Half Marathon Weekend, Pierced Ears, and I have a new niece!

Dear Friends and Family,

This weekend my sister and my best buddy Jessica came to town to run the Baltimore half marathon! Christian (Jessica's husband) and her doggies came with her, so we had a full house of fun!  My kids were beyond excited to see all of their special visitors. When Claire came downstairs on Friday morning and saw Jessica (a.k.a. her best friend forever) on the couch she flew from the stairs to the couch and into Jessica's arms for the sweetest and happiest hug imaginable!

On Friday, we ventured down to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.  There, we picked up the race bibs, shirts, and other freebies at the health expo.  The kids had fun, and Will LOVED getting to hug a dragon (a.k.a. the GEICO gecko).

The only way to keep this little explorer moving is to play a game that propels him forward!  Christian and Jessica do, "1, 2, 3, swing!"

Later on Friday, my neighbors, Kelly and Devin hosted a Halloween pumpkin painting party.  The kids got to go in costume! Claire dressed up as a witch and Will went as a fire fighter.

Claire is so excited to get "witch makeup" done by Jessica!

"Did someone say,'FIRE!'?

We picked Sara up at the airport around 9pm and discussed plans for the big race day!

On Saturday morning, we were all excited to cheer!  We got up early and headed into Baltimore. We ran into traffic really close to the half marathon starting line so we let Sara and Jessica out of the car to walk to the starting line.

 Luckily we were the first car stopped just as the Marathon racers started to cross the street, so we parked the car in the middle of street and I got out to cheer on the runners for about 20 minutes before traffic could move again.  We made our way to the 3 mile point and later the 7 mile point to cheer Sara and Jessica.  Then we met them just .02 miles before the finish line!  When Claire saw them she ran with them the rest of the way across the finish line!  Claire was SO happy to finish the race with two of her best friends!

Posing next to the 13 mile sign!

A tackle hug at the finish line!

Claire tries on Aunt Sara's medal.  I think she wants to be a racer one day too!

Sara and Jessica said that they day dreamed about pasta and wine the whole race so we took them straight to the Olive Garden for a late lunch.  Later, Chris and Christian steamed up some crabs for dinner. Christian walked on the wild side plucking some angry crabs out of the bag with his bare hands! I think I squealed the whole time, worried a claw would pinch his finger!

On Sunday we were all thrilled to see the Bengals play on CBS!

Will helped us cheer too!  "Who Dey!"

Congratulations to Sara and Jessica for running such a big race!  I'm so proud of you both!

I have two pieces of exciting news to close!

On Monday, I took Claire to get her ears pierced! She has been asking for earrings since last spring. I told her that we should research getting them to make sure she really wants them.  We spent time looking up care instructions and then going to see a girl get her ears pierced before finally deciding that Claire was ready. I was happy to keep putting it off, but one of Claire's schoolmate friends wanted to get her ears pierced and asked if Claire would please join her so they could do it together. Claire was REALLY excited to get her ears pierced with her friend.

Excited but scared in the chair.

Getting her ears marked.

Time to pierce!

A few tears slid down her face, but she was SO BRAVE! The sting went away in less than a minute and she asked me for a ponytail so she could show off her ears as she walked through the mall!

She checked out her reflection in all the department store mirrors!

Will checked out his reflection too...and played peek-a-boo.

And the second bit of BIG news is that we have a new family member!  As you might remember I asked for prayers for Kelli in my last blog post.  Kelli delivered Lina Ellen Aukstuolis at 8:07am on Thursday, 10/15/15!  She is 8lbs 11oz and 21.5 inches long.  Lina is SO adorable that I can't wait to see her in person and to give her cheeks lots of kisses.  We are planning to drive down for a quick visit this Friday! I'm so excited!

Isn't she adorable?!  

I hope everyone is having a great week!
Love,
Bethie