My New Work-out Obsession ----

PILATES! I have done Pilates off and on in the past, but never really consistently. I have always thought it was a good class for toning the mid-section, however.

Colby has been loving the gym lately and burns off lots of energy there, so I've been going quite a bit. I still get my runs in, but have now added in Pilates 3 times a week. My abs are on fire, but I am sticking it out to see what type of results I get (they have some pretty high intensity classes where I go)! I will report back in a few more weeks! The instructor told me that 3x a week is what I need to do to get toned abs, so we will see!!!!

We are gearing up for a trip to Sioux City this weekend for the Kennedy Family Christmas and then to VA next week for the Baumann family Christmas! Lots to do to get ready, but it will be so much fun to see everyone this year!!

No new pics, but lots will be coming soon!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

A few more old pics....

Okay, so once I got started looking at old pics, it was hard to stop!! A few more of the kids.....

Maddy on play mat (about 3-4 mnths old):


Colby in the bouncer (about 3-4 mnths old):


Reading one of the hundreds of stories that Maddy has enjoyed over the years! (about 1 1/2 yrs old):


Colby taking after his sister with her love for books! (about 1 1/2 yrs old):

First Christmases.....

There's nothing quite like a baby's first Christmas --- I was thinking back to those days for Maddy and Colby and found some cute pics.....

Maddy in her Christmas dress (9 months old):


Colby in his Christmas sweater (10 months old):


Maddy opening a gift:


Colby playing:

Church Christmas Program

Maddy had her Christmas program at church on Saturday night. She has WOW (Worship on Wednesday) every week on Wed. night. I teach her class every other week with a helper and my neighbor teaches every other week. We have a pretty good class and it's been fun for Maddy. They did a great job singing the songs we've been working on at their program on Sat. night.

Here she is with our neighbor Reese after the Christmas program:



Maddy and Reese and Taylor (Taylor is in Maddy's Kindergarten class):

Shopping Trip - 2010

We had the annual Kennedy family girls shopping trip in Kansas City this past weekend! It was a great time and was really great getting everyone together. We stayed at the Sheraton hotel down in the Plaza, which was cool because all the Christmas lights were on down there. We shopped all day Saturday and ate a nice dinner at Brio on Saturday night to celebrate my Mom's birthday! A good time was had by all!!

All of us before heading out to shop on Saturday:


Gwen got to come with us in the morning! A taste of what's to come for her in the future ;-)



Getting dessert at Cheesecake Factory Friday Night in the Plaza:




Just hanging out in the hotel:


Diane's first shopping trip! Welcome to the group, Diane!!!:


Me and Sarah:

Thanksgiving Pics

We spent Thanksgiving in Kansas City this year at John and Jolyn's house. We were also able to spend time with Joe, Angie and Finn and Sarah and Roy. We had a great time and it was great to see everyone and meet baby Gwen for the first time!

Maddy holding baby Gwen:


Sarah and Gwen:


5K race with Angie and Jolyn Thanksgiving morning (it was COLD!!!!):


Maddy getting a massage from Jolyn (yes, we are lucky enough to have a massage therapist in the family!):


Maddy and Jackie getting ready for their sleepover(which never did come to fruition!):


Colby could not get enough of the grapes! He kept pulling the chair over to get grapes off the counter!:


John carving the turkey:


Finn and Colby sweeping up the kitchen ;-):


ohhhhh, I am so full....need to stretch!!!!!

Congratulations Shane and Julie!!!!

We now have a new sister-in-law!! Shane and Julie were married yesterday in FL! We wish them many happy years and are excited to welcome Julie into our family!!!

Tree Lighting ---

We went to the tree lighting at Jordan Creek mall last Friday night with our friends, the Lamberts. There is a big tree outside of the mall and they count-down and light it and then Santa arrives and they do fireworks. It's kind of turned into a tradition to go every year now and it's always a lot of fun!

All the kids outside waiting for the fireworks (Colby really was happy, but he just didn't want to hold still for the picture):


Maddy and Elise just skipping around ;-):


Looking down from above to see Santa in his chair inside the mall:


Maddy, Elise and Evan:

Colby's Newest Obsession.....

The Vacuum!!!!! I can't keep him away from it! We even have a play vacuum that he can use, but no, he HAS to have the real thing! The funny part is that it's a really heavy vacuum, but he still manages to push it around --- It was getting so bad one day that we decided to put it out in the garage so he wouldn't be messing with it all day. Well, that back-fired as anytime I tried to take him somewhere, he would see the vacuum as we were coming back into the house and wouldn't want to go in! Agghhh!!! So, now it's back in the hall closet and he gets it out every morning!
I must say, that he does seem to have a good attention span as he can focus on one thing for hours, days, weeks at a time!!!!

Secret Hiding Spot ---

Maddy and Colby now have a "secret hiding spot" where they like to go and read books. It is not so "secret" to me as it's just behind the chair in the office, but hey, whatever works! They will both get a bunch of books and put them back there and then go back and sit and read. It's pretty funny.....

Baby Olivia --

My good friend Beth came over today with her new 6 week old baby, Olivia. It was great to catch up! She lives in Wisconsin now, so we don't get to see each other very often. She was in DSM today, so we got some time to visit and I got to meet her new baby.

Colby LOVED the baby!! It was so cute! I thought he might get jealous when I was holding her, but he didn't seem to mind --- He just kept getting up real close to the baby and looking at her and smiling and laughing!!

I told Jeremy that Colby really enjoyed having a baby around so maybe he should think about that a little, but I didn't get much of a response!! Ha!!

STABLE ---

We heard from Wendy today that Elise's tumor is stable. It has not grown, nor has it shrunk. We were hoping for news that it had shrunk, although, it is still great to hear that it is stable. The doctors were happy about the results. She is feeling good and that is something to be thankful for!!

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/eliselambert/createorsignin

Thinking about Elise Today ----

Our friend Elise is having her MRI done at St. Jude's today to check on her brain tumor --- We are praying that it has shrunk!!!!! Wendy and Brian (her parents) will find out the results tomorrow morning. THINKING OF YOU ELISE!!!!!! YOU ARE SO BRAVE AND WE ARE PRAYING FOR THE BEST!!!!!!

A Couple of Firsts.....

Today Maddy had her first "school friend" over for a play date. It was kind of cool because it is a friend she has made all on her own and they have been talking at school for weeks about wanting to play together. I had no idea who this girls' parents were or where they lived, but I told Maddy I would get ahold of her Mom and find a day for her friend to come over. I ended up meeting her mom this past weekend at a b-day party for a different kid in their class, so we got it all set up for Brittany (Maddy's friend) to come over after school today. They were both so excited (as was Colby) and had a great time. It turns out, that they live just a couple blocks away from us, so that is really nice as well.

Tonight, we had conferences for Maddy with her teacher (and also got her first report card). Another first for us!! We had Maddy and Colby go over to our neighbors' house for a half an hour while we went up to the school. It went really well and Maddy is in the top of her class for reading. Apparently there are 5-6 other kids ahead of her in all 3 of the Kindergarten classes. I was surprised when the teacher told us this as I guess I didn't realize they "ranked" the kids in this way. However, I was happy to hear that Maddy is doing good and is also attentive and gets along with the other kids. She really does love school and seems to be having a great year! We are very proud of her for working so hard!! I'm thinking I might take her out for ice cream tomorrow after school.

Halloween Festivities....

I just now realized that I did not post anything about Halloween! We had a great week leading up to Halloween. Jeremy's Mom came to visit for the whole week and we had a nice time seeing her! It was a very busy week with a Halloween party at Colby's Parent's Morning Out program and Maddy's school. Maddy also had a Fall play. Of course, I had signed up to help out at both parties so we were busy doing that and making treats, etc..for the parties as well! Oh, and for some reason, I also decided to host a candle party this same week! In the midst of all of this, we all ended up coming down with bronchitis by the end of the week. We had all been coughing and it just seemed to get worse as the weeek progressed. Friday morning, we were all at the doctor! I guess that is probably why I didn't get anything posted on the blog! Lots of cough syrup, cough drops, kleenexes, antibiotics, humidifiers and inhalers later --- we are doing much better! Sorry Barb for bringing you into our germ infested house and getting you sick!! Misery loves company, I guess ;-)

I also realized that the only pictures taken with Grandma Barb were on her camera --- so, I will post those once I get copies. For now, I have posted a picture of Maddy and Colby right before trick-or-treating. They were so excited and running around everywhere with the neighbor kids, so I only got one picture!!

Cousin Time!!

We had Ben and Jordan over last Friday night for a couple hours while Josh went to a wake and Missy was out of town. The kids all had a lot of fun playing. I got a pretty cute picture of the four of them eating pizza:

Colby's First Haircut!

It was way over-due, but we kept putting it off as I think we were scared to have sharp scissors go near Colby's head! He is so active and constantly moving that I wasn't sure how we were going to get this done!! So, finally the other day, I just decided to take him into Great Clips after Maddy got home from school and see what would happen. (it's funny because for Maddy's 1st haircut, both Jeremy and I took her to a "kids' haircut place" and spent a lot of money to get 1 or 2 pieces of hair cut off and a picture taken, etc....we are more practical about these types of things nowadays ;-))

So, back to Colby.....He did not want to sit on the chair, so I sat down and put him on my lap. Then, he was having issues with the gown they drape around you, so I told the lady to just not use it (we both ended up with hair all over us!) The lady cutting his hair was pretty good, but she was definately taking her time --- Maddy helped me distract Colby and overall we got it done (even though, towards the end of his hair-cut I was standing up holding him while she was cutting!) I would consider it a success as his hair is cut, looks pretty good, and no injuries to report!!!

GO, FIGHT, WIN!!!!

Maddy went to a Valley High School Cheerleading Clinic a couple weeks ago and then also got to cheer and do a dance at the Valley JV game at half-time last Friday night. She had a great time and loved having the Valley High School cheerleaders as the coaches!!

At the cheerleading clinic learning all the cheers:


All ready to go cheer at the game:


Maddy and her friend from school Hadley:


Maddy and her friend Reese getting ready to go out on the field:


Video of one of the dances they did at half-time. Maddy is in the 2nd row towards the right side:

The Marathon (2:10) ---

I ran the DSM half-marathon this past Sunday and thought I would post a couple of reflections from the day. First off, it was a totally different feel than running a 5K. The amount of people and the level of excitement was something I will never forget. I felt really good when the race started and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Around mile 7, I was starting to feel a little tired and I think my pace was probably too fast ---- Jeremy and the kids were waiting for me and cheering me on at this point, so that was great as I had some good encouragement to keep going!

I was still feeling good until right around mile 10 and then I started to have some major pain in my quads, although my breathing was pretty much fine, so I was irritated that my main problem was my legs. Cardio-wise, I felt good, so I wanted to move quicker, but my legs weren't allowing it. My goal was to run the whole thing so I kept on and watched several people step off to the side of the course, walking, sitting down, stretching, etc...and I knew I couldn't pay attention to that or I would be too tempted to start walking. As I got up to the last mile there were huge crowds of people lined up to cheer the runners on. What an awesome feeling and at this point there was no stopping as the race was coming to an end.

I will never forget that feeling of accomplishment as I ran the last 2 blocks to the finish line -- when I knew that I was finishing the race and my body made it through!! I guess the feeling is hard to even describe, but it was awesome!!! Of course, Jeremy was there with the kids when I was done and that made it so much better!!

The race has been on my mind all week (just ask Jeremy; I've been looking up stats, race times, other races, etc...:-)) and I can now see why so many people train for and run these challenging races --- the feelings of accomplishment and strength are amazing!! (Of course the next 2-3 days after of being sore and sick to my stomach will be hard to forget as well -- but, hey, no big feat comes w/out it's challenges, right???)

After the race:


My biggest fan:

Brushing, brushing and more brushing.....

Colby has been obsessed with brushing lately; brushing his teeth, brushing his hair, brushing Maddy's hair and anyone else's hair that will let him! It started out really cute (and helpful) as he would stay in the bathroom for long amounts of time brushing his teeth and I could get ready for the day, etc...w/out worrying about him getting into something.

Well, now, we are having some problems when it's time to go somewhere or really do anything that requires going downstairs and getting out of the bathroom! Colby will throw a complete tantrum if you try and pull him away from his teeth brushing!! You can just tell that he thinks he is such a big boy when he is in that bathroom brushing away and he is so proud of himself!! Jeremy even told our babysitter the other night to not allow Colby into the bathroom to brush his teeth or she would never be able to get him out of there! Ha! We'll see how long this phase lasts!