Christmas 2011

Christmas was wonderful. After many weeks of preparing for the holidays, listening to lots of holiday music, watching lots of holiday movies/cartoons, attending/helping with 2 school parties, and attending other parties leading up to the big day.... Christmas finally came and went. The kids are sad it is over but they enjoyed Christmas and all 5 parties in the past 3 days. They stayed up late each night, did not sleep in to make up for the late nights and just had a blast.

Our weekend started on Friday night with a Keeve family Christmas at our house. We hosted aunts, uncles and cousins and had a great time. It is amazing how much the family has changed and grown over the years. Some of my fondest memories were spent on Christmas day with the Keeve family.

Here is a picture of all the first cousins that were able to make the party.

I didn't get any pictures of the next party with Bob's side of the family at his grandparents house. It was a great time as usual.

A few hours later we then attended the Christmas eve party at my parents house with my mom's side of the family.

Here is our annual Christmas Eve picture. :)

Addison showing off her dress.

Our handsome boy.

Acting silly. :)

Me and my girl.

Santa came!

Their first glance at the presents under the tree!!!

Here are a few pics with some of their favorite gifts.

The next party was on Christmas morning/afternoon. We had my parents and my brother and his family over for brunch and a lot of gift opening.

Here is Addison thanking my mom for the barbie house she made her.

The 5th and final party for the holiday weekend was Christmas evening with Bob's family.

Our Christmas family picture.

And one with all 6 cousins.

Coffee table makeover

After a lot of talking and nagging, I finally got Bob to agree to make over our coffee table. We got it free from someone in college about 10 years ago and Bob has always loved it because of how durable and well made it was. I never loved it, or liked it, but I lived with it. I could not take it anymore and had to finally improve the coffee table. I knew it had potential of being a nice coffee table and I think I was right.

Here is a BEFORE picture.

After sanding it (thanks Bob), a coat of primer and 2 coats of paint....this is the AFTER pic.

We are marathoners!

On December 3rd, 2011 and after 18 long weeks of training, Bob and I became marathoners!!! We have both ran multiple half marathons and Bob has completed many triathlons, 2 century rides and a half ironman....so this was next on both of our lists. It was so great to do it together in Memphis and I did this run in memory of my brother Brian and in honor of my sister-in-law Linda who is battling breast cancer. What made it even more amazing was that December 3rd was BOTH of their birthdays. How crazy.

I won't go into much detail about how I was feeling very very sick with a stomach bug during the race and how it was just not the best run for me because no matter what, I finished it (in 5 long hours). Bob's knee gave him some issues so he didn't have as best of a race as he could have either (still an impressive 4:09). We are both considering a do-over in October and might sign up for the Chicago marathon. It would be fun to run through some of our old downtown neighborhoods. So, we are officially marathoners....but might need to give it another shot to really be satisfied! :)

The racers before the race.

Bob, me, Lara (my amazing running buddy), Brad and Richard

Finally finishing after about 8 bathroom stops....I still don't know how I was able to even continue on and finish. I was not about to let all that training be for nothing!!!

We did it!

We didn't get to go out for a fun night to celebrate since I felt so sick but we made a quick stop for lunch for some yummy memphis food before we left. We were wearing our matching marathon shirts! Why not, right!

Probably one of the best meals Bob has ever had!

THE WALL!!!

Yep, an entire post about a wall.

We love our house but our backyard wasn't what sold us on our house. Thank goodness for living on a cul-de-sac and having the front yard for the kids to play. One thing we needed to do to improve our backyard was to help the major erosion problem we were having on our large down slope of a back yard. This was a project we put off for about 2 years and finally did it. Thankfully we had the help of some great family members and a bobcat. Most people would tackle this 70 foot wall by a professional contractor but Bob's cousin Mike was the labor expert behind "the wall" and my cousin Jason helped to plan and measure. My job was to feed our workers.

BEFORE picture

AFTER picture....Bob is so proud and he should be!

Next up (in the spring)....planting ground cover, plants, etc. to fill in the area before the wall and fix our side yard that got destroyed by the bobcat.

Can't forget halloween!!!

A blog is sure hard to keep up when you are keeping up with 2 kids, their different schools and homework, working, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, training for a marathon and starting to get ready for the holidays. I could not forget to share a few halloween pics though. I know, a few weeks late but better late than never.

Halloween was PERFECT (except for it being on a Monday night). We fall in love with our neighborhood more and more every halloween because we love seeing so many people out, socializing and just enjoying the holiday with friends and family.

This year the kids were superhereos together....Super Girl and Wolverine! They had the best time and so did we.

Success!!!!!!

Pumpkin Picking.

Just 2 weeks before Halloween we headed to the pumpkin patch on a beautiful warm fall day (it was 82 degrees) and the kids both picked out their perfect pumpkin. Two days later....it is in the 50s and the heat has been turned on in the house for the first time this season. I guess we were due for the colder weather.

The kids are anxious for Halloween. Addison is going to be Super Girl and Lucas is going to be Wolverine. Since they are both super heroes, I am pretty sure they are going to make Bob and I both wear capes when we take them trick-or-treating. :)

Girls trip to the winery!

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to have 3 of my best friends (since forever) come from Chicago to spend the weekend with me....not with their kids, but just them and me for a GIRLS WEEKEND!!! We stayed at my parents lake house and on Saturday we spent the day at Crown Valley Winery in Ste. Genevieve. If you live in the St. Louis area and have not been there, you are missing out. The winery and scenery were beautiful and of course the wine was great. We took full advantage of our day there and enjoyed lots (or too much) of good wine, danced along with the band and closed the place down. It was fun and we created some great memories. I am pretty certain we will have to make this a yearly event (and hopefully Kris and Venessa can make it next time).

Wine tasting!

Me and Marina

Marina, Becky and Pam...feeling good and ready to dance!

Beautiful view!

We love this place!!!!!!!

Addison turns 6!

Our little girl sure doesn't seem so little anymore....she is 6!!!!! We celebrated her birthday party at Spirits Gymnastics and had a great time with 19 of her friends/cousins. It was a lot of little kids and I am pretty sure they all had a great time!

All the kids being patient and waiting to get started on the beams.

She loved it. She would love to take gymnastics but she is enrolled in 2 dance classes this year so that will keep her plenty busy.

The bars and pit was a big hit.

Even Bob joined in on the fun!!!

The birthday girl getting some special attention.

All the kids received a medal at the end of the party which was fun!

All the kids sporting their medals!

The cake.

Our big 6 year old.

On Addison's actual birthday we enjoyed some time at Monkey Joes and then she really enjoyed 2 servings of ice cream....why not, right?

First day of school!!!

This was an important first day of school this year....Addison started Kindergarten. It was a long time coming since she has a September birthday and we were all so excited when the day finally came for her to start "big kid school." She had zero worries about leaving for school and getting on the bus. She is only in half day kindergarten (am) so it is a pretty quick 3 hours or so that she is gone. She loves her teacher, doesn't mind the work too much and has already made some new friends.

Here are the first day of school pics. She is all ready to go in the outfit that my Mom got her.

Her friend Erin is in her class and at the same bus stop which is great.

So excited to be on the bus.

Lucas also had a big first day....he is in Pre-k now and we made a very big deal about how he is in the "big kid class" at school. This was his first year going without Addison and he has done great so far. He was so excited to see his friends from last year and is happy to be back.

End of summer fun at the ozarks.

Every year near the end of the summer we spend about 5 days at the Lake of the Ozarks with Bob's parents at their condo. We love all the time we get to relax, get out on the lake and just spend quality time together. This year was especially important because shortly after getting back from our fun lake trip, Addison was starting kindergarten. We took in as much fun as we could and had a great time.

Here is a pic of me and Lucas on one of the beaches when we stopped for lunch and some fun.

Addison left the beach for some daring fun with Daddy.

Bob got his thrills too and did some skiing. He is the best once-a-year skier I have ever seen.

I am pretty sure this was Addison's first solo trip tubing. She wasn't so sure of the big waves though as the ozarks is a MUCH bigger lake than my parents lake.

Lucas took a turn with Bob.

We also got in plenty of relaxing swim time. The weather was perfect and the water felt great!

My handsome boy on the boat.

We took a quick trip to the strip.

Bumer boats was a lot of fun.

Here is our annual lake of the ozarks pic. Can't wait to come back next summer.