Preparing for Halloween.

Our neighborhood is BIG on Halloween. 

It's not an understatement to say that our location is the hub of trick or treating in our community.

It spreads by word of mouth and from what I hear- FaceBook.

Since we are new to the neighborhood, I checked with the neighbors to get an idea of what to expect.

They said "hundreds of kids come down our street".

I began to wonder what we had gotten ourselves in to........

I broke the kids in gently with household decorations.

Fun, not intimidating.  Cheerful.

We set out the standard pumpkins and gourds. 
Matt even carved one on a day at work with his dad.

Little touches here and there.



We were crunched for time.  We had been so busy with repairs on the house that we hadn't done much decorating outside.  We made due with what we had.  We had just trimmed trees so we put the brush pile to good use.  We lined our sidewalk and added some halloween lights. 

  

I took a walk down through the neighborhood and checked out the other houses.

Everyone had added their own touches in

preparation for the big event.

Our local surgeon managed to decorate his porch into a haunted house in one day.

It's one of the highlights of our street.  If you make it all the

way through, he rewards the trick-or-treater

with a full-size candy bar.

He's finally done!

Todd's multi-weekend project of replacing the fascia on our home has been challenging.

I love it that Todd is so handy with home improvement. 

But... I have to admit this project made me nervous.

Spending weekends watching my husband work 2-stories in the air

praying he doesn't fall is not my idea of fun.

 I don't think Todd was so fond of the project either.

It was hard to justify the money saved with the labor involved.
His back is now paying the price.

Todd finished the last section this weekend.  What an accomplishment!

Our next project?  Calling a contractor to replace the roof.

Giraffe Fairy?

Hannah came home with this mask from daycare today.
You see....she loves giraffe's.  She could not believe that Jackie bought HER this mask. 
She wore it all evening.
She's trying to convince me to let her wear it with her Halloween costume (a pink fairy).  On Halloween.
Yes, I do believe a giraffe in a pink fairy costume would be quite unusual.......but sooooo Hannah.

Railroad Annual Dinner

We attended the annual ASVRR volunteer appreciation dinner. 

This year the Board of Directors opted for a train ride with the Steam Engine and BBQ.

Todd spends a lot of hours volunteering for the railroad.

The kids get to spend a lot of time with him at the railyard and working on the excursion train.

Once the train arrived in Enterprise, the volunteers and their families were treated to

hamburgers, hotdogs, and sides. 

After the meal, the Board conducted the annual meeting.  Hannah was such a clown through the meeting.  It was hard to keep a straight face.

Todd was elected to the Board of Directors for a three-year term. 

We are very excited about this opportunity. 

Family Pics- 2010

We had our family pictures taken this fall. 

Here our some of my favorites. 

Thanks to Cory Keller at Keller Photography! 

http://www.keller-photo.com/

Chisholm Trail Days

After my race, we headed down to Chisholm Trail Days. 

This has been an annual event for our family.

Brian, Jennifer, and family stayed the afternoon and went with us.

Our first stop was the Museum of Independent Telephony.

The kids enjoyed this way more than I though they would.

They loved trying out all of the different phones.

After the museum, we headed out to the carousel.

Matt informed me that he was too old to ride the carousel.

We made our way around to all the different exhibits.

The kids loved the chickens.

Mallory tried some apple butter.  She didn't like it but at least she tried it.

 

Jonathan love watching them clean corn.

Once he had it figured out, he gave it a try.

Once, Jonathan was done the rest of the kids made their way through.

Our last stop was the miniature train exhibit.

Race Day.

Well, my big day arrived. 

My first race in over 15 years. 

The last few weeks were tough getting ready for it. 

I wanted to quit.  I was looking for a way to back out.

Then I heard the news of an old co-worker of mine, Nancy. 

She was one of the first people I knew when I moved to Abilene. 

Nancy had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

This gave me the motivation to run the race. 

Could I run like I used to? NO

Would I finish in the top 10? NO

Could I finish the race?  YES

So, I did.

2 miles in 21 minutes and 33 seconds. 

No school record. 

But not a time to be ashamed of.  I finished.

My dear husband attempted to get some photos. 

There's Jen and I as we passed by my house. 

Matt & Hannah watching the race. 

Matthew still isn't quite sure if running should be something that a mom does.