Running

When I was in High school the main reason I quit basketball was because I hated running. Now, 15 years and 4 kids later I completed my first half marathon. This past summer I started running with a group of ladies I met through MOMS club. We get up crazy early (5 am most mornings) and run and chat. It's a perfect mix really, I get time with my friends and exercise and everyone else is still sleeping, so no one needs me. As I slowly began increasing my speed and mileage I decided to do something I always said I never would...run a half marathon. Kevin agreed to do it with me, so back in December we signed up.

Before the race in the parking lot by our truck. It was a chilly morning so we hung out in the truck as long as possible.

Me and some of my running girls.

Kev and I, one more pre-race picture. Kevin set a new PR of 1hr 38 min. It was my goal to run it in under 2 hours and I finished in 1 hr 56 min.

I can honestly say I had fun running and we are already making plans to run another one in November. Maybe I should give basketball another try:)

February

Here's what we've been up to the last few weeks.

Sisters. It is so fun to watch Morgan and Brooklyn together. I love watching their relationship grow and I can't wait to see them become best friends. Morgan is an awesome big sister, and she can't wait to become a mom.

Ethan had the stomach flu last week so when he went to bed early one night Morgan got some special play time with daddy. She loved it!

For better or worse Hudson and Brooklyn are getting into watching TV, especially Elmo. When they see Elmo they both start singing "la,la,la".

Brooklyn fell off Morgan's bed the other day and hit her face on their ladder that Ethan had taken down earlier. She had quite a scrape and then a little black eye for a few days. We have to take the ladder down every day as soon as they wake up, otherwise Hudson makes his way up to Ethan's bed in no time.

The kiddos cuddling with Nana.

Playtime in the garage after dinner.

Morgan loves coloring and doing crafts. I have a lot of fun doing that with her too. Most mornings she keeps busy coloring until breakfast is ready.

Hudson and Brooklyn are sick with a nasty cold again. There have been a few times over the last week that Hudson just lays on the couch with his binky and bear. The binkies and bears have been out of their cribs all week since they are feeling so yucky.

"ma, ma" is what Hudson says whenever he wants something. Lately he has been loving having us read books to him, especially his animal and and tractor books.

Today was the Almond Blossom Run. Ethan and I ran the 1 mile together and then I ran the 8k. It's a fun family tradition to participate in this run each year.

I forgot my camera at the run, but a friend of mine snapped this one when she was taking a picture of her daughter and husband. Ethan did a great job and ran the whole way.

Parade time! It was fun watching the parade this year with all our friends. The kids loved it, except for the fact that many of the horses decided to poop right in front of us. It was  a little smelly.

Kevin's parents were also here last weekend. We had a great visit with them, but I didn't take any pictures. Ethan was recovering from the flu, so he wasn't quite himself, but they enjoyed a trip to the zoo and on Monday Ethan and Opa played putt putt golf and the girls got new sandals with Oma. It was a great visit and as usual it went by way too fast. Kevin and I were able to get away for a few hours on Saturday night which is always a treat.

Just Life

I recently read an article in which the author talked about how we are very good at remembering and documenting the BIG things in life. Fun vacations, first steps, first day of school, birthdays etc are all 'blog worthy' or 'scrapbook worthy' events. But we aren't too good about recording the daily stuff. The stuff that really makes up most of our lives. So this post is dedicated to the ordinary, daily life stuff. I'm recording some things mostly for my sake to remember what we were doing daily at this stage of life.

We are still battling colds in our house. Hudson and Brooklyn have not been healthy for more than 3 days since the beginning of December. It's been a long haul, but I am thankful that aside from one ear infection it has just been runny noses and yucky coughs. Because of that we've only been to church as a family 2 times in the last 2 months. That has been a bummer. I am thankful that I can still go to Bible Study because I already had childcare lined up for H and B.

Ethan is LOVING school. He goes 5 mornings a week. He is now learning how to read and write words on his own. He brings home little readers that he reads to us each night. It is so fun to watch this world unfold for him. Unfortunately that also means spelling things in front of him is almost over..bummer!

This picture was taken on January 14. The kids came home from Costco with Daddy and thought it was so warm that they needed to wear their swim suits. Crazy kids. It really has been unbelievable how warm our winter has been. We play outside in the sun almost everyday. It has also been extremely dry. We've only had a couple days of rain.

Hudson and Brooklyn now like to sit at our little table for snack time. They are still taking 2 naps, one around 9am and one around 1:30. Brooklyn will often stay awake during the morning nap time and just play with her binkies and bear. She is still content to hang out there for an hour so I'm hanging on to it as long as I can. Hudson still needs his sleep. They are both ready for bed around 6:45 and sleep until 6:15 or so. We leave them in their cribs until 7:00 though and they are content to chat with each other.

Brooklyn's hair is curly at the end, but not nearly as curly as Morgan's was at that age. I love to put little piggies in her hair, it's so cute.

Snack time! Most days we skip the morning snack and eat lunch around 11:15 before we go pick up Ethan. It took me about 3 months before I figured out that it is easier to come home with only one hungry kiddo from pick up than 4. Our lunch times are much calmer, although Ethan has to eat by himself. With how nice the weather has been he has eaten outside a couple days while the rest of the kiddos play outside.

Oh my little girl. Morgan keeps busy most days talking and singing to herself and playing great by herself. She really craves that alone time (when we come home from something social she usually goes into her room to play by herself for a while) and does so great making up her own imaginary games. Her newest thing lately is to set up "parties" like the one you see above. She gathers random things and puts them on display around the house. She has a particular way of doing it and knows just where to put everything. She loves to play in our room and leaves me little surprises on my bedside table. We go to Bible Study on Tuesday mornings which she loves and we usually go to story time at the library on Wednesdays. She loves to dance with the songs and Hudson and Brooklyn love getting out and seeing other kids. It's a lot of work to get there with all of them, but it feels good to get out and watch H and B soak up all the songs and stories. Morgan has also recently gotten into doing crafts, she loves to spend that time cutting, gluing, coloring and painting. So different than Ethan at this age. Ethan is just now getting into painting and coloring. He can be kept quite busy now working in his work books and coloring books.

Hudson was wearing Ethan's vampire teeth this morning. It was kinda cute. Ethan gets smiley stickers at school each day if his behavior is good. When he has 5 stickers he can pick something out of the prize box. His choice is usually "sticky hands", most of his prizes find their way to the garbage a week or two later. But they are sure are cool when he first comes home with them!

And here is Morgan sporting the same teeth right after Hudson was wearing them, and I wonder why my kids are always sick:) Lots of germ spreading between each other. What can you do?

Hudson and Brooklyn Show Off

I thought it was maybe time for another video update for those of you interested. Hudson and Brooklyn are growing up so much. They both have about 10 words that they can say, Huds is walking about 90% of the time and Brooklyn is still only taking about 5 or 6 steps. She's so content to do her own thing that I don't think she really cares about walking around with everyone else. Hudson on the other hand was so crabby about a month and a half ago as he so badly wanted to walk around with the big kids. Now he's all but running to do everything that big brother and sister do, and so much happier for it. He really thinks he's a big boy. Have I mentioned that he is going to be our little stinker? But he has a smile that will melt you and probably have him getting his way more than I care to say. I'm thinking I'll do a more detailed update when H and B turn 18 months. For now enjoy them showing you their new skills and think of me often as I prevent climbing on furniture, unraveling toilet paper, and emptying drawers as best as I can.

The Rest of Christmas 2011

A few more pictures from our Christmas celebrations. I will say it's a lot harder to remember to get all the pictures I want now that we have four kids. We had our traditional homemade pizza picnic in the family room on Christmas Eve before we opened presents. Ethan was recovering from a slight stomach flu so he wasn't really himself, but we had as much fun as we could.

The girls in their matching pigtails.

Ethan made us a great ornament in school. He kept it a secret and was so proud to give it to us. It was really sweet.

Everyone helping Brooklyn with her present.

Hudson's not sure about the tape sticking to his finger.

Thanks mom and dad!

Morgan's big present from us was 6 pairs of princess shoes. She's in shoe heaven.

I had took the kids to the dollar store to spend $3 on each other. It was fun to watch them get excited about giving each other presents. Morgan got Ethan an FBI set, bases and a coloring book. Ethan got Morgan jewelry, a princess skirt and fairy wings.

Ethan's big gift from us was soccer/ hockey goals. He loves them.

Christmas morning we opened our stocking presents.

Maybe the headband will help tame that bed head?

We had to postpone our Christmas with my family because Ethan got the flu, so we celebrated a week late. My mom got Morgan and Annika matching outfits for our trip to the ballet, so she bought the little girls outfits too. They looked super cute!

Nana and the girls.

Nana and the boys.

I forgot to get a picture of our kids in front of our tree so we had to make up for it.

Several weeks ago Morgan asked for a "Barbie Setup" for Christmas. We asked her what a Barbie Set up was and she just shrugged her shoulders and said "I don't know". So my mom got her a Barbie car and a Barbie. She seemed to really like it so hopefully we got it right;) 

Ethan got golf clubs from my parents, he was super excited about them.

Thanks Nana!

Thanks Papa!

Here are our triplets after their bath. Totally into the movie.