Summer 2012 List

Our summer started yesterday as AJ worked on Monday. Today is the official 1st day of summer, so what better way to celebrate than by BBQ'ing hotdogs and making a summer to do list.

Porter helped and I added a few and so did AJ and Maggie, well she is along for the ride this year. It does make things a little easier now that she can walk!

Fun times ahead, summa-summa time!

It's official- for posterity's sake.

Maggie started up and walking on Wednesday, June 13th, just a few days before her 17th month. She can get up in the middle of the floor and totters along. I need to catch a video of it. She is discovering her new independence and is happier not to be scraping up her knees and legs. The tops of her feet were all scraped up too.

So, she started crawling at 11 months and walking at 17.

Porter started crawling at 8 and walking at 14.

Hmmm, what was I so worried about Maggie. She just needed to crawl for 6 months like Porter did! :) Silly kids!

And we did it again!

5K number three completed today. I ran with Christi and Jana and Amanda. Amanda's husband and JJ ran the 10K and us girls did the 5K. Beautiful park and gorgeous weather meant for an amazing run.

Despite a technical difficulty of a not very well marked turn, I ended up running 4 miles versus 3.2 but it felt good.

Maybe next time I will do a 10K!

Tell story of my day.

A few months back every night I would lay in bed with Porter and we would talk about his day. What he did. Who he saw. Where he went. What he ate. And sometimes I ask him the questions to fill in the story on the days I work and he hangs out with Nammie. I (with the help of pictures Lori would post on Facebook) could get pretty close but he would fill in the really cool or important stuff. It was such a sweet time. I still lay in bed with him every night but we have transitioned to stories of firefighters. And how they rescue people in fires, car accidents and from the water. He really had me on my toes when he asked for a story of space firefighters! What?! Is there even such a thing. I attempted it once but have since declined due to lack of creativity in my head.

Anyways...on to the point of my blog.

Today, let me tell you story of our day. It was a day that you feel like you have conquered the world when you crawl in to bed.

Hold on, here.we.go.

My alarm went off at 6:30 and Porter promptly woke up shortly thereafter. He came to our bed to watch TV while AJ headed off to shower and I made banana muffins for breakfast. AJ then made eggs for breakfast, we ate, got the kids dressed and headed out the door to Mento Brown park.

I was meeting some BFF's for a 5K Run for Compassion and JJ was doing the 10K and AJ had brought his bike and trailer to ride around with the kids. The weather was amazing and we lined up for the race. Off we went, Jana was pushing Finn in the stroller and our friend Christi was running along with Amanda and her two kids in her stroller. We all keep together for a little bit then I fell into my own groove. I was in the zone and wanting to make good time. So off I went and on the poorly marked course missed a turn and ended up running my own course and about 4 miles, versus 3.2. Oh well, it felt good and I still had a good time for me, so I tried to move on with my frustration of getting off course due to poor markings!!

We all finished, had some apples and bananas and headed off to have brunch with the Avison's and the Terpening's and ended up at Venti's. They have a kid area so they could play and we all have super yummy food and then it was time to head home.

Nap time!! We ran out to AJ's parents to pick up a hedge trimmer so AJ could tackle some trees in our yard and by the time we got home, porter went right to bed but Maggie put up a fight as she had fallen asleep in the car. I still left her in her crib for a hour and she got quiet for a bit but I never felt she really fell asleep. Well, tonight I discovered what she was occupying herself with. She was pulling her vinyl decals off the wall and basically ruined the bottom half of them. I knew it would happen at some point right?

Anyways, at 3 Porter woke up so we got them both up and put swimsuits on and headed outside to play in the pool. AJ put it right at the end of our play structure slide and both of the loved sliding in to the water. Maggie would squeal and laugh and Porter wanted me to watch him each time. We invited Finn over and he joined in for a little before they headed off to church. Jana and JJ took Porter with them and AJ and I and Maggie stayed home and he continued to trim the trees.

Our garden raised beds in the back have been struggling because all the trees are huge and giving too much shade. So AJ cut and trimmed and whacked them back. Our yard looks bigger and more open. Let's hope the garden gets more sun now!

I fed Maggie dinner and then she sang and played for a little but was pretty tired from her short nap so I put her down at 6:45! Shortly thereafter, Jana, JJ, Finn and Porter arrive back at our house and Lori and Al show up with pizza. We sit on our patio and eat dinner and play for a bit then they all head home and it is time for P to get to bed.

We come inside and my house looks like a tornado touched down in the living room, dining room and kitchen. I haven't done any dishes all day. The bags are still full of stuff from places we have gone, the dishwasher is full of clean dishes and I have a pile of swimsuits and towels that need to be washed after our day outside. Whew. Where to start?

I pick up everything except the kitchen while AJ gets P ready for bed so that after I tell him his story, I can go outside to help AJ pick up limbs and yard debris. P gets to bed and I head outside with AJ and we work for about 45 minutes picking up limbs, yard debris and raking. Our yard looks amazingly better now!

Then we head inside and I unload the clean dishes, reload the dirty dishes and start the dishwasher again and head downstairs to fold the load of clean clothes and transfer the other load AJ started. Does it ever end?

I finally sit down on my bed to rest my feet, write my blog post and it is 10pm. What a day, folks. What a day.

Wouldn't change anything. I love my family. I love running and being outside. I love my amazing friends. I love productive Saturdays and I love seeing transformation in our yard.

We are blessed. Life is good.

We did it again!

It has been a year since the four of us (Christi K., Christy R., Jana and myself) did the Starlight Run. We added a new team member, Sarah Case, a good friend of all of ours who lives in Portland and just had a baby in January.

It is a fun girls night out and we get to eat dinner together, run and watch some of the parade and just hang out. We had a blast!

Here is a bit of history. Sarah and I ran this race together in June of 2003. She had just moved to Portland and I was getting married in a month and we loved running, so we signed up for it. Fast forward to June 2011 and I ran it after having a baby 5 months prior and it was hard, but my teammates were encouraging and we finished in 48 minutes. I was hoping for 45; close enough.

My goal this year was to beat last years time and run the whole way. We walked a little bit last year.

2012- Sarah joined us and she just had a baby 5 months ago and we all ran the whole thing, even up the last hill which is pure torture and finished in 36 minutes! Goal accomplished!

Everyone rocked it! We dressed up in our 80's attire as the theme was Rock 'N Roll and had a great time.

Now, what should our goal for next year be? Hmmm....

(Photo credit: Christi Kurtz)