Four times More

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Blackacre Fall Festival

Today we went to the Blackacre fall festival. It's a beautiful nature preserve that is one of my favorite places to take the kids! We've been there a couple of times on our own, hiking and picnicking, but this time the fall festival was going on. My favorite part of Blackacre is the animal barn. They have horses, goats, donkey's and chickens. The kids can feed and pet the animals and you really feel like you are on the farm and not at a petting zoo. A lot was going on today. They had horse and buggy rides, doll making, weaving, wreath-making, pumpkin painting, musicians playing fiddle and banjo, sack and 3-legged races, and (Zach's favorite) hay stack climbing! The kids were totally worn out when we left. Isabella and Vincent fell asleep on the way home. I've heard they have a wonderful Christmas fest and I can't wait to go back!

When we first arrived the kids immediately ran to the horses. Vincent shouted "Hi Doggy!"..perhaps the first time he put two words together on his own! Kyle avoided anaphylaxis shock by steering clear of the horses.

I can never get 3 kids to look at the camera at once and Vincent hates being pinned down for the camera. Isabella is holding the wreath we made.

On our hike, Vincent wanted to walk on his own.

After the hike they played in the leaves..try to bury the baby.

After the hike we played on haystacks and petted the animals.

This guy wanted a snack!

Climbing to the hay loft...or half way.

On the horse and buggy ride.

Vincent checked out the horse behind us!

Playing games after the horse ride! Zachary and I tied in a sack race.

Stick and Hoop game.

Kyle..down on the farm.

The kids on the swing with my co-workers daughter.

If you want to find out more about Blackacre, you can follow the link here: http://www.blackacreconservancy.org/Content/Public/Default.aspx?cpid=2

Also this week, Zachary made his First Reconciliation. It was a very nice ceremony at SSM. It started with a communal examination of conscience, then the 2nd graders individually made their reconciliation. Afterward, they had a washing of hands ceremony and then we had cake! I had a little laugh when Zachary told me that he only had time to confess one thing! I think most people really dislike going to confession...including me, I confess! It is very uncomfortable, but strangely enough it does make you take ownership of your sins and the act of having to say them aloud to another person is very relieving. I hope it was a good experience for Zachary. In the spring he will be celebrating the monumental sacrament, First Communion.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Take a chance on me!

Our little singer! We had a little fun after school today! The kids love making videos and immediately watch the production. Sometimes it's helpful when they don't want to do something. I turn it into a making a "video" and they can't wait! Anyway, here is Isabella performing one of her favorite songs!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

It must be Halloween...

This is the Happy Halloween entry...one of my most favorite holidays!! Halloween fell on a school night this year, which meant early trick-or-treating. We hit up 3 streets this year, one more than last. Zachary was dressed as a ninja, Isa switched to a princess cat at the last minute, and Vin was a gator.

The kids got a boat load of candy. Halloween got started 2 weeks early with a Boo that was left on our front door from a school family. One of the SSM traditions is to leave a pumpkin of candy on someone's front porch, then you have to fill up two additional pumpkins and pass them along. It's a bit of work, but the kids love the sneakiness of dropping off the Boo on someone's porch. Then we got a pumpkin from Uncle Jed and Miss Katie! The kids were super surprised and excited to come home and find more candy! :)
Zachary was really into trick or treating this year! He had a blast running from house to house.

Vincent was telling me about a dog he saw!

Zachary was checking out the smoke while carrying his and Vin's treats!

Watch out Dad...a gator's got ya!

Happy Halloween!

That gator's sneakin' up the stairs!

Isabella's candy haul...including $2 from the lady's next door...which she agreed to put into her college savings!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Columbus Marathon 3:28:43

This is Vin and I before the Columbus Marathon. Last weekend, we traveled to Columbus so that I could do something that I never ever anticipated myself doing...running a marathon. I kind of unknowingly began training when I starting running with my friend April over the summer. April had already signed up for the Chicago marathon and before I realized it, I had already completed 9 weeks of the training. Of course the 1st 9 weeks isn't really the most difficult part, but then I figured since I had already done 1/2 the training I might as well go ahead and run one...maybe the desire to do it would come later.

I arbitrarily picked a goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon or a time of 3:45. That seemed doable but when it came to race day I was afraid of not even making it to the finish. My training had a few bumps, first there was the fact that I missed one of my two 20 mile long runs. I had pulled an ab muscle from running with the jogging stroller that consisting pulls to the left. That cost me a week of training. Then I ran the downtown doubler road race, which was 18 miles of torture. I felt terrible, and was nearly delirious the last 2 miles. That shot my confidence for finishing 26, especially since that 18 miles was my longest run prior to the marathon. Adding to the pressure was the fact that April did so well in her Chicago marathon. On race day, I just decided to take it easy and get myself across the finish line.

Of course, the weather was perfect and with all the people I really didn't even realize how fast I was running. I planned to stick to 8:00 pace, but without even realizing it I was running way under that and I felt great. Until 23 miles later. But even that was ok because I knew I'd "hit the wall" eventually and with only 3 miles to go, I eventually made it in. Kyle was there cheering for me and jogged along with me for a short distance around the place that my legs just quit running...with 5K to go. I heard some spectator, a man, yell "Only 5K to Go!". That was it! My legs went into slow-mo with that. I know it was totally mental because I was doing fine until I realized there were 3 miles to go! From that point on it was a struggle, but when I made it to the 1/2 mile point, I found the strength to sprint to the finish.

Overall it was a great experience. I got to see some beautiful parts of Columbus. There were lots of people to see along the way and over 80 bands to listen to. The water stops had awesome volunteers to encourage the runners and I just kept thinking positively and I made it through. Will I do it again? I don't know. April and I really wanted to go to Boston, but it filled up in just 8 hours. If I get the chance to do it next year, that will probably be the end of my marathon career. A week after finishing, I'm still sore..plus I've been sick all week and my toes look like they belong on a dead person. It's funny because I proclaimed that I was going to treat myself to a pedicure after this was over. Now, I'd be highly embarrassed to walk into a salon with my nasty looking toes. Oh well! It's over and I'm proud of what I never thought I could accomplish.

Kyle gave me a hug at the finish! I was sooo glad to be finished!

Mile 12...I finished the half (13.1) in 1:39, equal to my mini-marathon time in 2006

Mom and I

my box of Kripsy Kreme that I snagged at the finish. I thought I'd be hungry, but I took one bite and wanted to throw up!

You can see a short video of me finishing if you go to this link and click on "finish video" on the right hand side.

http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?rid=723&race=167

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.mtecresults.com%252Frunner%252FvideoResults%253Frid%253D723%2526race%253D167&h=b7647&ref=nf

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Kindergarten field trip

Today I took a "mental health" day and went to Huber's with Isabella's class. Because there were 20 parent chaperons on the field trip, Isabella and another little girl were my entire group! They were pretty easy to keep track of and we had a lot of fun!

Isabella and her pumpkin! I got to carry this 10 pound pumpkin + Maddie's huge pumpkin about 1/4 mile back to the tractor. I thought my arms were going to fall off! They insisted we go to the back of the patch to find the biggest pumpkins. No baby-babes!

Proof to show Dad that Isabella ate some of her fried chicken!

Cute picture of the girls!

At the playground


I just realized that these kids don't even have chalkboards in their own classrooms!	That's why they were all so excited about writing on the boards!				..

Pretending to sleep on the way home! They are sooo cute!

It was such a wonderful day! I was really hesitating about taking the day off, but now I am really glad I did. I know that it won't be much longer before these days are over. I'm trying to cherish them while they last!