A Fun Weekend

Before this weekend officially starts, I figure I better get in a post about last weekend because it really was a blast!  It was a busy but memorable couple of days between visiting with family, running the 1/2 marathon, and celebrating Roger's 60th with a surprise party!

My mom, Thyme, and Merrell came down Friday night.  They arrived in time to have dinner with the Huinker and Hoden families.  The cousins, as always, were wild, playing hard until bedtime.  Saturday morning was an early one as we had to report for the race which started at 7:30.  My brother-in-law, Chris, and I ran the 1/2 marathon, and my two sister-in-laws, Beth and Tara, ran the 5K.  Here we are before the race - it was a frosty morning, about 35ish degrees.

 

While I certainly won't say I smiled the entire race, it was a ton of fun, and I'm really glad I did it.  Shortly after I had surgery for the melanoma last spring on my ankle, I heard about the race.  Pretty much instantaneously I became bound and determined that I would be running - if I couldn't be fully in control of my moles, at least I could be in control of my "in-shapeness," right?  If I'm going to be honest, the first three weeks of training (something that started 10 weeks after my surgery when my scar had had enough time to heal securely) really stunk.  But, as a pretty goal-oriented and stubborn person, I pushed through, and, after that, really started to enjoy the process.  Throughout the training process my race goals really changed - first, just finish without walking; second, 9 minute miles; and third, 8.30 miles.  My end result was 8 minute miles with a total time of 1 hour 44 minutes.  My legs paid for that the next couple of days, but in the end, it was definitely worth it.  I owe a lot of my time to my colleague and friend, Molly Holkesvik.  She was such a motivator to me - always positive and willing to run with me.  I'm going to do my best to pay her back for all her support by continuing to run with her as she trains for the "Goofy Challenge" held in January in Walt Disney World.  

Running has been so beneficial to me - besides obviously getting me in good physical shape, it's been a great stress outlet, and, overall, something that has helped me keep work in its correct place of priority behind family and self-health.  Next race = The Huinker Turkey Trot 2012!

 Thank you Mom, Merrell, and Thyme for being such great supporters!

Same goes to Pat, Roger, Beth, Tara, and the kiddos!

Saturday afternoon, Mark drove down to join the rest of the family.  Besides doing a little shopping downtown, we mostly relaxed and got ready for the big birthday bash.  The look on Roger's face when he walked into Oneota was truly priceless - and it was super impressive that such a large group of people really were able to keep the party a surprise!  Overall, it was a fun night filled with fabulous family and friends.  It was wonderful to get the opportunity to talk with so many people, and truly amazing how well the kids held up after such a long day.  (Special thanks to Kelsie and her friend Melanie for helping watch over the kids.)  Happy 60th to a fabulous grandpa! 

 

Truly surprised!

 The kids - all anxious to give Grandpa some love.

I love the second picture - outnumbered by the girls!

Best buds - Mya and Olivia

 

Having fun racing - Olivia, Mya, Grace, and Elliot Berland

Pillow Pets!

My grandma Roiger gave the girls a very wonderful gift a couple of weeks ago.  She had left it special in the trunk of our new van - Bob and Michelle's old one - for the girls to find.  Brian forgot to tell me they were there, so a couple of days after the fact, I discovered it for myself as I loaded in some groceries.  The next day, when the girls were showing off their "new" van to Grandma Pat, I told them they'd better show her the big trunk - whoa - they were so excited to finally be proud owners of the "pets" they've admired at Walmart for the last year!

Ever since - the pillow pets go everywhere...although I've managed to convey to them that they are inside only pets.  :)  They've both been sleeping on them at night (pretty cute since they're also into sleeping in the same bed together right now too - "shhhh, no talking" is what Grace always says to me), and they also carry them down to breakfast in the morning.  If we do watch a Dora in the evening some time, they'll be there too - as you can see from the pictures.

Thank you Grandma for the fun new pillows - obviously they're a huge hit!

This last picture is of Liv last night.  After three days at school, a walk to the Whippy Dip, and a bath, she was asleep 5 minutes into an episode of Dora.  :)

Hanging at Luther Tennis Alumni

Last weekend, we had a house full of tennis alumni!  It's the first time in a number of years that the girls and I have hung around for the weekend - usually I prefer to leave the boys to themselves!  :)  But, staying home proved to be a lot of fun this year, and I really enjoyed getting a chance to catch up with the guys who stayed at our house.  The girls loved having some new guests to show off to as well!

Liv, Elliot, and Cohen

Saturday, we headed down to the courts to watch Brian play some doubles.  While there, the girls got to play with the two Berland boys - Elliot and Cohen.  These four haven't had a chance to play in awhile, so it was great to watch them get all adventurous playing in the trees and going through the obstacle course that was set up (it was also Community Day - so we had a free lunch, games, etc., before the Luther football game).  The girls were totally wiped when we got home from all the activity, and they rewarded me with a 2 1/2 hour nap!  Enjoy the pictures!

 

 Hanging in the trees - Grace not be outdone, of course!

 A few more tree poses - I was happy to have cooperative kiddos!

Grace and Timmy

We have pictures of these two cuddling on the couch 

shortly after Grace was born - too cute.

The obstacle course...As you can see, 

I enjoyed going through this three times as well!

Little Miss Grace

Miss Grace hasn't had a post written about her for a long time, so I'd better take care of that and let you know what she's up to and all about these days...

1) Being our potty-training miracle:  Grace potty-trained in one day.  Wow!  I was so impressed.  It was just like a snap of the fingers.  The day we started (keep in mind this was in early June), she was so excited to put on her big-girl panties.  Shortly there after, she had a potty accident - well placed on the bathroom floor.  She was a little perturbed by this, but we just cleaned it up and moved on - I was mostly thankful that we had gotten the accident over with before having to take Liv to bible camp.  After that, no accidents.  If it tells you anything - we've never even brought a spare set of clothes to daycare.  Only a couple of days after potty-training, Grace started wanting to go diaper-less at nap time.  And about a week after that, night-time.  Man, does that girl have some bladder control!

Matching panties and sandals - how cute!

2.  Whining:  After the previous paragraph you must be thinking that I'm immune to my daughter's faults and think she is 100% perfect.  Well, I certainly think she's awfully precious, but I could do without the massive amount of whining we've got going on these days.  I'm going to take some personal blame for not working on this issue more this summer; mostly, I think I didn't take immediate action because it wasn't sooo bad at first - although her whiny voice must be specially designed to trigger a button in my head that gives me an instant headache.  However, because the occasional whine became more like an hourly occurrence, we've recently taken some action:  reminding her to talk in her big girl voice, counting (1, 2, 3), and then time-out - mostly, we just can't give in.  She seems like she's getting it, and I truly hope this isn't my imagination!

This cutie couldn't ever do anything to give her mom a headache, could she???

3.  Being silly and sweet:  Grace loves to be silly.  Lately she's into tackling, licking (kind of gross), crawling around on the floor (either acting like a baby or a puppy and insisting you refer to her as such - no I'm not kidding about this), and wearing interesting outfits.  When you combine all this with her fly-away hair and really expressive face, it's pretty fun...and sometimes exasperating.  She likes to end sentences with "poopy" - this word is unfortunately popular at our house right now - for example:  "Grace, sit down and eat your breakfast"..."Okay, Mommy, poopy."  Really?  Grace is super animated - everything she's really interested in, scared by, or excited about is always coupled with hand gestures, voice inflection, and anything else she can do to get you to relate.  Every day we talk about when and when she can't wear her "cheer-leading skirt," and, if she's not wearing that, she's most likely sporting her pink tutu, leotard, or princess dress.  She also wears headbands across her forehead and calls them crowns and wants to wear my wedding necklace whenever possible.  She's obsessed with her "ice-cream" jammies and pouts when they're in the wash.  Grace is loving, always wanting a kiss AND a hug goodbye, and she likes to cuddle more than ever before.  She takes great care of her babies and is good little sissy too.

4.  Growing up in general:  Grace's language is really coming along.  She's slowly getting more clear, but sometimes it's hard to understand her because she's also using longer sentences and many new words.  Thankfully, she doesn't have a problem repeating herself (see whining above)!  She's still my little peanut, but she's got some nice leg muscles and is definitely growing taller.  She is, however, losing a bit of her fearlessness as she's starting to understand danger as a concept in general.  Grace is independent - she puts her panties and shorts on in the morning but still needs help with her shirt, brushes her teeth and has finally figured out how to spit, combs her hair, and puts her shoes on when she wants too.  Grace loves reading books at night and sometimes wants to put herself to bed.  Her favorite phrase is either "I have tiny toes" or "I have big toes" depending on if she thinks she can't or can do something.  She loves to tell everyone she's 2 1/2 while holding up three on her fingers and talks about how she gets to go to school next year when she's 3.  What a crazy thought!

This face just says trouble...