Good Morning, Turkeys!

Good morning, turkeys! We started our Thanksgiving morning with a wonderful turkey trot! 

Up until last night, I thought I was running a 5k with my kids, but Weston and Myra wanted to trade their 10k tags for 5k's. So, I switched and ran the "10k" as Myra Au (for all intents and purposes)...and Myra ran the 5k for me! 

 Our immediate family was well represented with Jon, myself, Dawna, Larry, and Xochitl all participating as registered runners. Each of the kids had a running buddy and Jade relaxed and slept in the stroller during most of the race. Jon ran with Dawna (and Jade) Larry ran with Weston...

...and Xochitl ran with Myra.

Grandma and Grandpa Koberstein and Uncle Lynn also joined the race!

 So, the thing about Antioch/Brentwood (or anywhere on the other side of the mountains) is that the hot days are hotter and the cold days are colder. And this morning, it was COLD! We stayed in the car as long as possible...

...and then boogied over to the starting line!

My fingers and toes were numb until about mile 3, when we finally got to run in the sun.

Dawna, Xochitl, and Larry, anxiously shivering before the race... In our training runs the past couple weeks, we've had a hard time staying motivated for the entire 3 mile distance. But, there is something magical about music. Music got my son to keep on moving--skipping, jogging, hopping along--until the race was over. Music got a 5 year old across the finish line too. It's amazing!! :)

Everybody finished their race strong! I was so proud of Xochitl and Larry! I didn't run 3.1 miles together until I was 28 years old! Here's my 2nd grader and kindergartner running that long! I ran into Larry and Weston just as I was finishing my race. I maintained a pace under 10min/mile, which made me very happy! But I was sad to discover that the "10k" was only 5.8 miles. Way too short to count! I caught up to Larry and Weston when I was almost done with the race (Lynn and I started the 10k fifteen minutes before the 5k runners). But Larry was not distressed, because "first the worst, second the best" so he gladly took the best spot :)

Dawna did an amazing job! She has been working on running lately, running on the treadmill while watching Netflix and running around the Lake in Newark for the last few Saturdays. She did so well, in fact, that she placed third on this, her first 5k ever!!! I think having daddy to push her to run faster helped... not to mention her long Koberstein legs!

Thus it was on our fourth year running a turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning, with hopes and dreams for continuing the tradition for many trots to come!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now bring on the feast!

Nice to meet you.

Meet Chu the Panda. He is the class pet for Mrs. LP's class this year. He gets to go home every night with one of the students who was a "bucket filler," meaning that they made good choices and were good helpers and good listeners that day at school.  Oct. 29th was Xochitl's second go-round with Chu. The first time we had him over a weekend and we got to do a lot of fun things. Xochitl was concerned about only having him for one night this time and took every effort to make the night unforgettable. Chu got to play at the park, play in the sandbox, watch a movie, and even have this very special dinner made for him by his hostess. Xochitl dutifully drew a detailed picture of all their adventures together. I hope we get him again this year! He's a very good house guest :)

Meet Halloween Deja-Vu. That costume looks familiar... isn't that?? Yes! It's the same costume Larry wore last year... only this year it actually fits him! It was an actual Disney Store purchase, on the pricier side, so I bought it bigish, and hey, I got two Hallween costumes for the (high) price of one! Or two Halloweens for the price of one? In any case, I'm glad it got more use.

 Meet Halloween Deja-Vu. Wait... Didn't we just do this? Yes... Xochitl wanted to be the sunshine again for the Lincoln school parade (my kids love to switch around costumes between events...) Later that night she was my star trick-or-treater dressed as a bride. This girl out trick-or-treated everyone else in the family! Her goal was to get the most candy, and boy did she ever meet that goal! Our neighborhood is pretty kid deprived, so the houses that do welcome trick-or-treated greet them with big smiles and handfuls of candy.

Meet the most famous and spoiled baby at Lincoln Elementary.  Between directing the Leopard Choir, doing music time in the kindergarten classrooms, and just picking up the kids every day, it seems like everybody at that school knows Jade and everybody tries to steal a hug, which she generally snubs... Anyway, her fame also gets her plenty of amazing hand-me-downs from devoted fans, which she loves to pieces! Give her a Belle dress, and she will no doubt give you a hug... So that's what she wore for all the Halloween festivities: "My Bella" as she calls it. 

 Meet the literal last minute DIY. Dawna has been asking for weeks to be Princess Leia for Halloween. We found a costume at Target back in September, but it just... looked cheap and cost a lot, so I passed, intending to make a costume for her. And then somehow, it was October 29th. Um... yeah.  My sweet Dawna never complained about my putting it off and then never having time for it. She was happy to use a costume for a nurse that Nana had given her for the Niles carnival.  And then the night of the 28th, she stayed up late deep cleaning my entire kitchen, hand-washing the piled up pots and pans, sweeping and wiping down the floor... so on the morning of the 29th, I had nothing to do... except make a princess Leia dress!

Having to work with only what I had at home, I looked up a few DIY ideas, ranging from cutting a hole in a sheet (literally...) to a super professional pattern. I went for something in between.

I used this old fabric that's been hanging around my attic since our wedding (it was used to cover up extension cords around the gym for the reception, haha...) Luckily Dawna had a cool looking silver loopy belt. It would have been nice to have some brown ear muffs to really complete the hair effect, but this didn't turn out too bad :)

And now, we are ready to meet November!