Conner's A-Maize-ing Acres 2011

We had are annual trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch this past weekend.  This was the fifth year we have gone, and we had to get the kids' picture behind the tractor!  There was quite a crowd when we arrived.

The weather was absolutely beautiful!  We met up with a bunch of our friends from church.

Camryn was thrilled to oblige with the traditional picture : )

The family picture, however, was pushing it too far : )

Here we are riding the cow train.  This is always a favorite!

Grant and Rebecca had their first date  : )

Grant loved climbing and jumping off the hay bales!

We conquered the corn maze!

Camryn's New Word

Erin has been singing this song to Camryn all week and she just started saying Bible today.  It's so sweet!  

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Now that I have figured out how to publish videos on the old blog, (Stephen has been out of town all week and I just had to learn to do it myself ; ), I wanted to share this video of Grant.  Here he is doing Bible Reading at Lads to Leaders back in April.  It was his first time up in front of a crowd and we weren't really sure what he was going to do.  I love his little voice just asking "for a wittle help!"  I missed seeing him because I was outside holding fussy Camryn, but it sure made me a proud mama! 



The End of the Season

These sweet little ladies are ready to cheer for their teams!  Grant's soccer team was playing a team that four of our friends from church are on.  Camryn and Erin enjoyed sharing the sideline with Grant's favorite girl, Becca.  He told me that he played so well because she was there : )

Grant had a great game and even scored a goal!!!  We were so proud of him!

Grant was so excited about his very first trophy.  I am sure we will play again in the spring.

The Children's Way 5K

Me and my co-workers, Missy and Mia

(ignore the poor quality iphone photo)

Yesterday morning Stephen and I ran The Children's Way 5K benefiting the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Jacksonville.  There were quite a few runners for this race, as I had expected.  Many families came out to walk the entire course to give back to the Ronald McDonald house.  I finished the race in 32:06 mins.  I really wanted to finish it in thirty minutes, but I knew that was going to be a hard goal to obtain.  I was satisfied with my time, and hope to finish my next race in 30 minutes! 

It is an adjustment getting used to running in a large group of people.  The first mile you are dodging and weaving aound those that are slower than you.  We picked a place in the middle of the crowd knowing that we would probably average around a ten minute mile.  We started out a little faster than we normally run, at a 8:30 mi/min pace.  I felt good and thought why not go with it.  As we approached the one mile mark I was ready to slow down and scaled my pace back to 10:30 mi/min.  I made Stephen stop and walk with me somewhere right before mile two.  He obliged and we continued to run and walk the rest of the race.  I kept getting a cramp right under my left arm.  I thought it was a strange place for a cramp.  We will see if this happens again. 

Afterwards my right achilles tendon started killing me.  I know I don't stretch enough, but I am going to now!  I have been resting and icing it today and it feels much better.  I am also (strongly) considering going to the local running store and letting them properly fit me for shoes.  I know I overpronate on my right side and this can really give you problems.  (and I don't have time for problems!)

I will be running another 5K in October, followed by a 10K mid November.  I am looking forward to improving my time!

Love the Baby

Camryn has taking a liking to one of Erin's baby dolls.  She loves this doll and has been toting her around all day.  If you say "love the baby" she will give the baby a kiss.  It is just the cutest thing ever!!!! 

Here she is kissing her baby.

I am not sure how this happened so quickly, but I had a little baby just a few weeks ago....now she's all grown up!  She's walking, saying more words on a daily basis, and gives high fives.  She loves to "talk" on the phone and can even play some games on my iPhone!  She's mastered her sippy cup and is eating like a champ!  It makes me happy and sad all at the same time!

Grant's Fifth Birthday

I found these cute invitations on ebay!

I used this tutorial, from the craftingchicks.com, to make cupcakes.  They were so cute and, most importantly, Grant liked them.

I used these free printables, from Tip Junkie ,to make Angry Birds balloons.  The "Appy Birthday" banner came from thepartyanimal-blog.org. 

All in all, it was a great fifth birthday party!  Grant received lots of legos which are quickly taking over the house : )  He also got some Angry Birds stuffed animals which are a favorite.  I think I am going to like this year!

Camryn is Walking!!!

I am such a slacker mommy!  Camryn has been taking a few steps by herself for a couple of weeks now.  Just this week she has stepped it up a notch.  I guess I am a little behind, but she is now officially walking! 

I must admit I had not had the chance to document this milestone with a picture or video.  Luckily, Stephen came home an took a short video tonight. 

The Disney Princess Half Marathon 2012

Yes, you read it right!  I might just be crazy, but I signed up for a half marathon.  No, I am not a runner.  I guess I am now!  It just happened so quickly.  I was talking with my sister in law, Liz, out by the pool on the Fourth of July.  She asked me if I would like to run the race with her.  She made the race sound so exciting!  I doubted myself for a second, but then, the very next day (after watching the You Tube video about the race), I signed up!  There's no backing out now!

I knew the motivation of a half marathon was just what I needed to get out and do something for myself.  I had figured out that I have either been pregnant or nursing sixty one months of the past seventy two months (six years)!!!   That takes a lot out of you!  Deciding to do this race has given me a chance to take time out just for myself.  I have only been running for a little over a month and I can already feel a difference.  I  know I have a long way to go before Febraury, but I will get there!

The tricky part has been finding the time I need to train for the race.  Luckily, my loving husband, has been training with me.  I am so glad to we are doing this together.  We aren't able to get every run in together.   He is in school two nights a week and we have Bible Study on Wednesday night so our training schedule is not ideal.  He does get to run between work and school.  I am going to have to try to fit in a run on Mondays by myself.  I am hoping once it cools down a little bit I can squeeze some time in on Monday afternoons.   It helps to have him running with me because he doesn't let me give up and he runs faster than I do, so he pushes me harder.  We are going to run the Gate River Run together a couple of weeks after the half marathon. 

So, now I have put it out there on the blog that I am training for a half marathon.  I have a few little races scheduled in the coming weeks.  I will try to update on my progress!

Our Week: An Instagram Recap

Erin decided she needed to "paint" her finger nails with blue marker the morning of her preschool orienation.  No, it wasn't washable!

 It was consignment sale week and I was tagging all the baby items we were going to sale.  I was going to sale this stroller, but Erin convinced me to keep it a little longer!

As I mentioned in the last post, Erin likes tumbling class now.

Grant and I had a little treat while we were waitig on her class to finish up. 

Camryn did not get any chocolate, but she enjoyed playing in the driver's seat. 

This little guy greeted us the on Erin's first day of school.

Camryn and I enjoyed a little mommy/daughter time while the big kids were at school.

Which included some laundry.

We found this little guy in the yard on Tuesday.

Grant got an award at preschool for "great leadership"....I wonder what that means : )

What I woke up to on Thursday morning.

What happens when baby goes on a one side nursing strike for the past month and a half due to an ear infection!  This not a good thing.  It stresses Mommy!

We have had a rough week.  All three kids have been sick off and on all week.  Grant only went to school today and Tuesday.  We have had fevers, runny noses and sore throats.   I just checked Erin and Grant's temperatures and they both have fevers again!  (I could tell because they were sooooo cranky!)  I am one tired mommy.  I am looking forward to this weekend.  I am hoping every one is well and we can enjoy some football, swimming and time with the family!

Erin's First Day of Preschool

Erin had her first official day of school yesterday.  She was so excited!  Finally, it was her turn to go to school!

This was the best picture I could get of all three kids. 

Erin is in the same class that Grant was in last year.  Her teacher, Ms. Megan, is so sweet and Erin loves her! 

btw-Erin has been going to tumbling and has decided that she likes it!  Whew!  : )

I just had to throw this picture in of Camryn at Grant's game last week!

Camryn: Nine Months

Camryn is now nine months old.  We had our check up last week.  She weighed in at 20.6 lbs (80%) and was 28.75" long (85%).  She has six teeth now and loves to eat.  We have been giving her more fingerfoods and trying to fix her some of what we are eating now.  She will eat baby food, but she wants to eat what we are eating.  (Who can blame her?)  She can handle a sippy cup, but spits the drink out most of the time sometimes : )  (She makes a big mess, but it keeps her happy.)  She had to learn to hold it up so the liquid will come out. 

She has been very clingy the past couple months.  Our easy going Camryn has been a mama's girl!  I think she has only made it through Cradle Roll class one or two times with out the teachers having to come and get me the entire summer.  She started this when she was cutting teeth.  She has also battled ear infection that made life rough for her for a few weeks.  She seems to be feeling much better and is getting back to her happy self!

She is cruising the furniture, but is not walking yet.  I give her a few more weeks before she actually takes a step.  She will be my latest walker.  Her big sis walked right before her eight month birthday (super early walker) and Grant took his first steps on his nine month birthday.  She wants to walk.  I will stand her up, let her go and try to coax her to take a step.  She just laughs and either lunges at me with no fear, knowing I will catch her, or sits down and crawls. 

She now says and waves bye, and uh-oh.  We are working on Dada and Mama : )  She shakes her head (and her whole body) yes.  If it's time to eat I will show her food and she bobs her head up and down and kicks her legs.....I think she is going to be a good eater like Erin.  She also squeals/screams very loudly a.l.o.t!  We are talking ear piercing!  Neither of my other two babies did this.  It can mean may things...from "I am really happy,"  to, "Look at me!"....to"I want more!"...or, "I'm really mad!"  It's quite embarassing in public.  I am hoping her vocabulary takes off soon and we can replace the screams with words : )

Grant and Erin still love their baby, but do become frustrated when she slobbers on their toys.  



I can't believe we will be planning her first birthday soon!

Grant's First Soccer Game

I'm officially a "Soccer Mom", minus the mini van.  (Although, I can't wait to get a mini van!  It would make me so happy!)  Grant started soccer this week and he had his first real game last night.  He was so excited.  We weren't sure how the kids would do at an actual game.  We had only practiced once because one practice ha been rained out.  We tried to go over the rules in the car on the way to the game. 

The game got off to a rough start.  The referee blew his whistle and a girl from the other team kicked the ball right passed Grant and all his team mates to score the first goal.  Grant's team just stood there.  It was so funny!  After that Grant got to kick the ball.  I think they started to get the hang of it.  We just had to keep reminding them to keep running!

Grant was really into the game!  Here he is cheering for his team while he was on the bench.  The coaches are good about making sure every player gets equal time to play.  (I made sure that I warned him that he would have to sit out during the game.)

To say he was excited might have been an understatement.

We tied the other team...not that anyone was keeping score : )

Saturday morning he had another game.  Here he is doing jumping jacks.  I think this is something we need to work on at home!  Maybe a little more coordination!

Grant started out as the goalie this time.  He did alright.  He stopped a few balls before he let one in the goal.  I am not sure he gets the whole idea of what a goalie can do.  He was asking the coach a million questions while he was standing in the box.

Here he is doing a goal kick.

The game was at 11 am and it was hot!  Grant was complaing before the game even began that he needed to take his shirt off.  By the end of the half, he was done.  During the break we looked over and he was on his hands and knees under the bench.  All of his team  mates were sitting there listening to the coach.  He was finding the "only shade out there."  He sat the third quarter out and we had to have a little talk about the heat.  He came over to our seats and tried to make a run for the woods.  Seriously...He knew there must be shade under the trees.  We promised him he can bring his fan he got at Disney World to the next game to keep him cool.  Luckily, they called him back into the game and that distracted him from the heat!

We ended up losing this game, but I think the kids had fun.  That's all that matters!