Our Story Teller

Charlie is 3 for 3 in the story telling department this week.  He is such a goof and make believer  :)

Story 1:  On Monday I picked up Charlie from daycare and Karla told me that Charlie told her this long drawn out story about how is mommy is having a baby and it is a boy.  He proceeded to tell her that he will continue to share a room with his sister because the new room will be the new babies because he will be too scared to sleep in the basement.  Karla said it was a pretty creative story.  There is a new baby at day care and another on the way.  I am assuming he just wanted to be like his friends, I can assure you that there will be no more brothers or sisters for Charlie and Olivia. 

Story 2: The other day Charlie looked at me and said "Mom, my teacher said a bad word."  I acted surprised and said "should I ask her about it."  He then said "No mom, it isn't real, I just saw it on Facebook."  That one had me rolling in laughter, and of course I had to share it with his teacher. 

Story 3: Yesterday we went to see Santa and he asked the kids if they were being good helpers.  Of course the kids responded with a yes (even though I might have been thinking otherwise...haha), and then Santa said do you have a dog or a cat that you help with? And Charlie told him that we don't have a dog or cat, we only have a chicken.  

I am not sure where all of this comes from, but it definitely puts a smile on our face.  You can always tell when he is fibbing, because of the smile on his face.  Hopefully he will be able to put his creativeness to good use when he is older.

Thanksgiving Weekend!!

This past week has been such a fun week.  Last weekend, I was able to have a fun weekend in Vegas with my good friend and neighbor, Joalah.  We had so much fun getting away and having a little "mommy break."  I am so thankful for Jesse letting me get away and everyone that helped with the kids while I was gone.  Jesse got a good taste of what it is like to be in my shoes.  Of course it was a super busy 4 days filled with fundraiser pick ups, birthday parties and Olivia even got to have a sleep over at her cousin's house.  The 2 days following my return, I had parent-teacher conferences, which is 2 - 12 hour days in row.  Jesse then had to take Charlie to ECFE and Olivia didn't have school on Tuesday, so he was definitely "Super Dad" for those days.  

Jesse has also had the last week off of work, which has been AWESOME!!  

We have had so much fun family time :)

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving.  Jesse and I got up really early and headed to St. Paul for the Turkey Trot.  We ran the 10K, and of course, Jesse did outstanding.  He took 11th place out of 1500 runners and ran 6.25 miles in just under 40 minutes.  I finished in just a little over an hour, which was my goal.  We then headed back home to my mom's for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at her house and then later back to our house for another wonderful meal with the Babler side.  I am so thankful for such a great family.  Lots of fun!!

Friday we were able to spend the day doing a little shopping and just hanging around the house and on Saturday we once again got up early and headed to St. Paul for another race.  This time it was the Ugly Sweater Run.  We ran with the kids and they did awesome!!!!  Olivia finished her very first 5K in 40 minutes.  We were very proud of her and Charlie also walked/ran about 2/3 of the race.  The other 1/3 of the race he spent on my back.  I think I got more of a workout with that race, than if I would have actually ran it like I normally would...haha!!!  After the race, we went to one of my favorite restaurants, The Old Spaghetti Factory and of course it was delicious.  

We finished our weekend today with just a relaxing day around the house. I am really praying for a calm winter, so we can have more long weeks like this.  It was so nice spending so much time together.  We are all so busy with our own schedules, that it was great to sit back and spend some time together.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

DAD

Our little man spelled dad all by himself tonight!  He did a great job.  It looks a little more like the beginning of Babler, but pretty good for a 3 year old :). So fun watching him grow and learn!

Happy Halloween!!

Shiner

Charlie got a pretty big black eye the other day at day care.  He jumped off the couch and landed on one of his friends.  Everyone who asks him what happened his reply is "I said I was sorry."  He feels really bad but it was a good lesson for him.  He wasn't supposed to be jumping on the couch.   I was finally able to get a picture of it while he was sleeping in the truck.

Note

In had a meeting after school and when I came back to my classroom Olivia had wrote this letter to me on my morning message board :)

Like Father Like Son!

On Saturday the kids and I did a local race at the city park.  I ran the 5K and the kids ran the 1K.  They had lots of fun!  As you can tell, it was a Halloween and the kids got to dress up in their costumes.  Under Charlie's running shirt is a super hero outfit (that is where those big muscles came from) and Olivia was Spider Girl, but it was so cold she wanted to run in her coat. I was lucky enough to get these photos from my cousin who photographed the event. I just love the one of Charlie running.  I had to put it next to a picture of Jesse :)

Feeding the Horses

Yesterday Charlie and his daycare friends picked the rotten apples from the neighbor's apple tree and then Charlie was able to take them home with us.  We went straight to Horsey Grandpa's to feed the horses the apples.  He was so excited and so was Grandpa!!  

Wedding fun'

Tonight we had my step sister's wedding.  It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding and lots of fun!

So darn cute!!

I love that I get to bring both of our kids with me to school on Fridays!  Charlie looks so cute walking into the building all by himself ;)

First days!

Both of our babies are officially underway in their school years.  They love their teachers and are so excited for the upcoming year. Olivia is on day 12 of 2nd grade and 

Charlie started small wonders which is preschool for 3 year Olds.  He is so excited to come to school

With mama on Fridays!

Suds run!

Yesterday Jesse and I ran the suds run in the cities!  It was a fun race with beer on the course, fun costumes and great scenery.  The best part was that Jesse took 3rd out if almost 3,000 participants.

Fun at the parade

Last week we went to a parade.  I took Olivia and Charlie as well as my nieces Melanie and Ava.  We had a lot of fun, got tons of candy but it was HOT!

An update finally!!

I haven't updated in a really long time, so here you go.  Each year I post about my summer vacation so I figured this is a good time to start writing in our blog again :)

It has been an incredibly busy 4 months. Many ups and downs.  We have spent the last few months helping my mom through a very difficult time after my step dad passed away. After almost 4 months, we have moved her out of her house of 20 years.  Her house was just too much for her to take care of by herself so she decided that she needed a place a little smaller.  We happened to find a renter for her house immediately so we had just one month to get her moved out which meant lots of cleaning, packing, and purging in a short amount of time.  It is amazing how much you can collect over 20 years.  It was also sort of fun being able to go through things that I haven't seen in a really long time.  She is now settled into a nice 2 bedroom town home that is just the perfect size for her and has minimal maintenance, which she greatly appreciates.  The last months have been difficult, but the positive part about them is that it has really brought my mom and my brothers so much closer.  It makes you realize how short life can be.  

Other highlights from the summer...

In June, Jesse and I took a short weekend trip to Duluth for Jesse to run Grandma's marathon.  This was his first marathon and he did awesome.  I also ran, but I only ran the half (haha...I say only because it was half the distance but it was still 13.1 miles...ugh).  Jesse accomplished his goal and qualified for Boston.  Registration opens in a little over a week but he won't be able to register until day 7 because he made his time by only 45 seconds so people with better times will be able to register first.  Hopefully we will be heading to Boston in April :) Jesse's official time was 3:04:15, which is amazing for 26.2 miles and only training for 12 weeks. I ran the half in 2:18:45 which was the best of three that I did the summer.  It was a fun run that I think both of us would definitely do again!  The course and the crowd are amazing!

A few days later, I headed west with the kids again.  We went to the Black Hills, this time without Jesse. It was a quick trip for my cousin Sarah's wedding, but fun.  We did Needles Highway, drove by Mount Rushmore, Bear Country, Story Book Island, and of course Wall Drug.  I rode out there with my sister-in-law but drove my brothers truck home with the 2 kids by myself.  That was one long trip home with many many many stops!

July we stayed busy with happenings around here, and this was the big moving month for my mom, so we pretty much were at her house everyday trying to get her out by August 1st.  Oh...and I almost forgot, we had another water issue in our basement so we were cleaning, drying, and replacing our basement again.

August was then spent moving my mom into her new house and bringing the kids to swimming lessons.  They were each enrolled at the same time, but Olivia's were in the morning and Charlie's were in the evening so that was 2 visits a day to the Community Center for 2 weeks.  The highlight of August for me, was a trip to Seattle with my mom.  My great-aunt and great-uncle as well as their daughter and her family live out there.  It was fun catching up with them and seeing the beautiful city of Seattle.  We also headed to Vancouver and Whistler, BC while we were there.  They were stunning.  The mountains by the sea side were incredibly beautiful and HUGE!

  

  

Here are just a few other "highlights" of the summer:

My first half marathon I completed in June (Jesse's second).  I was able to complete 3 this summer and we have another one coming up in October!

Olivia's 7th Birthday

Charlie's 3rd Birthday

Spending the Day with Cousins

Olivia's Annual Camping Trip with Horsey Grandpa and Grandma Gayle.

Olivia no longer needs a lead rope.  She rode by herself for almost an hour :)

Weddings :)

We had 3 cousins get married this summer.  My cousins Katy and Sarah and Jesse's cousin Matt

And our big "date" of the summer was the Kenny Chesney/Zac Brown concert at Target Field.  It was a beautiful night for an outdoor concert and we had a great time! 

That brings us to the present, which is getting ready for another school year to start.  It was a busy, but a fun and eventful summer.  We are all ready for a routine.  Olivia is excited to start 2nd grade with her first boy teacher :) and Charlie is looking forward to his preschool class on Fridays and the fact that Grandpa John gets to pick him up and bring him to day care.