Summer V3.5

I'm a little late on posting THIS too, but since I haven't been great at keeping up lately I just wanted to document where Summer is at. And also post a picture of Summer on her egg hunt with her playgroup friends. I think Nana Dina thought we didn't let Summer have any Easter fun at all. In reality, she just needed a down day at home with Daddy while Garrett and I went to do some Easter stuff on Saturday.

Summer Version 3.5 is crazy. She's terribly independent, but also easily frustrated. She's VERY sensitive, and the slightest little thing will make her very sad. She's getting much better at expressing her frustrations and sadness. She is definitely DADDY'S GIRL. She always wants to know where he is, when he'll be home, and what he's doing. She loves her brother, and is always sad that he doesn't want her smootches. She regularly chases him into his Kindergarten classroom to attempt to kiss him, much to his embarrassment. She's STILL not potty trained, but we're making progress. "Kerpunzel" is her most favorite thing in the world. She loves to swim and she loves to play. Her pretend play is just too funny to watch.

There is a reason God decided to bless us with her 2nd. If she had been our first she would be our ONLY. But as challenging as she is now, I know that strong willed nature will work to her advantage as she gets older. Oh, and she REALLY wants to go to school. Probably because we take Garrett every day. She knows most of her letters and letter sounds. Uno is her favorite game.

Easter Weekend Fun

We had a wonderfully busy Easter Weekend. We kicked off the festivities by watching Hop on Thursday night. Cute, and only a few moments that I could have done without. School was out on Friday, so Brad took the day off and we did a day trip to Key West. We spent far more time in the car then we actually did in Key West, but both the drive and walking around were worth the effort, and it was nice to do something "big" as a family for a change. We then came home and did our monthly Full Moon Fun Run, hosted by the Davis clan, which was a blast. This was the first time it fell on a weekend and both kids had a blast hanging out and playing. Summer, it turns out, makes an excellent pacer on her bike :-) Our full moon gang (stole the pic from Shelah). Brad even managed to win a Tae Kwon Do membership for the boy, so that was awesome. Something fun to look forward to over the summer!

On Saturday morning Garrett and I had a date to go see the Easter Bunny as a part of the city's Easter festivities. Garrett drew a bunch of pictures for the E.B., but this was my favorite. The scribble, by the way, is the grass in which EB is hiding.
He loved giving them to the Easter Bunny in person:
We ran into Garrett's buddy Jon and they had a fun time being silly together:

Before the egg hunt:

And with his haul:
They had a rock climbing wall, so of course Garrett had to do that:

Then it was time to dye eggs. This year the egg dying was an incredibly artsy affair for Garrett and pretty much stress free, which was a nice switch.

Summer had fun with the stickers.

My favorite easter egg by Garrett. Ahoy, me mateys!

So colorful!
We finished out the day by reading the Easter story and talking about why we celebrate it.

Kids to bed, and the scheming began:

The kids left most of their candy for the EB to take. In return he left baskets filled with fun. Summer's eggs were hidden in her room. Garrett, on the other hand, got to follow a trail of clues hidden in eggs. The trail lead, eventually, to "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" for he and Summer to share. The EB is very clever and Garrett had a BLAST following the clues.

After playing with our Easter goodies for a while, we headed off to spend some time in the great outdoors. Last month I was able to do field work in a part of Everglades National Park I had never visited before, Chekika. This place has a borrow pit FILLED with baby alligators. So we had to go back as a family--especially since Summer is OBSESSED with alligators (and snakes. . . go figure).

10 baby alligators, and 2 adults, inhabited the small lake. Brad scored an awesome picture of one of the little ones.
We finished the day off by having dinner at the Shumans house. They are planning on moving over the summer, so its a bit sad to know our holidays won't all be spent walking around the corner to their house. Holidays there have been a long-standing tradition that make living so far from family a little less lonely. We made a cute bunny tray to share.
And, speaking of culinary creations--the kids and I made these super delicious (and sweet!) cookies for Garrett's class.

March In Review (and February too I suppose)

I can not seem to get caught up this year. Maybe its just the craziness of getting Garrett to and from school, getting workouts in, feeding everyone, keeping summer occupied, working, and just generally surviving from one day to the next. Our days have been filled with lots of fun, but I haven't really taken that many pictures. Trying to be in the moment with the kids, but I KNOW I'm going to miss having this to look back on down the line.

Let's see . . .
We had a cold snap. Haylee must be getting old (which she really is, she turned 10 in March, which is CRAZY to me) because all she did was bury under the blankets and refuse to move.

Aspen, on the other hand, chose to attempt to swim in the lake during one of our coldest days. Rotten dog.

Nana and Papa came for a visit. I'm sad to say this is the ONLY picture I took with my camera while they were here. Garrett and Summer loved having them here to play with.


Valentines day.
We made darling super hero valentines. Garrett got a kick out of making them.

He also made lots of sweet little art work. This was my favorite though, made with the bottom of a celery stalk as a stamp.

My dad came for a visit. We hit the beach and went to the Everglades. Its been a while since he's seen the kids. Everyone had a blast of course.

We did fun things like make robots out of toilet paper roles. Don't ask about Garrett's face here . . . .I think he was acting like the robot.

I ran my first half marathon on March 4th. I'm so annoyed that I haven't managed to post about THAT in the past month. It was an epic weekend, my friend Amanda from TooTallFritz came for the race. As I mentioned before, we've been online friends forever but have never met in person, and she was one of the people I could always ask for help when I got stuck on my running journey. It was so fabulous to meet her and her mom--they were kind enough to let me hang out with them the night before the race to save on some serious pre-race jitters!
Not to mention a beautiful evening on the beach:

Brad stayed home with the kids so I'm sadly lacking in pictures of the actual race. But we had so very much fun! I finished in 2:49, which was under the goal I had set for myself. Next time I hope to run the whole thing, I ran faster than I should have in the beginning and had to do intervals the last half. It was so incredible though.
And I can't forget the sweet good luck flowers Brad got me before the race :-)

Spring Break was fabulously busy . . .

We used the awesome pop bottle science kit Leanne got Garrett over Christmas to do some fun experiments over spring break. We made a volcano.

We also blew up balloons using the reaction of baking soda and vinegar. We have a long standing tradition of making faces on our balloons--Summer did such an awesome job on hers (with NO help) that I had to take a picture.

We went to the Childrens Museum with the Falconer clan. The kids had a blast--Summer and Ava hadn't played together in a while. The Pirate Island Exhibit there is amazing and the kids loved it. Garrett had also been wanting to try the rock climbing wall there for a while, but we always kept forgetting socks and close-toed shoes. He had an AWESOME time climbing the wall. If there is one thing I love more than anything else about the way we live our lives, its that living an active lifestyle has given this boy the idea that he can conquer anything. I love that he doesn't blink at physical challenges that would have made me, as an adult, cringe in the past.

Silly girls!

We played in the mud on the last day of spring break, just because getting dirty is so much fun.

Somewhere in there was Dr. Seuss's Birthday. We had tears on this day, ACTUAL TEARS, because Garrett's school told them they could wear Dr. Seuss shirts and I could not find one. As he's crying because he is worried he will be the only one without a Dr. Seuss shirt, I decided to be creative. The result turned out pretty darn cute, and he loved it. Saved by the Sharpie Markers and the stash of plain shirts sent to us by Grandma Sherry.




St. Patricks Day cuteness:
At the end of March we received news that Garrett was admitted into the charter school down the road from our house. I struggled for the entire week (we had to decide by March 31st if we wanted to enroll him) with what we should do. I really like the school we are currently at--the principal and staff are amazing, and it is such a small school that you can't help but feel at home. But in the end, an established Math/Science program and the ability to bike/walk to school won out over everything else, and we'll be switching schools at the end of the year. Hoping that it will make our lives simpler and that it will be a good fit for my crazy boy.

And, last but not least . . . a picture of Summer at the beginning of April 2011. I can't get over how much she has grown. She has been driving me bonkers lately--she is truly not an easy child and STILL isn't fully potty trained (we've been to the Dr. more times than I care to count in the past couple months, trying to sort her out). But she is growing up so fast and really becoming a big girl.

Why January 2012 wasn't awesome and the rest of the year is going to ROCK.

Okay, so catch up time. I may never post Christmas pictures. And I haven't taken that many pictures so far this year. A run down of the not-so-wonderful January we've had, in 100 words (I hope) or less:

My mom came for a visit, had to be admitted to the hospital next day with chest pains. No heart attack, but diabetes. No big shock, but hopefully motivation for a change for her.

It occurred to me (with some prompting from my best bud Allison) that things were not as they should be with Summer. Her sleep pattern was too erratic and she still wasn't potty trained--after some serious thinking, some time with the doctor and six vials of blood, and a two week test period of a gluten free diet, we reached the following conclusions: We needed to move up her bedtime, she DOESN'T have Celiac disease, but she does seem to have very strong gluten sensitivity. As in any form of gluten upsets her stomach so much that she complains of a tummy ache and then loses control of her bowels. Don't I feel like mother of the year for not picking up on THAT sooner.

So we've spent the first bit of February adjusting to the whole idea of having a child with food sensitivity in the house. Its so, so very weird for us--we usually eat well and clean, but we make a lot of our own baked goods and do eat a lot of wheat. So its been an adjustment. Its hard to eat gluten free on a budget, so we're adjusting there too. Summer has to adjust to not eating some of the things she loves, and we have to adjust by FINDING a way to substitute the things she loves with something similar.

We've been blessed with family coming to visit--first my mom, now Brad's grandparents, and my dad is coming on Saturday.

But here's a list of why the rest of the year is going to rock.
Now that we have a handle on her stuff, Summer is acting much more like the brilliant little girl we know she is and hopefully we REALLY WILL be done with potty training too.

I'm running my first half marathon on March 4th. Not only will my friend and neighbor Jess be joining me, but so will my long, long time internet bud Amanda. Amanda and I have known each other since my pre-kid days. We both have weims. She always let me pick her brain when I started running--she is a freaking amazing endurance athlete. So to have her down here for my first half makes me excited beyond words. She's been on my top 5 people-to-meet list for quite some time.

April includes a trip to Maryland to see my very best high school bud, Sandra. For a baby shower no less. We haven't seen each other in 5-ish years, but Sandra kept me sane through the disaster that was high school. I'm so excited for her to embark on the journey of motherhood, there aren't even words for it :-) On top of that little bundle, who's ETA is June, my best bud Allison has a bundle with an ETA of July. Babies, babies, everywhere! A summer-long trip to the Northeast may be in order . . .

May brings a surprise from Hubby--tickets to Nickelback's Here and Now Tour. They will be playing with Seether, My Darkest Days, and Bush. I had no clue Bush was still around, but the other 3 are absolutely off the hook rock bands that I love. And listen to on an almost daily basis while I work out. Then my big boy will be turning 6. And then the summer baby boom discussed above.

So, January was terribly stressful. But I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings. Probably less blogging from me, since time is always in short supply. But I'll still try to bring the highlights. HOPEFULLY!!

Sherry's Run

Yes, I realize the entire month of January went by without me actually posting anything other than catch-ups from December. And that I STILL haven't posted pictures of Christmas Day. Suffice to say 2012 has been INSANE so far. I promise my very next post (which I am going to write and schedule) will closely follow this one. But yesterday I participated in something note-worthy and wanted to document it here.

Its no secret that since Summer was born, I have become a bonafied runner. I was never athletic, was called sloth in gym class in middle school, and used to watch people running as I drove in my car eating fast food thinking "I could NEVER run." But its grown into a part of life for me. I was recently discussing fitness/weightloss/etc. with a friend and dug up some old pictures of the "Old" me. I can't even really remember what drove that person--I wasn't a foodie, I didn't run, and I didn't have the same amazing circle of friends I do now. So I'll take the new me any day of the week. The me that thinks anything is possible. The me that is running a half marathon in 3 short weeks (SO excited!).

Anyway, one of the running blogs I follow is Shut Up and Run. SUAR blogged about her cousin, Sherry, who made national news after disappearing from her morning run in January. In addition to Sherry, many women step out their doors for run and never go home. Sometimes the what ifs can be terrifying. SUAR organized a virtual run in Sherry's memory, which I was glad to participate in on Saturday. It serves as a reminder that we can never be to careful when we step out the door each day, and that every day truly is a gift. Stop by Too Tall Fritz to read some great safety tips, in memory of Sherry and every other runner that didn't make it home.

Better late than never--last week of school through Christmas

I had intended to be caught up with the blog by now. . . alas, LIFE. So here's a recap of the last week of school and leading up to Christmas. Christmas deserves its own post. Maybe I'll have THAT one written before Valentines day.

The Elf continued to be fun for all. Garrett told me more than once that he didn't want Christmas to come because he didn't want Jet Pack to leave.

Garrett's school had a PJ day on the last day of school. The two Kinder classes did a combined craft day which was a LOT of fun but also a lot of work. I volunteered in his class and a friend and I helped plan all of the crafts for Garrett's class. By the time it was over I was pretty much holiday-ed out but the kids had a blast.
Sugar high, anyone??

Festivities included a book exchange. Garrett got a fun reader about Cats, and we gave a Clifford 2-in-1 book.


We made teacher gifts for both of the K teachers with their students hand prints.

We made reindeer candy canes for friends
Summer is such a cheese ball

We went on a date to Brad's Christmas party for work on his birthday, but took no pictures. I got to hang with some of my favorite people who shared my birth month
My buddy Shelah

And my buddy Susan (at the winery for our birthdays--free admission and free wine, weee!)
We went on our first real family camping trip, to Flamingo in Everglades National Park. We've been before but Summer was too small to really enjoy it. It was a blast. We ended up going with some long time friends, which is what REALLY made it fun. Thanks Monica for the pictures!
No idea what the girls were discussing but check out Summer's feet!

The boys having fun doing boy things.The bugs were bad, but other than that the trip was AWESOME!!

Last, but not least, we allowed Garrett to open his tools from Grandma Becky a day early so he would have his own Garrett-sized items to work on a craft from Lowes, since we missed it to go camping.