Time flies and kids get older!

So I get on blogger and see that it has been about 2.5 YEARS since I have last blogged. What the?!?! Where has the time gone and wow there is a lot to catch up on!!

Now that I have updated the sidebar with all the kids information and new pictures I can move forward with a direction of the blog. Its harder to write when the kids get older. They do not change daily, weekly or even monthly like they did when they were babies. One is out of the house and in college, one is starting to think about colleges and what he wants to do and then of course we have the 2 littles at home and we are thinking what we want to do as far as schooling with them in the near future. That will all come as other posts when I write relating to the kids but even with the adults in the house so much has taken place. 

I have always been involved in sports, mainly soccer. I have hung those soccer shoes up and replaced them with running shoes. Before I had done some 10Ks and a few 5Ks but about a year and a half ago I started to run a little more. Not consistently but more often and further distances until January of 2013…….

I ran my 1st half marathon. That half marathon turned into 3 more by the end of 2013. Whew so now I have a goal of at least 3 half marathons a year until I can no longer run that many. Hopefully I will be able to keep this goal for the next 5 years or so. 

Then you have Chris, the husband, who has also always been athletic and a gym person. Last spring he  jumped out of the box and into the pool and eventually did his 1st triathlon. That 1 triathlon turned into 4 or 5 (I think 5) in 2013. WOW!! He has already signed up for 2 this year and has not stopped his efforts in trying to get me to jump into the pool. He went as far last fall as to buy me a bike, a REALLY nice bike that I LOVE!!! I do love to ride but the swim thing is holding me back. I was never a competitive swimmer growing up but I did take all the swim lessons possible as a kid and I did go to the pool everyday as a kid. That ended like 20 years ago when I became a mom and my pool time switched from me having fun in the water to me having fun sitting on the side watching my own kids. So, we shall see how this pans out this year!! 

So, I guess this is a start and maybe a turn the blog will make from here on out. I will of course update on the kids from time to time but I will also add much about the running, training, races and maybe even triathlons completed along the way. I guess people and seasons change so the blog must also!! 

SHE DID IT!!

R will be 13 months old on the 15th. I was starting to wonder if she was ever going to walk. Why does she need to, she has 2 big brothers that pick her up if she makes a noise.

Today she decided that crawling was not necessary and took her 1st steps. Since then she will take about 6 steps each time she stands up before falling.

I guess it is time for me to get new running shoes!!

Happy 1st Birthday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEANUT!!!

I can't belive it has been a year since I was sitting in the hospital just having given birth to my last child.

What a sweet baby she has been this year!!

WE LOVE YOU PEANUT!!

a mini vacation

Wow... neglect the blog much?? So I have A LOT of catching up to do. I guess I need to start with the present and work my way backwards a little... I guess this is going to work a little like my scrapbooking. I hope this goes better, I am WAY behind on the scrapbooks!

This past week we had the opportunity (thanks to my sister) to have a little R&R on the beach. Well I have to admit it was a little R&R but take out the R's. At least we were at the beach!! It is true, a bad day on the beach is better than a good day at home! Well there were no bad days, just not too much relaxing with the kids. I forgot to mention that Daddy was not there!

So... my sisters and I, along with 6 kids under 4, my nieces and my nephew were all at a beach house in SC. It was a lot of fun! The kids got a lot of time to play together, which does not happen often enough.

Here are a few pictures from the week...

How do you get a good picture of 3 kids???? YOU DON'T!! Here are the 3 big kids... K is the only grandchild in the group, the other 2 are great grands (and yes they are both older than K).

Here is R and B... R is the youngest of my parents grand kids and B is one of my parents great- grand sons!

Miss K is very hard to get a good picture of these days.. she never sits still enough (long enough).

Miss R always happy and enjoying (eating) the sand!

Here are 2 of my parents grandkids... the oldest (29) and the youngest (11months).

One night we had a pretty big storm and the next day this was on the beach. K was a little freaked out when she picked it up and it moved on her. We took a picture and let it go into the ocean.

Now we are back home and mentally preparing for another beach trip in a few weeks. This time Daddy will be there for at least part of the trip (whew)

May 15, 2011

10 Months old!!!

Wow, that is crazy!! The little peanut is 10 months old already! The time has really flown by...

so 10 months on May 15th, what does that mean??

It means that R is still a tiny little peanut:
weighing in at 15 lbs 4.5 oz (3%)
and standing at 26 3/4 inches.

What does she do??? (wow she sounds like a puppy)

*crawl
*eat normal foods
*pulls up (on everything)
*says bye bye
*claps
*waves
*drives her sister nuts (she gets into all her toys)
*starting to take some cruising steps here and there

R is a P-I-G! Her size does not reflect on her food intake at all. I can say without exaggerating that she probably eats double of what K eats. It is crazy to watch her eat. I am not sure where she puts it but I am a little jealous that her metabolism is so high.

R has THE BEST personality. Even on her bad days she is a joy to be around. I think she gets her laid back personality for me! Please stop laughing now!! I am really not sure where she gets it since neither Chris nor I are very laid back like she is.

It is hard to believe that almost 2 years ago I was missing the family beach vacation and instead sitting in a hospital giving birth to an 8 lb 1 oz baby who is absolutely perfect!!

I guess now it is time to start planning a 1st birthday party!!!

2011 County Champ for Pole Vault!!!!

Here is his video vaulting 10-6. This was his 2nd attempt at it. 10-6 was his PR in a meet. Well he did only vault in 1 other meet this season.



He then went to 11ft and missed his 3 attempts at that. One of the corrections he made was with his hands and on the 3rd attempt he didn't think about his feet because he was so worried about his hands. After he missed his dad wanted him to try the 11foot again for the heck of it.....
Here he is at 11foot!!



and he made it!! Of course it was too late but he knows now that he can do it! That is OK, he didn't need 11 feet yesterday. He won it with the 10-6!

So proud of you Con man!!! It takes a lot to get cut from a sport you love, turn to another immediately and do an exceptional job at that also!!

Now looking forward to his baseball double header on Sunday!!

1st track meet!

First I have to apologize for the horrible quality of these pictures. I took these with a new lens I got for Christmas and on top of needing to learn how to use my camera, I have to learn how to use it with the new lens.

Anyway, C had his 1st track meet ever yesterday evening. He started to pole vault about a month ago, maybe 5 weeks ago and he has done great.


Here he is getting ready to go for the 1st time. I was a
bunch of nerves at this point!!




Up,


Up and away!!!

This was his 9.6 foot attempt and he made it on his 1st attempt.
I was thrilled and of course screamed when he made it!

He also made 10 foot on his 3rd attempt but he did not get 10'6". He has done that once in practice so I am sure he will get it next time!

Most of the pictures I got looked the same as these. I choose the ones where his form looked OK. I do have to say that is something he needs to work on. Whew, that part was bad but he is out there today practicing and working on form.

We have 2 meets this week and hopefully he will be able to jump in both of them. I cant wait to see how he progresses over the next few weeks!!

GO CON MAN!!!!!

We got a jumper......

.... I mean vaulter!!!

My Con-man is not going to let his getting cut from the JV baseball team stop him. Days after getting cut he decided that he wanted to try pole vaulting for the track team. His dad was a pole vaulter years ago and Conner thought this would pass the time until the baseball league starts this spring.

Hmmm I think Conner may have found himself a new sport. About a month after walking up to the track coach and asking if he could try vaulting (they had already started practicing), Conner jumped 10' 6" and will be jumping in his first track meet ever this weekend!

I am so proud of that kid!! He took something negative and definitely turned it into a positive for him.

GO CONNER!!!!
GOOD LUCK THIS WEEKEND!!

Bye Bye Paci!!

Whew, it has been a busy one so far. I guess it started out the other day with Confirmation and then this little girl


will no longer be taking any pictures with one of these in her mouth!!


She did it!! She was OK not very happy with the paci bugs that came and ate the top of the paci's. Yup that is the story that happened no matter what her big brothers are trying to tell her!!!

She has been doing a GREAT job too. Nighttime is a little hard for a few minutes but she soon stops crying and falls asleep.

It is all worth it to her when she wakes up now and can come down to play with her brand new Disney talking kitchen!!! It's a huge hit with the new and improved paci-less 2 year old!

Confirmation

Last night was Confirmation at our church. Thirty 10th graders were in the group and what a great group it is!

The Arch Bishop came down to confirm the kids and let me tell ya. This guy is amazing! I paid attention the entire mass. With my ADD that is a miraculous thing! He is Hilarious!!! The kids loved him and I am so happy that he was the one who Confirmed the C-man.

I did not get any pictures of him in his red gown. Hopefully the person they hired to take pictures got individual pics of the kids in their gown and, hopefully that picture turned out great!

Here are few that I did get... I also failed to get one of C and his grandparents (my parents). It would have also been nice to have gotten C with his other grandparents that were there and my parents but that did not happen either. But this is what I DO have.....

The only picture I have of C by himself. Actually it was not even by himself, he was in with me but there was a bad shadow over me so I cropped it out. Love the big smile and how he is NOT trying to act goofy. Another rare occasion for a good picture!


Typical family picture right now.... finger in the toddler's nose! Can't wait for that to pass!!


Here is a pretty decent one of C, Chris and myself.


Not too many of these exist in the world... C and me.


C with his Aunt and Godmother (my sister)


Here he is with the most hilarious man!! The archbishop!


After that the arch bishop called K over for a picture of her and her brother. It would have been cool to get a picture of C and all his sisters and brothers with him but none were to be found except this one. I love C HUGE smile in this picture!


It was a great Confirmation Day and a wonderful mass. Special thanks to C's awesome sponsor who we will call Ms. K. She is wonderful and so happy that C chose her to be his sponsor on this path to this special day.

Big Day!!

Today is a big day in our house!!

This little guy, seen here with Sinbad (the best Husky in the world, may he RIP)

OK so he is not this little anymore....

this big kid teen, seen here with his 2 sisters, is taking a huge step in this faith!!

Today is Confirmation Day! Du du duh duhhhhhhh

He, along with 30 other tenth graders will be making the commitment and will become "adults" in the church. Oh do you here the thunder???

We are so proud of you C-man for making this decision and for your commitment to your Catholic beliefs.

Let the festivities begin!

The circus is in town...

I do feel like there are days when my life is a circus but this time I mean the Ringling Brother's circus. Chris and I decided to take the kids, minus the baby. I have wanted to take K to something big like this but I am very hesitant to take her anywhere these days, after all she is 2! She did pretty well most of the time... well until after the lemonade and cotton candy kicked in.

We got the boys a ticket also and let me tell you that the oldest was really not thrilled at all. I guess I can understand, who wants to go to the circus with their parents when they are 16? But he ended up having a good time (this was never admitted but instead leaked out by his brother).

Here are some cute pictures that I picked out of the 230 that I took while we were there.


K was trying on the wardrobe before the show. At first she was not too sure but she looks pretty good. I think she would fit right in with the clowns.

The motorcycles always amaze me. This year they had 7 in there going round and round.

proof that I was there too. K in her "circus" shirt. It turned out so cute (and no I did not make it.. I wish).

K's favorite part... the elfants (by the way she says it).

And finally, the picture of the 3 kids after the show. See the boys have smiles on their faces. Maybe they were glad it was over?!?!

That time of the year again!

Yes it is!!

The time of year that all moms get a little nervous about and all kids live for!!

BASEBALL SEASON!!

Well maybe not ALL moms but I know the one in this house does. Making the baseball teams in this area is very competitive. These boys work all year long on their conditioning, so they can be in shape for this week of a lot more running!!

Lots of running, fielding, hitting!! Well maybe not so much fielding since its raining today and is supposed to be this way most of the week but... thankfully the cages are indoor!

So just want to say...

GOOD LUCK TO CONNER AND ALL THE OTHER BOYS TRYING OUT FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM!!!!

It's your birthday....

It's your birthday....
I know I am late because last week was your birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AVERY!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

I can't believe he is 14 already! Seems like yesterday I was holding that baby in my arms!!

Ave actually turned 14 on the 16th but I have been so far behind in the blog I did not even think about putting the birthday post up then.

So.....

I decided to save it until all his celebrations were done.....

We had the normal birthday dinner last week. Avery is so easy at times. When I asked him where he wanted to go for his dinner (it is always his choice) he chose Red Robin!

That caught me off guard. I expected something big. If I got to choose I would say Melting Pot or Fogo De Chao (two places I have never been). I guess I should be glad he is so easy when it comes to stuff like this.

So we went and then last night he had 3 of his buddies over to hang out and spend the night.


Another easy choice. He even told me that he didn't want a cake or gifts or anything. Well, on the cake I told him that was not an option ... what better excuse to have cake????


Hard to believe that this time next year I will have yet another driver in the house. How crazy is that?? Really, am I old enough to have 2 kids that drive????

Gotta love the candle or maybe that is a really big lighter!


Kennedi stayed up late so she could have a piece of the cake. There was no way she was going to bed until she got some. She had seen it earlier and asked to have a piece every 10 minutes or so. I told her when daddy got home we would have cake. She doesn't forget a thing! As soon as Chris walked in the door she went over to the counter and said, "daddy cake"!


another nice surprise was that Conner was home with us!! He had plans to go out but they fell through and so we were able to spend a little time with him. Well... he was home at least, even if we only saw him when we had cake because he was downstairs on his games most the time. But he was home!

HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY!!!

(cont. from below)....

Yes little did we know that right now (2:42am, if this posts when I told it to) I was giving birth to my first child, a son.

4 1/2 hours of labor and no meds! It was an easy delivery as he came quick. I guess he wanted to arrive 20 days early.

What a sweet baby he was!!

and what a wonderful teen he is now!!!

I still cant believe it... 16 years ago (as I get teary eyed typing this).

Conner, you are a great kid and such a joy to be around. Your siblings could not have asked for a better brother. They look up to you and want to be just like you. You are a wonderful role model (most of the time) for them.

You have such brains and such talent and I really believe that you will achieve everything you set out to do!

I love you more than you will ever know!! I am very proud to call you my son!!

Mom

16 years ago

16 years ago tonight I was 21 days short of my due date with my first child when I felt a little funny. No pain (yet) just a few little twinges.

C's dad told me we were heading to the hospital and I said no way, we were 3 weeks away. They would just look at us, laugh and send us home telling us it was too early.

This was about 10:00pm on November 9th, 1994.

Little did we know!

....to be continued!

rolling, rolling, rolling,

Yup, we have hit milestone, the 1st of many for R. She is now 3 1/2 month old and she is now also rolling all over the place.

This morning I was able to leave her on the bed in her boppy but tomorrow she will have to move down to the floor.

I noticed that she was getting close to rolling from back to front but just couldn't get it. I grabbed the flip, videoed for about 30 minutes with no luck. I walked into the kitchen, turned around and she was on her tummy. I looked to see if K maybe rolled her over but she had not moved.

So I missed the 1st time she rolled. But of course that is not all I missed. While I went to grab the flip to try again but by the time I got back she had rolled onto her back.

OK so I missed the 1st roll both ways.

At least I was able to see it many many more times tonight.

Ahhh, she is growing so fast and knowing that this is the last one it really makes me sad!! It seems like yesterday that I was watching this video over and over. It was almost 2 years ago to the day.

Tomorrow I will post the video of her rolling.

Happy Halloween!!

As everyone knows last night was Halloween. I have to admit that I am not a huge Halloween fan but I do enjoy seeing the kids dressed up and having fun. That translates to... in a few year Chris will be the one taking the girls around trick or treating while I stay home and hand out candy.

This year we did it together. It was R's 1st Halloween and the 1st that K really got into it.

Isn't she the cutest little kitty you have ever seen?


The only thing missing were the boys. They left that afternoon to head to their dads house. Before they left I wanted to get a few pictures of the 4 kids together.

And this is how it went....

I called the boys over with the girls and all the kids were in order except for the toddler..


Exhibit A

Said toddler was running around all over the place. The oldest teen went to get her and this is what took place...


Exhibit B

And this is what happens when you try to take a picture of a still unwilling 2 year old.


Exhibit C

So plan B happened... notice the orange just above C's shoulder. That would be Daddy! Yup, K was find as long as Daddy was holding her...

Exhibit D

When all the pictures were taken. We went home and had a little fun before trick or treating...



And of course, the shot of Daddy and his 2 little girls!


After that we went off trick or treating where K had a blast. We walked around with a few neighbors and Kennedi was such a big girl and kept up with all the older boys!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween.

3 months old!!

Yesterday was the 15th and that means that R turned 3 months old! Time has gone by so fast and I really wish that it would slow down a little!

Here are a few pictures of R that were taken in the last month!

The Pumpkin Patch!

It's that time of year again, I just wish it would be a little cooler.


It is just not normal to be decorating the outside of the house in Halloween stuff and sweating while doing it. I always remember going trick-or-treating and freezing while walking. I guess that is the difference in Maryland and Georgia!

Anyway, today with our playgroup we headed to one of the local pumpkin patches.

I do have to add that I have 2 huge "Fails" to report. 1)I did not get many pictures at all and 2) none of the many pictures that I did not get are of R!! OUCH!!

I do have to say that it is not easy to take pictures when you have two little ones with you. But, I have also been really bad about taking pictures for about the past month. There are only so many poses you can take of a newborn/infant. Also, there are only so many times you can beg a certain toddler to be still and actually look at the camera instead of walking away. I have way too many pictures of the back of her!


So... here are the pictures that I did manage to get today. Yes, I know I need to take some photography classes. That is actually on my list of things to do when I have some spare time. I guess I will be able to enroll in some classes in the year 2028 when we have no more children at home.






proudly holding her pumpkin!


a close up of K and her favorite pumpkin.