Snowman

So we had about an inch of snow this am when we woke up. Luke say it and wanted to go outside from the start of waking up. I had to convince Graham it would be fun and then Eli came too. I got Luke dressed and sent him outside, then got Graham dressed and out he went. Finally it was Eli's and my turn. Eli enjoyed swinging for a while, but wasn't too keen on getting put down in the snow to have his photo taken. We also went for a small sled ride with all 3 on one sled, they did ok, but again Eli started to scream.

When I came home from work, everything had melted. Bye snow man.

Freedom run 5k

Last night our church hosted a 5k race. It started at 7:27 at night and was a 3.1 mile loop around the church. We went through a road by farms with lots of manure, even saw people out on horseback at night, ran by a high school football stadium with a game going on, and then through a cemetary called the Freedom Cemetary. The area where our church is used to be called Liberia and was part of the underground railroad. And the cemetary was a place for slaves to be buried. The purpose of the race was to raise awareness for the slavery that exists today around the world.

Having never run a 5 k before I started training for about 6 weeks or so with a goal of running 27 minutes. Since the race was at night, I practiced at night and was used to the dark. Most people had headlights on and they had lots of luminaries around the raceway so you knew where to go. They had over 60 volunteers directing traffic and giving us encouragement and telling us which way to turn.

Joe doesn't run, but this was his 2nd 5 k race this year. He ran once 1 week ago and only a mile and he was ready to go. He works out 3-4 times a week so didn't feel he needed to run.

So they had about 140 people run/walking the course. Joe wanted to be in the front, so I joined him and found myself going much faster than i ever wanted to go. My phone told me I was runing 8:15 second miles, which is great but I didn't think I could keep up that pace, and I was right.

Joe finished 1st in his age group, 30-39 with a time of 24:30 beating his only other time by 20 seconds. I got 4th in my age group with a time of 27:22. So I almost did the 27 minutes I wanted. We were both happy with what we did and enjoyed the bonfire afterwards with smores.

Not for Sale is one of the organizations we teamed up with to raise money for. Their website is below if you are interested in the Slavery around the world.

www.notforsalecampaign.org

Sunday we are having a Orphan experience to see what it is like for orphans around the world. So that should be interesting and eye opening for the whole family.

Grandparent Weekend

While Joe was off hunting for a long weekend in Colorado, I called in some reinforcements. Grandma and Grandpa Meier came to visit and help out with the kids. The weather was beautiful so we went to a pumpkin farm on Saturday to pick our pumpkins. The boys enjoyed playing in the hay as well as going on the hay ride to find their pumpkin of choice. We carved them on Sunday and had fun. Grandma Meier also had the boys make Mummy Pizza's and pumpkin rice crispy treats. IT was a good weekend, except for lunch on Sunday which was one of the worst restaurant experiences ever, but we all survived.

Zoo

On Tuesday, I took a friend and her 2 boys to the zoo with us. Some might say we are crazy to go with a 5 to 2 ratio of boys to girls. But we went and had a great time. Luke is the oldest, then Caleb, and his brother Josiah who is 7 days older than Graham, and then Eli. They enjoyed following each other around, looking at all the animals and learning fun facts about them. The polar bear was swimming around and the elephants were busy eating their hay. This is probably the last zoo visit for the year with the cold weather coming in, but our zoo membership is well worth it!!

Halloween

This year we were actually home for Halloween. We carved pumpkins with Grandma and Grandpa Meier (well the boys picked the design the grandparents carved). Then we had a block party tonight. Harrisville likes to do Trick O Treating the thursday before Halloween. Why, we don't know, but we all met at the cul-de-sac tonight and shared candy with each other. It was a good time. This year we had Optimus Prime Luke, Frog Graham, and Turtle Eli.

Women Of Faith

I had the priviledge of going to the Women Of Faith Conference this past weekend here in Pittsburgh. I went with 3 other ladies and there were various others I knew from Slippery Rock who were in attendance.

We had a blast listening to women from all walks of life - married with kids, married with infertility, single for 48 yrs, single for 80 yrs, divorced, marital separation and abuse. It was amazing to hear the stories the ladies had to share and to laugh with them and cry with them. I don't think I have ever cried so much in my life, whether it was tears of laughter or tears of sorrow they were there a lot. There was amazing music by Natalie Grant, and a group called Mary Mary. It was amazing to hear their testimonies of faithfulness of god through the trials and where he has brought them.

I have plans to go back next year and if there is a Women of Faith near you, I strongly encourage it.

Potatoes

For those of you who have known me for a long time, you know I hate potatoes. Well when I first got married, I decided I would make Joe mashed potatoes, as it was his favorite food. Well lets just say it was more soup than anything else. It was a complete disaster and I never tried again, nor did Joe ask me to try again. I really think if they had the show, "Worst Cook in America" at that time on the Food Network my potatoes would have qualified me for it!!!!!!!

So over the years I have slowly, and slowly is the key word as we have been married almost 9 years, trying potatoes. I have started by eating the potatoes and onions Joe often cooks for breakfast for the boys. Then I graduated to trying a baked potatoes (fully loaded of course) but enjoying it and even shocking Joe by requesting Mashed potatoes with steak at times. But I couldn't get passed the Mashed potatoes. When Joe would make them it would be lumpy and I couldn't stand the potato chunks in it. So I opted for instant potatoes, as obviously the recipe to do the potatoes to taste doesn't work for me if I won't taste them. So the other night we were having a rotisserie chicken. We had potatoes at home and I decided I would try to make mashed potatoes again. So I cooked them until they were falling apart, and then put them in the mixer, for what seemed like years. I added butter and salt and a tad of milk ( not a whole cup like before). And after a few minutes i loved the result. I told Joe I didn't even want the chicken, but just the potatoes. He checked to make sure I didn't have a fever and was like wow.

So I now like potatoes and eat them all ways. However, I told Joe I was picky and had to make the potatoes as I am not sure how I would do with some lumps. But I am now excited about Thanksgiving with the mashed potatoes. So if you are having us over for dinner anytime soon, I now eat Mashed potatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!