Halloween Warm-up

So, Halloween isn't really here yet, but as you all know there are many activities that lead up to the actual event. Bayley and Kendal love Halloween...they love ALL holidays, but they start talking about next year's Halloween in November and then the talk does not stop. Bayley decided she was going to be a Mermaidia Fairy, from the Barbie Fairytopia book and DVD. We got her costume last year and after trying in on throughout the year she was pleased with this costume. Well, after wearing it to the fall festival I assumed that would be her costume for Halloween. Then came the church Fall Festival celebration last night. The primary announced that there would be prizes for the best costumes, so Friday night Bayley decided that she didn't like the Fairy costume anymore and that she wanted to be a mummy. Well, after explaining to her that we did not have what she needed to be a mummy I helped her go through our dress-up stuff and we found a clown costume that looked pretty cute on her. She will tell you I forced her to wear it, but I did give her a choice...the fairy costume or the clown costume. Tell me you don't think she looked cute????

Kendal was a cute giraffe...she chose that costume over a pumpkin and bumble bee costume and Trey was a puppy dog. Even Jeff dressed up...the girls talked him into wearing the Frankenstien bolts over his cap. We had a great time at the festival where the kids played games like Donut on a string, the cake walk, and did a mummy craft.

Monday night for Family night the girls helped Jeff carve the pumpkin. They had a great time and I think the results were pretty good. In fact, we ended up winning the prize at the fall festival for the funniest pumpkin...the girls were excited.

An update on the week would not be complete without a running update. I ran 11 miles yesterday...I have reached the intense training weeks leading up to the 1/2 marathon in December. After mile 8 I was in pain...my hip flexors, knees and shins are not quite conditioned for that much running yet. Hopefully it will get better because it really wasn't that much fun. Only 5 more weeks until the big race though...I can see the end in sight!!!

A Weekly Wrap-Up

Bayley's serious pose
Kendal imitating Bayley's serious pose
Bayley loves to do a silly pose at the end

Last week was one of those weeks that at the end of it you had a great time but you sure are glad that it is over. We had some sort of activity every evening last week and sometimes two or three activities in an evening. Jeff and I are both very busy with our calling at church. He pretty much is single-handedly trying to run the scout program and young mens program at our church. He is doing a great job, but it takes a lot of planning and time to run those two organizations. I had a faith in god girl's activity on Wednesday night and my quarterly Home, Family and Personal Enrichment Night on Thursday night. Add in the girls regular activities of swimming and dancing as well as Bayley's fall festival at school and you have got one busy week. Fortunately everything went well and we had a great time getting everything done.

Fall Festival Hayride

One short experience I have got to share...last Monday we decided to go and get our flu shots. Bayley looks forward to shots so I don't worry about her. Kendal on the other hand threw a fit last time she had to get a shot, so we have been talking about her getting her flu shot for a couple of weeks now. We talked about how it hurts a little, that it feels like a pinch, but it is quick and is over really fast. In fact, I pinched her a couple of times telling her that that is how a shot will feel. So, after much talk she announced on Monday she was ready to get her shot. Not wanting to miss the opportunity we made our way to the doctor's office. As we walked in to get our shots you could tell that the nurse was dreading giving the shots to 3 small children. Trey and I decided to go first, while Bayley and Kendal sat in the hall with their dad. Trey sat on my lap and screamed when he was poked, but stopped as soon as the needle was out and didn't cry anymore after that. Bayley went next and took the shot like a pro and then finally it was Kendal's turn. You could see the terror on her face as she sat down, but you could also tell she was trying her hardest to be tough. So I started counting with her as a distraction and before we knew it the shot was over...she only winced when the needle went in but then she was fine. Not a tear! The nurses were extremely impressed by the show of toughness from the Thornton clan in getting their flu shots. I can only hope that everytime will be this easy.



Finally, I think Saturday was the last day of swimming for the season. The girls and Trey swam for about 30 minutes in the chilly water, but had a great time. This week we are supposed to have a cold front come through, so I think we are going to cover the pool sometime this week. Spring will not be here fast enough for the Thornton family!

Fall Break Fun!

When you have a child in school, life revolves around their school schedule. Our lives are definitely more routine when Bayley is in school, however, we love it when she has a break. This last week Bayley had fall break. I know that growing up we never had a whole week off for a break during the fall, but I actually think that it is pretty nice. The weather is still very nice and the kids can still enjoy a lot of outdoor activities. Bayley had big plans for this week and I have to say that we had a good time checking things off her list. Monday we decided to go to the park for a picnic, then after the park we went to the Anniston Museum of Science and Natural History...a local museum. The park was great...a little hot for October, and the museum was much better than I had anticipated. In fact, I would probably will go back. Currently they have a special exhibit, a T-Rex named Sue, so it was fun for the girls to see a dinosaur skeleton. On Tuesday, we headed to the local library to check out some books and Bayley was able to get her very own library card now that she is 6 years old. She was so excited and it was fun to listen to her give the librarian her information for her card. She is getting so grown up. Wednesday was our big outing for the week. We headed to Atlanta to see the World of Coke Museum and to go to the new Georgia Aquarium. The Coke Museum was nice, but the girls wanted to race through it. We had a nice lunch on the lawn of Centennial Park, then we met Alyssa, Erin, and Olivia to go to the Aquarium. The aquarium was very nice and the girls had a good time. Surprisingly, Kendal was our adventurous one wanting to touch all of the fish and sea animals, while Bayley was our chicken who would only touch the water. Usually it is the other way around. Thursday was my recovery day, so we stayed home most of the day and the girls played together and relaxed. Friday the girls had a fun day with the Dad. Jeff took them golfing in the morning and they went fishing in the afternoon. Everyday Kendal would ask if Bayley had to go to school that day and seemed very excited when I told her the Bayley could stay home that day. Kendal loves having her big sister around as much as the rest of us do. However, Bayley does love school and I do enjoy having a structured schedule. Last week was fun, but I wouldn't get very much done around the house if we did that every week.


Saturday was big day for us around here. Bayley had her first ever swim meet. We weren't sure what to expect as this was a first for all of us, but we knew that Bayley would do well. Grandpa G made the trip from Marietta to see Bayley compete. Bayley swam in the 25M Freestyle, 25M Backstroke and the 50M Freestyle. She competed well and finished 4th, 2nd, and 3rd in her races. For only starting serious practice 6 weeks ago she did great. She has realized that there is some room for improvement. There was one little 6 year old girl that was a monster in the water...she was fast. Hopefully we can keep Bayley motivated because she does have a great future in swimming if she wants.

Our Crazy Swimmer

Our Serious Swimmer

Bayley is in the far lane

Saturday was also a day of "firsts" for me. For the first time in my life I ran 9 miles. I think before that the longest I had ever ran was 7 miles at one time, so this was quite the accomplishment. After running on Saturday I feel like cardiovascularly I could finish a 1/2 marathon...physically I am still not there. My body wanted to quit on me at about mile 7....good thing I still have 1 1/2 months left to train. As the race gets closer I am getting excited...part of the excitement will come from not having to train, but that is how it is with any sport...the competitions are a lot more enjoyable than the practices.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

The last couple of weeks have flown by. In the last couple of weeks we have been busy, but in a good way. Last weekend, we spent our Saturday supporting Jeff in his scout calling. The scouts were going canoeing at a nearby lake Saturday morning so Jeff invited us to come along. The girls were excited for the adventure. It was a beautiful day on Lake Wedowee, but canoeing was not what my girls had expected. First, Kendal who is the cautious one in our family, quickly realized how small and unstable a canoe is on a lake and after the launch you could here her screaming loud and clear. Jeff tried to see if she would calm down and realize it wasn't as bad as it seemed, but she was having none of it. After a quick trip, she quickly jumped out of the boat when they reached shore. Bayley really wanted to paddle herself, but as it was an extremely windy day and there where only two paddles in the boat this was not possible. So she was a little disappointed in the whole trip. She did enjoy jumping into the lake and swimming around for a bit, but that was the highlight for her. Maybe we will try canoeing again when they are a little bit older! Jeff had another activity with the young men that night, so that was pretty much our day. We did have visitors later in that evening, when Daryl, Jeff's Dad, and Terri dropped by on their way to Destin. It was nice to have them around for Sunday morning before they continued their trip. The kids LOVE visitors!

Bayley continues to love swim team and dance. Her first swim meet is this next Saturday, so she will be practicing a couple of extra days this week to gear up for the meet. She is very excited and I think will do very well! This week is her fall break from school, so we have a couple of fun activites planned. We plan on hitting a couple of museums, having a picnic in the park and maybe taking a day trip to Atlanta, but we will see. I think she will enjoy sleeping in and having very little schedule just as much as any of the activities.

Kendal is still Kendal. What can I say? She loves her dance, her babies, and most of the time loves to help around the house. She is definitely my big helper at this point. She loves to fold laundry, put away clothes, hang up clothes, help her daddy take out the garbages, and help take care of her little brother Trey. When she is good she is very very good, but when she is naughty she is very very naughty. There is very little middle ground. Fortunately she leans more towards the good rather than naughty.

Trey is feeling much better this week. He is completely over his cold and in to everything. It is so funny to watch this little guy march around the house. He is developing more personality every day. He definitely knows what he does and doesn't want and knows usually how to get it. Lately he has been a very picky eater. Suprisingly to me he likes baby food better than table food at this point. He will eat fruit and drink milk all day long, but put macaroni, a sandwich, crackers, or just about any other table food and he won't have much to do with it. He is a funny boy!

My big news is that I ran a 5K this weekend with Jeff. Originally I was planning to run it alone, but Jeff decided in the last week that he would join me, even though he hasn't run in about 3 months. We found a 5K located close to my parents house in Marietta, and Saturday morning ran together. The race was not very well attended (there were probably only 40 runners), but Jeff and I had a good time. We stayed close most the of the race, but I ended up pulling away in the end. My time was 26:30, which was well below my goal of 28 minutes (the time in the picture is not our actual times). I was very excited! Plus, I finished 5th overall and Jeff finished 6th overall. It was funny...we received trophies for winning our age groups! Not too bad for our first race??? Anyway, I am beginning to see how running could become addictive. We spent our weekend in Marietta with Grandma and Grandpa "G" and Grant, Alyssa, Olivia, and Alyssa's sister Erin. Spencer and Leigh joined us this afternoon for dinner. The girls had been dying to see Olivia and for a visit to Marietta, so we had a great time. I can't believe another couple of weeks have flown by. I have to say my blogging has been negatively affected by my current reading obsession...The Twilight Series. I am on the second book New Moon and hope to finish the 3rd book by the end of the week, so I quit neglecting some of my other hobbies.

A Couple of Weeks in Pictures

So this week I decided to do my update mainly in pictures. We have had a lot going on, but despite being busy we have had a lot of fun. The only thing that has kind of thrown us off is Trey getting sick this weekend. Starting Friday afternoon he started running a fever. Other than the fever he had no other symptoms. Well, Saturday morning he woke up and sounded horrible. He had a definite crackle in his chest and it sounded like he could barely breath. Anyway, finally Sunday morning we couldn't take it anymore and we took him to the emergency room. After a couple of hours there, the doctor's diagnosis was a double ear infection, bronchitis, and a sore throat. They treated him with a breathing treatment and a couple of shots. Sunday afternoon he took a 4 1/2 hour nap and seemed to be starting to feel better. He still isn't one hundred percent, but a couple of days of antibiotics will hopefully do the trick. Other than that here are the highlights of the last couple of weeks!

Trey going down the slide at the park. He loves his newfound mobility at the park. He is not afraid to check everything out.
Kendal swinging at the park. We love fall days. Last week we had lunch at the park two afternoons.

Can you believe we can still swim? It is definitely starting to get chilly, but when the sun is out it is bearable. It won't be long until we will cover up the pool for the winter. Spring will not be here soon enough!
The girls performed Saturday at our Ward Talent Show. They wore ballet costumes and performed a jazz routine. They were a hit!

The girls are gearing up for Halloween. Kendal picked out these funny teeth at the dollar store and couldn't wait to get home and try them out.
We sure are glad we have good dentists in the family!
Crazy teeth!
The girls had a great time doing my hair one afternoon. I think they used just about every clip they could find in my hair.
Kendal with some friends at the park!

Fun in the tub. The kids love getting in the big jacuzzi tub on Sunday mornings. We let them turn on the jets and put in bubble bath. They love it! Trey is intrigued by the bubbles. He isn't exactly sure what they are all about.
Posing in the tub.
Sunday morning pictures!
This is what you get when we try to take a family photo by ourselves. It just doesn't quite work, even with Jeff's long arms.
Trey makes the cutest expressions. This is him in awe of a book. He favorite word these day is "hot". Every time I give him food he will look at it and ask if it is Hot? It is so cute. He also will attempt to blow on his own food if he thinks it might be hot. I love this age!

Well that is our weeks in pictures. I have continued to train for the 1/2 marathon. On Saturday I ran 7 miles. That is my all time high. Everyday I really do feel like it is getting a little bit easier. I will never be a great long distance runner, but I am looking forward to accomplishing my goal of finishing the 1/2 marathon. Incorporated in my training schedule, I have planned a couple of 5k and 10k races. I am looking forward to those and I am trying to include family and friends as much as possible. Jeff may try to run a couple of races with me. I am also inviting the Griffeth family to join me on Thanksgiving for the Gobble Trot in Marietta. Hopefully, I can talk a few of them into joining me!

Birthday Party Fun!

Have I mentioned the my kids love a good party? Bayley especially loves everything about a party...the cake, the atmosphere, the presents, the friends, etc. So this past weekend was just about the perfect weekend for Bayley. Friday night we drove up to Elijay, Georgia for my brother Spencer's 29th birthday party. It was a perfect evening filled with great food, great company and great news! The last present Spencer opened was the suprise announcement that Spencer and Leigh are expecting a baby in April! We are so excited for them! After spending the night at Spencer and Leigh's house, we drove home Saturday morning. Bayley had another birthday party to attend for one of her friends from school, so while Kendal and Trey tried to catch up on lost sleep from the night before Bayley and I attended the party. We completed the day with a nice swim together as a family and an early bedtime. Sunday was Stake Conference in Birmingham, so we made the short drive over there and enjoyed a nice meeting. It was a quick weekend but a fun one.

Our weekday nights are quickly filling up. Bayley has decided she wants to join the local swim team, so that will involve practice 2 nights a week. In addition to Kendal and Bayley's dance classes as well as youth nights at church, our nights are officially booked for the rest of the year. It's nice to be busy doing things that you enjoy, but there are many nights that Bayley comes home and complains that the days go by too quickly. I have told her that they never slow down and only seem to go quicker the older you get. I continue to train for the upcoming mini-marathon. I am going to try to run a couple of local 5K and 10K races to kind of gauge where I am at. My big goal is the finish, but I would love to be able to run the whole distance! We'll see. Here are a couple of pictures from the last week, hope you enjoy!

Thornton News Report

Well, I have put off updating the blog long enough. It's not like we haven't had any news as of late, but for one reason or another I have not been as motivated as I should be to update the blog. I will do better.

I will start with Trey, our walking man. He is officially a walker. He is so cute! The first couple of weeks he would walk with his hand in the air to help with his balance, but as of this week he can now walk with his hands to his side. He loves the mobility that walking gives him. We have even put shoes on him a couple of time and he has done very well. Since I have rarely put socks or shoes on him this summer, he kind of looks at me funny when I put them on. Usually his big sister Kendal will help him out when we are at home and quickly takes of his shoes and socks for him...if you know Kendal you will really appreciate this because she never leaves her shoes on in the house or the car. His vocabulary continues to expand..he can now say Mama (his favorite word), Dada, ball, and night-night. It won't be long before we have another little chatter box running around.

Kendal has mastered her colors! We are so proud of her. This week we are beginning her letters. It should be an adventure. She has started her dance classes and loves it! She asks just about everyday if it is Thursday, the day of her dance class. Bayley has her dance classes on Tuesday and the first time that Bayley had her class, Kendal was sure that the teacher would let her in to dance to. She snuck away and came out all dressed up in her dance outfit ready to go. It was so cute, but pretty darn sad for her when she realized she really wasn't going to be able to dance on Tuesdays. Since that first class, she now appreciates that they each have their own classes a little more. She continues to be a big helper around the house and a toddler full of surprises. She is definitely our little fireball.

Bayley has enjoyed her first month of school. Her teacher lets her help out in the room, which Bayley really enjoys. It is hard for her to make friends at school because she is such a well-behaved child she rarely will talk unless asked to. She has made a couple of friends and I sure that number will grow as the school year progresses. She is enjoying her dance class and is looking forward to performing with her little sister in our upcoming Ward Talent Show, this upcoming September 22nd. The girls are going to do Bayley's dance team routine from last year, that Kendal pretty much had down pat after watching Bayley practice. It should be a lot of fun to see them on stage together.

Jeff is doing well at work. He tries to fit in golf every chance he gets. He does a wonderful job of including his kids in his love for golf. He will take the girls out with him to play a couple of holes. They love it! This last Saturday he and Bayley put together a lemonade stand out on the golf course to raise money for the American Heart Association. On one of the websites I frequent, there was a post with a link to the SunKist website where they were giving kids a lemonade stand if they would use it to raise money for a good cause. Jeff and Bayley decided to choose the American Heart Association as the cause and ended up collecting $87 in just under 2 hours. The girls had a great time and it will be fun sending in a check to a great cause.

As for me I continue to train for the half-marathon. I think I am doing pretty well, but you never know until you have run one if you have prepared enough. In the last 2 weeks I have received two new callings at church. I am now the Faith In God Girls activity leader and the Second Counselor in the Relief Society. I am once again in charge of Home, Family and Personal Enrichment, a calling I held in the Martin Ward for over 2 years. It will be a challenge, but both callings can be a lot of fun as well. Oh well, I enjoyed my 2 months as fourth Sunday Relief Society teacher.

Finally, I am excited to announce the arrival of two new Griffeth cousins, Nate and Olivia. We are so excited they are here and that both the babies and the mommies are doing great!