Week of Rockies Baseball

Joe got tickets to the Rockies/Pirates game on Wednesday from work so we headed downtown after school/work and enjoyed the game. The boys had fun watching the game and eating stadium food.

We also had fun with a picture on the way out of the stadium. 

Game one was a success!

The second game we attended this week was for Joe's office party. They had food catered in and had a fun area set up for the families before the game. Josh and I had to miss the party because he had a football game so we joined them at the game. It looks like they had fun though.

There was face painting....

....photos with the Rockies mascot....

...balloon animals, and the ULA rocket.

The boys loved it and didn't stop talking about it all night.

Meanwhile, Josh and I got to ride the train downtown to join them. He thought that was pretty cool.

It was a fun family night out.

Cooking Class

While the big boys were in school, I signed Patrick up for a cooking class with a few other siblings. We met once a week and enjoyed making treats with an apple theme. 

He got to do a lot of fun things with each class. 

He got to frost these yummy cupcakes....

He got to use a knife to cut up bananas for fruit salad and strawberries for these spooky apple monsters....

The teacher used baggies for gloves, genius!

And he got to smash rice krispies to make some cute apples...

I think he really enjoyed it. He definitely likes helping me in the kitchen so this was right up his alley.

Oktoberfest 5k

This fall we decided not to sign Daniel up for any sports. He has tried soccer, football, and t-ball hasn't really found one that keeps attention. So, in an effort to keep him active, I decided to sign us both up for a 5k in September. It was an effort to keep me active too. We starting training and would run when we could. He was getting pretty good and could outlast me on our longer runs. 

The day of the race came and he was so excited. The whole time we were training he kept talking about wanting to win the race. I tried to convince him that finishing the race is wining, but he was having none of it. 

So when the race started, he took off. And I mean sprinting. I had to race to catch up to him. We finished the first 1/2 mile in 4 minutes. Needless to say, I was spent after that. 

I had to walk more than I should have. He did not appreciate that since I was making him stay with me. But, we finished! And in pretty good time: 33:54. We ran our fastest average mile. I was pretty excited. He wanted to stay for awards to see if he won. I tried to keep him realistic saying he probably didn't win. He was racing in the 12yr and under boys category. And he had a slow mom he had to stay with. They started with the 12yr and under girls and when they announced the winner had run the race in 20 minutes, I was pretty sure he wasn't going to place. So, I was pretty shocked when they called his name for 3rd place! The 1st place boy did run the race in 20 minutes but I am still impressed with Daniel. He beat out 9 other boys in his age group, most are probably older than him. 

He was so excited. He even wore his medal to school the following Monday so he could show everyone.

I think he has the running bug. Individual sports are probably more his thing, especially since Mom keeps slowing him down. Now I just have to convince him he won't win a medal every race he is in (then again, maybe he will). 

Iowa State vs Iowa Game Weekend

Every year we buy Iowa State Football season tickets (I know, we are a little crazy). Over the years we have been able to attend fewer games, but it's still a great time. So we planned a trip to the Iowa State versus Iowa football this year. It's always a good one. With Josh's football and baseball schedule, he stayed behind with some great friends and family helping out.

These two boys were very excited to ride on an airplane. 

We got in pretty late so went straight to bed at Grandma and Grandpa Strutt's house. Then, Joe and I got up early the next day to head up to Ames to start tailgating. We have tickets next to our good friends, the Kibbes, so we met at there house to drive to the stadium. We met up with the Goods once we were there. It was a perfect day. The weather was great. The company was even better. 

Yes. That bags game is actual size. It is the desktop version. It got a lot of attention  in the parking lot.

No girls picture. Not sure what I was thinking. We looked hot! (I'll let you just imagine).

The new end zone was amazing. We are in the big time now.

 It was a good game, even though Iowa State ended up loosing. It was close the entire time, which is always better than a blowout.

Sunday we woke up and hung out all day. We got to watch the Packers game and even some of the Broncos game. It is always a nice time at the Strutt's.

A favorite activity with Grandpa.

The engineer playing with the kids' toys.

Grandpa and Daniel created and built this helmet. It made it all the way home on the plane. This kid loves making things out of garbage. 

It was a very fun weekend. 

Fun Run

One of the kids' school's big fundraisers is the Run 4 Funds every fall. They run as many laps as they can in 30 minutes and get pledges for how many laps they complete. The school does a good job of making it fun for the kids. They have a blast. 

They also get spirit awards for the classes. Daniel's class decided to do crazy hair. It wasn't as good as last year, but it turned out pretty well. Of course it didn't last very long.

Each class gets a class shirt every year that has their graduation year on it. Yikes! Patrick even got one this year (with the wrong year on it) from Preschool. How cute is he? 

Josh's class ran in the morning. 

Josh's class coming out to the run.

The entire 4th Grade. Class of 2024!

I figured he would run for a little while and then get tired and just want to watch. He ran the entire time. I was running behind him to make sure the big kids didn't run him over. It was tiring. Good thing it was nap time after that. 

Then, we came back in the afternoon to run with Daniel.

The entire 1st Grade. Class of 2027!

Patrick once again ran the entire time. I don't know how he did it. I was tired!

Both boys did great. Josh finished 42 laps and Daniel ran 29. Good job, boys!

Holey Daniel

This boy has lost three teeth in the last month. They are falling out like crazy. He had a few loose for a while, then a completely different one fell out. I guess one of his top teeth was growing in and needed more room. After the second tooth fell out, the remaining top front tooth moved over in the hole. It was pretty comical. 

And then, he pulled that one out while sitting in the Lowes parking lot waiting for Daddy. 

Pretty soon he won't have any teeth left! It's definitely keeping the tooth fairy on her toes.

Bookshelf redo

So I'm going to show off a little bit. When we re-did Josh's room, we were also going to re-do the den and turn it into an art room for Daniel. We had two bookshelves in the den that needed to be removed. I found a picture on Pinterest of a nightstand that was painted with a baseball theme that I thought would look good in Josh's room and I had a few bookshelves that needed to be moved so I thought that would be a good idea. 3 months later, I think it turned out pretty well. Plus it was a practice run for me painting our bathroom vanity for that remodel. 

I took it out to the garage where it sat for quite some time. 

Then I primed it. (A little too much primer)

Then I painted three coats of white paint. Looking pretty good.



Then I ran into some trouble. I thought I could get the baseball stitching by using a paint pen. All that did was blob paint all over the place. So I bought a can of red paint and used a brush to hand paint them on.

I think it turned out pretty well.

And I love the reading space under his bed. It really makes the room look put together.