Sunday, June 29, 2008

I wanted to wait until they were 3, but as we know....

the parent doesn't always get to decide!!! Jason and Lily learned how to get in and out of their cribs today... nap time was over when Tom went up after a 'thud' and found Lily out and walked in as Jason was hopping out of his bed. They spent a good 20 mins playing 'get in and out of the crib' before we called it quits and dismantled the beds. They are now up there going to bed in their big kid beds for the first time. PLEASE God let the sleep. It sounds pretty low key up there right now. They have routinely been staying up pretty late chatting anyway so we'll see what happens. We might have to check on them tonight just to see where they end up sleeping.

Let's try some video again....

Thursday, June 26, 2008

it gets worse before it gets better...

what a mess! The good news is it should all be fixed up by the end of next week.
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Jason got another ride in the bobcat and he LOVES it!
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Jason's Dreams Come True

A Bobcat was dropped off at our house this morning for the beginning of our driveway project. Jason got to sit in it and ride in it w/ Scott. Lily did too, but she wasn't nearly as excited as Jason. They both loved watching all day... as did most of the neighbor kids.

MY BOBCAT!
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Lily checking it out too. Notice Dane, our neighbor, checking out the scene too!
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Jason riding w/ Scott. Look how serious he is!
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I thought this one was cute of Lily and Scott talking:
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Moving some concrete
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Watching from inside later in the day. Notice Austin, Dane's little brother, in the background.
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Dad worked his butt off today and got most of the driveway out. Tomorrow a.m. the garage will be jacked up so dad can move that concrete out. I'm not sure how we are going to get all of it out b/c here is no where else to put it in the yard.

The project won't quite be completed by the time I leave next week, but it will be nice to have a nice new driveway and a squared up garage when I return... and hopefully it will help the basement stay dry in the future!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Summer in Wisconsin!

I'm loving summer in Wisconsin (in the back of my mind I keep DREADING winter!!! Trying not to think about the fits to be had when we can't spend all day naked in the yard)...
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Mom and I got a lot of weeding, planting and edging done today while the kids were playing. Kate and Coco Brown came over to join in the naked pool fun... oh except Kate was not interested in the naked part.. or the pool really.

Piggies:
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Releasing a worm to the wild:
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The princess and her grapes:
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Coco and Kate eating their grapes like civilized people:
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Kate on the monkey bars showing her skills:
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Had a great day today... funny how the kids barely fuss or whine when they get to be in the yard all day. Jason only complained when I turned the hose off. :)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

tested and approved.

I think he likes it:
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The park got finished in time for the PAR-TAY. We celebrated Jason and Lily's (And Papa's too) birthday today by having some friends over to test out 'our own park'. Chris, Marie, Kate and Coco, Jeff, Rebecca, Avery, Colette, Ezra and Caleb came over to share in the fun. We got the grill going and had some beers... man was it fun! Why don't we do this more often?

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Happy Birthday kiddos! We love you!!!
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As much as 'my own park' makes me feel suburban mom I LOVE IT! Almost as much as the kids do!

My own park...

is complete. Papa finished 'my own park"... today, of course, w/ the help of Jason and Lily.

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Moving more of our dirt to our new veggie garden (which still has no veggies... )
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Break time
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Day two:
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a new trick:
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little artist
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testing it out
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To be finished on the day of J/Ls bday celebration.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Birthday presents..

Thank you Uncle George and Auntie Amy for the animals and Thank you Gma Lynda and Gpa Larry for the trucks, cars, shirts and dora figures. Lily is sleeping w/ her Boots figure as I type.. God, I hope she's sleeping! :)

Animal puzzles from U.G. and A.A.
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And Gma and Gpa's gifts:
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Lily HAD to put on her new shirt IMMEDIATELY:
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I think this photo is a glimpse into what Jason will look like as a young man. :)
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they wanted to go outside and play in "papa's dirt" so we compromised and gave them a little bit of "papa's dirt' in their pool.
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Today was a 'off day' of training. My left shoulder is sore... not as much from the swimming as from trying to do the Monkey Bars on Friday night at the park. Reminder: I'm not 4 anymore.. I CAN NOT do the monkey bars. The swimming aggravated it.

Damn!! Those blurry ones are supposed to be videos!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Father's day and first race of the year...

Okay so on the Father's day front I win wife of the year as well. Tom got... NADA! It took me until after his nap... after my race to even say "happy father's day" I did get Jason and Lily to say it! :)

The race... I'm not sure how to describe it. Let's start by saying that I did a 2 hour run yesterday (the day before the race) b/c afterall ... this race was just training. I also did my first open water swim yesterday, but only for about 30 mins. Needless to say I was a bit tired today going into the race. I felt pretty good before hand, but when I got in the water to swim I felt it. Okay.. I could also tell my legs were tired on my 2 mile ride to Marie's house to catch a ride to that start.

My plan was to not race it.... and I didn't really thrash myself out there which is probably good b/c I'm not sure I would have finished... ha The swim sucked balls. Not because it was particularly hard - it was in a quarry and it was CALM and not too cold, but we did have to do three laps... getting out of the water to cross a timing mat between. I was in the last wave (39 and under women) and the first lap was okay... other than the fact that I felt really slow (b/c I am) and that I need to practice siting a lot more. Every time I would lift my head out of the water I would get throw off any bit of groove I may have had. I did way more breast stroke than I even want to admit to. On to lap two. I got PUMMELED by all the men passing me... most likely on their third lap and thus giving it all they had to get out of the water. Third lap was pretty much like the first except that I finally was getting into a rhythm. don't get me wrong I was more than ready for it to be over!!!! Onto the bike. YEAH!

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When I got out of the water I was already hungry. Bad sign. I was starving when I woke up this morning. I hadn't been paying much attention to my nutrition all week b/c I wasn't working out too hard and I wasn't planning on doing this race. Well, I FELT IT FOR SURE! My nutrition during the race felt okay, but I was starting at a deficit. Not good.

I got my stuff together and headed out for what I knew was going to be a very hilly bike. I biked the course a couple of weeks ago and remember being whipped afterward. i had to constantly remind myself to stay honest b/c I had to run after this. I'm known for just punishing myself on the bike. (when I have any punishing in my tank!) I felt fairly strong on the bike. Hills are definitely my weakness, but I did okay and I felt strong on the flats... i could go a nice pace w/o killing the legs. I dropped my chain once and didn't freak out about it. :)

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As the bike came to an end I was actually excited about the run b/c running has been my real strength lately and I had a great run yesterday. Well I got out on the run - and though I know I usually feel slower than I am - I had nothing to give it. I was going to just go ahead and kill the run as hard as I could... which I guess I did, but unfortunately I just couldn't. I'm hoping it was my lack of nutrition... was starving the whole time... even drank the horrible Heed drink (GAG!) to try to get some oomph. The run had 2 decent hills and 2 not so bad hills. I was coming up the 2nd decent hill and really struggling. I didn't expect to see mom and dad and the kids until he finish... well I came to midway on the hill and I looked up and I saw mom and dad, the kids AND TOM! I started choking up immediately and it was all I could do to keep it together. This has never happened to me. I'm not sure where all of the emotion came from. I guess just a release from all of the stress we've been through over the last week. It meant so much to see them there and I knew now that there was no way I could quit. I had two more laps of the run to complete and they would worry if I didn't come around again. I stopped at each lap to kiss them and thank them and it felt great to just be out there enjoying it. By the last lap I felt okay...no more weepiness and I was back to my old self encouraging others on the course and feeling positive about my experience. Not that I was feeling negative about it before. It was hard, but I never wished I hadn't done it. I did think about quitting until I saw the fam, but I knew I wouldn't.

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When I got to the finish the fam was there again. I got through the shoot and decided to wait there for Marie who was just behind me, but when I looked over Lily was running along the shoot to get to me. It was the cutest thing ever so, of course, I had to run to her. Mom said that Lily wanted to badly to run the shoot w/ me. How sweet! I balled like a baby as I hugged everyone. Again, a flood of inexplicable emotion. Glad to be done, glad I did it and so thankful for my wonderful family.

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Marie came quickly behind me and I ran the shoot w/ her (on the outside) and met her at the end for a big hug. This was her first ever triathlon and she did great. The first words out of her mouth, "it's scary how much I loved that. I could be in big trouble." haha I'm so glad that she had such a good time. She did awesome! She said she was just going to treat it as a training run and not kill it.... she totally killed it! :) Go Momma!! Go!!

We hung around there for a while. Jason ran off and ran down the shoot about 1/4 of the way before I could catch him. Lily rolled down the hill. They picked out water bottles and got me snacks.

Tom looks like he's in pain, but I think his allergies/eyes were bothering him. Poor guy.
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Later in the day they were playing in their little pool in the yard and had some cups and both started running like they were running through water stops and dumped their water on their heads (just like the racers) then through them. So cute. My future racers.

The decision has been made that I WILL be going to Seattle and I WILL be completing the Half Ironman!!! We were undecided as to what would happen w/ our trip after Tom's back injury. Turns out I am going to go w/ just Jason and Tom will plan on taking Lily out after he gets the all clear from his PT. I'm also still raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with Team in Training... recommittment is on July 1st and I need to have $1000 raised in order to stay with the team. If you haven't donated yet, please visit my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/wi/chitri08/lmount