Before You Were Mine

I loved the book, Before You Were Mine by Carissa Woodwyk.  Carissa is a mom, wife, counselor and adult Korean adoptee.   I met her at a retreat for adoptive moms and fell in love with her message!  She just posted my review, along with other adoptive moms, on her blog.  Check it out!

Halloween!!!

Little Red Riding Hood (our neighbor, Mary), Olympic gymnast and and a dragon!!!

Army 10 miler/Washington D.C.

Each year we travel to Washington D.C. for the Army 10 miler.  We used to both run it but now it is just Rich.  He runs to honor our friend, Major David Taylor, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.  David was a high school friend of both of ours.  He was our class president in Heidelberg.  The Army 10 miler was a favorite race of his and so it has become our tradition.  We also get to see friends from high school which we love!!!!  

 At packet pick up, there are all things Army there.  It is hard to get the kids to leave usually.  It is a great platform for talking about what our troops do and possible vocations for the future!

 The kids decided on this trip they wanted to see monuments.  Terefech hadn't seen The White House so that was on her list.  We are amazed at how far back from The White House you stand now.  We pushed and shoved our way to the front to get some pictures!

 Washington Monument...they were disappointed that it still isn't opened.  They are still repairing earthquake damage.

 WWII monument.  I have to say one of my favorites.  Possibly because every time we have gone, there are veterans there.  It is pretty amazing to see them move amongst the crowd, talk with visitors and their families.

 Lincoln Memorial.  I enjoyed talking to the kids about all of the monuments and memorials, why they were there, who the people were, the meaning of the words etched.

 Korean War Memorial.  Oddly, our friend David's son has a very similar picture at the Freedom is not free.  Seems as though the kids were drawn to it.

 Vietnam...Harry Brown was an acquaintance of my dad's.  He still wears a bracelet bearing his name.

 Albert Einstein.  Rich said there is never anyone there because it is hidden over by some buildings.  There were about 50 people there when we went.  Their tour guide let us take pictures first!

 Rich's alma mater...one of them anyway, there are so many.

 The Army 10 Miler!!!  Early morning to head to the start.  The kids are troopers and scanned the crowd for our friends...never saw them.

 Warming up for the kids' race.  

 After their triumphant finish!

Cousins Suza and Brandon were there with us!!!!

Terefech's play

 Terefech's class put on the play Rapunzel.  She was lucky enough to have Grandpa and Nana watch her all the way from Cleveland!

Thrilled to have them there!

Declan is 8!

Declan had a friend spend the night for his birthday and they were FBI agents.  We are lucky enough to have a friend who sent us some cool FBI stuff...tshirts, badges, pens.  The boys were off on a mystery to solve.

 The sunglasses are crucial to the look.

 Deciphering the code.

 Using the magic spy juice to solve the clue.

Neighbor love

 We are lucky to have a next door neighbor friend!!!  Puppy love is involved.

My big 7 year old

 This is what happens when you turn 7.  You start reading American Heritage magazine.

 When you don't like cake that much or icing, you have a Rita's Italian Ice "cake."

Craziness at our house

Our kids are so creative sometimes.  They were acting out stuff and these are their costumes.  I love Declan's octopus costume.  And Terefech thought her having a parrot on the front of her shirt while dressed as a fairy pirate was hilarious!

 We liked seeing her twists upside down!

Rich as a baby

Isn't he cute?  Rich's dad sent this article to us recently and just wanted to share.

Apple picking at Carrigan Farms

We spent Labor Day laboring in the apple orchard.  We headed out to Carrigan Farms which is a farm near us that does apples, pumpkin, and farm tours.  The kids had been there with their school and were excited to go on this new adventure.  We hit the fields and stared a pickin'!

 Just had to show off our new shirts.  Our high school in Germany is shutting down at the end of this school year.  The kids there are doing a fundraiser by selling these tshirts.  Love them!

 Terefech loves to climb trees!

We are looking forward to lots of yummy treats.  So far we have had a yummy apple crisp.  I have been freezing apples and hoping that works!