halloween re-cap

Let's start with a recap of Halloween...  The morning began with James and I attending his daycare's trick-or-treating parade.  The daycare is located near many small businesses so they line all the kids up and they get to walk around and gather candy from these places.  James had a great time and started his candy stockpile.

After lunch, I dropped James at preschool then headed to Haden's school to watch his Halloween parade.  The parents stand in the gym and all the classes parade though in full costume.  It's always fun to see so many different costumes.  After his parade, I joined him in the classroom for a short party.

After dropping Haden off at home, I headed off to James's preschool to catch the end of his celebration.  I hadn't told him that I would be coming so he was very excited to have me join him on the carpet for story time.  At snack time he told me that my knees have to be under the table.  I was sitting in a tiny chair, at a very short table and couldn't comply with this rule very well.

 After preschool we all had some downtime at home before getting our costumes on for trick-or-treating.  I took advantage of this time by running a virtual 5k that I had signed up for.  A virtual race is done on your own (on the streets, treadmill, trails- wherever) and you time yourself and then submit your time to the website.  With this race, I also got t-shirt and race number to wear and then in a couple of weeks I'll get a cool race medal to display.

Most of Halloween day was overcast and rainy so I really wasn't excited about taking the kids around the neighborhood.  Luckily, the rain ended about 5 minutes before we headed out.  We walked around with our friends from across the street and the kids had a blast.  They needed constant reminders to "slow down" because the adults didn't want to sprint just to keep up!

Here is a pile of their candy stash.  It's over 7 pounds.  We had them split it up and they each put their treats into a Kitchen Safe.  This is a special lock box that I got recently from a Kickstarter project.  It has a timer on top which you can set from 1 min up to 7 days.  I have it set to open at 7am each morning.  The kids then pick out 4 pieces of candy and re-lock the box to open again at 7 the next morning.  They can eat the 4 pieces all at once or throughout the day but they know they can't have more until the next morning.
 

Oh, and here are the pumpkins we carved this year.  James chose Daniel Tiger (from a cartoon of the same name) and Haden chose Jake (Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

My latest homemade baking challenge was cinnamon rolls.  The kids love the Pillsbury refrigerated rolls but I really wanted to try some at home since I'm getting the hang of using yeast now.  I searched out a recipe with great reviews and gave it a try.  It always takes so much longer than I anticipate because my dough is so slow to rise.  I was so excited to try a roll right away, but I was a bit disappointed.  The frosting was delicious, but the roll lacked flavor.  However, I put the rest of them in the fridge and brought them out for breakfast today and I thought the flavor improved a ton.

The last thing I'll mention for this post if the Rainbow Loom.  Haden's friend received one for her birthday a little while ago and he's been seeing kids at school wearing these bracelets so he begged me to buy him one.  It didn't take much convincing because I enjoy crafty stuff like this anyways and I think I've had more fun with it than he has.  The idea is that you use small, colored rubber bands and twist them around a loom.  Then you use a crochet-type hook to un-hook the bands.  The finished project is a bracelet.  The kit only comes with instructions on how to make a very basic bracelet but you get onto YouTube and there are endless videos (created by young kids) that walk you step-by-step through many other patterns.  Haden has been wearing a few and is also taking requests from his classmates to make more.  I'm not so sure his teacher is as excited about this new trend but it's not banned at school yet.  Here he is sporting a few:

Boys and Baking

Ahhh... it's finally feeling like fall around here.  Don't get me wrong, I love the summer heat, but once mid-september rolls around I'm ready to pull out the sweatshirts and begin thinking about pumpkins and Halloween costumes.  We had a couple of late September and early October weeks with temps near 80 and that was just wrong!

So, the boys have finally decided on their Halloween costumes.  Originally they were going to be Batman and Robin.  I loved this idea because I think it's cute to have the coordinate/match each other.  I hunted for the "right" batman costume and by the time it arrived, Haden had changed his mind.  He is now going to be a green ninja.  I guess this has something to do with Lego Ninjago.  I was having a hard time finding this costume, but he insisted the specialty Halloween Boutique at the mall had it.  I warned him that if it was over $25 I would not buy it.  He is a lucky boy because the costume was $24.99!  He thinks he's a cool ninja because of the moves he's been learning in taekwondo!

James is going to be a bird.  I think it's a parrot or toucan.  I'm not sure exactly what bird it is, but its very bright and colorful.  I had taken him to Old Navy to look at their pirate costume, but then he saw this bird and really wanted that instead.  He does look adorable dressed as a bird, but it in no way coordinates with green ninja.

Speaking of James, he turned 4 this week.  I can't believe my baby has grown up so quickly.  He acts more like a big kid everyday.  His stubborn streak rivals mine and we struggle to get along at times, but I suppose this attribute may serve him well someday.  I love that he still wants to hold my hand whenever we walk together and I hope this doesn't end anytime soon.  He is doing well at daycare - rarely crying at drop-off anymore.  He enjoys telling me about what he's learning and is improving his letter writing and recognition.  James wanted "Jake and the Neverland Pirate" stuff for his birthday this year.  We bought him some of the "Jake" characters to play with on the boat we already had.  He also got his first set of big-boy legos.  Haden gets so mad when James plays with his legos so it was time to get James his own set.  I was surprised at how well James could follow the step-by-step instructions for assembling his new lego set.  James will have some friends and cousins over this weekend for a pirate-themed party.

Last Friday we went to the annual Hayrack ride at the Colony Farm, here in North Liberty.  The boys look forward to it every year.  After the ride, they have an outdoor movie playing, a large bonfire, hot cocoa, and snack mix.  Here's a pic of our family on the ride:

For the month of October I'm trying a little grocery challenge.  I realized how fully stocked our pantry, freezer, and cupboards had become and yet each week I was buying more stuff from the grocery store.  So, for October, I'm only buying milk and fresh fruits/veggies from the store.  With this challenge in mind, I set about to make some hamburger buns and bread at home.  I have no real experience with dry-active yeast, so it's been a fun learning curve.  First up was the buns.  I was very pleased with how they turned out.  My dough didn't really double in size like it was supposed to, but I baked them anyways and they were great.

The next challenge was bread.  I chose an Amish bread recipe that got great reviews.  Once again, I had some trouble with the yeast.  I did the the "proof" test with the yeast and never got the foam that I should have, but forged ahead anyways.  The bread had a great flavor, except it wasn't fully cooked so we could only eat a few slices from each end.  Today I'm trying a french loaf bread.  Fingers crossed it turns out well!

On a personal note, I finally learned how to play chess.  Kye taught Haden how to play last fall but all the rules were confusing to me so I didn't learn at that time.  Haden has a renewed interest in the game so I thought it was time I finally learned how to play.  Haden taught me and I'm really enjoying the game.  We've been playing every night.  James enjoys playing too, although he doesn't remember all the rules.  

Kids Update

So, I thought I'd use this blog post to give a little update to what the kids have been doing lately.  As school started up I was excited to get them signed up for after school activities.  Now, I'm thinking I may have Haden in too much right now, but he hasn't complained and is enjoying his new sports.  Luckily, two of the activities will be over at the end of October so then we'll be a little less hectic.  The hardest part has been planning dinner because most of the activities fall right around dinner time.

Here is Haden playing ice hockey.  He enjoys ice skating and had previously taken beginner ice skating lessons but got pretty bored with that.  He likes hockey much better because he gets to put on lots of gear and hit a puck around.

Haden is also starting flag football.  This is a combined North Liberty & Coralville league and he knows a couple of kids on his team so that makes it a little more fun.  He is enjoying learning "plays" and tries to get the kids at the busstop to run plays in the morning.

Both boys began doing ATA Taewkondo in September.  We originally planned on only Haden doing this, but after watching for a week James asked to join too.  We try to practice their "forms" at home, but reading the description of what to do is like reading a foreign language.  We really like how much respect, integrity, self control, and other life skills are emphasized in this sport.  They both want to be black belts someday!

Over the summer, Kye and James found a toad in the yard.  They put in into a reptile box thing and planned to let in go the next day.  As it turned out, the kids we're ready to let it go and we ended up keeping him for a couple of months.  We crawled around on our hand and knees in the grass every couple of days to find tiny crickets and other bugs to feed it.  The boys became really attached to Toto and they were really sad when we finally let him go.  Here is a picture of Haden before releasing him back into the yard.

I thought I'd even it up by including some cute pictures of James:

 

And here is what you get when James has the camera and is snapping pics:

 

Marathon Race Report

I DID IT!  I managed to finish my first marathon on Sunday Sept 22nd.  It's one of those things that has been in the back of my mind for a long time and this just seemed like the perfect time to go for it!  I was warned that the training was long, intensive, and would take me away from my family for long periods of time on the weekends.  All of that proved true.  I'll just say that I'm not sure how anyone who works full time can train for a marathon.  I think it was only possible for me because I'm only working 20 hours a week.  Some days I was out running as the sun came up, some evenings I was out running as the sun was setting.  Some runs were on the gym treadmill as James attended the daycare or kids fitness classes.  And then others were late at night on my home treadmill after the kids went to bed.  It got challenging to find time for some of the runs as the distances increased and they days grew shorter, with less available sunlight hours.  I'm relieved to say the training paid off and I was able to make it 26.2 miles on race day.

bottom left sign was my mother's 

The family and I headed into the Quad Cities the day before the race and checked into our hotel room.  Of course the first thing we had to do was swim in the pool.  I remember as a kid that the hotel pool was almost the best part of a vacation and the same rings true for my boys.  After a quick swim, we dropped the kids off with grandma and grandpa Pearce then headed to packet pickup.  After getting my packet and buying a few things at the expo, Kye and I stayed to eat the pasta dinner - I needed a good carb load if I wanted to survive the distance ahead of me!  The featured speaker at dinner was Dane Rauschenberg.  He's written a couple of books and is most known for running 52 marathons in 52 weeks back in 2006.  His talk was entertaining and inspiring.

The following morning, my mother picked me up from the hotel bright and early and took me to the race.  I had been stressing over my attire for the past couple of weeks.  I had a favorite running outfit that I knew felt good for long runs, but it was a tank top and shorts.  However, the week before the race, the weather turned cooler and they predicted about 45 degrees at start time.  I knew there was no way that outfit was going to keep me warm at that temperature.  I'd read about people wearing warm-up clothes and then throwing them off at the start of the race or in the first few miles as they warmed up so that is just what I did.  I bought a $2 sweatshirt from Goodwill and was warm enough to toss it off just before the gun went off. (All the discarded clothing items are then donated to local charities)

As usual, with all the nerves and excitement, I started off too fast.  I had to keep reminding myself that many of the runners were only doing a 1/2 marathon or part of a marathon relay (meaning they were only doing 5-6 miles).  Part of the fun was trying to locate my mom along the race course- kind of like Where's Waldo.  She had mentioned a few spots where she'd try to be so it was a nice distraction to be on the lookout for her.  The marathon course was very scenic.  It skirted both the Illinois side and Iowa side of the Mississippi River.  We also went across three different bridges and all around Arsenal Island.  The strangest part was running across the I-74 bridge.  It is a suspension bridge and is was moving up and down with the weight off all the runners, giving me a bit of a sea sick feeling.  The worst part of the race was the last 6 miles.  My longest training run was 20 miles so I knew the end would be tough.  It was made even harder because of how the course was setup.  After coming off the Arsenal Island, we had to run out 3miles and then back 3 miles to finish.  While running out the 3 miles you can see all the runners ahead of you who are ready to finish and I so badly wanted to be on that side of the road. 

At around mile 23 I started calculating my time and pace and knew that if I could keep a steady pace to the end then I could finish in 4 hours 30 minutes.  That time had been a goal for me so I really wanted to make it happen but my body was getting so tired.  I really wanted to walk by that point but it actually hurt my legs more to walk than to jog.  I kept a slow, steady jog going and then around mile 25 the 4:30 pacer passed me.  (A pacer is someone who signs up for the race and promises to keep a steady pace the entire way.  If a runner has a goal time then if they stick with the pacer they should finish at their goal time)  I really wanted to just give up after the pacer passed me, but I dug in deep and decided that I could tuck in just a few steps behind her so that I could finish at 4:30.  I was able to do just that and was happy with my finish time. 

Some people have asked me "what's next?"  and I'm just not sure yet.  My next goal will likely be to work on speed and improve my 5K time.  After the race my body felt beat up.  By the following morning, all my muscles were really stiff and sore.  I took the whole week off from running and let my body recover.

Thanks to all the friends and family who supported me all year long as I worked to cross both "1/2 marathon" and "full marathon" off my bucket list!  Oh, and I proudly applied my "26.2" sticker to my vehicle as soon as I could :)

Random ramblings...

Many, where does the time go.  I can't believe it's been over 3 months since I've put up a blog post.  Let's just say the summer went by way too quickly.  I had a huge list of activities that I wanted to do with the kids over the summer.  We managed to cross nearly everything off the list so that was fun.  We took some great camping trips over the summer, including visiting a couple of new campgrounds.  The kids really enjoyed our Waterloo camping trip because we stayed at a KOA for the first time.  We also tried a new campground for our week-long trip to the Des Moines area and loved it- right on the Saylorville Lake and it had a great running/biking path that stretched for miles in each direction.

Bumper Cars were a favorite at Adventureland

Haden imitates a gecko - at Blank Park Zoo

Haden pulling James in the bike carrier

As sad as it was to see summer come to an end, it's been really nice to get back into a routine again.  Haden started 1st grade this year and James is in Jr Preschool 2 afternoons/week.  Haden continues to love school, but in typical male fashion I get hardly any info from him about day-to-day activities at school.  He even had his first spelling test this week.  Is it strange that I was really excited about this??  They were all color words and the only one he missed was "orange."  Fall sports are beginning to start up.  Haden will be doing all new activities this year.  He's currently doing a two week trial of taekwondo and is enjoying it so far.  He also begins ice hockey and flag football soon.  I'm never really sure how much is too much at his age so hopefully he doesn't get burned out.

Well, after running my half marathon in the spring and another nearly 1/2 with some friends in June, I decided this would be a good year to cross "run a marathon" off my bucket list.  I was already half way there in regards to the training, so why not??.  So, I've been training all summer to run the QC Marathon on Sept 22nd.  I've had my moments where I've wondered why in the world this ever sounded like a good idea.  And then I've had other times when I've finished a long run and thought that this is totally possible.  This past weekend I completed my longest training run (20 miles) and didn't feel too bad during or afterwards.  I'm kind of ready to get past the marathon and be done with training because I've basically been in training mode all year long.  It'll be nice to just do whatever workout I want on any given day and not feel the pressure to run a certain distance.  On the other hand, I'll miss being able to eat whatever I want.  Running many miles has allowed me to indulge my sweet tooth without the scale showing it!






Kye and I celebrated our 8th anniversary a few days ago. (It's strange in some ways to say only 8 years because we've been together for nearly 14 and just took us so long to get married) We kept it low key and just celebrated with a DQ ice cream cake!  It's hard to explain our wedding to the kids.  They don't seem to understand that mom and dad had a life before they came along.  The see a picture of the wedding and ask why they aren't in the picture.  So, 8 years ago Kye gave me a motorcycle as a wedding gift.  It was unique because it's an automatic, so no gear shifting.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to ride it very much and then I had Haden a year later.  I mention the motorcycle only because we finally sold it today.  Maybe someday when the kids are grown I'll get back into riding motorcycles or maybe I'll just be content to be the passenger on Kye's bike. 

bike riding

I'm always amazed at how quickly Thursdays zoom by.  I think it mostly has to do with the fact that Haden's school lets out early every Thursday so he's home by 2:15 and then I loose any chance I had of getting any housework or errands done because as soon as he gets home I become a referee to the boys constant bickering.  I'm already dreading the long summer if these boys can't find a way to get along!

Haden had his end-of-the-year musical program at school today and then the parents were invited back to the classrooms to check out the kids' memory books.  I didn't think James would have the attention span for all of this so I dropped him off at a friends house.  The music program was cute but I don't think Haden smiled even once.  He had some a serious face while many other kids really got into it.  He said it was fun, but he has a hard time loosening up at school.  The memory books were cute and afterwards Haden was dismissed from school early. 

We headed back to pickup James and then Haden really wanted to head to a park with monkey bars to practice his skills.  We stopped at the park closest to our house and we worked on making it across until he could do it without falling off.  His persistence at learning a task or mastering something new is inspiring.  It was really windy today and threatening rani this afternoon, so our park trip was a short one.

When we got back home, Haden parked himself in front of the tv to watch Transformers.  He really likes to watch a show or movie after school each day to unwind and I usually give in.  Meanwhile, James and I worked on adding some mulch to the front yard tree and spreading grass seed and straw over the newly dirted areas in the yard.

This evening, James should have had soccer but it was cancelled due to the storm warnings.  It seemed really strange to have an evening with no plans.  After dinner, James wanted to ride his bike so Kye and I took turns going around the block with him.  He just started taking an interest in this last week and now you can't keep him off of it!  Yesterday, he rode around the block twice, to Fareway and back, and to the park and back.  In total, that was quite a good distance for his little legs to pedal.  He's quick enough on the bike that I usually have to jog to keep up with him, but riding my bike alongside is tricky because he still occasionally needs a "boost" if he doesn't get enough momentum to get up a hill, etc.

Tonight after dinner, Haden really wanted to ride his bike to the shaved ice place down by Subway.  We told him no, that is a special treat and we're not going there tonight.  He could have a popsicle or ice cream at home.  He is so stubborn, he decided he was going to go anyways!  He only had 2 $1 bills and the shaved ice costs $3.  He was even willing to spend his $2 tooth fairy bill because he wanted it so badly.  Anyways, we still said no and told him he couldn't go along because it's too far and you have to cross many streets.  While I headed out on a walk with James, Haden took off on his bike.  Luckily, I had gotten around the block and was able to yell to kye to go chase him since I was with james headed in the opposite direction.  So, poor kid didn't get his shaved ice and now he's lost his bike and video privileges for days! 

misc from May

Well, we're down to only 3 days of school left for Haden.  I'm left wondering how in the world the school year flew past so quickly.  I really have a hard time comprehending that I'll soon have a 1st grader- that just sounds so old and I still picture Haden as a toddler when in reality he was become an independent young man.  In reflection, there are plenty of bad things he's learned this year at school, the worst being the back talking and attitude.  He also learned that the middle finger is bad, although he thinks it means "I hate God."  Haden has taken a notice to radio music this past year.  He'll often come home singing popular radio songs, usually with the lyrics completely wrong but it's still pretty amusing. 

On the other hand, Haden has an awesome teacher, Ms. Knupp.  He just adores her and I'm pretty sure he was the teacher's pet this year.  He is such a good boy at school, and was chosen to attend "group" sessions where some of the more naughty kids were sent to spend time with a counselor to learn better behaviors.  He attended "group" as the positive role model.  Haden was already reading when he began kindergarten, but he's become an even stronger reader and has been enjoying chapter books and will even occasionally sit and read to himself.   A couple of days ago, Haden and I were each huddled on opposite ends of the couch reading to ourselves and I had one of those yep, he's just like me moments.

So, as the school year wraps up, I took to Pinterest to come up with gift ideas:

Ms. Knupp's gift

Bus driver gift

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend - one of the biggest camping weekends of the year.  We had sites reserved for us and Barb & Ron at Sugarbottom and we were all so excited for a fun weekend.  Unfortunately, it rained nearly non-stop the entire weekend.  We only had a few hours total of outdoor time the entire weekend.  The kids still said they had fun, but I was bummed that we couldn't bike, hike, or be outside very much.  I did get one run in at the campground.  I had forgotten how hilly that place is, but I love running at campgrounds because it's a change of scenery.

While we were camping, James made a girlfriend and hung out with her every chance he got.  She was riding her bike, so James decided he wanted to ride his too.  Up until then, he has taken very little interest in riding his bike, but he hopped on and took off (but still has the training wheels).  The beach area at the campground is flooded and we watched the waters rise even higher while we were there.  I think it'll be quite a while until the water recedes enough to use the beach, which is a bummer because that is a huge reason why we camp there.

While we were stuck inside the camper this weekend, James spent some time practicing his name.  He is so proud of his writing skills.

Sunday afternoon, we all packed into the minivan (including Barb & Ron) and headed up to Dubuque for Grandma Lois's surprise 80th birthday party.  On the way back home, we hit a deer.  I'm glad that Kye was driving because he was able to control the vehicle and keep us all safe, while if it were me I'm pretty sure I would have swerved or ended up in the ditch!  The van sustained some good damage, the estimate today was $6800 in repairs.  Luckily, it struck the van in such a way that we lost the front headlight, but were able to get to a gas station, grab some duct tape, and then drive back to the campground.  Somehow, James managed to sleep through the entire ordeal, which is amazing because I screamed pretty loud as it happened and it was a pretty hard thud as it hit!  Haden was pretty excited by all of it and thought it was neat for the police officer to come with his lights flashing.

 

This weekend, I'll be running Dam-to-Dam a 20K race in the Des Moines area.  I'll be running with a couple of friends who just became runners last summer and have done an awesome job of training and getting fast!  I'm kind of glad to get this race over with because I've been feeling really burned out of the race training since my 1/2 marathon back in April.  Going forward, I need to decide if I'm done training for a while or if I'm still thinking about pushing forward and doing a full marathon this fall.  One of my knees has been giving me problems so I'm not sure my body can handle more training so I love how much food I can eat when I'm running 25 miles a week.  I read a blog called "runs for cookies" and that is seriously how I feel about running some days!

Other random fun stuff from May:

We got 5.5 tons of dirt delivered - to distribute in various places around the yard.  The boys loved playing on the huge mound of dirt all day as Kye worked his butt off to move the dirt around

not sure if you can see,but notice the neighbor's dandelion filled backyard, how in the world are we supposed to keep our yard looking nice when both of our neighbor's yards look like this???!!

I got the garden planted at the end of April and it's looking good.  Here is a pic of James picking the first strawberry of the season -

Another crafty moment came when I needed to buy some graduation cards.  Apparently, I waited too long because Target was cleared out and had the Father's Day cards out instead.  There were like 5 cards to pick from, none cheaper than $4.  I've always had a hard time buying greeting/birthday cards because most cost $3-5 and I know that most people just throw them away.  So, I was not willing to pay $4 for a crappy card so I headed home and made my own with my Cricut.  I think they turned out cuter than what the store had anyways!  Please tell me that I'm not the only one that finds buying cards is a huge waste of money...

Outdoor fun

So, we made it out to camp this weekend.  The kids have been asking when we could camp for over a month now so they were super excited about it.  The weather could have been a little warmer, but we still had a great time.  On Saturday, we went for a hike and Haden was picking up walking sticks.  At some point, we were all carrying a few and Haden decided he wanted to sell them when we got back to the campground.  He also spent some time making bookmarks so that his "store" had more than just sticks.  I figured he'd make a few bucks since a bunch of family was coming out to eat dinner with us and they'd be willing to shell out a couple of quarters each.  What we didn't anticipate was that when a few of the family walked down to the water with their newly purchased walking sticks, others would ask "where did you get those"?  That turned into getting customers outside of the family.  Haden ended up making $12!  He's planning to buy a new Skylander.

Little Entrepreneur

lunch time with friends

Since it's May, we're in full swing for kids sports.  My previous post mentioned that James refused to play soccer, but I'm happy to say that he is now loving his soccer games.  We've been bribing him with sips of Gatorade after he runs around with his team and he's super excited about the post-game snacks. 

Haden is having a blast playing Rookie baseball.  Kye is an assistant coach so during games I get to chase James around and don't get to watch very much of the game.

Kye has been practicing golf with the boys.  Haden is really into it and wants to go to a real golf course with daddy so they need a daddy/son day out soon!

James has been working very hard lately on learning and writing his letters.  He is very proud that he can finally write his name.  Haden is ready for summer vacation.  Each morning it's getting harder and harder to get him out the door and on the bus because he just wants to stay home and play.  I'm ready for summer too so we can sleep in and do lots of fun outdoor activities.  This will be the first summer that nobody needs an afternoon nap so it'll be nice to have the entire day for activities if we need it.

a long catch-up post

Gosh, it's been a long time since I've updated my blog.  The hard drive on our computer crashed and had to be sent out to be repaired so I didn't have access to my pictures for a while so this will be a long post as I catch you all up on our latest activities.

Starting with the most recent... James started tiny tot soccer tonight.  He was super excited and has been talking about it all week.  But when we got there we let Haden head over to the play structure and then James didn't want to play soccer - he only wanted to go to the playground.  I guess I'm not surprised since Haden had a hard time with organized sports when he was 3 also.  I have my fingers crossed that it goes better next week.

1st week: he preferred watching from the sideline

This past weekend I accomplished my goal of running a half marathon.  I've been training for this since the beginning of the year and am proud to say I did it!  The course had rolling hills throughout and the temp/weather was cold and windy but I survived and am happy with my finish time of 1:58.  My very optimistic goal was 2hrs so I was very happy to finish under 2 (including one potty break).  I was a bit bummed that I didn't have any family there to see me finish but it was just too early and cold to drag the kids there.  My next big thing will be doing a 20k Dam-to-Dam run with a couple of friends on 6/1/13.  I'm so proud of my buddies Shonelle and Kristyn who just became runners last summer.  They've been training so hard and have become addicted to running so it's awesome to have close friends whom I can talk "running" with.  My local running store offers free group runs each week and I've been waiting for the weather to warm up so I can join in on those runs.  I've run with the "group" twice now and have enjoyed meeting some new runners.  For those of you who know me well, this is a big step for me as it's extremely hard for me to step out of my shell and meet new people.  I've found that the time passes much more quickly and the run is much more enjoyable when you have someone to chat with. 

the post-race glow!

So, last fall we decided to put both boys into the same bedroom for sleeping and use the other room as a toy room.  We were hoping it would help bedtime go more smoothly, but that never happened.  The other problem was when Haden wanted to play alone and didn't really have a space where he could do that and shut his brother out.  So, about a month ago I decided to separate the rooms again.  James was ready to move out of the toddler bed so I was excited to decorate his "big boy" room.  It seemed like a good time to do something different for Haden to so this is what we ended  up with:

Haden's room: Pirate themed

James's room: space themed

Back in March, Haden entered a bookmark contest.  The contest was to celebrate Women's History Month and he had to draw something relating to a historical woman.  I didn't think they had covered any historical women yet in Kindergarten so we did some research together on Amelia Earhart.  He found her story fascinating.  Anyways, he submitted the colored bookmark and he won the K-2 age division.  They blew up his bookmark for the award ceremony.  I'm told they will be making copies of the bookmarks and distributing them around the Iowa City area this summer.

I'm going to include some Easter photos since I didn't get a chance to include those yet:

Who's happy about dessert??