greg had one the his best work days on friday when they hosted the POTUS at the arena on campus. he said it was stressful, but awesome. definitely a once in a lifetime experience.
afterwards, we headed out for a date night! we ended up having mexican food and watching the world series. it was a great night.
after a day of errands and playing with friends, we headed down to our neighborhood block party with the jenkinsons. these two are best buds.
so are these silly girls.
i got up super early this morning for my first half marathon of the season. it was hot, humid, and i tackled a very large bridge, but i ended up with a personal record! it was a fun morning with the best running buddies you can ask for.
the pool was too chilly so we played in the hot tub this afternoon! it was just what i needed after my race today and the kids had a blast.
pumpkin carving!
we ended the weekend with a drive around the block. we tried to give crosby his first driving lesson, but it was short lived.
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we had a great last weekend of october. how was your weekend?
Happy Friday! I cannot believe it’s the last Friday in October. Where did this month go? I am not loving that, but here is what am loving this week.
o n e
Brand new babies! The Jenkinsons welcomed their third baby this week, a boy! I was able to visit them at the hospital and snuggle him the next day. Gosh, newborns are so sweet! Welcome to the party Lincoln, October is the best month!
t w o
We finished the Gilbo birthday celebrations this week with Crosby’s birthday on Thursday. How in the world is he three years old?! We had an action packed day, but it began with a donut which is the best way to start the day.
t h r e e
Another fun thing about Thursday was the Fall Festival at the kids’ school! It’s such a fun day for the kids and they had so much fun getting into their costumes again.
f o u r
We are definitely not Cubs or Indians fans, but what a fun World Series this is! Game three is tonight at Wrigley which I am sure is going to be insane!! We are rooting for a good series and exciting games and I think we’ll definitely get that.
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Don’t forget to check out what Misha is loving this week!
Have a great weekend!
Crosby Martin is three years old today!
This boy is the perfect mix of sweet and ornery. He sure went out with a bang on these terrible twos. The past couple of weeks it seems that he has lost his listening ears many times, but when he’s not causing trouble, he is just a sweet boy. He loves to cuddle and give hugs (many times to complete strangers). He is fun-loving and is absolutely hilarious. The morning after we went to Legoland he came straight into our room from his room (at 7:30am, I might add) and started singing “Everything is awesome!“. Not only did we think it was hilarious and awesome, he sure did too.
Crosby is an active little boy. He loves to run and jump. You can always find him jumping on the couch, from the couch to the ottoman, on the trampoline, from his bed to the floor, and anywhere he can get some air. I love this picture because I feel it perfectly captures him at this age. Climbing and hanging on something, then jumping right off. Without fail, every single day we threaten him with “do you want to go to the hospital today?” The answer is always “no” and it usually causes him to stop doing whatever it is for a brief moment. Whenever he puts on his tennis shoes, he says he’s going to go “run really fast” and he does. He sure has a lot of energy!
He’s doing very well in school and is learning so much! He’s been practicing his days of the week and months of the year thanks to special songs during circle time. He knows exactly when his birthday is and does a great job with his letters. He is getting better with his counting and can usually make it to 20 with no problems. His speech is not nearly as clear as Kenley’s was at this age and he still has a lisp, but overall his speech is very good.
I wanted to continue with the tradition from Kenley’s third birthday, so I asked Crosby the same questions in a little interview. It’s funny to see their answers side by side. We also read Kenley’s answers back to her this week and she thought they were hilarious.
What is your name? Crosby Gilbertson
How old are you? Three
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my fire truck
What do you want to be when you grow up? A garbage man
What is your favorite food? Grapes
Who do you like to spend your time with? Kenley
What do you do really well? Play with toys
What makes you laugh? Knocking stuff down
What is the best time of day? Singing ABCs
What are you afraid of? Um, a monster
Who is your best friend? Kenley
What do you like to do with your family? Play with all the toys and give them away
What do you love to learn about? Poopy
Where do you like to go? Chic-fil-A
What is your favorite book? The pumpkin book
If you had one wish, what would it be? A surprise
I love that he absolutely adores his sister, even though he loves to torment her most days. I am also not surprised that “poopy” came up in his interview because he talks about this daily. He thinks it’s hilarious. We don’t. Their class has a parade on Monday and they all got to choose which community helpers to be. Crosby, of course, chose sanitation worker, so we got him a cute little yellow vest. He loves garbage trucks!
3 years notes
Weight – 33-34 pounds, we’ll see at the doctor today
Height – TBD
Hair – Blondish brownish and in serious need of a haircut
Teeth – A full set of 20
Eyes – Brown
Clothes – 3T; size 9 shoes
Diapers – Size 2T/3T undies
Likes – Legos, especially his new fire truck, reading books, trains, construction vehicles, garbage trucks, Batman, Batman gummy vitamins, saying “cheese” for pictures, tormenting Kenley, trucks, cars, running, being silly, saying “poopy”, using the word “poop” to describe anything, jumping, sleeping in, riding his balance bike, going to the park, swimming, sharks, pancakes
Dislikes – throwing up, getting woken up in the morning, getting into trouble
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Happy birthday C-man! We love you so much!
Crosby’s amazing photos are by Dearly Photography! I can’t wait to share the rest!
The U Can Finish 2 Mile and 5 Mile races were on Sunday, October 16th. If you want to complete the Distance Dare, you run both races. This is my third time running this race and it gets better each time! The timing of the race has always been great as I have worked the 7 miles into my training schedule for any upcoming half marathons. It’s also another fun thing to add to our favorite month of October!
The race is on the UCF campus and starts right outside the football stadium. The 2 mile race was first and at the end, we got to run through the stadium. All of the UCF Athletics teams were there cheering on the runners and this year the race happened to fall at the end of Homecoming week.
The 2 mile race was great and we ran it in 20:49. We didn’t have a ton of time before the five mile started, so we grabbed a little bit of water and headed back to the start line for our second race.
Just after mile 2 in the 5 mile race, Heather wasn’t feeling great, so we decided to walk and talk. We ran and walked the next 3 miles while we were talking. The goal for the day was to get in 7 miles, not necessarily at any specific pace. We finished the 5 mile race in 60:41 which is definitely not our best time, but we finished, and that’s all that matters!
It was really fun running through the football stadium (twice) and the baseball stadium. We also got to see some other people we knew out on the course. Overall, it was a fun race! I’m not sure if I will do it again next year. I may take a year off from this one and find a new race to run.
Thanks Orlando Track Shack for another fun race and Go Knights!
heather and i ran and enjoyed some cool temperatures for five miles on saturday morning. i wore my long sleeves and our run ended at starbucks, so already our day was off to a good start.
crosby and hudson warming up before the girls’ soccer game.
crosby said “it’s so freezing!”
the little monsters had their last soccer game of the season on saturday. they played awesome and kenley scored another goal! they had such a great season and kenley improved vastly from last season.
saturday afternoon, we headed to legoland for brick or treat! the kids got to wear their halloween costumes and looked incredible! i have a lot of photos from the day, so i will share more soon!
crosby and his buddy huck are only seven days apart so we got to celebrate his third birthday this morning at the park!
the coolest roller slide!
running off some energy and enjoying the perfect weather.
celebrating these two with pizza and cupcakes.
super heroes!
super friends!
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we had some ups and downs this weekend, but overall it was great! the weather was gorgeous and we continued the birthday celebrations.
how was your weekend?
Happy Friday!
o n e
I think it’s safe to say we love birthdays this week! We have had a great eight days celebrating three birthdays and this week was no exception. Kenley turned five on Wednesday. Yes, FIVE! We are looking forward to one more birthday next week when it’s time to celebrate C-man!
t w o
On Kenley’s birthday, the kids went on their first field trip of the year! This was also Crosby’s first field trip. Greg and I tagged along to make it a family affair. We drove separately to enjoy some quiet time together while the kids rode the bus. Between Kenley turning five and Crosby being old enough to ride the bus to his first field trip, I was on the verge of tears all day. We went to Green Meadows Petting Farm and had so much fun! I have so many pictures to share, so I will share more next week.
t h r e e
Kenley’s only request for her birthday this year was a cash register, so after some research, I decided on the Learning Resources Pretend & Play Teaching Cash Register. This thing is awesome! I really had no idea what all it did, but it is very educational. There are some great features like quizzes on addition, subtraction, and coin recognition. I think both kids will really get a lot out of this purchase, which makes this mama happy!
f o u r
We tried something new this week! Hello Fresh. A friend sent us a free box so we did the family plan this week and had two meals. The first meal was quickest mac & cheese with spinach, tomato, and cheesy breadcrumbs and our second meal was mega meatball marinara with creamy polenta, zucchini, and mozzarella cheese. Both meals were really good and I really loved getting something new that I didn’t have to think about planning, shopping, or prepping.
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What are you loving this week?
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Kenley Dee is five years old today! I can’t believe how old that sounds! Five seems like a whole new ballgame and I am excited to see what this year holds for her.
Kenley started VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) in August at her same school. She has a new teacher, who we love, and has a lot of her old friends in her class again. During the week, they rotate between music class, PE, and art class one day a week and she has French two days a week. They are continuing with a letter of the week, but have also started sight words and other activities that introduce reading. Kenley does very well writing her name and all of our names using both lower and upper case letters. She loves practicing her writing and asks us to spell out words for her to write. She also has started working on math. She will have me write out simple addition problems and she fills in the box. Sometimes she will grab a handful of crayons so she can pull out five, then two, and count them all together to make seven. It’s super cute! Thankfully, we haven’t had much homework this year because I am sure we’ll get plenty next year when she starts kindergarten.
We continued the birthday interview tradition, so you can learn more about what she likes straight from her! Here are her answers from her fourth birthday.
What is your name? Kenley
How old are you? 5
What is your favorite thing to do? Go swimming
What do you want to be when you grow up? An ambulance driver
What is your favorite food? Ice cream
Who do you like to spend your time with? Mommy
What do you do really well? Ride my bike
What makes you laugh? Wrestling
What is the best time of the day? School
What are you afraid of? Monsters
Who is your best friend? Caelyn and Caleb
What do you like to do with your family? Wrestle
What do you like to learn about? The ABCs
Where do you like to go? To Kyler’s house
What is your favorite book? Madeline
If you had one wish what would it be? To visit Santa
What is your favorite color? Purple and pink
What is your favorite TV show? Sophia the First
What is your favorite animal? Giraffe, because it has a long, long neck
What is your favorite movie? Rapunzel (Tangled)
What is your favorite drink? Milk
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What is your favorite restaurant? Tijuana Flats
What is your favorite place to go? That jumpy place (Rebounderz)
What is your favorite song? Princess songs (Disney songs)
What is the best part about school? Computer, where I work by myself
What is your favorite cereal? The ones with the sugar on it (Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
What is your favorite snack? Life (the cereal)
What do you like to take to bed? Coco, the monkey that we used to have but we gave it away
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike
What is your favorite fruit? Apple
What is your favorite ice cream? Mint
What is your favorite outfit? A dress
Where do you live? United States of America
What is your favorite sport? Soccer
My favorite thing about the interview is that last year she said broccoli was her favorite food and this year it’s ice cream. SO true. She is still a great eater and usually goes for her veggies first, but she’s definitely becoming more opinionated about what we have for dinner. There will be nights that she will go without dinner because she “doesn’t like it” but she will eat the exact same meal the next week with no complaints.
Kenley is slowly dropping her midday nap. On school days, we usually get the report that she lays quietly or does a quiet activity. On the weekends, it depends on how much we do or have planned for the day. She can definitely take a nap if we want her to, but that also means that she will go to bed a little later that night. She goes to bed around 8pm each night and gets up by 6:30am each day, no matter what time she goes to bed. She is definitely a creature of habit.
Kenley Dee, you are bright, energetic, and have a big heart.
Happy birthday, sweet girl!
friday night consisted of greg and i drinking our favorite beer and catching up on some shows on the dvr. i finally used my new tumbler i made for the cruise. i’m excited to use it when we actually go.
i woke on my birthday to breakfast and gifts, then we were off to kenley’s soccer game where she scored her second goal!
after soccer and a quick run at the y, i did some shopping with michelle and enjoyed some girl time. later in the afternoon, we got all fancied up for family pictures! these two made my birthday so special.
of course we needed to do some silly faces! after pictures we headed to tibby’s for dinner. it was our first time and it did not disappoint.
we had a lot to celebrate, so we headed to dq for dessert!
birthday, soccer goal, and a great week of going to bed so nicely meant ice cream for all!
sunday morning, i got up for the u can finish distance dare. we ran two miles, then five miles and earned a pretty cool medal! more to come on the race.
the rest of sunday was pretty low key. we played at kyler and hudson’s house and did some things around our house. we ended the evening wrapping presents for a couple upcoming birthdays. the celebrations continue this week!
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we planned on being on the cruise last weekend which is why we didn’t have much planned for this weekend, but it ended up being a perfect birthday weekend.
how was your weekend?
Happy Friday and happy October! I apologize for missing last week’s post, thanks to Matthew, but I’m back with a full dose of what I’m loving. Let’s get started!
o n e
National Taco Day was last week on October 4th, which also happened to be a Tuesday, so National Taco Day ON Taco Tuesday? I’ll take it! Of course we had to read one our favorite books that day… Dragons Love Tacos! If you haven’t read it, add it to your kids’ wish lists (or your own wish list, no judgment). Seriously, the cutest book ever!
t w o
Speaking of books, I got a new one this week! Emily Ley’s book Grace, Not Perfection was released on Tuesday. I have only started it, but I already love it. Another great read from Emily is 6 Ways Parents Grow Up While Their Kids Do.
t h r e e
The kids had dress up days this week for spirit week! They were so excited to not have to wear their uniforms and wear fun clothes. They had pajama day, favorite team day, mismatch day, and red, white, and blue day.
f o u r
We started the month of birthday celebrations on Monday with a little celebration at home with my parents, then Greg and I continued the celebration on his actual birthday with dinner at RusTeak. So fun and delicious! One down, three to go!
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What are you loving this week?
The Gilbertson Family 