doin' the du.

jake participated in his first duathlon a couple of weeks ago.
it was a father/son affair so i stayed home with the littles.
and, since i stayed home as did the camera.
hubs likes for their to be pictures of our family events but would rather not be the one responsible for taking them.
{thanks for laying the weight on me, babe}

luckily, a good friend was there and took these few with her phone.
love me a good friend!


they ran a 1/2 mile then biked 4 miles.




i was so proud as these pictures kept popping up in my messages.
i totally cheered him on from home!
where it was warm.


after the 4 mile bike ride was another 1/2 mile run.
go, jake, go!!!


whew, finished.
out of 15 or so boys, he finished 5th or 6th.
not bad for his first du.




great job, jake!!

halloween 2011.

halloween was so fun this year!
hubs was home.
{in our almost ten years of marriage he's only been home for like three halloweens...}
mckinley totally understood the whole trick-or-treating idea.
and she was lovin' that those three little words prompted candy in her bag!







these pictures of jake crack me up.
he only wanted this crazy old man mask for his costume.




jonah was a mad hatter.
creepy.


jett was captain hook.


he was perfecting his hook.


argh, matey!


mckinley was a gnome.
so cute!


jake and jonah's bud, simon, came along with us.


and nani and grandpa came up for a short visit.


it was a good halloween weekend!
this will be our last halloween in ft. campbell...sad day.
but, next year we'll be back in florida and enjoying a warmer halloween.

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did you have a fabulous halloween???

pumpkin patch, part two.

so, yesterday i left you with the beginning of our fun day at the pumpkin patch.
it was a beautiful, sunny day.
fall was evident in only the trees...it felt more like a cooler summer day.

we were all hot and sweaty after playing on the slides, hamster wheels, and 4x4's.


it was off to the snack bar for us.
everyone, except for jake austin, got an apple cider slush.
YUM!



mckinley made it her job to pull this wagon around. everywhere.


then, we were off to play again...

can i just say it was me, ME, who jumped up on these big 'ol tires and schooled all the kids on how to leap from tire to tire.
{what happened to the playground equipment we had as kids?
merry-go-rounds that you ran around to start and then jumped on, swings that went so high you thought you might go all the way over, tire courses that you leaped across....my kids would have LOVED the playgrounds i grew up playing on!}

jonah was so proud that he made it all the way around, without falling even once.



at this point we had been at the orchard for three or so hours.
hubs was past his "i'm so excited to be here" point.
it was time to go find the perfect pumpkins, sorghum, pumpkin roll, apples, and gallon of apple cider.



i told jake austin he should find him a good lookin' knucklehead pumpkin.
cause he's a knucklehead!
he didn't think it was a funny joke.





see you next time, jackson's apple orhcard!

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ready to see a picture that is nothing short of a miracle???

adventures in cooking. {and the ER}

i love me a good french onion soup.
preferably in a bread bowl.
from panera bread.

but, since the closest panera is 45 minutes away in nashville i needed to take matters into my own hands.

step one.
throw 4 tablespoons of butter, 2 thinly sliced red onions, and 2 thinly sliced sweet onions into the pot and sauté/simmer for 35 minutes.






step two.
add 48 ounces of chicken broth and 15 ounces of beef broth, 1/2 cup of red wine, 1 tablespoon of worschestire sauce, and bind 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme, and 1 sprig of fresh parsley.
throw it all in and simmer for 25 minutes.

step three.
remove herbs.
add 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar.
turn heat down to low and keep warm while preparing bread.

step four.
cut up a french bread loaf and broil. {i prefer chunks of bread instead of slices}
get yourself a cute oven-safe bowl and add 2/3 of soup.
top with broiled bread and swiss cheese and put under the broiler for 5 minutes or until golden bubbly.

purdy, huh?
and the perfect dish for a cool fall night.



recipe found at allrecipes.com.
now, go forth and cook.
you'll love this recipe if you love french onion soup!

one more thing, take my advice here.
after you've slaved over this amazing soup put the rest in the fridge.
if you don't, and you have to make an impromptu trip to the ER for your daughters fingers that were bitten by a mystery bug and are red and swollen and blister-y, you may come home to a clean kitchen and soup that you slaved over DOWN THE DRAIN!
mmmhmmm, you read me right.
hubs poured my soup down the drain.
his story is he wanted me to have a clean kitchen when i got home {after five and a half hours in the ER}.
sweet guy, right?!?!
i so think he owes me a trip to panera now.
even if it is 45 minutes away.
{love you, babe!}

here's a couple of cute shots while we were at the ER.
after five and half hours i was ready to pull my hair out...
but, {looking back} these two kept a smile on my face.

dr. mac is in the house.


mckinley was cleaning jake's boogies out of his nose.
{she didn't really get any boogies}

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what super exciting adventure have you been on lately??

infinity sports camp.

i can't believe how little blogging i've done in the last couple of weeks...
i have a BUNCH of pictures from the all that time to put on this here blog.
hopefully i'll get to them all.



for now, these are from infinity sports camp that the big boys went to a couple of weeks ago.
although they had to be there at 8am, meaning we had to leave the house no later then 7:30am, it was a very nice break for me.
i didn't have to pick them up until 4:30!!!
{thank you grandma for paying for it!!}

jake and jonah played baseball, football, volleyball, basketball, had worship time, and bible study time.
they enjoyed every minute!















it looks like there was a little play time too...

{all photos courtesy of the infinity sports camp staff}

i totally recommend this day camp!
look for it at a church near you next summer.
i will be signing my boys up again!

splish splash.

there was sunscreen,
swimsuits,
excited kiddos,
sprinklers,
more sunscreen,
meltdowns over getting bumped into,
blue cream soda,
buckets that dumped loads of water,
sun tanning {silly boys!},
and lots and lots of fun!

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how was your friday?