Goodbye 2008.....

Happy New Year's Eve!!

I can barely believe it's almost 2009 - seems like we were just celebrating the big Millenium! (although definitely not one of my better New Year's!). 3 kids later - life couldn't be better. Wish I had a picture of Quinn to share - unfortunately he was under the weather the night we celebrated New Year's Eve here.

Have a fun and safe New Year's Eve! And all the best in 2009!

I'm off.....!

Konnor the marathon runner

I forgot to mention - there is a Kid's Marathon (1 miler!) the day before the 1/2 and Full marathon here. I was reading up on it today - and thought - no, I better not enter Konnor. Grandpa will be here - I will want to go to the Expo and prepare. And so on.....but then I met the boys at the Sports store - Konnor's all over the place doing chin ups on the equipment, doing the ab rollers, and everything else they had to offer. I couldn't help but mentioning the kids marathon! Boy, I should've kept my mouth shut. The kid wants to run it badly - and he wants to SPRINT it - and he wants to WIN it. He's going to run "this fast! Watch Mommy!" So we began this little conversation...

Me: "Konnor, probably not a race you can run that fast. You'll probably have to jog a little - 1 mile is a long way to run that fast!"

Konnor: "oh, you mean like this?" (he runs in place...barely moving...jogging like an 89 year old man).

Me: "Well, honey - you can probably go a little faster."

Konnor: "How far is a mile - like from here to California?" (yeah bud - you're close!)

Me: "No, like from here to Pati's house" (Sanjog's Mom's house)

Konnor: "That's not far! I can run THIS fast!........What if I don't get first place? Will I still win something if I get 2nd place?"

Me: "I think you get a t-shirt - maybe a medal."

Konnor: "I'm sure everyone gets a t-shirt. That is NOT what I'm going to get for winning. What happens if I get 2nd place?"

Me: "Run the damn race and find out!"

Ha ha, not really - but seriously. The kid wants to win at everything - we are going to have our hands extremely full with him.

If anyone's up for donating to Konnor's marathon - $25 fee goes to Phoenix Children's Hospital and you'll have one happy fast running little boy to cheer on! FREE t-shirt for him included - you know - the t-shirt "everyone is going to get! Even if they don't win!"

You win some....you lose some

I had planned today's seven mile run early last week already. Ten miler next weekend and then marathon time around the corner. I decided to do the 7 mile along the canals in Scottsdale after work to try out some flat land as opposed to the hilly courses I run around home.

Well, let's just say I lost more than I won! Geared up after work, took off - first forgetting my hat at home, then forgetting my Ipod in my car so I had to trek back to it to get it because I was predicting a very boring run along the canals on my own. So after getting over being mad I left my hat b/c it was an extremely bright sunny day - I take off. Ipod - ON.....Ipod ON! Check - it's ON. Why am I not hearing anything? I must have the earphones plugged in wrong. Nope. I don't. Check again - it says it's playing...."Bad Moon Rising." Play. Everything looks good but this damn thing IS.NOT.WORKING! I'm looking ahead - nothing but dirt trail, a canal, and the high rise condos in downtown Scottsdale. Surely nothing exciting enough to give me motivation to run without music. (I know I used to not even use the Ipod - but after running more and more and further and further, it is now a NECESSITY). And....another necessity I did not have today. I sat there for TEN minutes hitting the thing against a pole, taking it apart, you name it, I did it all - I even considered throwing it in the canal. Scrolled through thinking maybe this song was the malfunction - Lord knows why I have "The Muffin Man" on there but at one point I was thinking "come on Muffin Man - play - I'd be happy to listen to you - it's better than nothing!" The Muffin Man didn't care - nothing. Dead. Nor did "The Monkey Dance" by the Wiggles. Let's try some Snoop - nope. No Snoop Dog love today. That's it - "Jesus Loves Me." Certainly that one would have to play, right? Nope. Jesus I'm sure still loved me today - but He wasn't willing to express it to me via the Ipod! Maybe it's the Detroit Lions cover I have on it - I ripped it off - thought surely maybe it was causing the malfunction. Nope. No such luck.

Look, Shannon - you've been planning this for a week, you have plans tomorrow - New Year's on Thursday, Kiddos on Friday throughout the weekend. YOU do not have time to piss this run away! I let out a big sigh...a very upset one I must add...and I took off. 1 mile....check. 2 mile...check. 2.5 miles - I'm dying. My body just is not having this run today. Not sure if it was the lack of music - or maybe the flat land considering for the last 5 months I have been running not just rolling hills - but mountains. HILLS. My body cannot adjust to flat land?! Could've easily been that I ran 6 miles on the dreadful treadmill last night. 3 miles...4 miles....5 miles.....walked for a bit - took out the Ipod for 15 seconds after praying for it to work b/c I'm in desperate need. No such luck. The pole I hit it against this time was no better than the last. And for those of you who know me at all - I typically don't get mad. I don't have a temper. Only once have I actually kicked or punched something (a laundry basket, just in the past year, with NO shoes, and I'll NEVER do it again - it hurt badly!). BUT I was soooo mad at this Ipod that was fully charged and worked just fine on the docking station while I showered this a.m.

Only walked for about 30 seconds and thought to myself "Hello, the 1/2 marathon is over THIRTEEN miles, what are you doing?" Take off...legs are aching badly. My heart rate is normal - but the muscles in my legs are dead. Jelly. Thing with the canals is you never seem to get anywhere. Everything looks the same - flat land - dirty water - rugged palm trees - and many a strange people pass by. Have I mentioned that running along water freaks me out? At one point I had to get pretty close to the edge b/c some moron came cruising past on his moped and scared the living daylights out of me.

6 miles....I can see the end. Or shall I say the start? It's a green ugly bridge that stands out in the distance b/c color is sparce at this time of year in the desert. Can I just tell you that I swear that bridge kept moving further and further away today? I never got any closer. I swear. It moved. I'd run faster - it would get further away. I had plans to meet the boys at the Sports store - no time to walk - but also no time to deal with a bridge with legs.

7 miles - at last. I couldn't even run the last 10 steps to the bridge - I was thinking "gee, what if you do that in the last 1/4 mile stretch to the finish line! What an idiot I'd look like!" Didn't care today - I was walking the last 10 steps of my 7 mile adventure.

78 minutes - not bad, not great. Not a win - not a loss. But, not a happy camper about the way what was supposed to be an adrenaline filled, good, strong - quick 7 miler turned into a dreadful, never ending, boring as ever, painful - may not ever do it again - run.

A super good kid....and our desperate adventures today!

"Thank you Mom I sure like it....Konnor Mom"

Quinn is adorable and Konnor is so proud of him

Our "Create a Drive-In" night out!

He sits way in the back by himself - he prefers this after sitting in the middle with the other two for quite some time b/c he's realized that there are two cupholders right beside him that will hold his food and drink:)

House #1

House #2

Let me just tell the story of the 1st picture. Friday after opening all their gifts - I must have been picking up or tending to Quinn and his whiny-ness from not feeling well - Konnor had asked for markers and paper but I didn't have a clue what he was doing. Anyhow, a few hours later Konnor says "Mommy, I have something special for you!" He always does. He is always creating cool and creative things for me and everyone else. However, this one was especially special! A little "thank you" card for the Christmas stuff he received that morning. How cute is that? He did it all on his own - no one asked him to or helped him. As I said before, it's always those little things that truly are the most special.

We were confined to the house again today. After having all 3 boys up much of the night last night - Quinn having a cough that seems to become extremely worse when exposed to cold air (it's been in the 40's here, which yes, is COLD for us) - we really didn't have too many options for today. Thank Goodness Santa brought all those fun games - we were entertained for most of the day. But the afternoon got a little bit crazy! Quinn being clingy as ever for day #3 of it - I had my hands full - and felt as though Konnor and Hunter were getting the short end of the stick. We made a few things, played every game we own - colored, baked more cookies - but that only got us to about 2pm. Finally at about 4:30 - I desperately needed to get them out of the house. We packed up - Hunter in his shorts and cowboy boots - and headed towards In N Out Burger. We grabbed a few burgers and a few shakes - parked in the parking lot - turned on a movie and had a "Create a Drive-In" evening! I'm telling you - they thought I was the coolest Mother in the world! They even got to get out of their seats and mess around in the car for awhile. Lord knows we couldn't get out the way Hunter was dressed:)

That bought us enough time until it was dark and we ventured back out to the Foothills to see a few houses I knew that had an abundance of Christmas lights. The 1st one pictured was insane - these people had lights on every inch of this house - the sides, the roof, you name it - it was covered in lights. The grass - everything. Although any adult would have to say it was quite gaudy, the kids thought it was absolutely the coolest place they've ever seen. In fact, so cool we had to drive by it 3-4 times! They must have thought we were crazy. Up the street from there was the next one - which the pictures don't do it justice but they did a wonderful job. Classy yet really cool for a child's eye. We, again, drove past and stopped several times. Then it was off to one we went past last week but it was raining so much of the fun part of it was turned off - including the trains. I didn't upload the picture b/c I'm sure most of you don't care - but again, this one was classy yet cool for kids. Had a huge train that the kids got to push the button to that went around the front yard and sang. Tunnels - snowflakes in the background on the button and lots of motion stuff.

I'm telling you - for being completely desperate and pulling this out of my tail - this was one of those memorable nights for all of us! They had a blast - thank goodness it was dark b/c by this point in the day I looked like I had gotten run over by a truck - Quinn much the same - and you can see how Hunter clothed himself. I was grateful to say we never got pulled over or that my car never broke down!!!

17 days and counting until Grandpa comes.......

A sick baby and two wild boys!

Self Portrait Moments.....

For Grandma: They are emailing you - and then playing the "Max and Ruby" game you sent on the ecard:)

Photography by Konnor - he does pretty well I must say! Love the chocolate cookie on his face!

Photography by Hunter (if I post the first one he took, I could get in trouble for indecent exposure:) if you catch my drift!)

What the cool kids drink - an early Happy New Year!

Cookie time

Quick story: He cried and cried after his bath for whatever reason - I could not figure it out. He usually wants to put his pj's on just like K and H - but tonight he literally threw.a.fit. Crying big tears, throwing himself all over. Him not feeling well made it worse for both of us! Finally, I made him take my hand and show me what he wanted....it was his "monser" towel. He did NOT want to get dressed...not just for the moment, but he wanted to wear this the rest of the night...no diaper.

Horrible picture - but just what I wanted! A "sick" pose!

Playing "The Cat in the Hat" game - very cute. The kids LOVED it! Thanks, Jake!

Nothing like riding a bike cowboy style!

Grainy picture - but we finally found the bike of his dreams....lookin' pretty good, studman!

This is a familiar site at our house - Hunter takes at least twice as long then the other two to do anything...especially eating. He enjoys his food! Gotta love Hunter.

Playing their new Mickey DVD Bingo - if anyone wants to donate a flat screen TV, I'm game for joining the 21st century anytime :)

I ran upstairs to lay Quinn down and return to this.....the boys not only got the 2 liter of Root Beer opened but took it upon themselves to get cups and pour it as well...in less than a minute. Crazy kids.

Playing their new "fake" Wii! They love it - highly recommend to anyone who doesn't have a Wii. They have a Wii at Dad's house - but this you would've thought was worth a million dollars to them!

Santa had a hard time picking something for Quinn - but he loves his "shoo shoo's!"

Enjoying some air hockey together - notice Hunter's "Cousin Konnor" shirt!

This Santa has turned into her mother....underwear in every stocking!

Well, hopefully these hold you all over for awhile! Blogger doesn't upload pictures very clear for some reason -but hey, you get the picture, right?! We've enjoyed our weekend so far. All 3 are fighting some pretty nasty colds - Quinn caught the fever part of it today - and was a clingy little handful! We played games, got Hunter and Quinn haircuts, and lots of other low key stuff at home. I was hoping to go see ZooLights since we haven't yet but unfortunately with the colds and the frigid weather (yes, 40's) I figured it was best not to. There's always next year!

Konnor and Hunter are enjoying all their new board games - it's been fun. Finally something other than CandyLand! They are at fun ages for all this stuff. Well, fun in the sense that they think the board games are fun, but NOT fun when I have one child that HATES to lose! He is learning though...and doing pretty well.

No plans for tomorrow! What's the use of planning with colds and whiny babies going around, right? Konnor's hoping for a little hike but we'll see.

And our next major countdown has begun! Ok, well, it began long ago but it was never official. Grandpa is coming to visit on January 14.....18 days and counting..........Dear Lord, please speed the days up. They cannot wait. We have a whole itinerary filled up already!

"What is God's phone number?"

The boys were making their Christmas phone calls tonight and out of the blue Konnor says "What is God's phone number?" You know me, slow to react to anything, even slower to come up with answers for questions like this! "Uh, well.....God doesn't really have a phone number BUT you can talk to him anytime, anywhere!" Yeah, I got this "huh?" look! I said "Go ahead, say something to God, he'll hear you! He always does!" So Konnor says "thank you God for sending Santa to bring us all these fun games and toys!" Now tell me, does it get any sweeter than that?!! It was surely one of those moments I wish I had recorded. Unfortunately, as the years go by, I get worse and worse with the video camera.

The question lead to an even deeper discussion....I went on to tell him that you know, "back in the day" Grandpa and Grandma really didn't have phones! And that Mommy never had a cell phone until about 8 years ago. I got this completely blank stare - he started laughing! "Well...how did you find people? How did you talk to people?" It was quite the discussion - and I'm 110% sure that even after the end of the discussion, he thought I was completely crazy and some sort of liar. I brought him upstairs to see the one cordless landline phone I do have hooked up in case of an emergency. He has used it once or twice but I don't think it ever registered that that phone is totally confined to the house. That phone cannot go in the car, or to the grocery store, or on an airplane! I even mentioned a little about how we didn't really use computers a whole lot growing up "well, then how did you buy stuff? Or email your teachers?!" Well babe, we weren't so lazy....we went shopping at the store and ordered things out of catalogs (seriously, did we really do that?) and we took the time to handwrite our teachers (or shall I say, my parents took the time) letters regarding missing school and that sort of stuff. My child now officially thinks I'm old and crazy.

Oh, how fun. I am already having to explain 8 years ago as the "olden days!" In all reality though, how DID we ever live without cell phones? Do any of you remember life without one? How on earth would we survive?! I know, now that I have kids, there is NO way I could imagine life without a cell phone. And to think that cordless, landline phones are complete history to my kids is even crazier. How could I possibly live this far away from my family without the internet?

Pictures to come tomorrow! I decided to really just enjoy the day with the kids - and not stress about getting 100 pictures taken of everything. So, we will be playing "Smile and say Cheese" a little bit tomorrow! Hopefully at the end of the day I'll be motivated to upload them.

They're BAAaaaaCK!!!

I had 3 little elves arrive at the door around 8 this morning - exhausted, overwhelmed, excited, you name it - but CUTE as ever!

Konnor and Hunter are currently enjoying a game of Mickey DVD Bingo while Quinn sleeps away.

The clouds have cleared and the sun is shining bright as ever today. We are going to be heading to Toys R Us to brave the crowd storm - Konnor asked Santa for a bigger bike with flames all the while Santa knew he wasn't quite big enough for a bigger bike. BUT in order to not disappoint, Santa found a bigger bike with flames and delivered as promised. Konnor was ecstatic to see it - black with flames, bigger, with a kickstand - but he pretty much knew he wasn't big enough. Santa of course was sad, but Konnor didn't care - he just asked if Santa could keep this one but bring him another! Ha. Santa told Mommy where he got it, we will do this thing called "exchange" later today!

Merry Christmas once again, everyone!

When will I learn?

Nothing like having a great start to your day and ending it with a great big cry! Just when I think I've learned, as I stated in yesterday's post, I really have not learned a thing.

Sanjog texted me at 1am this morning - "do you want to get together sometime later in the afternoon?" I wake up at 5:50, read it, and think "heck yeah! What a great way to start the day!" Of course I would want to meet up with my kids - it's CHRISTMAS and what a pleasant surprise! Even though in the back of my head I thought it was just another game Sanjog likes to play and thinks it's funny - I gave him the benefit of the doubt b/c after all, it's CHRISTMAS right?! As stated yesterday - I have no family here. Have had wonderful friends invite me for family events all day yesterday and today - but nonetheless, I have no family other then Konnor, Hunter and Quinn here.

Went for a run this morning - a good one - then to my friend's house to enjoy a breakfast brunch and lots of kid excitement from Santa's visit! Came home - showered - planned to head to another friends but put it on hold for awhile thinking maybe Sanjog would call. So, I got some gifts together to get ready for the boys. Wrapped them - ALL of them - got EVERYTHING ready - wondering whether I should head to my friends or still wait. Thought I better wait - b/c I'd hate to get to her house and have the boys call and have to be rude and leave right away. So, I wait...and I wait...and I wait. Finally, at 5 I texted him wondering if they were sleeping. Yes - they were! No big deal - great actually, I'm sure they could use a nap - but thanks for letting me know. 6 pm rolls around - I'm figuring out what he's up to. So I ask if I should plan on doing something or not? "No, I really had planned on doing something earlier, but it didn't work out."

Gee, thanks. Any other day, fine - this is the way things go. However, today is Christmas. A day he knows is extremely important to me for many reasons. A day I had prepared myself to spend alone and with friends - but he had to throw in asking me if I wanted to see them for awhile only to disappoint me in the end. As always. Not to mention that when I spoke to the boys this morning I was saying "I'll see you guys later!" "Okay, Mommy! See you later today!"

Yeah. I'm not one to usually complain - or openly express private emotions and feelings. But I've taken about as much as I possibly can. Who would do this to the mother of their children? Remember awhile back me writing a post about big GIANTS reappearing in your life?! Yeah. I hope this one decides to back off some day. Soon.

In any case, I am still grateful for the day. Grateful to say I have happy healthy children! I really am! I am so excited to celebrate with them tomorrow. While a day like today is extremely emotional and hurtful, in the grand scheme of things - I know there are people who are in much worse condition then I. I do not have it so bad. I just hope and pray that someday I am respected as the mother of my children. Someday.....someday.

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope the day was all you had hoped for and that you all enjoyed a wonderful day with your families!!

Merry Christmas
&
Happy Birthday, Jesus!!!

Wishing you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas today - I pray Santa treated you all well and that we all remember the true meaning of Christmas today! I am enjoying all the "dings" of incoming "Merry Christmas" texts!

Although feeling a little out of the sorts today not having stayed up until 3am - and getting woken up at 6am to run downstairs filled with excitement - I am grateful to say I have healthy children that can enjoy Christmas today - no matter where they are.

I am off for a nice run in the rain and cold - and then a busy day taking on friend's invites and later on prepping the house for the boys' return! You can be sure I'll have plenty of pictures coming soon:)


Love,
Shannon

It wouldn't be Christmas without this.......

Ok, so I can't get a picture of it to upload. BUT, what I received in the mail yesterday from my Mom was the "Alabama Christmas" cd. This album holds many memories for my family. I can't remember ever NOT listening to it on Christmas morning. Although, of course "back then" it wasn't a CD or a downloaded song on my Ipod, it was a record, maybe even an eight track? Us girls used to wake up in the morning, cuddle up in our jammies as close as possible to where any heat might be, and wait until everyone got up and ready to open some of our stocking stuff. The rest of our Santa goodies and gifts had to wait until after church.

I think I can speak for all of us that the most memorable and all time favorite song on the album is "ThistleHair the Christmas Bear." Many of you probably are thinking, "HUH?!" It goes a litte like this..."Oh ThistleHair the Christmas Bear spreading the good news everywhere, about Christmas time is what it means to all the children of the world, every little boy and girl out there, loves ThistleHair."

Well, I received this CD, totally unexpected in the mail yesterday - so as I drove to work this morning, I popped it in. I cried immediately! And it was 5 songs until "ThistleHair yet!" Again, I can speak for all of us in my family - it's a very memorable CD - and one that brings tears to all of us. I was so excited to find it in the mail. I'm listening to it as we speak and plan to listen to it tomorrow and of course Friday with the boys! Time to break them in!

Although my day started out in tears, and will probably end in a few here shortly, I had a wonderful day. A little nervous about the whole Christmas Eve/Day without the kids - it has turned out well. I worked for much of the day, then shopped (which was a blast let me tell you! Ha) and then made some Bacon Wrapped Smokies and Strawberry Pretzel Dessert - both successful - and headed off to a good friend of mine's house to enjoy the night with her family. It was so nice of them to invite me - I had two other good friends invite me tonight and tomorrow so I am keeping busy - and even better, they all thought I was such a wonderful cook. The smokies were a HUGE hit and the dessert got many rounds of seconds - little do they know, I DO NOT COOK OR BAKE, if and when I do, usually UNsuccessful! (One would think, or at least hope, that my children's father would have the decency to invite me over to at least SEE my children, hug and kiss them, you know - considering I have NO family here right now, but that is apparently too much to ask. I am all of 8 minutes away. Good thing I never counted on it. Amazing how fast one can learn!) I am very thankful for my thoughtful friends - it means a lot to me. Anyway.....I then headed to church at 9pm and now, here I sit...winding down the day.

Rest assured family, I will miss you tomorrow but I am just fine! I can celebrate this holiday ANY day with my kids! And have begun the 365 day countdown until I can celebrate it with my whole family next year :)

Merry Christmas Eve my friends!

Time is of the essence

I postponed running to the max today - 5pm finally rolled around and I thought to myself - "you've got about 4.6 miles to go - and an hour to get it done before it's dark." I tied up my shoes and took off at about 5:07. Ipod along this time - thank God - it did wonders! I ran the same route today yesterday with my friend Paige - it took us an hour and 15 minutes - partially b/c of the rain - and a little because she just started running a few weeks ago - so once I got far enough ahead and bored from the silence, I'd walk/run back to meet her and run some more. Extra workout - but discouraging time! I was determined today to get it done in a 10 minute mile or less.

While running - I'm thinking everything marathon. Can I do it? Yes, of course I can do it. Maybe I will meet the man of my dreams on the 13.2 mile trek - I tend to be really attractive while running - my face turns beat red about .2 miles into it and only gets worse....I can only imagine what 13.2 miles will do to it! People at the gym used to always ask if I was OK! Even if it's cold - my face looks like it's going to explode. Then I began to think of how 5 1/2 years ago I was going to run a marathon. Do the math, yeah, Konnor was born 5 1/2 years ago. Fall of 2002 my sister Steph, friend/roommate Michelle, and I all decided we were going to train for the full marathon in San Diego that following June. Training started in January. Although it would've been cool to say I ran a marathon at 8 months pregnant, even cooler for Konnor to say his first marathon was at negative 1 month old - it wasn't gonna happen:)

We talked about it all the time. Even after I knew I was pregnant, I played along! (all the while thinking, WOO HOO, no training or running for a long time!). January 9 came along, Steph and Michelle rolled out of bed, quite early, 6 am probably - dressed themselves, laced up their shoes, had a bite to eat - and I very slowly rolled out into the kitchen. Michelle says to me "are ya ready!" "Yep, pj's, no sports bra, no shoes....you betcha I'm ready!" actually my response was "Nah, not today. I'd be running for two....." Poor girl about fell over. Off they went - and so the story goes. I got to sleep in every Saturday while they were out running the canals - 5 miles, 10 miles, even a 20 miler - but must admit I was always a little jealous.

The marathon came and it was awesome! I had never been to one (I don't think anyway) and 8 months pregnant, thoroughly enjoyed cheering the girls on. They all completed it - and swore they'd never do another one again! Great! Now when I finally get to do one, I'll be all alone.

Well, with each child that came along I always said I was going to run a marathon. Part of it a personal goal, part of it a motivator to lose weight and of course I wanted to run one to raise awareness for Prader-Willi. I decided early last Fall that I wanted to start training for the one in January - however, due to the situation I was in, I wasn't mentally prepared and promised myself I'd try this year.

Here I am! Not lovin' it - but not hatin' it! It's amazing how a really good run can make you feel. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. I didn't really expect to reach my goal on my run today but I did. Time was of the essence - I wanted to make sure I ran it full swing as a motivator to get home before it was dark. Call me a whimp - but I'm not one of those women out their running alone early in the morning or in the evening. Maybe I should start though - it certainly would boost my speed a little!

3 1/2 weeks to go - I'm positive I can do it - I just hope I don't hate it so much that I decide to not train for the full:) After all, a trip to San Diego is always an incentive for me! My Dad will be here the weekend of and the week after, so will make the marathon weekend much less stressful than I've been anticipating.

4.6 miles today - in 46 minutes. Thank goodness "the final countdown" came on my Ipod randomly as I was seriously thinking about walking the last 1/4 of a mile - it is a large, gradual yet steep hill that leads up to my house (if all that makes sense). Definitely not the way someone wants to end a run - but the sun was almost down - and I figured I had made it that far, why not push myself a little more.

10 minute mile. I'm satisfied. My lungs weren't tired - but my legs were telling me they had had enough! Good thing the marathon is on nearly all flat ground.

Jingle Jam

Hayrides with Aunt Stephanie

Does Hunter's smile just make you melt?

I have a love for sleeping children photos - so sweet.

This is what you get when you let a 21 month old finger paint at 9am!! This isn't even half of the mess - but he had a blast!

Amidst my excitement from having such a good day with my kids on Sunday I totally surpassed the fun afternoon/night they had with Aunt Stephanie. I had to work for a few hours Saturday evening so Stephanie gladly took the time with the boys. They utilized their time building this gorgeous yummy looking Gingerbread house and later on went on the hayrides out here in the Foothills. From the looks of the pictures - they thoroughly enjoyed themselves - and certainly didn't notice Mommy was gone:)

We are so lucky to have Aunt Stephanie here! She is so good for the kids - her reading specialist skills come in hand with Konnor since he is about 2 inches away from reading like a big boy. He's sounding things out - but sometimes can't put it all together. You're soooo close buddy! Stephanie also shares all of her old teaching stuff too - which Konnor loves - he loves to learn and he does it exceptionally well with her.

I arrived home and they all were zonked out in their room - Steph included. They love to have sleepovers - which at our house consists of a pizza for dinner, popcorn and or cookies/ice cream, a movie, blankets on the couch and they actually usually prefer to move on upstairs and crash in their own beds. Saves me 3 trips upstairs carrying dead-weight loads:) I usually have to launch Konnor over his bedrail on the top bunk! Oh the fun of having little ones.....

Enjoy!

***Grandma Bert went "home to the Lord" at about 7:30 yesterday evening. Keep them in your prayers as it's a time of joy and celebration of a wonderful woman yet such a bittersweet loss to those who surrounded her and cared for her in her last hours. I am told everytime she woke up a new grandkid had arrived home to say "goodbye." She was able to say "goodbye" to everyone - despite the horrible Midwest weather - she hung on for them all.

"Are we in heaven?"

Gotta love it - Konnor and Hunter dressed themselves for church. How cute is that? I did have to cut Konnor off when he wanted to wear a navy blue/white/pink striped tie underneath the brown/khaki/red jacket! He has pants to go with the suit jacket but the kid prefers jeans and boots - just like his Grandpa. Hunter - bless his heart- matched himself for the very first time:)

A 21 month olds view from the top of the world!

They were just so cute

WOW! We're above the airplanes!

They act like their parents are such huge beer drinkers - "Hunter, let's drink our BEER!"

Cheers!! Check out Hunter's huge smile - so cute

The slide - Mom broke the "one at a time" rule just ONCE and of course got in trouble:(

Konnor of course noticed the cow outside was different than last time - he enjoyed the reason why and ordered up a CHEESEBURGER!!

Let it Snow!

Got any pictures that beat this?!

We had such a fun day yesterday. Despite getting up at 5am (yes, all 4 of us) to bring Aunt Stephanie to the airport, the day went rather well! We of course all cuddled back up in bed at 6am and slept until 8:45. Well, they slept - I was lying awake miserable with 3 kids cuddled up all around me. So I shouldn't say miserable - it was adorable - so cute to watch sleeping kids - but I wouldn't have minded getting a little snooze myself:)

We headed out to church at 11 and then off to Wal-Mart to get Hunter a pair of cowboy boots. After digging through every tub of old clothes and closet in this house, I've realized we are lacking boots in size 7-11. We have three pairs of adorable little maybe 2 year old boots and then none until the pair Konnor currently wears at size 11. Poor Hunter wanted boots soooo badly b/c we were going to be eating an early dinner at Rustler's Rooste - which is a restaurant at one of the Hilton Resorts here that is Western Style. We always take Grandpa there - even Great Grandma has been there with us before - it has this fun slide the kids can play on while there and a live band playing country western. Although I'm not a country fan - I adore the place - country is my ROOTS baby!

Anyway, so after finding some stylin' boots for Hunter - we headed over to South Mountain Park which is on the North side of the mountain we live on and usually hike. On the North side they have a winding road that heads up to the top. They were soooo excited to reach the top - I, on the other hand, hadn't driven it since I used to drive a small car back in the day - now, with a Ford Expedition and 3 kids in the car - I can honestly say it wasn't quite as much fun as I was hoping for! Needless to say, we made it to the top. From our side, it doesn't seem so high b/c we are higher up in the first place, however, from the North side, it is quite high as it starts from the bottom - all flat land on that side. We made a stop about half way up to peek out to our house side - and then on we went to the top where you can see, literally, the entire city of Phoenix. You can see for miles and miles and miles. It's amazing! They had a little lookout fort and the boys wanted to play in it - it had a little window in it -they climbed up to look out and Konnor says "Wow, are we in heaven?" They were in awe - we were "above the airplanes!" I would've loved to have a professional camera up there. In the pictures you can unfortunately see quite a bit of haze hanging over the city - we are fortunate to not have to see or get any of that on the South side. Rather disgusting to say the least.

We then headed back down - the boys a little nervous wondering if we were going to fall (they must have gotten the afraid of heights gene that runs in both families:) ). I was very happy to be at the bottom when we finally made it! We're definitely going back again - they have horses and all that fun stuff there too - would be fun to go on a horse ride over there.

Off we went to Rustler's Rooste - they were ecstatic. They always want to go - but we usually save it for Grandpa's visits. However, I figured I could spoil them this time around for Christmas, right? They were so cute - ordered their root "beers," chowed down on the warm biscuits and cinnamon butter, and of course, we couldn't go without corn on the cob. Poor Konnor bit into his corn and his tooth got pretty loose so he was unable to eat much after that. I so remember those days - how annoying. Who ever invented losing teeth?!! Ugh! We ate and played on the slide - visited the gigantic cow outside and away we went to Tempe Marketplace to see the snow. Do you think I promised them one too many things in one day?! I was exhausted - but had to pull through - and with a huge smile on my face! After all, yesterday was the last day I'd see them until the day after Christmas so I had to make the most of it for all of us. They got to run through the splash pad and see the snow - and by then were finally asking to go home. In the car, and all were sound asleep at 7:20. That was it for the night - they slept until 7 today!

It was a great day. I'm so blessed to have such well-behaved happy boys. I can't tell you how many people stop and say "Wow, are all three yours?" "You've got your hands full!" Or the best one I had once was "Well, I think it's time for you to close your doors!" HA. This lady got to see the best of me to say the least! My response is always "I wouldn't have it any other way. They are really good boys." And they really are.

They were off to Dad's today - they put Christmas "brownies" under the tree for Santa. I anxiously await their return!

***Say a little prayer for my sister Jenna and her husband Dan and his family. Dan's grandmother Bert has been in the hospital since Friday I believe - slowly dying. I can't even tell you the exact cause but she was on kidney dialysis for the last several months and it wasn't working. They took her off all support - and are just "waiting for her heart to stop." She isn't in any pain - but she continues to wake up which I believe is making it difficult for all. Pray for them as she is a wonderful person - her husband is having a hard time saying Goodbye - and with the holidays in full swing - pray that she joins the good Lord soon. And pray that they all can celebrate such a wonderful woman's life - all the while trying to enjoy this Christmas season as well. The most recent news I got was that they didn't expect her to make it through the day - so pray for strength and peace for all of them.

Christmas Programs and Parties!

Hunter's Big Day
Rolling his tie up and down!

Happy Birthday Jesus Cake:)

Konnor's class party

Learning their hip hop Jingle Bells dance!

We survived the holiday programs and parties with little embarrassment! I was certain Hunter was going to pick his nose on stage the night of his preschool program but he didn't!!! He did an awesome job - he was so proud of himself. He didn't sing - b/c that's not the "cool" thing to do. He got up there, searched and searched for Mom and Dad -when he finally saw us, he started giggling like crazy. So, the rest of the performance he stood up there, rolling his tie up and down (and watching it drop from the top) and would laugh. It was adorable. Not sure what was so funny - but he was! Afterwards they had a little party with cake and crafts and a visit from Santa. We are so proud of him! What a cutie.

Konnor had his Winter party at school yesterday. They made a super cute ornament for the tree and had snacks and games. One of the girls in his class's Mom is a hip hop dance teacher so she taught the kids a hip hop dance to "Jingle Bells!" It was so cute. Konnor actually DID IT! In front of everyone too. It was incredibly cute - he had a great time. Reindeer antlers and all. Of course, Quinn always enjoys joining in on all the fun as well.

Pajama Day at school for Konnor today and they are off for two weeks! YAY!

Grandmas and Rockstars

My Grandparents

Grandma dancing at my cousin Beau's wedding

Are they adorable or what?! Seriously! My Grandma is the most amazing person I've ever known - and I mean that in every single way possible.

Anyway - so my sister and I went to church together this afternoon. Our church has an awesome awesome band crew - they are phenominal. They have about 4-5 lead singers - no Sunday is ever the same. The members aren't just amazing guitarists, singers, pianists and drummers - but they always happen to be very handsome men. As in, immediately fall in love type of guys! They are all probably 30 years old or younger - cute little RockStars!

One thing I miss from the old traditional church I grew up in is the traditional music - and being able to hear my grandma's voice from across the room. Our church was small - many elderly people - and usually you couldn't hear a thing when everyone sang, especially the correct tune of the song being sung! The organ would drown everyone out.

Remember the old hymn "How Great Thou Art?" I can clearly hear my grandma singing it. Today in church, as my sister and I stood there taking in all the music and crushing over all the band members they played "How Great Thou Art" in a rockin way! It was awesome. All I could think of was my Grandma! She would've been rockin' out just as she was at Beau's wedding in the pictures above. She sings with her soul - just as the lyrics in the song go. She truly is the.most.amazing.woman I've ever met, and will ever meet, in my life. Never a bad day in the life of Grandma Henrietta and I was soooo fortunate to grow up right next door to her on the farm. My kids are even more fortunate to know and love her just the same.

I'm on a mission to find this song online as well as searching high and low to see if I can find a place to order one of those rockstar band members too :)

"The Little Things" - a Mommy "ME" Day!

Paige and I - top of South Mountain (can you see past my hair?!)
Wish I had time to brighten this one - it's really a great view
Look at this ginormous cactus!

The generous gifts

As always, I always get sad when I don't have the boys - but even moreso when they are actually going to be gone somewhere, like in another state. However, this weekend I had a lot to do - and time flies!

I had a fun night "out" last night - I'll save the details for later - and keep you all in suspense :)

Woke up today, bright and early, and walked up to South Mountain with a friend - and then hiked all the way to the top. Was a perfect morning - good workout - and refreshing. Nothing better then viewing the world from on top! We always have good talks which makes it even more fun. On the way down, my complete blondeness was shining through - I think I slipped like 5 times, Paige loses her breath everytime. However, this is something I'm used to. Complete and utter uncoordination. Now, I never actually fell over - but slipped pretty good a few times. Enough to make someone wonder what sort of drugs I was on.

I then had to be somewhere at 11. A single Moms event at church. I hesitated to sign up a few weeks ago but then my sister Steph said she was working at it - so I thought to myself "gee, I better sign up - she'll know if I don't actually go!" I sort of dreaded it today - I mean, it was from 11-3. I could get so much done during that time, right? I got ready, tried to get excited and took off. Texted my friend in the meantime "Seriously, am I really going to a single Moms event?" She responded with "LOL - is there going to be dudes there or is it strictly just Moms?" I of course said "Hello! It's a single Mom thing at CHURCH! Come on, of course there won't be dudes there!" End of conversation - I'm driving......still hesitating. Trying to come up with an excuse to give my sister. Pull off the freeway and see the parking lot FULL of cars. I thought "Hmmm...I wonder what is going on at church today?" I'm thinking all along that the event I'm going to is small, and weird, right? I'm choking - but still force myself into the parking lot. I see a "valet parking" sign. "Ha! They must really have something big going on today!" Get out of my car, walk towards church and have this man approaching me...I'm like "great, what did I do wrong already?!" He says "Are you here for the single Moms event?" "Yeah?" I responded. "well, you were supposed to let us park for you!" What??? Seriously??? My response was typical me..."Oh, I'm sorry! Too used to doing things on my own." As if I couldn't say something nicer? Ugh! Anyway, so he tells me where to go, what to do...very kind gentleman.

I mosey on up to the church - met a Mom or two on the way in who were somewhat thinking the same thing I was. We check in - they don't have me on the list. Hey, maybe I can leave! Yeah right. They even had a photographer there taking pictures - mostly for the Mom's who had brought their kids into daycare. I then walked over to where the luncheon was going on - we walk in, grab our name tags, tickets, etc...and I see men in shirts and ties! "HUH?" I'm so naive. "Seriously, are we in the wrong place? What is going on?" This good looking younger man comes up and says "are you ready to be seated?" Yeah, I guess. At this point things are clicking that this is a little more formal and "professional" than I was expecting! He puts his arm out to ESCORT me in! Yeah! It's been awhile!

I joke around with him regarding the fact that I didn't think there were going to be dudes here!! He was cute and funny. Another man comes pulls our chairs out - and offers us an appetizer. Excuse me, not an appetizer, an "hors d oeuvres!" Old World Anti Pasta Skewers. Yikes! They were delicious. Then it began - we chatted amongst ourselves for awhile - the men again taking very good care of us (but this wasn't cheesy style, it was as if they were professional waiters and we paid $50 for it - it was FREE by the way).

Up next, a Classis Greek Garden Salad. Scrumptious!

We had a little band playing - the room was completely decorated very nicely - trees, gifts, lights, candlelit. You name it. A hostess at our table sitting with us to lead conversation - although, if you know how single Moms are, once you get talking - there's no stopping!

Then our main entree: Pan Seared Chicken; served with Yogurt Cucumber Sauce, Wild Rice Pilaf with Dried Cherries and Candied walnuts, Green Beans, Zucchini, Red Peppers and Fennel Braised with Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil!!! Did you get that?!! Again, delicious.

We then had a few exceptional speakers - dessert: Lemon Berry Cake (in which you could tell the men cut them - they were the largest portions of desserts I have ever seen!).

The topic of the event was "The Little Things" and they stressed so much how it's the little things that really matter to you and your children. As in, having a picnic in the park is probably more memorable to them than an extravagant trip to DisneyLand. It was soooo true! My kids love those days we just play it by ear - color, make things, hit up the park, have a picnic at the zoo, play CandyLand, dance to the Ipod (the boys love this b/c I soooo am not a dancer - again, uncoordination mode kicks in immediately:) ). They also offered great insight on being a single Mom and how truly wonderful women we all were - and all that fun stuff. It was awesome. Sort of hope (and yes Mom, I'm sure I WILL still be!) single next Christmas!!!

It ended with a gift raffle - we all got a gift from the raffle (not talking small gifts, talking Nordstrom's stuff, Southern Living, Sebastian hair products, gym memberships, spa certificates, etc..) and then we all got a gift bag full of lotions, free 3 month gym memberships, free tanning, pedi's, mani's, oil changes (of course, b/c I just paid $44 yesterday for one!). AND we all also got a $40 gift card to Target! How generous are these people?! There were probably 160-180 women there! Wow.

Amazing. It ended and I went to hunt down Stephanie - she was supposed to be in the room with the teenagers (they had free daycare provided AND lunch for the kids). I ended up finding her in the toddler room! She had spent FOUR hours with 12 toddlers in a church school room! What wonderful volunteers who put this together. They truly honored and appreciated each and every one of us. If you all know me very well - I am not an "all about me" person - and don't accept pampering or free stuff with ease. But after figuring things out - and realizing that there were some wonderful people there, (including all the good looking single men who waited on us) - who really had good hearts and appreciation for what we do - I accepted the fact and said "great, this is all about me!"

Did some shopping afterwards and pj's on at 6. Steph and I watched "Elf" and I addressed Christmas cards while she did homework.

Other than a day with the kids, it couldn't be beat. It's 12:30am - and I'm scheduled to meet a friend at 6:30 to do a 4 mile mountainous run...........