Kyle's turkey project

Kyle had to disguise a turkey for school. The object was to chose a disguise to prevent the turkey from being eaten this Thanksgiving (nice thought for 2nd graders!). Kyle decided to turn his turkey into a different bird, a penguin. Penguins are one of Kyle's favorite animals. It was supposed to be a family project so I helped by making the scarf, ear muffs and mittens. Please notice the natural colored feathers to help make it look like there really was a turkey under the disguise! I think it turned out pretty cute and was a creative idea.

There also had to be a little description included from the turkey describing what he's disguised as. Kyle wrote that his is going to the North Pole to take care of his egg, as male emperor penguins do.

Three cats and a collie

My Hen curled up on his bed

Emma in one of favorite spots in our room

Yoda curled up on our bed, showing one of her bald spots


Cole hanging out on the couch

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween! It's the end of the day. Trick-or-treating is over and the wizards are tired. Justin and Kyle were in their costumes most of the day. They wore them to bowling for the costume contest. Kyle won first place in his division. He received a $20 gift card to Toys R Us. Justin didn't place. Two boys dressed as Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus won.

I have to send out a HUGE thank you to my talented mom for making these awesome costumes! It didn't take her long, but she bought all the material and made them with her own two hands. She made the shirts, pants, belts, cloaks and hats for both of them! Needless to say, the boys got a lot of compliments today while wearing their costumes.

Pumpkin carving

Kyle asked me a couple days ago if we could carve a pumpkin. I love pumpkins and always buy a few every year. However, I don't like to carve them since I like leaving them outside until Thanksgiving. But I told him we could if he helped. He was really excited and said this was going to be the best Halloween ever!

Kyle chose the face he wanted for our jack-o-lantern and the carving began. I didn't get a whole lot of help. Kyle was supposed to scoop out the pumpkin's guts, but gagged at the first handful, so I did the rest.

I'm not a very good pumpkin carver, but Kyle was happy with the end result. Currently, our jack-o-lantern is on the porch with ants on and in it. Yuck.

HE DID IT!!!

He is Tony. Tony is my brother the marathon runner. Tony qualified for the Boston Marathon this morning!!! He ran a marathon in Cleveland, OH this morning and finished in 3 hours 8 minutes. This is 17 minutes less than his last time! WOW!

I believe Tony's first marathon was Chicago 2004. (I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong.) His time back then was about 4 and a half hours. He has run many marathons since then in many different states, including two ultra-marathons which are 50K. It became his goal to qualify for the ultimate, the Boston Marathon. When running is your sport, you need patience which Tony has. He has the patience that I lack! He used that patience and endurance and reached his goal.

I'm so excited for him and SO very proud of my little brother. Way to go Tone!!!

(The above photo is from marathon in Batavia, IL that Tony ran in September. It's just a proof that he e-mailed to me, but our parents are in the background watching him cross the finish line.)

I'm still here

I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I just found Facebook. I use it to update and don't have to type as much as I do on my blog. This was more fun when I first started it. Now I feel like all I do is talk about what room I painted and my sons' good grades. That's what my life revolves around. However, my mom requested that I post something and no matter how old I am, I have to listen to her.

I'm enjoying autumn. I love the cool weather, my fall decorations, wearing sweatshirts, and the smell of my pumpkin spice candles. I'm listening to the boys running around outside with their friends right now. The weather is beautiful today so they need to be out while they can! Soon after dinner the sun will set and it's homework time.

Justin and Kyle have had another great start to the school year. The lowest grade on Justin's progress report was a 94% and he has the highest reading level in his class. The only downside is that although we're proud of him, we're not surprised. Kyle is coming home with excellent grades on all his papers despite being in the accelerated program.

Hopefully we'll be getting out to one of the state parks this month. We try to do a nature walk this time of the year when the leaves are changing. It's nice that the boys appreciate things like that. My brother, Tony is going to Ohio this weekend for a marathon. He hopes to qualify for Boston this time. I wish him the best!!! Then in November, he's participating in the New York marathon. Pretty cool!

I also need to have a moment of silence. Today is the day the I totalled my car back in 1995. It was my green '95 Mustang. I was fortunate enough to walk away from the accident, but at the time that car was really important to me. It was my first big purchase after college.

That's all for now. In a few weeks it'll be Halloween, so I'll have pictures of the boys in their wizard costumes that my mom is making. Stay tuned.

Back to school

Today was the first day of school for Justin and Kyle. Justin returned as a 5th grader and Kyle as a 2nd grader. I'm such a proud mom, but I can't get over how fast time has gone and how big they're getting!

Justin is already excited that at the end of the year the 5th graders get to go on a big field trip to Navy Pier. The elementary school that Justin attends is attached to a middle school. Because the elementary school is so full, Justin's classroom is IN the middle school. He thinks that's cool.




Kyle started at a different school this year just down the street from Justin's. Kyle was invited to begin the district's challenge program this year which is only available at certain schools. He's not nervous about the accelerated learning (I think he's happy about that), but was a little nervous that he wouldn't know anyone in his class. Fortunately, he already knows a few of his classmates.

Today was a short day for them, but it went well. Hopefully the whole year will go smoothly!