Golden Shoe: Part II

Today M's school day started off with a bang--racing for the Golden Shoe at 8:05am during gym class!  Here they were getting instructions and then warming up.  M seemed relaxed and at ease amidst his classmates.  Mimi commented the other day about how happy he has seemed lately.  I can't help but think his awesome teacher and great class have something to do with that...  It is a nice bunch of kids and we hear wonderful wonderful things about his teacher.  She is very warm and loving, which is perfect for our big man!

 Before we knew it, they were off!  M started out much slower than in past years--I think he was taking my pacing advice to heart. ;)  I hate being "that mom" when it comes to running, but I have to really fight against all intuition!  It is difficult to suppress!  Here he is finishing lap 2...

 And then lap 3 below--you can see how spread out the group became.  I was so proud of the way M kept muscling through each lap and didn't slow his pace.  It is interesting to note that this year in comparison to others he was not super competitive, which came as a complete surprise to me.  Usually it doesn't take much to get those juices flowing for him, but then again, maybe this is the sign of maturity on that front.  He's chilling out a bit, perhaps??

I do love his zest and enthusiasm.  I hope he never loses it.  But I also hope time and experience help him learn how to channel that spirit.  Right now it seems the best motivation for M to compete hard is to put a soccer ball in front of his feet!

 And here is our happy man after the race, all smiles thanks to a great job.  He was the fifth boy in his class... and completed 5 laps.  Wonderful job, buddy!

We watched and cheered our big man and then high-tailed it home to head to MG's last music class.  These were the free classes I mentioned before and *boy* were we lucky to have this experience.  Suffice it to say, she had a total ball and took to the music and responses right away.  I think we're going to sign up for a Christmas class coming up...  How could I deny her such fun?

Later on the homefront, I decided to make a batch of my mom's homemade chicken noodle soup...

And thankfully, I had some sweet little helpers.  Butter knives do wonders with celery--who knew?!  It is a Montessori teaching gem and perfect for little hands...

Don't you love the football on the butcher block?  Minutes later, this was the scene...

Gotta love boys!

To wrap up our crazy, fun-filled day, the stars aligned perfectly to allow us to head to my moms' club annual Trunk or Treat event.  The kids had a great time and enjoyed the early reveal of their costumes.  MG's is changing thanks to a last-minute request she made yesterday.  We were going to go with an all-family Star Wars theme, but the little miss asked to be a butterfly.  It was too cute to resist!  Thanks to eBay, she and little lady-bug sister will be decked out as an adorable duo.  Today she succumbed to an old bee costume...

Here she is with sweet friend, D.  MG talks about D incessantly-- everything is "like D".

Here's Obi Wan... I mean, J, showing us his cool treat bag!  We're definitely going to need a bigger one for "the big day".

My cute crew:

In addition to trick-or-treating around to people's car trunks, the kids had other yummy treats, drinks, fruit, and a host of fun activities.  The boys even paused for a moment to create macaroni necklaces.  Such a fun time...

And with that, I leave you and am off to go make sense of my house!  Somehow clothes have exploded in piles everywhere (how is it that I seem to be in this predicament every week?)  My mom says I need a laundress and I'm starting to believe her! ;)

God bless,