Shoe tying

One thing a lot of kids get excited about at the end of summer is back to school shopping. I remember going and picking out a couple new outfits and selecting the one you were going to wear on the first day of school. You could not wear that outfit before the first day, no matter what. That first day you would feel so special in your brand new outfit ready to tackle the day. I was so excited to go through this with Sevea. It is the little things right! But she really could have cared less about what she wore. She did pick out some clothes but her excitement was limited. Maybe my lack of fashion is still rubbing off on her. However there was one part of clothes shopping she did find exciting and that was the shoes. It wasn’t an easy experience having to make both mom and daughter happy. We’d find a pair we could agree on and it wouldn’t fit right. In the end we found a nice pair but they were tie shoes.

I am a believer in having a child know how to tie their shoes before they go to school with tie shoes. We hadn’t taught Sevea how to tie her shoes yet mainly because she didn’t have the shoes to tie. Funny how that works right! So the weekend before school started we taught her how to tie her shoes. I had seen quite a few ways to help kids learn how to tie their shoes. One way looks easy and quick and was supposed to help them learn in 5 minutes. I have yet to succeed in tying my own shoes with this method. Maybe that says something about me. (Troy has succeeded once or twice :) In the end we just showed her how we did it. Made it a tree and a bunny and just had her try. I couldn’t believe it when she actually caught on and was tying her shoes all on her own.

We spent around 30 minutes teaching her and that included all the failed attempts we made to learn how to teach her. We all were very excited and she’s done great since. Except her friend taught her the easy way to get out of tying your shoes by just not untying them and slipping them on. So much for practice practice practice.

I knew her Kindergarten year would bring lots of new experiences and so much new stuff she would learn. Each new thing just makes it so very clear that she is growing up and there’s nothing I can do to change it. I might as well join along in the excitement jumping for each new success.

Princess and Pirate Party

Although I was originally against doing a joint birthday party for the kids, after having Brynna I realized that it may be a really smart idea to try as long as the kids don’t mind. Sevea was really great about it and didn’t mind at all sharing the party day with Cohen. Cohen had no clue he even could throw a fit about it. So we went ahead and planned a joint party. I thought the princess and pirate themes would be easy to do jointly and while it worked it didn’t really feel like a lot less work. It was just more things I could do and things I wanted to do but never got around to doing, haha! We as parents can sometimes feel like we never do enough but at the end of the day I have to remember the smiles on the kids faces and know they had a great time. And that is all that really matters!

For such a chilly start to the day we ended up with a really nice afternoon. It didn’t compare to the water day heat we experienced last year and in many ways that was very appreciated. The kids started out with a treasure hunt in the sand box. Hidden in the sand was 4 different items for each of the kids to find. Princesses were supposed to find a ring, a bracelet, and two candies. The pirates searched to find a bouncy ball, a whistle, and two candies. It was interesting to see all the kids try to find the treasures. Put them on the spot and they were very timid about digging in the sand. I figured they would be throwing sand every which way.

After our treasure hunt the kids were able to walk the plank to try to avoid the sharks in the water below. Cohen had been woken up from his nap early so the thought of walking the plank was a little much to do by himself. Good thing it was a small ocean and mom could help him get across without the sharks getting him.

Once everyone was able to cross the shark infested water, we put the kids to work on opening up all the wonderful gifts that were brought for them. I would say this was the worst part of the double birthday. I was helping Cohen and Troy was helping Sevea. The kids went so quick that we didn’t really get to see what the other child got or hear who it was from. The kids were truly spoiled by everyone.

Once we crawled out of the mountain of new toys and clothes that the kids received, we were ready to eat. I kept the food pretty simple so that it could be made and ready beforehand since we were busy the morning of the party running our race. Simple sometimes is best and the food seemed to go over well.

We ended the party with cake and two rounds of the birthday song. Good thing Sevea has a cousin with good lungs because she couldn’t blow those candles out for nothing. Or maybe she has made some boyfriends at school that I don’t know about!

My princess Sevea and my pirate Cohen had a great day. Each birthday that comes and goes reminds me I’m getting old….I mean, it reminds me how much not only I love these kids but how many other people love them too.

Nickle Dickle 1/2 Marathon

We did it! We ran our very first half marathon. The day was very different than our training runs but overall we felt really good about the race when we were done.

We ran the Nickle Dickle Day 1/2 Marathon on September 13th in Waconia, MN. For it being early September we were not expecting 36 degree weather at the start of the race. We were also not expecting hill after hill after hill. Early in the race we joked that the theme of the race day was hills. But I still don’t think we really knew what was ahead of us at that point. It was more hills. Thankfully we both felt good and we powered through the hills one by one. Not to say it was easy but in the end I think we both felt an even greater sense of pride for finishing not only our first half marathon but one with so many hills. Our first goal of the race was to finish. Our ultimate goal was to finish with a time of 2 hours 4 minutes 27. Despite all the hills we were able to run all 13.1 miles and exceed our ultimate goal finishing the race in 2 hours 3 minutes and 35 seconds (9:26 pace).

The race wouldn’t have been the same without the support of our friends and family. It meant so much to us that they would get up early on a Saturday to stand in the cold to cheer us on. The course wasn’t the best for spectators to be able to get around but Michelle and Keeley managed to make it to mile 12 to help give us a final push to the finish line. Knowing we had them all there definitely squashed any thought of quitting. Thank you again for all the support!

So one would think we relaxed after running 13.1 miles. Ummm, nope! This crazy lady planned a birthday party for later in the day. It may have been a tiring day but it didn’t detour us from doing it all over again at the end of October!!

Run Forest Run

I don’t tend to write much about Troy and I on the blog because honestly we’re pretty boring besides getting to tag along in all the fun our kids bring to our lives. But we do have something coming up that I feel deserves some blog attention. And what is it that we have coming up? Troy and I are running our first ever 1/2 marathon race. That means we are planning to run 13.1 miles straight on Saturday September 13th. For some people this seems impossible or crazy or down right stupid. Well you know what, I was one of those people. I was the girl in elementary school that hated gym day where we were required to run 1 mile. I couldn’t do it. I had to walk. So how did I go from that chubby elementary school girl to a woman who is about to run 13.1 miles for fun? Slowly I told myself I could be more than that girl. I started running the spring of my senior year of high school (2000) to try to lose weight for prom. It was short lived and I never liked doing it. Fast forward to right before Troy and I got married in 2003. I took to running intervals on the treadmill. I loved it. I didn’t have to run miles at a time and I felt accomplished when I was done. But the feeling didn’t last and I gave it up shortly after we got married. Fast forward again to 2009, just six months after I had given birth to Sevea. I needed a goal to try to lose the baby weight and then some. I decided to run my first ever 5k (3.1 miles) and chose to get to that goal by starting the couch to 5k program. And you know what, running for a minute was hard at first. But the program slowly builds you up to running longer so I kept at it. I ran my first ever 5k on August 1, 2009 along with some other friends and family.

Carissa and I ran together and finished the 3.1 miles in 34:35 (11:10). We ran the whole race and I got hooked on running. Running wasn’t easy for me but I loved the sense of accomplishment after running a race and completing the training to do the race.

We ran a few more 5k’s and then Troy and I trained for our first 10k (6.2miles) in April 2010. The new challenge was just what I needed at that time. Troy was a much faster runner at the time so he pushed Sevea in the running stroller and ran with me. The race was hard for me. We pushed the pace and the new distance made it quite the challenge. But we finished and had a great time running a race together.

We did another race or two that summer and then I became pregnant. I lost all my drive and desire to run. It did not return for 3 years until after the birth of Brynna. Before Brynna I had fallen in love with my workouts at my gym, Kosama. I had no desire to go back to running. That is until I felt like another challenge about 6 months after the birth of Brynna. Troy and I decided to run our second 10k together. This time was different. My level of fitness was better than ever which made the runs even more enjoyable. A 3 mile run was no longer really hard. And the best part was Troy and I decided to run the race and all our long runs together. I think my love for running deepened as I got to spend “dates” running with my husband strengthening our love. Corny I know but having three kids truly made me appreciate the alone time together and you know those endorphins make you feel good too. We ran our 2nd 10k in May 2014.

This race was hard. Before we lined up to start we saw the course had two very big hills. In general the course could not be considered flat by any means. Hills most runners hate. But we dug deep and pushed through and ended up with an amazing personal record: 57:19 (9:14 pace). I never thought I could run that many miles and even more so at that pace. That was fast for me. I ran my first 5k at a pace 2 minutes slower per mile. This race sealed the deal for me. I knew it was time. I convinced Troy to join me and we started training for our first ever 1/2 marathon. Week 6 into our training, our long run was a step back week so we only had to do a 5k. This also happened to land on the same weekend as Brynna’s 1 year birthday party. There also happened to be the very same race going on that we ran for our first 5k.

A family that runs together….eats together, haha!! Five years earlier there was no way I could have ran with Troy. I probably couldn’t have run one mile as fast as him. However this time around we ran the race together. We tend to be great running partners since he feels good in the beginning and I feel good at the end. That is exactly how the race went. We finished together and both clocked a time of 25:34 (8:14 pace). Amazing what you can do in 5 years. Even more amazing is what you can do when you just set a goal and go after it. I ended up placing 3rd in my age group. Every race is about beating my time not anyone else’s so I never thought I could receive a medal for placing in my age group. It wasn’t till we checked our official times later that I realized I placed. Crazy!

My journey from that chubby elementary school girl included many bumps and stops and restarts. But it goes to prove never say never. I never thought I would enjoy running. I never thought I would be running a half marathon this Saturday. Here’s to hoping Saturday goes well and that Troy and I survive! Or I may wish I stuck to saying never ;)