The Great Race

Willow's pre-school had a fund raiser called The Great Race, where kids raised money to support their school and asked people to support them in a fun run they put on.  Jayden and I went today to watch Willow run.  It was so cute.  Each class ran the race course separately so the other classes sat on the sidelines and cheered them on.  I wish I could post more pictures and a video of Willow running, but her school has a strict policy about posting photos with other people's kids in them, so you just get one of Willow with her medal and the grandparents will just have to wait for the Lovingfoss DVD 2013 year in review to come out to see the rest.  :)

Visiting Kerri

When you grow up with a close sister, a sister 14 months older than you, a sister that you have never gone through a phase of hating, who has always been your best friend, a sister who you shared a room with most of your life, left for college and were college roommates with, and now for some reason live 2000 miles apart from.  Well, I've discovered that even though I talk with my sister almost every day, I sometimes need a sister I can hang out with, a what I like to call my surrogate sister-friend.  I have managed to find (really they found me) a couple of them out here in Kansas, and my friend Kerri is one of them.  We have kids with similar dispositions and similar ages, and we can sit on a couch and stare out a window together and be just fine with it because sometimes that's just what you need.  I have always loved Kerri, right from the very beginning when she let me convince (bully?) her into training and doing a couple sprint triathlons with me.

Kerri recently left me.  My friend who I really thought would never leave me.  She grew up here, went to college here, got married and bought a house here, her whole family is still here.  I figured (and so did she) that she would never leave!   What I have found being a Wichita transplant, is that transplants seem to gravitate towards other transplants.  The natives all have their families and friends and that's who they gravitate to for major and minor holidays, which is fine.   It has definitely given me a new perspective, because I was once a "native" with my own family and friends that I surrounded myself with and I never really looked and noticed the people who were transplanted and what it might be like for them.  Now I am usually on the lookout for a transplant that maybe needs a place to be, and usually for Thanksgiving I have more than just our family around our table.  Let me tell you, it can be lonely being a transplant.  Coming from a family that did lots of things together and I loved being around and marrying into a family that did lots of things together and I also loved being around, it gets hard to be separated by 2000 miles and to be here all alone while everybody else back home is getting together for things.   Kerri, though, was different.  She has invited us to her family get togethers, she is the only person here who has ever taken my kids for a night, and she has been a really great friend to me when things in my life were really messed up.

On Thursday, Willow didn't have any school so we decided to drive up to Kerri's new house (about 2.5hrs away) and visit them for the day.   The kids did great on the drive, it helps when they like where you are going.  :) And I know you can't really see me in the picture, but I was just looking at it and don't you think I look ridiculous?  Look where the top of my shoulder is compared to the top of the seat, I must look like a child driving down the road.  And really, the seat isn't all that comfortable for me, while I can adjust it just about anyway I want, the back of my knees don't reach the end of the seat unless I scoot forward.  But scooting forward only makes me shrink down farther in the seat and then I can't see over the dashboard. #shortgirlproblems  That's right, I totally just hashtagged my post.  #hashtagaddictionproblems

We got to Kerri's house faster than I thought we would and she wasn't home yet from running errands, so the kids and I wondered all around her awesome property with a fenced pasture that Jayden quickly wondered where the heck their horse was, and I wondered where her alpacas were, and we peaked in all the windows.  If Royal didn't mind a 2.5 hour commute, I would totally move and be Kerri's neighbor.

Once Kerri got to the house and released her kids, I pretty much didn't see Willow for the rest of the day.  Kerri's daughter, Briley and Willow are two peas in a pod and can together live in an imaginary, dress-up world for as long as we'll let them. 

 Kyle, Kerri's son, had to go to school for a few hours and we took that opportunity to get a little of Jayden's work done, he had a live lesson with his eCademy teacher that afternoon too.

But soon enough, Kyle and Jayden were reunited and we stayed as late as we could that evening.

But eventually we had to head back to Wichita.  The kids put on their pajamas and we loaded back up in the truck and made it home by 10ish or so.  And while I am bummed that Kerri doesn't live just right down the road anymore, I am so thankful that she lives close enough that we can visit them, hopefully often!

Happy Halloween

Royal loves It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  He forces the kids to watch it over and over and over all during the month of October.  They complain and say they don't like it, but since they are constantly quoting it to each other, I'm gonna chalk it up to they are just complaining because their dad is making them do something.  Royal said he was going to make them watch it one more time before they went out trick or treating, but while we were at the book store earlier in the day I saw the book of The Great Pumpkin and I thought maybe we could mix it up a bit.  :)

Of course, by this time, their friends were coming to the door and they just couldn't sit still and wait any longer, so Royal pretty much read the first couple pages and then the last one and then released them to go get candy.

The kids managed to get so much candy this year that Jayden declared it "The Best Halloween EVER!!!"  Now to pick out a few of their favorites and get rid of the rest.  My mom always let me keep all of my candy and I'm pretty sure she was crazy.  Dealing with crazy, sugar high kids.  Maybe that's why she sent me outside all the time.  You know what I see in all of their pumpkin buckets?  A battle.  Individually wrapped, tiny, chocolate pieces of battles.  "Can I have candy before breakfast?  Can I have candy now? How about now?  I know!  Let's skip lunch and just eat candy!"  So, instead of doling out candy from now until Valentine's day, we let them keep some of their favorites and we send the rest to work with Royal.  Then I only have crazy sugar high kids for a few days instead of months.  :)  And it lets me say 'Yes' a bit more because I know there isn't an endless supply of candy they are going to be sticking their faces in.  :)

Punkin' Time

Thanks to the Great Pumpkin, my children always shout out, "I didn't know you were gonna kill it!  Ahhhhhhh"

Both kids were a bit grossed out by the guts...woosies.  Jayden can watch a deer get shot and gutted, but ask him to scoop out his pumpkin???  Apparently the pumpkin guts smell real bad.... :)

The children soon grew bored and ditched us with explicit instructions on how to carve their pumpkins.

While they ran up and down the road.  (check out how fast Jayden's legs were going...hehehe)

Willow vs. The Brick Wall

Willow ran face first into a brick wall last night while at a friend's house.  It was so sad.  She gave herself a bloody nose and a bloody lip, and then later when we got home she said her teeth hurt, so I check them, and the front 2 were a bit wiggly.  Thinking it might freak her out more, I don't say anything, but she says, "Are they loose?"  And when I answer, "just a bit", she breaks out in a huge smile and is all, "Yes!!!!!  Maybe I can lose 2 teeth!"  Really???  I'm totally hoping they tighten themselves back down.   :)
She really wanted a bandaid, so this was the best we could do - a bandaid mustache.  :)

This morning, her teeth are a bit tighter, but her lip is nice and fat and she has a little bruise on her nose!  She didn't want to go to school because she was embarrassed about it, but we eventually coaxed her into the classroom. 
"I want to do a sad picture"

Yarn Hoppity Hop Hop

This weekend was the Central Kansas Yarn Hop, and it was just as fantastic as last year!  And this year, I actually found someone to go with me, so I didn't have to drag the kids (well they did get dragged some) and Royal around on the long day.

Day 1 : We got 4 stores out of the way.  The 2 in Wichita and then one in Hutchinson and one in Newton.  My friend Corie came and picked me up and we piled my kids in her backseat with her cute daughter Annabelle (who's not in the picture and is facing backwards so it would of been really hard to get and kind of upside down....anyway...)

 My find of the day was this awesome skein of i-cord yarn, which in the store had been knit into a scarf.  It was way more than I ever pay for yarn, but this is what my tutoring money is for, right???  I mean, I could knit myself a huge i-cord, but that would take forever, and these ladies promised me a 45 minute project!

That evening, instead of sitting on the couch and falling asleep almost immediately, I made myself stay awake and knit the scarf.  I even told Royal to time me.  I got it done in 35 minutes!  (and then I fell asleep) It is so cute!  And here is a terrible picture of it.  :)

Day 2 : I only had 1 shop on my list for the day.  Jayden had an in-house day for eCademy and at first I figured Willow would be in school, and I thought I'd zip on down to Winfield by myself and avoid the whole "I don't want to goooooooooo" thing.  Well, turns out Willow didn't have school on Friday, so she got to be my riding buddy!

Since my ginormous truck is a total gas guzzler, I figured it would be cheaper to rent a car than pay for the tanks of gas driving the ole Dodge would cost.  Turns out, I was right!  $12 a day for a car??? I had no idea, and then when I went to fill the tank, it had 10 gallons.  10 gallons???  That's crazy talk.  The entire weekend cost me less than 1 tank of gas in the truck.  We're renting a car anytime we've got some distance to drive!

This is the car I got.  I couldn't believe it.  Can it get any smaller?  I was totally jerky when I started driving it and Willow kept getting mad at me because I'd totally pound the gas and stomp on the brake.  It took some getting used to.  :)  And then I'd be going down the highway and feel like "Oh, I'm going so fast, I need to slow down", then look at my speedometer and realize I was going 45 when I should of been going 60....ooops.  So much for pull-me-over red.  :)

I picked Jayden up from school in this car and he came out laughing and said, "Are you kidding me?  I'm bigger than that car!"  It's true, he practically is.  I mean the thing is so small, it only has 1 windshield wiper!

(notice Willow's sweater.  it's mine from when i was a kid....as if you couldn't guess)

Day 3 : Corie met me at my house for the final push of 5 yarn stores!  We got in the little red car and headed up to Wamego first, where I picked up a sweet new knitting book. Then down to Manahttan where one of the yarns stores with the best selection of yarn is, and we come to find out she's closing the store this year to work on more design work, but I found the best project to add to my already too big project list for Christmas.  But once I saw the pattern and felt the yarn (I wish you could feel thru your computer, the yarn is so soft it almost makes you catch your breath), I just knew I had to make these for my kids.  Bathrobes!  I am super excited!!!

Then, we headed to Abilene where there is a yarn store that has the very best prices of any of the shops and an entire basement full of discount yarn.  I found some of my favorite ruffling yarn for scarfs there for $1 a piece.  $1!  They normally sell for $24 a piece and I thought I was getting a steal last year when I found them for $10 a piece.  I love a good bargain!  So, I snagged all of them.

We then moved onto Salina where I managed to find some  yarn to make the kid's Christmas hats with, and a hot pink, sparkly, ruffling scarf yarn that I figured Willow would love.

Then we made it down to our last shop of the day in McPherson.  Got our final stamp on our passports and headed home.  It was a really fun day and I'm so glad I had a fellow yarn junkie to do it with!

Now, to start on all those projects.  I mean I already have 2 going at the moment that are live on needles, probably 5 sitting on my waiting list, so whats another 3 or 4???  :)

What Willow Wears :: vol 19

Willow has been rockin' some serious outfits lately.  Either Willow has toned down some of her crazy everyday outfits, or I've just grown immune to them.  But there have been a few outfit choices lately where even I can't ignore how awesome they are. :)

Outfit #1 : pink pattern alert!

 Outfit #2 :

And the grand finale!
Outfit #3 :  It was our first cold morning and she obviously wanted to wear just about all her favorite cold weather gear - she even switched out her hat a few times.  :)