My First 5K!

This morning I ran my first 5K in the OKC Memorial Run - "We Run to Remember" with my good friend, Tracy Norris. It was hard but so much fun! The run was downtown & began right by the Memorial. I've heard that at least 25K people participated! Wow! I've been doing the Couch to 5K program since January & I NEVER dreamed I would do any sort of running event. Running has never been my favorite form of exercise. We ran it in 40 minutes & we were so proud of ourselves! We plan on doing another one together! Unfortunately I only have blurry phone pics :( 

 Waiting to start - 6:30am - People as far as the eye could see & the new Devon Tower in the background! 

We're ready! Let's do this!

 Almost to the FINISH!!! Once we saw the finish line we sprinted to the end!

I love my medal with the Survivor Tree on it - a beautiful reminder of all who served, suffered & lost on April 19, 1995. 

Our Soccer Star!

 1. M about to score his first of 2 goals this game! 2. The little boy to the left of him is named Brayden. He is the coach's son - Andy & Coach Buckingham have agreed that he & Michael play really well together so we're going to keep them on the same team next year! 3. M has really improved in being aggressive & going after the ball! 4. Yes, they blew up this large green dino DURING the game - you can only imagine how distracted the little 5 year olds were - so funny!

Michael is really enjoying soccer & has improved so much since he started in March. Yesterday BB & Papa drove up to watch him play! He was SO excited to have them there! Andy made me laugh - originally he told me he would coach in a few years, when M is a little older. But he is now the assistant coach :-) And he's already agreed to continue next year!

Such a BIG Girl!

We are so proud of Kate! She is doing AWESOME with using the potty! We had tried potty training last fall - she did well but then really regressed, to the point that we decided to put everything away & revisit potty training later - later as in late May or early June after our schedule slowed down a bit. But a little over a week ago, I was getting her dressed for the day & she told me she wanted to wear big girl panties. I decided to run with it! And I'm so glad I did - she knew she was ready! Friday & Saturday were fine with just a few accidents. Since Sunday she's only had 2 accidents & has been dry all night since Monday! YAY! I am one happy Mommy! On Tuesday evening we took her to Toys R Us because she had finished her potty chart - she picked out a Minnie doll. Now Minnie has been with her at all times! 

We also turned her crib into a toddler bed last weekend. She's tested the limits on getting out of bed a few times - During nap time earlier in the week I didn't hear her talking anymore so I peeked in her room to make sure she was asleep - ha! She wasn't in her bed & I noticed her closet door was shut with the light on. I opened the door & she was sitting down with all her "friends" lined up around her - "Hi Mommy! I'm playing!" She wasn't too happy with me for making her get back in bed :-)

This Week

 The weather was beautiful this week! Perfect for lunch on the patio! 

 How could I have forgotten how MESSY this stage is! This boy LOVES to eat!! I think he would just eat & eat & eat if we didn't stop him! So far his favorites seem to be: avacado (as you can tell from the pic!), banana, yogurt, sweet potato & scrambled eggs. He cries when he's done with these foods & we don't offer him more! Quite funny :-) On Monday of this week I decided to take formula & bottles away cold turkey. I did this with M & with K - seemed much easier to me than slowly weaning. He is doing really well. He doesn't seem to like milk as much as Kate did, but he will drink it & he's doing well with the sippy cup! 

 I was folding laundry & M said, "Mommy, I want to help you fold laundry!" Music to my ears!! He folded that entire stack of dishtowels all by himself, along with most of his clothes! He did such a good job & I was so proud of him! I will cherish this time until helping Mommy do laundry is no longer fun to him :-)

David is 11 Months Old! 4-11-12

He really reminds me of Michael in this pic! 

David is such a happy 11 month old! He has 4 teeth. He is starting to wave & clap a little bit. His favorite activity seems to be crawling around the house & trying to keep up with M & K. He loves to eat & does a really good job at making a mess :-) He seems to really dislike having his face & hands cleaned up though! He is constantly on the move - I had to trap him with my feet to get the photo above. 

Easter Photos 2012

PERFECT day for Easter photos! 

 David's First Easter!
David-10mo; Michael-5yrs; Kate 2 1/2yrs

 LOVE this one - I just wish David was in it :)

 Happy girl!

 David wearing the cute bow tie that Aunt Amanda sent. He was done by this point :(

 Twirling like a princess - She is wearing her Easter dress from last year because I love it so much - so glad it fit her 2 yrs!!

 I will have to do another photo shoot with the bow ties sometime soon!

~sweet childhood~

Easter 2012

We've had a wonderful Easter weekend. The best part - Andy got home on Friday after being gone for 2 weeks!! We were all SO glad to have him back :) On Saturday afternoon the kids had a lot of fun at our neighborhood egg hunt - 800 eggs & at least 30 kids!! Perfect weather! After the egg hunt we went to Easter service at our church (Life Church OKC - we've been attending since January) - The music & the message were amazing!  

 This morning Andy read us the Easter story & we finished hiding & finding the kids' Resurrection Eggs. I tried a new recipe for brunch - Oven-baked Orange French Toast - Yummy!

 The kids were so excited to open their Easter goodies.

 Thanks to Mommom, Aunt Fran & Aunt Amanda/Uncle Matt for providing the Easter goodies :-) I guess I have been in survival mode for the last few weeks & Easter really snuck up on me this year!

Carrie's Visit

Carrie & her kids - Luke, Claire & Cora, came to visit last week while Andy is out of town. We had a fun, busy time :) 6 kids ~ 6 & under!! Luke & Michael had tons of fun drawing, building cities & playing Legos together. We went to the neighborhood playground for a picnic. On Saturday Carrie & I had three glorious hours of time without kids (except sweet baby Cora came along :) - we went shopping at Loft, DSW, Target & ate at Saturn Grill.  I'm so thankful for my sweet friend & for her efforts to come visit -- I know it's a lot of work to travel with 3 kids!! It's also so fun to watch our kids becoming friends - Michael was really disappointed that Luke had to leave. On Sunday morning he told me, "Mommy, I'm still really sad that Luke left."

Kindergarten Registration

Last Wednesday I registered my baby for Kindergarten. Where does time go?! We are really excited about Washington Irving Elementary - He will start Friday, August 17th & I'm sure it will take some time to adjust to the 5 days a week, 8:25 to 3:15 schedule! Every time we drive by the school Michael tells me, "I am so excited to start Kindergarten!"