Muddy Buddies!

By far the most fun race I have participated in to date! Have fun checking out the photos but as a quick recap here are the details:

Race length: 10K (6.1 miles)

Race course: climbing the ski hills at Afton alps on foot and on bike (ok pushing the bike) THREE times! ugh.
THEN finishing by army crawling through a very thick, kind of painful (rocky) mud pit! awesome.

Race transitions: four switches = five legs.  Anna did: bike, run, bike, run, bike.  I did the opposite.  At the switches were obstacles. 1) a climbing wall with a net to climb down on the other side 2) ropes you had to crawl under 3) a balance beam and 4) well...you'll see in the pictures below :)


Our look: The Awesome A's were Bees! :) You'll see that too...

Smile!!  (because we're clean!)

BEE Happy :)

My fans! Such great sports for leaving Eau Claire at 5AM!

The starting line...there were 900 teams!

Go Anna! Go!

That's me, the bee!

This was the last obstacle...how fun!! That's Anna's little Bee Behind.

Can you see me running with the bike? I was so happy to be done with that leg, until I realized the next one was just the same...only opposite, meaning the huge hill I'd just come down I now how to go BACK UP!

I didn't know I made this facial expression until I saw the picture, however, this is just before crouching to crawl through the mud...I'm guessing my thought was something like this "um...REALLY!?"

MUD!

So happy to be done! :) Time to rinse off and start planning for next year!

Summer time!

I've been horrible lately at writing updates on our blog here.  Our summer has flown by so fast.  Mostly we spend our week-days hanging out at the Nohelty home.  I nanny the Nohelty's two youngest, two boys ages 12 and 14.  To say its the perfect job would be quite the understatement.  Anyways, our mornings are filled with the usual house-hold duties (dishes, laundry, vacuum, pick up toys, nap keller...) then off to the N house for the majority of the day.  I mainly spend time with the 12 year old since his older brother is pretty self-sufficient.  Besides the occasional drop off and pick up at the local YMCA, S (the 14 yr old) doesn't really need me.  So C and I hang out, with Keller of course, and sometimes hit up the pool, sometimes work on yard projects, and recently I helped their family organize and run and two day garage sale to get rid of a bunch of things they no longer needed.  It was a very successful sale! :) I got a lot of good ideas for whenever Broghan and I decided we have too many things and need to sell some off.  Anyways, the summer is almost to an end and I know I just a few photos worth posting.  So here they are!

my noisy little boy

Here is Keller "talking" with his 'da da da's' and 'ba ba ba's'...and a little whining too!

Keller tackling the stairs -- VIDEO

BALLOONS!

Fun pictures and video of Keller discovering the wonderment of helium balloons.  He chased these suckers around my parents living room for nearly a half hour. They were from my sister Ali's 16th birthday last Wednesday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY AL!).

Keller & Marvin morning photoshoot

We were up at 6:00AM Sunday and were hanging out on my parents front steps.  I took some snapshots of my two boys :).  They LOVE each other!

Valley Fair - FUN AND ONLY! -- RIDE WARRIORS!

Ok, so if you aren't from around this area (MN & WI)...1) you probably have no clue what and where Valley Fair is and 2) you probably haven't seen the stupid Valley Fair commercials with the tune "valley fair...fun & only!"  I searched online and on Youtube.com but can't seem to find it.  Oh well, maybe if I am quick I can video tape it when it's on t.v. or something! haha.

Anyways, for those that don't know, Valley Fair is Minnesota's very own amusement park (roller coasters, water rides, water park, etc.).  I haven't been able to go to one of these places in a very long time due to the whole "do not ride if you are pregnant" ordeal.  But this past Saturday I was! finally! able to go!  Whahoo!

The crew that made it out for the day were ALL OF MY SISTERS (this never happens), my mom, Keller and a friend of Anna's visiting from Arkansas.  Broghan was in MN too but celebrating a bachelor party with for his cousin.

Here are some pictures we captured during the day.

The start of the day. Keller in the car, Ready to go!

Now entering VALLEY FAIR!

In line for the first ride we could get to! Enterprise!  It spins in a circle then lifts so you go upside down.

Ashley, such a scardie cat (spelling??).  She had to sit with me since she was freaking out about going upside down.

Auntie Ashley hanging with the Keller-man.

Ride #2: STEEL VENOM! This was hilarious because it's an awesome ride, but starts VERY quickly...and I was definitely NOT prepared for it when it took off.  It made it even better. :)

Classic: Tilt-A-World.  It worked really well with the four of us sisters squished into it.  Although I will admit, I did feel a little queasy afterwards...(no getting sick though..promise)

Fast-forward to the LAST ride of the day: THE WAVE!  As you can tell, we look like wet rats...haha, we were drenched! It felt great though after being in the hot weather all afternoon.

AHH! we got tattooed! ok ok airbrush..mine is already worn off :/ They look cool though :)

Keller's first HAIRCUT!

Songs to make you cry

Weird I know.  But for me, music is cathartic.  It's healing. It allows me to fully feel those deep dark sad emotions that I honestly do not have any interest in showing without it or when other people are around.  So yes, this blog is solely for the purpose of me having, in one location, the songs that make me cry because they remind me of the many emotional (both bad/sad/upsetting AND good/happy/exciting) times in my life and now I don't have to wait for them to come on the radio when I'm driving to get to hear them.  If you're like me...then enjoy!  If you think this is too strange...check out the latest posts with the fun pictures of Keller :)

The new car seat & sleep updates

It's been a transitional week for us with Keller.  We went ahead and purchased his next-level up car seat.  I sort of like it.  I miss being able to take him in and out of the car without unbuckling him and being able to travel in both cars easily (without having to transfer the whole car seat), but I know this obviously safer and his legs fit better.  It doesn't quite recline correctly in our Jeep but we've sort of rigged it up to recline enough that his head doesn't slump down when he falls asleep (honestly, I was worried about asphyxia!).

For those interested in knowing which one we got, here is a link: http://s7d5.scene7.com/s7ondemand/zoom/flasht_zoom.jsp?&company=ToysRUsGSI&config=defaultZoom&zoomwidth=500&zoomheight=558&sku=p5741721

It's the Alpha Omega Elite Convertible Car Seat.


SLEEPING:
So a little update and a good update! I'm not sure if I ever even blogged about our deciding to sleep train.  I think I did.  But anywho (pretending I did) we've been really good at sticking to a routine for Keller.  Sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 we begin "bedtime routine" which consists of the 4-B's: Bath, Bottle (or Breastfeeding), Book & Bed.  It's magical! Most nights by the time I'm done reading (I tend to nurse or feed him a bottle while reading to him) he's already groggy and laying him down is smooth as butter.  He's out..no crying or anything.  Other nights (like tonight) he somehow pops awake as soon as I lye him down and then the crying begins.  We usually let him cry himself to sleep unless you can tell by the type of cry that something is off.  Tonight, he was still hungry.  Once he got to eat more (I just warmed up extra milk) he fell right to sleep and has been quiet since (it's now 5 hours later).

He has been fairly consistent on his "noise-making" times.  Some nights I don't even hear him but when I wake up to pump, I usually hear him which is around 3 or 4 AM.  He doesn't usually need me so he'll just fuss for a few minutes and put himself back to bed.  But he is VERY consistent on his wake up time.  6AM SHARP.  No if's, and's, or but's about it.  He is wide-eyed at 6AM and mommy is not.  Haha.  So he comes into bed with us and plays with the window above our heads (in between Broghan & I).

So that's it, as long as we stick to letting him nap when he's tired and this bedtime routine, he's been the happy little ham he's always been :).

'Ode to Uncle Logan!

Logan- My apologies, I didn't see your request for a photo until just now.  Here is a great one of you too! Sorry Keller isn't exactly LOOKING at the camera...he tends to look away...the ones of him actually looking at the camera usually take 10 or 15 tried :/ .

LOVE & MISS YOU TOO!