Slip 'n' Slide Saturday--How we Conquered the Dirty Dash

If you like to run in races, this is a fun one to do--the Dirty Dash--
It's fun to go to the website and just read the info on it. Our friend Tallie rallied a few of us together to do the race. Lots of people dressed in costumes. The kids got to do "the Piglet Plunge" and go through the mud too. Our race was supposed to be a 10K but we don't think it was actually that far. There were tons of obstacles to crawl over or slide down. Definitely a fun (and tiring) race.
Tony and Mark (Tony's first race post plane crash and he did awesome). Thanks Tal for watching our boys.

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Heather, me and our cheerleaders, Tallie and Venna (I was sad to not get a pic with Kara--I'll have to wait for Tal's pics)

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The boys playing during some down time.

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Relaxing our dirty selves

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A pic of the giant slip 'n' slide from the distance

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The muddy pond we trudged through

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Heather's girls posing before the race

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Max in some mud

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and a video. Max didn't want to go in the mud at first but afterwards he ran back to go back in.


And then tonight we had a very impromptu get together and Max got to ride the go-cart

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The boys enjoyed some yummy dessert

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And no pics, but I got to hold sweet baby Venna. I was in absolute heaven.

Party Rock is in the House Tonight!

As my sweet boys listen to primary songs to fall asleep, I'll show that we were having another dance party here tonight. Thanks to Tony, this song is always stuck in our heads, so we decided to start shufflin...

My boys haven't seen the whole video, but here it is:

Something Out of the Ordinary for Sure

Today we had a visit from the Renton Fire Department. They had some questions about our community and so I was able to give them the information they needed. They then offered to give Max a tour of their fire truck parked outside. He was chatting away with the fire fighters, looking into the infrared camera, seeing where all the hoses are kept, etc. He got some stickers that looked like badges for he and Ryan. He couldn't wait to call daddy and tell him all about it.

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The boys then go to play with friends while I did one of my volunteer visits. They had a great time.

Growing Boys

Today I took Max and Ryan for their 4 and 2 year check ups. Here's a picture of them before we left. So big.

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Okay, I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so...

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They are both really healthy.
Ryan weighed 29.25 pounds (62nd percentile), He is 87.8 cm (45th percentile) and his head is still in the 99th percentile. He is following the growth chart perfectly.
Max weighs 39 lbs. (75th percentile), measures 102.6cm (52nd percentile) and had a great blood pressure, vision test and hearing test. It's nice to be able to check off that they can do all of the developmental tasks that we are asked about. I have to admit that we had never tried skipping though. So we did try skipping while we waited for the doctor. Healthy boys who are growing so fast.

Celebrating America's Birthday--2011

Tony flew in to spend the weekend with us and we had a fun 4th. We started the day with a pancake breakfast at the church.

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The boys got to run around with other littles.
Then we went to a parade. We ended up having to move from our original spot, but here we were all settled in before we had to move.

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The boys had a great time. There was a family in front of us that kept giving candy to us because we weren't getting any where we were. It was really sweet.

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A choo choo

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Hot and with sore shoulders, but it's worth it for the boys

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One of the two cutest parade watchers around

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The horses were of course very exciting

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After the parade, Max flew his new airplane

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And we enjoyed the sun together

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Ryan kept going back for more "stawbies"

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More skateboarding

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Going crazy with some poppers

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More fun with Stacey's glasses

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And then we flew home (notice each boy has an airplane in hand)

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The boys fell asleep during our car ride home so we opted out of watching fireworks with friends. Even though we missed the lights in the sky, we had a very relaxing, fun 4th!

Keeping it Simple--Our Week in Montana

You don't realize how busy you keep yourself until you are NOT busy. I'm a stay-at-home mom who is always on the go. My boys do a lot of activities and I'm involved in more things than I even care to blog about, but I have realized that it is important to simplify things. After getting home Sunday evening from the half, I packed up the boys and drove with my mother-in-law to Billings, MT. We high-tailed it so she could get back to work on Tuesday, but spent s little time in Coeur d'Alene so the boys could play.
Here's Ryan wondering where we are going and Sadie dog is just ready to get home.

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After we got to Montana, we really have just enjoyed the sun and each other. We spent time at 6 different fantastic parks with our favorite being Pioneer Park, only a block and a half from Grandpa J and Grandma Kate's house.
Cue the "Little House on the Prairie" music as my boys run through the field, just loving being outside.

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Ryan's not sure what to think of so much sun

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We loved this wading pool

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Max kept looking at the lifeguard to see if she was watching. Just trying to impress the ladies. Yikes.

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Our favorite bridge where we play pooh sticks

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Story time with Grandma

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Skateboarding

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Playing hide and go seek. Max found Grandpa!

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Helping Grandma make strawberry-rhubarb pie

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We made an apple pie from filling Kate had made and frozen. The strawberry-rhubarb was because rhubarb grows like weeds in Billings. They were both delicious. We brushed egg whites on the top crust and the sprinkled raw sugar and they looked perfectly golden brown.

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It was so nice to have such a relaxing week. I didn't even take pictures at any other park but there are definitely some amazing parks in Billings. It was nice to keep things simple.

Pacific Crest Half Marathon 2011

I did the Pacific Crest Half Marathon for the 2nd year in a row and it was a fun-filled weekend. First I flew to Yakima to meet up with (Tony's) cousin Beth. Then Kate met us there and we carpooled to Sunriver. Along the way we stopped at Stonehenge

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And saw a beautiful view of the Gorge

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We stopped in Madras and lo and behold, our other group happened to be there so we stopped for lunch together. That night we carb-loaded at the Olive Garden and visited with Tacoma friends.
Here we are taking pictures with our new race shirts (best race shirts ever)

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Ben with his monkey tail beard

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All bright-eyed and bushy tailed right before we went to the starting line.

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And afterwards, we were still smiling.

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I did 16 minute miles and had a good time listening to the mix Tony made for me. Everyone else in the group did amazing. We had a great time swimming in the hotel pool afterwards too. Beth and I listened to some good music as we drove back too. Fun, fun, fun!