'Oh (my)!' is for October

Well, here she is, about 3 years older than our last blog post. The Eicholtz Family blinked and it was November. Since September started, Chris and I have been logging late-post-Allie-bedtime-hours of work, Chris has competed in a CrossFit competition in PA, Allie has moved up a classroom (she's morphed from a manatee into a seagull, who knew?), and I've completed a marathon and taken on a new position at work. (I'm the director now, and my first order of business may be to appoint a personal blogging assistant/laundry-folder, although I don't know that LCPS planned for that in the budget.) Here are a few fall snapshots from our crazy past few months. At the rate we're going, you can read them with a nice red cup of Starbucks in hand!


Alright. Let's just get this out there to begin with. Here's Allie's fall picture for this school year. She was a hot mess that morning, we had a late night the night before and we're just lucky her hair got brushed (all thanks to her fabulous teachers, who I'm sure did it with far fewer tears than I did that morning). And after all of that...she nailed it. This is about as 'Allie after her first cup of coffee' as it gets. We love this kid, hot mess-mornings and all.

There were a few quiet Saturdays this fall, which means playing and making a mess...

See? Playing...

And making a mess.

We took the Western Maryland Railroad on a fall mountain ride to check out the leaves and to ride the historic steam-engine train.

Chugga...

Chugga...

'Cheese!'

We spilled the beans to Al that we're heading to Disney World in March, which means that now at the end of each week, she asks if tomorrow is March.

Here she is, having a 'working dinner,' as she puts it, because 'there's just so much to do!' (She's inserting pictures of the princesses into our guidebook so we're sure to know who they are when we see them.)

 We walked over to the neighborhood Fall Fest again this year and waited our sweet turn for the first face paint of the season. Let's review...

Last year...

So...

Precious and little...

sniff.

This year...

So grown up.

But not too grown for a selfie with Mommy, thank goodness.

Fortunately for all involved, Allie currently loves going to my school. My new office has a tv that still has a VHS player (you may have to look this up for a definition) and someone unloaded all of their old Disney movies to our main office. I have a feeling they had a preminition of what would convince an almost four year old that it is an amazing thing to go help Mommy at work every now and then. So far, so good, and I've been able to hear Dumbo in the background for the first time in about thirty years as I wrap up letters of recommendation and PSATs. There are much worse things. All of this is to say, here's Allie with our mascot at our Homecoming tailgate, excited to be close...but not too close. 

Class of 2029.

Oh yeah, and because life wasn't crazy enough, I wrapped up my marathon training and ran my second full marathon in the Marine Corps Marathon on October 26th in support of Organization for Autism Research (OAR). It...was...amazing. We could not have asked for better weather and I am extremely grateful to my family for their support both during the race and while I was logging miles (and hours) training. On a personal note, I beat my 'pre-Allie' time by 35 minutes, broke 4 hours (3 hours and 49 minutes and some seconds that I don't count), but most importantly, I felt great doing it.

OK, so maybe I didn't always feel THIS good, but then I did.

Team Suz, ready for spectative action.

Let the post-race-party begin!

'Mommy, can we take a picture with the lion?'
(One of the two lions at the base of the Netherlands Carillon near the United States Marine Corps War Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery)

The Mighty Marathoning-Mommies!
Congrats to Gayle on her first full - she rocked it!

Two days later, we ushered in the first 'Frozen' Halloween season with an Elsa-fest, I mean wear-your-costume-to-dance practice.

Now that's cold.

But the real Disney Princess action came Friday when Allie donned her Grandmom-Wintrode-made Rapunzel dress and flowered braid for some serious princess-themed Halloween fun.

Shy and retiring during her school parade.

She LOVED it!

And we made it through October safe and sound, thanks to two of the cutest first-responders we've seen yet. The Gonzales boys were fire-fighters for Halloween and they were kind enough to let our fire-hazard-of-a-daughter and us tag along for a night of good friends and good candy-collecting. We're grateful for the blessings of a busy fall and hope to see you before the 2014 Christmas post!

Nathan Gonzales, ready for action.

Yeah...I'd say she had fun.