Sean turns 9

My baby turned NINE!  It just breaks my heart to watch my children grow up right out from underneath me!  Sean has turned in to quite the little person.  Everyone loves Sean!  He is sweet, tender-hearted, respectful, a rule follower, very intuitive, my snuggler, my video gamer, he idolizes his Dad, wants to be a Marine when he grows up, loves Lego's, he can be stubborn, he's extreme (either it's the BEST day ever or the WORSE day ever), but he is always predictable.  We enjoy watching this little man grow, but I just wish I could freeze time & enjoy him at this age for just a little longer! 



We started off Sean's day by decorating his bedroom door &...

waking him up by singing, "Happy Birthday".

Then we planned a surprise birthday party for him, on his actual birthday.  I picked him up from school & we ran errands while all his friends were being dropped off at our house.  Once we got home, he got quite the surprise.  The boys had a little bit of time to have a Nerf gun war, but then we headed to Sky Zone.  The boys had a great time jumping & playing dodge ball together!

Sean does a flip in to the foam pit:

It was a busy weekend.  The day after Sean's birthday, my sister & her family came to stay over night at our house.  Sean & his cousin Logan love to spend time together.  So we planned a sleep over & our families got the chance to hang out together.  Sean also had a basketball tournament that weekend, so he enjoyed having family here to come & cheer him on in getting 4th place in the tournament.

Then Sunday we had a family birthday party for Sean.  I think he had a pretty great 9th Birthday!

Braces Off!

Ah...  What more to say than...  OUR BRACES ARE OFF!  Lauryn & I had a competition going to see who would get their braces off first.  Well, we told our orthodontist, so he wouldn't let either one of us win.  He put us on the same schedule & made the appointment for us to get them off together.  But if we want to get technical...  Lauryn did have hers off 15 minutes before mine!  So I'll let her win;)

Morning of:

Our names made the board!  I did feel a little too old to have my name up there too!

After...  We went out for lunch & enjoyed eating again.

Our ortho gave us treat bags with lots of goodies that had been forbidden for awhile.

Jim turns 40!

Jim turned FORTY in the beginning of January.  We had a great time celebrating the milestone!  On his actual birthday, we made dinner reservations for our family at the Melting Pot.  The kids LOVED it & have been asking for us to buy the fondue equipment so we can make our own meals at home.

Jim also had a birthday party with friends.  We invited some of our close friends to join us for dinner at Murray's Steak House.  We enjoyed a limo ride, taking us downtown.  After dinner we went to the Shout House where many family & friends joined us to help Jim celebrate the big day.  I think Jim had a little too much fun because he claimed he caught the "flu" the next morning after not being able to get out of bed!...  Ah, you only turn 40 once!  ;)

Zach's 12th Birthday!

When did this child grow up from underneath me?  At age 12, Zach is 5'6", weighs 170 lbs, & wears a size 14 men's shoe.  It's crazy!  Along with that BIG body, Zach has quite the personality! 

12 Things about Zach on his 12th Birthday:

1.  He is a gentle giant & kind to others - always sticking up for the "underdog"

2.  He has a great sense of humor

3.  Is a great story teller & a great speaker (you should hear his speeches he gives in school)

4.  An amazing athlete & has a true passion for sports

5.  Is a hard worker & motivated easily

6.  Is always willing to help when Jim & I ask

7.  Loves animals & is best friends with Libby

8.  Loves the outdoors & could spend every waking minute outside if we allowed it

9.  Is always hot & hence I have to argue with him to wear a coat in the winter

10.  He eats us out of house & home (eats breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, 2nd lunch, & so on...)

11.  He idolizes his Dad so much & it is super sweet! 

12.  He is my favorite middle child! 

This year for Zach's 12th birthday we started off the day by decorating his bedroom door.  He was surprised when he woke up:

Off to school:

Zach chose to order in for his birthday meal.  We got his favorite - a double cheeseburger from 5 Guys & a Burger AND mac-n-cheese from Noodles & Co. 

And I had to make his favorite cupcakes

After dinner, Zach had to run off to basketball practice.  But after his practice, we all went to pick him up & headed to the movie theater to see Hugo.  It was a fun, packed day!

My grown 12 year old boy:

To finish up Zach's birthday celebration, our family will be going to the Vikings/Saints game on Sunday.  Drew Brees is Zach's all time favorite player.  So he plans to wear his Saints jersey & cheer for the other team.  He's super excited!  

Halloween 2011

This fall was such a busy time of year between kids activities, traveling, & my marathons.  We never were able to find a time to make it to the pumpkin patch.  And this year the kids didn't even care to carve the pumpkins I had taken the time to buy from Cub.  So no home-made pumpking seeds for me this year.  But, they were still all about dressing up & running around on Halloween night.  Sean wanted to make his own costume this year.  He went as a Zombie.   

Zach didn't really dress up, but instead ripped some clothes & painted his face in camouflage.  Then he climbed our front tree so that he would be ready to scare the kids coming around trick-or-treating.  I tell you, Zach has such a fun personality!  He comes up with the craziest things!

Lauryn enjoyed going to the school dance & then running around with her friends.  She was Bat Girl. 

Marathons #12 & 13

What a journey running all these marathons has been.  As I get older & suffer more body pain, I am finding that I am switching my goals from running a fast marathon to running multiple marathons in a year.  I have found it works wonderful to have 1 training season but then to run 2-3 marathons.  And, I get to add traveling to my marathons, which is always so much fun.  It has brought me to some fun places!  As of now, my total stands - 13 marathons completed & 7 different states.  

This fall I ran 2 marathons back to back.  I started with the Twin Cities marathon, which I always love.  It's a great time of year & I always have a number of friends who like to run it as well and so there is always someone to train with.  

  

 A few Twin Cities Friends at the finish:

Pam, Troy, Me, Carol, Todd

Jim's such a sport.  He's had to retire from running until his full knee replacement surgery.  And I know it's tough for him to see me out there.  He just aches to join in.  Yet, he's always there to support me!  He's truly my inspiration, since he's the one who ran a marathon first (to just cross it off his bucket list) & get me interested in trying one out myself.  He's amazing every year at Twin Cities...  cheering at miles 4, 11, 13, 17, 20, & the finish.   

Shortly after Twin Cities, we traveled to St. Louis with the Conrad's to run another marathon.  We had such a fun time, just running for fun.  We traveled with our families & really enjoyed the area.  St. Louis is a great city for a long weekend! 

"We are a drinking group with a running problem" 

My faithful family, out there cheering us on

At the finish, with the Arch in the background

Finishers: Me, Todd, Carol

It ended up being a HOT day!

Fall Sports

I love Fall!  It is one of my favorite times of year.  I love the weather change, pulling out those comfortable jeans & sweatshirts, no jackets yet, the fall colors, and SPORTS!  I love the start of a new school year and volleyball and football starting up.  We had a blast watching Sean start his first year of tackle football.  I was worried about what he'd think since he hates being "tossed around" by Zach.  But he LOVED it.  He's just like Zach when he says he likes the idea of being able to "hit" someone & not get in trouble for it.  And Sean did great.  He even scored a touchdown this first year.  He's working hard to not gain 5 lbs this whole year so that next year he won't be red-striped.  Once you hit a certain weight, you get red-striped and can no longer carry the ball.  That doesn't sit well with Sean.  

Sean, stretching before the game

Ready to "hit" hard

Zach loves football!  He's in the heavy weight league, so everyone gets to carry the ball because they're all big kids.  He's the go to guy for those short touchdown passes.  He loves it.  Zach had a little set back this year, separating his shoulder during a football game.  Unfortunately he was not able to play in the play-offs after his injury.  And then to rub salt in the wound, his undefeated team ended up losing the championship game.  Zach was pretty disappointed.  Luckily he's still young & has many years of football left!

   

Touchdown!

Sacking the quarterback (he's #93)

And Lauryn enjoyed her last year of volleyball before high school by playing on a school team and a Champlin league.  The fun part was that the Champlin team was all St. Vincent friends.  So basically she got to play with school friends on both teams.  The Champlin team had a wonderful season.  They were undefeated through the season as well.  But unfortunately they lost a game during the play-offs & didn't win the championship either.  She's excited to start volleyball at Totino Grace next year though! 

Ready...

Spike

First Day of School 2011

Another year & another summer down.  I tell you, I feel like I just keep posting first day of school pictures.  It's so hard to comprehend that another year has flown by.  And as I write this, it is already December & this school year is close to being half done.  This is Lauryn's last year of Junior High.  Next year she will be in High School.  That just amazes me.  Zach is in 6th grade this year.  He's loving the fact that he is finally old enough to also be on the school's sports teams.  And Sean...  3rd grade already.  I love my kids ages & the fact that they are little people that we can enjoy.   

First Day of School

Zach, Lauryn, & Sean

Iron Girl

Where to begin with my story of Iron Girl?  I decided to register for this race since a lot of my friends were doing it.  I had just gotten a nice tri bike for Christmas last year & figured it should get put to good use!  But still, I had not taken the time to go out for one bike ride to train for the biking portion.  So the morning of, we are unloading my bike and hear a hiss.  It occurs to me that it sounds like air leaking.  Sure enough, my front tire was flat.  Jim had brought all the tools to blow it up again, but nothing was fixing that wheel.  Thankfully Iron Girl had bike repair men that took a look at it & totally replaced my tube in the tire (& for FREE!).  I was so thankful.  So I walk my bike to the transition area & just in that short amount of time it took me to walk, my front tire was flat AGAIN!  So I stand in line again and they replace the tire again & do a good inspection of the tire to make sure there is nothing in there that is popping the tube.  This time it works & I am relieved (however, I am still nervous that I'll get in to transition after my run portion & it will be flat again).  The race starts and my wonderful friend Carol & I decide we're going to do it together!  So we run our first leg of the race & come in transition to start our bike portion.  And "Amen", the wheel is good to go.  So we set out for the 22 mile bike race & we're going strong.  Just after seeing mile marker 15, I run something over with my bike & feel it pop out from under the tire.  Within a minute, all of a sudden I get a whoosh of air & my back tire is flat.  Now how can one person have THREE flat tires in one day?!?!  Thankfully a volunteer radioed in for the bike repair men to come out but they said it was going to be awhile.  So, Carol (who I owe huge) decides to stay with me.  And then she suggests we start running & let the repair men come up on us.  That way we'll save time & still be moving & making some distance.  Well, we ended up running over FOUR miles WITH OUR BIKES!  By the time they got to us, we were pretty much the last few bikers coming in from the bike portion of the race.  And now that we've run these additional miles, we now have to finish up with another portion of running again.  Although I was pretty disappointed about the circumstances, Carol & I sure had a great time laughing about the situation.  And I'm pretty proud of us for sticking with it & finishing!  And I have Carol to thank for staying with me & keeping me going.  I will always remember this race, that's for sure! 

 Thank you so much Repair Man!

 Before the race - Carol & Todd and Jim & I

 We thought we were going good on the bikes...

 We are Two Tough Cookies! 

Yes, this bike, these wheels...



Our Crazy Group