smattering of cousins

i just stuck my SD card into the computer,

and it pulled up 236 pictures and videos.

236! 

where have i been??

(pay no mind to the date on the pictures... clearly a little off!)

i scanned through the lot, and there is just so much.

particularly the number of

up-close and personal face shots

of a smattering of the cuz.

enjoy :)

our current state of affairs

yep... that's the Shu's doopa above miss M's head.
yep... working the dance moves like his mama taught him.

how my heart doth swell with pride.

little t rex

shu & aunt amy

came to a very important decision.

a halloween decision.

he would be, wait for it,

a t rex.

(shock! gasp!)

special Shout Out to uncle keith for converting the costume to a T Rex!

we went to kristen & jeff's again this year,

& we're pretty convinced the shu

will never see their neighborhood the same again.

while kris & i manned their driveway

(wrapped in blankets & heating pads next to a fire pit, thank you!)

mark & jeff took the kids out.

the pirate, the eskimo & the rex

all kinds of ready

the costume was so awesome.

we particularly loved the way it jiggled when he ran.

here's what mark saw all night:

he had a blast.

after nearly every house, mark said,

he would run down the driveway yelling,

"i got another one!"

cracks me up.

handing out candy/red zone hilarity

**for those of you who can't get enough

(grandparents? aunts? calendar-makers?)

there is an overflowing bucket of october pictures on shutterfly right now.

if you'd like a link, leave a comment or email me,

& i'll hook you up.

umbrella

Yes, its 85 and sunny.

mark's half

this past sunday,

mark ran the cleveland half-marathon.

so did my sister, kristen.

her husband, jeff, ran the full.

The Nana and i gathered up 5 kids, snacks and a minivan

 (as well as some much-needed gumption)

and headed out early to cheer.

like, 6am early.

which, as you'll note in the 2nd and 3rd pictures,

is not my son's favorite hour :)

he found his own gumption, though,

and perked up for our Cross-Cleveland

Do-You-Think-This-Street-Goes-Through? 

adventure right quick. 

my apologies for the lack of photos...

i plead preoccupation.

i'll see if i can't rustle some up from other cameras.

check back.

in a week or two :)

uh, madison is ready...

noah, steve & the shu needed another 15-20 minutes :)

wagon, posters, celeste, steve, noah. PULL, MAD! PULL!

kristen, finding madison at mile 3.

mark, rounding mile 6.

noah and steve, watching for jeff.

poster children.

celeste helped madison cheer on her dad.

and there he is at mile 11 (in the sunglasses).

Dear Aunt Krissen & Bagdy

a big, huge Thank You to kristen and madison!

a garage sale score in shu's book :)

gymnastics

m & n tried to teach shua how to cartwheel.

here are two resulting videos:

upon further review, we had to add a third...

typical afternoon

a small, yet very accurate, taste of what my afternoons look like. note the beginning and ending positions of all 3. its a never ending circle...

please excuse the 90* turn...i don't have the slightest idea how to fix that :)