What?!? A 10K NEXT Saturday?

Last Friday, my friend Bethany got the wild idea that we should run a 10k in Kilgore on Halloween.


That's right.


A week before the race.

Had we run?

Oh maybe for a few minutes before we decided to stop & walk the rest so we could talk more. ;) But, we had CERTAINLY not trained. A few months ago I was running 3 miles at a time - but that was a few months ago. 10k is 6.2 miles. The last time I did that was when I ran a half marathon in 2005! But, I figured, what can it hurt? (Turns out, it could hurt my knee...see pics below!) If worse came to worse, we would just walk. So, on Halloween, I got up before the sun did, picked Bethany up, and we headed to Kilgore. The race wove through the streets of downtown. There were less than 100 people there racing - but we had lots of fun...RUNNING! Yes! We ran the whole thing! We were pretty pround of ourselves (or at least I was!).

My parents were in town, so they came with David & Kate (so did Bethany's husband, little boy & mom) to cheer us on at the end. It was a good sight to see when we came around the corner & could see them & realized we were almost finished!

Kate w/ my mom & Jackson

My parents with Kate

Our moms ready to cheer us on!

There we are!! WAY in the back!

Me with my injury... There were these huge cracks in the streets & I caught one an fell. My hands hurt the worst at the time. Bethany was such an encouragement though. She said "Don't worry. It's just a good distraction to not think about how much the running hurts." HA!

Thanks for the fun idea Bethany! We ended up having lots of fun & I am glad we did it. Maybe next weekend we'll go ahead and just find a half-marathon to do. Then, a full the next. Why not, right? It's all mental anywa.y ;)

Pumpkin Patch

I just don't know how any doesn't just LOVE fall! On Friday we headed out to the pumpkin patch with the Bergmans & Johnsons. David had never been to one - so it was a new experience for him too! We went to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch at Bell Family Farms. It was great!

When we got there we rode this little train with the kids. Bethany & Jackson in the back (waves on the side) - Kate & I in the Aggie car (of course!)

Then there was the hayride down to the pumpkins...

Let the picture taking begin!

Trevor takes AMAZING pictures - he took more of our family with his camera...coming soon!

love...

A fun trip with fun friends :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

Yesterday when Kate woke up from her afternoon nap, I noticed the lighting outside was just perfect! So, took her outside and snapped a few pictures...

Our neighbors have this cute little set up along the road that I've wanted to get her picture in front of...

Then, I took her out in the back yard with all these little gourds...

I guess these will also double as her 10 month portraits!

This afternoon we head to the pumpkin patch - yipee!

Mitchell Family Fun

Last weekend, both of David's sisters who live out of town (Mandy & Bethany) happened to come in on the same weekend. Since we're not all together very often, it was really fun to have them both in at the same time.

Since we haven't ever taken any, we tried to get a picture of the three cousins since we had them together.

It started just like this time...

...but we got a cute one of the girls!Then, we decided to move to the back porch where we could confine them on a chair.

We tried to take Jack's fire truck away...

But, finally ended up with this...

Pretty good for three kids 2 & under! Don't ya think?

Happy 10 Months Kate!

This month flew by! I think starting a new business kind of took over for me for a bit. I plan on taking a lot more pictures this month seeing as I only have 2 more months before my "baby" turns one!

This month Kate:

-Can roll 'em up

-is cruising so fast! She moves from one piece of furniture to another with ease & actually uses walking along things as a form of transportation

-mimics motions that we make all the time

-can drink out of a straw

-LOVES to dance. She does this to any music - my phone ringing, on TV, us singing, anything! Here she is riding in her favorite new activity - her car. She dances everytime she's in it!

-standing alone longer and longer

-eating more and more - added proteins (turkey, ham, beef), dairy (yogurt, cheese), grains (oatmeal, etc), pancakes, and waffles to her diet. No more pureed foods at all!

-waving: and it quickly changed from the full arm up and down "baby" wave to the adorable toddler scrunching of the hand wave. (thanks to Aunt Kristin)

-seriously...will this kid ever get more teeth? Just two.

-still not complaining about the same sleeping patterns (1st nap was 2 1/2 hours today!!!). She wakes up so happy too! I took this video so you could enjoy her little talking. Everytime she wakes up she usually just sits/stands and talks to herself for awhile. She looks at me like I'm crazy if I come in before letting her have her "wake-up" time.

-gives "hugs" - she leans her head onto your shoulder. So cute!

-hands things to you when she's done with it or knows she shouldn't have it.

-loves to push things around the house while crawling

-plays "peek-a-boo" around whoever is holding her looking for the person behind. FAVORITE game!

-actually started drinking out of her sippy cup alone (instead of just playing with it or needing help)

One... Two....

Three...

David started playing this game with Kate awhile back, but now she likes to be the one in control...

The other day I was putting her in her carseat and I said, "Ready, one, two, " and she threw her head back. It was so funny that she completely associates it with this game!

This age is so fun!

FINALLY!

I have been wondering when Kate would finally start doing some signing. She's connected so many other motions to words, etc. But, she just wouldn't sign for anything! She'd just smile up at me like it was so cute that I was doing it.

Well, finally...

Sometimes it looks like clapping, (usually she closes her hands to do it) but she always does it right after I ask & today even did it on her own when her tray was empty and she wanted more food! I love how she smiles so big when she does it - so proud of herself!

Way to go little girl!