Patrick's 2nd Birthday (part two)

Today was Patrick's actual birthday. For a 2 year old, it's pretty much a typical day. Take brother to school, go to the doctor, go grocery shopping, meet Dad for lunch, take a nap, and pick up brother from school. Then, we went out dinner to celebrate his birthday. We went to Red Robin.

I think everyone enjoyed dinner.

This is his new photo face whenever I saw "smile". 

He was very excited about the ice cream, but not so sure about them singing to him.

Happy Birthday, Patrick! I can't believe your are two. You are turning into such a fun, sweet boy. Can't wait to see what you do next.

Bolder Boulder

Back at Christmas, Rob and Whitney were talking about races they had ran. Joe and I foolishly brought up that we were thinking about doing the Bolder Boulder 10K over Memorial Day weekend and they should come out and join us. So, come February we all four signed up. Joe and I found an eight week training program online and got running in April. It was hard to find the time. Most of my runs were pushing a stroller with the two little ones while Josh was in school. I discovered there are a lot of hills in our neighborhood. Joe split his training between Denver and Alabama and discovered running at sea level is much easier. 

Well, after "training", the day finally arrived. We woke up nice and early Memorial Day and headed out to Boulder. The boys stayed with Grandma and Grandpa (thankfully). 

Here we are before we joined our running waves. All smiles (for now). 

Right before we started. It was pretty cool how they started. Each wave got a trumpet call to the line and a gun shot. Then we were off. We were serenaded by bands along the entire route. People who live in houses on the route come out and sit in their yards. Some just watched but most had their garden hoses out spraying people or offering food (like Doritos and cupcakes). There were a few fun outfits including a body suit that was the human muscular system (gross). I did okay for the first half but really struggled the rest. Joe was great and stayed with me the whole time. And....

we finished! (no photo of me at the end) We had a goal of 68 minutes and beat it by over a minute with an end time of 66:41.









Then we walked around Boulder, had a nice healthy lunch and came home to take a nap. Thanks Rob and Whitney for pushing us to do this. It was great doing it with you. I think that will tide me over on races for a while.

Patrick's 2nd Birthday (part one)

For Patrick's 2nd birthday, we decided to have a ball theme. This boy loves balls. It's his go to toy. So we made sure balls were every where at the party. 

On his cake...

and his dinner (meatball sandwiches, cheese balls, grape tomatoes, black olives, and melon balls). 

We also had bubbles to entertain the kids. 

We had a great turn out with Grandma and Grandpa Weldon, Alex, our friends the Rogers', Uncle Rob and Aunt Whitney, and our friend Casey. We enjoyed some good food and good conversation. 

Patrick really enjoyed when everyone was singing to him. 

And he even blew out the candle all by himself.

There were even balls inside the cake!

Then we opened all the presents. This boy is spoiled.

This one was hilarious because Daniel loves cars. This trailer carries 15 cars. There is a rule in our house that whoever the present is for, they get to play with it first and don't have to share it for a day. Well, Daniel really wanted to play with this so he spent about 15 minutes solid asking Patrick if he wanted to open it and play with it. Of course, Patrick had a bunch of toys to play with so pretty much kept ignoring him. Daniel was very persistent. It made for some great entertainment for the rest of us. It's hard to be five.

The adults were having fun as well.

It was a great party.

Field Day

The last Friday of the school year is Field Day. They set up games and races outside the school and the kids spend the entire morning running around outside. We dropped Josh off at school and then had a few minutes to kill before it started so the little boys found some balls to entertain themselves. 

Then Field Day started. I was a volunteer at the Soccer Ball Relay so I couldn't follow Josh's class around but I did get this picture at the relay next to mine. 

They do the same events every year, but Josh still loves it. Even better, Daniel gets to do it next year. He was pretty disappointed he didn't get to participate (and I forgot to bring snacks). Next year buddy!

Another Busy Saturday

The day started off with a football game for Daniel. He had a few good runs. The scored ended up 38-12 with the Broncos on top. They had a perfect season. Go Broncos!

Then we moved over to Josh's baseball game (well, Patrick, Josh, and I did. Daniel had to finish his football game. Thank goodness for good friends who will cart your kids around). Josh had another exciting game and also ended up on top 6-3. 

They are having a great season with just a few games left before the playoffs.

After his baseball game, Josh had to hurry up and change to get over to his football game (he is one busy kid). This was his final football game of the spring season and also only the third one he got to play (baseball games didn't allow more). He got a touchdown pass and a one point conversion pass to help his team to a 14-6 victory. They also ended with a perfect season. Go Falcons!

It was a busy day and a nice night at home. Everyone was exhausted (Patrick even went to bed at 6pm before dinner because he didn't get a nap and was too tired to eat). Its just the way I like to spend my weekends.

Snowy Monday

Just a typical Monday morning. Drop the big guy off at school, then come home and shovel 6" of snow. What? You don't normally shovel snow on May 12th? You must not live in Colorado.

You are missing out. Happy Monday!

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was not my typical Mother's Day.

My Mother's Day started early with these flowers delivered on Saturday morning.

Thanks honey!

Then, Sunday morning started early with the alarm going off at 6:30. After the boys presented me with their homemade gifts (very sweet), I got everyone ready and met the Weldons for brunch at The Ridge. It was a great brunch with delicious food and wonderful company. 

Then we headed over the the Weldon's house so I could get in my 4.5 mile run (why did I agree to to this race again?) without the kids in tow. It was an interesting run. 

But I got it done. 

After that, we headed back to our own house for naps and basement cleaning.

I did spend most of the day in pajamas so it was a pretty good day. 

I am one lucky mommy!

Busy Friday

Today was one busy day. It started with "Morning with Mom" at school. Every year before Mother's Day, the school hosts a breakfast for moms and their students. They provide doughnuts and coffee. It's a pretty fun morning. And I didn't have to worry about breakfast.

After we dropped off Josh at school, we headed home for a quick break before we drove over to a local fire station for a tour. My MOPS group set up a tour for all the kids. It was a lot of young kids but a lot of fun. Daniel was in heaven and shy for once. He spent a good amount of time hiding behind my back so the firefighter wouldn't see him. Weird.

After a crazy lunch at Chick fil'a, we headed over to a birthday party for one of Daniel's classmates. We got there, got some snacks, then another mom offered to bring Daniel home, so Patrick and I took off so he could get a nap. What a treat for me!

After we picked up Josh from school, we got home and got ready for the evening. The Weldons were nice enough to offer dinner so after we packed the car, we headed over there. We enjoyed a nice dinner with them and then Patrick, Josh, Tom, and I headed over to the fields. Josh had a baseball game that started at 7:30. He was pretty excited because that meant he got to play under the lights.

It was a very intense game that lasted over two hours. They played the top team in their division who had only allowed 3 runs in all of their 7 games. Josh's team went into the final inning down 9-0 but mounted an amazing comeback and the game ended in a 9-9 tie. Josh hit a double at a crucial time to keep them alive. It was a great game. We ended up getting home at 10:30 with both Josh and Patrick still awake and Daniel sleeping in the car. 

Ready to do some more games tomorrow.

Fun Mail Tradition

This is just a fun tradition I want to remember. 

Every day after school we go get the mail. In our neighborhood we have a community mailbox. At our house closing we were told we are box #2 and given a key. So now, even though we can see a mailbox from our front porch, everyday we walk down the street and around the corner to get the mail. 

Both bigger boys are big enough to put the key in themselves so they take turns "getting the mail" (even though Josh gets the mail everyday since Daniel is not tall enough to reach it, Daniel does get to put the key and open the door). 

On the days when we drive (directly from school), and it is nice enough, the big boys like to race the car home. That gives Patrick the opportunity to join in. I roll down his window and he gets to yell "go" to tell the boys to start. It's pretty cute. 

It's a fun tradition all the boys enjoy.