Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving this year was a little different. Usually we have four get-togethers to attend. This year we only had one. So on one hand, it was nice to get to relax at home more and not overeat as much. But on the other hand, it was kind of sad not seeing some of our family we love. So to those of you we didn't get to see - Happy Thanksgiving! Maybe we'll see you in a few short weeks at Christmas.

We took this great picture on Thanksgiving. It may be Nate's first appearance on the blog...
And we took our annual Smoker family picture on Thanksgiving. We decided to all dress-up in Colts gear. I think it looks cool. Plus there was a game that day which the Colts won. You can't tell from the picture, but it was really cold outside. It was windy and it snowed some that day. So we had all sprinted out to this bench, posed, then sprinted back into the house. It was fun. And cold.

The day after Thanksgiving I went shopping with my mom and sister, Lindsey. It was the first time I have done that in several years. I had forgotten how much I like doing it. I got our shopping done from ~0% to ~90% in that one day. Not bad. All that was left was a few internet purchases and a few gift cards. Its not often that I get to spend that much time with them. That was the best part.

Later that night the kids and I went downtown to attend the Circle of Lights festivities with Mom and Dad. They had a hotel room down there. So we had some pizza in the room, walked down to the circle, went up to the warm HNTB offices on the Circle to watch the ceremony from above, then we went out the back way of the building. Just as we were walking out the back of the building on Ohio Street, the fireworks were being set off of the Regions bank building - nearly right over our heads! It was pretty cool to see them from so close.

After that we went back to the hotel and did a little swimming. Them Grandma and Grandpa thankfully sent us home... my angelic children were kind of being pills, so I think that the "send them home with their parents' " joy must have been pretty strong after we left. But in Colin and Megan's defence, it is exciting to get to see Grandma and Grandpa, be in a hotel room, go downtown where SANTA is, see fireworks, and swim!

Another good thing was Dad sent me home with a giant bowl of his homemade turkey salad. Eat your heart out Jason, Lindsey, and Sarah! Nate and I have been eating on it all week! It is sooo yummy! :)

It made for a long day, so we all were pretty tired by the time we hit the pillow.

I hope you all had a nice holiday weekend, too!

Lot's to Update

Work has been keeping me so busy lately that I've been slacking off on the Blog Updates....

I hope you enjoy.
Jen

Indianapolis Corporate Challenge

While Nate was away on a business trip over a weekend, the kids and I went and became the photographer for HNTB at the Corporate Challenge. The Corporate Challenge is basically a big track meet for professionals for fun. There are the normal events like runs and walks. And there are the Good Sport events like Football Throw, Frisbee Toss, Tug of War, Corn Hole... The HNTB'ers seemed to have a pretty good time.

Colin and Megan's 'Challenge' was to be good which was a struggle, but we survived... Colin ran in the kid race.

And they had a bounce house which is one of their favorite things EVER...

Halloween 2007

Halloween was pretty fun around our house as usual. Colin was Spiderman and Megan was a Fairy.


See...they can get along...



A crazy pose with the jack-o-lanterns...
Spiderman shooting some web...
Spiderman's muscles...
A Fairy pose...

Nate and I carved the pumpkins in cool designs again this year. His (& Megan's) is the happy quasi-traditional looking face. Colin and I did the spider with six legs :).

Annual Physicals

Colin and Megan had their annual phyisicals in September.

Colin (6 years old) is 95 percentile in height and 75 percentile in weight. If he stays on this growth chart height curve, he will be 6' 3" when he is 18. He has been on the 95 percentile curve since birth...so only time will tell, but I think he'll be tall.

Megan (4 years old) is is 95 percentile in height and 50 percentile in weight. If she stays on this growth chart height curve, she will be 5' 10" when he is 18...just like her mom. Meg also got her Kindergarten shots which she hated.

You can check the growth chart for your kids too if your curious about what the future may hold...
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhanes/growthcharts/charts.htm#Set%201

Baby Kate

On September 13, Katherine Grace Oldham was born (aka Kate). She is the daughter of my friends Dara and David. She weighed a perfect 7# 6 oz. She is now about seven weeks old and is beginning to sleep through the night her grateful mother tells me.

Her big brother Ben (18 mo.)thinks she is ok...he calls her 'Cake'.

Big sisters, Hailey and Diana, think she is pretty great too. They can pronounce her name perfectly. They have been a big help to their parents since Kate came along.



Kate at one day old...





Kate and I...