A-C-T- I-O-N

"ACTION Y'ALL, ACTION!!!" (Just one of the many cheers learned by not just the actual cheerleader in our house...last week I caught Sarah downstairs with her hands on her hips saying: "HEY! YOU! GET OUT OF OUR WAY!....
"'CAUSE TODAY IS THE DAY WE WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!!"  She's pretty convincing.)

We've had a beautiful fall.  Today is an exception.  I spent part of the afternoon watching the weather radar as two of our children were not home yet and it was looking pretty nasty out there.  I think the worst of it has passed and all of the tornado warnings have ended....regularly scheduled programming has returned. 

The leaves are all changing and falling down.  Piles have been raked up and jumped in causing much joy.  The houses behind us are slowly starting to come into view...maybe we'll actually meet those neighbors once we can see them.  The house next door has sold and the previous owners moved out last week.  They left a pile 'o unsightly stuff sitting on the curb.  Hurry up trash day.  Anxiously awaiting the new neighbors.

Two weeks ago the parents ran parts of the Detroit Marathon Relay.  Daddy was the first leg of our group.  He started in Detroit and ran across the bridge into Canada.  I picked up the second leg in Canada and ran back through the tunnel into Detroit.  The whole Canada part of the run complicated things a little bit now that a passport is needed to get in and out of the country (it wasn't the last time we lived here).  On Friday afternoon when Joe came home early so that we could drive back in to Detroit to pick up our race numbers, he realized that his passport was in the mail on its way to Chicago.  He has a trip to China coming up and needs a visa.  We took his expired passport and our friend, Amanda and her passport--apparently we do not look like suspicious people trying to sneak into Canada and all was well even with an expired passport.
It was my first time running in this race.  Joe ran two years in a row before we moved to Belgium and at least one of those years I brought the kids down into the city to watch him finish.

October 2006--Look at those little people!

It was really fun and we had fantastic weather--just the right amount of running to enjoy the atmosphere without feeling like I wanted to throw up and all my toe nails are still intact--bonus!  We finished up, ate breakfast in the very politically incorrectly named "Mexicantown" part of Detroit (there is an official sign and everything, but I still cringe to call it that) and were home before the baby sitter even had the kids home from church.  Then we headed out to our afternoon of flag football.  We didn't make the afternoon cheer leading.  For future reference, if the parents get up at 4:30 AM (and run more than 6 miles a piece), the parents are pretty much useless by 4 PM.  We tag teamed grocery shopping and dinner, but we were exhausted.  Passed out on the couch not long after putting the little people into bed.

Last week's pace was a little slower.  Daddy went from two trips to one and flag football practice was canceled (although that was a little disappointing since Daddy has missed almost every single practice and with his canceled trip could have actually made the last one). 
Hannah had her new friend from school over to play.  Sweetest little girl that lives in our neighborhood. :)  The weather was beautiful and Hannah, her friend and Sarah enjoyed the afternoon playing outside.  They were so sweet to the little sister, which is always a bonus for mom, and I was able to get lots done while they played.  At one point, Hannah came running in, gave me a hug and said, "I just wanted to say I'm having so much fun!"  She is such a sweet kid.
Last weekend was non-stop busy and more beautiful weather.  We went down to one car (van needed some brake work done) on Saturday and still managed ballet, gymnastics, a birthday party and Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village.  This was our third time at this event--not sure why I did not blog about our last two visits...it is a tad on the scary side and 5 years ago--we had a 3 year old and a less than 1 year old:

     October 2005: And here they are asleep...or at least they were until the flash woke the smaller one.  If I remember correctly, the smaller one threw up on the way home...not that uncommon for this particular child...she threw up quite frequently at that time in her life. :)

October 2006: And with a 4 year old and not quite 2 year old...still scary, but they stayed awake.  Much colder that year than this one.

October 2006: Technically the littlest one was on her way.  I had to give that coat up--it never zipped the same after I tried to make it be something it wasn't--a maternity coat. :)

October 2010: Here is a glimpse into the scary I was referring to...the tour begins with the Grim Reaper.  This is not someone we had introduced our children to and in years past, we just skipped right on by this "character".  This year, however, only the little one was a little unsure about this guy.  The other two walked right up and checked him out.  They didn't ask who he was and we didn't tell. 

Hannah was way into this place this year.  She posed for photo ops with just about every character--she even petted this lady's spider.

I had to help them get started with the first photo op...The Little Mermaid (AKA Sarah) rarely got out of the wagon and she refused all photo ops--even ones of her in the wagon.

Another part that we skipped in earlier years, The Headless Horseman...Just before this exhibit was a dark forest where a "tree man" who looked curiously like Chewbacca actually jumped out to scare the adults.  This year he made our Daddy scream--Sarah can imitate that scream perfectly (and did so in the bathroom for whoever might be in the next stall to hear, on our way out).  I aimed Hannah at him in hopes that he would leave me alone--Chewbacca, not Daddy.

We've never really been Halloween people, but the atmosphere here is contagious somehow.  As a friend said recently, "Halloween is more of a season than a day here".  Our neighbors have gone a little Griswold with the Halloween decor which leads me to believe we may need darkening shades on our windows in December. ;0) Our kids think we're lame with our two or three little decorations, but if they will just hang on until the clearance next week, we'll try and add to our "lame" supply for next year.

On Sunday our church had a service day in which we met for a quick message, some music and a prayer and then went out in the community to serve.  We tried something new this year--reverse trick or treating at a local retirement home--new to the service day, not just us.  The idea was borrowed from a playgroup the kids and I belonged to when we lived here before--one of the moms in the playgroup had a connection at this same retirement home.  This time instead of the kids dressing up and going trick or treating at the retirement home, the kids dressed up and handed out treats and cookies to the residents.  The treats were actually handed back and forth a few times. 

Hannah had just given this sweet lady an apple...a hug was requested...and obliged.

Hannah was sweet with the residents.  When we were leaving, she said she wanted to come back soon.

Lollipops helped with her enjoyment, I'm sure.

Sarah started as a giraffe that morning...here with her little friend, Grace Elizabeth--who was actually supposed to be "Sarah Elizabeth", but we kinda messed that up--even though we moved across the world right after she was born. :)  Grace has a little sister, Sarah, who goes by Sadie--which I think is an adorable name, by the way.

The giraffe got hot, so she had to just be herself.

And here's little Sadie, who's kinda adorable too.

Hannah and her cute friend, Maddie.

They became friends this summer...never posted this trip to the zoo a couple of months ago.

Some church members were out raking leaves and repairing homes and others were making packages of dental care products and laundry care products.  This part of the community service was quite labor un-intensive and so simple, but we got to see smiles like these.

Unfortunately, the men in our family couldn't make it to the retirement home since we were down to one car and the last flag football game happened at noon.  The girls and I were able to catch the end.

                    They played their little hearts out, but it didn't end with a W.  Tough season.

                                         This sweet big sister of a teammate, made the season so
                                         much better for my girls.

                                          Pizza and the participation trophy took away some of the pain.

                                    Having football on every TV in the restaurant, also helpful.

 And we ended the day with our last cheer leading game.

            Had she known about the trophy from the beginning, would we have had cooperation every week?

We never know with this one.  Most wouldn't believe that this same little face threw the biggest fit earlier this same day about wearing the boots that came with her Super Woman costume...I know we should pick our battles, but sometimes we don't.

After this weekend, as we doubled our trophy collection (with just two of the three kids so far), I have commented to several that today's parents need a trophy room just for our average participators.  But look at that smile...she can learn about winning and losing later.