Jumps & Downs

Today we took a field trip to Shakopee to enjoy some jumpy good times.  I was pretty impressed with the facility (clean/well maintained)  and thought that the variety of inflatables that they offered was a great fit for both of my kiddos!  We brought our own lunch with but I heard the little sandwich shop next door had great food at extremely cheap prices (next time!)

Jack stayed awake the whole ride home (even though it was well past his naptime.)  He was dead to the world at 5pm when I had to wake him up.  Poor baby!

Spring Break

Independent woman

I woke up to Lauren telling me that she made her own lunch for school today. What? Yep, her own lunch.  Last night was a late night for me (too much reading and obsessing over our cruise) so I got out the stuff to make her a pb&j sandwich but didn’t actually make it.  She took it upon herself this morning to finish the job. She used a cheese spreader instead of a knife and then just threw the sandwich in her lunchbox (no need to protect it.)  I just had to take a photo.  She’s also started taking out 2 bowls, 2 spoons and two cups for their breakfasts in the morning (never mind if they aren’t having cereal, hahaha.)  It’s so cute and I love how helpful she is.  She can be so sweet at times…

Matchy matchy

After looking at this picture I realized how short this dress is getting on Lauren.  Luckily, I can just let out the knots an inch or so and it’s good as new. :) Jack insisted that he be in the picture too.  What do you do?

Planting flowers

Jack was more interested in eating his snack and saying hi to the babies than planting flowers today.  Good think he has his mama there to help him out or I can’t imagine what the planter would look like. 

Yum!

Poor Lauren bean fell asleep in the van on the way home from pre-school this afternoon.  I stopped at the post office to drop off a couple of packages and that ride was all it took.  She must have played extra hard today.

Happy Monday

Big Boy Jack got to ride in the car seat facing-forward for the first time today.  The van was in getting an a/c hose replaced so I had to pick Jack up from his mini-school in Daddy’s car.  He’ll be back to rear facing as soon as I pick up the van from the dealership.  He’s such a good boy and it doesn’t seem to bother him so I plan to keep him rf’ing as long as possible.  My goal was 18 months and now I’m thinking until the AAP recommended age 2. Lauren was such a different story, I think she was 1 year and 1 second (and of course 20 pounds+) when we turned her around.

It’s another fantastically gorgeous day in March (?!)  Here are a couple of pics of Jack trying on a hat (getting outgrown clothing ready to sell) and hanging out at ECFE.  It’s probably time to replace my P&S camera.  I wish Sprint wouldn’t have upgraded my phone (to one with a crappier camera) or I would have just used my evo4g camera instead.

The zoo

Why Hello, giant tortoise.  After I cleaned up from the race we checked out and made a couple of Matilda Jane deliveries (from my trunk show.)  Then, we were off to the como zoo (Jack’s first zoo experience since being of the age to remember it.)

They were both enthralled with the Buffalo for some reason (really, of all the animals?)  I think Jack may have been excited to finally be set free from the stroller and that’s why he liked mr. buffalo so much.

Yes, we let the poor sprouty have his paci during the day.  Poor guy was all out of whack from taking a 10 minute nap on the ride there and then skipping his afternoon nap.

Both kids took all of the shoulder riding opportunities they could.

Happy St. Pat’s!

Get Lucky 7k

Here’s the group of us before the race.  I’ve been running with Gretchen and Jamie since last summer (through MOMS club.)  When I saw the awesome sweatshirt that this years participants would earn in this race I decided I was all-in. We started “training” in February (just following the schedule they posted on the website) and here we are today.  This was my (and Jamie’s) first race and Gretchen’s 3rd (she did the 5k I was supposed to do last fall but was too sick to actually run in.)

My friend Jessica of JM Photography (and also our photographer when scheduling permits) also joined us.  I’m proudly sporting my mark of the beast number.  I’m thinking it wasn’t too bad after all, since it did have the lucky 7 on the end.

Here we are walking toward the start line.  This was the world’s largest 7k (4.3ish miles) so even though the race began at 9am we didn’t cross the start line until 10-ish minutes later.

Here we are crossing the start line, we were all smiles at this point.

Here is my family cheering me on at the finish line.  I’m not actually in the photo because I had crossed the finish line a bit before this. Unfortunately, I didn’t know they were going to be there so I wasn’t looking for them (I was running as fast as I could trying to make it to the end.)  They also missed me cross the line as there was a big group of people all there at the same time.

Here we are with our sweet medals.  We DID it!!  We ran the whole thing and averaged an 11:06 pace.  I can give you all of the dirty details from my GPS if you’re curious.  I was really impressed with the graphics that Garmin gives you.  It was cool to see my pace (and heartrate) skyrocket at the end.  I had planned to all out run the last .25 mile but wasn’t paying attention to my GPS and didn’t start running until I saw the finish banner pop up.

Here are my official results: http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?race=668&rid=6667

I had said I planned to run it in 55 minutes when I registered.  My personal goal was to finish it in under 50 minutes and I did it!  At the end, once I had crossed the finish line I felt so good, I think I could have kept going.  I guess we’re going to have to register for the Mankato 10k next. :)

knock knock

open up the door, it’s real

We’re here in Minneapolis for me to run the Get Lucky 7k tomorrow.  I’m unbelievably excited to finally be running my first race (after getting so sick last fall and not being able to run the 5k I registered for.)

Yes, Kevin and Jack have matching swim trunks.  Daddy likes to get in on the matching action once in awhile too.

Sunny Days are here

Since we didn’t get the chance to go sled in the snow (at ALL!) this winter we have to use the darn thing now instead.  Definitely the weirdest winter ever, I’m hoping there won’t be a blizzard on Easter!

Big boy Jack

Well you can’t beat this weather with a stick.  I can’t believe we’re wearing short sleeves nevertheless shorts in March.  Here is Jackson trying out the big boy swing and letting Leni or Tommy have a turn in the bitty baby swing. 

Here’s hoping…

that these kids will be more athletically inclined than their parents.

Green Bean

I didn’t think this was a big deal until I saw the destruction she left in the spare bedroom.  Hopefully, we won’t have a repeat of this again. :-)  I just love her cheeky facial expressions in these pics.  I told her not to smile so instead she gives me the sassy pants scowl.  Nice!

My little brute

This isn’t the first time Lauren has hopped in this cart during open playtime and had Jack chauffeur her around.  He’s pretty strong and smart (he likes to drive her into the walls and tip her over.)

Piggy rides

Jack has figured out that if you crawl on to Daddy’s back he will cart you around like a donkey.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t discovered how to hold on properly and it’s a very wild ride.