Sledding accident

During Christmas break, we went back to Omaha to visit the grandmas and grandpas. It was 9 degrees. Too cold for me, but not too cold for the boys to go sledding. The first day sledding, Nathan stayed inside. The second day, Nathan went sledding and the last run of the day, he had a sledding accident and fell off the sled into the ice face first. This is what Nathan looked like after 3 days. Better than I thought it was going to look when I first found out.

Christmas in Atlanta

Pictures from Colin and Nathan opening the gifts from me and Bob. Colin received a marble run and Nathan got tinker toys. They also got wind-up flashlights that never need batteries, just wind it up!

Making dinner

Last night, Colin totally surprised me. Just before Bob got home, Colin went into the kitchen and decided to make dinner. He was cutting carrots (with a butter knife) and wanted to make tea and oatmeal. I helped with the tea and oatmeal (hot water plus 5-year old, not a good combo usually). Bob and I had to make our own dinner, but that was okay. As the boys were sitting there eating their carrots and oatmeal, I heard Nathan say, "Colin, thank you for lunch." Priceless.

'Z' car

Driving through a parking lot today, Colin noticed a car. "Hey Mom, look at that funny looking car."

It was only a Datsun 280Z ... my favorite kind of car in the whole wide world. I had one in high school, and I have to admit when my dad said he bought a Datsun for me, I first thought of the B210 that we had when I was little. The B210 was ugly, and I was not excited about a 280Z if it was made by the same company. But when I saw it, I was in love. It was the greatest, cutest, fastest (not that I would know!) car that I ever had. I loved that car.

Decorating the 'tree'

This year we didn't get around to getting a traditional real Christmas tree like we have the last couple of years. We are spending Christmas in Omaha at the grandmas and grandpas so it's doesn't seem right to get a tree if we are not going to be here (besides isn't it a fire hazard to have a dying tree in your house when you plan on being gone for almost a week!)

Well, Colin is at the point where he noticed and kept asking when are we getting a tree. Just joking around, I said, "Here's a tree!", and grabbed a branch in the yard. "You can decorate this tree!"

The kids loved the idea and so we ended up with two Charlie Brown Christmas trees with lots of garland and ornaments.



Colin's finished tree:

Nathan's finished tree:

Ready for school

Took Colin and Nathan's picture one morning before going to school. Nathan really likes to wear his sunglasses right now, and Colin is into his new engineer hat from Danni.

Thanksgiving dinner

So after the marathon, we parked the kids in front of the longest kids movie we had, gave Colin the remote and took a nap! At dinner time, we got everyone dressed and out the door just in time for our thanksgiving dinner reservations at Atkins Park. You know that I'm not cooking, even if I didn't run 26.2 miles!

Atkins Park was great. Colin asked if they had a playground. Nope, it's just the name, not a real park. He liked it anyway. We ordered chicken fingers and tomato soup for the kids which they ate, yeah!

Colin took the picture of us, which is much better than the one I took of Colin and Nathan. In my defense, Bob and I sit still a lot better than the boys.

Thanksgiving marathoners

Bob has joined the ranks of "marathoner", whereas he finished the Atlanta Marathon this Thanksgiving. The race is the morning of Thanksgiving, and as I have told many people, it's one way to earn your turkey and stuffing and potatoes and pie and everything!

Bob did awesome, he ran the marathon in 3:35, about an hour faster than me. He was a little bit disappointed though. You see there is a 5-mile hill after the 20 mile mark, and in Bob's book, that is just plain rude to put a 5-mile hill at that part of a race!

This is my second marathon, and I highly recommend skipping the first and going straight to the second! The race itself was different, but recovery has been much easier the second time around. I remember the first time, it was 5 days after the race and thinking, "when am I ever going to feel normal again". Here it is the 2nd day after the race and I'm just a little sore.

But the race, yikes! I didn't mind the 5-mile hill at mile 20. I had already hit the wall and was hating life, so the hill was just another brick on the 'wall'. You see I tried to do the Gallaway method of 8 minutes run/ 1 minute walk. I'm not so experienced with this method and ended up going too fast. At 13.1 miles (half way) I was on pace for a 4:12. My previous marathon was 4:40. Bob actually saw me just before the halfway turn around and said to himself, she's having a very good race or is going to crash and burn. And guess what? I crashed and burned! But I made it to the end and actually finished really strong.

So my stats are:
5 mile ~about 48 minutes
10 mile ~about 1:35
13.1 mile 2:06
26.2 mile 4:34.17

Out of 730 finishers, I was 543.
Out of 178 women finishers, I was 123.
Out of 17 40-44 women finishers, I was 12.

Bob stats are:
13.1 mile 1:43
26.2 mile 3:35.21

Out of 730 finishers, he was 138.
Out of 552 men finishers, he was 127.
Out of 77 40-44 men finishers, he was 18.

Not too shabby.

Birthday extravaganza!

Colin's birthday was a four-day long celebration. Lucky guy! On the actual day of Colin's birthday, Friday, November 21, we invited both classes to Candler Park after school. It was cold so not many people showed up, but the ones that did brave the cold got hot chocolate and pizza!

On Saturday, Uncle Ian and Aunt Roxanne came over to celebrate both Ian's and Colin's birthday (Ian's birthday is November 16). That's when Colin opened his presents from Mom and Dad and Nathan. He got a scooter from Mom and Dad, and a paper airplane making book from Nathan.




The big birthday party was on Sunday at Atomic Tangerine where Colin had a globe cake that tasted like orange juice (special request by Colin!). Everyone did a special art project and made a space creature.



Colin's birthday walk at school was on Monday. That's where Colin walks around the elipse five times to represent five years, and one parent (that would be me) talks about significant events that happened during each year. I spent a lot of time preparing and had too much information, so the presentation was dramatically cut. I don't want all that work to go to waste, so I am creating a photo book of Colin's first five years. You know I just don't have enough to do, so this won't be any problem, right?

Dad's card to Colin

My wish for your fifth birthday ...

Dear Colin,
You turn five years old today, and I am so proud of the person that you are becoming. You are smart, resourceful, independent, considerate and such a happy boy. Just recently I've noticed that you are really getting good about cooperating, asking nicely, and saying "please" and "thank you", especially when playing with Nathan.

I am over-whelmed with emotion when I think of the all that you mean to me. After you were born, life took on a whole new meaning and I mean that in the best way possible. You give my life order and purpose where before all was chaos.

As I look at my own experiences and people that I admire, I notice a common trait that is consistently connected to those who excel and succeed. And so, I wish for your fifth birthday that you possess confidence in yourself and all that you do. It is with confidence that we are able to reach higher and further then we ever imagined. Reach for the stars Colin, and you will do anything that you want to do.

You are forever and always, my big guy.

Love,
Mom

Trunk boys

Pictures of Colin and Nathan in the trunk of the car when we were packing to go home after our trip to Indiana. And no, we didn't let them ride back there!

Grandpa Davey

As I mentioned in the previous post, we were in Indiana for my Grandpa's funeral. My Grandpa Davey was in the hospital for a couple of months and Tuesday, October 28 was his final day. It was a very emotional time for all of us. The house was the biggest issue because several years ago, Grandpa was swindled out of the deed to his house. Personally, I think the lowest of the low lifes are the ones who take from children and the elderly. There are so many questions about what's going to happen to the house, and how long we have until it goes into foreclosure. The guy took a mortgage out on the house after he got the deed, and is not likely to keep up with the payments. Then there is the biggest issue, absolutely no one wants this piece of scum to move into the house now that my grandpa is gone.

Anyway, it's a big mess, but one good thing has come out of our loss ... it looks like my sister and I are on the way to rebuilding our relationship. It hasn't been pretty for a while between us, but that may be changing. I'm very optimistic and hopeful. Funny how our losses sometimes bring out change. It reminds me of my Grandma Davey's funeral. After that one, Bob and I had a big discussion about families and made the decision to start one of our own. The result is Colin and Nathan!

So Rest In Peace Grandpa, I love you. I hope you know that you and Grandma have made the world a better place by being here. Even in your passing, great things have happened to make life better for those of us remaining.

History is made!

Go Obama!

Trick-or-treating in Indiana

We were planning on trick-or-treating Friday night with neighbor kids but events beyond my control (my grandfather passed away, and his funeral was on Saturday) dictated that we be in Decatur, Indiana, October 31, Halloween night.

I figured that we would just take the kids trick-or-treating in Decatur, and the kids would be happy. After we arrived in Indiana, we found out that Decatur did their trick-or-treating the night before! Craziness! Luckily, Indiana is one of those places where there are lots of small towns in a small area. We were sent to Berne, Indiana to go trick-or-treating. No luck there either, they trick-or-treated the night before. So one last try in Ossion, Indiana. We found a nice neighborhood and went to five houses. This was enough for Colin and Nathan, and everyone was happy.

In Berne, we went to McDonald's for dinner and saw some Amish having dinner there too. I find them very interesting people, and the kids loved the horse and buggies that they ride in. Idea for next year's International Day!

Colin was obviously a ghost. Nathan was supposed to be a ghost too, but at the last minute decided he wasn't going to wear a sheet. So Nathan wore the fire hat that we got at Firehouse Subs (dinner on the way to Indiana!). Amazing how things work out sometimes.

International day - Greenland

Colin and Nathan in the Greenland National Costume:


The Greenland National Costume:


Every year, the school has International Day to celebrate the United Nations birthday which is right about the time of Halloween. This is nice, since Montessori doesn't typically celebrate Halloween, and International Day gives the children a chance to dress up.

The children are asked to come to school dressed as someone from a different culture or nationality. A couple weeks ago, Colin was playing with his electronic, talking globe and was so excited when he found Greenland. I volunteered to look up some information for him on Greenland and discovered that they have a "National Costume" that they wear for important events and holidays including the first day of school. I also thought the boys costumes would be pretty easy to do (black sweats, white hoodie, and black and white boots). So Bingo! After putting black and white duct tape on the boys green rainboots, I had their International Day outfits!

Some cool info on Greenland:
*Native Greenlandic words that are also found in many languages: igloo, kayak
*There are no roads connecting the towns in Greenland. They use ships or helicopters or airplanes to get between towns.
*It is the largest island in the world.

More pumpkins

So time for a trip to the pumpkin patch to replace the melting pumpkin. We got three more pumpkins!

Melting pumkin

Apparently we carved our pumpkin too early, whereas it is full of mold and melting.

October 20, 2008

October 21, 2008

October 22, 2008

October 25, 2008 (Nathan stuck pieces of a broken pot into the pumpkin at this point.)

Shortly after this picture we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out more pumpkins to replace this one. Colin said that this pumpkin looked sad. I agree.

Botanical gardens

Pictures from our visit to the Botanical Gardens with my parents. Amy and Grace also joined us at the gardens to see the scarecrows on display.

Scary Housing Market with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as the reapers!