Drumstick dash!

This year, Josh and I decided to sign up to run the Drumstick Dash.  Since it's a short race, only 4.6 miles we decided to sign the older 3 up to run it with us.  It's a great race to run, because most of the money raised goes to support the Wheeler Mission, a local homeless shelter that provides not only meals, but addiction recovery programs, etc…

It was such a cold morning- only about 19 degrees, but the kids were up and ready to go!

They all did a great job.  Abigail and Isaac both ran the entire time, and kept a pace of 6mph (10 minute mile) so I was impressed.  Isaac even kept some energy back so at the end of the race, he was able to sprint to the finish and beat Josh.  It was a lot of fun, and something I would recommend for any family looking to start a new Thanksgiving tradition.  

In other news, Josh decided it would be a good idea to get a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving.  And by 'fresh' I don't mean never frozen.  By fresh, I mean living, breathing, heart-pulsating, eyeball-looking-at-you, living.  I didn't really believe him at first.  But he came home with this:

hey what am I doing here?

Heidi went nuts for a while over the turkey.  Thankfully, we have a fenced area we were able to put the turkey in until 'the big event' so Heidi couldn't slaughter it for us.

Josh and his new friend

It wasn't exactly easy to slaughter the turkey (more emotionally taxing than hard to do!)  Thankfully I didn't have a part in it :)  Josh said it really makes you appreciate where your food comes from.  He managed to get all of the feathers off and innards out.  Josh is not afraid to do new things.  I am always impressed with his ability to just go for it.  I am much more apprehensive.  

Abigail really enjoys helping out in the kitchen.  I have been trying to give her more responsibility in that area.  This year she helped with many things. 

Jeremiah was supposed to help daddy and Elijah rake the leaves.  He thought it would be a good idea to jump in the pile!