Christmas 2009

Christmas of course was very busy but we are so thankful that we don't have to travel out of town anymore. The kids really enjoyed all the time leading up to Christmas especially the tree/ornaments and all the lights. They are sad that it is over with but enjoyed every moment.

Here are the 4 of us on Christmas Eve at my parents house.

3 generations

The kids with nana and papa.

It was Bob's turn to dress as Santa. He was such a good sport about it.

Addison getting her gift from Santa.

Check out Lucas' eyes....he was not so sure about this.

And I was a lucky lady to sit on Santa's lap too.

The tree with the gifts and cookies for santa, carrots from the reindeer and a note from Addison to Santa that said "Dear Santa. I want a barbie."

She got her barbie.

Lucas got a robot.

Puppy in my pocket castle.

Posing by the fireplace on Christmas morning.

Now Lucas has his own dress up clothes. (He doesn't have to wear his sisters princess dresses.)

He is thrilled. Doesn't he look like a little model here.

Christmas day at Bob's parents.

Bill, Katy, Molly and Linda

Tyson, Shawn, Brendan and Holly

All 6 cousins.

The day after Christmas we went to Steve's 30th birthday party. He was in town from Florida and we were so happy that we got to celebrate with him and Kurt was in town from Korea too.

Bob and Steve

Me and Julie

Me, Bob, Julie, Tre

Tre, Bob, Kurt, Steve.....GREAT friends since Highschool.

Getting ready to take one of many shots.

November was another busy month.

Well, I am going to try to update on the last month of events. It has been busy, but FUN.

We took a trip up to Chicago earlier this month. We love to go up for a trip once or twice a year to just visit with our friends and we had a GREAT time as usual. We did something really fun for the kids this time....we took the train downtown and the kids loved it and did so well. Here are a few pictures from the train ride....

To make our trip downtown even more fun, we took a bus from the train station to go to the Children's museum at Navy Pier.

We had such a great time and I miss my friends so much and feel so far away but every time we get together, it is as if I saw everyone yesterday. It is so fun to get all the kids together. Us adults had a great time in the evening and put all the kids to bed upstairs and enjoy some drinks and adult time!

The weekend after Chicago was a big event. Bob is a board member for the Foundation for Children with Cancer. They had their annual murder mystery and this year the theme was a western poker tournament. Here is Bob as the Marshall.

Me and my Mom...we were saloon girls.

Us with some of our neighbors.

Me and my friend Libby.

The happy couple (enjoying a rare date night).

We took the kids ice skating recently. This was Addison's 3rd time going and Lucas' 2nd. They improve so much each time and are getting a lot more comfortable with it. They were being so brave and trying to skate on their own.

Here is our Thanksiving day picture that turned out pretty decent. We spent the afternoon with Bob's family and then the evening with mine. It was a long day but so much fun. The kids can't get enough of parties and seeing their cousins.

Lastly, we spent today at the Magic House (St. Louis Children's museum). We were there for over 4 hours and didn't even get to see it all.

Our construction workers....

They couldn't run away from us for these pictures....

Busy fall!

Busy, busy, busy fall! Lucas started mini preschool a few weeks ago. His class is just once a week and just for 2 hours. There were a few tears in the beginning and he was not interested in letting me take his picture his first day (see below). He is so happy when I pick him up and he has such a big smile on his face and loves to show me his art project from the day. He is getting so big! I am a happy Mommy because I get a 2 hour break!

A few weeks ago I went along with Addison's preschool for her first field trip. It was at the World Bird Sanctuary and Addison and all the kids had a great time and I am so glad I got to experience it with her.

Here is a cute picture of the kids holding hands in the car.

Below are some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful warm day!

Picking out the perfect pumpkins.

Look at our sassy girl.

Enjoying a fall day in the woods behind our house.

Best friends!!!!!!!!!

Halloween 2009....ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting ready to trick or treat but they made Mommy happy with a picture first.

It was a great halloween. Their costumes were a hit. They love dinosaures and it was perfect when I even found a pink one for Addison. Lucas was obsessed with his tail and he was very much not interested in taking his costume off for bed. It was a long night and Addison was ready for bed early for a change.

The day after halloween was a big day for me. I ran my first half marathon. I trained for months and put in so much hard work. Bob was planning on running it too but has some serious shin splint pain that would not go away even after weeks of not running and icing. He will get his chance soon though. The run went well despite a very hilly course. Miles 10-12 were very hard but I got through it. My time was 2 hours and 2 minutes (9:19 mile pace). I am happy with my time and happy to have finally accomplished a goal that I wanted for so many years and never thought I would actually go for. I can tell you now....I will NEVER run a full marathon!

Over 1,000 runners

Just getting started (I am on the left).

Final stretch.

I DID IT!!!

I finished in 157 place for women out of 371 runners and 25th out of 65 in my age group.