The Janosky Project 2.0

Miles's Birthday Party

2012-02-05T16:52:00.005-06:00

Last weekend, Miles had his 2nd birthday party at Gymboree. He takes tumbling classes there, so it was nice for him to be familiar with the place. We had a contingent of 4 year olds, and also a group of 2 and under younger siblings. It was pretty much the sweet spot between ages, where everyone had a lot of fun! Definitely a success!!

Getting ready for the party.

Miles doesn't look so happy, but here's a good picture of his birthday shirt.

Daddy helping Miles cross the monkey bars

Having fun!

Some of the kids getting ready to sing a song.

Taking a break on the steps.

Bennett taking control of the line to ride in the doughnut.

Bennett takes a turn!

Happy guy doing a dance!

Miles loves popping bubbles!

Miles gets a birthday hug from Gymbo!

Pretending they're sleeping during a song with Gymbo.

Miles's Thomas the Train birthday cake

Enjoying pizza and juice with his friends.

Bennett and some of the big girls

Blowing out his candle

Thomas and cake. What could be better?

Happy Birthday Miles!

2012-01-26T20:38:00.006-06:00

Miles is officially 2! On Wednesday, he brought cookies to school to share with his class. It is a state law that when you turn 2 you have to move out of the baby classroom, so Miles will be moving to a new class next week. He will definitely miss his Bee Class friends and his teachers Miss Sandy and Miss Mary Ann, but he already knows quite a few kids in the Butterfly class and that class has my favorite teachers in the whole school!

We had a great day today! First, Miles got to open a couple presents at breakfast.

Gordon the train and a Buzz Lightyear flashlight! Yay!!

Then I took him to his 2 year check up at the doctor. Everything was great, but he really hasn't gained any weight since his 18 month check up although he's gotten a lot taller! (he's even grown an inch since Christmas!) He's turning into a tall, skinny boy! Stats from the doctor were:

Height: 35 1/2 in.- 75%

Weight: 28lbs- 50%

I baked some cupcakes during naptime, and afterwards Bennett and Miles had so much fun decorating (and eating) them!

Nice mustache, Bennett!

The finished product! Bennett and Miles were both very diligent about decorating each and every cupcake!

After dinner, we sang happy birthday (Miles even sang to himself) and had another cupcake. He did a great job blowing out his candle too! Then Miles finished up opening his gifts from us.

More trains!

A Lightning McQueen potty! (He even told Pa-"don't touch-It's Miles's potty!)

A balance bike. He's going to need to grow into this a little bit, but hopefully will be perfect for summer!

Then Grandma Joje and Pa came over with some more gifts, and to see the birthday boy!

Pa helping Miles open more trains!

Grandma and Miles-don't you love how his hands are folded?

Miles was excited to have his own chair with his name on it!

So of course, Bennett had to go get her chair and they posed together!

Family Bonding Time

2012-01-26T20:31:00.003-06:00

Last weekend, we had some family bonding time. First we took the kids to a store called the Whittle Train Station, where they have tons of tracks, trains and puzzle tables set up and it's just a free for all! Both kids enjoyed it! I'm happy to see Bennett enjoying to play trains with Miles. It's nice to have a break from princesses every once in awhile!

After that, we headed over to Lone Elk park, where we spotted some buffalo right next to the road (which for some reason I didn't get a picture of them), and then we saw lots of elk! The coolest part was seeing the two that were sparring a little.

Christmas Day, part 2

2011-12-27T21:10:00.007-06:00

Around 10:00 on Christmas morning, we headed over to Grandma and Pa's house, where we had some yummy coffee cake that Meredith made, and exchanged presents.

Grandma and the kiddos

Belle characters!

A Jasmine to snuggle with! (also on Bennett's Christmas list!)

An awesome Sleeping Beauty dress-up from Aunt Meredith!

Pa was a big help with Miles and his new trucks that you can take apart and put back together!

Grandma framed Bennett's Disney World pictures!

Better drill Buzz open!

Buzz Lightyear!

We went home to shower and have nap time, then we headed back over to Grandma and Pa's house at 4:00 for the Rull family gathering and dinner. We had a great time celebrating with all of the Rulls!

Nice bowtie, Dad! (a nifty gift from Papa)

(thanks for the awesome hat, Menard family!)

Stylin' boys!!

Bennett was excited about her stationary set from the Rulls!

Cousins!

Grandma had quite the pile!

Bennett and Miles even got to watch some of the "real people" Grinch before we had to go home! (drill in hand of course!)

Bennett loved her new PJ's to match her Molly doll! (thanks Aunt Kris and Grandma!)

We are looking forward to the Reed family Christmas in a couple weeks!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-27T20:45:00.007-06:00

Santa came!!

kids turning the corner to unveil the Christmas goodies!

Bennett went right for her princess castle with princesses to go in it. She was in heaven! She proclaimed, "Santa brought just what I asked for!!"

Pure joy on her face when she saw new princesses!

Miles immediately checked out and started playing with his train table.

Such a happy boy!!

Bennett was also extremely excited about her new princess chapter books from Mommy and her glowing and singing Rapunzel from Nana and Papa (next to her). I think we heard that Rapunzel song 9 million times that day!

Next Miles located his work bench from Nana and Papa. It was a big hit, especially the drill!

He proceeded to drill or saw or screw open every other Christmas present. He refused to use his hands, he had to use a tool!

He thought his train table needed a little repair too!

Story writing and princesses combined. What could be better for Bennett??

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T20:28:00.004-06:00

Christmas Eve was spent going to Mass at 4:00 at Ste. Gen. The kids did amazingly well considering it was so packed that we had to stand the whole time! Then we headed to Algonquin to have our traditional dinner with the Auffenberg, McCusker and Tessier families. The food was great as usual! Then it was back home to put out cookies, milk and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer. Bennett thought she needed to leave a note with the goodies informing Santa that they were for him and not for kitty! The kids went to bed pretty late that night, and were so incredibly excited for Christmas! It was really fun to experience Christmas through the eyes of a 4 1/2 year old and an almost 2 year old!

Family photo op!

Mommy and the kiddos

Cute Daddy and Bean photo

Dr. John was sharing lots of Christmas secrets with Bennett, like how Rudolph has small hooves, and Prancer and Blitzen have really big ones. So if you hear reindeer on your roof, you are probably hearing Prancer and Blitzen. Who knew?!?

Bennett writing her note to Santa.

"To Santa

No Kitty

From Bennett and Miles"

Bennett with her note, milk, cookies and carrots!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Magic House

2011-12-26T22:25:00.006-06:00

On Thursday, we went to the Magic House. Bennett's friend Anna was supposed to come with us but woke up sick that morning. Bennett was bummed at first, but quickly realized she could still have a great time with Meredith, Miles and me. We all had a lot of fun there, and the kids loved exploring all of the areas!

Bennett's favorite part was the giant 4 story tall beanstalk. She went up and down it a few times!

Bennett being a librarian and scanning books

There's also a Children's Hospital area where you can dress up like a doctor and take care of babies. Here Bennett is checking the baby's heart.

They were both excellent doctors!

Both kids had a great time playing in the water table, too.

They were pretty funny jumping into the ball pits!

Meredith and Miles decided to build a tower.

Bennett crossing a bridge above us

Miles's favorite part was the sand table. He would have stayed there for hours if I'd let him.

We are touching the electricity ball that makes your hair stick up!

Meredith's turn! (Bennett decided against this activity...she didn't want to mess up her hair!) ;)

Bennett's School show & Beauty and the Beast

2011-12-26T15:38:00.006-06:00

Bennett also had a show on the last day of school before break. They sang many Christmas songs and then had some refreshments! She did a great job! After her performance, Meredith and I surprised her by taking her to the Fox Theatre to see Beauty and the Beast! She was in awe of seeing the show with "real people" instead of animation! It was a lot of fun to see how excited she was about it!

Meredith and Bennett during intermission.

In our seats waiting for the show to begin! Bennett asked, "do you think Belle can see me?" Grandma Joje had also given us some binoculars so that Bennett could see Belle up close, and she used them a lot!

Dancing

2011-12-26T15:25:00.004-06:00

Bennett had a little Christmas performance at dancing last week. They did a dance to "It's Christmas time for teddy bears," where they sang and danced. Very cute. I have a video, but I think it's too long to post on here. However, here are a few pictures of her dance performance and from the rest of dance class that day.

Warming up at the barre

Singing and dancing her heart out!

Time for a little tap!

Little brother doing his part being a good spectator at dancing!

Cookie Party

2011-12-26T15:17:00.003-06:00

Our friends, the Brinkleys, once again had a whole bunch of kids over to decorate cookies and have snacks. Miles got into it this year, which was much different than his participation level last year! It was fun to see all of the little brothers and sisters into decorating too! The kids had a blast as usual!

Miles even wielded 2 paint brushes for some of the time!

Bennett busy decorating

Some of the kids hard at work!

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-11T21:35:00.006-06:00

This morning, Joje and Pa took us to Breakfast with Santa at Algonquin. The food was delicious as always, and Santa arrived in a golf cart! The kids did great! Bennett was excited to give Santa her letter, and Miles did fine sitting on his lap.

Family photo

With Joje and Pa

Miles thought the food was GREAT!

Buddies!

So sweet!

Trying to spot Santa!

Miles sees him!

SANTA!!

Santa's lap. Not bad!

They love each other! (and the new stuffed animals from Santa!)

Bennett chose a reindeer from the elf/clown.

Miles went with the Santa hat/beard. Too funny!!

Dear Santa

2011-12-10T20:44:00.003-06:00

Bennett wrote her letter to Santa today, since we are going to see him tomorrow. She's excited to give it to him! The picture is a little hard to see, so I'll dictate below.

"Dear Santa,

Please can I have a princess castle

and Jasmine.

Love, Bennett"
(picture of Jasmine)

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-10T20:31:00.004-06:00

We got our Christmas tree today from our church's lot. I will post more pictures when it's all decorated, but it's gigantic and we love it! We had some great family bonding time picking out our tree, so here are a few pictures of that.

The boys checking out a tree

Daddy and his kiddos

If I knew how to use photoshop, I would combine these two pictures to make one good one! I guess that's what you get with life with two kids!

Skippo 30K

2011-11-20T15:55:00.004-06:00

This morning, Bennett, Miles and I bundled up and went out to Castlewood State Park to cheer on Brandon during his 30K race. We saw him at about mile 13, and then again at the finish. He did great...3rd place overall!

We were very chilly, but the kids did a great job of cheering for Brandon!

Bennett was so excited to see Brandon at the aid station and she really wanted to run next to him!

I let her run with him for a little bit, but then she was sad to have to turn around!

patiently waiting for Brandon to finish!

Miles preferred to hold his mittens instead of wear them. His fingers were so chilly!!

Here comes Brandon!

About to cross the finish line...3rd place in the 30K!

Friendsgiving

2011-11-20T15:50:00.004-06:00

Yesterday evening we hosted our annual Friendsgiving celebration. Brandon smoked the turkey which turned out great, and all of the food was delicious! I completely forgot to get out my camera until everyone left except for the Ottos. Bennett and Miles had fun playing with Colin, and Bennett even somehow talked him into dressing up with her!

Santa!

2011-11-20T15:41:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived at the Kirkwood Amtrak station, so we went up to catch a glimpse of those special people. We didn't stay to get our pictures taken or anything because we are going to have plenty of other opportunities for that. However, the kids got a kick out of seeing them, especially Miles who would not stop talking about Santa and the choo choo train for the rest of the day!

Waiting for the train!

Here comes Mrs. Claus!

And Santa!!!

Better be good! Santa's right behind you!!

Half birthday

2011-11-20T15:14:00.003-06:00

We decided to adopt a tradition that Brandon borrowed from the House family. On your half birthday, you can go to the grocery store and choose whatever box of cereal you want. On Bennett's half birthday, Brandon had a very early work meeting, so he got Bennett up early and they made a run to Schnucks. Bennett chose Trix and thoroughly enjoyed her choice for many days after that! I think it will be a tradition that stays!

Big Boy Bed

2011-11-20T14:58:00.003-06:00

The other night after I put Miles down, I heard a giant thud in his room. I went up there and found him standing in the middle of his room. Not good! Luckily, he was okay. However, I decided it was time for a new sleeping solution. I ended up taking off the front of his crib and putting up a bed rail. Now, he can get in and out on his own. Not good. His new favorite thing is to get out of his room and run out to the hall! Needless to say, it has been quite the week!

Day 1 trying out his new big boy bed!

He is awfully sweet when he's asleep though!

I'm not sure if this video works or not. However, Miles just learned how to say his entire name and it's so funny! (clearly this was in the middle of dinner!)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:42:00.005-05:00

What a Halloween celebration!! It started Thursday when our town, Kirkwood, does a Halloween walk downtown. Almost all of the businesses pass out candy, and just loads of families come to participate in this Halloween event! It was a lot of fun, and I was impressed by how well Bennett and Miles did, even with so many kids there!

Rapunzel and the monkey dressed and ready to go to the Kirkwood Halloween walk!

Miles is ready with his bucket and glowing pumpkin!

A quick picture with Daddy

Halfway through the kids decided to plop down on the sidewalk and chow down on some candy! Bennett tried cotton candy for the 1st time!

Digging through their loot when we got home.

This morning, Bennett got to wear her costume to school and they had a parade for the parents and sang us a song, then went trick-or-treating in the younger kids' classrooms. It was very cute, and Bennett was very proud of her Rapunzel braid. She walked into her classroom and turned around backwards until someone noticed her braid! (luckily her teachers were right on it!) ;)

At the front door getting ready to Trick-or-Treat!

This year, Bennett's joke was, "How does Rapunzel keep her doors closed?"

"With golden locks!"

In the wagon, off to trick-or-treat!! And thanks to cousin Alison who helped Brandon with the kids while I stayed home and passed out candy!

Happy Halloween!!

Stephanie and Adam's Wedding

2011-10-31T10:05:00.002-05:00

This weekend we had a wonderful time celebrating Stephanie and Adam! Bennett was an outstanding Flower Girl, and Brandon and I had a great time catching up with good college friends! Bennett even decided that she would go on the trolley with the wedding party between the ceremony and reception. Everyone raved about how good and mature she was. Phew! She was very patient during dinner, speeches, etc, then danced her heart out for about 5 songs and then totally conked out! Being a Flower Girl is hard work! Many thanks to Mona and Drew who took her home a little after 9:00, so Brandon and I could stay longer! Congratulations, Hueys!

Bennett and Preston at the rehearsal

Rehearsal dinner at Kemoll's.

All ready to go in the back of the church!

Taking a picture with the bride, groom and ring bearer.

My all time favorite picture! Bennett was in heaven dancing with the bride! A moment she won't forget!

Family pic!

With Stephanie and Abby

Villanova girls! Me, Heather, Stephanie, Abby and Carey

Pumpkins!

2011-10-23T14:17:00.005-05:00

Today we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins! Miles has been in awe of all of the Halloween decorations around the neighborhood, and he points out every pumpkin that he sees when we are driving. So naturally, he was really excited when we told him we were going to the pumpkin patch! He says "pumpkin patch" really clearly too. In fact, his talking has really exploded lately and he says just about anything he wants to now.

Strong man!

Bennett likes this one!

Two at once!

Bennett chose some places and just struck a pose!

Peek-a-boo!

Bennett and Daddy

The kids had a blast in the bouncy house!

Nothing but skin and bones! ;)

Mommy and Miles

Heading home with our pumpkins!!

All about Miles

2011-10-21T14:58:00.007-05:00

Miles is such a character! He's talking so much now and puts multiple words together all the time! He loves school, and his teachers love him. He's really into Elmo, Dora, trucks and trains right now! Here are a bunch of recent funny pictures of Miles! He also loves to sing! Happy Birthday and the Itsy Bitsy Spider are his favorite, but he has many songs in his repertoire!

Getting ready for bed! (after pulling all the diapers out of the box!)

Funny guy!

During "meet your teacher day" at Bee Class.

Lunch with Woody and Buzz

He thought under the table would be a good place to eat his snack!

You've gotta do what you gotta do to make meals fun when you have a picky eater!

Riding his bike (sorry about the pink bike buddy!)

He had so much fun at the Green Tree parade!

He loves to wear my shoes around...especially my boots!

Elmo slippers!

Transportation Museum with his buddy Silas!

As Miles would say, "Caboose comes last!"

Playing in the corn at the Farmer's Market

Is it Miles? Mario? A pirate? I'm not sure!!

Go Cards!!!

Farmer's Market

2011-10-21T14:34:00.006-05:00

Today I went on a field trip with Bennett's class to the Kirkwood Farmer's Market. It's so fun to see her interact with her friends at school (and that she's still excited for me to come...she's not too cool yet!). My group of girls were so cute and funny. Her teachers must just laugh all day long! We had a great time!

The Bear Class

My group

Little monkey!

Riding the tire horse

Bennett and Sophie in the corn

Reading and Writing

2011-10-21T14:21:00.003-05:00

The next two posts are all about Bennett. I promise a Miles post will be coming soon!

Bennett's reading has been absolutely taking off lately! She amazes me every day with how fluently she can read! Today, a bag came home from school with the book Little Bear in it. The bag goes from house to house, to ensure that kids have books to read at home. Bennett had never heard the story before. She opened it, said mom I think I can read this, then sat down and read all 4 chapters (63 pages) to me, and I only had to help her with one word! I was floored! I couldn't be more proud of her!

Bennett after she just finished reading to me!

Also, yesterday, the teacher in me came out and I decided to start Writer's Workshop with Bennett (a staple from my 1st grade classroom). When I asked Bennett if she wanted to become an author and an illustrator, she was so excited! She decided to write a story about Snow White. She had a Snow White book in front of her so she got the spelling from that, but other than her name, I let Bennett use inventive spelling and I think she did a great job hearing a lot of the sounds in the words!

Bennett the author and illustrator!

Pg 1: "Snow White lives with 7 dwarfs."

pg 2: "Snow White takes a bite of an apple."

Go Cards! and shaving

2011-10-08T22:50:00.004-05:00

We're having a great time cheering for the Cards and their unbelievable underdog run! Hopefully they can keep it up!

Brandon decided to help the kids "shave" the other day. They both loved it!!

Yes, Bennett has a jumprope hanging from her head. Apparently it's "Rapunzel hair!"

Cute Miles/Daddy picture!!

There will probably be some more out of order posts coming tomorrow. But I think this was a good start!

The Big 3-0!

2011-10-08T22:37:00.003-05:00

Brandon threw a very fun 30th birthday party for me at Robust wine bar. I had a great time celebrating with our friends!

Hanging out with Amy, Liesa and Eric

Playgroup mommies and husbands!

We had a great champagne toast where the guy cut the top of the champagne bottle off with a sword!

Then I got to have fun with the sword!

CHEERS!!

Joining the 30 club! Allison was the only one there in her 20's!

Mona!

First day of school!

2011-10-08T22:26:00.002-05:00

First day of school was so fun! This year, Bennett is in Pre-K and is going to school 4 mornings a week from 9-11:30. Miles also goes to the same school for Kids' Day Out on Wednesday mornings. Bennett is in the Bear class and Miles is in the Bee class. Bennett has always loved school, but Miles LOVES his Bee class. He goes happily and talks about "Bee Class" and "Miss Sandy" (his teacher) all the time. I think he feels like a big kid when he gets to go to school like Bennett. He asks about Bee class every day, because we have to walk by his room to get to Bennett's. Both kids are very happy!

Miles likes the Bear outside of Bennett's room!

Popsicles after school on the first day!

Bennett and her friend Addison on the 2nd day of school!

London

2011-10-08T22:07:00.005-05:00

Brandon and I had a wonderful trip to London at the end of August when Brandon was the best man in his friend Anthony's wedding...

We were in awe of the beauty of Oxford!

The Harry Potter dining hall!

Christ Church, Oxford

Here we are with Anthony!

The reception was so fun! So many people our age, and Brandon got to catch up with some old high school buddies! Obviously, it's necessary to celebrate with Yeager bombs!

Bekah and Katie!

Super-fierce DJ extraordinaire!

We had fun with Allison D. too!

Then we headed to London for a few days of sight-seeing. Big Ben!

Changing of the guard!

I also loved going in Buckingham Palace and seeing Kate's wedding dress! (no pics allowed there!)

Visitors, Family and Friends

2011-10-08T21:45:00.005-05:00

Here's a compilation of family, friends and visitors from this summer.

Miles LOVED to climb on boxes at moving time!

Nana and Papa came to visit in May!

Miles and Papa doing some reading!

Pa reading with the kids

Big sisters and little brothers at the park! (I think the moms were more amused than the kids to have them all on one swing!)

We had a great time when our friend Joelle had a conference in STL and came to visit us!

Bennett loved Joelle so much that she wanted her to read to her at bedtime!

Miles had a play date with his friend Cece. Apparently he wanted to teach her about animals!

Our blog is back!!

2011-10-08T21:27:00.004-05:00

We finally worked on our computer! Now I have ridiculous amounts of pictures to post. I'll try my best. Be prepared to see lots of blogs!!

First off...Bennett's birthday...yes, I know this was in May!!

We got together with her playgroup friends, but her real birthday treat was to pick one friend to go to a kids salon called Sweet & Sassy at West County mall. Bennett chose her best buddy, Anna, and boy did they have fun!!

Pedicures first!

Then manicures were next...

Finally a little makeup application!

The girls after their pampering!

Then they got a chance to dance on the stage and sing!

Anna gave Bennett a Rapunzel dress. The perfect gift for the little princess!

And...a little family pic from the summer.

2011-08-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

In Oxford this morning.

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Leaving Oxford

2011-08-27T08:15:00.000-05:00

Leaving Oxford

Sent from my Samsung smartphone on AT&T
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This electronic transmission/communiqué/message including its attachments is from Hancock Securities Group, LLC Member FINRA, SIPC. If you receive this transmission and/or its attachments and you are not the intended recipient, promptly delete this message, and please notify the sender of the delivery error by return e-mail. You are specifically instructed that you may not forward, print, copy or distribute or use the information in this message if you are not the intended designated recipient. Hancock Securities Group is affiliated with Hancock Investment Advisors, Hancock Institutional Advisors, and Manchester Holdings.

Bath fun with finger paint soap!

2011-08-17T18:14:00.001-05:00

Miles loves his water table!!

2011-08-17T15:27:00.001-05:00

Outside is fun!

2011-08-17T15:27:00.000-05:00

And now Bennett...

2011-08-16T13:45:00.001-05:00

Dressed to the nines of course! She is very in to playing princesses and assigning everyone else roles too. Here she is as Tiana, I'm Naveen, and Miles is Ray! Tiana is about to get married!

We also had a great visit from Joelle G last week when she came in town for a conference. Bennett and Miles loved her right away and loved all the extra attention! It was great to see Joelle and catch up! (of course the pictures are stuck on my camera!)

Miles update!!

2011-08-16T13:41:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple pictures of the kids playing in Bennett's room today that I took on my phone. Miles loves playing "house" (bennett's dollhouse) and Bennett is really understanding about letting him play and even wreck some stuff!

Now when you ask miles who he is, he says "Moush." It's so cute!!

18 months!

2011-07-26T10:35:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that my little man is 18 months old already! Time certainly flies! He has exploded verbally just in the last month. He now has LOTS of words! He will attempt to say pretty much anything, but some of it is more recognizable than others. We like to call him Sean Connery because his "s" sound often sounds like "sh," especially at the end of words. Our favorite one for him to say is "housh." :)

Miles loves his sister and calls her "did-it" They are starting to play together well, until Bennett thinks Miles is going to destroy something she spent a lot of time setting up! Bennett has been at camp in the mornings last week and this week, and he definitely misses her when she's gone.

Miles has a funny habit. Whenever a stranger starts talking to him, he always has to point out that there are people around that he knows. So he'll start pointing and saying "mom", "dad", "did-it."

For the most part, Miles is an extremely happy guy. There's almost always a smile on his face. He's a little stinker though, and loves to get into things he's not supposed to!

He had his 18 month check-up at the doctor today. Here are his stats:

Height: 33 3/4"- 90%

Weight: 27# 6 oz.- 75%

He also had 1 shot and didn't cry at all! I was floored!

I took a little photo shoot this morning while he was enjoying his milk on the couch...Enjoy!

Bear 100 Race Report (DNF) - about a year later

2011-07-22T15:55:00.001-05:00

This may be more cathartic for me than anything else. We'll see.

Greg and I flew out to Salt Lake City together the day before the race. We met my good friend Al, our crew chief, at the airport, and took off together from there in our four-wheel-drive vehicle, loaded to the oh-shit handles with ultrarunning gear. After stopping for a spectacular meal of authentic Mexican food with Greg's long-lost snowboarding cousins, we arrived safely at our hotel in Logan Utah.

After settling in and picking up a few provisions from the local Walmart, I started to feel pretty hung-over. Moderate headache, a little woozy, and a weak appetite. Great, I was worried already, but just tried to relax. At the drop-bag drop-off site, organized chaos unfolded. Lots of wiry, grizzled, ultrarunning veterans roamed the lawn and looked perfectly at ease. I scrambled to put each of 10 bags in the correct pile with 150 other bags. Somehow, they all ended up where they were supposed to, delivered to just the right spot along the 100 mile mountain trail.

That night, we met up with Tommy and Jen to have a dinner at a nice pasta place in town. I still felt "off" but hoped that with a good night's rest, I would be back to normal in the morning. Dinner was great, and seemed like the kind of meal one might have on any random evening. Same with sleeping. No sense in worrying about the next day. Nothing I could do about it anyways. Just another day, right?

Race morning came quickly after a pretty solid bout of sleep. We hit up the hotel's generous continental breakfast, which they were kind enough to start in the 4 o'clock hour. I picked at a bagel and a banana. I wasn't terribly hungry, but the good news is I had slept off my lousy hung over feeling from the day before. Being at 6,500ft was definitely noticeable the day before, but I felt totally normal on race day.

When the gun went off, the throng of ultrarunners charged up a steep road that gave way to single-track trail very quickly. Single file, we picked our way to the top of the first big climb, anxious for daylight to break. After hiking straight up for a few miles, the sun came up in the valley below, and we were treated with the first spectacular sunrise of the adventure. I had to stop briefly to turn around and take in the site. If you don't watch where you're going on this trail, you're going down.

After Al dropped us off at the start, we knew we wouldn't see him for several hours until there was a crew accessible aid station. Along the way, though, the course was well stocked with a buffet of goodies that would have made the hotel's breakfast run away with its tail between its legs. The extra calories were great to see because we were climbing thousands of feet in the intial miles, and it was relentless. The climb eventually gave way to a massive descent, though. Not a meandering slope, either. A rugged, jagged, washed out, kamikaze dive down the side of a mountain. It was hard to run easy and smooth, gravity tugging me down the hill with urgency. But it was harder to move very fast because the terrain was so challenging. This went on and on. Around every corner was a new postcard worthy view. I started to feel very small in the middle of such vast wilderness. It was liberating, and I was having a great time flying down the trail towards Al, who I knew would be ready to greet us with a smile. Everything was going just fine, except the blisters that were forming on my heels. Yes, both of them.

I was hoping to make it to 40 or 50 miles before having to perform surgery, but there I was, hurriedly doctoring my feet so we could take off again. Al kindly refilled our hydration packs and got us plenty of food to eat. Greg waited patiently while I finished applying duct tape to my damaged feet. I was forced to do that at practically every aid station for the rest of the day because eventually tape would get bunched up or come loose. But I was undeterred. We had made great time. We felt strong. It was exciting to be out there!

Each of the first steps after rebandaging my feet were excruciating. Shock waves of pain flowed up my body like lightning bolts. A few minutes later, it was unnoticeable. Back to normal, trotting down the trail, plotting out our next ascent to 10,000ft. The forrest and the scenery constantly changed around us. We would be on tall, craggy peaks, down in cool, shady, pine-laden valleys, then exposed on dry hillsides without shade for miles. Then a few miles later, in a stand of Aspen whose leaves were a magnificent shade of yellow that you almost can't imagine. Occasional splashes of deep reds and vivid greens would provide contrast. We were running through a stunning landscape on a beautiful day.

Al treated us like rock stars whenever we would see him. Thank God he did, too. I couldn't focus on the finish of the race, even though that was the ultimate goal. I had to think about the next checkpoint. Just get there, get refueled, and let the ham radio operators know that I had checked in so the website could be updated with my progess. That was Laura's only way to track me for the entire event. Cell phones don't work in the middle of nowhere. So that's how it went, aid station to aid station. Eat food, drink soda, repair feet, get the hell out of there.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

By the time it got so dark we needed headlamps, we were nearly half way done. That was a big boost! It was getting cooler, though, so we made sure our clothing choices would get us through the next long stretch. It was about this point when my knee started to ache in a bad way. There was some general soreness and tireness that was to be expected, but this was something else I just couldn't shake. Ibuprofen was powerless. Still, we kept at it, one aid station at a time. The worst part was how slow I had to go down the rocky descents. I couldn't trust my knee from about 55 miles to the end. I tried everything to find a way I could move efficiently, but the trail demanded two stable legs to navigate. And even that wasn't easy. But I found my stride on the climbs. I could still power hike anything that looked like a hill. My left leg was the workhorse, and it was a champ right to the end. I had never so much looked forward to huge climbs.

Eventually I hobbled into a nice warm hut about 75 miles in. Greg and I sat down, both pretty well exhausted. I was mentally fried from battling the frustration of a knee injury that I had never suffered before. And my feet felt like they were on fire at this point. It was a monumental task to get them back into fresh shoes and shocks. New blisters burned with searing hot pain. This was an awesome aid station, though. There was lasagna, fruit, cookies, drinks. All the good stuff!

The next stretch was definitely one of the longest, as 7 miles is no joke on its own out there. It gets really hard after 3 mountainous marathons! This is when I first noticed people starting to pass us. Greg was kind enough to stay with me as long as I was working toward the finish. I think he could have forged ahead, so I appreciate his sacrifice to go slower that he would have like on all the downhill stretches that he's so good at. If there was another "worst part" to this epic, it was my failure to wear a heavier coat. I had been warned that this area of the course, right about sun rise, would be extraordinarily cold. I really thought I would be fine. But I wasn't able to work hard enough to generate any body heat because by this point, my knee was in an excessive amount of pain. It got cold in a hurry, and it was a kick in the gut. My light jacket was powerless to the sub-freezing temps that we were headed into.

As we arrived at the aid station, I was in a foul mood. Waiting for the sun to come up seemed like it took forever, and mentally, I was about as weak as my gimp knee. I crouched down on the ground carefully and broke down a little bit while drinking some hot chocolate.  Only being able to limp was maddeningly frustrating, so embarassingly, I asked if I could get back to the finish if I dropped out of the race there. I had all but resigned myself to bailing right there. 20 yards away, a group of zombie runners were sitting lifeless around what looked like a fantastically warm fire. I wanted to be warm. More than that, I just want to not be freezing cold. The aid station captain told me that I'd have to wait there until they packed up and drove out when the race was over. There was no access to this remote point for crew members.

"Screw it. I'm moving on," I told Greg. I started limping down the road as fast as I could, which was probably pretty slow. I was freezing, too. I can honestly say I've never been so cold for so long in my whole life. Nor have I been in such incredible unending pain for so long. I swung my arms wildly just to keep blood flowing to my hands. I rubbed my hands against my arms as fast as I could, just to keep feeling in them. Nothing worked. All I could do was shiver and limp. Just 3 more miles of it, though. Other runners feeling much better me would pass by and offer encouragement and advice. Kind gestures, but I had tried it all. My knee was done. Greg ran ahead to let Al know that I was still making my way down to the aid station. We agreed that since Greg could still finish in style, he'd better get moving. No reason to put his accomplishment in jeopardy because of me at that point.

As I calculated the time I had left to make a good showing, and the pace at which I was moving, and the extremely dangerous last 7 miles that everybody had been talking about, I knew I had to call it a day. Well, technically, 27.5hrs. The sun had finally come up (again) and taken the chill out of my bones. But it didn't take the sting out of having to quit. I wanted to finish so badly, I can STILL taste it. My stomach felt solid. I didn't have any cramps, dehydration, nausea. I couldn't even feel my feet any more, so that wasn't the problem. I wanted to go on, but the pain in my knee was beyond intense.  My right leg had checked out.

So that's where all the emotions that I had bottled up all day came spilling out. All the excitement I was going to feel at the finish line... all the pride I would feel for reaching my goal, was mixed with an awful conconction of disppointment, sorrow, self-pity, and embarassment. This was not my best moment. I'm glad there are only a couple people who saw me have that break down. I'm fairly certain I'll never see the ham radio operator again, and hopefully Al embellishes my toughness a little when he recounts how my adventure ended.

The difficulties kept coming. How do you call home to your wife and tell her that your selfish attempt to conquer the world was a failure... on her birthday? Well, you just do. And you start by appologizing. In the same manner that you can't fake one of the toughest 100 mile races out there, you can't fake that phone call. Luckily for me, I at least got to try. I am grateful for that. A lot people don't finish, I am regularly reminded, but that doesn't make that DNF (Did Not Finish) pill any easier for me to swallow. I wanted to be a finisher. It was an unbelievable adventure, so I don't want the tone to be too negative, but that was the play-by-play of my effort.

After we crewed Greg through the next checkpoint, Al and I indulged in some icecream, and he needed a large coffee, too. Afterall, he had been taking care of 2 lunatics for the better part of 30hrs at that point . It helped a little. Back at the finish line in Fish Haven, ID we congratulated Tommy on his finish, and cheered Greg across the line, too. Those guys know what they're doing. We all sat in the grass of a local park and ate fresh grilled trout from the Race Director's trout farm. Such a unique experience. We drank beers and retold stories from the previous day as if they were finely tuned years-old tales. It was a sunny day, and I laid there in shorts and a t-shirt daydreaming about what I could have done differently, when just hours before, I was on the verge of hypothermia. Surreal.

I'll add pictures later!

Midnight Masochist - Double Green Rock, Part II

2011-07-20T14:57:00.003-05:00

My layoff from racing after the Boston Marathon had been too long, and I was settling into a nice groove of getting out on the trails with my SLUG buddies each weekend. Time to take it up a notch. I asked a group of guys if they would be up for another double Green Rock like the one we did last May. In no time at all, we had amassed an enthusiastic crew of a dozen willing to take on the challenge. This time, though, we chose to start at 6pm so we could have a chance to sleep a bit before tackling the rest of the of weekend. Ah... the best laid plans...

Out of the parking lot and on the trail by about 6:15pm, we were off to a great start. The heat index was pegged north of 100F, and the humidity was stifling. But this is what we signed up for. The first 5 miles go by without incident, and in fact, the first 10 miles are uneventful. We saw a couple bucks, which is a rarity, but otherwise it was a fairly normal start to the run.
We tried our best to keep the aid station breaks brief, but we also wanted to make sure we didn't rush ourselves past the point of enjoying the adventure. Still, we made pretty good time up to the turn-around point, and even covered a couple miles before we were forced to fire up the headlamps to light the way back to the cars. Another quick stop halfway through to slam a coke, wolf down a slice of heavenly watermelon, and grab a couple snickers bars... and we were on our way back to the parking lot. This was perhaps the toughest part of the run for me. Miles 15-20 felt awful. My legs were very heavy. They ached and throbbed more than they have on any other 20 mile effort. I was worried about my ability to head back out for another lap. I kept telling myself that it shouldn't hurt this bad this soon. This is NOT good.
My hands were shaky and I was exhausted when we arrived back at the cars in about 4hr 10min. I felt like I had already done 40 miles! I was going through the motions of getting ready for another 20 miles, but I wasn't feeling like doing it at all. A couple other folks called it a night after covering 20-25 miles, and I was tempted to do the same. Eating and drinking made me feel a little better, but the short break for my legs was nothing short of miraculous. I taped up a small hotspot on my right foot that I thought might cause a bad blister later on, and I was ready to go. Just like that, I snapped out of my funk and was eager to see how I would handle another challenging 4,000ft of climbing in the heat, in the dark, on tired legs.
As a group, we had to deal with a few stomach issues right after the turn-around. After we got that sorted out, we fell into a nice rhythm, running well together. Tommy, Travis, and I kept making progress. It was quiet progress, though. The combination of the time of night, and the long hot run rendered us speechless for a couple miles it seemed. Just the occasional reminder to keep taking salt would break our silence. Otherwise, the night was alive. Bugs chirped and creaked, frogs croaked, and bats dive-bombed our headlamps on a few occasions. I doubt it would have really hit me, but I dodged one that swooped just a few inches from my face. The was the fastest I moved all night.
Passing through the aid station again lifted our moods and improved our hydration situations. With fresh water and a brief rest, we were coming back to life. Chatter started to pick up as we got closer and closer to the turn-around for the second time. Personally, I was motivated by pb&j sandwhiches and gatorade that I knew would be waiting. They did not disappoint.
The return trip was both a mental and physical excercise. I found it tough to keep my eyes and my mind focused on the trail. The little tunnel of light coming from my headlamp is almost never bright enough, even though it is a really great lamp. By this point, my high and lows were coming a little more frequently. I noticed immediately if I hadn't eaten enough. Once I refueled, and the calories kicked in, there was an instant boost. Up and down we went. Just 5 more miles to go!
These 5 miles stand in stark contrast to the last 5 miles of this little event from about a year ago. I felt great this time around! I wasn't thirsty or hungry. I wasn't even yawning. Must have been the double-caffeine GU and 2 packs of Cliff Bloks I hammered about 30 minutes back. Either way, I was moving well and covering ground much better than I did in miles 15-20. I was so anxious to be done, and thrilled to have the energy to finish in style... at 3:45am no less.
The three of us cruised in together, and agreed that it was bitter-sweet. Nice to wrap up the grueling run as a trio of tough guys. But together, we smelled at least three times more horrible than we did as individuals.
We immediately headed to the creek for a quick dip in the cold water. I stood there, waist-deep, very pleased with my effort, and very thankful to have spent some quality time on the trail with some great people. Another successful run in the books.

Disney World

2011-07-17T16:48:00.008-05:00

While we were in Naples, we surprised Bennett with a very short trip to Disney World! We woke up about 4 in the morning (thanks to Miles being awake anyway). We got Bennett up and gave her a special card from the princesses inviting her to Disney World! She was very surprised!! We got in the car and drove 3 hours to get there. We enjoyed a full day at Magic Kingdom, spent the night at the Wilderness Lodge, and then spent a second day at Magic Kingdom and drove back to Naples that night. We had such a great time!! It was fun to just have Bennett by herself! She was exactly 40" so she could go on all of the rides. She tried everything! I was so proud of her for going on rides like Big Thunder Mountain (her first roller coaster!) and Splash Mountain. Of course she also LOVED meeting all of the princesses, especially her favorite, Jasmine! We also went to lunch in Cinderella's castle where the princesses walked around and talked to you too. We decided that 2 days was the perfect amount of time with a 4 year old, and 4 was the perfect age to take her. She was in awe of everything, which really made the trip magical for all of us. It was a very memorable trip!

Bennett's favorites included:

-Peter Pan ride

-Magic Carpets

-Snow White's scary adventure

-meeting the princesses, especially Jasmine

Her least 2 favorites were:

-Stitch's Adventure

-Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Bennett pointing to Cinderella's castle

I had to get a picture with Bennett on the It's a Small World ride. That was my very favorite ride when I went to Disney when I was her age. I'm glad she was more adventurous than I was at her age!!

Bennett on teacups!

Bennett and Daddy in front of the castle

Buzz Lightyear!

Jasmine and Aladdin. Bennett was so excited!! (and Mommy stood in line in the rain to make this one possible!)

In front of the big drop on Splash Mountain. Still so proud of Bennett that she did this ride!

With Prince Eric and Ariel. Ariel taught Bennett how to pose like her!

There was a really fun street parade that pulled the kids out to dance with them. Bennett had a blast being part of it all!

Shaking her tail feather!

Meeting Sleeping Beauty

Belle signing her autograph book

Cinderella

Family shot with Mickey and Minnie

We surprised Bennett with a Jasmine outfit for our character lunch in the castle. Snow White was our favorite there. She even gave Bennett a kiss!

Belle in her blue dress (You can see Snow White's kiss on Bennett's cheek)

A big hug for Ariel

Waiting for our ferry boat to get back to the hotel. Bennett perfected her "princess smile" and "princess wave" while we were there!

Florida

2011-07-17T16:36:00.004-05:00

We finally got our computer wiped free of some space so I was finally able to download some pictures. We recently went to Florida for a week. The kids had a great time playing on the beach and at the pool. Bennett was really able to practice her swimming skills! We had a great time!

Family photo

Bennett and Miles with Joje and Pa

Miles having a great time with his toys at the pool!

Swan dive!!

My little fish!

Ariel

2011-06-24T13:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a clip of Bennett singing the Ariel song. Bennett takes this very seriously and claims that she has a "really good Ariel voice!!" She had to stand on the fireplace "stage." She has been much more into performing lately!

Rapunzel

2011-06-23T09:25:00.001-05:00

Bennett, AKA Rapunzel, lets down her flowing hair!!

Bennett's swimming lessons

2011-06-10T20:07:00.000-05:00

Miles Video

2011-06-09T21:09:00.002-05:00

Miles is talking a lot more these days! If you ask him to say words, he can repeat a lot of them, but he still isn't quite proactively using many of them on his own. I'm sure that will come soon!

Oh my

2011-05-30T22:11:00.004-05:00

Lisa decided to kindly remind me today that if I didn't post anything I would have no blogs for the entire month of May. Yikes! So much has happened, I don't even know where to begin! May was spent celebrating Bennett's birthday on May 3, Meredith's graduation from Villanova, and then moving on May 19. Also, Miles turned 16 months.

Bennett just had her 4 year old check up the other day. Here are her stats:

height: 40 1/2" - 60%

weight: 33 lbs- 50%

We are loving the new house! We moved on a Thursday and construction started that Saturday on our basement which we are finishing. So life will be a bit crazy for a few more weeks, as a lot of boxes are in limbo until the basement is finished. The kids are really settling in, and enjoying our new house. We had a rough start in our new house, as Bennett was up with the stomach flu all night the day we moved, then Miles had it a few days later, and now I've had a sore throat and on-and-off fever that I can't seem to kick!

I'm going to include a few pictures from Easter that I didn't post, and from Bennett's first race. (She loved getting to race like mommy and daddy!) More pictures of the new house and other recent pictures to come soon, I promise!

My relay team for the Go St. Louis Marathon Relay. It was a really hot day, but I survived my 7 mile leg!

Bennett was pretty excited that the Easter bunny brought her a bride Barbie! Now that she's lined up to be a flower girl in both Stephanie and cousin Emily's upcoming weddings, she's all about it! :)

Daddy and Miles on Easter

The kids with Pa on Easter

Family shot. Not bad other than the fact that Miles is punching Brandon in the head! ha

Cute Grandma Joje and the kids pic!

Bennett's 1st race!!!

Look at that stride going across the finish line!! :)

2011 Boston Marathon Race Report

2011-04-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

Friday
Laura and I arrived at noon, and headed for my host's digs in Charlestown near the Navy Yard right away. After spending the afternoon exploring the expo, we headed back to base camp so I could get in a 40min run. It did not go very well. Drills felt labored, and my pickups had no "ups." But being the seasoned marathon veteran (I've run two now), I realized that the lousy run was standard a couple days out. Nothing to worry about!
Saturday
I did way too much walking around. Period. But Boston was awesome. The energy, the people, the sights… all top notch. I got hit hard with a head cold, though. Sore throat came on quick, and was followed by stuffed sinuses.
Sunday
We went to mass at Our Lady of Victories. I bumped into Sister Madonna Buder there! We also did another quick tour of the Expo, and sat in on a discussion with the legendary Bart Yasso. Things were looking up. After catching a 3-D show at the IMAX, we headed back to Charlestown.
I slept alright that night, as I did the night before, so I knew I was well-rested and that was one less thing to worry about.
Race Day
The cold symptoms hung on, but I loaded up on Sudafed and sinus spray. Sickness be damned, I had a good feeling about breaking my 3:07:40 PR if I could execute a smart race. As an aside: I created, but didn’t print out or wear, a pace band for a 3:05:35 that I thought I could achieve if I had my very best day.
Then, completely by accident, I ran into a high school classmate waiting in line for the busses on Tremont St. as I was walking towards another friend down the street. Rob and I chatted and caught up the whole way out to Hopkinton. That kept my nerves in check. I was as cool as the other side of the pillow.
I was supposed to meet my buddy, Brad, in Athlete’s Village, but text messages weren’t getting through, and he didn’t get there as early as we did. With all the RWOL people gunning for sub-3, I was left to run “solo,” when I was really hoping to at least have Brad by my side for a mile or two. After all, we first talked about Boston as “someday maybe we’ll both qualify” scenario. Neither us even had kids then!
About 10 minutes before the race started, I was standing on the steps of a church outside of Corral 3 when I glanced over my shoulder and saw Brad jogging down the side street. What are the odds!? Luckily, we were able to hop into the crowd with just 2 minutes to spare. That made me pretty happy, even though his plan was to go out faster. A familiar face goes a long way toward making me comfortable.
1. 7:14
2. 7:08
3. 7:08
4. 7:05
5. 7:08

He only ran with me for a couple minutes, but that was okay, I had already settled in to my target race pace for the initial miles. My final words to Brad, over the din of crowd, “Don’t let me catch you, buddy!” Next thing I know, though, I’ve got a new racing partner. His name was Scott Smith. He was hoping to run a 3:10ish, and this was his 6th Boston. We told stories and laughed as we trotted through town after town. The miles melted away. When I would press the pace a bit, he would pull me in a bit, reminding me that there was plenty of time to hammer it later. I complied. It was good for me. We kept working our way through aid stations, gliding effortlessly down the hills, cruising the inclines like they were nothing. Right on.
6. 6:52
7. 7:05
8. 7:06
9. 6:57
10. 7:08
11. 7:04
12. 6:58
Wellesly was amazing. ‘Nuff said. My favorite sign just said, “Let’s do this.” I had been chomping at the bit to get to the heart and soul of this race, and it was finally GO TIME. I went through the half-marathon point in 1:33:30. If I was going to do what it said on the back of my singlet, Negative Split, I would have to run a very strong back half with no mishaps. (On the off chance that a Boston virgin reads this, I’m climbing up on my soapbox: The thing about this race strategy is not only is it smart, it is fun. The whole “go out faster than my training suggests I should, and hope to hang on for dear life” is a disaster. I’ve been there. Don’t do it. Don’t let people goad you into it, either.)
I was anxious for the hills. It was a chance to use some muscle power that had been in reserve for the better part of 90 minutes. I let the race unfold for me in the first half, and now I was about to aggressively tear this race course apart. Right on schedule, I maintained pace through the hills.
13. 7:05
14. 7:04
15. 7:08
16. 6:47
17. 7:10
18. 7:14
I left my buddy Scott, thankful that he guided me safely through the first 13 miles. Just like in training, I leaned into the hills and made quick work of them, passing people steadily the whole. Sure, I was working hard as planned, but I was in control. This race was mine for the taking at this point. In forefront of my mind, though, I was well aware that the last 10k of a marathon can be brutal if not approached correctly. I was excited for this 10k, though.
God those hills were fun! I saw my wife at mile 17 just when I needed it. All smiles. The energy from the crowds almost made me numb to the running. I was floating up the hills. I imagined that I was connected to a spring attached to the top of each hill. I didn’t have to push up them, I was being pulled. And then I started really absorbing energy from the people that I passed. I was feeding off of moving through the crowd. And I was hunting Brad.
19. 7:02
20. 7:04
21. 7:10
A few miles ticked by until I hollered, “I told you not to let me catch you.” Brad heard me, and just motioned with his arm to get on up next to him. A wry smile crept across his face, as if he knew I would catch him. He had been battling a crampy calf that was an old training injury trying to rear its ugly head. I told him that it wasn’t going to bother him any more and we were going to finish strong. I could feel his spirit lift immediately. We were both revived.
You can see from the splits that we started to unleash speed on the course. I struggle to put into words how incredible those last 5 miles were. Like a constant surge of adrenaline. A runner’s high … on steroids. I had boundless energy and was swelling with pride at the prospect of finishing this marathon with conviction. Brad and I laid it all out through the final 10k, running like our lives depended on it. He would surge. I would follow. I would dart into clear space, and he would pull up right on my shoulder. We were two forces working together for a common goal. And they say the marathon is an individual accomplishment. In my mind, and perhaps in reality, we were passing people like they were standing still. It seemed like the crowed was keyed up just for us. And I egged them on again and again.
22. 6:37
23. 6:45
24. 6:34
My favorite moments of the race occurred in the final couple miles. An official race motorcycle pulled up next to us. The camera man was filming on the back. The great big gaudy lens was an arm’s length away. The camera man raised his left arm and point to us. Yes, those hell-bent-for-leather competitors running two-abreast, overtaking and burying every runner in their path, were us. Assuming we might be on TV, we both got a little taller, and our strides got a little longer. Flying down the street with just two famous turns looming, I felt like a rock star even more. The motorcycle lingered there with us for an exhilarating minute or two before pulling ahead.
“Can we go sub 3:05?” Brad asked, between labored breaths. I just extended my fist for a “bump.” No words needed.
The rest of the way, we ran full tilt. The crowd noise was only dulled slightly by the fact that I could practically feel my heart pounding at 180bpm in my ears. It was equal parts loud, fast, and raw. The only thing slowing us down was the battered group of zombies that had gone out too hard too early. I would call it a rush, but that would be to sell it far too short. The final miles amounted to a 35 minute thrill-a-second supercharged joyride down the homestretch of the most storied marathon around. It was pure Boston.
25. 6:44
26. 6:24
Last 0.20 1:14

Generally, I have a pretty good habit of finishing races well, but I have never capped off such an event with so much power and ownership over it. 3:04:28. This was one for the record books. Y’know, until next time we lace ‘em up.

A few race photos

2011-04-27T14:11:00.000-05:00

These are just a start. I'll write a more formal account of the experience soon. It was too good not to share!

15 months

2011-04-26T14:34:00.003-05:00

Apparently our hard drive is full, and we need to clean it out to make space for more pictures. I don't have time for that right now. Currently, my time is spent organizing and packing. Only 23 days until moving day!!

Miles turns 15 months today, though, and he had his check up this morning. So I thought I would post his stats. Lots of pictures to come eventually when we deal with this computer!

Height: 31 3/4"- 75%

Weight: 26# 3 oz.- 75%

So he's a very proportionate boy! ;)

Make Way for Ducklings

2011-04-21T14:58:00.001-05:00

Well-deserved pints!

2011-04-19T07:43:00.001-05:00

At Athlete's Village

2011-04-18T06:42:00.000-05:00

Me and Sister Madonna Buder

2011-04-17T11:14:00.000-05:00

Green Monster at Fenway

2011-04-15T19:48:00.000-05:00

Course preview.

2011-04-15T14:07:00.001-05:00

We have arrived. Already feeling welcome at the airport.

2011-04-15T11:03:00.000-05:00

5 Days Until the Boston Marathon

2011-04-13T10:31:00.000-05:00

You're probably as excited as me, and counting down the hours until the Air Force jets fly over the starting line in Hopkinton, MA signifying the start of the 115th Boston Marathon. But let's just stick with counting the days for now. Five.

That means it is time to figure out how to track me on Marathon Monday (also know as Patriot's Day), if you're so inclined to add a little extra interest to an otherwise mundane Monday morning. And remember, the race starts at 10AM EST. So if you're not awake for it, well, that's just lazy.

http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/att-athlete-alert.aspx
...which essentially says...
My bib number is 3734

•TEXT - Simply text the word RUNNER to 345678 using your US mobile phone. You will then receive an sms text response with instructions on how to submit a runner’s bib number. (Message and data rates may apply. You will be opted in to receive four messages during the race. Send STOP to quit. Available on participating carriers AT&T, Alltel, Boost, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon.)

•EMAIL - Continue to the registration page (from the link above) for the AT&T Athlete Alert on the race website. Sign-up using your mobile phone number for SMS text message updates, or by entering an email address for email updates.
My hope is that the race takes me less than 3:07 to finish. So you can use that as your baseline for determining whether or not you think I'm doing well or getting crushed. :)

That is all.

Lots of Pictures!

2011-04-08T21:06:00.005-05:00

I've gotten behind! Here are a lot of pictures from the past month...

We had a fun day at the Zoo with our friends the Cernys. Bennett loved seeing all the animals with Maria and Kate.

Miles decided to plop down to take a look at the monkeys!

We went out to dinner to celebrate Grandma's birthday...

When dinner started getting long, Pa and Miles went on an adventure and found a toothbrush in the locker room. Big hit!!

Miles was getting a little cranky...and Bennett was clearly on dessert!!

Miles and the birthday girl

Bennett got to have some special time with just her and Grandma and Pa. They went to the Cardinals game. Bennett sported my "vintage" Cards shirt!

All ready for the game!

Miles LOVES to play outside! He also really loves to carry around balls, or brooms. Clearly here he had been doing both!

The boxes are coming! Miles decided to clean them for me.

Miles really likes to wear beads! (I think he's been spending too much time with his sister!)

He also really loves to climb on anything! A favorite is the bathroom stool so he can see himself in the mirror.

And finally, our big news. Our house is under contract and our moving day is May 19!! :)

14 months!

2011-03-27T19:35:00.004-05:00

Miles turned 14 months yesterday. He has some words in his vocabulary now, along with his signs. Most of his words are really the first sound of the word. For example, he says "ba" for ball and "du" for duck. Some of his words sound pretty similar, but if you put them in context you can figure out what he's saying. So far he says:

mama

dada

bye

ball

duck (when he wants to pat the ducks that papa carved)

dog

dee (for kitty)

no (I'm so upset this is already in his vocabulary!)

It's a start, but we still have a lot of pointing and grunting, so I'm looking forward to when he can communicate even better. We were so lucky with Bennett being a really early talker. I know, boys are different!

Miles loves to be outside! We had a few days last week that were in the 70s, and he wanted to be outside all day long! He loves to carry around and throw balls, and he has no fear! He already can climb up the rockwall on our swingset and loves to go down the slide. It makes me so nervous! I think I'm going to have my hands full this summer! Now that it's cold again (it snowed close to 6" yesterday), he just points ferociously at the balls in the garage. Sorry Buddy, hopefully Spring will be here for good soon!

Also, when I pull into the garage, he immediately starts signing "hat." We have to then go over and pat all of Brandon's various helmets that are in the garage. Finally, his new favorite thing to do is point at picture frames in our house, and I name the people in them. He can't say everyone's names yet, but if I ask him where someone is, he often can find it!

Today Miles got a big boy haircut. So there will be some before and after pictures below. Brandon decided to spike up his "do" after the haircut. Funny!

Pre-haircut. At breakfast this morning.

Bennett at breakfast. Because she's cute!

Getting into cupboards...his FAVORITE thing to do!

Miles and Bennett building with blocks together.

Sharing a block with Daddy

Post haircut:

His 3 giant teeth on the bottom. In the place of the 4th one, his gum is a huge, hard lump, but it is having so much trouble coming through! Poor guy!!

So much shorter in the back!

What a stud!

Too Little Too Late

2011-03-22T19:35:00.004-05:00

The kids looked adorable for the Villanova game the other day. We did our best as fans- dressed to impress- hoping that would inspire Nova to pull themselves together and actually win a game. Alas, they handed the game to George Mason in the final minutes. Boo. Had to share the pictures of the kids though!

#1 FANS!!

This fan decided to get into the newspaper!

Bennett now thinks smiling involves cocking her head and shoulders. Probably the last wear for this cheerleading outfit (thanks Chris!) that has managed to last her a few seasons! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T08:05:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the kids this morning before we took Bennett to school. Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!! :)

Just Life

2011-03-14T13:27:00.004-05:00

I just realized that it has been awhile since I've blogged. I think having the house on the market is keeping me from doing some of the things I usually do because I feel like all of my time is spent cleaning up the house! We've had a lot of showings lately, but still no real action. So we'll see!

Here are a few recent pictures of the kids:

Bennett loves to get in Miles's crib with him and read him books when he wakes up. This one is my all time favorite, because she is reading a baby signs book to him. She's signing the word "bib" and he's doing it too. What a great big sister she is! :)

Here's another cute one of her reading to him.

Miles most likely yelling "ma ma" because he's ready to get out!

Sporting his birthday vest from Aunt Murph!

Brandon asked Bennett if she wanted to go for a run around our neighborhood circle with him. She responded, "YES! I want to go around 60 times!!" Well, they made it 1 time (.55 miles) but she ran the whole way and had a great time! I guess she'll have to work up to 60 times! ;)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2011-02-23T08:53:00.004-06:00

Monday was Brandon's actual birthday. We were excited that he was off work for the day (he likes to say it was a National holiday celebrating him!) First I headed to the gym for my class, then he had an 18 mile run to do. So while he was gone, the kids and I went up to Schnuck's and got him some celebratory doughnuts and chocolate milk. We sang and he blew out the candles and opened his gifts. It was a low key day, but we had a great time spending it together.

Gorgeous day to play!

2011-02-23T08:24:00.006-06:00

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous outside, so we had to get out and play!! The weather was such a tease, but we loved pretending like it was Spring! Here are some fun pictures of our play time. Also, as of last week, Miles is officially a walker. He walks much more often than he crawls now. He's even started to run a little!!

Miles was tentative walking on the grass at first, but as soon as he got used to the new texture, he was off running!

There he goes!

Signing "hat." He actually kept it on pretty well!

Look at those teeth!

Brandon's birthday party

2011-02-20T13:59:00.005-06:00

Saturday night, we got some friends together at Jefferson Grill in Kirkwood to celebrate Brandon's 30th birthday. A really great group of people were able to come, and we thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with everyone! Here are a few pictures from the night.

Some really fast trail runners!

Eric, Liesa and John

Josh, Brian and Shawn

Nick, Randy and Bob

Jess, Allison and Lauren

Kimen, Adrianne, Kelli and Brian

Mona, Drew, Andy and Amy

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:09:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day from my two favorite kiddos!

Updates

2011-02-13T08:52:00.008-06:00

We've had a bumpy entrance into February. Miles was very sick with a high fever for 5 days which made him a very lethargic and cranky little guy. A tooth also came in during that time, so we had many sleepless nights as well. Luckily, Miles is now back to his extremely happy self during the day, and, thankfully, we've had 2 straight nights of 12+ hours of sleep. Hopefully that continues!

Miles now has 7 teeth, 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom. He's really starting to take off with walking. Although I'd say crawling is still his primary method of transportation, he walks much more confidently now and he'll walk all the way across the room multiple times a day when he feels like it. Also, he's signing a lot more words lately. He now has signs for:

eat

drink

book

car

draw

bath

love

phone

hat

cereal

hairbrush

He also has this new sound that he loves to make. It sounds like "thoo." He says it all the time and points to various things. You can't help but laugh when he says it, because he is very emphatic. He loves funny sounds like "knock knock" and "ding dong" which make him giggle to no end. He gives kisses on command which is the sweetest thing ever, and he will hand you what he is holding if you say "share." Finally, if he wakes up during the night and is standing and crying in his bed, if you walk in and say "lay your head down," he immediately lays down on his mattress and curls up in his little ball.

He also can now point to many of his body parts if you ask him: hair, toes, teeth, and occasionally nose and tummy.

Here are some recent pictures since I haven't posted any in awhile.

Miles is loving all the new cars for his ramp (thanks Menards!)

Miles checking out the zebra he got for his birthday.

Bennett loves to bounce and spin on the zebra too! This was after pajama day at school. (Aunt Kris, the Fancy Nancy PJs were a big hit!) Bennett is also showing off her pancake hat that she made at school since they got to enjoy pancakes on PJ day (can you tell what the letter of the week was?)

Bennett pretty much lives in an imaginary world 100% of the time. This day, she decided that she was Ariel, so she made her own tail!

During one of the snow days, we put up Bennett's play house and made a cozy fort for reading, coloring, sticker books, etc. It was really fun!

Miles crashed her party! :)

Bennett addressed Valentines for her friends on Friday because Hollye Anne had everyone over to her house to decorate cupcakes. Here is the one for Peyton. I thought Bennett did a great job!

Decorating (and eating) cupcakes.

The big kids busy decorating.

Miles would like to help decorate, too.

The girls immediately dressed up when they got there. So here are the 3 princesses.

1 year check up

2011-01-28T10:58:00.002-06:00

Miles had his one year check up this morning. Here are the stats:

30 1/2" tall= 75%

24#11oz= 80%

Poor guy had to have 4 shots too, but he was a trooper!

Also, he took about 20 steps in a row last night! He's getting more confident every day, but he still prefers to speed crawl!!

Friend party

2011-01-25T21:23:00.004-06:00

Today we had a few of Miles's little friends over to play to celebrate his birthday. I chose to have it today instead of tomorrow, so that just the babies could come over while the big kids were at school. We rarely get together without the older siblings, and it was fun to get that chance today. Unfortunately, two guests had to call in sick this morning, so it was a smaller group than we had anticipated, but we had a great time!

On a different note, Miles just had his 6th tooth pop through today! As Grandma Bea always said, "Babies always change right before their birthdays!"

Miles having fun with McKade and Greer

Are you in there Greer?

Happy birthday boy!

Singing "Happy Birthday"

This was the funniest...Kimen got out a container of Puffs to give a few to Henry. In about 2 seconds, all 4 boys were surrounding her begging for Puffs!

Henry, Miles and Greer

Family party

2011-01-25T14:08:00.006-06:00

Miles's birthday isn't until tomorrow, but we had his family party last Sunday. It was really nice of everyone to brave the snow to come celebrate with us! Miles was a little tentative digging into his cake, but eventually got a pretty good handful! He also loved pointing at the balloons from afar, but was pretty scared of them up close. Funny! Bennett was a great big sister. At the end of the night, I told her how proud I was of her during Miles's party. She looked at me and said, "I know mom, I didn't act jealous or anything!" :) Thanks to Ann and Grace as well, because they were so nice to play with Bennett for most of the time!

Birthday boy in his monkey shirt

Miles with Great-Grandma Rull

Grandma Joje, Grace, Pa and Miles hanging out on the couch

Two pictures of our lovely guests!

Birthday boy is ready for some cake!

I'm 1!!

Here comes the cake!

Bennett helped blow out the candle though.

Starting to dig in...

MMMM...Maybe I like cake!

Family photo...Yes, Bennett wore her tutu for the entire party!!

Mom, I think I'm tired of eating cake! :)

First Steps

2011-01-18T14:46:00.003-06:00

Miles took his first steps on January 13. We were playing with Bennett's dress-up cowboy hat. I would put it on his head, he would take it off, then put it on my head, etc. Brandon was a few steps away, so I put it on his head and stood Miles up. He took about 2 1/2 steps to reach the hat! He has done it a few more times since, mostly if you're bribing him with something he wants. :)

This video is of him pushing his walker. He flies! I'm sure more independent walking is soon to come! I will try to catch it on video soon!

Reading

2011-01-11T16:07:00.002-06:00

Between her new Tag Reader from Santa, stories on our iPad, and new library books, Bennett has really been into reading lately! She's really starting to be able to decode words and loves the feeling of being able to figure it out! Here she is reading a book called Camping Day with Daddy before bed the other night.

Snow day!

2011-01-11T15:19:00.003-06:00

Bennett is home from school and dancing today due to the snow. She's been begging all day to play outside. She even said this morning that maybe Daddy could take Miles with him to work so that she and I could play outside. ha! When Brandon asked her what Miles would do at work, she said, "Well he loves to crawl around and stuff. He could just do that!" The real feel is about 4 degrees right now, so we probably won't play in the snow today. Luckily my friend Kimen saved the day and gave me a recipe to make snow ice cream. After I got Miles down for his nap, I let Bennett go outside and collect some snow and then we made the ice cream. It actually tasted pretty good!!

Right after she collected the snow

Stirring the ingredients...

Enjoying snow ice cream (with sprinkles of course)!!

Bennett has been really into coloring lately! Her fine motor skills have improved tremendously in the last few months. Now she loves to make beautiful, colorful pictures and her attention span is amazing! Here Lilo is admiring her work as well!

Miles update

2011-01-11T15:01:00.004-06:00

I didn't give a proper 11 month update of Miles since it fell the day after Christmas, and that was in the middle of our Christmas chaos. In the month of December, Miles got 2 more teeth, and January 9 his 5th tooth just came through. I think there are a couple more not far behind. His sleeping wasn't great for awhile. He would be up at 4 AM for an hour for no apparent reason (other than all these teeth he's been getting) although he didn't seem too upset, just awake. Lately he's been doing much better though.

He's such a character! He loves getting into all cabinets and drawers. Lately, his favorite has been to open the cabinet that holds all of my coffee K-Cups, and transfer all of them into the drawer under my oven!! He's a super speed crawler and always goes straight for all stairs too!

Right now he's really into stirring. Give the kid a bowl and a spoon and he goes to town "stirring the pot" as we call it. He's also enjoying transferring things in and out of a bag or box. He's getting more confident standing every day and does it for a few seconds at a time multiple times a day now. No steps yet though. He loves to push anything around the house that he can move: chairs, his high chair, his push toys, diaper boxes, etc.

Eating has been interesting lately. He's been ravenously hungry, but he's developing much more discerning taste buds. He's not too big of a fan of a lot of vegetables now, but loves all fruit. He's also very picky about textures. He's still on baby food at least half the time, but I'm having trouble getting him to try many new things to expand his horizons. Just yesterday he started drinking cow's milk. Hooray! We're weaning off of formula! He hasn't had trouble doing it, although with Bennett I was able to transfer to milk and a sippy cup at the same time. I think giving up the bottle will be more of a challenge with Miles because he does not like cups!!

I was washing the windows to get our house ready for a showing. I gave Miles the roll of paper towels with a few left on it to play with. I turned around and he had ripped a few off and was "washing" the windows just like me!

Opened the cabinet, got out some supplies, and started "stirring the pot!"

Transferring my K-Cups into the drawer under the stove.