Sean's Summer Doo

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yet another Seanism...

So last night we are at Zach's baseball game & it is COLD!  Sean comes dressed in shorts, t-shirt, & flip flops.  I kept pleading with him to put on his sweatshirt & coat, but he kept informing me that he was fine (as he's running around with all the other siblings).  So I say to him, "Fine!  Then I don't want to hear about it when you are sick and all you can do during the summer is lay in bed"...  To which he replies, "That's all I planned to do all summer anyway!" 

Last Day of School

I can not believe we are finished with another year of school.  I honestly feel like the year just started.  Unfortunately I still have many projects unfinished! :/  But we are looking forward to sleeping in, lazy mornings, time with friends, swimming, sports, the SUN!  As always, I am sure the summer will fly by and before I know it, it will be time for Lauryn to head to 8th grade (can you believe it?), Zach to 6th grade, & my baby, Sean, to 3rd grade!  Until then...  party time! 

A Little WI Dells + A Full Marathon = A Fun Long Weekend!

Over Memorial weekend, we pulled the kids out of school a day early & headed to WI Dells with the Conrads.  We had a great time... enjoying the water parks, golfing at the Pirates Cove, taking the Ducks ride, seeing The Tommy Bartlett Show, shopping, & eating great food.  As always, we had a great time!



 The boys could live at the water park!

 The girls had fun too

 A little mini-golf

 The famous Duck ride

But, it wasn't all fun & games!  Todd, Carol, & I had a marathon to run on Sunday.  I accomplished marathon #10 & got to add another state to my list.  We ran the last 8 miles in rain.  But this was just considered a "training run", as we have another marathon coming up in just a week now!  We're running Grandma's here soon... 

Dry & fun still at mile 7 

Mile 13 - my faithful cheerleaders! 

 Our family, at the finish (kids still trying to stay dry)

Carol, Todd, & I

Lauryn's Sanctuary

When we built our house 6 years ago (wow, has it been that long already?), we had Lauryn's room painted lime green.  It sounded cute at the time, when she was only 6 years old!  But I still remember the first day we walked in after the painting was done & I about died!  It was LIME GREEN bright!  So for 6 years, we have been talking about re-doing her room.  Well, we finally got to it!  What a project this has been (a good months worth).  It started by pulling out some furniture she no longer wanted, cleaning closets, throwing 2-3 garbage bags full of junk, giving clothes & toys away, packing up keepsakes, & finally painting.  I have to say I was surprised when Lauryn chose purple as her new color.  She went through a stage where purple & pink were not cool.  But here we are today, with a beautiful bedroom! 

 Here's the start of our process, moving everything away from the walls to paint

 Going through all her stuff & making piles to throw, give away, pack up, keep...

 One wall finished

 Another wall finished

And finally just this week I finished painting the bay window area.  No more lime green!!!  

Another First Communion

 My nephew & Godchild made his First Communion as well last weekend.  Congratulations Logan!

 Me, Logan, & Shaun (Godfather)

Logan & family (my sister's family)

Sean's First Communion

Sean made his First Communion on Saturday.  He had been so excited for his big day!  For weeks he was counting down how many more masses he would go to before he could go up to communion with the family.  The morning of, he woke up really early and could not wait until 5:00 mass.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  Sean did great!  And we had family that all came to help us celebrate in his special day.  

Our family:

Sean & his Godmother, Kathi:

Sean, & Grandma Collins:

Sean & Grandpa & Grandma Wahlin:

After our dinner & celebration, Sean was exhausted!

Oh, Sean!

So Sean just started coming down with a cold.  Yesterday he was enjoying his morning home from school by playing video games in the basement.  All of a sudden, he comes upstairs & says, "Mom, my nose is running & I am SICK of wiping it on my shirt!".  So I said, "Oh Sean, we do have Kleenexes.  In fact, there is a full box in that basement bedroom you were in".  So the problem is fixed & off he runs.  At lunch time I go downstairs to tell him to come up...  And this is what I find...

These Kleenex were scattered everywhere!

He had already gone through a FULL box of Kleenexes!  I am pretty sure that he was pulling out 15 at a time & using them for one little wipe.  I had to chuckle.  But since then, he has gone through another full box.  I think this child could use an etiquette lesson on Kleenex usage & toilet paper usage!?!? 

Since this cold, Sean has come up with some funny comments:

"I hate this cold.  I can't even breath out of my nose.  And I'm a NOSE BREATHER!  You do know what a nose breather is, right Mom?"

"Mom, the cold started in this side of my nose.  And now today it has moved to this side of my nose."

After only eating ONE cinnamon roll, Sean says, "I can't even taste these rolls"  (his FAVORITE breakfast food, where he can usually eat at least THREE!)

Lets hope he gets better soon!

Earth Day Half Marathon

I finally got to finish a race with my sister.  In fact, I ran with my sister, Cori and sister-in-law, Kelly.  It was wonderful to run a race with my sister since she had her whole health scare.  Cori was suppose to run the Minneapolis marathon last spring, but she was advised not to run.  This was the first race she has been able to do since getting the okay from her doctors.  So it was very meaningful to run it together! 

I was a little nervous when I woke up to snow falling Saturday that it was going to be a tough run.  But really, it was almost perfect running weather....  Not too cold, not too hot!  And the snow was gone quickly & we stayed dry.  And since I am in "training" again, it was wonderful to get a training run in while also accomplishing another race.

Here are some pictures of the run:

Cori, Kelly, & I coming in to the finish

Me, Kelly, & Cori

Carol, Dawn, Todd, Me, Kelly, & Cori