Hooray for us!!!

and Hooray it's over!!!

This morning we ran our much anticipated 13 mile, half marathon race. We started our morning by getting up at 4:30 am, to catch our shuttle up to our starting line. It was a nice cool overcast morning, which was nice. We started up at I 25 and Tramway and we headed west to Alameda and ran down the Bosque trail to Montano, then South on Rio Grande Blvd, and we finished at Tiguex park, which is by old town. The run started at 6:30 am, and it went pretty good, I hit a wall about 6 miles, and then the last couple miles were tough. Part of that though was I knew the boys were either done or about done with the race and I got a little jealous that they were done and I was still running:) But once I saw the finish line it was very encouraging!! It was quite the run, but we all made it. Ky came in first, then Garry and then me. I knew I was going to be slower so I told them to go ahead. I wanted them to be able to run their best and not be held back. It was a lot of fun and I am so glad that we decided to train and run this race. It has been a good experience for me with setting and accomplishing goals. I am excited that it is over though and we can do something other than just running for exercise. I was getting a little burned out and although we will continue to keep up some of the mileage, adding a little variety will be nice. My mom was so nice to come down and watch the kids for us so we could run our race and not have to wake the kids up at 4 in the morning. She met up with us at the finish line, with the kids, the cheerleaders! Thanks mom!

She's 5!!

When Bethany woke up this morning, she was asking me if her class was going to sing to her today. At first I was trying to figure out why would her class sing to her, but caught on very quick. Yes, first thing this morning I forgot it was her birthday. We bought cupcakes for her class last night and we talked about her birthday before going to bed, but this morning it wasn't the first thing on my mind. Bethany was so excited to be 5, finally! She told me that she has been waiting to be 5 for a long time, because a lot of her friends are 5, and she didn't want to be 4 anymore. Then she asked me if her friends are almost 6...and yes the ones that are 5 are close to 6. She can't seem to ever really catch up :)

The happy 5 year old birthday girl!!
This morning she got to pick what she wanted for breakfast. I told her she could pick anything she wanted. She picked some yummy banana bread that was sent home with us from our friends the night before. It was perfect, easy and not our everyday breakfast. I stuck a candle in it and we sang to her!
When she got home from school, we let her open presents. She was so cute, oh you got me this, thank you so much! She was so excited and thankful about it all. She got a princess wii game, so her and daddy spent the afternoon playing away.

While they were playing the game, Hannah and Rylan helped me make the cupcakes. We didn't want to make another cake and she had cupcakes earlier in class, so we opted for the little cupcakes that we make in Hannah's oven. It only makes two, but it worked perfect for the kids. It is really fun, it's kind of like a easy bake oven, but it uses ice to cook instead of heat. So it's not dangerous for the little ones to help. They love it!


Happy birthday Bethany! We love you!!

Also, thanks to everyone that called or sent cards today to wish her a happy birthday, she loved hearing from you!! You all helped to make her day special!!

Bethany's first day of Kindergarden!!

Today was Bethany's first day of kindergarden. She was so excited!! She has been counting down the days for the last week. Each morning she tells me how many more days until she gets to go to school. This morning after breakfast she was asking me if she could go get dressed so she could go to school. I told her she could go get dressed, but it wasn't quite time for school yet. She is in the late morning class, so she goes to school from 10:10-2:10. I am so glad she in only gone for 4 hours, I don't think she or me would do very good much longer than that. I still can't believe she is old enough to go to school. Her birthday is on Wednesday, so she is one of the few kids that gets to start school when she is still 4, she thinks that is pretty cool!! I am so glad she made the cutoff, I can't imagine trying to keep her entertained at home for another year, she is so ready for kindergarden and to learn new things!

Some pictures of the other kiddos, so they wouldn't feel left out. Hannah keeps asking if it is joyschool day yet. She is so excited to start her class. She has a couple weeks until we will start. I was a little worried how Hannah would do with Bethany gone. After we dropped Bethany off we went to the park to play. Her friend Skyler was also at the park, so she got to play with him. I'm so glad she had someone to play with. Then we came home and we played some games while Rylan took his nap. I think she enjoyed having mommy to herself. So, so far so good. We will see what the next few days bring!

Ballerina Party

Bethany had such a great time at her ballerina birthday party. She had so much fun with all of her friends!

Spencer was the first to arrive, so I put him to work making silly faces behind me to get the girls to laugh. He did such a good job, the girls could not stop laughing. I may have to hire him to be my assistant!

We decorated wands, which the kids seemed to enjoy.
We played pin the tutu on the ballerina.
Pass the ballet slipper, like hot potatoe.
Learned some dance steps. Bethany taught her friends the things she learned from her ballet class.

And did lots of dancing. I was a little worried about the boys, as we didn't make it too boy friendly. But they didn't seem to noticed and actually got into it more than some of the girls. They are good sports!


We had chocolate cupcakes. Bethany got to pick out what kind of cake she wanted. Usually they go for the strawberry, because it is pink or the confetti. But this time when we were at the store I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she said "how about chocolate." I thought that was a good choice. Then I asked her what kind of frosting, and she wanted chocolate frosting too. Which is so funny because that is my favorite! But I talked her into vanilla frosting so we could dye it pink and purple. At my baby shower for Bethany, I had a chocolate cake, with chocolate filling, and chocolate frosting. There were not many that could finish their piece of cake because it was too rich. Well I was ready for seconds! Bethany must take after me!
A group shot of the party crew. Thanks for all coming to celebrate Bethany's birthday with us!!

Denist and stuff

Hannah got to go see the dentist today. She went for her first time a couple weeks ago. I'm sad to say that she came away from her first appointment with a cavity! I felt so bad for her, but really what can you do. We brush her teeth every night. So today she got to go back and get her cavity filled. It was really shallow so they didn't have to numb her up or give her laughing gas. The worst part for her, was they put a bite guard thing in the opposite side to help hold her mouth open. The smallest one they had was still a little too big, but they managed to squeeze it into her little mouth. It was pinching her cheek and her tongue. She also mentioned that the tools they were putting in her mouth were a little scary, but she managed. It only took the dentist about 15 minutes to finish up, so it really went pretty quick. When she was done, she got to pick a prize, and then we went to McDonald's for lunch, so she was just fine! I wanted her to have some positive things afterward to associate with the dentist, I really didn't want her to come away hating the dentist at age 3. That is just too young!

Also, tonight at dinner the girl's were having a conversation I thought was cute. Bethany got a gift card from Toys R Us for her birthday. Hannah was saying, "Toys R Us is our favorite place huh Bethany?" Bethany said, "No, home is my favorite place. It keeps me safe and warm." I'm so glad that Bethany loves to be at home!! I know Hannah does too, I think she meant to say that Toys R Us is her favorite store. Although, Bethany's opinion may change very quickly next week when she starts school, that may become her favorite place, we will see! Hopefully school will come second. Now if we can just get them to continue to think that home is their favorite place when their teenagers....

Tonight I am husband less again. Ky has been going down to White Sands for work. He is only gone 2 nights, so it's not too bad. But he was gone last week too, and I don't do as well when it is back to back. He will continue to have to go down there every couple weeks for the next few months. It isn't too bad until dinner time rolls around, then it is obvious that he isn't here. I don't really enjoy getting all the kids to bed by myself either. But from about 7:00 till 10:00 pm, I actually do enjoy. Not that I wouldn't rather be spending time with Ky, but since he is gone, I enjoy the couple hours I have to myself. But when it's time for bed and it is dark, it's not so good. I rarely get to bed before midnight when he is gone. Anyways, off to my treadmill, then I am going to maybe watch some chick flicks while I scrap!!

The countdown...

We only have 2 1/2 more weeks until race day! It is exciting that it is getting so close, and we can see a end in sight. I am getting a little anxious to be done with the training, since we have moved up to doing 2 long runs a week. It is a little much physically and also very time consuming. Especially since we don't usually run together, we take turns because of the kids. It has been a lot of fun though, and hopefully we can make it through the next couple weeks! Although, we are definitely counting down!!

Pretty boy!

The other night, Rylan took one of the girls tutu's to us to put it on for him. He was so excited when we actually put it on for him! Sometimes you just have to let them have a little fun! He just see's what his sisters do and he wants to be like them. He dosen't quite understand the differences between girls and boys yet, which is good and can be bad :) Sometimes he will also bring me the girls hairclips and he tries to put them in his hair. Such a pretty yet silly boy! Check out that look at daddy! Do you see me??
And he didn't just put the tutu on, he knew exactly what to do once it was on, DANCE! He is quite the little dancer!

Puffy Pancakes

One of our favorite breakfast and dinner meals is puffy pancakes. One of my roommates in college would make this. Me and Ky used to make it when it was just us. But it has since become a much loved favorite by the kids. They love to watch them puff up in the oven. I prefer making puffy pancakes over tradional flat pancakes (that's what my kids call them) because you just pour it into a pan and your done. No flipping pancakes. Last week I made puffy pancakes for dinner, a classic for when Ky is out of town. I was telling my mom what we were having for dinner, and she didn't know what puffy pancakes were. I don't think I described them very well, so here are some pictures and a receipe to go with it.

Puffy Pancakes

6 eggs

1 cup milk

6 Tbsp margarine

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

1.) Heat oven to 450 F.

2.) Blend eggs, milk, flour and salt

3.) Melt butter in 9x13 pan (we usually omit the butter and use a spray)

4.) Pour batter and bake 18 minutes (no peeking)

5.) Cut in large squares and serve with your favorite pancake topping.

Picnics and Bike Rides

Last week I took the kids down to the Bosque trail for a bike ride. We packed a lunch so we could have a picnic while we were down there. It was a lot of fun. I explained to the girls that you have to stay on the right side of the trail, since there are other people that will come the other direction. They thought it was so cool when they saw the "real bikers" come by. They were keeping a count. Me and Ky do our long runs down on this trail, so it was fun to be down there for a different reason than just running. Although when I saw the others that were running, it made me wish that I was running with them. And while we were there I had to take a few pictures!

Sprinkler fun

One of the kids favorite things to do in the summer is play in the sprinkler. And since it entertains them for a good hour, I don't mind too much either :) I am so glad that we have a backyard that we can play in and enjoy! Here are some pictures from our last sprinkler adventure.

If you look at Hannah's hands, they are covered with sand from the sandbox. She is trying to get them washed off.

They are trying to catch the water and fill up their buckets.