GS Trike-a-thon

Last Friday was a Trike-a-thon at Godd.ard. The girls are too young to fundraise but they were able to participate in the day's activities:

Izzy was wreckless on her trike
The teachers said she was on a mission and nearly ran over 3 of them (she tends to focus on the peddling instead of the stearing).

Meanwhile, Laney had a taste-test in her room among a variety of fruits. This was the lemon and she did not care for it!

Bug is obviously too little for a bike, but she managed to do some serious walking behind the push toys.

PS-Buggy started WALKING this week!!!

I did it!!!

I ran 20 miles yesterday. I'm still in shock my body allowed me to do this to it and that I survived to talk about it. It's just not natural. But I did it. And I don't hurt all that badly. Who'd have thought? Me? Me!

I set out at 6am complete with iPod, a fuel belt consisting of $2, 20 ounces of Gatorade, 1 energy bar and 1 pack of Gu Chomps, sun visor, two tendinitis knee bands, long sleeve jacket, 1 watch, 1 blinking red light and 1 Power Balance necklace. That's a lot of gear for a sport that requires minimal equipment! It was dark and chilly and within 2 miles I had stripped myself of the North Face jacket, tossed it to the side of who knows where. I realized once I hit the Monon Trail that I couldn't see anyone approach me until they were virtually right in front of me so I was immediately paranoid. Around mile 4 I was convinced there was a man chasing me (I don't turn on my music until it is VERY bright outside so I can hear said chaser). I sprinted over a half mile as the adrenaline that I was about to be attacked kicked into my running legs. Phew, he didn't attack. Mile 11 I stopped at a McDonald's to refill my fuel belt and sat down (bare-@ssed on a PUBLIC toilet - gasp!). Around mile 12 I ran into my sometimes running partner & fellow marathon trainer, Meggie, and fell into her arms crying. Meggie: You doing ok? You look great! How's it going? Me: (sobbing) I can't believe I'm doing this, my knees hurt, I miss you with me, Am I really doing this?, I took pain meds, I sat on a public toilet, someone was chasing me in the dark, I STILL HAVE 8 MILES TO GO! After another hug I was off. On my way home I FOUND previously mentioned North Face jacket and as soon as I got to my street I was in tears. Not so much out of pain, but out of disbelief. I did it. 20 miles. And in 3 short weeks I'll have to do 26.2. Holy. Moly.

Anyway, I've completed 15 weeks of marathon training and have 3 more to go. Three weeks of tapering. I'm probably going to go crazy, as this whole running thing is 99% mental and about 1% physical. But just knowing I ran 20 and have that behind me is a huge confidence builder. Huge. And I still can't believe I did it.

Do you think she loves school?

And I was worried she'd have a hard time transitioning back to school...

I'm pretty sure she LOVES going to school...
Don't ya think?!

Indoor Pool & Big Girl Undies...

Mike headed up to Ft. Wayne for Saturday/Sunday for his step-brother's bachelor party, so we girls hung out at the library and the indoor pool all weekend. Saturday it was overcast and rainy/chilly...so we the indoor pool seemed natural. However, Sunday was beautiful and it was just strange being inside when it was so warm outside. So we played in the backyard the first half of the day until Mike came home...then we went to the pool again. Izzy is becoming VERY brave in the water, swimming across the entire pool by herself in a life jacket and even jumping in from the side (and going under while holding her breath!!!).

Laney enjoyed playing in the shallow end
And we also did some swimming in the deep end with Izzy. I had my hands full with both girls alone but did surprisingly well. Had Izzy not been in a life jacket I would not have been able to man them both in the water alone.


The girls loved having Mike in the water with them, as he swims underwater while they climb on top of him. I suppose he's much more fun that I am :)

Some cute pics of indoor playtime Sunday morning


Mike took the girls on a long walk while I stayed home to get some things done around the house after he came home.
And here is Izzy showing off her big girl undies, Elmo style. We have officially been wearing undies full time (with the exception of nighttime pull-ups...and she wakes up dry every morning!!!) for about a week. Accidents here and there with #2 but we're WELL on our way of being dry. We've pottied in public places all weekend: the library, indoor pool (on the potty, not in the pool!), out for breakfast, Sam's club, etc. BIG time change in daily activities and such a big girl. Izzy even dresses herself and once the undies are on she will look down and say, "Don't worry Tinker Stinker, I'll keep you dry today!" Love it! She's growing up before our eyes!!! Can't believe she turns 3 in a few short weeks!

Buggy has a new chair!

My dad and step mom bought Delaney this chair for her birthday:

And Buggy very much enjoys it...
Especially when she and her sister play on it together

They climb all over it and each other

But even alone she snugs in it
Making room for sis
Sister lovin'
Relaxing
And if you can remember when Izzy got hers for her 1st birthday from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Anna:

Thanks so much for the fun new chair!

Neither here nor there...

A few of my closest friends (JZF & BA) and I have a small obsession with reading blogs. Other peoples' blogs. Perfect strangers' blogs, in fact. It has been going on since early 2007 when I first discovered the blog-o-sphere. Reading random blogs while pregnant does not make a happy wife. Or friend. It made tears stream and phone calls made and blogs shared. Husbands had to intervene. I had to go on a minor hiatus from reading blogs that would tell me about horrible pregnancy stories or birth stories or diseased children stories. Now that I'm no longer pregnant, I find myself still reading these blogs (I have to know how the stories end) and following new ones.

I have recently found one about a girl who wasn't even 2 years old yet and she drowned in a freak accident. Her mother (my age-ish) has been blogging about her days since the accident and she says the one thing she'd do differently is video her daughter more, take note of the every day more and remember all the details. This made me think I need to be doing the same.

I mean, I do blog weekly. But am I really blogging about the mundane, the everyday activities? No, as I'm sure that would bore my readers (all 7 of them). But I suppose I do blog about what we do together as a family. How we spend our coveted weekends together. Together. We take every opportunity to be a family and create our own traditions and special moments. I just don't want to forget one thing. Ever. Without a blog, would I really remember the random weekend we spent together at the pool doing absolutely nothing? Probably not. But here I have it all documented. At my fingertips. To remember how precious this little Bug was at her first birthday party:

To remember what her little face looked like scrunched up taking the first bite of her cake.
And what a clown she looked like after she demolished it.

I don't want to forget any of this. Ever.

(Special thanks to Jill, our great new neighbor, for sharing these pictures with me.)

Family Camp

This past holiday weekend we spent some time up north in Three Rivers, Michigan at Family camp with some friends. We'd been planning this weekend for months and months, so the anticipation has been building. We went up to Fort Wayne on Friday so I could get my 19 miles in on Saturday morning before we left for camp (cannot believe I'm at this mileage...and surviving to talk about it! It was a runner's dream at 54 degrees; I finished in 2:58 and am thrilled with this time!). We got into camp Saturday right after lunch and it was quite nostalgic driving in, as it reminded me of my own camp experiences as a kid.

Most of the people we went with were past campers and previous counselors here.
As soon as we arrived we unpacked, got our beds situated and put Delaney down for a nap. While Mike stayed back at camp with a few others, Izzy and I went on a nature hike.
Girl got tired so a shoulder ride was necessary

Saturday night we walked to a local restaurant for dinner. Here's a pic of us with Maggie & Myers. We headed back a little early to put the littles down.

Once the littles were down we brought the bigs to a community campfire for some traditional camp songs and s'mores. Here's Izzy & Jackson enjoying a treat...

We then headed back to our cabin for our own campfire

Sunday morning was a little crisp, so we had breakfast with our fleece accessories (btw-we had the option to eat all meals at the mess hall but opted to eat most at our cabin).

G.ang sign?

Sunday morning we went for a little walk...

...and stopped to pick some wildflowers. You can get an idea of what our cabin looked like in the background. One word: rustic.

Buggie hanging out with Clay and daddy

Sunday morning we also took Izzy to do a little horseback riding. We thought she was too little for the trail rides so we simply kept her in the ring for some laps. Both Mike and I were nervous about Izzy being up on "Major" as she was not strapped in, but she did a great job balancing and was a trooper! So much fun. I especially liked this activity b/c I went to overnight horse camp as a kid and this brought back memories for me!

Big girl!

The helmet was a touch too big but you can see how much Izzy was enjoying herself!

Relaxing in the sun

My favorite part about camp was always arts & crafts and I was tickled to know this was open all day long for us! We tie-dyed and made some necklaces with Maggie & Jackson:

I had to keep on checking Izzy's mouth for her smuggled beads :)

The end results...love how these turned out (although they won't be able to wear them for a few years - ha! Camp E.'s youngest campers are 7 years old...so this was as small as they had).

The weather got VERY nice on Sunday so we rented three pontoon boats and spent the entire day down by the water. Izzy loved the giant slide

She kept telling me she'd see me at the bottom

Big swimmer

We docked our boat near an island that had a sand bar...so Laney and I had to do a little swimming. The water was chilly so we didn't get too far in :)

Mags and Myers (and the b.e.s.t. beer in the world!!!)

Jackson & Owen

The ages of the kids ranged widely...the bigger kids did a lot of frog and turtle hunting (our cabin's front yard was RIGHT on the shore). Monday morning Cameron caught his third frog and I just had to get a picture of some of the kiddos with him. He was so darn proud...too cute!

We had a great time at Family Camp and are happy to be home and in our own beds. Thank you to the Bowdens for the invite!!!

And I just had to get this pic...we stopped back through Ft. Wayne on the way home and Laney was ALL about Rodey Poney. She has one at home that she got from her Bobo & Grandma; however, I think she was wanting to do some horseback riding of her own and just wouldn't stop bouncing on this one!

PS-Doesn't she look so grown up with jeans and big kid shoes on? I just can't get over how big she's getting!!!