turkey day highlights

Every year, it seems I take less photos of our time at Papi's, but I always try to manage a few on Thanksgiving day. Here are a few highlights from the day...

Adorable turkeys made by Brandi. Every year, it is something simply adorable and this year was as cute as ever. Their bellies were filled with Reese pieces... yum!

Always lots of cousin pool time. They played some strange game similar to sharks and minnows but with noodles and strange rules.

Some putt putt in the back yard with Nana's grandsons, Zach and Andrew.

Chilling in the shade by adults.

A little silly alone time hogging all the noodles.

An all kid putt putt tournament that again makes no sense?! I think there is a theme with them for playing games with strange rules!

Cuteness eating by the pool!

And it wouldn't be fun without some xBox or Wii time.

More relaxing and chatting in the shade.

And yep, that is pretty much the day of Thanksgiving. 

 We missed my sister and her family this year but there is always next year. This year, I am thankful for being able to spend time with family. For my brother and his family making the trip because I know it's a lot of work for them. For having this time with my Dad at his house. For the many memories my kids will have for years about Thanksgiving at Papi's.

Happy Thanksgiving!

5k turkey trot...

Why not one more turkey trot? As if you ever see turkeys trot! Well, maybe they do trot but the wild ones I have seen normally seem more interested in eating and not so much in running! Dennis' work sponsors a company turkey trot for their employees so this year he signed us up.

 Jaiden ran with his friend, Tyler.

 Alyssa and me at the start line, but we walked the course despite me trying to get her to do just a little jogging/walking intervals... which meant this 5k felt much longer than that 10k!

I am pretty certain Jaiden and Tyler lapped us not once but twice! 

And even Dennis lapped us!

Alyssa and I managed to finish despite her wanting to cut it short! Then I squeezed in a 2 hour Zumba class for a Children's Hospital fundraiser, only to come home, shower and head straight to the airport for our annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to Arizona!

mannequin challenge

Have you heard of the latest rage?

The mannequin challenge. The what? Mannequin as in humans that act like mannequins. And yes, it's a challenge. And it's a rage among kids. And it's quite hilarious and intriguing.

Jaiden's lead teacher had the kids try out a few and then today I received an email from Jaiden that said 

"I hope you like it 😀"

and this was attached...

To view the video, you have to visit the blog at www.nicksenbachler.blogspot.com - hopefully that gives you a link in your email that you click on. 

And when you watch it, Jaiden has the lime green shoes... apparently both Dad (Dennis) and Alyssa kept thinking someone else was him which I find hilarious because who can't recognize their own kid or brother? So I will give you a break if you don't find him right away!

Enjoy!

turkey trot 2016

It finally arrived... the day I have spent weeks, months training for... our local 10k Turkey Trot. I was so nervous despite the training I had done and a little excited to see if I could really run the entire 10K! If it wasn't for this kid, I would have never tried running a 10k!

 His love for running and wanting to share it with us is adorable especially given the fact that neither Dennis or I could keep his pace. So the deal was to be at the starting line together and meet up at the finish line. I was going to take a photo of the 2 of us but instead caught him taking his own selfie!

Not a bad selfie with a flip phone that you can't see yourself in!

The results? We both finished!

Jaiden 0:57:48

Me 1:19:58

See what I mean about not keeping up? But at least I can say I ran the entire 10k!

clay dad and almost front row

Tonight was a busy night. Alyssa's school had an open house sharing their recent STEM work. In 5th grade, they made clay creations of their hero in Art class. In Writing class, they wrote a story about their hero and why. Then in STEM class, they learned how to create a QR code that connected the viewer to them reading their story out loud.

Alyssa's hero? Her dad!

 Love the clay version of Dennis! I need to remember to try to find a written version of her story so I can include it here later, but the one funny tidbit about her hero was he travels to space! Apparently, she thinks that is where he goes when he is on business trips!

Following Alyssa's school program was Jaiden's band concert. We always sit higher up so we can see the band and I do love the view because normally Jaiden is tucked behind on the far right side, but tonight he was almost front row!

 It is really exciting to hear the entire band, but the best part is watching him. His enthusiasm for playing the tuba intrigues me and it probably always will. It wasn't quite the instrument I thought he would play but he finally is growing into it just like Mrs. Clanin assured me it would!

chorale festival

Last night was one of those where all of us were going in different directions. Jaiden and I ate dinner together while Dennis was still working or on his way home (not sure which one it was) and Alyssa was at her chorale festival for most the afternoon and into the evening before her show at 7 pm. As I started out the door a little early to go to Alyssa's show, Dennis came home, ate dinner and was also out the door with Jaiden for Boy Scouts... and then our house was quiet for at least an hour and a half before the girls invaded followed by the boys. And yes, that's pretty much how it rolls these evenings... but it is all good and the kids get to try and do new things and find their passions.

For Alyssa, her passion is somewhere between singing and science. Every opportunity at school to participate in music - she signs up for. And every opportunity related to science and technology - she signs up for. It's been an exhausting Fall getting her up early and both kids out the door before 8 am. I prefer the staggered mornings - him before 8 am and her before 9 am but maybe this is just a little warm up for next Fall when they will be at the same school again!

Anyway, back to her passion ... singing. 

She has been getting up early every Friday to participate in a special group called Soaring Singers with the preparation all for one day of Chorale Festival. Yesterday was the day and she was over the moon excited. We even had to buy new black shoes for her since she outgrew her other cute black boots.

Parents were only invited to the final chorale finale - the concert. I was excited and then immediately anxious when I got to the local high school and discovered the parking lot full which meant likely the auditorium was too. I did find a spot to sit but then changed my mind when they announced we could sit in the balcony. I thought I'd have a better view... and I did... sort of...

of the entire group - 7 schools represented and our school was on the far left - in fact, Alyssa is so far left she is almost not in the photo! 

I gave up on getting a great photo. It didn't matter where I moved to, it was going to be virtually impossible to see her so I sat back and enjoyed the concert and thought about how happy and excited she looked up on stage and when I mentioned singing her heart out, she corrected me "not exactly, Mom!" but she did say it was an awesome experience and she was happy to be part of it!

justin bieber hair

Absolutely no clue how or why she chose to do this except as we were leaving for school, she asked me to take a photo of her and send to Aunt Cyndi and Aunt Jenna. 

Her words? Tell them this is my Justin Bieber hair!

Love this cutie pie!

sorting, trading, counting, weighing...

Earlier today, I had a contractor come by to look at some remodeling I would like done as he was getting ready to leave, he laughed and commented "Hey, my wife does the same thing with our kids candy" and pointed to this...

 I laughed even more so and said "Oh I didn't do that, my son did! But I guess he has a bit more of me in him than he realizes because that is the sort of the thing I would have done!"

So I took a photo because I realized this is one of those kinds of stories I collect for the kids to reflect on later. He can laugh at himself when he is older and sees just how many years he sorted his Halloween candy. But mostly I think it is quite sweet to see that he still does this even at 12 years old! 

Fast forward to after school today and as I am preparing dinner for our busy evening, I hear the two of them in the front room and I peek in and see this...

the two of them completely engaged in trading, sorting, counting, more trading and just chit chatting about their nights! Turns out Jaiden weight his loot and it was 4 1/2 lbs! Good grief. 

When I showed Dennis this photo and we were chuckling over it, Jaiden also informed us that 30% of kids sort their candy but in their class it was actually a higher percentage! 

Hmmm... very interesting statistic!