Cousins

Nana wanted a re-enactment of this cousins picture from August of '09.

She said it was her favorite picture so we gave it our best shot. 

They look a bit different now.  Henry wasn't even with us then.
On the left are my boys.  Then Dave's brother Mike's girls.  Then my girls. And then Dave's sister Trish's kids.  Worked pretty well, I think.

Meet Cesar Chavez

Trey was in play today at school.  His TAG group did a play about the life of Cesar Chavez.  He was a migrant worker who fought for equal rights and led the boycott of farmers in the mid-1900's.  I didn't know anything about him before helping Trey learn his lines. 

Dave and I met with his new TAG teacher on conference night and she told us they were going to be doing a play and Trey was to have the lead part as Cesar Chavez. Had wanted to do it.  Even fought for the chance to have the part. Dave and I gave each other a look that said we clearly thought she was talking about some other child.



Trey and Zach

 In the end, he did an outstanding job.  He had the most lines and was the only one who had them completely memorized. We are so proud of him! My favorite moment came after it was over and Trey nudged up beside me and allowed me to hug him and tell him how proud I was.  He didn't even pull away:)

Much Later I Hope...

Leah: Mom I was listening to the Taylor Swift song about married (Love Story) and it makes me want to be married when I grow up.

Me: I want you to be married too.  And have kids.  Do you want kids?

Leah:  Yes, I want to be a girl grown-up like Zach is.

Oh Leah

Me: Leah, you made a turkey in MOPS?!

Leah: You can call it the Tardy Rooster okay?

If It's On T.V. It Must Be True...

Zach: Is it bad to put milk in the microwave?
Me: Why?
Zach: To have warm milk.
Me: No
Zach: (Goes off to make warm milk)

Dave and I look at each other. Okaaaay....

Later-
Me: Did you get your warm milk Zach?
Zach:  It was gross.
Me: What made you want it?
Zach: From watching t.v. and movies.  They all talk about warm milk and my friends at Breakaway said they drink it at night to help them sleep.
Me: (Doubled over in laughter) Good night, Zach.
Zach: (Smiling a little) Good night.

My Kidlings

I was looking through our pictures and enjoying having fairly recent pictures of me with each of my children.

     

Lexi at her school picnic in May.

Leah at her school picnic in May.  This picture was taken by her friend Greta.

Zach at Maquoketa Caves in July.

And then there is Trey.  And where are all the pictures of me with my youngest son?  He's a slippery little sucker.  I might have to pin him down and take one.

But I do have this one.  I can't help it.  It just makes me laugh.

The Color Run

Lexi and I got to run the Color Run on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun.  And cold.  We met my friend Heather there.  So fun to see her! 

Even though it was cold, it was fun to be able to meet up with Heather and her daughter, Annica.

Lexi was pretty excited to see all the portapottys. 

But she didn't have to go.  She stood outside and waited while everyone else went.  We were there pretty early to beat the crowds in downtown Des Moines.  We took a walk and scoped out the course.  Then we came back to this very spot to go to the bathroom again so we could get in line to start.  Lexi once again held back.  Nope.  I don't have to go. Nope, not me. 
I told her, in no uncertain terms, that she would be trying to go.  There were too many people around and we would be standing in line for a LONG time.  She said, "But they are yucky."  Yes.  Yes they are.  Welcome to racing, Lexi.  Now get in there!

So here we are in line.  It was cold.  Brrrrrrrrr.

My friends Brie and Susan were there too!  So fun to be with friends at a race:)
When we finally surrendered our coats, Dave took them back to our car for us and this was his view from the back of the crowd.

So many people!  When I found out there were going to be 27,000 runners, I wanted to back out.  I didn't want to go.  The logistics of driving out there and parking and lining up sounded so overwhelming to me that I just didn't want to do it.  But I decided, yes, we needed to do this thing.  But it was cold.  Just sayin'. 

They started all the runners in waves of 1,000 at a time.  We were about the 9th wave so we had to stand and wait a loooong time. 

But it was actually fun.  It didn't seem so long since we were with friends.

Once we finally started, Dave ran ahead and got some good pictures of the color stations. 

That's me right in the middle.  After that, I learned to keep my mouth closed when running through the color.

We kept up a steady pace that wasn't super slow or fast.  It was slow going through the color because people were walking through.

To get to the finish line we had to run up the hill that we started down.  Always fun to end a race with a hill! 

Finally done!!

Cool pictures with the Capitol in the background.

Lexi had so much fun.  She's such a good little runner.  I am looking forward to the next time we can do a race together.