It's May!

I feel better knowing I've been posting more often!  Usually because I know something is coming up that I'll have to post so I better take care of the recent stuff!

Out here in KY, we're just finishing up our school year and racing season.

Kris took the kids to the Maifest this weekend.  They got a preview of the upcoming Three Springs Carnival.  Ryan was disappointed to see he was getting too big for some of the rides and since Kris took the kids by himself, he couldn't take Ryan on any big ride.  Everyone got so tired, they took some rest listening to music once they were done riding the rides.  Emma actually fell asleep on some random lady!  They headed to a graduation party afterwards.  While this was happening, I was enjoying some quiet time at home and then meeting some friends for the Tap N Run.  5 beer stops along a 2.5 mile course.  Fun, but poorly organized.  At least we had a great time!  Only one more race for each of us until summer is over.  A 5k for Kris that we won't be here to see and a Mudathon for me.  Looking forward to it!

Ryan - too big for the baby Scrambler!

Over spring break, I let the kids finger paint.  I'm so bad at letting them do creative things like this that I always feel bad and try to do it when I get enough motivation!  Anyway, these are pictures displaying their finished product.  I love the one with all 3 because it's each of their hands!

 Emma finished school today.  I'll post a picture of that later.  She had her class picnic on Monday.  It took all morning, but I finally got a few pictures of her with some of her friends and her teacher Mrs. Kemp.  Yes, she is holding hands with Ethan - they both love each other so much!  It's a good thing he lives nearby and should go to elementary school with her.  She had a great year and I'm so proud of the progress she made!

Ryan was very excited to be able to attend the picnic since he was out of school for voting day.  They all had a great time, although it was crazy for me (4 classes of kids plus all their siblings at a small park makes it hard to find mine!)

These pictures are just random ones that have been happening.  The pictures above I took because Emma just looked so darn cute in her purple outfit and looked like she was going out for tennis in the other one.  The one to the left is displaying things Emma made at school.

Nick discovered the bubble mower this past week.  While it no longer blows bubbles, he still loves cutting the grass - after all, he's never seen it blow bubbles!

And my Ryan is loving playing with all the toys that are way too small for him.  Rolling down the driveway and street on a tricycle and fitting himself into the Little Coupe!

Racing!

 Kris, Kevin (BIL) and I ran in the Cincinnati Flying Pig Half Marathon this past weekend.  While that is news in itself, it prompted Kevin and Kris to take the three older kids (mine and Katie, my niece) downtown on Saturday for the packet pickup/signup.  While they were there, they signed the kids up to run in the Piglet races!

They divide the kids up by age, so Emma and Katie ran in the 4-5 year old race, while Ryan ran in the 6-7 age one.  All three were extremely excited for the race.  So excited for their t-shirts and numbers.  And as you can see - posing with the flying pig!  Katie was determined to win!  They were even stretching before hand.  Too cute!

But in the end... Katie was the first girl to win her race, she was beat out by 2 boys.  Emma on the other hand...she stopped half way to figure out where Katie was (way ahead of her) and ended up in last place!  Ryan missed the GO and was the last off the line.  Since he was in last, he decided to ham it up and spin circles on the way to the finish line!

In the end, the most important part was that they all had fun!

As for us adults.  Kris and Kevin enjoyed their first half marathon.  Kris finished in 2 hours and 10 minutes.  I hurt my knee at some point between mile 5 and 6 trying to move around the numerous other runners no doubt!  I was pacing at a 10 minute pace up until then but had to slow down or I would have had to quit!  The 2-3 mile down hill run was a killer for the knee.  In the end I ended at 2 hours and 20 minutes losing out to my previous time by 3 minutes, but beating Kevin by 45 seconds!

Happy Birthday to Emma!

 I now have a 4 year old baby girl!  Emma turned 4 while we were on vacation.  She was very excited to tell us she was now 4 when we got home.  She's very proud of being 4.  She says that 4 year olds listen and go potty without having to be told!  I hope she lives with what she says!

Emma celebrated her birthday with my mom and Ryan and Nick while we were gone.  She was so excited for her Tiana doll and maze books.  Even if my mom had to hide the gifts after she opened them so she didn't open them all at once!

On Friday, we had a small celebration at our house with Kris's mom, brother and our niece, Katie.  We had a wonderful iced angel foodcake and had her open her presents from all of us.  We didn't want to waste valuable play time at her real party.

 Unfortunately for us, she found most of the gifts I had wrapped and left in the basement and opened all but one before we made it down to stop her!  She was still excited for her gifts.  Her favorite (and the one she's used the most) were her new workbooks!  She is just that kind of kid.  She's already 12 days into the Summer PK to K book moving on to the Big Kindergarten book when she's done with that.  She's way too smart!

 Saturday, we had her birthday party.  She invited a bunch of our family friends and a bunch of her friends from school.  I think it was 17 kids in all - thank goodness it wasn't at our house!  Emma had her party at Silverlake this year.  I was very thankful that I opted for the gymnastics party instead of the pool party because we found out someone pooped in the pool right before we got there and they were closing it for an hour!

 The kids were able to play in the big kid room where they had their climbing structure and the 2 bouncy houses.  Nick was ultra excited because he's never been allowed to play in there since he's not 3 yet.  After that they did a bunch of gymnastics obstacle courses with trampolines and balance beams.  Everyone seemed to have a great time!

Then they got to move into the aerobics room and play with a giant parachute.  Nick continued to get lost under it or get left out when they made a tent out of it.  But all was well!

All the kids got to enjoy pizza and fight over the pink and white cupcakes!  They were so messy!

Emma opened all the wonderful gifts that her friends picked out for her.  I think that every mom told me how excited their child was to pick out the gift, which was so cute to hear!  I know that is how my kids are when they get to pick something out.  And Emma enjoyed all her gifts.  Almost everything has been ripped open by now, if not put up really high.  Nothing can wait for a rainy day with Emma!

 Overall, she had a wonderful birthday and party!

Cruise Time

 Kris and I were fortunate enough to be able to take an 8 day cruise this year.  We haven't been away from all of our kids in a few years.  So when Kris's cousin, Doug invited us to go with them and their parents, we jumped at the chance - once we had secured the best babysitter - my mom!

We had a wonderful time relaxing on the boat, taking in the weather (good and bad) and enjoying the sights.  Kris and I both got to do the one thing we wanted to.  For Kris it was sailing and for me paddleboarding.  We also had some beach time, pool time, waterslide time, reading time, trivia time, a tour time!  Kris took a tour of a cigar factory.

We both read 2 books - which is unusual since Kris usually reads only 3 a year!

The best part for me was getting to eat an entire meal without having to get up and get someone some more milk or clean up some mess!  Someone else got to cook and clean and wait on me!

While away, we were a little worried because the Flying Pig Marathon was only a week after we got home.  So we were one of the few people to work out while on a cruise!  Plus try not to over eat.  We were the first ones off the boat in Grand Turk because we wanted to get a run in before the beach.

 Our stops were Grand Turk, La Romana (Dominican Republic), Curacao and Aruba.  We loved both Curacao and Aruba.  Very colorful, vibrant places that we will hopefully return to sometime!

  The kids were happy to have my mom here for the week.  They tired her out, but she said they were extremely good for her!  My dad was down for a few days to help her out.  They said their favorite part of the week was watching the Care Bears movie with Buppa!

 These two pictures are from the free drink party on the last night of the boat.  Most people didn't know they were giving free drinks, so we had our share!!

Overall, we had a wonderful trip - and while it won't happen again for a few years (Nana will be tired for years) we are already looking forward to another one.  Someday!