Sibling Bonds - May they last forever

Ty and Hailey get to sleep wherever they want on vacation....as long as they don't wake US up. First night was Hailey's room and last night Ty's. of course, they slept fantastically....

Congratulations Uncle Joe!

I am missing my kids terribly but San Francisco was calling. My little brother Joe graduated from the University of San Francisco today with a degree in Politics. His GPA of over 3.5 would have earned him Suma Cum Laude honors if he had more credits at USF since he transferred from Seattle U. I couldn't be more proud of him and made sure that the kids knew I was going out of town because of Love.

Joe spent 8 years as an active duty soldier flying Blackhawks. He had 4 deployments; Korea, Honduras and twice to Iraq. That's a busy decade working in a bachelor's degree as well.

Congratulations Joe

Jingle Bell Run 2012

With Tyler's growing love for running we decided to do the Jingle Bell Run in Seattle this year. One of the 'new traditions' we are embarking on as the kids grow older and a great way to incorporate health, fitness and exercise as a part of their daily and FUN lives.

We have all been fighting off little colds so as the day approached the grey rainy sky's grew more and more concerning. Rise and shine at 615am this morning to make our way to the starting line at 800am and the kids didn't complain once and dressed with smiles and bells.

Once we got down to the race Tyler and I made our way to the front of the pack for the start of the kids 1K run. I still can't believe how fast that boy can run! With a waist pack and carrying two water bottles I could hardly keep up with Ty. Down the stretch it was an all out sprint for me and I wasn't gaining an inch on him. Of the thousand or so kids in the race Ty finished #2 Overall. Way to go Ty!

From the looks of the crowd as Hailey and Val were rolling in I doubt there were many if any Kindergarden girls that finished ahead of her. Way to go Haze!

Ty was too tuckered for the 5K so I got a chance to run on my first real organized race. 5K otherwise known as 3.1 miles in 22m55s. I think this tradition is going to stick around.

Seattle Kids Marathon

Tyler has developed into quite the little runner. It started with, what else, a competition at school called Raven Racers. Every Wednesday the kids get to run laps and have their totals recorded throughout the year. Ty came close last year to getting recognized as a top runner as a 1st grader. He is clearly determined to get into the winners circle this year.

This fall Ty participated in an event sponsored by the Seattle Marathon, the children's marathon. Over 3 months he had to run a total of 25 miles to be capped off by a final 1.2 mile run in Seattle. I got the pleasure of running several miles with him leading up to the finale but that didn't quite prepare me for the last race. Tyler ran the final 1.2 miles in 8:24! That's a tough pace for anyone let alone an 8 year old. We are so proud of him

Christmas season is here!

I love the little things about this season....making gingerbread houses, festive blinking noses, Ty hating the one time a year we make him wear jeans for Santa pictures, hanging the lights on the house and most of all the kids picking Christmas books each night before bed!

Hailey's day

I said it before but it's still true....I will be updating this blog again, my intent is regularly.  I need to to do a good review of the last 3 months so I can stay current with December.  Looking for some time.....but I'm on it.

Meanwhile, didn't want to forget this.  When Hailey got home from school today we had this short conversation:

Hailey:  Mom, me and three friends started a club at school today.
Me:  Oh really, What kind of club?
Hailey:  Yeah, I can't tell you that.

End of conversation. 

So it begins.

Thanks to facebook and some friends who aren't quite so secretive, I have learned it's the very exclusive Frosted Leaf Club.  Touch a leaf with frost on it and you are in the club.  I love Kindergarten :).  Not such a fan of Hailey's secret keeping abilities.

What they say

The conversation I just overheard between Dave and Hailey.  Dave telling Tyler a story about a bad guy he caught at work and Hailey walks over to look at a picture  (http://www.q13fox.com/community/wamostwanted/featuredcases/kcpq-wmw-kirkland-retirement-burglar-20120928,0,4793868.story) and says, "but he doesn't even look like he takes drugs".  That goes down in the book of things I never thought I'd hear my five year old say. 

Can't believe I haven't blogged in so long.  Things have been so busy but I have every intention of getting caught up and back on the blogging wagon again soon!