Village to Village

 

On Saturday Bruce, Chrissy and I ran the Village to Village 10k. The weather was perfect for running and it was a great way to start the weekend. It's was hilly (like most Birmingham races), but we finished in 57:34! Bruce took off at the end and finished in around 56:50 I think. Way to go Bruce!

 

After the race Bruce and I drove to Tuscaloosa to look at a van. Bruce made the man a very fair offer, but it didn't work out and we're still on the hunt for a van. I know the right one will come along soon.

 

Kathryn was supposed to have surgery today to have her adenoids removed. We had to cancel...again. My whole crew is sick...again. We cancelled back in December because she had pneumonia and apparently waiting six weeks was just long enough for everyone to get sick again. This time it was croup/fevers/colds. It has not been fun for any of us. Saturday night was rough. Bruce and I were up every hour and a half. Anyway, Bruce took everyone to the doctor yesterday because I had a test and couldn't miss class. The girls are on medicine now and the doctor basically said if it wasn't an essential surgery that he didn't recommend going through with it today. I agreed and I'm glad we cancelled. This morning K's fever was 101.8. So this is day five and I'm hoping tomorrow everyone will turn the corner and start feeling better.

Sullivan is getting a twin bed this weekend and when Bruce comes back from Oklahoma in March we're putting Sullivan and Kathryn together and Owen gets his own room! We'll paint Owen's blue and the girls some soft shade between pink and purple. :) Sullivan has picked out her bedding and it should be here this week. She picked out a very cute quilt set! Guess that's it for now, have a good week everyone!

Snow Day 2013

Last weekend was very warm (like t-shirt and shorts warm) and on Sunday afternoon it started to rain. It rained almost non-stop from Sunday afternoon until this morning and then around lunch it started to snow. Do you know what the high is supposed to be tomorrow? 52. Only in Alabama.

Crazy weather aside, we had a really fun day today. We also realized we don't own any true cold weather gear. The kiddos and I improvised with rubber gloves under mittens, Target bags over tennis shoes and boots, and changed clothes several times to keep everyone happy and dry. The snow was  beautiful and to watch the kids jump around and get so excited about it was one of those special mommy moments. Owen, Kathryn, and Sullivan went out three different times and we finally got the wardrobe/hat/glove thing right on the third try and they stayed out about an hour that time. I had to make them come in as the sun was going down. They were trying to decorate their snowman with carrots and Ritz crackers and I was trying to explain to them how cold it was about to get. Before everyone went to bed we had to go out on the porch to make sure the snowman was still there. He was. ;) Hope everyone out there enjoyed the snow and stayed warm. Yay for snow...and actual winter weather!

Kathryn, Sullivan, and Owen playing outside in the snow

 

Yay for snow!

 

Love these babies!! 

 

Take a look at our "snow outfits." When your snow outfits look like this, you know

you live in the South and never anticipate snow. Ha!

 

 

 

Wearing Daddy's gloves kept this little man's hands warm

 

Time to make snow angels!

 

Building a snowman takes teamwork

 

 

 

The first thing Owen did when he got outside was to plop down in the snow and start

making snow angels and snow balls.

Our Little Gymnast

Today Kathryn went to her first gymnastics class! She jumped right in with the other girls and had a ball. It was hard to believe it was Kathryn's first class - she was so confident and willing to try everything the teacher asked her to do. Every so often K would look into the lobby and give me the biggest smile and I knew she was having a good time. We are very proud of you Kathryn! We're all looking forward to watching you in gymnastics this year!

 

Our little gymnast

 

Sweet sisters

Sullivan enjoyed watching her big brother and sister this past week. K is teaching her gymnastics as I type this and last week she practiced jumping jacks and front kicks with Owen. I know she'll be ready to jump right into her own activity when she turns four. Knowing this little lady though there's no telling what she'll want to do when the time comes!

Karate Kid

On Monday afternoon Owen went to his first karate class! He had such a good time and did very well. He was a little shy at first, but warmed up quickly. (It was sooo fun to watch...my cheeks hurt when we left because I was smiling the whole time.) Monday was Owen's "trial class" and next week he'll get his uniform and start as an actual student. Owen's instructor gave him this belt and he even earned a yellow stripe for trying so hard in his first class! He was so proud of his belt and when he woke up yesterday morning he asked me if his karate place was open.

 

I think karate will be a good fit for him. Owen's a passionate kid who wears his heart and emotions on his sleeve and karate focuses a lot on self-control. He also does extremely well with structure and thrives in group settings. I'm excited for him to get to hang out with other little dudes and make some of his own friends. It would have been easier to enroll O and K in the same activity, but it's time for them to start branching out a little and making their own friends. Way to go Owen! We are all looking forward to watching you in karate this year!

 

Our little karate kid - proudly wearing his belt and sitting on his new Transformers bike.

Tough isn't he? ;)

National Champions

Bama 42 - Notre Dame 14

It's a great day in Alabama!

ROLL TIDE!

Four Year Well-Child Visits

Today O and K had their four year well-child visit. Here's a quick recap.

Owen:
35 pounds - 50th percentile
3 feet, 4 inches tall - 50th percentile
-Owen gained 4 1/2 pounds this year

Kathryn:
36 pounds - between 50th and 75th percentile
3 feet, 5 inches tall - around 75th percentile
-Kathryn gained 3 pounds this year

Sullivan:
36 pounds
-Even though she didn't have an appointment, I weighed her so she could see how much she's grown. I couldn't believe she weighed as much as her big sis and more than her brother!

O and K had their blood pressures taken, fingers pricked, gave a urine specimen, and also had to get three vaccines each. Kathryn had to have a follow-up chest x-ray to see if her pneumonia had cleared up and thank goodness it had. We were there for almost two hours and they were tired and mad when we left. I did pack some mini m&m's which helped their moods after all of those shots and finger sticks. Poor babies. Given the fact I took them all by myself and we were there for so long without any activities or books (which I had packed, but didn't actually get to the car) it was still probably the easiest appointment we've ever had. I wasn't too sweaty when we left. Ha!

Overall Kathryn and Owen are doing very well and hitting their milestones. They know their colors and letters and can identify numbers 1-10. They can identify lots of animals, know their address, and what number to call in case of an emergency. Kathryn can write several letters and I'm assuming Owen can too, but I have a harder time getting Owen to sit still long enough to do any type of school work. Fighting crime as a Power Ranger is more important than school work. The doc said that's the difference between boys and girls at this age and not to worry. I asked the doctor what we need to work on this year since they're not in preschool yet and he say learning to trace and maybe write some of their letters or their name, learning what letters make what sounds, and maybe some sound combinations. So that's what we'll do and I'll try to make it as fun as possible.

Yay for happy, healthy kids!! I was so proud of my munchkins today. It was not a fun appointment and they hung in there as best they could. Way to go kiddos!

Up next...
- Signing Owen up for karate and Kathryn for gymnastics
- School starts for me next Monday
- Shopping for a van (Yes, you read that right...I want a minivan! We desperately need the space.)
- Big girl furniture for Sullivan

Stay tuned, lots of fun things coming up!

2013

We hope your year will be filled with love, peace, 

and happiness. 

From our family to yours...Happy New Year!

They're Four!

 

Kathryn and Owen turned four yesterday! Four. Time is flying by too quickly and my babies are getting so big. We celebrated in Huntsville at Chuck E Cheese and it was a great party. We had grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles and cousins there to celebrate with us. Seeing our little ones blowing out their birthday candles surrounded by so many family members was the best part of the party to me. It meant a lot to Bruce and me to have everyone there to help us celebrate.

It really does seem like just yesterday that they were born. Their little feet were so tiny that I put pink and blue baby doll socks on them in the hospital. Now they are little kids, about to start karate and gymnastics, learning to write their names, dressing themselves, riding scooters, asking all kinds of questions, and wanting to play video games and bake cake pops. The last four years may have been loud, chaotic, and sometimes challenging, but these years have also been a gift from God and we have been blessed beyond measure. It is a joy to be Owen, Kathryn, and Sullivan's mother!

 

Happy 4th birthday Owen and Kathryn! We love you with all our hearts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ho Ho Ho

26.2

Meg and I ran the Rocket City Marathon on Saturday! I can't say that I loved running 26 miles, but I can say that by the time I crossed the finish line I was in good spirits and in a lot less pain that I thought I'd be in. The race actually went by really fast and I don't remember much of it to be honest with you. I guess adrenaline will do that to you. I never hit "the wall" which I was very happy about. I hit it hard during my first half marathon so I was hoping I wouldn't go through that again. I kept hearing horror stories about miles 18-22 being the toughest and I was dreading those miles, but when I looked down at my watch and saw "21.10" I thought to myself "we're going to make it!!" and we did!

Crossing the finish line! This was a very well organized race and the course was flat - just a few small hills. A flat course is a marathoner's friend!

Meg really rallied through all of the pain she was in and I'm so proud of how hard she fought to finish. Her knees had been bothering her since our 20 mile training run about a month ago. She had a couple rounds of cortisone shots in her knees and IT bands during training, iced her knees constantly for days before the race, used knee trackers and used every muscle cream known to man. I know she was hurting and she kept going. Way to go Meg!

 



So what do I really think about running a marathon? Well, training is a huge time commitment and, if you have children, you really need a good support system to help you on your long run days. I'm very lucky - even though Bruce was deployed for almost all of my training, my Mom, Mother-in-Law, Meg's husband Kevin, and their sweet babysitter Kaitlyn were willing to help me out. I'm blessed to have such sweet friends and family.

For a sport that really just requires you to put one foot in front of the other I spent a lot of money preparing for the marathon. Shoes, hats, nutrition belt, running socks, watch, Gu's, etc. In my book, it was all worth it because I was comfortable and well-prepared on race day, but I did have to shell out the money. Be prepared to spend a nice little chunk of change for your first marathon if you ever run one.

I guess the biggest piece of advice I have for someone who's thinking about running a marathon is don't make it more complicated than it has to be. I noticed along the way that a lot of other runners I would talk to would try to fix problems before they happened. Like taking salt tablets constantly during their training runs, but they had no history of cramping issues prior to training. Use your long training runs to learn your body and what works for you. By the time you get to your 18 and 20 mile runs, it should be more about completing the mileage and not what to eat for breakfast that day, whether you like Gu gel or Gu chomps, what you want to carry in your pack or if you're going to carry one, or when and where you need to take your water breaks. Stay focused on your goal and fight through the training and just run. It will all pay off in the end.

The Rocket City Marathon doesn't allow runners to wear headphones so I feel like I really was able to take it all in and think about what I was doing and enjoy the experience...well as much as you can enjoy something like that. Ha! I still can't believe I've run a marathon. It's a great feeling knowing all of our hard work paid off and we finished the race. Finishing was our only goal. Never in a million years did I think that I would ever see a 26.2 sticker on the back of my car. The training was terrible and such a long and grueling process, but race day made it all worth it. Will I ever run another one? Maybe. I've learned to never say never. My next big challenge? Reminding myself that I can no longer eat like I'm training for a marathon. ;)

Seeing these guys at mile 18 gave me the boost I needed to keep going.

We're all so glad Bruce is home!!

 

 

Marathon finishers!

4:52:03 (chip time)

#'s 815 and 816 out of 1,145 runners

 

My sweet family came out to cheer us on.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

 

VOTE!

 

 

VOTE TODAY!

 

If you haven't already done so today, go vote! Remind your friends, neighbors, and family. Take your children and explain to them the importance of voting and show them how it works. If you don't like it, vote to change it and if you do like it, vote to keep it. Republican, Democrat, Independent, liberal, or conservative, your vote counts! Run, walk, ride to your polling place and cast your vote. 

 

YOUR VOTE COUNTS!

 

Happy Halloween!