. She is such a blast to hang out with and even more fun to run with. I usually run by myself, especailly over long distances, so it was a nice change to run with people.

So, Dan and Noah and I piled into the car on race day and went into downtown Denver. It was an easy drive, Noah was really good, and we found Erika and her group easily at the big red chair with the horse on it near the Denver Library. Noah was wearing his skeleton jammies and refused to take them off the rest of the day, in spite of the fact that it was 80 degrees by 11:00.

We all headed to the bathroom and then to the starting line with 10,000 of our closest friends and we were off! Dan and Noah cheered us on, but the crowd was so big I couldn't even see them. They went to breakfast during the race and then watched us at the finish line, but I didn't see them there either. Poor Erika was freezing at the starting line so she had on a trash bag. Race chic!

The race itself was uneventful and really really nice up until about Mile 10. At Mile 10, it felt like someone was trying to hammer a big old nail up into my heel. It was the plantar fasciitis acting up again. I knew I was in for it because I didn't take enough time off running after Pike's, but I was hoping I could just get through this race and THEN rest. Not so much.

Erika was so nice. She coaches running teams and she totally got me through the last three miles. My foot hurt so freaking bad I just wanted to stop every second. But she kept me talking and we ran all the way to the end. The last three miles were pretty slow, but we made it! Our official time was 2:14:53. I was ok with that considering the foot.

After the race, Erika and I had a few beers. I took this picture of Erika through the fence that they had around the beer garden. I was joking that they wouldn't let her out because she drank too much. We both kept getting tickets for free beer (through no fault of our own, haha)!

Dan and Noah played by the stage (they had bands playing. Noah was very happy with a ball he got at the post race expo. He named the ball Scott.

I am so glad I ran this race. It is a great one. Next year it is going to be the Rock N Roll Denver Marathon, which will make it even better. Erika wants to make it an annual tradition and I am all over that! I may even be up for the full, depending on what I do for Pike's next year. If you are looking at running a half or full marathon, I HIGHLY recommend Denver. They had some great sponsors and everything was really well run.

Denver Half Marathon

My half marathon is tomorrow. Dan and Noah and I just got back from picking up my race packet at the Expo. We met my friend Erika there (the one who flew in from St. Louis to run the race). She was cracking me up telling me that she can't breathe and doesn't know how she will run tomorrow. She is in great shape and I'm sure she will be dragging my butt along by Mile 10.

Flu Shots

So, about a month ago, Dan made an appointment for Noah to get his flu shot at his primary care doc. They said the soonest they could get him in was October 22. Fine, not real happy about it, but fine.

Last week, they called to tell us they ran out.

Are you f*&%ing kidding me? My son has a history of respiratory issues, we made the appointment a month ago, and you are OUT? I was livid.

Luckily, Noah is a patient at the resporatory research hospital near us, so I called them yesterday and they can get him in for the shot on Monday! All's well that ends well. Next will be getting him in for H1N1. I wasn't sure if I was going to have him get it, but a former student from my previous school (who I didn't know) died from H1N1 last week. She had a history of major asthma related issues. Noah's aren't as severe as hers, but given that he has had the same type of issues, I am going to have him get it.

Broncos Throwback

So my 4-0 Broncos play the Patriots today. "Battle of the Hoody Sweatshirts!" Should be a great game. I expect that the Patriots will probably win, but my guess is that the Broncos will put up a good fight, particularly on the defensive side, and that it will be a close game. Anyway, the Broncos are going to wear their ugly-ass throwback uniforms today. They are actually so ugly that they are cool. Here is a picture of Dan and our friend Jim sporting some of the throwback apparel.

Lame-O

Here are all the ways I am a Lame-O right now:

1) I haven't posted here in nearly 2 weeks. That's pretty sad.
2) I haven't gone running in 2 days and I haven't had a decent run in about a week. My foot hurts.
3) My energy level is way down (probably a result of the lame-o running).
4) I have been eating entirely too much junk. That's not helping the energy level either.
5) I have been at work so much lately that I have barely had time to spend with Dan and Noah. This is the lamest one of all.

The good news is that the CDE audit at work is over and I will be able to spend more time at centers with kids. More importantly, it means I can leave at a decent hour and be home with Dan and Noah more.

Another happy note: Friends of ours are in Jamaica for their 10th anniversary. That means that their 2 awesome happy dogs get to spend some time here at our house with Japhy. It is so fun having 3 dogs around the house. Always something to smile about!!!