My Little Lady, Not So Little!

Happy Birthday to my Little Lady (a day late!). It's hard to believe she's 9 already, and in some ways, it's hard to believe she's not 13. I'm glad she's still my little girl. She loves to just play and hang out. But sometimes I see the inner teen peek out--some moodiness, dressing older (check out those earrings!) and wanting to hang out with the adults. I'm excited to see who she grows in to, but want her to stay my little girl forever.

Yesterday Dave took the kids mini golfing and then out to Buffalo Wild Wings. Then, I got home and we headed to the school Meet and Greet to drop off school supplies, and over to the Mineshaft, a restaurant with game room. Abby got a birthday smoothie, which she seemed to enjoy!

As did the boys!

A week ago we did Abby's "real" party, taking three of her friends to Six Flags with us. Reagan, Holly and Taylor truly couldn't have been better company. I am so proud of the friends that Abby has chosen. When we got there in the morning, it was pouring. And not just pouring, but lightening. Which means... not only did we get wet, they also didn't have any rides going because of lightening in the area. So, after a little bit, we left the park and went to nearby McDonalds. Not a word of complaint that they were wet and cold, or that we were going to "Kiddie Playland" McDonalds. Then, when it started to get better out, we went back. They still got a little wet, but the rides were working. Soon, it was beautiful and sunny, and the lines were super short because there were no people from the rain. Perfect! Some of them liked spinny rides, some of them liked roller coasters, but no matter what, they never complained. One would patiently wait with me while the others went on rides, if they had to sit with Nolan, they were fine with that, and some even took Max on some rides! They were great!

Troopers at McDonalds, posing with Ronald himself!

Max went on this ride by himself... and then got stuck! Because of the rain, they couldn't get the lap restraint open and we had to wait for maintenance to come. I'm glad he didn't freak out!

The people dryer--Felt SO good in the cold rain in the morning!

Taylor and Nolan before going on the big drop. The rest of us thought they were crazy!!

Nolan found the ride he'd like to buy in, oh, 10 years.

And that was that. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY! I love you more than you can imagine...

I did it, it's done!

This morning was 26.2 miles of pure running goodness. HA!!! It was 26.2 miles, but man was it HARD. When "they" say if you can run 20, you can run 26 because the adrenaline kicks in, "they" lied to me. It does not kick in. Those last 6 miles were the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, including birthing four babies naturally and passing a kidney stone. My time, just for me to remember sometime in the future, was 4:45.07. I had really wanted to finish under 4:30, but I'm still glad to have finished. I was on the low end of middle for everything--5th out of 8 in my division (females 35-39), 35th out of 63 for all females, and 112th out of 172 overall. I'm okay with that.

Despite soreness and achy, I'm glad I did it. If I hadn't, I would always wonder, "Could I?" Way back in April when I thought maybe I should do this, I wasn't sure I would make it. It's a lot of training each and every day, and I didn't even want to tell anyone for fear that I would just decide to not do it at all. But that first week of training we were at Dave's sister's house, and I had to go running, and suddenly everyone knew. And I knew I would have to do it. That first "long" run of 6 miles was so hard. I ran on the treadmill in a random Minnesota YMCA because it was storming out and had to take a break halfway through. This morning as I ran I thought about all my training. Nearly dying when I ran 9 miles for the first time, but then keeping with it and being able to easily run 10 miles before work. Getting lost in Chicago on a 15 mile run and having to have some stranger lady drive me home. 18 and 20 mile runs that nearly did me in. Heat and humidity making even 3 mile runs difficult. The deer, snakes, rabbits, bugs (and today kitten) that joined me on my runs. Signs of encouragement Dave hung up so I could see them on my early morning runs, and the toilet paper finish line after I finished 20. And then the culmination of all that in the half marathon two weeks ago, hurting my leg so I wasn't sure I could even run the full, but pushing through and finishing anyway.

Dave and kids and my mom came to watch me at mile 19. Even though they only saw me for a very limited time, I was glad they came. It made me look forward to seeing them from mile 16 on, and even when I passed them it made me happy, at least until mile 22 when I wasn't sure I could push through! They had signs and cheered me on, and when I came to the finish, Abby and Nolan ran with me to the end. As I passed the finish, the people looking back started laughing. I wasn't sure what was going on until I saw Ava, as determined as ever, running that last tenth of a mile. She was on a mission, and they announced that she was the winner of the 5 and under age division. Too cute, and totally worth it to have my kids around me (and Dave! and Mom!) at the end.

Last night Abby came with me to pick up my packet. As we were walking out she asked me how many miles and I told her 26. She said wow, I've only run 3. That's far away from 26. I'm really proud of you.

And you know what? I'm really proud of me too.

Definitely 2!

I didn't mean to take such a hiatus from here! I may be tardy, but I do have to revisit my little girl's birthday. She is most certainly 2 now, and truly thinks she runs the house. Last night she even got mad at me and stormed out of the house, as if to run away from home. The girl will be a challange for sure!

But, that doesn't mean she doesn't look sweet in pictures. She didn't get up before I left for work in the morning, so I was sad that I couldn't see her. And then she played all day with no nap, so by the time I got home she was pretty exhausted. I missed her, but was glad she had a great day. Here she is getting a few more snoozes in with Abby.

Pretending she's not a big girl...

Dave and I gave her a kitchen set for her birthday. When Dave emailed me and told me she loved it, and that as best as he can tell she was making strawberry smoothies for everyone for breakfast, I wanted to be home to have one too! (Dave thinks that was what she was doing because although great at pretend play, the girl still doesn't speak!!)

Auntie Lisa gave her a coffee pot to go in her kitchen. It's really neat and actually cycles water through. The only problem? The water doesn't stop coming out if the coffee pot is removed... leaving lots of puddles on the floor!

My princess!!

And what would a birthday be without playing "Just Dance" with the big kids?

And of course, Ava shares her birthday with Grumpy. Happy 65th, Grumpy!

Make a good wish!

And asleep by 7. Sweet dreams "baby girl!"

Walking is overrated

I passed the first training hurdle and completed my half marathon. And not just completed it, but thought I would come in at 2:15, but actually finished it in 1:59.15. I was thrilled! Until I woke up this morning and couldn't walk. Literally. My left leg feels like it's going to fall off and I'm not sure if it's muscle, tendon, bone, some of each.

I really enjoyed running the half. The full? I'm not so looking forward too. If I feel like this after half, I can only imagine twice as much!!

The passing of time. Again.

It's a funny thing about time, you know. That you can't stop it and all. That it just keeps going and going and these children keep getting bigger and bigger. I don't notice it so much as each day goes by. They look the same and act the same, until they don't. Until one day the can ride their bike and pump on a swing and do monkey bars and be big. Until one day when they're getting ready for school, again, but this year they won't even be learning to read because they already can and they'll be learning hard math and have real homework. Until one day, on the eve of a big day, when you suddenly realize that you'll no longer have a one-year-old in your house, probably ever again, and it just all feels so final. And the thing is, I know I will love that two-year-old fiercely, if possible even more fiercely than as a one-year-old, and she will continue to make me laugh, and she'll start talking, and she'll even poop on a potty one day! And the other thing is, as much as I want to keep them the same age as they are today, and as much as I miss holding a baby, I don't ever wish them to go backwards. I wouldn't want to lose who they are today to reclaim who they were yesterday.

And so, Ava, on the eve of your second birthday, I will let you grow up, get big, take flight. As if I could stop you. But please, for me, do it slowly so I can try to keep up.

Dread Week... Done!

I have been dreading this week since April. Seriously. April is when I started training for this stupid marathon, and when I looked at this week, the pinnacle of all weeks, I saw the impossible. My "short" on Tuesday and Thursday were 5 miles each, and my "longer short" run was 10 miles on Wednesday. TEN MILES on a Wednesday morning. Considering when I ran 9 miles on my long run way back when and I almost died, you can see why 10 miles and then getting ready for work held no appeal for me. But you know what? I did it. And, it really wasn't so bad. Other than having to set my alarm clock for 4 AM, the runs themselves were pretty smooth. And then...

This weekend was the mother of all runs, at least until the actual race itself. TWENTY MILES! I was planning on running it on Saturday, but we had our zoo picnic day for work, and I knew I wanted to get their early for the kids and to make use of all the attraction tickets (train, carousel, butterfly exhibit) before it got too crowded, so skipped running yesterday because I was worried about running twenty and then not being able to go to the zoo. Instead, I ran this morning. It didn't start out well. The first five miles I cursed all the junk food I ate at the zoo yesterday at the picnic. Miles 5-13 were actually pretty good. Miles 14-20 were give and take, some felt good, some not so much. From the time I left I watched a storm coming in and wasn't sure if I'd make it or not. Luckily, the storm passed just south of us and, while I got rained on, it definitely brought the temperature down and felt good.

When I got home, I was laughing. Between the pillars on the front of our house, Dave and the kids put up a toilet paper finish line with a big sign saying "FINISH LINE". It made my recovery go that much smoother. My legs are still a little achy yet tonight, but a little more stretching and an early bedtime and I think I'll be good to go. Now it's just short 8, 10, 13 mile runs until the race. There's even a couple of 3-mile runs during the week. I don't know what I'll do with myself!!

And all was right again

This past weekend we went visiting up to Eau Claire. My Uncle John, who lives on Guam, came for a visit and my Aunt Judy was hosting a family reunion of sorts. In short, there were a lot of people of the, well, older set. My mom is the youngest of her siblings by about 16 years, and all of the cousins are mostly older than that. So, that made me kind of spring chicken-y at this party. But the food, oh the food! My aunt always does everything just right, and this is no different. She served food they loved... imagine the best food in the church pot luck. The best salads with fruit in them. Everything that shouldn't had fruit. And raisins. Maybe that's just what makes it food for old people by my standard, I'm not sure.

But still it was a nice weekend. It was great to see my uncle (who I saw every other year growing up, but now haven't seen since my aunt's wedding in Colorado three years ago), and I regret some not seeking him out more at the party. While the guest of honor, he still has a way of heading off a little bit, a little bit out of the lime light. But I did get to see my cousin Dan and his wife Katie, who I haven't seen in awhile, and their two kids, and my cousin's daughter Sara, who I went to a graduation party for earlier this summer, but didn't actually get to talk to much, so it really was a great time.

My mom and dad, my sister and family, and our family all had separate hotel rooms. So, Saturday morning and evening we kind of stuck close to home--or hotel as the case may be. But on Sunday morning we decided to check out and swim at my mom and dad's hotel. I headed to church with my mom, with the plan that we'd get back and I'd go swimming with the kids a little (Ava is swimming! With floaties, but still... swimming!). But the best laid plans... my mom's car wouldn't start after church. So, we called my dad and AAA and the tow truck was on his way. My dad took me back to the hotel, the tow truck came, and my mom's car started. On its own. Geez! Good, but crazy!

By the time we got back to the hotel, the kids were done swimming. Bummer, but oh well. We got everyone changed and headed to lunch, and my mom asked if Abby wanted to stay with her an extra day. (My dad was driving my brother-in-law's truck home. Long story. Really boring. My mom had planned to stay until Monday to hang out with my Uncle. Which she did.) So, Abby stayed with her. Swimming, donuts for breakfast, shopping, applebees, dairy queen, you name it!

And then... they stopped at Wisconsin Dells. On their way out after they stopped, my mom's car died. Luckily on a side street, but at a stop sign. A police officer came and pushed her to the side again, and she once again called AAA. And waited for the tow truck. (Now it's fuzzy for me... I wasn't there!) Long story short, my mom and Abby rode back from the Dells in the tow truck.

BUT... about 45 minutes out, the tow truck blew a tire! So once again they were on the side of the road. They tire guy could come fix it, but not for another couple of hours. No way! Luckily, the tow truck guy was able to fix it enough to drive the rest of the way. Mom and Abby left Eau Claire around 10:30 this morning, and I picked Abby up around 7:45 from my mom and dad's between the heat and the ride and the tow truck and everything else, that's a LONG day.

My mom said Abby was great, and it was nice to have a distraction. Even though I wasn't home all day, it's funny when the kids are gone. It just feels... off. So, now that I have all of them back home again, safe and sound, it all feels right again.