Flashback to fall!

Now that fall is just about over...I better update the blog. Before I know it, Christmas and New Years will be here and over and then I will have way too much to update.

 

 

A few months ago my cousin Amy (Amy Keeve Photography) took our family pictures. I was very happy with how they turned out!

 

 

 

The only picture I got of the kids together from Halloween. Whoops! 

 

The hardest part of fall (and the whole year) was saying goodbye to our dog Louie. He lived a pretty long 12 years with us. He was our first baby. It was VERY hard to say goodbye. You can tell from Addison's swollen/red cheeks just how much she was crying saying goodbye. Louie suffered from kidney failure. It wasn't so bad at first but it got pretty bad the last few weeks of his life (especially the last few days). The house is very quiet without his footsteps but we are doing a little better. We aren't ready to replace him or add a new pet and I am not sure if we will, especially anytime soon. Really, we just want Louie back...not another pet. :(

 

It has been awhile but the kids finished outdoor soccer season. I believe both of their teams got 2nd place...not bad! (don't mind my fingers photobombing the picture). 

 

Addison finished her first season of Girls on the Run and I was honored to be one of the coaches. Wow, it really is a great program!!! Addison and I ran together for the big 5K. Unfortunately she wasn't feeling so great and was sick after with a fever and stomach bug...so we will have to get another race in to make up for it!

 

Last weekend I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K with some friends. It was the best late fall weather (mid 50s). It was a great course and race...and the chocolate at the end wasn't bad either. 

 

Now I am crossing my fingers that we all stay healthy and can enjoy the holidays with our friends and family!

 

Happy holidays everyone!

2014 Chicago Marathon

I completed my 4th full marathon about 10 days ago...it was my 3rd time running the Chicago Marathon. My experience was full of many ups and downs. First of all, I was shocked that I even made it through the lottery to be able to even run the marathon (many of the spaces go to people that qualify and I am not quite there yet). I was lucky enough to train with my friend Michelle but then things got very unlucky when she got a pretty major injury which forced her to not be able to continue training and run the marathon. She was devastated and so was I. I tried not to let it get me too down and I got through the rest of my training which went pretty well.

 

I have to admit it though, I was pretty sad to have to drive up to Chicago alone and go to the expo alone. I have experienced it before so I knew it wasn't a big deal in the long run. Bob had to travel out of town for work and he made it to Chicago bright and early on race day to cheer me on. It meant the world to me that he was there!!!

 

A few pics from the expo....

 

The weather on race day was pretty perfect....low to mid 50s and sunny. The rain that was in the forecast didn't happen...yay!!! The first 13 miles went really well except for feeling very crowded and packed in the first few miles. I was setting myself a very good pace and was remaining nice and consistent. Things changed after that when I started to feel the start of some major blisters on my one foot. It was pretty painful but I was not about to let blisters affect my race!!!!

 

Here I am at mile 16 after seeing Bob and my best friend Marina!



 

 

I kind of felt like I was on auto pilot for the last 6 miles. It was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. I slowed down a bit but not too much. I only walked for a bit during some of the water stations near the end and took one quick stretch at one water station. Bob ran with me for a quick minute around mile 25 and gave me the last bit of encouragement I needed. I kept my pace but I had no extra energy to make my last mile a great one...no great sprint across the finish line like I normally try to do.

 

I crossed the finish line in 4:05:41 which was a PR and 4 minutes faster than last year.

 

My stats in case you are interested:

9:23 per mile pace

Finished 14,072 out of 40,567 runners

Finished 4,224 out of 18,389 women

Finished 715 out of 2,953 women 35-39.

 

I am not one to normally share stats but it is nice to get a little perspective and plus...I honestly have no idea if and when I will run another marathon. It was a LOT of work. It is worth it of course but I am anxious to run for fun!!!

Half bathroom remodel!

Now that the basement is done, we are working on making the rest of the house look as nice....one step at a time. Our latest project is the first floor half bathroom. It was the simplest project and the least expensive compared to the 2 other bathrooms that need to be remodeled.

 

 

BEFORE

 

How did we live with this wallpaper for 6 years. It was a pain to take down of course.

 

AFTER

 

New everything...vanity, mirror, light fixture, toilet, paint, decorations, etc.



 

Back to school and back to being busy!

As soon as I think we are going to get into a more normal and not so crazy schedule, things pile up and we are back to being busy. The summer was busy but this is a different kind of busy...between school, activities, marathon training, etc...we are just so busy but I can't complain because it is all good stuff!

 

 

The kids have been back to school for awhile now (since August 11th) and it is hard to believe that the end of 1st quarter is tomorrow...they are 1/4 of the way through the school year. How can that be???

 

 

Back to school pic.....

Lucas 2nd grade

Addison 3rd grade

They are both loving school and love their teachers! I can't ask for anything more!

 

 

 

We went to the Ozarks for labor day weekend (like usual) and had a great time. One last long weekend of fun to end the summer. 

Lucas' baseball team played their first season of fall ball. It was a quick 6 game season and the improvements the boys have made since the start of spring ball till the end of fall ball was really amazing.

 

Lucas makes a really cute catcher. ;)

 

We are already in the middle of soccer season for both the kids. Their teams have both improved so much and they have won or tied every game so far (knock on wood). A lot of our weekends are being spent at the soccer fields and I wouldn't have it any other way!

 



 

Addison turned 9!!!!! I wanted to cry when she turned 9 because 9 just seems so old but I have finally accepted it....10 is going to be tough on me!!!

 

 

We celebrated with a big slumber party bash with 15 of her closest friends. Some might think I am CRAZY to have that many girls but these girls are all so sweet. No one spilled anything or got sick...so the party was a success!

We are always doing so much with and for the kids all the time (like most parents). It was nice to get dressed up a few weeks ago and go out for a dinner for Bob's work. 

 

 

Things might slow down soon but I am not holding my breath. I am running my 4th marathon in just 3 days. Bob is busy with work and traveling a bit this month. I am coaching Girls on the Run (such a great and fun program), volunteering in the kids classrooms, and working 10-15 hours per week. Lucas is going to start indoor soccer soon and Addison is going to give Basketball a try.

We are busy...but good!!!

 

Basement renovation!

Finally....I have been meaning to share some basement pics.

 

Right after Christmas (great timing after holiday expenses huh), we made a quick decision to finish our basement. We went back and forth on finishing the basement since we moved to our house 6 years ago. Honestly, we just weren't thrilled about spending the money and we weren't desperate for the extra space. We are so glad we finally did it though.

 

We tried to be as cost conscious as possible but while also finishing it the way we wanted. We hired a contractor (my cousin's husband) to help with the plans and to oversee all the work. We did some of the work on our own (painting, installing laminate floors and tile floors, installation, put together the wood cabinets, and then my Dad did the electrical work). We were happy to hire out the rest of the work. It only took about 8 weeks... a very hectic 8 weeks.

 

What do you think??? 

 

 

 

Instead of a traditional bar we decided to do a big island with cabinets under for storage. We love how it turned out. We also got the same granite counters in our kitchen as well....might as well keep spending money huh ;). 

 

We each picked out a couch. Neither of us wanted to give in to what each other wanted. ;)

I love my couch!

 

We had to deal with 2 stacks and decided to make the best use of space by turning it into an end table and also storing the cable box/dvd player inside. 

 

 

Next projects....3 bathrooms need updating and we hate our deck.

Not sure when we will get to these....

Summer summary!

Summer break is over and it went by way too fast!!!! We did a lot and had a lot of fun. It is good to have the kids back at school though (less togetherness and fighting...my kids aren't perfect).

 

A brief recap of the rest of our summer....

 

 

4th of July

 

We spent a weekend at the lake with friends which included hours of tubing. We had a chance to go to the lake a few more times too. These kids have turned into little daredevils on the tub!

We spent a fun afternoon one day at Laumeier Sculptural Park. Love that place! I may not totally "get" all the art but we always have fun. 

 

The kids had fun at their first week at British Soccer Camp. Lucas loved it. Addison didn't appreciate all the hard work she had to put in but hopefully I can get her to do it next summer.

 

We spent a great 5 days visiting friends in Cincinnati....a great time with my dear friends since grade school (Kris and Marina) and all our kids. We call it our SAHM week (stay at home mom). None of us are technically SAHM's (Marina and I work part time and Kris is a teacher and off during the summer)...but we are SAHM's that week!!!!

 

 

The kids and I acting silly while waiting in line for a roller coaster at Kings Island.

 

My amazing friends Becky and Venessa...and their husbands and kids all came to visit a few weeks ago. We had such a great time biking on the Katy Trail (pics below) and spent a really fun day at my parents lake house (more tubing of course). 

 

Venessa, Becky, Me....such a great day on the boat. 

 

We ended a great summer with some ice cream.

Instead of days at the pool and lots of adventures from the summer we will replace that with lots of soccer and baseball games, homework, school activities and so much more.

Time is going by way too fast....

 



 

And because BlogSpot is not perfect and it put this Cincinnati pic at the end and I am too lazy to start all over.....here is a pic with me and my 2 beautiful best friends. I love these girls so much!!!!

Family trip to Colorado

Bob and I started planning this family trip about 12 months before we left....since the last time Bob and I were in Colorado (for our 10 year anniversary). We knew we needed to take the kids and see if they loved it out there as much as we did. Bob's parents joined us after hearing about our plans and seeing how much fun we had the last time we went.

We rented a beautiful 3 bedroom condo in Frisco which is very close to Breckenridge. It is a cute Colorado town but not near as busy as some of the ski villages. Bob's parents flew to Colorado and met us there and Bob and I and the kids took our first long road trip (our longest trip before was about a 7 hour drive to Wisconsin Dells). We stopped for the night in Kansas and drove the other half the next day (we drove straight thru on the way home...the kids were amazing in the car both ways).

Love this welcome sign!!!

On our first full day (Sunday) we went on a hike. The weather was very iffy and we were a little worried about getting caught in a storm (yikes) but we stuck it out, only got a little wet, and ended up having a really great hike.



After our hike we went to Bacon Fest in Keystone (the kids love bacon just like their dad - especially Addison). Then we got some Cajun food for dinner at this cute restaurant in Frisco.

On Monday we went on our whitewater rafting adventure on the Colorado River. I have to admit it though...we were a little less impressed considering we had to take it down quite a notch since Bob and I went last year (we didn't want to freak the kids out and there was age limits we had to deal with). We did get to see a few class II and III rapids but the rest of it was very tame but we still of course had a great time. Next time we will have to try a more adventurous trip and I think the kids will be ready for it. 

Tuesday was one of my favorite days. We got bussed by a bike shop to Vail Pass and rode down hill (nothing too crazy but we did have to give the kids a big lesson in using their hand breaks and taking it slow on turns). We rode down hill for 14 breathtaking miles!!!! We took a break for lunch and then added a little crazy to the end of our bike ride....we rode an additional 6 miles from Frisco to the Dillon Marina. The hills were a little challenging for the kids but what made it more intense was the fact that it got really windy and it looked like a crazy storm was about to come down on us. It was freaky but somehow we made it to our destination in time and then celebrated 20 miles biked...a great accomplishment for the kids.

After our bike ride, Bob and I ended a great day with a date night in Breckenridge.



More adventure on Wednesday. On our way to the Cardinal game in Denver we took a side trip to Mount Evans. It is the highest paved road in North America. It took 28 miles to get to the top....a very slow and very scary 28 miles. No guard rails, very steep cliffs and it doesn't help that I am prone to getting a little car sick (nothing too bad but I am not shy to admit that I had to sit in the front seat for this car ride).

It is as scary as it looks. 

We FINALLY got to the top. The kids just loved the mountain goats...especially this mom and baby. :)

After I recovered from Mount Evans, we had a really great time at the Cardinal game.

The Cardinals won!!!





We didn't run out of things to do on Thursday. I really wish I had more pictures of our fun day but I left my phone in a locker so that I was sure to have fun!!!! We went to the Breckenridge Fun Park (a fun park/amusement park up in the mountains). We spent all day on the alpine slide, roller coaster, climbing wall, trampoline (see Bob in action below), and maze. We had way more fun than we imagined!!!!

We ended our vacation just how we started it....with a hike. We only made it half way up the mountain but it was a tough one (and Bob's mom's asthma was not really up for the climb). 

 

We rewarded ourselves with an amazing brunch and ended the trip with shopping to pick up a few things to remind us of our trip.

It was really hard to say goodbye to the mountains and Colorado. We fell more in love and the kids appreciated the mountains, beautiful views and all the adventure we got to experience.

It was a great trip and we can't wait to go back.