Thanksgiving week

We survived parent-teacher conferences, and now we moved on to Thanksgiving week. On Monday, Noah started basketball. Deb is assisting in the coaching of his team this year. He is looking forward to a good season. On Tuesday, we had four extra kids overnight while their parents were returning from a trip. It was a lot of fun, but getting seven kids ages 2 to 13 ready, fed, and out of the house by 7:15 for school is not something I would be able to do everyday.
Wednesday, Lydia had her Thanksgiving program. She was an Indian with a cute outfit she made at school. Then we started preparing food for the feast!
Thursday morning, Tom, aunt Deb and her friend Tim, and I ran in the Turkey Day 5K in Minneapolis. I could not believe all the people! We had a great time, and Tom finished his first 5K. We will run another one next weekend!
We ended up with a group of 20 for dinner! What a great time. The kids ran around (only a little blood - of course from Jake), we watched football, and we ate, ate, ate. We were lucky to have Grandpa Henry, Papa, and Grandma Sue, Grandma Judy, Uncle Mick and Aunt Nancy, Aunt Deb, Tom, Jill, Taylor, and Jordan, Pat, Wade, Trent, and Brody all here with the five of us. We had many laughs and was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. Aunt Nancy had all the kids help with making Turkey place cards for the table. I think they finished their dinner quickly so they could eat their Turkeys!
Friday morning brought the annual shopping trip for mom, Jill, and I. We did well and were back home by 11:00 a.m.

A small break

Lydia had a little accident three weeks ago. While wrestling with Jake on mom and dad's bed, she fell and landed wrong breaking her arm. We spent some time in the emergency room and had x-rays taken. It ended up being a 'green-stick' fracture. Her arm is healing well, and fast so they decided to just keep on the temporary cast until this coming up Monday (December 1st). We always thought Jake would be the first to break a bone - but he was involved! He felt bad and has been pretty nice to his little sister since the accident. We will see if this all changes once the cast comes off.

It finally arrived...40

I turned 40 on November 6th. Deb threw me a surprise party that was a lot of fun. Mom, Jill, Tom, Taylor, and Jordan came up for pizza to celebrate Jill and my birthdays. Then all of a sudden people started appearing at our door. I was a bit stunned and overwhelmed when we all of a sudden had over 60 people in our house. I am a 'planner' and not being in the loop threw me a bit. Deb had thought of everything...the food, beverages, cake, and guests. I really appreciated the time she must have put into this to pull it off - I was clueless! The time with family and friends...what a great gift.

Halloween!!!

Our family split up a little on Halloween. Noah went with a friend to Ramsey, MN for trick-or-treating. Deb and I took Lydia and Jake to Grandma Judy's and then to Papa and Grandma Sue's house. Grandma sue had sloppy Joe's and warm rice pudding waiting for us. What a great treat! Noah and his friend Beau dressed up as hobos and took in a haul of candy - good thing Noah is not a huge fan of the sweets so that the rest of benefited from his efforts!
Lydia dressed up as a Vikings cheerleader, and Jake was a Gangsta' . (Misha would be proud) The kids had fun answering the door and handing out candy at Papa and Grandma Sue's house. We were able to see Chris, Casey, and girls, and also Dan, Kelly, and boys.
The next night, Deb and I attended a Halloween Party at the Lorsungs. I think we scared our own kids!

Yikes - I need to catch up on blogging!

I realized that I have not blogged wince the marathon! It is now Thanksgiving weekend! So to back track a little - Noah had a great football season. We had many fun Saturdays in Forest Lake cheering on the guys! They ended the season with a 4-3 record and have shown so much improvement this year. Over the weeks Noah had many fans show up - Grandma Judy, Papa and Grandma Sue, Pat, Trent, and Brody, and Tom, Jill, Taylor, and Jordan. THANKS for supporting Noah! Perkins is going to miss us coming in for lunch after each game!

Twin Cities Marathon

After the many weeks of training, the Twin Cities Marathon was finally here. Even though I have run Grandma's marathon twice, I was still nervous and not quite sure what to expect. I had looked over the course, and I actually had run parts of it before (back in 1992 when I lived down in Mpls), but had heard a number of stories about 'the Hill' so we a little apprehensive. I am so glad I had Jim Sloan, a fellow teacher to start the race with. We started strong and I felt good, even through the pounding rain at Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet, and Minnehaha Parkway. It was not until Lake Nokomis when I started to get cold, and I started to slow down a bit. Jim and I lost each other a few times at water stops, but after mile 15, we did not meet up again until the end. I walked up most of 'the Hill' and then ran for most of the way down Summit Avenue to the Capital. It was fun to have Deb and the kids, along with Jill, Tom, Taylor, Jordan, and Grandma Judy cheer me on three different times along the course. The Sloans and Scholin's were also out cheering on the runners. There was times when that support was really needed : ) I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 4:05:35. This is my best marathon time yet. I beat my last time by over 25 minutes! It is such a great feeling to cross that finish line. I have not been as sore as I have been in the past after the marathon, and this was the first time that I really did not have any injuries during training. It all paid off. Next marathon: Grandma's Marathon in June - only 251 days away.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!

Noah has had a great time playing football this fall. His team is 3-2 so far, and the guys have shown so much improvement over last year. Noah is playing quarterback, and then middle linebacker on defense. He likes tackling the other team and has made some great plays on defense. We are very proud of his efforts. He always gives it is best.
The team has two more games - tomorrow and then on the 25th. We just hope that the rain holds off tomorrow! We are glad that Pat and the boys, papa and grandma Sue, and grandma Judy have all been to some games to cheer the team on.