Baumann Family Christmas Letter - 2011

Wow, where to start?!? This year has had it's ups and downs and has definitely been full of activity.

Maddy finished up Kindergarten in June and is now a big first grader. She is enjoying school very much and has made lots of new friends. She has done very well with her reading and other school work. Jeremy and I are very proud of how hard she works and how responsible she has become. Maddy is also involved with Girl Scouts and gymnastics this year and enjoying both very much.

Colby turned 2 in February and loves to do anything active, especially riding his scooter and tricycle (yes, even in cold December with a hat and mittens!) I have a feeling he will be riding around in the garage once we have snow on the ground. Some highlights for Colby this past year were moving from a crib to a toddler bed, mowing with Jeremy all summer, greeting and petting any dog that would pass by and just laughing and making the rest of us laugh at his funny antics!

Jeremy continues to enjoy his work at Carrier Access and has been employed there for 9 1/2 years now. He had his best year in sales and I always wonder how he never seems to run out of new clients after all this time! Jeremy also plays guitar at church once a month and really enjoys being able to do that. He also keeps busy by working out at Kosama 2-3 times per week, working on house projects and playing with the kids. He has a knack for making up fun games with the kids that don't involve too much other than Jeremy laying on the Living Room floor while the kids run and jump around.

I continue to stay home with the kids, although I have picked up a new part-time job working for a Financial Advisor here in town. It has been a great fit for me as I have the flexibility that I need and am working in a field that I happen to be extremely interested in. I also look out to the future as the kids are older and see this job fitting in nicely with all of our schedules. So far, so good! In my spare time, I enjoy working out and running. I ran my first marathon this year in October and will have to say that it is an experience I will never forget. Very challenging, yet very rewarding.

Jeremy and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in May with a trip to Chicago to see Oprah! I won tickets through a lottery online and it happened to be the week of our anniversary! Perfect! We had a great time and were able to see lots of sites and did a lot of walking!

We also took a mini-vacation to Honey Creek Resort with Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy in June. The weather was unseasonably cold, but it was still a nice little get-away and it was fun to all stay in a cabin together. The kids loved the indoor waterpark and Maddy got to try kayaking for the first time.

One of the down-sides to this year was the passing of Jeremy's dad, Dave, in July. We all miss him very much and it is difficult to go into the Christmas season knowing he will not be with us. We are glad that he is in a better place and no longer has to suffer from the cancer, however. The things I miss most are his contagious smile and laugh and his ability to find the positive in any situation. He never once complained about his cancer or pain and from that we can learn so much.

I haven't told many people this aside from Jeremy, but Dave was my inspiration for running the marathon this year. The only way I was able to get through it was to think about how much he had to endure this past year and how he never once complained. Pretty amazing. That combined with A LOT of prayers, helped me to push through those tough, painful miles during training and at the race itself. I continue to thank Jesus for giving me my health, the ability to run and for helping me make it through the toughest physical challenge of my life.

We are looking forward to Jeremy's mom, Barb, moving back to Des Moines the week after Christmas. It will be great to have her living close and the kids are thrilled to have Grandma Barb in the same town!

We have been extremely blessed in 2011. We give all the glory and thanks to God for everything he has done for us. We wish great health and happiness to all of our friends and family in the new year!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

DSM MARATHON.....

Early morning before the race (Mom and I were having some coffee and reviewing the route while everyone else was in bed :-)) Thx Mom!!!


Mile 20:


Finishing with a smile:


Right after the finish:


All of us after the race (Thx Mom and Dad for coming to support me!! And thanks to Jeremy for taking care of the kids during all of those long training runs!! I am very lucky!):


As a lot you probably already know, I ran my first marathon on Oct. 16th. About 3 1/2 weeks ago. I thought I would share my thoughts as to how the whole experience went. It's a little long, but I want to remember this someday, so figured I should write it down :-)........

First off, I have to say that it was extremely challenging. It took me a couple of weeks of thinking about how I could have done things differently to realize that it most likely would have been very tough no matter what I did to prepare.

The weather was perfect, low 60's, however the course was much more difficult than the 1/2 marathon course. There were quite a few hills within the first 8 miles. Everything went fairly smoothly until mile 17. This is when I was really feeling the pain of running a marathon. By mile 19 I was questioning my reasoning of why I decided to run this race :-). Jeremy, Maddy, Colby and my parents were waiting to cheer me on at mile 20 and this gave me a new-found sense of energy and focus (sort-of :-).

There were people along the side of the road handing out twizzlers, donuts, gummy bears, you name it --- I did take a few gummy bears, but I was afraid to eat any of this stuff as I thought it would make me sick. I did have a couple of GU packs (energy gel-type stuff) and those seemed to help, but I felt like my body was moving along with nothing left in me. The only way I can describe the way I felt is like I had the flu and my entire body felt extremely sick and weak, yet I had to run several more miles. I remember thinking that this does not seem medically safe and felt a little concerned.

I did walk some after mile 18 but walking almost seemed harder than running as I was able to feel the pain in my muscles and feet more. When I was running I couldn't feel that as much. Somehow I found the strength to continue running; still not sure how.

Once I got to the last mile things went well and I finished off the race feeling decent. My official time was 5 hours 8 minutes. I was originally shooting for 4 1/2 hours (I was right at 2 hr. 14 min. at the half-way point), but did not anticipate the few walking bouts later in the race. I have since found out that my time is right at the average for women runners in a marathon, so I am happy with that!!

The recovery was not too bad --- On the day of the race, I was pretty much useless, but by Monday was feeling better (just had sore muscles). On Tuesday was still a little sore and back to normal by Wednesday! The one thing I did notice was that I was drinking a ton of water that entire week after the race and just could never seem to stay hydrated. I guess the race took every last ounce of liquid out of my body!!

To re-cap, I would have to say that I am very glad that I trained for and ran this race. I can't say if or when I will run another one. The 1/2 marathon is seeming like a better option for me at this point :-) However, last year at this time I could not have imagined running a full marathon, so I guess a lot can change in a year! Definately an experience I will never forget and one of my biggest accomplishments to date!

Riding Scooters --

I am behind on blogging once again, but I had to post this video of Maddy and Colby riding their scooters. This has been their latest "thing" and especially Colby's. He can ride his scooter for so long; I would like to test him someday to see how long he will ride back and forth before he decides he is done. I feel like we would be outside for a very long time!

As a side note, we did buy a 3-wheeled scooter off of Craig's List for him and he was still always wanting to ride Maddy's (2 wheeled one). So, we finally went to Target and bought him the cheapest 2 wheeled scooter we could find. It has paid for itself many times over!

8-29-11: 2 Front Teeth Gone!

Maddy lost them both the same night -- One was very loose and the 2nd one was kind of loose -- She was wrestling with Jeremy and bumped her mouth on his shoulder and out they both came! She actually swallowed them, gagged them up and threw up and there was a LOT of blood. I heard the commotion from upstairs, came running down to see Maddy spitting out blood in the bathroom. At that point I had no idea her teeth came out, all I knew was that she had thrown up. I thought she had some type of internal bleeding! Geesh!! I really couldn't believe the amount of blood; it was everywhere --- Maddy thought she had swallowed one of the teeth, but we found them both on the floor so all was good! This traumatic event consumed the entirety of our Monday night :-)

Labor Day Weekend 2011:

Joe, Angie, Finn and Wrigley came for a visit over Labor Day weekend. It was fun to have them here for a couple days and the kids enjoyed playing with Finn and Wrigley. Maddy even got to help take Wrigley for a walk. My parents were in town also, so we got to see them and had a BBQ over at Josh and Missy's house. A fun weekend!

Colby and Finn playing:


Building with the tools. I think Colby and Finn have matching shorts :-):


Finn and Colby gettin' their mow on:


Wrigley enjoying the day:


Maddy shaking hands with Wrigs:


Dad and Colby:

Goodbye Crib.....

Hello Bed....


Colby has been sleeping with a crib tent over his crib for about a year now. He never climbed out of his crib, but we had many indications that he could and probably would if we did not cover it. Over Labor Day weekend, he somehow learned that if he stuck his hand out of the crib and reached up he could get ahold of the crib tent zipper and un-zip the tent and climb out. After getting out 3 different times, we decided it was probably time for the toddler bed! We are using Maddy's old bed right now, but will probably move him into a twin size bed sometime soon.

He has been doing GREAT with his new bed and has not come out of his room once!! I can't believe it. He is even napping still! After his naps, we normally find him sleeping on the floor (sometimes with clothes on and sometimes w/out clothes :-)) but he is sleeping so I am happy! Another funny thing is that he has no problem sleeping with a blanket over him. He never had this in the crib, so I really didn't think he would like it (he will never let me put a blanket on him if we're sitting on the couch, etc...) He has had no problems!! So far it has been a very surprisingly pleasant transition! We are very proud of Colby for being such a big boy!!

Homework....

Colby had to decorate an apple for "homework" at PMO. He has a wonderful helper for these little projects they send home:

First Days of School

Maddy started 1st grade on Wed., August 24th and Colby started his Parents' Morning Out program on Tues., Sept. 6th (he goes 2 mornings a week; Tues. and Thurs.). They are both enjoying school so far and it has been nice to be back in a routine. Maddy is also doing gymnastics and Girl Scouts this year. We have an overnight Girl Scouts camp-out in October so that should be interesting (I mean, fun :-))

First day of school picture outside:


I found my friend Stella!:


Maddy and Stella in front of the First Grade sign:


Giving Colby a hug goodbye:


Getting off the bus after 1st day:


Colby all ready for PMO:

Last Day of Summer!!

Today is our last day of summer before Maddy starts 1st grade! She is very excited to get back to school and see her friends. She can't wait to be a 1st grader. We got to go into her school last night and meet her teacher and see her classroom so that was really fun and her teacher seems very nice. She has a few friends in her class from last year, so that will be great as well.

We have had a really good summer --- I am actually a little sad to see it go (even though I love Fall and the cool weather it brings!)

I think Colby and Maddy will miss each other -- they had a lot of fun together this summer and now that Colby is a little older they interact and play together more than they ever have....

Relaxing and watching tv:

2 1/2 Years ......

.....and this picture pretty much says it all!! Colby had his half b-day yesterday and is now 2 1/2!! He is changing so much everyday and is still a very curious, active, talkative, fun-loving little boy! He decided to start the morning off by getting into my mascara and putting it all over his face :-)


Next we celebrated by going to Colby's first movie in the theatre, The Smurfs. Really the movie was more for Maddy (and me, I'll admit, I have been wanting to see it :-)) Colby did pretty good, although there were 30 minutes of previews, so he was ready for a couple of breaks before the movie ended.



It is pretty amazing how much Colby has grown this year and improved in his communication skills. He is pretty much talking non-stop and is so friendly and social to everyone he meets. His favorite things right now are dogs, bunny rabbits, Barney, and playing "tickle monster". He also loves to play outside, ride his scooter and mow with Jeremy. We have had a great summer!

Taste of Hope 5K

Our church has an annual 5K every summer and once again this year I went out to run, even though it seemed a lot hotter this year than in any previous year! Maddy and Colby both did the kids' run as well. Maddy has done a few kids' runs in the past; this was Colby's first one. He was pretty excited and ended up winning the 2 yr old division with only 3 kids competing! Of course, he also got a big head start as he was so excited to run that he took off before they said 'Go'! The 2 other kids came running behind, one holding her dad's hand and the other one crying the whole way -- it was pretty funny! Of course Colby needed no prompting or help to get started; He just needed to hear the words 'Run' and it was all over!!!

Really funny to watch -- I included a video from my camera of both Colby's and Maddy's races below.

Maddy and Colby greeting me after the 5K and enjoying some post-race snacks (sorry for the poor quality, it was really dark):



Maddy, the ol' pro:


Colby standing in the rain waiting for the kids' race to start:


Colby's Race:

Maddy's Race (she is the 3rd one in on our left with a yellow shirt on:)

Fun with Cousins!

Jeremy's sister Tami and her 2 girls Meg and Abbie came for a visit in July. We had a lot of fun going swimming, going to Adventureland, Living History Farms, celebrating the 4th of July and just hanging out. The kids look forward to this fun-filled week every summer!

All ready for the 4th of July parade:


Racoon River beach on the 4th -- We buried the kids in the sand...ahhh, the memories of doing this as a kid...


Watching Fireworks on the 4th (Colby couldn't make it until 10:00 this year; maybe next year!):


Living History Farms:


Meg and Colby on a ride at Adventureland:


Abbie reading to Colby:

Summer Fun - Aunt Sarah Comes to Visit!

Aunt Sarah came to visit a couple weeks back for several days and we had a great time! We had a grill out with a bunch of the family, got nails done, went to Incredible Pizza, did some shopping and went to Maddy's last soccer game. It was fun!

Colby and Sarah:


Sarah showing Maddy and Colby all of her makeup stuff -- they were very intrigued by this!:


Riding the rollercoaster simulator at Incredible Pizza:


Go-Karts!


Watching Maddy's last soccer game of the season:


Acting goofy at the BBQ:


The giant whale that took way too long to blow up ;-):

Summer Fun - Rathbun Lake!

We took a trip down to Honey Creek Resort at Rathbun Lake last week with Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy. The cottage we stayed in was very nice and new and the indoor waterpark was perfect for Maddy and Colby. Maddy could touch in all the pools and Colby was content staying in the "little kids" area as there were 2 pretty decent sized slides for him to go on. The weather was colder and rainy, but we still got a lot of swimming in, fishing, golfing (Jeremy), and a guided nature walk. It was a fun week!

Maddy getting ready for her kayaking lesson:


There she goes!


Colby testing out the water:


The really cool playground on the resort:


Grandma loving the playgroud as well!


Me and Jeremy:


Climbing the real rock wall:


We made it to the top!


Colby chillin' in the cabin:


Taking a break at the deer look-out on our nature hike: