Our family theme this year was Toy Story. We also went to our first Halloween party, which was awesome. So much more fun to be around an awesome group of adults who are all dressed up as well. The costumes were amazing.

Maggie has been really loving school since she started a few weeks ago. Here she is participating in the traditional Sounds and Colors Halloween parade. She was definitely the most excited kid.

After many years, we have finally broken ground on the TheRealRoseHouse! A major milestone. We brought the kids down to check out the clearing, but they were more interested in the rock pile, which they played in for an hour. Maggie could not be separated from it without screaming, and Laney tried to smuggle home a head-sized cache of gravel in her dress.

After much haranguing, we were finally able to get a bank to give us a loan to start construction on our house. (This is a picture of our attorney, Wayne, who is awesome, and highly recommended for real estate transactions in the triangle.)

We’re super proud of Kaya for finishing the CES marathon in parts. It’s an event where kids run 26.2 miles over the course of a month. Kaya was really dedicated to this and ran laps around our neighborhood most nights for a month. She completed the last 12 miles in one weekend which consisted of 4x 5k’s followed by a finishing 1mi sprint.

It was pouring for the race, but Kaya was undeterred. This was the first 5k I ever ran where I was passing people and finished not-last-ish.

I can’t pass up a photobooth

I said, “Smile! Maybe I’ll put this picture on our Christmas cards!” This is what I got.

The big highlight of the weekend (well, at least my weekend) was finding a baby turtle in our backyard. This little guy (who I have named Bartleby) was midway through hatching when we discovered him at the bottom of the slide on our swingset (perhaps his mother didn’t always make the best egg laying choices). We watched him struggle to get out of his shell for a couple days and eventually he made it into the woods! Go Bartleby!

I had the rare opportunity to take Kaya and Laney out for pizza Saturday night. Tommy and Maggie went to a Mexican Independence Day party at Yoya and Dylan’s and we were left on our own for dinner. They both were exhausted, since I dragged them there after dance class, a soccer game, 2 flu shots (one for each of them), and a birthday party. But I really wanted some pizza and a milkshake. Laney ate only French fries, and Kaya ate only a milkshake. And I ate nearly an entire pizza and drank Laney’s milkshake. I highly recommend the Loop’s salty pizza and a cold beer after such a Saturday. Oh, and all 3 of us even ran a lap around the neighborhood when we got back to keep Kaya on track for her school marathon. No rest for the weary! #teachgrityoung