Bring on Summer

My favorite time of year!  I love summer.  Even more so now that it means all day, everyday with my Noisy Man.  (I think that most of the time, except when he is picking on his sister's nonstop or wanting entertained 24/7).

Miss Firecracker's last day

Right before summer started was Miss Firecracker's last day of preschool.  I don't think it has hit her yet that means she doesn't get to see her friends all the time.  I am sure we will go through Miss S withdrawal before too long! 

I was spoiled on Mother's Day with a fabulous, relaxing chair and putting my feet up all day.

I can't get this pic to move..... These were the teacher gifts for the end of the year. 
It is Strawberry-Rhubarb Freezer Jam.  The tag says "Thanks for "jammin" me full of a great education
this year.  I hope your summer is sweet!"

Then we got to attend Noisy Man's Track and Field Day - one of my favorite things!! I absolutely loved track in high school and meets were the best.  This is the closest thing I'll get for a while, and it was so much fun!  Only set back was that it was in the middle of a football Field (of course) on a very warm and sunny day, so Noisy Man's red-headed sister's didn't fair so well.  They got to spend most of their time under an umbrella.  

Here is the picture blast for you.




relay

the girls hiding under the umbrella

This boy takes his running seriously!  Check out that face!

Tug-o-war

Then came the final last day of school for Noisy Man.  I guess I now officially have a 1st grader.  He had a friend's birthday party to go to after school that day (which bummed me out a bit) and he was a little sad that I wouldn't be able to pick him up from school on his last day.  He actually said he didn't want to go because of this.  So, I went to give him hugs and take pictures and then helped out the parent's with transporting kids to the party, so it was a win-win!

Noisy Man with his amazing teacher and para

When he got home from the birthday party we were ready to celebrate here.  My awesome neighbor made a cool sign for her garage door for her son on his last day, so I semi-copied her with a smaller version in our house (I wanted to do the big one outside, but it was crazy windy that day and I just didn't think it would stay).  He thought this was pretty cool.  We ended the nice, warm day with a water fight!

This is a face of a loving, compassionate mother....totally bombing her children with water!

Legos and Letters

First I have to brag on my 2 1/2 year old a little bit.  Check this out. 

Don't mind the messy hair.  Its Saturday and we have no plans to go anywhere.

She wrote all of those letters by herself minuse the n and half of the V.  Wanting to always write when your big brother and sister do pays off!

Also, have you seen Legos lately?  The things they don't come up with!  This is one of Noisy Man's sets (he has way more than any 6 year old needs).  I think it is awesome.

Complete with handcuffs and a coffee maker.  Isn't that crazy!  I love the trees too. We have had lots of fun playing with it.

Sometime I'll have to share pics of some of his Star Wars sets.  Those get pretty intricate for legos if you ask me.

Pop Rock Band

(Sorry for all the posts today, have to catch up on all that has been going on before I forget)

Anyway, this made me crack up the other day.  Noisy Man decided he wanted to make some musical instruments.  So, they grabbed some pop cans out of our recycle bin and filled them with rocks to make shakers.  He also found a dowel to use as a drum stick.  After creating the instruments for over half an hour, they decided they needed to have a musical parade.  Since it was just after 6 pm and I didn't think anyone in the neighborhood would be sleeping or anything, I decided it would be a fun little venture.  So, they took off down the block with their "Pop Rock Band!"  (Get it pop cans filled with rocks!!)  Corny, I know, but cute.  Here are my little musicians.

A New Take on the 1/2

Usually I do a big list of thank yous after the 1/2 marathon every year.  But I usually end up thanking the same people, so see here  for my huge THANK YOU to all involved.

This year, the half was quite a bit different for me.  First off, I tried to meet up with my running buddies at the race instead of heading down there with them.  I think I'll stick with meeting them before hand.  It is hard to find people in a crowd of 10,000!  I even had one friend's bib tag (which you can't run without) until minutes before the gun blast.  Thankfully, it took us over 20 minutes to cross the start line, so we had enough time, but it got a little stressful.

I'm towards the back

I actually had a fabulous training partner this year instead of having to run on my own.  It was so fabulous to have someone to chat with, especially on the long runs!  I was just terribly bummed when she had to make a pit stop after mile 5 and we were never able to connect again, so we didn't get to do our longest run together.  The girl actually went to the bathroom and then passed us while trying to catch up with us and ended up finishing way in front of me with a time of 2:01!  (Way to go Linsey, you are my hero!!).


I was super glad to have my ol' running buddy, Julie to run with again this year too.  We have run it together all 3 years and it is always such a great time.  My other new thing this year was my own GPS watch!  It is super helpful when trying to keep a certain pace. Julie and I ran together for 10 miles and then for some odd reason I got a huge surge of energy and blasted off on mile 10.  I slowed back down a little on mile 11, but finished strong. 

I pretty much sprinted the entire 50 yards.  My husband informed me that my
shorts were way too big on me and I need to get smaller ones (Yeah!  I love an excuse to shop!)



passed him!

This was the first year I actually enjoyed running across the 50 yards of Nebraska turf!  The first year, I was exhausted from being ill the night before and last year my foot cramped up and I hobbled all the way across the field.  This year, I felt great (probably too good and realized I should have pushed myself a bit harder) and enjoyed every yard!  I finished in 2:08 which was 3 minutes over my goal time, but still faster than last year so I'll take it!  I am somewhat glad I did it a bit slower as I still had too many activities to get through in the following 48 hours to be completely exhausted from running.  But I was a bit disappointed too, wondering how I could have done if I really pushed myself.  I guess I'll find out next year!

Our annual sweaty finishers picture

It was another great year and I thank everyone who made it possible, from my family for letting me train, my training buddy and running buddy, and all the volunteers and workers who put it on.  I also thank the huge crowds that come out with entertaining signs.  You really do help.  I realized the mile stretch with the least amount of cheerleaders and signs was my slowest (there wasn't any entertainment to keep my mind off how tired I was).  Turns out my favorite sign was actually one from someone who graduated the same high school as me!!  "Worst Parade Ever!"  Hilarious!

Now, I am moving onto improving my speed in 5 and 10Ks.  My previous best 5K time is 26:47 and 10K 58:13.  I'll keep you updated on how I do.

A Knight's Tale

My brave knight turned 6 last week.  Where does the time go?  It took him forever to decide on a party theme, bouncing from Cars 2 to Star Wars to Legos until finally deciding on Knights.  Thankfully, it was an easy theme to pull off, and mommy went a little minimalistic due to the amount of other activities going on that same weekend. 

He even got to have his very first 'friend' birthday party.  The only issue with this was the fact that he wanted to invite WAY more kiddos than we could transport.  It was very hard for him to pick, but we had a great time and all the kids that came were very well behaved.  I have to admit, I was a little worried, since I was completely exhausted by this point after a VERY long weekend.  They played great and had a blast!

Here is a picture blast of all the festivities!

Our one activity...decorating your own sheild!

Of course the girls did princess hats

Happy Birthday, Noisy Man!!

Decorating with all his friends

Sheilds and foam swords!  I bet the parents loved me!

The crazy crew of Kindergarteners!

Does He Ever Stop?

Handy Hubby at it again.  Soon we will have space to move in our garage!

Candy Bars, Boxes and Birdies

Last week the kids had their AWANAs Awards night.  They all did super standing up on the stage and accepting their little awards and (as a tradition at our church) huge, chocolate candy bars.  I wasn't sure at first if Miss Thumb Sucker would even go up on the stage, but she did and actually kind of liked it.  She cracked everyone up with the cheesy smile she gave at the end for picture time. 

Noisy Man checking out the chocolate, wondering if mom will let him eat it.
Not the greatest picture.  The best one I had of a great face ended up with our
pastor's backside.  I didn't think he'd appreciate me posting it. :)

Afterwards we got to go through a huge box maze made with a ton of cardboard and 5 miles of tape.  Our church's youth pastor spent countless hours putting it together.  It was very cool.  I was super excited to take the kids through it since daddy didn't think he would fit.  However, I hit the first dead end and went into panic mode.  I can't even describe how I felt.  It was sheer terror of not knowing how long I would be trapped inside these small boxes and not knowing where the exit was.  I sent Noisy Man and Miss Firecracker on with another gal and hightailed it out with Miss Thumb Sucker.  We went back to the entrance.  Everyone thought Miss Thumb Sucker got scared.  I was a bit embarrassed to have to tell them that it was me.  Miss Thumb Sucker was actually mad that I made her come out, so I sent her back through with a high schooler.  Miss Firecracker got scared half way through and had to come back out.  Noisy Man went off on his own when they turned back around and found his own way out.  I stood outside the maze the whole time terrified that my babies were lost forever.  They all came out just fine.

Our other recent, fun venture here is a nest full of baby birds just outside our front door.  I have a metal lantern-type stand just outside the door and a mama bird thought it would be the perfect place for her nest.  I have to say, it does work quite well.   We found the nest early on and have had fun watching it.  The kids were super excited when they hatched and ask to see the baby birds almost every day.  So far, they have done an excellent job at not getting too close to them.  I need to get another picture of the babies, since this one is about 10 days old.  They have almost doubled in size. 

This is My Kitchen on Drugs

Oh wait, I am the one on drugs (for a sinus infection that is, don't freak out).  This is what my kitchen looks like when I am on drugs, have 2 birthday parties, treats for school, a 1/2 marathon, Kings Kids program, MOPS final meeting and Thank You luncheon today through Monday - and I still have 3 daycare kiddos today.  If you find me in the looney bin on Tuesday, please bring chocolate.  It fixes everything.