Des Moines Half Marathon

My helper! Gabbie enjoys painting. Her Dad enjoys cleaning up the mess :-) We had to hurry to get mostly done before the sun set. It seems dark so early!

 

Fish face!

And then gagging himself! Will loves suckers lately; the other night he kept gagging himself with it. Discovering his reflexes I guess!

Painted pumpkins at daycare last week. Gabbie enjoys her 'rainbow' pumpkin!

Funny faces at Aunt Lisa's house!

The Des Moines half marathon! This is my favorite race. Unfortunatly with hot summer temps and a busy fall, I didn't really train other than a couple long Sunday runs and 3-4 mile runs here and there. So I was nervous and planned to stay at my sisters house, drive to DSM, run (or walk), go home. Lucky for me, my sister and brother-in-law wanted to come with! They were willing to handle the kids and meet me at the finish. Lisa thought it would be fun if the kids saw me finish, and I agreed! I'm pretty sure Gabbie was up until midnight watching a movie (the rest of us fell asleep) and Will was up every hour from midnight until 4 a.m. (Still not sure why that was; I'm assuming it was just being in a different place). But, we got the kids up anyway and drug them along. It was not early for me, as typically I get up at 4 a.m. to head down to this race; in the past I haven't stayed overnight. It was much nicer this way. I even had people to drop me off at the start!

Bundled up and taking a tour with Jon and Lisa!

Goofy!

Jon got an action shot at the finish! I was happy with how it went. I did it in 2 hours, so my miles averaged under 10 minutes (for me that's not bad). I only walked about 400 feet total of the whole thing. I would have walked more, but I had 2 terrible blisters forming that felt better if I kept running. And my foot with the 'extra bone' was much more painful if I walked, I didn't notice it much if I kept running.

I cried a little when I saw the kids watching me finish! I didn't do this race last year as Will had just been born 6 weeks before. I had done it the year prior though. This was the 11th Des Moines half marathon. I actually did participate in the 1st one, and can't believe how much it has grown! Only about 500 people at the first one if I remember right, and there were 8500 today. I think I may have run the full marathon one year, but I'd have to dig a little to find out for sure. My sister asked today how many full marathons I had done, and the total was 11. And I believe it will stay that way based on how my knees feel tonight after just the half! I have plenty of time to goof around blogging and internet surfing tonight...my legs will not allow me to go downstairs to do laundry! I stopped at work for an hour on the way home and I think I looked more like a patient than an employee.

Making a fort at Lisa's house

Gabbie wanted to be a statue too (like the angel in the background)

Our host and hostess, and Ava!

Jesus Loves Me!

Maybe she is learning something at pre-school! She also taught me the 'Good Bye' song today.

More fall fun...

The tree next to the house looked so pretty...

And after a few windy days we could use all those leaves for jumping! I don't make a habit out of matching my kids. It just happens they both have red hats, and Will had to wear one of Gabbie's coats while his was in the washer (thanks to him being introduced to suckers...)

13 months old! 9/29/12

He loves climbing in and out of the grill. A couple months ago he could fit easily inside and sit, now he seems to struggle to find room!

Playing ball!

Our new dog, Tucker. He was given to us on 9/24 and the first week was a trial run. Gabbie was in love right away, and he grew on the rest of us too. If only he would get out of the puppy stage. He's not chewed up anything major, just small things he gets ahold of. He was 'fixed' and had his shots last week. He's great entertainment for the kids! Gabbie and him run all over the yard. He sleeps at the foot of our bed and I hardly notice he's there he's so small.

We made fall cut-out cookies last weekend and Gabbie was actually really great at making the shapes and putting them on the pan!

Our carved pumpkin is drying up already!

I came into the kitchen to discover Will sitting on the floor eating out of a can of green beans. The can was on the table, so I guess that means nothing is safe there anymore! Plus he must just love green beans. Our daycare provider says he eats a whole can at lunch at her house too.

We took some food out to Brice in the field one night, and somehow Gabbie scratched her eye with a stick. Neither of us saw her do it. She cried and held her eye for over 10 minutes-we knew it was serious when the offer to ride in the combine didn't make things better. So I patched it. 2 hours after the whole deal she was finally smiling again. She slept with the patch on and was fine the next morning. Amazing.

Fall Fun

Gabbie's first day of pre-school. She seems 'slightly' interested in school. She did sing me "Jesus loves me" which she had learned in school. Very sweet. However, she did have the following conversation on the way to Omaha yesterday with my Mom and sister.

My Mom (Grandma): Gabbie, would you like something to drink?

Gabbie: Yeah Yeah Yeah!

Mom/Grandma: What would you like?

Gabbie: Umm...a light beer!

Not so sure of the robot at the Clay County Fair

I'm Tall!

Last Friday my Mom went to get my sister at the airport. She was watching my nephew so dropped him off on the way. I always thought twins would be so fun so thought this would be a neat experience, since the boys are just 5 weeks apart or so. Its so funny, when one cries they both cry, then they both try to 'out cry' the other.

Just try to get a good picture!

We went to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch outside of Ames that was so neat! Here Gabbie and my sister Lisa are jumping on a giant pillow.

And swimming in corn

Racing ducks

Racing pedal tractors

And finding the perfect pumpkin!

Will turns 1!

Wills Cake...good think Brice's mom got a picture! I worked most of a day on it, then cut it up before thinking to take a picture.

On Will's first birthday! We had trouble getting a picture of him without his bottle.

Charles and Will at the birthday party!

Tired...

He goes straight to this pile of dirt every time we go outside!

We finally got a swing!

Really into the princess thing lately...she turned me into a frog.

He loves this chair!

Trying to get a picture of the kids before I went to work on Will's birthday. Again with the bottle...

A cutie with Grandpa's hat on!

Checking out his tractor from G & G Hundling

His toy from Dad and Mom

Gabbie (in the yellow shirt) running in the 'kids dash' in Lake View

Eating his cake and ice cream at his party!

Mindy joined us via Skype for Wills birthday

I wish my kids loved me as much as they love Cars! Will got a Lighting McQueen toy from Piekens and its been a big hit at our house! Surprizingly only 1 argument so far...just had to threaten to throw it away and sharing has been going great ever since!

Good thing this shirt only gets used 1 time.

What a fun year it has been! Challenging of course, but fun anyway. Its been fun to watch the kids together and see the differences in the two of them. Will has started throwing temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Stomps his feet and throws himself on the floor...its comical. I forget that we are going to start going through some of the things that Gabbie has since grown out of (for the most part). Gabbie started dance on Thursday. I think this will be great for her to improve on listening skills and following directions. She said she enjoyed it, which is great. She starts Pre-School next week so she is getting to be busy! Brice and I were trying to find a day to go to the Spencer Fair...it was the first time there were 3 days in the week we couldn't go because of something we need to take Gabbie to.

Happy weekend...go ISU!

Water carnival, Sac Fair

Water Carnival Kiddie Parade...Gabbie was a kitten. The goal was that Will was to be a dog, and she was going to walk the dog. The dog was uncooperative.

We even had a leash ready to go...

Gabbie and Laila

Will at the "Cute Baby" contest. He won "Mr. America" :-)

Gabbie got to ride a horse after the Baby Contest. She kept asking to ride the small one (that you can see in the back). Guess she has her mothers fear of heights.

Good Bye to Gypsy

Yesterday was finally the day for Gypsy to go to Heaven. Tuesday things started looking pretty bad...each morning we went to check on her we were sure she would be gone. She was not drinking, was not leaving her dog house, and was bleeding. Thursday night she got up and wanted out of her house, so Brice helped her. Around Midnight I went to check and she wasn't in her house or the garage. I did not hear her, so I did not go looking for her. Brice had told her that night that we were okay and she was free to go, so I thought maybe she was looking for a good spot to lay down and rest forever. Friday morning she had made it back to her house. I left for work and by noon had several missed calls from Brice. He asked what we should do. Of course that day was my first day at the hospital, working with people who don't know me, and sitting at a random desk on my phone making a decision for our companion of 7 years. We had said this whole time we did not want to put her down, we wanted her to go on her own. The vet said he could come out after work around 5:00. I tried hard, but did not make it home in time from work. I was glad when Brice told me that the vet had brought his office assistant with him. I felt bad leaving Brice alone to watch Gypsy go. It was rougher than I'd expected. We had a supper planned for that night and did end up going, but didn't stay too long. Today I had already planned to clean the garage, get rid of cans and bottles and recycling. But then came across Gypsy's water and food bowls and decided to clean it another time. We thought it would be best to involve Gabbie in the situation. I'd rather not hide from her that things die. So she helps us bury Gypsy. Since then she goes to the window every couple hours to see if Gypsy has gotten up yet. Obviously too young to grasp the concept, but that's fine. She thinks she's Ariel the Mermaid at the swimming pool too, so why not stay in that world as long as you can. Here are a few pictures of Gypsy I came across (mostly old ones...I'm working through the newer ones eventually!)

Always had to be sitting close by...back when she could get up and could actually see us.

This picture just makes me smile...Gabbie used to take the toilet plunger from the garage and walk around with it :)

Gypsy was NEVER good at playing! Especially with cats