Maddie's Escape!

I put Maddie down for her nap yesterday, and about 5 minutes later she just walked out of her room! How did she do that? she's only 19 months old! We were dying to see how she did this, so Dave told me to throw our video recorder in the room....here's our little monster at work. Sorry it's so long. I have no idea how to edit this, so you get the whole thing. Note the binki throwing and at the end running back to pick it up before she leaves the room....bad baby!

Halloween

Halloween was fun this year! Kenzie dressed up as a princess and Maddie was a lamb. OK, Maddie was half a lamb. She HATED the hat (hence all the crying pictures) Once that hat was off, she was a happy trick-or-treater. We went around the neighborhood, to Jen's, Dave's Grandparents, and my Parent's house.

OK, I'm a mean mom, but this is my favorite picture, I laugh every time I see it! She was just so upset over that hat!

Yep, still crying over the hat

Trick-or-treating at Jen's house

Eating suckers at Mema and Papa's house

Where'd They All Go?

I come downstairs yesterday and notice that an entire bunch of bananas are gone. I think wow, I just bought those yesterday, the kids couldn't have eaten an entire bunch in less than one day, right? So I quickly go to the only source that can speak in full sentences in the house. "Kenzie...what happened to all the bananas?" I'm thinking she's hid them from Maddie in the pantry or in a drawer somewhere.
"I threw them all away, they were too hard to open." (In a very matter-of-fact sort of voice)

And there they were....6 unopened bananas in the trash! It just goes to show that I never know what I'll get from these kids! I was going to take a picture, but thought everyone might throw up in their mouths a little bit.

Confession Time

I'm making the girls breakfast the other day.
Kenzie: "Mom, guess what?"
Me: "What?"
Kenzie (In a mischievous tone): "When I cut my hair, I cut Maddie's hair too!"
Me: "You did not!"
Kenzie: "Yes I did, on the back of her head!"

(Funny she said this because Jen was just saying to me that next time she'd cut Maddie's hair...to late she already did apparently!)

Then comes the talk AGAIN about how we never do that again!

The scissors are gone forever!

Whew, I Finished!

I am glad to say that I completed my tri on Saturday! I was a little anxious about this one...much tougher course and much longer than my last one, but I did it.
My friend Kat did it with me and it was so much fun! This tri was on the Air Force Academy base in Colorado Springs, so we got hotel rooms on Friday night and took our kids and husbands down with us. Once Kat and I got to the base, we set up our transition areas and started chatting. I come to see that the guy that kicked my butt in the swim on my last tri is right next to me! Man, I hoped I'd never have to see him again in my life! (Kat and I call him 6:40 man, because that was his swim time for my last tri) He recognized me and asked me if my swim time felt off last tri, I said yes, and he told me that everyone in our lane had swam 2 extra lengths! That made me feel better, I have been mad about that for weeks now! He said he and another person in our lane went to the race director about it, but they couldn't do much about it at that point...OK I feel better now! But now I have this guy right behind me and he's going to kick my butt again!

Kat and I stand for the National Anthem...she starts crying...this is what I love about Kat, she is so overwhelmed and feels so lucky to be there, I laugh at her and she says that I'm dead inside...yep, she's right! We got inside to watch the first wave of swimmers, Kat says she wants to cry again! I can't stop laughing at her, she's awesome! A few minutes later the boys arrive with all the kids, and somehow it's time for Kat to jump in and go. Man, that time went by so fast! Kat jumps in and I decide that it's going to be my turn soon and I go to warm up. I get out in time to see Kat do her last laps and cheer her on as she runs to transition...Yay Kat, she did great!

Now it's my turn, I jump in and start my timer on my watch, it was a good, fun swim, and I can see a little AFA boy coming up on me, by the last 100 meters, we're on top of each other and doing flip turns almost at the exact same time, I didn't care and I refused to slow down to give us some room, it made it a little more exciting/frustrating. I get out and see 13:00, I'm OK with that. I jump out and see Dave and the kids cheering me on, and I see Marty too! I can't believe he really drove out there to see me!

Next comes the bike, the first part was great, downhill, and I got up to 34 mph, which is the fastest I've dared to go on the bike. I feel a tap on my shoulder and hear a "good job!" It's 6:40 man whizzing by me, he's that good where he can come close enough to tap me on my shoulder! OK, I'm happy he never caught up to me in the swim! I have a feeling he's going to be at every tri I sign up for. As soon as we hit the halfway point on the bike it was non-stop uphill. We climbed about 700 feet in about 4 miles, it was crazy. By the time I was done my legs were shot. I really don't know how I made it through the run. We ended in the AFA stadium and I thought it was cute that they had a finish line tape for everyone to run through. Dave, the kids, and Marty were there at the end cheering me on, it was so nice.

I went to pack up my transition and 6:40 man is there. He told me of some tri's that I have to do next season, and apparently his name is Woody. He finished in 1:20!

All I can say is that it was beyond fun, and I'm hooked. And it was a blast having Kat there to do this with me. Next year it'll be Kat, Marty, Keith, and I, and a few more friends if I can talk them into it! I'll post official times at the bottom if anyone cares.

Kat and I setting up our transition

Kat and I before our swim

On the bike


Finished!

Kat and I after the race

Dave, me, and the happy kids!

After the race, I can barely hold Maddie up!

Stats:

Total time: 1:44:00

Total rank: 77 out of 160

Rank out of females: 12 out of 39 (there were only 39 girls there? We need to get more girls doing this!)

Age rank 3rd out of 7 (If we had stayed, I could have got a pic on the podium!)

Swim time: (750m which is 825 yds. includes a run out of the pool, down a hallway and up a ramp) 14:25

Swim rank:45 out of 158

Swim rank out of females 5 out of 39

Bike time 14.69 miles: 1:00:22

Bike rank: 82 out of 158

Bike rank out of females: 15 out of 39

Run time (5K): 29:13

Run rank: 116 out of 158

Run rank out of females: 20 out of 39

It was bound to happen sooner or later....

I was reading Kenzie a book in her room the other night right before bed and I was looking at her hair. I thought to myself "oh cute, her hair looks like she has bangs, some of her baby hair must be growing out". Then I looked at it closer...hmmm that baby hair is all one length, and wasn't there yesterday!! I said "Kenzie, who cut your hair?" She gives me the most mischievous look and said "I did!" Of course we went over who is allowed to cut hair (anyone but her) and who is not allowed to cut hair (HER!).

I guess I got lucky as far as placement of the cut, it's not right in the middle of her head, and she cut it the length that bangs are, so for now, I guess I can just be happy that it could have been much worse! And in a few year, it will be Maddie's turn, I'm sure.

Maddie finds trouble...even at the park!

Every single time we go to this park, without fail Maddie finds some way to SOAK herself in this drinking fountain. I mean head-to-toe soaked and freezing by the time we leave! All the other kids get wet, she always looks like she just jumped into a pool! Every time we go, my friend Gina says "Man I need to bring a camera". So yesterday we ended up at the park, and Gina said "I came prepared". I had no idea what she meant, and she said "I brought my camera!" So what does Gina do? She says "Maddie, go get the water!"

This water fountain is really special, meaning BROKEN! It sprays about 2 feet past the fountain and creates huge mud puddles everywhere around it...which means she's not only wet, but she's dirty too! But I haven't got to the best part yet....there is a doggie water fountain there too, yep, right on the ground so when you push the button for the fountain, the doggie one gets filled up too....oh a perfect height for a 1 1/2 year old to lick out of right? I really want to throw up looking at these pictures...my Mom is going to die when she sees these!

So Gina, I owe you big time, the next time your kids come to my house we're bringing out the slip'n'slide and putting a mud pit at the end!

Maddie and Kenzie taking a park shower

Maddie stepping on the doggie water fountain to get to the big one

Trev spraying Maddie...can't these kids find a slide to play on?

Gina put it best- "Just in case you were wondering if there was any cross contamination!"

Oh, I just want to wash that mouth out with Listerine! It's a wonder she never got E. Coli poisoning from this!

Bouncing All Week Long

I've had the bouncy castle set up in my backyard for about a week now, and the kids have loved it! They have played on it at least a few times each day and it's been nice to have something that Maddie can play on that's safe for her. Man, I'm going to miss this during the winter!


Kenzie, her friend Paige, and Maddie about 5 seconds before Paige jumped off the back and got a concussion...seriously! Poor Paige!

My First Sprint Triathlon!

I just did my first sprint triathlon! It was so much fun, and I think I'm hooked! It consisted of a 500 yd. swim, 12 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. I talked my friend Marty into doing it with me, and he talked his friend Keith into doing it too (ha ha SUCKERS!)

Everything went fine, but I was really disappointed in my swim. I was in the same lane w/ a few other swimmers, and it was crowded. I don't think I'm used to racing with other people in the pool with me! My bike was fun, I didn't push myself too hard because I wanted to have enough energy for the run, which I did better than I expected on it. My goals were to finish it in 1:30, and to at least finish somewhere in the middle of the pack (Rank #275 or under). I finished in 1:23, and I was ranked 199 so I have to be happy! It'll be a good starting out point for my next season. I'll put the stats at the bottom if anyone is interested. I'll put up actual race pics later when they come out.

This was so much fun, I thought it would just be a difficult race that I could get through, but it ended up being a blast...next stop Colorado Springs in 3 weeks with Kat! I can't wait! (You won't see better times on this next one, much longer race with lots of hills!)

Kenz and I before the race

Jen and I (My dad in the background!)

Me trying to put my race belt on in the transition area (yes, I should be running while I was doing this, but I was chit chatting with Dave and Kenz!)

Keith, me, and Marty after the race

Keith and I at the finish line

Kat might be the only one interested in the stats, but here ya go anyway:

Total time 1:23:53

Total rank 199th out of 550

Age Group Rank (age 30-34 year olds)- 5th out of 41

Sex rank (ranking out of all the women)-59th out of 294

Swim Time-(500 yds and a run across the pool out the door)-8:43 (the worst I have ever swam that! I'm usually around 7:30 It's killing me to even write it!)

Swim Rank -89th place out of 550

Dash (500 yd. run from swimming pool to transition area)-1:36

T1(first transition time from swim to bike) 1:44

Bike time 42:45

Bike Rank 299 out of 550

T2 (second transition from bike to run)-2:01 (this is usually the shorter transition time, but Dave and Kenz were right there so I talked to them for a minute!)

Run (3 mile)-27:06

Run rank 189 out of 550

SISTERS

I am so glad that Maddie is finally old enough to "play" with Kenzie. At this point she has to do everything that Kenzie does, so it's nice sometimes (like when they play outside together), and not so nice others (like when Maddie insists on cracking eggs when we're cooking just like Kenzie). I thought it was cute the way that Maddie had to color with Kenzie. It's nice to know that she's finally getting out of that baby stage!

Kenz wanted to make cupcakes. When we do this, Kenzie pulls a chair up to the counter top and she puts in every ingredient. This time, Maddie followed right behind her with a chair and we all cooked together. Maddie laughed when she got to crack an egg, but then got mad when I threw the shells away...she wanted to put them in the bowl! They were so cute cooking together and when the cupcakes were done they went on the back porch to eat them. Maddie had to have the exact same cupcake as Kenz...I forgot to put sprinkles on Maddie's, and you should have seen the tantrum!

Really, how many pictures do I have to have of my kids eating cake like dogs???

First Day of Preschool!

Kenzie was completely ecstatic about her first day of school. Some kids cried, some kids needed one more hug from their mom, Kenzie bounced right in and said "Bye Mom!" I guess we have no separation anxiety here! She said she made two new friends and got to sing lots of songs. She said her teacher was really nice because she let Kenzie sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Yeah, I guess that's pretty nice! She also mentioned that she didn't hit or kick anyone...I guess that's always a good thing! She is already talking about when she gets to go to Kindergarten.

Maui Trip

Kenzie and I left Dave and Maddie (Dave had to work, and Maddie is well....traveling challenged at this age, and yes the guilt was killing me the whole time) and went to Maui with my parents, Jen and Ryan (boyfriend), Justin and Matt (friend). Maui is Kenzie's favorite place in the whole world and has been asking about it all year!

Kenzie and I climbing on the lava rocks. She found sea anemone's and a little crab!

I just love this picture


The rope swing was by far the favorite part of the trip for her. At the hotel, this rope swing that has at least a 5 foot drop. It's pretty far for a 4 year old! She begged to go on it, and the first time we got up there, she said "Mom, this is too scary". We walked back down, she looked back and said "It's not that scary!". So I walked her back up and she flew right off. We couldn't pull her off of it after that. The lady working the rope swing said that Kenzie was the youngest kid she's ever seen go off.

Kenzie loved the slides at the hotel, too. They have 5 pools w/ water slides connecting each one. The majority of our day was spent sliding down the slides to the rope swing, spending at least an hour at the rope swing, then doing it all over again!

We went to the Maui Ocean Center where Kenzie got to pick up a starfish, see turtles, sharks, and eels. She got a front row show of the divers feeding all the animals, and she thought the coolest part was giving the diver a high five through the glass!

Ryan and I took surfing lessons....so much fun!

At the beach with Grandpa

The beach at sunset

Kenzie and Jen

My pretty little Hawaiian girl
Have you ever seen a kid wearing a sweatshirt in Hawaii? She is cold everywhere!

Jen and Ryan

What is coming out of Justin's head???

Kenzie in front of the hotel