Robyn and family

Happy 2nd birthday!

2012-01-29T21:42:00.004-07:00

Happy second birthday to our sweet girl.

Here's how she celebrated -

1. A new elmo hoodie from her Uncle Stu, Aunt Lindsay and counsins Kay and Simon.

2. Elmo cupcakes for her class that me and Spency made together. They looked part alien, part Elmo, but the toddlers somehow deciphered Elmo.

3. Elmo cupcake cake for her party this past friday night. More on the party, below.

4. Elmo jammies from her grandpa Lewie and grandma Linda.

5. Other super cool gifts from my parents, Uncle Arthur (Shoshi's birthday buddy) and Aunt Jan and a few friends. We're still excited to skype and have Shoshi open her gift while Jon's mom and dad in S. Dakota are watching!

6. Elmo plates, party hats, etc.

Note the theme...the girl loves elmo. And cupcakes. And we love her...and can't believe she's two. Where does the time go? From adorable snuggly baby to awesome little toddler that bosses us all around!

The weekend started with a friday trip to the doctor for her two year visit. Other than Shoshi screaming bloody murder from the moment they called her name (she was fine for the hour me, Spencer and Shoshi waited in the waiting room) she was great. She's a little peanut, at about 15th percentile. But she's perfect.

Friday night we had a bowling party. Less for Shoshi than for Jon and I and our friends and Spency and his buds...but Shoshi still had a blast. We bowled at the same club the kids go to daycare which made my party planning super easy. They provided the bartender (happy hour...couldn't do without a glass of wine or two) and pizza which was especially awesome for me since Jon and I are on a ridiculous 30-day "paleo diet" with no breads, grains, etc....in other words...we eat like our paleo ancestors...protein, fruit, veggies, nuts. Not wonderful choices if you're the carb queen like me...but it did make that piece of pizza taste wonderful.

Here's a few pics...

Take a look at Spency's smile. Next week at this time he'll have new front teeth!

Yup....there's Elmo.

Daddy's little girl!

Look...cute (ha!) bowling shoes.

Me and the girls. That's Shelly, Consuelo, me and Jeannene.

Shoshi's first boyfriend, Matteo!

Teo trying to hold Shoshi's hand!

The rest of our weekend was fast and fun. I ran 8 miles in absolutley frigid temperatures that I was slightly unprepared for...then ran to my favorite store for 70% off!...then Jon and I brought the kids to crossfit and did a ridiculous workout with like a million burpees which made my head spin after insufficient carbs and my freezing cold run. We all napped and then went to the aquarium after dinner. Today we took the kids to the zoo and then I ran off for a much needed pedi. The kids are finally asleep and I'm about to put our paleo groceries (ughhh...still 3 more weeks left of this crazy eating) and then off to bed for an early monday run and then work!

Have a great week.

Thanks to Amy...

2012-01-15T21:04:00.002-07:00

I just got off the phone with Amy (remember...one of my favorite people in the whole world who came to visit (FINALLY) and I blogged about it here) -

http://www.robynandjon.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-weekend.html

Amy is a fellow blogger (and a much more creative person in general so it's easy to be inspired) and we talked about blogging which led to this post...so Amy...this ramblingness is for you! Check out Amy's awsesome blog here...

http://www.amysscraps.blogspot.com/

...and while you're at it...feel free to order some cookies from her. She's AMAZING!!! (You can see some of her cookies on her blog...keep scrolling down...or you can stalk her and become her facebook friend!).

Okay...now back to our marginally entertaining life.

Today was a big favorite for Denverites...the stock show. Lots of cowboy hats and big animals I can't identify. The best part is we can break out Spencer's cowboy hat that we bought two years ago (which as we reminded ourselves today was the day before I delivered Shoshi).

Today we added to the stock show excitement by buying Shoshi a pink cowboy hat. Here's a picture of the kids in their hats...clearly not totally thrilled about the whole experience (for the record...this was on the tractor ride back to our car which was about 2 hours past Shosh's naptime).

Me and my little urban cowgirl

Our little city slicker!

This was really fun...Spencer and Shoshi went on the train together at the stock show.
The little girl here is the daughter of the very awesome lady that cleans our house who we randomly saw today.

It wasn't all smiles...it took Shosh a few minutes to warm up to the train.

The best part of the stockshow...Shoshi conked out the minute we got into the car.
I added the hat for a more humorous picture!

It's hard to believe it's Sunday night...although thankfully I have tomorrow off. Yesterday I started the day with a run and then we did a crossfit workout (nothing like 120 squats, 90 pull ups and push ups and some other torture I'm conveniently forgetting as a kick off to the weekend). Last night we hung out with our friends next door to watch the Broncos get pummeled by the Patriots. Fun times despite the loss.

In other news, Shoshi turns two on Jan 26. Crazy. Here she is with her favorite new Elmo sweatshirt (thanks to Brooke and Link...their youngest (as of now) is freaked out by Elmo whereas Shoshi is obsessed. She wouldn't take the fleece off all day at school.

Big news for Spencer...he's getting new teeth. If your recall, he knocked them out about two years ago. He sitll has several more years until getting his front two adult teeth. He seemed to really want teeth and he was super calm when they took his impressions last week. Stay tuned for pics!

Happy holidays!

2011-12-24T17:02:00.014-07:00

Happy hanukkah and merry xmas!

I am finally taking a week or so off to hang with the kids and Jon is off for the long weekend...a much needed block of time catching up with Spencer and Shoshi. December has turned into a whirlwind month.

This year December started with a marathon for me. Another 26.2 (#4) and a really fun week with Jon and I and this time no munchkins. I ran the California International Marathon in Sacramento, along with our friends Shelly and Brian. I finished in 4:14, almost 20 minutes faster than last year. I was really happy and very sore and then very relaxed as we headed to Sonoma for a few days. We stayed at a very amazing hotel (the Hotel Healdsburg, for anyone looking for a recommendation), drank wine, slept late, ate well and (I) hobbled around the wineries.

Below is a race recap and some marathon pics (consider that a warning...you can skip to the more entertaining family stuff after I ramble about my running adventure).

My summary of the marathon experience: it is by far one of the hardest physical and mental challenges...ever, but quite a feeling of accomplishment (by comparison, raising two amazing kids is by far more gratifying, but this is a completely different ballgame). During periods of training and the race I question the sanity of distance running. But it all seems worth it and each marathon seems to get better and more rewarding for me and each one seems to get me past limits I never thought possible.

The day started with a really early morning bus ride to the start (at folsom prison...made famous by the johnny cash song) and the ride seemed to go on forever (which is a little disheartening when you know you have to run all the way back). Shelly, Brian and I met in the lobby and we ran into my neighbor who was running her first marathon. The weather was great (a little cool, which is nice) and the course was good (CIM is the smallest marathon I've ever run and I like that cozier feel). The leaves were still changing colors which was something pretty to look at (for the first bunch of miles...I seem to not notice much scenary about halfway through!).

Jon met me at mile 20 (he was originally planning on stopping at mile 13 or so but the traffic made that difficult). It was so great to see him but I said a quick hello, got a super cap recap on how Shelly and Brian were doing (thanks to live runner tracking), threw him my fuel belt (at that point I had one more gu left which I kept in my pocket) and went on my way.
This race was a big mental accomplishment for me as well as a physical one. When it starts getting really tough I always want to give up, sit down and cry (which I've never done but those thoughts seem to take over). This time was different for me...once I started feeling that way I said f*** it, not only will I not stop (I don't let myself stop and stretch or walk...nothing good comes of that!) but I will kick it in. The first half I ran a pace between 8:50-9:10 or so per mile, then from miles 14-20 I was about 9:40 pace. Starting mile 20 I was just over 10 min/mile and then between 10 and 10:50 the last few miles. My pace slowed down a bit but I managed to keep a fairly even effort (although the last hour or so it takes so much focus to keep putting one foot in front of the other). The end is really just about toughing it out. Just when you think it should be over and it gets really hard there's still about an hour left. Dig deep!

Jon was waiting at the finish in the crowds which is such a welcome site and Brian was just on the other side of the finish line. The race ended at the capitol building and our hotel was across the street (which seems like another 26.2 miles). I gobbled down a few pancakes, stretched for a few minutes, called my running bud Kathy and then we headed to the hotel. Thankfully there was a startbucks between the finish line and the hotel. I usually can't eat a whole lot the day of my run but a salted caramel mocha became my post-long run drink of choice (chocolate milk is a good recovery drink...I figure this is close) and it never tasted better! We also got some cake thing on a stick which I admired for months but held off until post-marathon. Unfortunately my stomach was a little unsettled so we threw it on the car on our way to Sonoma and found the cake pop thing found several days later on the backseat. So much for indulgence!

I showered and we caught up with Shelly and Brian for lunch. They're great friends of ours and it was really fun to share the experience and the weekend with them (and they both did amazing!).

Admittedly around mile 20 I silently proclaimed my marathon retirement but by the time we hit the airport on Wednesday I was furiously searching the internet to figure out which marathon to run next year. I still have a goal of breaking 4 hours and of course I need to run New York one day. And maybe Kauai. Stay tuned for the 2012 marathon decision...

Here's me at 26.1...only .1 to go!

Hooray!

Me, Shelly and Brian after our post-marathon lunch. My pants hide my hot pink compression socks (and Shelly's boots hide her compression tights)...what an amazing invention!

I love having Jon at the finish line! This is the first marathon my parents weren't there which was a little sad.

That's me talking to Kathy

After lunch we packed up (Jon packed, I was horizontal on the bed texting my parents and friends) and headed to Sonoma for a really great and relaxing few days (and a very needed massage!). Jon's mom and dad Vonnie and Don had a great time back home with the kiddos so that made our trip all the more enjoyable.

I learned that although I love a glass or two of wine I'm not a big wine taster and prefer to sit outside watching the grapes grow rather than talking about wine. In the picture below we actually tasted every one of those wines. The wine guy was super nice and fun to talk to but there are no chairs in tasting rooms and after running 26.2 miles all I wanted was to sit down! Nonetheless, good wine drinking = good napping and so by the time we headed back home on Wednesday I was well rested and very relaxed!

We returned to Denver on Wednesday and then on Friday headed to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs for a work event my firm hosts. We stayed with the kids Friday night, came back Saturday to a few holiday parties (one at our crossfit gym and one at our good friends (and running buddy) Becky and Michael's across the street. The next week we had several nights of work events and the kids stayed behind with babysitters so by Friday we were really missing the kids and they really missed us. This past week I planned to take some days off but we I had a work deadline (we're trying to get hired by Denver Airport and we had this never ending proposal to finish up). That's done and now we get some very great family time!

This update wouldn't be complete without a few more festive pics of the kids. They are so much fun and it's amazing watching them play together.

I took the kids sledding yesterday. Shoshi looks happy (and really stinkin' cute) but this was the end of her smilng...about a minute after I took this picture she got off her sled and Spencer barreled over her!

We have made the Turkey Trot an annual tradition...and decided to get festive hats for the run (or the picture before the run!). The race is 4 miles and goes around the park by our house. Spencer ran about 1/16 of a mile this year and we can't wait for him to join us out of the double jogger in years to come!

Me and Shoshi and a birthday party for Spency's friend

We went up to Winter Park the day after Thanksgiving. Spencer and Jon skiied while Shoshi and I snowshoed with Shelly and one of her boys, Kyle.

Not only does Spencer love skiing but he'll be better than me in about a month!

The girls...

...and the boys

We are in the midst of celebrating Hanukkah (we had our neighbors Andrea, Sander and their girls Kaia (Spency's buddy) and Elise (Shoshi's bud) over last night for latkes and homemade french onion soup (I'll spare you the picture!). Tonight we're headed to zoo lights for our annual xmas eve night and then tomorrow I make ebelskivers (stuffed pancake things) for breakfast and the kids open gifts.

We wish everyone a very happy holiday and happy new year and look forward to sharing many more adventures with you in 2012!

What a weekend!

2011-11-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend started a little early for me. Knowing we had a lot going on I decided to run my last long run (which ended up just about 19 miles) Friday morning. It worked out great (as far as running for 3+ hours goes)...a few friends met me in the park for about six miles and then I met up with a few other friends (with one overlap) for the rest. We hit just about every park in Denver. Then I sat in an ice bath for about 10 minutes, showered and went to a lunch meeting (I couldn't get out of all my work obligations!). By Friday night I felt pretty good and after I picked up the kids I took them to buy a few new movies (a spur of the moment inspiration). We bought Cars 2, an old smurf movie, care bears (Shoshi's new fave) and Elmo gives up his pacifier...a pretty funny story that clearly hasn't sunk in yet. Driving home I realized that after burning over 2,200 calories on my run and barely eating one meal a few hours before I was ready to eat my arm off...so I did a Wendy's drive through (mmmm...it tasted so good) for a classy meal at home (yes...complete with frosty...I figured I deserved it!).

Saturday was an awesome day with a visit from one of my college roomies Amy and her husband, Gerard - in from Michigan (soon to be Memphis). We took them (and our kids...theirs stayed home) to brunch (a new spot right by our house that I think is a new fave of mine) and then the boys stayed home and watched football and me and Amy did what girls do best when getting together...shopped! It was so much fun catching up but of course we missed our other friends...one of these days we'll all hook up somewhere. We've only been trying to plan for what...five years or so?

Here's a few pics...

Today was a bit less relaxing but still fun. Jon worked in the morning, I took the kids (in the double jogger that had no air in the tires) up to the park. Jon picked us up and we all went to Crossfit. Then the fury of house cleaning began. I'll spare the details, but it was a necessary organization/clean up.

In the midst of everything I got inspired to put Shoshi on the potty (despite our wishes she doesn't seem to love it yet). Instead she decided to run around without her pants but with Jon's oversized halloween glasses. Of course I needed to capture that moment...

Off to get ready for the week and then on Friday we have some very special visitors....

Pumpkins and 13.1

2011-10-21T17:06:00.002-06:00

We had our annual pumpkin picking trip last weekend...here are a few pics. Spencer went on his second annual barrel train ride and Shoshi follows in her mom's footsteps with a love of kettle corn.

What is most amazing about the pictures is to compare the kids at the same patch last year:
http://robynandjon.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

And 2009 (scroll down to the pumpkin patch pics):
http://robynandjon.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html

And 2008 (scroll down):
http://robynandjon.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-07%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=24

I am spending today (Friday) with Spencer...after a long week of work and barely seeing the kids it's fun to hang out with him (and Shoshi for most of the morning). Next week I am headed to NY for a few days of work and then spending Friday night with my family. It's always sad for me to not be home at night or in the morning but if there's a spot to travel to, I'm always up for a NY trip!

Tomorrow morning is my first 20-miler of this season's marathon training. Several weeks ago I ran what has become my favorite 1/2 marathon - the Denver Rock-n-Roll. I had a goal of finishing under 2 hours and came in at 1:59. Hooray! I thought I fell a little behind pace but realized with just over a mile to go that I could come in at my goal so my last mile or so (thankfully downhill) was nice and quick (for me). It's a really cool course that goes downtown and around a few local parks. Anyone want to join me next year?

We are headed tonight to the "spooktacular" where the kids go to daycare. Then it's another fun weekend ahead. It's a beautiful time of year here with the weather still close to 80 degrees and the trees changing color.

Have a great weekend!

Shoshi has fallen in love with Elmo ("Melmo")

For some reason the kids won't take a picture together. Go figure.

Here's Spencer on the jumpy pillow

I love this series of pictures

Spencer on the barrel train

Just chillin'

Celebrating in South Dakota

2011-10-16T16:23:00.000-06:00

Last month we spent a weekend in South Dakota celebrating Jon's brother Chris's marriage to our wonderful new sister-in-law Cathy. Here's a few pictures from our weekend.

Jon, Cathy, Chris and Shoshi facing the wrong way

Jon's dad, Lewie and Shoshi

Cousin Gavin and Spencer

Chris and Shoshi

Jon's other brother, Charlie and Spencer. These two bonded after spending a morning fishing together.

Sister-in-law Kari and Grandpa Don

Grandma Vonnie and Shoshi

Fall...

2011-10-02T20:04:00.001-06:00

There's nothing more beautiful than fall, although the weather has stayed somewhat summer like. Last weekend we took the kids on our annual hike to see the beautiful yellow aspen leaves. Both kids loved hiking and Shoshi preferred walking to hanging out in her backpack (see pictures below). Each year we hike the same route, which helps us realize how fast these kids are growing. If you look back to 2007 we took this route when Spencer was about a month old and I had to figure out how to nurse while on the path. Thankfully those days are long gone!

This weekend was finally one where we had time to relax! Saturday morning I ran 18 miles with my group. It was a beautiful morning and generally a good run, although 18 is definitely a long way to go! I felt pretty good the rest of the day and was thankful to have no plans last night so we could walk around the park, drink a glass of wine, eat some Indian food and a cupcake and then early to bed (after a little Jersey Shore...the most non-intellectual tv show that somehow I still find marginally entertaining and good for nights when I have no energy to read).

Today we hit the farmer's market, a gymnastics birthday party for Spency's friend Emily (we learned that Shoshi loves the foam pit). Tonight we put Shoshi to sleep and then me, Spencer and Jon played a board game...brought back fun memories of playing board games at night after dinner with my dad.

This week should be a fun one and nothing too out of the ordinary (unlike last week where I had a very amazing Monday in jury selection for a murder trial...talk about fascinating!). Saturday we will hit the pumpkin festival and then Sunday is the Denver Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon. Whoo-hoo!

Happy 4th birthday!

2011-09-04T17:05:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to our sweet boy. We had a great weekend (so far) with Spencer. I took a few days off and spent Thursday with both kids and Friday with just Spencer. We saw a movie together, looked for a new bike (which we bought Friday night with Jon and Shoshi) and met up with Jon for lunch. Saturday morning started with a 12-mile run (perfect weather, cool course and a great run overall) and then I met up with Jon and the kids at our crossfit gym. They had a special workout where the proceeds went to families of the soldiers killed in the recent tragedy overseas - and then a bunch of us there stayed and BBQ'd. Last night Jon and I went out with our friends Shelly and Brian for sushi (without kids!).

For Spencer's birthday we made the traditional birthday name pancakes, headed to the park for a bike ride and photo shoot (see below) and then went to Shelly and Brian's son Owen's 5th birthday party. We just got back and the family is relaxing.

Here are a few pics of the family and Spencer on his new bike.

Party time...

2011-08-28T21:14:00.002-06:00

Spencer turns four next week and to celebrate we had his buddies hang out at our pool for a birthday party. We all had a blast. A bunch of his preschool buddies and their families came which for us is so much fun, as we have known them now for about four years. We have had great weather this summer (even today, while the rest of my family waited it out through hurricane Irene) and today was no exception (thankfully, as I had no back-up plan). Here's a few pics from the day.

Hanging out before the party

Shoshi follows everything that her big brother does

Spency and some of his buds hanging out in the lake

Pirate themed cupcake cakes

Singing happy birthday!

Spencer and one of his best buds, Emma. They have known each other since they were 3 months old.

Shoshi ate about three cupcakes.

Our good friends Brian and Shelly

In other news, I am finally back running after my injury hiatus. I ran a really great 10 miles on Saturday with my group. It was a trail run that gained about 1,000 feet of elevation. We start on Saturday at 6am as the sun was rising. This run had mountain views and great views of the city and it was so much fun catching up with some friends I hadn't seen in a couple of months. What a way to start the weekend. I was back home nice and early (the benefit of getting up at 4:30am!) so we hit the pool on Saturday before Spencer had a birthday party (and Shoshi and I came back to nap!). We had a babysitter bail on us so we had a fun family date night at a local mexican restaurant.

Now it's off to finish some work before the week starts. Have a great week!

Seven years...

2011-08-21T19:24:00.000-06:00

...and what a great (and very productive) seven years! Happy anniversary, Jon. Here's to many, many more!

Happy friday!

2011-08-19T17:07:00.000-06:00

This picture just makes me laugh...and I've looked at it all week so I wanted to share it as a Friday happy hour treat (since I know everyone checks the blog before starting the weekend)! Shoshi has this spunky little personality and she makes Jon and I laugh all the time. She's a little more mellow in some ways than her brother but she has a clear sense of what she wants (i.e. her paci, which she calls papi). She also likes to hold onto things (i.e the cup). Last night I took her and Spencer to grab a quick burger while Jon worked out. She held onto a ketchup packet from the moment we got to the restaurant to drop-off this morning at daycare. I'm on my way to pick her up...we'll see if she still has it!

Spencer is about to turn four (if you can believe it) and we're planning his birthday party for a few friends at the pool. This is the first time he has strong opinions about party planning. So hard to believe it's almost four years. CRAZY!!!

Summer stuff...

2011-08-15T06:58:00.001-06:00

Excuses, excuses....our IT group at work "fixed" my laptop and somehow screwed up my ability to download pics which made me a little grumpy and absent from the blogging world. Finally I'm back in business with access to all things important on my laptop - iTunes and pics! One of these days I'll break down and buy my own computer. I'm thinking a macbook. Anyone out there love theirs and want to motivate me to buy one?

So what's going on with us? Nothing but an AMAZING summer filled with lots of pool/lake time with the kiddos on the weekend. Spencer can swim a good 20-30 yards by himself and has a new love of fishing. Reminds me of weekends upstate where our grandparents had a house on a lake and we would sit and fish every night after dinner. And of course reminds Jon of his childhood fishing with his family.

We were fortunate this year to visit all of our out of town family before the really hot months - except for my parents who we visited in conjunction with two other activities - 1. my 20-year high school reunion; 2. meetings for work which put me in the city and my parents in babysitting mode. Here is a picture of me and two of my oldest friends - Meredith and Melissa.

Here's a few pictures of my family...

My brother Stu, his boy Simon and Spencer

Stu & Lindsay

Dad, Jon and Stu

Me and the kids

My parents with all the grandkids!

We spent a great day in NY with my cousins and their kids - all around the same age as Spencer and Shoshi. Here's a few pics.

Tara and Emma (Emma is one main source of Shoshi's adorable wardrobe!)

Emma, Kayli, Simon and Jake

Jake is so sweet with his little cousin!

Shoshi and Emma

No trip to NY would feel complete without a trip to the beach!

And now it's Monday morning and the kids are still sleeping! I am finally back running after about six weeks off to heal my plantar fascitiis. In fact, I just got back from a 5:20 am 4-mile run with my running buds...so good to be back! During my time off from running I became a mad crossfitter - lots of intense strength training. In fact, here's a picture that is on our gym's website...www.crossfitbroadway.com. These are the 6am girls I workout with.

Happy July 4th!

2011-07-04T20:57:00.000-06:00

Happy July 4th!

We just put our exhausted kids to sleep and I can't believe our long weekend is just about over. It came at a perfect time - last week was a tiring one for me at work and last Saturday I hurt my foot running so I was ready for some nice relaxation.

We kicked off the weekend Friday night at our pool and then returned there Saturday after a tough crossfit workout and then back again Sunday after another crossfit workout and then the bike parade today and another round of pool. Lots of swimming. We joined a pool club this summer and know a good number of families who have kids Spencer's age so we have an amazing time there. Thankfully they also serve food (and the best part for me is they provide towels!) so we don't have to come home to extra loads of wet towels to wash.

Spencer officially can swim by himself (not far...about 15 yards or so). He loves jumping off the diving board and fishing off the dock (there's also a lake at the club). Shoshi is also a fish and she learned to sit on the side and jump in. With the weather really hot we felt really luck for both the pool and our air conditioning this weekend!

30 seconds of fame...

2011-06-13T13:25:00.000-06:00

The day after our race in Steamboat I picked up a copy of the local paper thinking it would have a picture of a friend that won the marathon. Ironically I'm part of the front page picture (I'm wearing a bright pink hat which makes me easy to locate!).

We are getting back to the week's routine after a really fun weekend. After a shorter and earlier and more local run Saturday morning we took the kids to the pool where it rained about 10 minutes after getting there (we then hung out in the parking lot with some other friends just arriving). We had perfect weather on Sunday and after a good crossfit workout (100 push-ups; 100 dips; 100 squats and 100 sit-ups!) we spent from about 11am to 8pm at the pool. We stayed for their evening BBQ and got back exhausted. All fun, but now I have unfolded laundry to face. And after this morning's workout (another 80 push-ups; 80 pull-ups; 80 wall balls...ugh...; 80 box jumps; and 80 sit-ups) and a day of work I may leave it unfolded another day!

Kids had a blast at the pool (Spencer goes down this huge slide and jumps off the diving board). Poor Shoshi has a few teeth coming through and she's a little grumpy at times. She napped for about four hours at the pool...two hours on Jon and about the same on me. Talk about relaxing!

Steamboat...hanging and racing

2011-06-08T06:13:00.002-06:00

We spent a long weekend up in Steamboat. I ran the half marathon and Jon ran the 10k with the two kids in the double jogger. We had a bunch of friends up there and our friend Brian also ran with a double jogger and one of Brian's kids alongside. This is my second year running the Steamboat half - last year Shoshi was only four months old so it was no surprise I knocked a good amount of time (13 minutes) off last year's time. I finished in 2:02 - a few minutes slower than Ft. Collins about a month ago but a much more enjoyable race since this time I ran the first half at a little slower effort than the second (which is what you're supposed to do). The second half has a couple of miles of good climbing (over 400 feet according to my garmin) so my actual pace was pretty steady (about 9:18/mile, also according to my garmin). Sometimes after these runs I'm so worn out but this time I felt great...which makes for a much more fun afternoon.

After the race we all hung our for awhile (I always love the post race festivities!) and cheered on some of my friends who ran the full marathon.

Other than the race we did a lot of swimming, a little hike with the kids, hanging with some of friends that were up there and just spending some good family time. We marveled at how much easier traveling with the two kids is compared to next year. We love this weekend (and I love the race) so much we're planning to make it a family tradition.

We had such a fun time but it's always nice to return home. And the best part is that after a month of a fair amount of travel (fun family trips and for work) I look at the calendar and see a few weeks of staying here which gives me a feeling of calm. It's really great for us to see everyone all over the country and while Spencer and Shoshana travel well, there is nothing relaxing of packing and unpacking a family of four and taking these two little guys on the road long distances (and missing work of course has its own issues for Jon and I when we return.) We're ready to enjoy some mellow summertime activities. We joined a club that has a great outdoor pool and I so look forward to hanging there with our kids and our friends and anyone that wants to come visit! (and of course running...the twin cities marathon isn't that far off!).

As I posted last week, we send our good thoughts to the folks in South Dakota who are experiencing terrible flooding. We know that everyone there has spent their time comforting and helping friends who may lose their houses...we're thinking of all of you and hoping for the best.

Here's the whole gang. Lots of racers, kids and strollers!

Here's me coming into the finish with Spencer cheering me on

Spencer did some running along the 10k route. Here's his boo boo from one of his two wipe outs. His buddy Owen also ran sporadically and had a few good wipe outs of his own. We need to get Spencer a new pair of running sneakers!

Cheering on the marathoners. Here we are waiting for my friend Amy who won the marathon for the women.

We stayed in Steamboat Sunday night and had a really fun dinner and then celebratory ice cream!

Shoshi LOVES ice cream. She couldn't eat it fast enough.

After picking up our race packets on Saturday we met up with friends and the kids ran around and rode the alpine slide.

My friend Jeannene joined us at our condo Saturday night for a pre-race pasta dinner

Sunday we took the kids on a really short hike. Here we are a the beginning.

We called Shoshi "weekend at Bernies". She got pretty chill when we put her into this hiking backpack.

Dolly came along on the hike!

Sending good thoughts...

2011-05-29T07:15:00.001-06:00

Jon's home state of South Dakota is bracing for major flooding. We're sending good thoughts to all the people working hard to minimize the impact of the floods and to everyone affected.

And we wish everyone a very happy Memorial Day! We kicked off our long weekend yesterday (well...mine started Friday!) with me meeting up with my running friends for a great run starting and ending right by our house at the first farmer's market of the year (if you're a facebook friend there is a fun pic that someone posted of a few of my Runner's Edge girls). Jon and the kids met up with us after and we walked around with friends. What a fun and relaxing morning. The weather wasn't so warm in the afternoon but after naptime we took Spencer to the lake by the pool we joined for the summer and he fished while Shoshi and I hung by the playground. Today should give us the warmest weather of the three days and we're planning to spend the day by the pool. But first...more coffee!

Mom & dad and Girls on the Run 5k...

2011-05-27T06:38:00.000-06:00

My parents came in to visit last weekend. After what I planned to have as a well orchestrated travel schedule (which for anyone who ever travels knows how rarely travel goes as planned) we had less than 48 hours with my folks. Their flight should have landed at the same time as mine on Friday morning (I had to visit a client on the west part of the state) and then we had a planned lunch, pedis and a quick trip to Nordstrom before the kids woke up from their naps at daycare. But their flight got cancelled and Nordstrom had to wait until Saturday!

Saturday morning I volunteered at a 5k race called Girls on the Run. The organization trains girls in grades three through eight for their first 5k. They meet twice weekly and learn about nutrition, self esteem, and all the other great things related to running. Along with a few of my running buddies, we ran the race with the girls and helped them to the finish. My dad went early with me to help setup and meet some of my friends and then my mom, Jon and the kids met us for the run and to hang out after.

One of the best parts of the morning is that next year I may have my own running buddy...my mom! She was inspired to incorporate some running into her walks so she can be ready for next year's 5k! Go mom!

Then we were off to the zoo (which is part of the park we were at), then frozen yogurt (my fave), then the kids took a nap and my mom and I went to Nordstrom for some girl time and much needed swimsuit shopping (and few other fun purchases including a very cute pair of sandals I've worn about every day this week!). Then we were off for dinner and then...well...I barely made it to bed before the kids! Sunday was also fun but we had to take my folks back to the airport. What a fun trip!

Here's the gang cheering at the run

Me and one of my running buddies Jenny cheering on a very adorable little girl to the finish line

Victory!!!! (I like these 5ks...usually I'm not this perky at the finish line!)

Me and Jenny and my favorite little runner

Dad and Spencer working on an erector set together

Next activity...the zoo. Shoshi decided she loved the big geese and chased after them. Here she is telling my dad that the signs that say "don't chase the geese" don't apply to cute little girls!

She even loved the sign with the picture of the goose that said to keep away from the babies!

And here's Shoshi pointing at the goose. She sure loved those birds!

Spencer has become a terrific balance bike rider (the bike has no pedals). He can go several miles and likes to hop on it as soon as we get home at night.

The bigger the hairbow the better the mama...

2011-05-18T20:49:00.000-06:00

We spent last weekend in Texas with Jon's family - his dad, Lewie; stepmom Linda; her son Scott and Melissa and their twins Cooper and Addison born the same week as Spencer. We had so much fun watching the cousins hang out. We hadn't seen Scott and Melissa in such a long time but it's like no time passes when we get together. Melissa sent me home with a bag of hair bows that Addy outgrew for Shoshi (you'll see below she sports her first hairbow ever!) and taught me the expression in Texas "the bigger the hairbow the better the mama". We also spent time with Jon's cousin Laura and her husband Damon who we are hoping will one day make the move to Denver.

The whole clan before dinner

Scott and Melissa took us out to a real Texas dinner (read: lots of fried food!). Here's Shoshi eating (and loving) her first fried okra.

Daddy and Shoshi

Grandpa, Spencer, Cooper and Addy

Cooper and Spencer flying a kite together

Scott and Shoshi

Me and Melissa

The girls and their hairbows!

Just chillin'

Grandpa and his girls

Me and my baby!

At the playground with mah-maw and grandpa

No trip is complete without a long run! Jon woke up early with me and rode along as I ran 12 miles. This is us post-run and pre-Starbucks!

Sporting a new dress from grandpa

Lewie flies planes at the local flying field and Spencer had a blast watching

Daddy and his girl!

Family getaway and race recap...

2011-05-04T17:19:00.003-06:00

I clocked in at 1:59 (and a few seconds) for the Ft. Collins half marathon last weekend. While it's exciting to get in under two hours the run was a little slower than I hoped, but overall I was pretty happy. I finished in the top 25% of women and in my age group with an average pace of just over 9 min/mile. The best part of the race was going up for the night with the family. Spencer and Shoshi are so much fun to hang with and are finally much easier to travel with (and require a lot less gear than in years past!) and it's so great to have the family waiting at the finish. Jon is the best cheerleader (along with Spencer) and has fun with the kiddos (and thankfully the keeper of my warm clothes for after the run!).

The race was from one point up a canyon to downton Ft. Collins. I had to take a shuttle at 5am to the start and then stand around for over an hour in the 30 (if that) degree weather waiting to run. Once we started I did exactly what I said I wouldn't do...I started out too fast. I was aiming fo ran average pace of about 8:40/mile but started out around there (and a little faster) which left me a little deflated the last five or so miles. Oh well...live and learn. I'm signed up for another half marathon in about a month so I'm pumped to beat this time.

The race was really pretty, running for the first few miles through a beautiful canyon and then meandering through...well...I was so focused on putting one foot in front of the other I'm not quite sure where we went from there!

I had a bunch of running friends that ran the marathon or half marathon and we had dinner with some of them Saturday night...here we are carbo loading at an Italian restaurant.

Here I am on the way to the finish line. Bad posture below but I was a little tired!

Shoshi in her track suit helping me cheer on friends running the marathon (and trying to sneak in eating some gravel).

Jon made this sign at the race expo!

Me and Shoshi cheering on friends running the full marathon!

Here's a picture of me and Bill, the CFO of my favorite clients. He ran the full marathon in an amazing time.

The kids conked out (for a few minutes!) in the car on the ride home.

It's that time again...

2011-04-29T10:59:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow afternoon we're headed up to Ft. Collins (about one hour north of Denver) for Sunday morning's Colorado marathon. I'm running the half marathon...it's my first half since October's marathon. I've kept up about 30 miles of running per week although in the last month or so I have been struggling with some lower back issues. Finally I'm feeling a lot better.

It will be exciting to see if I got any faster...I've been pushing my pace more this year. Here's evidence...this is my Garmin from the two mile time trial we do. The number by my finger is the average pace per mile. My goal was to be under an 8 minute mile...which I did (7:55/mile pace). Last year I did the same exact time trial twice...the first time I averaged about 8:40 miles and the second 8:20s. We'll see what that translates to on Sunday.

Regardless of my half marathon time this weekend it will be a fun time for the family. We're headed up Saturday afternoon and meeting up with some running buddies (a few who have kids) for a pasta dinner. On Sunday morning I take a bus that shuttles all the runners to the start (at a ridiculously early time in the morning) but the finish is right by our hotel so Jon and the kids can meander out after a leisurely breakfast.

Staying on the running theme, this week was the lottery for the New York Marathon. It's crazy hard to get into although you get in automatically on the 4th year. I had plans to run the Twin Cities Marathon later this year so I wasn't too disappointed not to get in. Next year I'm planning to run New York...if I don't get in by lottery than I may get a charity spot where you agree to raise a certain amount of money in exchange for automatic entry. Anyone out there want to join me in NY next year?

Our first easter bunny...

2011-04-24T16:51:00.000-06:00

Family pose with the big bunny. Except for Jon who is an old pro with the bunny, Spencer, Shoshi and I formally met our first easter bunny. Shoshi was a little freaked out but recovered well!

We hope everyone had a great Easter (or just plain 'ole Sunday!). We spent the morning with friends at a brunch at the club where the kids go to school. We went with two other families that both have girls in Spency's class and had a really great time. We then all came home and took a nap.

It's so much fun watching Spencer play with his buddies. He's always been a bit of a ladies man at school and lately Laurel (to his left on the picture above) has been his main squeeze. He moves into the preschool 2 room tomorrow and leaves behind Laurel for a few weeks but returns to Emma (his original girlfriend dating way back to the infant 2 room!) who moved up a few weeks ago!

Go Rockies!

2011-04-22T14:47:00.001-06:00

Our first Rockies game of the year was extra special - Jon's mom and stepfather came to visit last weekend and we surprised them with Rockies tickets. Don had a big birthday (happy birthday, Don!) and he loves the Cubbies, who happened to be playing the Rockies at Coors Field. Great game and a fun weekend with family. Spencer got into the action with his Rockies hat, clothes and big floppy finger. He even met Dinger the mascot (from afar...we weren't in the mood to stand on the line that wrapped all around the outfield).

This was Shoshi's first official Rockies game!

Four = the number of runs the Rockies scored in the 8th inning to pull ahead for the win. Sorry, Don!

Our tired little slugger. It was such a long game and went through their naptime but both kids had a blast!

In other news, I am off today (hooray for closed markets on Good Friday!) so I just got back from taking the kids to the zoo. Spencer had his six month dentist visit this morning and we followed the dentist with a mommy, Spency, Shoshi date at starbucks for coffee (me), muffins and yogurt car-pays (spencer's word for yogurt parfait...he can't say f's and swaps the syllables). There's nothing better than a 75 degree friday with the kids!

We're excited for a relaxing weekend. I have an 8 mile run tomorrow (my first half marathon of the spring is next Sunday so this is finally taper time). I've been struggling with lower back pain so I'm not sure how the race will go, but I'm hoping to feel good by next week. Then we're going to a brunch on Sunday with some friends to celebrate bunnies (and everything else you celebrate when overeating and drinking mimosas with friends and family on Easter!). Speaking of which, happy Passover and Easter to everyone.

Wednesday morning....

2011-04-06T06:13:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's Wednesday already. I sat down to pay a few bills before a run and hopped on my blog which motivated this quick update. All my friends bailed this morning on joining me so I'm going a few minutes later (what a treat to head out and hit a few minutes of daylight yet still be home when everyone is still sleeping!).

Yesterday morning was a tough speedwork. It was a half mile hill that gained 200 feet and I ran up (and down) it 5 times. Then it was off to work, then to the doctor to get Shoshana her one year shots (finally...her visit was about 2 months ago and she was sick so she couldn't get them then) and to check out Spencer's ears since he woke up saying he had an ear infection (he did not...he's fine). Shoshi screamed for about two minutes and then was fine after Spencer gave her a lollipop (that's my girl!). We got home, Spencer played doctor for a few minutes and I was off to a city council meeting to give a presentation and get a bond issue approved (which they did, part one of two). Thankully Spencer was still up watching his new favorite movie the Incredibles and I crashed about the same time he did!

Here are a few pictures I never posted from my parents' visit in February.

Now...off for my run. Have a great Wednesday.

Pirates...

2011-04-04T06:50:00.001-06:00

Spencer found a television show he will finally sit still for...Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Jon and I also get a kick out of it. So when we took him to the pirate exhibit at the museum yesterday he couldn't wait to explore and look for a pirate key and Captain Hook! With my new point and shoot it's so much easier for me to drop my camera and my bag and bring it along for a random photo op. I'm loving that little critter, although I just deleted 700 pictures from the last month. It will take me another month to go through them all, but in the meantime, enjoy our little pirate...

One other feature I just found on the blog...I can add you to a list that sends out a note (presumably an Email) every time there is a post. Let me know if you would like to be added to that list (you can drop me an Email separately or post a note on the blog).

Happy Monday!

Guess what I just learned...

2011-04-03T15:24:00.006-06:00

You can sign up to receive an update when I post a new blog entry. Go to the bottom of the page and click "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)". You will then be the first to know of all our exciting happenings... ...such as an update on our weekend adventures.

Yesterday was 85 degrees and an active day. My run was a really tough 14 miler that gained 1,000 feet of elevation. Fun times! Then Shoshi and I went to a birthday party while the boys stayed home and relaxed. Last night we took the kids out to dinner (I was craving a big bowl of queso after my run) and I finally bought a garmin for my car. I'm hoping Jon will set it up me...hint hint. Today is a different story. It's 50 degrees colder and snowing (no joke). We took the kids to the museum of nature and science where they have a pirate exhibit. We saw a friend of Spency's from daycare there (and I did prenatal yoga with Abby's mom and have been friendly with ever since) which made it extra fun for us.

Now we're hanging around and enjoying what's left of the weekend. I took a few pics at the pirate exhibit I was going to upload but Shoshi is throwing cheerios at the dog so that will have to wait! Have a great night.

What a week...

2011-04-02T06:07:00.008-06:00

This is definitely one week I am glad has passed by (which I don't say very often) and I am so glad Saturday morning has come.

Yesterday I had to take a securities exam (the Series 63) after the firm hired a new compliance officer and realized none of us had this required license. The info relates not at all to stuff I know from working in the investment banking world (which I have now done for about ten years, so it would have been nice to have known at least one question from that experience). So I had to study...a lot. And of course this had to be the week Jon was out of town. The good news...I passed my test, Jon came home and met me for a celebratory lunch yesterday with the kiddos still in school and the weekend is here and life is good. Hooray!

So now onto the best part of the week - hanging with Spencer and Shoshana. What a fun time to get to spend time alone with them (of course we all missed Jon!). Shoshi is walking everywhere and talking a lot (ie dah dah dah dah dah). She loves playing with Spencer and it's so much fun to watch them laugh together. In the car the other day Spencer said "mommy...stop talking to me...I am talking to Shoshi".

I still have some picture downloading to do from our trip but in the meantime here's one more of the four of us that I found.

I'm off for the "Parker run" with my group - today is a 14 miler that is nothing but big hills. Last time I ran this route I ran 20 miles and it gained 1400 feet of elevation. Then we're off to a birthday party for a friend I work with's little guy turning one and then a very big nap is in store for me!

Have a great weekend.

Playa del Carmen...

2011-03-12T07:36:00.013-07:00

We just spent an amazing week together in Playa del Carmen (about an hour from Cancun). All of us had so much fun swimming, hanging on the beach, eating, drinking and relaxing as a family.

We returned last night and I had 555 pictures on my camera. I downloaded about half and Jon ran off to the mountains early this morning with Spencer to ski with friends and for Spencer to have his first ski lesson. I will post more about our trip later but in the meantime here are a few pictures.

point and shoot...

2011-02-21T05:36:00.007-07:00

I finally broke down and bought a point and shoot camera. We've had several in the past but before Spencer was born I purchased a Cannon Digital Rebel SLR - a big camera with a couple of funky lenses and other bulky accessories. The pictures come out great (sometimes, I'm still quite the amateur) and I love playing with all the features but with two kids lugging that camera around - particularly on vacations - has become slightly annoying. So along came the Sony Cyber Shot last night. I charged it up and here is my first picture (Barkley is the only crazy one in the family that wakes up before 5am with me...I'm off to a crossfit gym workout).

My parents made it into Denver Saturday afternoon. They could not get over how much the kids changed since our last visit (the marathon, Oct 31). We just hung around with them and Jon and I got to sneak off and get a couples massage yesterday afternoon and then run a couple of fun errands (like getting the camera!).

Before mom and dad got in I got to run with my group Saturday morning. This week's run was a beautiful and hilly one - 14 miles that gained just under 1,000 feet of elevation. I felt strong and had a great time. I came home, showered, hung with the kids, folded some laundry and then headed to the airport. We went out to dinner that night (to Houston's, one of our new faves) and had sushi, a burger and a glass of wine, and then I fell asleep by 8:30!

Jon and I (and the new point and shoot) are off to Vail for a night while my parents hang with the kids. Happy Monday!

Happy valentine's day...

2011-02-18T06:45:00.005-07:00

Friday...hooray. The weeks just fly by. I'm off to a meeting today in Colorado Springs and then a much needed long weekend. My parents are flying in tomorrow morning and we're so excited to see them. They get in late morning which gives me just enough time to do my group run which tomorrow is out in the mountain foothills. I think I will only have time for 10 miles before I get them but I may be tempted to squeeze in 12. We'll see.

As I prepared for my meeting early this morning before the kids woke I downloaded these pics of their valentine's day party outfits (Shoshi's is from grandpa Lewie and grandma Linda...thanks guys!). Aren't these the cutest kids ever!

Despite Shoshi double fisting the pacifiers (pacis, as we refer to them) she is starting to wean off. They show some tough love in the toddler one room and she's more into cute stuffed animals. This is good for us...she only liked the kind you can't clip to her shirt and they dropped and rolled everywhere.

One other big update...Shoshi took her first steps (followed by her first big brother knockdown!) Can life get any more exciting than that!!!

Is it really only 9am...

2011-02-16T11:47:00.009-07:00

...not anymore (it's lunchtime and as I write this I'm eating a leftover salad and preparing for a 2pm meeting) but I found myself chuckling around 9am today as to how it felt the day should be almost over.

It started with dumping a load of laundry in the washer just before 5am, then coffee while balancing my checkbook, then a 6am CrossFit workout (you can see the day's workout at http://www.crossfitbroadway.com/) that - combined with speedwork yesterday at 6am leaves me barely able to walk and looking forward to my Thursday chiropractor visit! Today is a "cross-train" day on my running schedule which means to do something besides run. After the gym we all had breakfast, got dressed, I finished laundry, walked the dog and we got the kids out the door (always an adventure).

I drove them to daycare with all of us singing to my & Spency's new favorite Mumford & Sons song (if you saw the grammys you should know the tune). It was a nice change to the usual singing of the teddy bear picnic song. Then Spencer got a haircut (no joke...they have a salon at the club where he and Shoshi go to daycare), we dropped Shoshi in the toddler one room (see picture below), loaded up Spency's flopsy (stuffed dog) and goggles (he likes bringing multiple items to school), dropped him off in preschool one, changed his shoes (Mr. Rogers?), hugged good-bye and off to the office I went for the day to begin.

I snapped a few daycare shots with my iPhone. Spencer wouldn't stand still to show off his new haircut.

Washington DC part 2

2011-02-13T07:27:00.019-07:00

I bet you thought you would never see Washington DC part 2 (part one was about three months ago!). Several things motivated me to finally post - 1. I finally had the motivation to go through the many pictures from our trip; 2. A renewed excitement about blogging made me realize I had a DC part 1 with no follow-up (I know that kept many up at night); 3. We are headed on another family vacation to Mexico shortly and I needed to clear out my camera; 4. Jon is skiing today and me and Spencer are hanging before the baby wakes up (it's nice one of our kids is a good sleeper....if only Spencer learned the joy he would bring parents if he awoke after sunrise!).

What an amazing trip we had. After running the marathon on Sunday we spent Monday through Wednesday touring DC. It was Jon's first visit there ever which made it extra special for me. We also got to spend time with my friend Pam and her daughter Camilla - Pam and I worked together at my first job in the city manager's office in Des Moines, Iowa. We had a really fun dinner with my cousin Mitch and his wife Gretchen, made extra enjoyable by both kids sleeping through the entire dinner. Gretchen is a professor spending a year in DC and Mitch is a recovering professor who does intellectual and witty things like sitting in front of the Lincoln Memorial for 24 hours and blogging! We also met up with a friend from graduate school, Matt.

In all, an amazing trip that inspired us to book our Mexico vacation (the hope with Mexico is to swim and sit by a beach for six days and not leave the compound...more relaxing than DC which had me running a marathon and then site seeing for three days with the two kids). Bring on the margaritas!

The first set of pictures is from our last day at Arlington National Cemetery (the first few at the tomb of the unknown soldier...the last at JFK's memorial).

These pictures are from day one of touring (marathon day plus one, so I was a bit slow going!). We walked from the Capitol to the White House with a stop at the Air and Space Museum.

Day number two we walked to the monuments with Pam and Camilla.

I may download a few iPhone pics from the past few months but this should make you feel relatively caught up in our lives! Spencer and I are about to figure out our day...it's so exciting to start a Sunday knowing the temperature is supposed to reach almost 70 degrees today (after a long two weeks of cold!).

In case you were wondering, yesterday's run was nothing but 10 miles of ice and snow. I was all glad to run it but all too happy to be done. Bring on the melting!

Shoshi's first birthday...

2011-02-12T06:10:00.015-07:00

Where has the time gone? Life is fun for us and I loved capturing pieces of it on our blog but the time I used to write (early saturday mornings before the kids wake up) has a routine for me that left me a non-blogger for awhile. But after the major outcry for more updates (ha!) I'm back...and I'll try to somewhat more regularly keep you informed of our adorable children and our whereabouts.

First...a running update. I still run with a group called Runner's Edge of the Rockies every Saturday morning. (early Saturday before the kids woke up is when I used to do much of my blogging...I'll need to reinvent that routine!) I marathon trained with the group and absolutely love it. It's fun for me to sneak away Saturday mornings and have a little chatty time with the girls while getting a run in. In fact, I'm off for my run in about 20 minutes so hopefully I can type fast and get you all somewhat updated on our lives. In case you're wondering (which you're probably not unless you're a running dork like me but I'll share anyway) today's run is going to be a 10-miler on what I hope is not too icy streets and trails. We are in the start of a big warm-up (yesterday was almost 50 degrees, tomorrow almost 60) but we haven't had full melting yet. The best part of Saturday runs is that I'm home just as Jon and the kids are getting dressed and ready to start the day (unlike weekday mornings where I get back from a run before everyone is awake!).

As long as I'm on the athletic topic, my other new obsession is CrossFit. Our good friends Brooke and Link opened a CrossFit gym and I'm loving it. Jon even started going. The premise of these workouts is generally an intense strength workout (which also then lends to a burst of aerobic effort). The workouts are quick and painful which for me is a great combination. An example is Wednesday's workout - 150 push-ups, 150 sit-ups, 150 squats without stopping (done as 50 push-ups; 50 sit-ups; 50 squates; then 40 of each, 30, 20, 10) - for me that took around 17 painful minutes! It's a great way to cross-train, gain some strength and hopefully get faster and not get injured for my running. As with running, I also do that before everyone wakes up. I'm starting to find there's not enough hours in the day for all these workouts. The yoga I need to do once a week has somehow fallen off the radar...and it's nice for me to have a couple of mornings where I don't wake up before 5am but I can't seem to manage that if I want to crossfit and get my runs in.

One more tidbit of athlete news before moving onto my most favorite topic...I officially signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon this year. I'm so excited...a group of us from Runner's Edge are going and Jon and I are looking forward to seeing good friends. It's a smaller race than Marine Corps which was another appeal to me (9,000 runners compared to 35,000 or so).

The biggest recent news is that Shoshana turned one on Jan 26. So hard to believe a year has gone by. She is so amazing and coming into a very fun personality that is a combination of super sweet with a few moments of diva. She's a tough cookie - due in part to her brother that is usually sweet but sometimes a little rough with "itty" - Spencer's nickname for Shoshi (derived from itty bitty).

We had our own private celebration and then a party with Brooke, Link and their four kids - including George who turned one the same week as Shoshana. I think they're besties...and at the very least cake buddies, as you can see from the pics.

Shoshi (pronounced SHA-SHEE!) moved into the toddler room at school and finally after a week of a rough transition (not helped by all of us staying sick for a couple of weeks) she is in the groove. She's so close to walking but has not yet made the leap into full toddlerhood.

Spencer is as fun and high energy as ever. He's funny, sweet and an amazing kid to hang around. They say the 3's bring interesting (read: tough) behavior traits and Spencer sometimes fits that mold (in fact, he just woke up and is already sitting on the floor pouting since he can't have candy before breakfast). He has an independent mind and a lot of energy and now a full vocabulary to assert his wants and needs.

I promise to update more but I need to take off for my run. Hope this gives you enough of an update so you know we're alive and well!

Happy new year...are you still there?????

2011-01-02T07:18:00.002-07:00

Happy 2011!

I have clearly taken a slight hiatus from blogging but have also realized that no one (at least that I know of) seemed to notice. With facebook and texts to family maybe you're getting enough of our adorable faces!

I enjoyed the blogging and am happy to continue but I do this primarily so others can keep in touch with our lives. If you actually read this, do me a favor and drop me a note (or if you're lucky enough to know my digits feel free to give a ring).

In the meantime, here's a picture of us before a very terrific xmas eve dinner with our good friends and neighbors.

DC Part 1 - The Marathon!

2010-11-06T07:26:00.017-06:00

What an amazaing week in Washington DC!

We flew into DC on Friday and met up with my parents at our hotel and had a fun dinner with our two overtired kids!

Saturday morning we walked a mile or so to the marathon expo (see pics below) and did a little marathon expo shopping. We got back to the hotel and met up with my cousins Steve and Julie and their little boy Harrison who is about 2 months younger than Shoshi. We had a really fun afternoon that of course included a pre-race pasta dinner.

Sunday night my parents stayed with the kids in their room so I could get organized and get a few hours of sleep. Here's a pic of my pre-race setup.

Sunday morning I met up bright and early in the lobby of our hotel with Kathy, Shelly and Shelly's husband Brian. We took the metro to the start and did the pre-race ritual of standing in line for the port-a-pottys for about an hour!

And then we were off!

The first 17 miles were great. I was on target with an average pace of around 9:30 or so miles (some a little faster, some a tad slower) but generally feeling great. The run was beautiful, starting by the Pentagon and meandering through Georgetown and then along the river and toward the mall.

I started getting a little tired around mile 17 but I saw my whole family cheering and that got me through the next mile or so. This is the point when you are on the mall and running by the monuments and a lot of great sites. This is when I started feeling really tired but thankfully at mile 20 Jon came out of running retirement to run over a bridge that seemed to go on forever. He took a break from miles 22-24 and then rejoined me for the finish. I forgot how hard those last six or so miles are and it seemed like the finish line would never come. Just when it becomes physically difficult it also is hard to mentally motivate. All I could tell myself is to just keep put one foot in front of the next and don't stop...and then somehow the finish line appeared (although they like to make it extra difficult at the marine corps marathon and put the finish line on top of the steep hill where the Iwo Jima memorial sits. For about 3 minutes I thought this was my marathon finale but then I had a few pretzels and started strategizing next year.

Final finish time - 4 hours, 30 minutes. A personal best by 15 minutes (also known as a PR (personal record) in running lingo, as in "I PR'd the race"). It is quite the journey to train for a marathon and it's such a great feeling to have crossed that finish line. There is no way I could have trained without Jon being so supportive...thanks, babe.
Here are the official race photos, starting at the end with me crossing the finish line.

Here's me at the finish line after meeting up with my family.

And here is the best cheering section ever!

The family after a post-race lunch

The marathon expo on Saturday

I have another 100 or so pics from the sightseeing part of our trip that I will post later.

pumpkins and running...

2010-10-18T06:59:00.018-06:00

We had a great (and finally healthy!) weekend. Friday started with Spencer's first dentist visit and me taking the day off to hang with the kids. We went to the new children's garden exhibit at the botanic gardens and then spent Friday night at Family Fun Night where the kids go to daycare - Spencer played in the jumpy castle and we ate dinner with some friends.

Saturday morning we went as a family to the pumpkin patch. Spencer especially loved the tractor train ride. We still cannot get over what a big kid he has become. It was amazing for us to think back a year and how we were only a family of three at the pumpkin patch. And here's our little munchkin about to turn 9 months. A special thanks to all the grandparents for the very adorable halloween shirts which make the pumpkin pictures extra festive.

Saturday night Jon and I got all dressed up and headed to a really nice fundraising event that honored one of the attorneys I work with and supported an organization that provides services for abused children. Jon and I were the winning bidder in the silent auction for a night at a nice hotel in Vail with dinner and breakfast. Time to dust off my skis!

Sunday morning was the half marathon and I felt really great. I finished in 2 hours, 4 minutes which put me in the top 25% for women and in my age group and gave me an average running pace of 9:24 per mile. After last weekend in the emergency room I still probably had a little more in me but I was really happy with how I felt. And it was such a great run...it seemed like the entire city was out cheering. Admittedly I was all too happy to be running 13.1 miles and not the full 26.2 but I still have two more weeks to recover before the big day! My running buddies and kids came over for bagels and mimosas after and then it was a relaxing stretch into Monday.

October happenings

2010-10-16T10:44:00.004-06:00

Here's a few pictures from a couple of weekends ago. We missed the Aspen trees turning yellow by about a week but had a fun family day together.

October brought us visits from both of Jon's parents in from Texas one week and South Dakota another. As always, fun to see family. And on another family note we wish a happy 40th to Charlie! We know this will be a good year for you.

Only two weekends away from the Marine Corps Marathon. Tomorrow I'm running Denver's half marathon...it's the inaugural Rock-n-Roll marathon for Denver which means it's now part of a series of marathons around the country, bands at every mile and I think I heard about 17,000 people running. Not quite the 40,000 that will be in DC but a great start to putting Denver on the rock-n-roll route. I am finally in taper mode and ready for the marathon with the last 20 completed last week (at the same time as running my 20 miler I came down with a stomach bug...not a combination I recommend...I ended up Saturday night in the ER instead of celebrating a buddy's 40th).

We're off to the pumpkin patch with the clan. Have a great weekend!

Catching up v.2

2010-10-02T15:29:00.005-06:00

After posting today's earlier entry I realized I had no Shoshana pictures. Here are a couple of Shoshi and I this afternoon before heading to a baby shower.

And here's a shot of one of my best care packages ever from my cousin Steve (other than the pringels, squeeze cheese and teen bop magazine from my parents in sleep away camp). He leads an advertising group that works for Chap Stick - one of the greatest inventions ever and forever an obsession of mine!

Catching up...

2010-10-02T06:59:00.006-06:00

Here's a few noteworthy activities from the past month -

* Spencer turned three. We had a party at our house where the Fun Bus came...a gutted out school bus with gymnastics equipment, mats, etc. It was great. On a Sunday morning the kids got entertained by someone else and the adults had coffee, mimosas and bagels on our patio. It was super fun to watch Spencer with his school and neighborhood buddies. We shared the party with our neighbors and good friends (and Spencer's classmate)...Kaia also turned three and a few days prior Andrea and Sander had a baby. It was fun to join efforts. In the pictures below Kaia and Spencer are eating cupcakes together.

* Shoshana turned eight months and started crawling. She's absolutely adorable! She follows her brother (who usually is quite sweet with her) and is into everything. She's way more mellow than her brother at this age (or any age, for that matter).

* I am one more 40-mile running week away from tapering (translation: running less) for the Marine Corps Marathon. We ran a crazy hilly 20-miler last Saturday (it gained around1,400 feet of elevation) and have one more next Saturday (this is a recovery week so I "only" have a 12-miler that I'm taking off for in a few minutes). It has been a total blast training for the run. I meet up with a large group early Saturday mornings for the long run and on Tuesday morning (even earlier) a smaller group does speedwork. Tuesday and Saturday runs are with a coach (which is fun and very new for me). As the runs get longer during the week our start time (even for the other runs which I usually do with a couple of girlfriends) are crazy early...like setting my alarm for 4:30. Yikes. But it's great and by the end of this month I'll be a marathoner again. And we're so excited to head out to DC and meet up with my parents, cousins Steve, Julie and baby Harrison and hopefully a few of our friends.

* Jon is totally loving the kids and the stages they are at. He's off later today with Spencer for a train ride through the mountains while I take Shoshi to a baby shower. We finally had our first date night in a long time at one of our fave sushi joints. Last night we had a really fun evening at the club where our kids go to daycare...they had this huge party everywhere in the building including the beautiful roof deck with bands, a jumpy castle for the kiddos, etc. So much fun for all of us (except when Spencer got spooked out by the lady on stilts and the mardi-gras themed greeter at the door!).

* We have had a fun visit from Jon's parents Lewie and Linda who finally met Shoshana.

Enough chatting...here are a few pics before I'm off for a run.

Three years ago today...

2010-09-04T06:11:00.010-06:00

An amazing little boy joined our lives. What a ride we've had...happy 3rd birthday, Spencer.

Spencer has become a funny, sweet, and full of life kid...always with a smile (and always jumping off something!). There's nothing more fun than hanging with him and now he can carry on a full conversation, usually making me laugh! He has become extremely affectionate with his sister and on the way home from school every day he talks about playng trucks with baby Shoshana (who now sits up and laughs a lot at her big bro).

I am drinking coffee, downloading the 240 pics from our trip last week and waiting for Spencer (and the rest of the family) to wake up. Instead of running with my group this morning, I woke up yesterday (Friday) at 4:30 am, met Kathy, Becky and Shelly outside just before 5am and ran 12 miles (and then worked all day!)...just to make sure I'm here when Spence wakes up.

Spencer doesn't know this but he's about to get his first bicycle. Shoshi will give him a new pair of goggles (Spencer is obsessed with wearing goggles....and not just in the pool). As for what we'll do, it's supposed to be warm so we may get our last day at one of the water parks.

Here's our little boy three years ago...

More pictures from our NY trip to come. Have a great labor day weekend!

Georgetown to Idaho Springs 1/2 Marathon

2010-08-20T06:00:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday morning I ran the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half marathon. It may count as the most beautiful race I've ever run...it starts at about 8,500 feet in the mountains and runs downhill to a neat little town. Jon, Spencer and Shoshana, my friend Kathy (in the white hat below) all went together in Jon's extra large vehicle (which I have come to really appreciate!). The scenery was amazing and it was so much fun to have the family at the end...Spencer jumped in and ran the last few yards with me (and nearly took out a few runners - thankfully no one got hurt!). I shaved about five minutes off my Steamboat half time which was a little less than I hoped but there's still a lot of running to do before the marathon. This race was an official training run for the group I train with so it was great to have lots of people I knew (and many I didn't but wearing the same shirts). The group's coach stood at various places with his megaphone...that was quite the inspiration!

We are an hour or so from heading to the airport for our late summer vacation with my family. We're headed to a house on a lake in PA. We also will celebrate my dad's 65th with a party next Saturday night.

Love and running...

2010-08-13T06:26:00.004-06:00

I start several of my weekday runs at 5:45 am when I walk out my front door and meet up with Becky and Kathy (Andrea is currently on pregnancy hiatus). Yesterday morning at 5:43 I heard little footsteps walking downstairs as I was lacing up my sneakers. Spencer - holding his puppy and wearing a swimshirt and underwear on top of his pull-up (outfit courtesy of the prior night's babysitter) - looked so sweet and said "where are you going, mommy...are you going runing?". Jon and I spent the prior night (sans kids) at the botanic gardens watching Marc Cohen play in what is probably the best intimate music venue ever. Since I was missing my little guy I altered the plan, put some "running sneakers" on him, filled a sippy cup of milk and off we went on a jog. We chatted the whole way and stopped for a few minutes at the playground which so early in the morning Spency had all to himself.

Big news...

2010-08-09T13:07:00.009-06:00

I am officially signed up for the 2010 Marine Corps Marathon (yup...all 26.2 miles). I have been training with a local running group and was running all the mileage of my girlfriends training for Marine Corps. Since it's out east near my family and friends and Jon has never been to Washington DC I decided this is the year to re-enter the marathon world. I am so excited! If you're in the neighborhood, stop by on Oct. 31 and cheer me on.

In the meantime, here are a few pics from this past weekend. We had grandma Vonnie (Jon's mom) and his aunt Ruth Ann for a really fun couple of days.

Where's Shoshi?

2010-07-11T21:00:00.008-06:00

After looking at my last entry I realized Shoshi appears in only one picture so we took a few pictures outside before grilling some dinner. Here's our little pumpkin, her adorable brother and our very sweet puppy who is always in on the action.

Summertime!

2010-07-11T17:12:00.012-06:00

I love summer...and it's going way too fast. This year I decided to give myself a post-two baby present and join a running group with a few of my girlfriends...which in part is why I can't seem to keep up with posting pictures on my blog. My post-coffee late Saturday morning runs (which allow me to wake up early and work on the blog) have been replaced by crack of dawn long runs (the past couple of weekends were 8 or 10-milers). Tuesday mornings I set my alarm for 4:30 am for speedwork and then three other weekday mornings of 5:45 am with either runs or a yoga session with my running buds to make sure I can limber up to...well...keep on running. I love it! I'm signed up for another couple of half marathons this summer so we'll see if I can get any faster. The best part of all this running is that most of it takes place long before anyone else in our house wakes up so I don't miss any of the action.

As for the most awesome part of my life...our two adorable kiddos...they're doing great. Shoshi is 5-1/2 months and Spencer turns three in September. Both love swimming so we're doing a lot of that on the weekends and we cleaned up our backyard (complete with new grass and flowers) so we now spend lots of time hanging there. Shoshi rolls over (roly-polies as they're affectionately referred to in our house) and Spencer has taken a new liking to Jon's lawnmower.

And to top it all off we get to see all our family lots of the time. We were in Pierre, South Dakota a few weeks ago (pictures, below). I'm off to NY for work and since Jon also booked a work trip this week I'm taking the kiddos (yup...first solo flight with me and the two munchkins) tomorrow. Jon's dad visits us a few days after we get back from NY, I head to Louisville, KY for work, Jon's mom and aunt Ruth Ann are back to visit us and then the week after we're off to NY for my family's summer trip. Whew.

With all our activities (oh yeah, and I still work what seems like a bizillion hours a week) I admittedly fell behind on going through pictures. What tends to happen then is that I don't take any more for fear of never getting caught up. So hopefully I'll get someone to send me pictures of our adorable kids in their July 4 outfits (thanks Uncle Chris and Cathy) and Spencer in the neighborhood July 4 parade.

Fishing with Jon and uncle Charlie. Spencer liked the concept of fishing but not the actual fish.

Hanging out in grandma Vonnie's beautiful garden...

Halfway along our 10 hour drive to S. Dakota we saw a swimming pool and Spencer put his goggles on (in the car) and didn't take them off for about 48 hours.

13.1 miles in beautiful Steamboat

2010-06-09T08:21:00.008-06:00

This past weekend we spent a few days in Steamboat with a bunch of friends and their kids. I ran the half marathon with a few girlfriends - it was hilly and hot but absolutely beautiful and a great race. Spencer got so excited to see me at the very end that he jumped in and ran to through the finish line...how sweet!

We all took our families up to Steamboat and had amazing weather so we went swimming, alpine sledding, and had a big pasta party Saturday night. We had such a great weekend we came home and checked our calendars for another Steamboat weekend this summer - hopefully with a few extra days to enjoy the town and the mountain.

Vail and a few old bathtub pics

2010-05-31T10:28:00.019-06:00

We somehow started a family tradition of a family weekend in Vail for Memorial Day to kick off the summer. This year we finally had the full family (with no one kicking around in my belly!). Jon and I, the two kids, Barkley and enough stuff to last us about three months filled Jon's new monster mobile and headed up Friday for a really fun and relaxing weekend.

If you jump back to last year's Vail blog posting you can see Spencer running around in the same fountain (maybe my really smart friend Amy can do one of those hyper links to get you there...amy...help). Here's a few differences from last year to this year - 1. Instead of him wearing jean shorts and walking around Vail Village after getting soaked he sports a Lightning McQueen swimsuit and about 1% bodyfat. 2. He has two front teeth missing. He fell a few weeks ago and that nasty accident resulted in these teeth getting pulled. He's a trooper and they are finally healing.

Other fun trip highlights captured below -

1. Shoshi had her first few servings of rice cereal. That always makes for cute pics.

2. We bought her a very cute pink flower hat, which also makes for cute (and thankfully cleaner) pictures than the rice cereal faces. Ironically last year at the same store I saw the same cute girlie clothes - it was a few days before finding out I was preggo - must have been good karma.

3. We met up with my friend and former co-worker Rachel who now lives in Vail.

While the weekend was great, it ended on several down notes. A friend from high school ended his life in a very terrible way. While I hadn't seen him in years it was real sad news. It brought back good memories of Syosset High School and friends from long ago (and refound friends thanks to facebook). You will be missed, Vic.

And to memorialize the final (and very icky) memory of our trip, we got home Monday night and all of us promptly came down with a stomach virus which was easily traced back to the infant one room at the kids' daycare (all the parents and teachers in that room had the same quick and nasty virus). We're all re-hydrated and feeling better but I could think of better ways to end a vacation.

Back to happy memories...enjoy the pictures.

I realized it's been way too long since I had some very cute bathtub pics...

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T21:26:00.006-06:00

Happy mother's day to all you mothers out there. I hope you had as special a day/weekend that we had here.

We started our weekend Friday night with a fun dinner with Spencer's buddy/neighbor/classmate Kaia and our friend Andrea. Saturday morning I went for a 10-mile run and then we spent the rest of the day hanging around the house...a perfect Saturday!

Today was a really great mother's day (best out of the three so far) highlighted by a brunch at our club (complete with family photo where both kids actually smiled), hanging out on the front porch, and then - the moment Jon and I waited several years for - a trip to the driving range where Spencer had his own club and shared a bucket of balls with us. I think the guy next to Spencer got a little tired of hearing a 2-1/2 year old yelling "I missed" every few minutes - which on a miss/hit ratio was about 4:1. Bummer for that guy, but Jon and I (and Spencer) laughed a lot and Spencer did pretty well. He enjoyed teeing up the ball and had no desire to take any advice (I don't know where he gets that from). We have a kids golfing book on our regular evening reading circuit so Spencer was pretty familiar with tees, golf clubs, birdies and eagles (the latter don't seem to make it into my game). I have my first golf outing this week for work - too bad it wouldn't be as cute when I yell "I missed".

A special thanks to Jon's mom Vonnie for these adorable shoes (if you can't read they say "I love mommy"). Along with these shoes Vonnie gave us an enormous basket of the cutest shoes ever. Having a girl is so much fun - I have loved dressing Shoshana in all of the wonderful outfits friends and family gave us...thanks again!

Brothers...

2010-04-28T11:57:00.018-06:00

First - here are a few pictures of Shoshi who is now 13 weeks (although these pictures are about two weeks old). She smiles & giggles all the time and started sleeping through the night (although regressed in that area the past few days).

Now onto our visit with my brother Stu and our nephew Simon. It was so much fun for us to see the boys together - and great to hang with Stu (although we missed you Lindsay and Kayli).

This picture of Simon and Spencer reminds me of the family (or infamous?) photo of Stu and I affectionaly referred to as "hug or headlock?".

We didn't have too much time to lament Stu and Simon leaving us because three days later we had another brotherly visit - Jon's brother Charlie and his girlfriend Amanda.

In all, a very fun two weeks for us.

Family

2010-04-24T16:40:00.008-06:00

My parents coming to town kicked off the first of several family visits - my brother, Stu and 4-year old nephew Simon and then Jon's brother Charlie and his girlfriend Amanda. Pictures of those visits coming soon.

Sunday morning impromptu photo shoot

2010-03-28T09:59:00.005-06:00

Catching up...grandparents, snow days and new Shoshana stats

2010-03-27T06:34:00.016-06:00

With so much to catch up on I decided to make this post in reverse chronological order...starting with this past Wednesday's snow storm that kept all of us home. I think we had somewhere around a foot of snow but within a few minutes of the snow stopping to fall the sun came out and it started melting. The first set of pictures I took in the morning when Spencer and I played outside...you can see he's all bundled up. In the afternoon he and Jon constructed a beautiful snowman in the sunshine. Then I went out to dinner with a few girlfriends and by then the roads were clear and the wine was flowing!

Earlier in the week I took baby Shoshana to her eight week doctor visit. She grew to a whopping 9 lbs 6 oz which moves her from about the 10th percentile in weight to the 20th. She is still a little peanut at 21 inches (Spencer was 21.5" at birth) but with grandpa Kenny's height in her genes she may sprout up soon! All else at the doctor went well but that night - after getting her first round of shots - she had her first fever and was super grouchy...a good excuse to hold her all night!

We are so lucky that Spencer and Shoshana have grandparents that love spending time with all of us. Here are some pictures from Jon's parents visiting from South Dakota several weeks ago.

And here are a few pictures from my parents visit with the kids. They came when Shoshana was about three weeks old.

Our little beauty - six weeks (as of tomorrow)

2010-03-08T10:39:00.016-07:00

Spencer took this picture...he is now obsessed with my camera.

Daddy's little girl...

...and here is our amazing little boy who just celebrated his 2-1/2 birthday. What a blast we have hanging out with him. This weekend Spencer helped Jon in the garden, we hung out in the playground and he flirted with our friends' older girls, he watched "Toy Story" - a movie Jon and I watched together in 1996 (or thereabouts) and we wandered around outside enjoying the beautiful weather. We couldn't ask for a better big brother!

Baby Shoshana - 5 Weeks

2010-03-06T13:55:00.004-07:00

Shoshi hit the five week mark this past Tuesday. I took these pictures, she started crying and I totally forgot about them. Here's our sweet girl with her adorable hat made by grandma Carole - with a matching set in just about every color! Shoshana is sleeping much better, meaning that at night she actually no longer stays awake all night (finally). She will go a pretty good stretch (sometimes) but will most always fall back asleep after.

Spencer continues to excel (of course) in his role as big brother. The other day at school I had the baby with me and he stood in front of his friends, put his hands up and said "no one touches my baby sister Shoshana". Too cute. He also became her biggest mentor and cheerleader during tummy time. Also quite adorable.

On a separate note but still keeping with the baby theme, congrats to Ilene and Marc on the birth of baby Gabriella. Can't wait to get all the kiddos together.

Four weeks...

2010-02-24T13:33:00.007-07:00

It's hard to believe our baby girl is four weeks old. Shoshana is getting big (7 lbs as of last Wednesday which equates to a gain of about 1 oz a day) and is very sweet. Spencer has taken well to the role of big brother and he loves holding his sister (for a few seconds until he finds something better like a truck or screwdriver) and giving her kisses. Shoshana has of course found her way into our lifestyle making it to her first wedding (congratulations Liz and Barber) and zipping around town. As for sleeping, there of course can always be more but at least she has her days and nights a little more straight.

We had a great week with my parents - I'll download pics of their trip later. Off to feed the munchkin again (and again and again and again!).

Baby Shoshana

2010-02-01T09:51:00.006-07:00

Welcome to the world, Shoshana Ensley. Two weeks before my due date I left work to go to the gym and my water broke. Perfect timing...I picked Spencer up at daycare, we dropped him at our neighbors, dropped Barkley at our other neighbors and off to the hospital we went. They had to induce labor and by 3:35 pm the next day (Tuesday, Jan 26) we welcomed baby Shoshana into our lives (for those of you wanting stats, she weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz and was 19-1/4"...not the almost 7.5 lbs they told us last Friday!).

She is so sweet and a very easy baby. Spencer has become a superstar big brother - he likes to give her kisses, burp her and help change her diapers (sometimes). Aside from the middle of the night feedings, everything has gone really smoothly with our new bundle of joy!

Not to be left out, here is a picture of Spencer with the cowboy hat we bought him at the stock show several days before his sister came. There are a few more very funny pictures in this series but I think they fall under the category of too pornographic for the internet (we'll save those for his wedding!).

Two more weeks...

2010-01-24T08:30:00.010-07:00

Two more weeks until my due date and as of Friday's ultrasound the baby weighed 7 lbs, 6 oz and didn't quite seem intent on entering the world in the next few days...although I'm more than ready!

We took advantage of Spencer's daycare having "parent's night out" last night and went out to dinner downtown while Spencer hung out with his favorite teachers and played in the jumpy castle at school. Here's a few pictures...thanks to cousin Tara for these jeans that I have worn every weekend of my pregnancy.
We took Spencer yesterday to the National Western Stock show held a few miles from our house. Here he sports his first cowboy hat. We all had a really fun time although he so far does not love petting the animals (I wonder where our little city boy gets that from!) and he freaked out a little when we walked past the bunnies. But he did like the train ride and he loved looking at the big trucks. We entertained a few folks at the stock show when his diaper leaked and as the never quite fully prepared parents we didn't have extra pants - he spent the last part of our visit in a cowboy hat, shirt, sneakers and no pants.

New baby...

2010-01-02T12:22:00.006-07:00

No...not that baby. But Jon did get himself a new car - by far the largest SUV I ever sat in. His bravada provided over eleven years of joy but we were all ready for a car that we could take more than three miles at a time. We just drove Jon's new car over to the park near our house for a walk with Spencer and Barkley and we got a kick out of Barkley chilling out in his own third row in this monster! Congratulations, Jon.

In other baby news I am about a month away from my due date and the ultrasound I had this past week had the baby weighing in at 5 lbs 5 oz.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-26T08:40:00.028-07:00

Spencer had his first sledding experience yesterday. We went with our good friends and neighbors Andrea, Sander and Kaia. The kids couldn't stop laughing and the adults had just as much fun....in fact we're getting ready to go again today!

We started the day with Spencer opening his holiday gifts. Thanks everyone...he loved all of his new toys, books and clothes!

No holiday is complete in our house without a big breakfast. Here I am making stuffed pancakes with a cooking toy from my parents.

And finally a few pictures from Thanksgiving. We started our day running the Turkey Trot in the park by our house. It was a beautiful day and there were many thousands of people - we had so much fun we think it might become a new family tradition. We ran the whole 4 miles as a family which worked out well this year since Jon hadn't run in awhile...my very slow pregnant pace didn't seem to bother him!! Then we had a really nice dinner with Andrea, Sander and Kaia and Andrea's family.

Grandma and Papa

2009-11-22T09:33:00.007-07:00

Spencer likes to put on my running sneakers and ipod after I get back from a morning run. "mommy running...mommy ipod....mommy sneakers"

My parents had a great time hanging with us last weekend. Spencer now definitely remembers his grandma and papa and jumps right into the action with them (and my parents sure do love keeping him busy!). On Friday when Jon and I had to work, Spencer went to the store and got a new fire truck (called a pire truck...he's sitll working on f's). We spent Saturday running around town and Spencer got a a new pair of snow boots (finally) and we had a really nice dinner Saturday night. (Thanks again mom & dad.)

My parents also got to see our favorite new morning activity...milk by the pire-place (fireplace). Morning has always been my favorite time of day and I love spencing the mornings with my little boy. Now that it's cooler outside Spencer likes to see the "pireplace pop". We have our milk/coffee by the fireplace and we have a little morning coffee talk. What a way to start the day.

Granparents, pumpkins and a little dinosaur

2009-11-08T07:19:00.033-07:00

Jon's parents Lewie and Linda came up from Texas last week to stay with us and help us celebrate Halloween. Spencer had a really fun Halloween - we started the afternoon across the street at our neighbors who had a great party for the kids. Then me, Spencer and our friend Andrea and her daughter Kaia stopped by another friend's house (that's the picture of the four kids on the couch) and Spencer hung out with a bunch of little buddies.

When we came home from the parties we had a little pumpkin carving party and then Spencer, Kaia and a bunch of other neighbors went out for their first trick-or-treating. What a blast! It took only one house before Spence figured out the game and each house he held his Thomas the Train trick or treating bucket out with more confidence. The next day we went with Lewie and Linda to the zoo - they had a a little trick or treating at the zoo with local businesses that set up little candy stands for the kids.

Several weeks before Halloween we met our good friends Denise and Leo and their daughters Ella and Ava at the pumpkin patch. We were pleasantly surprised to also find a little festival going on at the pumpkin patch, and Spencer had fun with the little pumpkin activities.

Blizzard!

2009-10-29T08:32:00.004-06:00

It's October 29 and we are in the midst of our first major snowstorm this year. Admittedly, it's a great excuse to hang with Spencer and catch up on a few things around the house (such as downloading pictures!). We had almost two feet of snow (my very unscientific analysis by looking outside) and I hear we should get another seven or so inches today. Yikes. Hopefully Grandpa Lewie and Grandma Linda will get here soon - they are planning to fly in today.

The above pic gives a little preview to Spence's halloween costume (a dinosaur). Yesterday morning he wanted to wear the dinosaur hat - he even wore it in the car and into his classroom. What a fun way to start the day - turning around in the car to see my adorable little dinosaur.

Family hike

2009-10-19T14:33:00.014-06:00

I took these pictures on a hike a couple of weekends ago. Spencer loves hanging in this backpack. He especially liked getting out of the backpack and running around in the water!

Spencer's birthday party

2009-10-11T15:44:00.002-06:00

Pin the nose on Elmo -

thanks to my mom for sending Elmo party games and decorations!

Spencer's first pinata - made a little less exciting when I realized that store bought pinatas

do not come filled with candy. Sorry, kids.

Happy 2nd birthday, Spencer and Kaia

Spencer shared his second birthday party with his good friend and neighbor Kaia who he met when he was about a week old. It was fun to watch all the kiddos run around together. Spencer seems to still enjoy walking around with several random objects and he has a particular affinity toward Kaia's bouncy ball.

Happy 2nd birthday!

2009-09-05T08:25:00.014-06:00

I made an attempt at Elmo cupcakes for Spence's school. I think they ended up looking part Elmo, part alien but the kids at school recognized them as Elmo!

I spent some time at Spencer's class...the kids ate cupcakes and then were really fun to hang with. The girls gave Spencer hugs, then they all sat around and read, made a train out of their chairs, and Spencer found the broom and swept the floor!

Spencer loves his birthday present from my parents - a new chair to hang and watch his tv - a new hobby! Here he sits this morning with his favorite friends - his stuffed puppy, blanket and a broom - as he watches Little Einstein.

We can't believe our little boy turned two yesterday. Jon and I celebrated by taking him out for sushi (which, believe it or not, he enjoys (sans fish)). We went to our favorite little spot and sat on the patio - one of our favorite things to do here in the summer. The ladies there are always so sweet to Spencer and they brought out cake and ice cream and sang happy birthday! By this time in the day he had a lot of birthday serenades so he started catching on to the birthday song. We have one more party for him next weekend with a few friends (we're teaming up with our neighbor whose girl also turns two this week). Lots of celebrating for our special boy!

Grandma & Papa

2009-09-04T11:38:00.008-06:00

We had a really great week with my parents. Their visit started with a night of babysitting - Jon and I went out Friday night for dinner and to see Cirque de Soleil to celebrate our 5th anniversary. We had a long list of great activities - lots of dining out, a trip to the local water park, shopping, golf lesson for the boys and spa for the girls. During the weekdays grandma and papa took Spencer all around town - to the butterfly museum, the train shop, a visit to my office, a trip to the grocery store where Spencer came home with more bubbles (of course) and an Elmo balloon, and what seems like countless other fun spots.

South Dakota

2009-08-15T07:34:00.014-06:00

We made our annual trip to visit family in South Dakota. This year we went to Madison, SD to visit Jon's older brother Chris and see his wonderful new house. We spent lots of time in Chris's giant yard, at the amazing local water park and Spencer spent one morning with his cousnins at the local playground. We even had a great S. Dakota treat of frying up some walleye (a new experience for this long island girl!).

The first night of our trip we stayed at the house of Chad (Jon's brother) and Kari and their three kids - Emily, Gavin (our godson), and William. Spencer had so much fun hanging out with his cousins and we had a great time catching up with Chad and Kari. Emily especially loved taking care of Spencer and we loved watching all the kids together.

Spencer absolutely loved the airplanes...

Back in July Jon's parents Vonnie and Don visited us for a weekend.

Here they are in the garden with Spencer.

Cookin' some waffles

2009-07-12T07:30:00.003-06:00

Anyone who has stayed at our house knows that I love cooking breakfast. Now I have a little partner in crime!

New York

2009-07-02T17:59:00.009-06:00

The traditional Fudgie the Whale Cake - for a whale of a dad!

We had a great week in New York (despite all the rain!). On Saturday my dad, brother, Jon and I went to the U.S. Open at the Bethpage Black golf course which was really fun. We spent time with the whole family including my Uncle Michael met Spencer for the first time. We had so much fun watching all the kids together, including Spencer's cousins Jake, Ryan and Emma. We took all the kids to see a Thomas the Train show on father's day which Spencer thoroughly enjoyed (in fact, he didn't move for the hour and a half or so). Jon and I went into the City to see my college friend, Aldine and her kids and my high school friend, Melissa. Then on Wednesday we went into the city with my parents and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge which was really fascinating for all of us. I forgot my camera on a few of our adventures so I'll need to get pictures of my Uncle Michael who also joined us, Stu and Lindsay and post those later.

Finally...summer!

2009-06-13T09:33:00.007-06:00