1st Cross Country Meet

 Yesterday was Alex's first Cross Country Meet. Selfishly, I would like to see him love this sport! All the guys I knew in school that ran cross country were very kind, smart, and dedicated students. Qualities I'd like to see in my son too! Above shows that the guys were just below the setting sun. Hard to take a good picture.

 All the middle schools competed at once.

 That is a lot of boys!

 The weather was awesome! A great day for a run.

 Alex is running on the sidewalk to the left of the picture. He finished in the top 75 (but other boys who didn't cheated and took his 'ticket'!) Anyone after that, basically ran for fun. Next time he needs to be 10 seconds faster! And hopefully everyone else will be 10 seconds slower!

 Track man.

 You would have to zoom in, but this IS cross country and he did walk away covered in mud on his backside.

7th and 8th grade team. Alex didn't come home too excited. 3 more meets for him to give it a try.

Halloween etc.

 It is Halloween. Pumpkins at Kroger? No.

 Pumpkins at Wal-Mart? No.

 Over-priced fund raiser pumpkins at Methodist church? Yes.

 But look at this great photo op.

 Serious about gutting this pumpkin.

 Serious about stenciling this pumpkin.

 12 years old and still seriously grossed out about pumpkins in general.

 Rainbow Dash, John Cena (don't ask, once they start it is hard to stop them) and Kirby.

 Lakitu. Not one of my finer costumes, but it will do.

 Princess Peach. Super cute little racing queen!

 Waluigi and a Gamer.

 This is them very embarrassed but doing it anyway because there could be candy on the other side.

 Love this look on Ryan's face! The gorilla (Jospeh) is eating his turtle shell!

 Negotiations.

 Apparently there are note fairies that visit Macey's classroom. She built a house for them in the playground after school.

 Pajama Day. Also Oliver's bday, so we sent that Penguin Lover this cute picture for his birthday greeting.

 Our spooky tree just got creepier. Ugh, time to be chopped down.

 Stretch!

October from another perspective

 Alex and Dan went to a Texas Rangers game. They had suite (pun intended) seats!

 This was written in response to a note on Ryan's door that said, "No Girls Allowed".

 Here is the 15K again.

 Alex wrote him this Congrats card...

 Trunk or Treating.

 Yep, he is wearing these glasses. He is now in the 'where are your glasses phase.' Hoping that he gets used to them and wants to wear them to see better.

 Macey got a mega full bucket of candy at Alex's Halloween band concert. When I asked her for some she handed me this little starburst. 'Here, you can have this.' Nice sharing.

 Macey and Rainbow Dash.

 Mario and Waluigi against each other.

 Family fun. I embarrassed the kids by making them trick or treat in our neighborhood before dark. But we were meeting up in the Old Neighborhood and had to get a move on early! We only went to houses we knew or were decorated for Halloween.

 Family shot. I look much better without the mullet.

 Russell Creek friends. L-R Sawyer, Gabe, Kellen, Joseph, Ryan.

 L-R Sophia, Macey, Alex, (Bones), Mia, and Nico.

 A lot of candy!

 The last game. Alex says he is glad it is over. He is glad he played. He is glad to not have to play again!

 The only close up picture we have of Alex in uniform; not even complete uniform!

 So, we have a repeat of runnin' man. This weekend he went for the half marathon. He has severe knee pain. He managed to finish this race, but will have to rest up his leg before he starts training for the full marathon in February.

Finish of October

Choir time again. Here we are getting the kids lined up in their performance rows. Macey is on the end this time. Her concerts will be Dec 15/17.

Dan the Man ran a 15K (9.4 miles) on a rainy day.

I was his only cheering section.

 He made really good time considering the adverse conditions.

So cute; he got a glow in the dark medal!

 I'm not sure I should let Mario drive us around town... even if it is to a Halloween party.

 Don't they look awesome! Waluigi, Lakitu, Princess Peach (in her kart), and Mario.

 Happy to be at the ward party.

 Spidey is Macey's buddy Rylan. Luigi and Ninja are both in her Primary class.

 Alex's real Man-stache isn't too impressive yet, but he was willing to let me draw one on.

 I have this fun shirt that says, 'All my friends are Pixels.' I threw on the mullet wig for fun, but it was sooooooooo un-attractive. I'm going for a ponytail on the real night!

 Number 34 on the field is mine! Football season is almost over. Here is what we have learned. Alex would MUCH rather play soccer than football. Cross Country starts Wednesday. Basketball try-outs start Wed too, but Alex is realistic that since he hasn't played basketball in 1.5 years he doesn't actually have his skills honed!

 Crazy hair day for Red Ribbon week. Don't you love the My Little Pony shirt and Frozen lunch box? Classy.

 Did you see? Ryan did! He got glasses on Tuesday. Doctor said it would take about a month for Ryan's eyes to relax into the prescription. Apparently his eyes were straining very hard to focus and he had lost his depth perception because of it! Ryan asked, 'Should I take my glasses off when I go to bed?' Dedicated!

 I made this poodle skirt for 50's day. I always wanted to have one, so I was living vicariously for this one!

 I went to school on 50's day and read a collection of Halloween stories and gave out candy.

I love this flamingo. Macey took the picture. She says, 'Don't worry. This is a flamingo in a skeleton costume because it is carrying a trick or treat basket. It isn't a dead flamingo.' Shew, what a relief!