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