Turkey Day

The 5K Turkey Trot Run...

So, the kids trained, ran, & finished their first 5K run today! We did the Lifetime Fitness Turkey Trot, downtown Minneapolis. The kids amazed us. They did so awesome. It was so much fun, we decided to make it a new, Thanksgiving, family tradition!

Sean... Zach... Lauryn... running in to the finish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rough Days

It's been two rough days at our house. First, on Wednesday, Sean had a molar tooth pulled. It was not fun to sit through that appointment and listen to him cry while in the chair. As I was sitting with him, at one point I noticed that I had my hands clenched so hard. I know I was just as nervous for him as he was. If we could only take their pain? But, he survived & got lots of attention the rest of the day. And, this was the first tooth he has lost, so he was very excited when the tooth fairy came to visit him during the night. Then, Thursday, Libby got spayed. She's healing well, but does not enjoy having the cone around her head. She whines constantly & keeps running in to things (I don't think she can see around the cone). Otherwise, if we allowed, she would be up, running, jumping, and being her energetic self!

Two sleeping puppies...

I just had to post this...
We baby-sat some close friends' beagle puppy while they were away & our puppies proved to be the best of friends. They were so sweet with each other..., when they weren't busy wrestling. Kind of makes me want to get a second dog???

Weekend Update

We had such a nice weekend. Friday night was pretty quiet. We ordered in for dinner & then Jim & I ran to Target to do some Christmas shopping for the kids. Jim joked that we must be "losers" to spend our Friday night at Target! :) Then Saturday I got my long run in during the morning while Zach had basketball practice. Then we went up to St. Cloud for my niece's Baptism. She looked so adorable. And it was fun to see everyone & spend time together. Then Sunday morning we took the puppies to the dog park. They had such a great time & were able to wear off some of that extra energy. That place is so awesome. Sunday afternoon, Lauryn & I got tickets to go see "Wicked". It was SO good! We both loved it. And I always enjoy any chance I can get to have one-on-one time with the kids.

Tag...

Okay, Becky... Here it goes...
I got tagged, so I am filling out my responses & tagging the rest of YOU!


I am: blessed with a wonderful family & great friends
I know: all their is to learn from animal planet (Zach informs me all the time!)
I want: happy, healthy kids
I have: too busy of a life
I dislike: when my house is messy
I miss: our deceased loved ones
I feel: like taking a vacation
I hear: my fingers typing
I smell: bleach from doing the kids white school uniform shirts
I crave: snickers bars
I cry: very rarely
I search: for those perfect Christmas gifts
I wonder: what my kids will become
I regret: not always living life to the fullest
I love: my family
I worry: about our country
I remember: all the good times
I dance: only when I am drunk
I don't: enjoy shopping
I argue: with kids to get homework done
I write: on my blog & facebook
I win: some of my own personal goals
I lose: some of my own personal goals
I wish: to qualify for Boston (marathon) one day
I listen: to my Ipod
I can usually be found: running
I am scared: of health issues
I need: a good massage
I forget: everything lately
I tag: Cori, Kelly, Jen, Christine

SNOW!

Everyone is happy it snowed! So... Because of the public school budget cuts, my kids start school late on 4 different days. Today was one of them. But, they all woke up at their normal time (6:30 AM) & were thrilled when we opened windows & saw the snow. By 7:15 AM, I finally agreed to let them go out & play in it. Even Libby got to go out & run around in it. They had a blast. But, before they even got home from school, it was all gone. What they don't know, is that there will be plenty more coming - where that came from!!!

***Notice Sean is even still in his P.J.'s!***

Happy Veterans Day

Aaahhh... I just had a very relaxing day! Jim had today off for Veterans Day (Oh, yes... Happy Birthday Marine Corps - this IS a BIG deal in our house!). So, we dropped the kids off at school, went for a run together on the trails, then headed out for a couple's massage. Ooohhh, it was SO relaxing. Why do those things have to end? Then, we got to do some Christmas shopping for the kids. I just love Bank Holiday's!

Happy Halloween!

Sean was a soldier, Lauryn was Wednesday from the Addams Family, & Zach was also a soldier.
*Jim & I dressed up for Saturday night; we went as Fester & Marticia Addams. We tried to get the boys to go with our Addams theme, but they had "war games" on their minds.

***View my facebook "Halloween Album" to see Jim & I dressed up as Fester & Marticia***

Make of it what you will???

What a weekend! It had its ups & its downs. I think we had more busts this weekend than ever, & yet, we all agreed that lessons were learned. So here it is...

Friday: The boys got invited to a sleep over with friends, so we lined it up for Lauryn to also have a night away with a friend as well. Jim & I thought we would enjoy some time together, so we first took in my mini-van that needed work. *Negative - paying the bill. *Positive - we have a vehicle to drive our family around in. And then after the whole van deal, we decided to go to a matinee movie. The only one that really fit in with our time schedule was "Burn After Reading". Okay, we HATED IT! *Negative - $12.00 on a crappy movie. *Positive - spending time together (& me catching a nap). After the movie, Jim & I headed to St. Paul & enjoyed dinner at the Wild Onion. I have no negative to comment on that one. We really enjoyed drinks & a great meal. And after dinner, we met with neighbors & played cards. The only negative on that was that we didn't get home until after 1:00 AM & we needed to be up early for a morning run. So...

Saturday: Our plan was to wake up early & get in our long run before picking kids up from sleep-overs. *Negative - at 9:00 we were woken up by the phone ringing. *Positive - I can't remember the last time I have slept that late & felt so good while running 9 miles! But once we were done, it was rush & shower, rush & pick up the kids, rush & pick up the van, rush & pick up Sean from a birthday party, rush & drop off another boy we carpooled with, then rush & try to get to the pumpkin patch on time to meet friends. *Negative - we ended up getting caught in Anoka's parade traffic. Oh my, we were re-routed this way & that. It ended up taking us a whole extra hour to get there than planned. Needless to say, one of our friends who went their earlier than us was wondering where in the world we were. *Positive - we could not have asked for better weather to spend a day at the pumpkin patch (especially compared to today's weather). So then after the pumpkin patch, we decided we were in need of a "family date night". So we decided to take the kids to the Mall of America's Nickelodeon Zone, enjoy rides & eat out at the Rain Forest Cafe. And of course, on the way there, we ended up in traffic again because 35W was shut down for the weekend. *Negative - another extra half hour in traffic. *Positive - ??? Okay, I can't think of one this time around... except that you never know what might have been had we not been delayed in traffic? So once we get there, we started out by putting our reservation in at Rain Forest & then we decided to enjoy some rides while waiting. I took Sean on some kiddie rides while Jim took the older kids on the bigger rides. Unfortunately we both thought we had made different plans to "meet up" before dinner. I thought we were meeting at the restaurant at the set time, while Jim thought Sean & I were going to meet them back at the ride where we split up at. *HUGE negative - Sean & I sat at the restaurant for a whole hour before Jim & the kids showed up. (and I didn't bring my purse with my cell phone in it, so no way to figure out where each other were) *Positive - we were all SO thankful once we met up that everyone was safe & okay. You know all those thoughts that go through your mind... "Okay, I am so mad, where are they"... to... "Oh, I just pray that they are all okay!"... It was so sweet when we met up & Zach was so upset, thinking that something bad had happened to Sean & I. I have never met a kid with more compassion! Needless to say, we had a blast TOGETHER once we were done eating & enjoyed the rest of the evening on rides & spending time as a family.

Sunday: Today has been a pretty good day, besides the fact that we have been really busy and the weather sucks. We first went to the TPC to carve pumpkins with the kids. *Negative - the kids picked these really hard patterns to carve & it ended up being a job for Jim & I. *Positive - I did not have to mess up my kitchen! Right after the TPC, we went straight to Zach's football banquet. *Negative - they served pizza & none of us were hungry because we just ate at the TPC. *Positive - Zach had a great time with his football chums. Now Lauryn is off to swimming, the boys are out in the rain playing soldiers, Jim is cleaning my van for me, I am cleaning house!

One thing our family learned this weekend is that we are all so thankful we have each other - and we could communicate a little better next time we decide to split up!!! :)

The kids at the Pumpkin Patch:

The jack-o-lantern, the skull & cross bones, & the cat