Thanksgiving / Preparing for Christmas / Jeanine's 26th Birthday / Holiday Party

Another Thanksgiving with the Alve's!!  What a wonderful day - so much great food (well, we did learn to downsize a little after last year!) and wonderful company.  Brian, MJ, Maddy, Coley and Brian - thank you for hosting!!


Brian and Matthew playing outside - the weather was so nice!!

Get Ready!!!  Here comes the bird!!!

Putting lights on the tree - Kathy, Im sure you will be the only one that knows what we are doing!!!  You taught me well!!!  The lights FINALLY were perfect (before Matthew got to them!)

Love these moments! ...All four kids wrestling on the floor...does it get any better...

Jeanine's Birthday...shes catching up to me!!! We had dinner at my parents house - Jeanine's favorite, of course!!

 Renee and I - she used to fit on my lap...not anymore :(

 Leah at her "own" table

 

The Balfour Beatty Holiday Party was held at the Key Bridge Marriott this year - Jake and I made a weekend out of it  - We stayed at the hotel on Saturday night and then headed to the Redskin / Patriots game on Sunday - we had a great time!!

 My Hubby and I - the theme was "Hollywood Glam"

 The Ladies - love the gloves!!!

 Jeanine, Jake and I

Lucky Jake ;)

...Another Half Marathon :)

Jake has taken it to another level...BUT, I decided to not be as crazy and stick with the Half Marathons :)  Stephanie, Melanie and I ran the McDonald's (funny, huh?) Half Marathon on Saturday, November 12th in Richmond, VA.  When we started it had to be a little over 30 degrees out...we were freezing!!  It didnt take us to long to warm up, I would say we started to shed layers around mile 2!  It was a beautiful fall run - and to make it even better, I shaved about eight minutes off my time...finishing in 2 hours and 24 minutes!  The family came down to cheer me on :)

Halloween 2011

October = Fall Festivities and Halloween!  This year we went to Cox Farms which holds a huge Halloween Festival consisting of farm animals, slides, candy apples, hay rides, rope swings and much more.  We went with our friends Tom and Heather and their two lovely girls, Nichole and Makayla...we had an amazing time!  Later in the month, Leah's day care had a Halloween event we were able to get the kids dressed up for....  and to close out the Halloween festivities, we walked around town with all of our family collecting candy!

Leah, Jake and Matthew coming down one of the slides at Cox Farm

Matthew has no fear of this horse. He and Leah loved petting and feeding her.

Leah and Nichole pretending to be good.

The Goodwin Family on the Hayride!

Leah and Dad after the rope swing.  Leah is not so good at the rope swing yet.

This giant haystack kept all the kids running and climbing

Our amazing family after a long day of fun!

Never to young to be redneck

Tinker Bell and Dora (Mrs. Jamie, Jen's long time friend and the director of Leah's Day Care)

Where is all this candy you speak of??

So we have a Sock Monkey, some sort of Cat, Tinkerbell and a little Moneky

all ready to go get some candy!

Don't forget about me the GHOST!!

Mac G is getting a little to fat for this costume.

Matthew and Auntie Jeanine

Along the way we picked up Renee's friend Aaron and his Sister Erica.

Yes, this is her boyfriend feel free to give her a hard time.

Leah and her friend Chloe.

They were the best all night as they went from house to house.

What a great Halloween!!

Run Jake Run!!! The Marine Corp Marathon

On October 30th, 2011 - Jacob Robitaille completed 26.2 miles in 3 hours, 49 minutes and 36 seconds!  He worked very hard and trained for many months!!  His parents flew in from MA to cheer him on.  We are all so proud of him!!

I would like to thank my amazing wife for taking care of our house and family while I was out running around the town training for my marathon.  If it wasn't for you I would have never been able to do it.  I also would like to thank all those who helped me in my training and supported me during my race (that includes all who tracked me online).  Finally a Big thanks to my coworker Greg who picked me up the morning of the race and helped me get situated and kept me company in the hours before.

We had Spaghetti and Meatballs for my "pre-run" dinner - Thank you Brian (and little Brian) for joining us - It was a great time!

Here I am crossing the finish line. 

I am 2nd from the right in the black and green shorts.

After a crazy morning Jen was able to see me at mile 16 where after a kiss she handed me my Purple Foxes shirt that was given to me by Uncle Pat.  The shirt gave me some added motivation for the final 10 miles.  Around mile 19 I got a "Way to go Purple Foxes" from a passing Marine, to which I proudly responded "Give a Shit"!
Thanks Uncle Pat

 Jasmine worked so hard on making these awesome signs! 
Thank you girls you are the best!!

My parents and I after the race.
 Thank you so much for coming down to cheer me on.
 It was a huge motiviational boost everytime I saw you.