Even Spiderman needs his sleep

A few hours earlier.....

The Fort Langley Cranberry Festival.

We met Mary, Jake and Rochelle and spent a good part of the day here.The weather was perfect. There were a ton of people and lots to see.

Big, big pimpkins.

A candy store - she is just about to devour that big gummy bug.

The cranberry bog. I bought a pound of fresh cranberries that will be turned into muffins are some other treat tomorrow.

And face painting.

Since Cooper and Hudson spent most of their day wandering around with Jake, they didn't make it into the camera lens much.

It was all enough to make even a superhero conk out in the backseat.

Race #2 for Hudson

Before:

Looking ready to run.

During:

He found this one a hard one. He got a side ache right at the beginning and had to push through. That face says it all. I tried not to make eye contact with him for fear of him 'seeing Mom' and the emotions that can sometimes bring. I felt bad for him and proud of him all at the same time.

Tag was waiting on the side of the trail waiting to cheer him on as he made his second loop.After:
No photos of after, I didn't think Hudson would appreciate it. He so wants to do well and is very hard on himself when he does less than he thinks is good. He placed 24th out of at lesat 70 boys which I think is great. I know he really wants a ribbon (top 20) so I will try to help him get there this week by pushing him to do more training. Next week is his last race.
He did get to eat his dinner on the couch while watching TV so that sort of made up for it. :)

Who let the dogs out

My attempt at clearing things off my to-do list started with Tag's Birthday party this Saturday. Yes, I know that his birthday was actually in August but having his party well after the fact just stretches out the fun, don't you think.

So anyway, 6 of his little friends (5 girls and one boy) showed up on Saturday afternoon for a couple hours of doggy heaven. We had doggy cupcakes, made dog tags, painted doggy faces, played find the dogbone and feed the doggy games, and last but not least, a doggy pinata.This little doggy had a great time.

And then, since I was tackling my to-do list, we finally took 'first day of school' photos. The kids were all so eager to get to school, to meet their new teachers, see their friends. Just look at those bright shiny faces. Okay, okay, - but really they were all very good sports about getting spiffied up and wearing their backpacks on a Sunday morning.Thank-you to four (fairly) willing and very lovely subjects. We just couldn't have a school year without these.

FPOTM - September

My only first day of school photo. So very disappointed in myself. Is it now too late?? Please tell me no.

Girls night

Some friends and I went to the Jason Mraz concert last night and had a great time. A girls night out was much needed and we even had a limo rented for the event. A little more costly but it sure was nice not having to worry about traffic. We all enjoyed appy's and mojitos on the ride down.

These are my beautiful neighbors/friends Stephanie, (me), Janie and Jackie. Tanya had to cancel at the last minute so we quickly invited my lovely friend Mindy who pulled off getting ready and finding a place for her two kids in about ten minutes. We picked her up later so unfortunately she didn't make it into the photo.

The concert was fantastic and we had a lot of fun. Our tickets were on the floor, which gave us all a good laugh as the 'floor crowd' is a lot younger than those in the seats. We all felt very old but didn't let that damper our spirits. Being on the floor where everyone is pushing and shoving for space is a really great place to discover your mean streak, something I probably would have been much more afraid of when I was younger. The five of us held our ground well, even though it did take a bit of elbow jabbing.

While I was out grooving with the girls, life still goes on at home. Tony came home early to take care of things for me. He got the kids from school, got them their snacks, got Reagan to skipping, went to watch Cooper's cross country race (he beat his time by 20 seconds and moved up 20 places -wish I could have been there), went and picked up Hudson's buddy Duncan so Mindy (his Mom) could come with us, got them all dinner and happily put them to bed. Thanks Tony, I appreciate it.

FPOTM - September - coming later today.
Happy October!!

Today...

My mom is spending one week of respite in a home and today Taggart and I visited her. We cut a rose from the garden to take with us and Tag was excited to give it to her. I was hoping to take a photo of the two of them together but unfortunately, Mom wasn't very happy today about being where she was, so that didn't happen. Watching your parents age is a very tough thing.

On a happier note, Hudson had his first cross country race today. It was raining, windy and freezing cold but Hudson was really excited. He did great and came in 21st place. The first 20 get ribbons so he was a bit bummed out about that but not discouraged. He said that next week, all he has to do is pass one more person. I was proud of him. Not a great photo. I was trying to keep my camera dry by hiding it in my coat and then all of a sudden he was in front of me and I hardly had time to turn it on, never mind focus. I'll do better next week too.

Mr. Independence

He has been able to ride it for a while now but getting started always required some help. I think he was just a bit sick of the whole thing because when ever I asked him to go out and practice his answer was always 'no'.

Until today.

He just got it today and there was no stopping him. Riding all day long. His helmet became a fairly permanent fixture on his head, much like Reagan's goggles during pool season.

I think he was feeling some serious independence out there today.

Wait to go, little man!