Happy 14th Birthday, Trenton!

Trenton turned 14 yesterday!  We went out to dinner to celebrate and Trenton chose Bravos, which we had not been to for a long time as a family.  We had Mom's strawberry angel food cake that Trenton had chosen for his birthday cake for dessert.  For his birthday, Trenton received new fencing shoes, several shirts, hoodie, and Batman movies.

Cute boys!

We were being silly later and that's when Trenton showed us his impressive muscles.  He can almost beat Dad in arm wrestling now!

Grandpersons Day

Ashleigh celebrated Grandpersons Day at school yesterday.  Thank you to all the grandparents for sending cards (and rainbow looms)!  It really made her day.  Dallin and I were Ashleigh's guests this year. 

We enjoyed some treats in the classroom followed by a tour of the school building.  Since lunch and recess were after this, the teachers allowed us to take our student out for lunch.  This is the first year we invited to do this!

Ashleigh's favorite restaurant is of course, Panda Express, and since she is really the only one in our family that likes it, it was the perfect spot for our lunch date.

Ashleigh always orders the orange chicken and white rice.  She always eat every last bite which is amazing because she hardly eats anything normally!

Dallin enjoyed being Ashleigh's guest for the day, especially since it meant he got lots of treats!

Thankfulness

Dallin made this turkey at preschool last week.  It is fun to see what a 3 year is thankful for.

Purple People Bridge

We were blessed with unusually warm weather mid-November during Grandma Borders' visit, so we headed downtown to have some fun along the riverfront.  We have always wanted to rent one of these bikes, and today was the day we finally did it!  I love the seat on the very front for the little ones!  It was a lot of work peddling the thing, especially when it was full!  Trenton was our best peddler.

The brake on the bike was a hand break and only the steering wheel on the left worked.  The person's job on the right was to ring the bell when coming up behind people.  We all had a great time taking turns riding around.

This is a statue downtown of Cincinnatus, a Roman aristocrat, the city of Cincinnati is named after.

This is the Purple People Bridge that is a pedestrian only bridge over the Ohio River to Kentucky.  It is hard to tell in the pictures, but it is painted a very light lavender that has probably faded over the years.

All along the bridge there are locks with couple's names on them.  The kids like reading the names on them and looking at the different kinds of locks people have left.

On the Kentucky side of the bridge there is a nice shopping and restaurant area.  Since it was such a nice day, there were lots of people around.  We were lucky enough to find this man pretending to be a robot.  It was very entertaining for the kids.  He would only start dancing when someone gave him money.

One of the bridges connecting Ohio and Kentucky, only this one is for cars, not pedestrians!

Couch Ownership

Dallin has claimed this half of the couch as his own personal spot.  No one is allowed to sit on this side of the couch if he is in the room.  He has quite a little ritual while in his spot - he lays down on the pillow, covers with a blanket, and demands juice while he watches his favorite shows.  Some days while sipping his juice he falls asleep.  He really should be still taking naps, but getting rid of the crib ended them several months ago.  Poor little tired guy!

Piano Contest

Ashleigh received five ribbons for her participation in a piano contest last weekend.  She played four different scales she had memorized for a judge and took a written theory test.  She desperately wants to quit playing the piano, but we aren't giving in considering the amount of money we have invested in lessons.  It was quite a fight to get her to the contest, but she was happy she went when they handed her a pile of ribbons.  She has such potential, so hopefully this phase will pass soon.  To be continued...