Food, Family, Games and Good Times

My whole family hasn't been together for Thanksgiving in many years so it was a treat to all be together.  Here are the boys anxiously waiting to dig in.  

 Mimi turned the ping-pong table into a giant feast where we could all eat together.

 Can you tell they were happy we were all together?

 Then it was game time.  Beth and I put together some minute to win it games.  The kids love these! They always prove to be a big hit.

 I ran a half about a week ago and it was great.  Here I am at the back of the pack.

 Ready....set....go

the weather was perfect and the route was amazing  

 as you can see I was really running with the pack.  It's all about pacing my friends.  One Pace Grace!

 Hello Mile 13...I am very happy to see you!

 Later that day and after a tylenol we went thrifting.  Something about this "super equator hair dryer" just interested me.  

 The girls found this big Micky Mouse but he ended up being pretty pricey.

 This bird was so funny, it would let you just walk right up to him.  I think the kids could have touched it if they wanted to.  Owen was convinced the bird was elderly and was about to pass away.  Then I had this whole conversation in my head about elderly birds and it made me sad.  He stayed on our feeder for hours.  We came home after heading out and the kids ran to the feeder to see if he was still there.  We were very concerned about this little fellow.  No sign of him in the last few days.

 These were a few of the gifts the kids scored at our Goodwill Christmas exchange.  "Respect the Stripes".... so funny.

 One day  I looked out our window and saw a little girl walking her dog.  It was about 12:00 and I immediately thought....homeschooler!!  Go get her!!"  I went outside and flagged her down.... I know she thought I was crazy but we are desperate for friends. I asked her if she was a homeschooler and she said "yes."  I said, "we are too and I have a girl your age that would love a friend, so feel free to ring our doorbell anytime if you want to play!"  Well, weeks went by and we never heard from her.  The kids thought for sure I must of scared her off.  We never even saw her again.  But then this past Sunday afternoon the doorbell rang!! and the little girl said to Meg...."want to play?"  and guess what they have gotten together everyday sense then!!  I don't know why I am surprised Meg has been praying for a friend.

We are getting ready to pipe in some Christmas Parades.  Should be fun!

Reber - Round -Up

Game time - We recently got a new geography game and it proved to be a hit!

 We like to pick puzzles up at Goodwill - Meg did this 300 piece puzzle by herself.

 Owen LOVES candles.....then we figured out it is the lighting of the candles he really likes.   I think I will included a box of matches in his stocking this year.

 My mom picked us up another bulletin board.  She only paid $2.50 for it!! We were super excited and Owen helped me hang it up this week.

Owen had team pictures this week at hockey.  Meg and I can hardly stand the hockey rink these days.        You walk in and the smell hits you in the face. It is a combination of stinky unwashed hockey gear, sweat, and tons of smelly boys.  Sometimes we step outside to drink in some fresh air. It is intense!

These pics just make me smile.

Next week are getting together with family to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Because we will not all be together at Christmas we decided it would be best to exchange gifts between the cousins at Thanksgiving.  This year we decided to make it less stressful for everyone by setting a gift limit of $5.00 and gifts had to come from thrift stores.  Well this is right up our alley!! On our weekly thrifting adventures we have been on the hunt for gifts for all of our cousins.


Meg spotted this Pokemon piggy bank and we have a cousin who is super into that.  Hooray!

 Next up this pig popper still in the packaging!  Score!

 We were told Asa loves floor puzzles so this fits the bill.  Only $2.00

For the older kids we said gag gifts would be fun.  So for our 13 year cousin Abigail we found these rocking neon heels.  Now these beauties came in at $5.50..... but I used my GoodWill frequent shopper card and got 20% off.

 Meg sporting them

 For our 12 year old cousin Ian we got Toilet Football.  He is a big soccer player and we felt this gift could improve his game.   This  gift is border line inappropriate but we think it will be funny.

 Tyler loves Mario so we found him this shirt.

We have one cousin left to buy for.  He is a sports fan so we are looking for a football.  We are heading out today to look for this last gift. I have a big road race this weekend.  It's in the mountains so I am hoping it won't be too cold.  Meg is going with me so it will be a girl's trip.

Team Reber is looking forward to some turkey and pumpkin pie!!   More to come next week!!

Look Who Turned 10!

Meg hit the double digits!

 We celebrated with P'tite Mom while she was here

 and then on her real birthday.

 Sweet Meggie!!

This weeks adventured involved this big picture.  It all started when I saw on Facebook this picture advertised on post for free.  Whoever got there first could have it.  Well, Owen took one look at it and wanted it.  We drove all over post looking for the building and couldn't find it.  Finally, after asking for some help we found the building and Owen was really hoping we would be the first to get there.   We were and the painting was ours!!

 Big Problem though.... it wouldn't fit in our car.  It was made of styrofoam so it was super light but after brainstorming this is how we drove home with it.  That is Owen's hand in the front and Meg's hand in the back and they held it outside of the window all the way home!!  We got some curious looks and had to drive super slow so the wind would not blow it away but we made it!!  Here is us arriving on our street.  Owen decided to walk it the rest of the way.

 Here it is in our garage we made it!!  This school lesson was what I like to call, "how to solve real-life problems."

Meg leaves me notes on the door for when I come back from a run. 
 Owen + cereal = our life.

 I did two road races this week - One night run.  These are always fun!

 Cousin time!!  We drove to Atlanta to spend some time with "the boys"!

 Lots of fun and memories made.

and that's a wrap!

Below is a little video of Meg.    She had strong opinions about fashion even at a young age!