Our Littlest Angel!

Little Runner

Abby has been training for several weeks for the annual Cross Country Run for 3rd-5th graders in our County. We spent several evenings each week as a family running loops around our neighborhood and they also practiced at school during their gym time. She definitely has some great endurance and is improving with her speed as well.

The big day arrived on Saturday, September 27th and she was VERY excited. There were 134 runners in the 3rd grade girls group from all the different schools in the area.

Abby getting some last minute advice from her gym teacher, Mr. Zellman (Mr. Z)...

Getting ready for take off...

They ran about 2/3 of a mile. For the first half, we couldn't see the runners because they went around the school and through a wooded area. This was our first sight of Abby as she came back up and over the hill...

Her goal was to finish in the top 30 (so she would earn a ribbon and get her name in the paper) but at this point she was about 40th...

She kept pushing though and ended up passing about 15 runners during the last third of a mile.

Almost there...

She ended up finishing in 25th place and we couldn't have been more proud!!

Here she is with the top 30 runners from her race...

She had three other friends from her school who also finished in the top 30. A very good day for the Paramount 3rd grade girls!!

She was a bit emotional afterwards as one of her friends earned a medal for finishing in the top 15. She has decided that finishing in the top 15 will be her goal for next year and has dedicated herself to more training in order to get herself there. It's always great to have a goal, but we are so proud of how well she did in her first race.

Way to go ABBY!!

City Park Fall Festival

We have really been enjoying the beautiful fall weather these last few weeks. Last Saturday we headed over to City Park for their Fall Festival. They had some face painting and carnival-style games that the kids enjoyed participating in.

They also unveiled a new statue at the lake so they had all kinds of different art projects at the Museum of Fine Arts to commemorate the occasion. Here they are working hard on their bear portraits...

And showing off their fish prints in front of the new statue...

It was a gorgeous day to be outside and helped to pass the time while we wait for this stubborn little baby to be born!!

Back to School!

I seriously cannot believe how fast this summer flew by. I thought it might drag since it would be during the last trimester of pregnancy (which always seems to take the longest) and it would be HOT, but I was wrong on both accounts. We traveled for almost the entire month of June and into July and then just had a great rest of July and August chilling and doing little activities around the area. Plus having a really mild summer temperature wise made it just about perfect. I really enjoyed having all three kids home with me all summer (most of the time anyway) and was a bit sad that it had to come to an end.

On Tuesday night, each child was given a Father's blessing for the new school year. Abby was really excited...

Landon needed a bit of convincing, but he finally went along with it too!

 

And of course Nolan did NOT want to be left out either. Look at that grin!!

Wednesday, August 20th was the big day and both kids woke up super-duper early filled with excitement!! Landon will be in first grade with Mrs. Lund...

Abby will be in 3rd grade (WHAT????) with Mrs. Lungociu...

And this little man will be stuck with just me again (although another little one will be joining us shortly!)

It's become tradition for the whole family to go and drop them off at school and it was fun to have them be so excited about seeing so many familiar faces from last year (the woman in the sunglasses behind them in this picture is actually the Primary President in our ward!)

Landon ready to go (he did not want a picture with his actual teacher, but I was able to sneak one in since that is a picture of his teacher on the window there!)

Beginning his day with a little coloring project...

Abby was excited to be in one of the "upper" grades this year although she did say she will miss having a bathroom in her actual classroom. The 3rd-5th graders all share the hall bathrooms. Oh the pains of growing up!!

Abby was excited to get a picture with Mrs. Lungociu...

So far this school year is off to a great start and they have both come home each day filled with exciting stories to share. I hope school continues to be so thrilling for them both!!

Life's a Peach!

On August 9th we attended the Leitersburg Peach Festival which is just about 10 minutes from our house. I should say it "should" have just been a 10 minute drive but this festival has become so popular that we got stuck in a traffic jam for a while. Finally the older kids and I got out and walked the last mile to the festival while Jason found some parking and met us a bit later. You know traffic is slow when you are 8 months pregnant walking with two children and you are still passing all the cars waiting to get in!!

We enjoyed some peach ice cream while browsing all the different vendor sites. Of course the petting zoo is always a treat!

Landon and Nolan enjoyed the bounce house for a bit...

Then we bought ourselves a bunch of peaches and headed on home. We froze most of the peaches in bite size chunks to use for smoothies later on. Yummy!!

Camp Time!

We signed both kids up for a week of day camp during the last week of July.

Landon did a week at Antietam Recreation where he got to swim, go boating, horseback riding, zip-lining, canoeing, and enjoyed the great outdoors of Maryland for a week. He was also there during "Wild West" week so he wore his cowboy hat every day and brought his cap gun with him wherever he went. To say he had a great time would be an understatement! On the last day, the family even got to come and spend a few hours doing some of the activities too...

Abby spent a week at Hagerstown Community College doing their summer "College for Kids" program. She participated in the "American Girl" class and really enjoyed herself. She had lots of friends from school who all signed up for the same class so it was fun to be reunited with them again. While she had a good time overall, after hearing about Landon's camp all week long she decided that she would like to do a week at Antietam Recreation next summer as well!

Fun at the Fair!

July means time for the Washington County Ag Expo and Fair. We always enjoy going to this event and it seems to be gaining in popularity at least the night that we were there. The crowds were pretty heavy on Friday night but we still managed to have a good time on the rides and visiting the various kinds of farm animals on the property.

Jason and Abby enjoyed riding the bumper cars. Landon was just inches shy of being able to ride on these and there were indeed a few tears shed over this sad fact.

However the big slide helped to make up somewhat for it!

Even Nolan was willing to ride as long as Daddy held him, of course!

The mini roller coaster and other kiddie rides were a big hit and fortunately weren't quite as busy as some of the more adult rides.

We explored a few tractors...

Before moving on to the animals. Abby seems to be the only one enjoying herself in this picture. Nolan is not quite sure about that cow standing right behind him and Landon looks like the world has ended (You would think by the many sad pictures taken of Landon that his life was pretty awful, but he is actually pretty wild, crazy and happy most of the time!)

Another fun filled evening at the Fair. I'm sure we'll be back again next year!