Zombie Apocalyptic 5K

ZOMBIES!!!!!

That's right!  They were everywhere!!!

OK, so maybe it was just makeup.  But it WAS a lot of FUN!  I signed up for the Zombie 5K over 4 months ago.  It sounded like a great idea...4 months ago.  4 days ago, I was having second thoughts.  This race was sending us descriptions of some of the obstacles I would encounter.  Here is one.

THE BARN:  I would enter a dark barn filled with many hay bales.  I would have to climb over said hay bales to reach the exit using only the light from some strobes in the ceiling.  Did I mention there would be ZOMBIES in there too????

The idea of the run is you get a belt with 3 flags attached.  You run the 3.1 miles and go through several (13 we think) obstacles.  The whole time you are being "hunted" by the zombies.  Their mission is to take our "lives" (the 3 flags).  We are still to cross the finish with no flags, we just won't qualify for any prizes.

I will be COMPLETELY honest.  The first 15 minutes were the HARDEST 15 minutes I have EVER ran.  And I lost all 3 of my flags in that time frame.  The silver lining, after my last flag was gone, the zombies stopped chasing me and just scared me now and then.  I did make it through the first 5 challenges without losing all of them.  But the BARN was hard!  Here are some of the pics I took.

Julie and I, pre race

Julie was making friends. 

 My bib number.

Zombie Survival 101

A cute sign 

Gina, myself and Julie

(notice our flags are there) 

Not planning on becoming a meal. 

 Zombies in the first field we had to run through.

The BARN 

Best Pic EVER 

 An ACTUAL wedding party.

They really had a wedding here.

My girls and NO FLAGS!

We are the "undead".

Renaissance Festival-2012

We may have started a new tradition.  This month we went to the Renaissance Festival near KC.  My sister goes almost every year, at least twice!  Since the kids are getting bigger, we decided to give it a try.  THEY LOVED IT!!!!  They are already planning on going next year.  Here are some of the pics I took.

She HAD to get her face painted! 

He met Robin Hood. 

He's ALWAYS wanted a wooden sword. 

Allie on the pony of the REAL carousel. 

Owen on the donkey of the REAL carousel. 

There were TONS of these cut-outs. 

They loved them. 

My princess 

My knight in shining armor.

(How he sees himself.) 

How we see him!

I Can Tie My Shoes

That's right!  She decided she wasn't going to let 2 shoe laces keep her from her fashion potential.  She practiced for about 2 hours and now she's GOT IT!  The best part about learning to tie (besides the CUTE shoes), is rubbing it in her BIG brother's face.  He thinks he'll wear velcro for the rest of his life!

Change...

I am loving the CHANGE in the weather.  I pulled out my sweaters and boots!  Running outside is actually enjoyable, again.  It starts to get me into the BIG holiday season ahead of us.

My kids are growing like weeds and seem to CHANGE daily.  I always remind myself to make a mental note of those cute moments.  Save those pictures drawn on a whim.  Make those ten minutes to just cuddle.

But there is another CHANGE that is taking place in our lives.  Most of you know, we are moving.  But it is starting to seem more real as I type it.  My wonderful husband is going to be going "back" to Boston to get 3 months of cardiac training and 1 month of ICU at Boston Children's Hospital.  He leaves at the end of December.  Once this training is complete, he will then move to Nashville, TN.  He has accepted an offer to be a pediatric/cardiac anesthesiologist at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.  So the kids and I will stay here in Kansas until the end of the school year.  We hope to sell our house and move into a new house in Brentwood, TN the first part of June.

With all of this CHANGE, I am always reminded of a quote I read.
"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar."  So with all this CHANGE, I'm praying for courage.

San Diego

The view from our room. 

Last week, Jake and I had a get-away to San Diego.  He was there for a conference, but that didn't stop us from having some fun.  We met a few of our friends there (Georges, Smiths and Petrie).

The first night we decided to take in a Padre's game.  It was fun to catch up with our friends and watch a close game too.  We even ended up on the JUMBO TRON!!!!

Petrie, Smith and Jake

The next day we decided to hit Mission Beach and go for a bike ride.  Everyone had their own bike, except for Jake and I.  We decided it would be "fun" to ride a tandem bike.  I will say this, the back seat is NOT the place for a control freak.  Jake was in charge of steering, braking and changing the gears.  And he would do this without warnings!  We lovingly refer to this as "marriage counseling".

Jake and me

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Or at least the CHEERING part?  This little girl is!

That's right!  For the last two days, she has been going to a Cheer Clinic at Andover High School.  She LOVES IT!!!  As the frosting on her cake, she'll get to cheer (with the AHS cheerleaders) at tomorrow nights game!!!  I just hope I'm able to get some good pics.  Like these few I took tonight after bath.  We had to try on our shirt with mommy's skirt from high school.  She might be wearing it tomorrow night.  :)

A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E.

GO, TEAM, GO!!!

"Queen of Kindergarten"

The title is a direct quote that Allison said as I was taking her picture.  She has been ready for Kindergarten for some time now.  I'm not even sure EXCITED captures her feelings.

On "Meet the Teacher" night, she had been given a homework assignment.  She had to complete an "ALL ABOUT ME TEE".  I thought she captured the essence of her.  :)

I took this pic in the car waiting for drop-off time. 

 Me and my baby

She found her name tag!

Her teacher had a goodie bag for the parents to take after dropping the kids off.  I was bending down to kiss Allie goodbye, when my eyes watered up a little.  She looked at me and pulled out a Kleenex from the bag and said, "You might need this." 

Must have been a good day.  This was the pic I took of them walking out.

Third Grade, Meet Owen!

Yep!!!  He's off to THIRD GRADE!!!  Boy, was it the perfect day.  Everyone in the family was up around 7:00 am.  We were dressed and daddy was making breakfast.  The weather was cool enough for the windows to be open.  After breakfast we took our "traditional" First Day Of School pic and decided to walk the dog.  There were some classmates we ran into and visited with at the bus stop.  The energy was getting high.  So when we got back home, we decided to go ahead and take Owen to school.  We got there EARLY!  School starts at 8:35, we dropped him off at 8:20.  Yep, I said "DROPPED OFF".  He didn't want us to walk him in.  Everything was smooth, until we got back home and found Owen's sack lunch sitting on the couch!  I was that mom!  Running into the school office at 8:40 to drop off a Batman lunch box.  Luckily, that was the ONLY glitch in his first day.

Meet The Teacher Night

Last night was "Meet the Teacher" night at Wheatland Elementary.  Both kids were excited!  Allison knew who her teacher was (Mrs. McEwen, Owen's kindergarten teacher) but she couldn't wait to take her school supplies and play in the classroom.  Owen's teacher, Mrs. Udell, is new this year.  I was excited to see what she was like.  She's young and has only taught a few years.  We also got to see who some of Owen's classmates are going to be.  He's excited!!!!  Here are a few pics I took.

Allie with her school supplies. 

 Owen with his school supplies.

Allison found her spot! 

Owen found his desk. 

These are the kids in Allie's class. 

We left feeling good about school starting this year!!!!

Glow Run Wichita-2012

Last night was the Glow Run 5K, here in Wichita.  I made a team up of the most amazing women.  They ranged from novice to expert in fitness and they ALL had a BLAST!!!  Here are just a few of the pics from it.

My car load of eager runners. 

Jen and Tayrn, this was their FIRST 5K. 

Most of the runners from RHSC. 

Jolyn and I, our post-run photo!

Laser Quest, ANYONE?

Today was the day.  My son turned 8 years old.  I can tell you all that this was a BIG day.  He woke up at 2:30 this morning ready for the party to begin (it started at 12:40).  Luckily, he crawled into bed with me and slept for a little bit more.  (My heart was warm knowing my little man wasn't too big to cuddle.)  So at 12:40, we showed up at Laser Quest (the location for the party) and as Sendak so stated, "Let the Wild Rumpus start!"  Did I mention I was the ONLY adult?  It was a blast and to quote my son, "This has been the BEST DAY EVER!"  I'll alert VH1.  :)

The "boys"

The party room 

The birthday boy

I hope his wish comes true!

Crazy 8!!!

This wonderfully amazing little man is my soon-to-be 8 year old.  It seems hard to believe that he'll be in third grade this year!  Time sure flies!!!  No child is perfect...but he's the perfect son for me.  I look at him and I see everything that makes him, HIM.  He loves video games (and can talk about them for HOURS).  He will read a book from cover to cover (unless the story gets a little too scary).  He protects and plays with his little sister (even hold her hand in public).

He's smart and determined, like his father.  He's social and sensitive, like his mother.

I can't wait to see what the world will have in store for him.  But for now, I'll just cuddle on the couch with my boy and be content.