Triathlon

This morning the Man competed in a triathlon here in town. He did a great job, coming in 4th place in his age bracket (missing 3rd place by 50 seconds) and he beat his time from the same triathlon last year by 15 minutes!! We will be heading to Vegas on Friday where he will compete in his first Olympic length triathlon! His goal for that one is to not die!! LOL He seems to be a bit addicted to these things!! :)

Here is the post triathlon story that should make you laugh...after the tri the Man decides to go to a local Mexican restaurant and get a burrito. He, of course, goes through the drive thru. Little did he know that his bike (mounted on top of his car) was going to hit the overhang at the pick up window!! The bike is okay but he ripped the (metal) bar from his bike mount in half!! When he drove up to the house I asked him why his bike was in the car instead of on top... he said, "funny you should ask", and added that he had just purchased the most expensive carne asada burrito ever!! LOL I'm glad he was able to laugh about it.

Getting ready for the swim...

Off on the ride....
I drove along with him for part of the ride....

Finishing the bike leg...
Off to run....
Finishing the run and the entire triathlon!!! Way to go!!
It is finished!

Soccer update...

Just an update on the soccer situation...MG had soccer practice again last night, which she did not want to go to! But we got in the car and went (with no tears, I should add...she really was a trooper about going). And she had a great practice! Toward the end she came over to us to get a drink of water and blurted out "I like it!"...and went back onto the field! :) And by this morning on the way to school she was whining about having to go to school saying she wanted to go to soccer instead!! LOL So I guess as long as there are no more painful injury incidents, we will be soccer parents afterall!

Running....ahhhh!!!!

So, I haven't been able to go to the gym for the past two days because GA has been running a little bit of a fever...and although he doesn't seem to be "sick" I can't put him in the kids' room. I wouldn't appreciate another mom doing that! Anyways, yesterday I did nothing, but today I woke up motivated and decided I would load the kids up in the jogging stroller and go for a run. So, I did...and I ran about 50 feet! I cannot run! And I HATE to run! I am not sure what the deal is. I can do 2 hours of cardio at the gym, and be at a peak heart rate for quite a while, but when I start to run I feel like I am going to die 1 minute into it! Seriously, I probably don't even make it a full minute. Pathetic, I know! I really want to do a triathlon next summer with some friends, and of course the Man, but I really don't think I will be able to do it unless I do it as a team and avoid the running! I am not sure what the deal is with me and running...I have never been a fan! But why is the exertion so different than doing other cardio?!? It frustrates me. Running is the perfect cardio workout because there really aren't a whole lot of reasons not to do it...I can always take the kids, the weather is always great, it doesn't take a trip to the gym (which means no loading and unloading of kids), I can do it any time of day....I wish there was a magic running pill that made is easy. Everyone always tells me the first 5 minutes or so are rough, but after that they feel like they can run for days! I can't even make it five minutes or so!!! Bummer for me! So anyways, my run turned into a nice walk, which was actually quite enjoyable for all of us. Maybe on my weigh training days at the gym we will head home and walk as well. And since the run didn't work out too well this morning, I will give my chance for cardio one more shot today and will load the kids up in the bike trailer and ride to go get MG from school! I know I can do that! :)

...kids...

This is a shot of my kiddos before taking MG to school this morning. I thought it was so cute that they were sitting on the couch so that each of them had their own cushion (maybe the "don't cross my line" rule was in effect)! By the look on their faces MG and JF obviously don't want to be bothered by me taking yet another picture (click on the picture to view it at a larger scale and you will see the annoyance on their faces!)!! I think MG is trying to turn me "off" with the TV remote! :) And who knows what GA is thinking?!?!?

Soccer!

MG had her very first ever soccer practice yesterday. She is on a team full of players who have all played before (ages 6-8) and I think she is probably the youngest out of everyone (although there is one little girl from her class at school on the team, but not a new soccer player)! MG did not enjoy T-ball very much because she thought it was really boring just standing around waiting for a ball, so we thought soccer would be something she would really enjoy! You certainly don't do much standing around. So, about five minutes into practice MG gets pounded by a ball that some 8 year old boy kicks at full force right into her stomach! The wind is knocked out of her and she is crying! Her coach did a great job spending some time with her trying to get her calm, and then she came and sat by us off the field for a minute. Her stomach had the imprint of a soccer ball on it!! We convinced her to go back in and within a few minutes the same kid kicked a ball into her head! It didn't hit her "head on" and she was able to keep playing after that hit. It was pretty obvious by watching everyone's fancy footwork that MG was definitely the newbie on the team, but she did great out on the field! I think she was enjoying herself, although the energy exerted is certainly not on the same level as what she was used to at T-ball! At one point, MG and her friend from school were not involved with what was going on and decided to have a wrestling match off to the side...and MG of course, gets head-butted in the mouth and gets a bloody gum. I'm actually surprised she didn't get her two loose front teeth knocked out!! :) So, MG doesn't want to go back to soccer, but we are going to have her go back at least to show her that she won't get hurt at every practice (fingers-crossed)...then, if she truly hates it...well, we'll see. I am hoping she will learn to enjoy it and finish out the season, but that seems a long way from now!

Afternoon at the lake

Saturday we (the Man, MG, and I) spent a few hours at the lake so the Man could get some open water swimming in under his belt for his triathlon in Vegas at the end of the month. We rented a paddle boat and had a fun few hours out on the water! MG really wanted to fish, but we weren't incredibly prepared for that. The Man doesn't like to fish, so he wasn't too into actually catching anything. But she did throw her line off the back of the paddle boat for a while...with no luck, of course. The Man was pretty apprehensive about actually getting in to the nasty lake water, but once he did he enjoyed it. MG got in with him and swam as well...I just took pictures!!! LOL :)

JF's visit to the doctor(s)...

We (mom, JF, GA, and mom's friend) spent the day in crazy hot Phoenix Thursday, where JF had 3 doctors appointments with the Spina Bifida team. We started our day with a visit to the neurosurgeon. No major tests with him, just a routine visit. He said he couldn't be happier with how she is looking from the outside! She doesn't have much reflex strength in her left ankle, but she walks and runs fine, so he isn't majorly concerned. He is always thrilled with how well she is doing! He scheduled an MRI for 9 months from now and will check the status of her tethered spinal cord and sac of spinal fluid then.

We were then off to an ultrasound of her bladder and kidneys (after a trip to the mall)! She was kind of freaked about this appointment until we got in the room. The tech doing the ultrasound was great! JF did so good for her...and was rewarded by the tech as always. (got two crazy stuffed animals that are magnetic so you can move their limbs and heads around?!?!)

Then off to our last appointment with the pediatric urologist. He reviewed the disc from her ultrasound and said things look great! She isn't emptying her bladder completely when she goes, but he said she has always been like that and as long as there are no infections, he's not too concerned about it. She has been completely potty trained for quite a while now, which was always his biggest concern. He doesn't want to see her for another year!!

So we had a pretty good visit with everyone! We got some shopping done and had a nice day! We left the house at 6 in the morning and didn't get home until 8:30 that night!!! It was a super long day with lots of driving!

MAMA!!

I just have to share this with you all because I was pretty excited by it!!!
This morning after getting home from the gym I unloaded the kids from the car and GA immediately jumped on JF's bike. He loves to scoot around on it. So, I shut the garage door and figured I would let him ride around for a bit inside. I had some stuff to take into the house, so I did so. As I was heading back to the garage, I heard "MAMA" so loud and clear!! I went to the door and asked JF if she had called me and she told me it was GA. (She was very excited about this!) The only word GA will ever say is "Rella", so this was huge for me to hear him say "Mama" so loud and clear! I often wonder if something is wrong since he is 17 months old and doesn't even mutter Mama and Dada, but maybe he will start talking one of these days after all!! I hope so! But for now, I will hold on to the very few words he may mutter from time to time!

Doggie Dress Up!

We all got a good laugh out of dressing up our dog Rella this past weekend. It all began when trying to get MA dressed. She decided to put her dress on Rella, instead! Rella was a pretty good sport and ended up just laying down with it on...it didn't seem to bug her. Then the Man later in the day decided to put his t-shirt on her. She could have cared less. The t-shirt covered her entire body and it was quite funny to see her tail wagging under the shirt!
Since Harley died, Rella has taken a new position in our lives. She is pretty much a indoor dog now except when we are not home. She has come a long way and has turned into a great dog!! She is great with the kids and GA absolutely loves her. The only word he speaks is Rella!! :)

Woo Hoo!! :)

The blogging influence has spread and my SIL has jumped on board!! :) My bro (who is in Korea) even posted the first blog! I am excited to be able to see my little niece and nephew on a more consistent basis since we live so far away! And I can't wait to see the crazy and cute things that go on during their days!! :) Check out their new blog... http://thejordanclan.blogspot.com/

Haircut time!

So, I took GA for his second haircut today. The first one was about 4 months ago! He cried the entire time during his first haircut, so although his hair was really long, I was not looking forward to doing it again. But I did it on a whim today while at the mall and it certainly wasn't as bad as the first time! He cried a bit in the beginning, but then calmed down. The lady this time was super fast, also! They gave him a lollipop during the ordeal the see if that would help, but who wants hair all over a lollipop? I gave it to him when they were all done...which is why his shirt in these pictures is soaking wet! He sure does drool when sucking on a lollipop! :)

Playing with the remote and the phone at the same time....does he look guilty?!?

Our backyard...for my big bro! :)

So, here are some shots of our backyard...ignore the horribly patchy grass and overgrown plants!! :) Monsoon season makes things grow wild...but unfortunately it hasn't helped my grass spread much! I will be seeding again, for the third time, once the temperatures cool down a bit! Growing grass in AZ certainly takes some work!

This is the "kid" corner of our yard...

..and their sandbox on the other side of the house.We built this retaining wall all along the back of yard because it was so sloped...don't look at my patchy grass! :) That black thing in the back is our fire pit...what a fun thing to do on a cool evening!
Our plants have enjoyed all the rain!
We bought a solar fountain...which is so nice to come outside and hear!

Outside!!

After we took MG to school this morning, the other two kiddos decided they wanted to play outside! Boy, was it hot! But they had fun regardless...

Could they fit any more toys in that sandbox?

Off to 1st grade!

MG just began her journey into first grade this morning. She was pretty excited! She has a male teacher this year, Mr. Gauch (not Mr. Grouch as the Man calls him!), which I think will be good for her, and her 3 good girlfriends from her kindergarten class last year are all in her class this year as well!! That certainly made her day!!
On our way home from dropping MG off at school , I asked JF what we were going to do all day without MG...she replied, "Just sit around." I guess she will have to get used to playing by herself again, or get used to playing on GA's level.

Ready to go!!
Waiting in line...notice she is first!
On her way...that is Mr. Gauch leading in front of her.
In class...sitting with her "girls" from last year. I don't think Mr. Gauch realizes what he has gotten himself into by letting them pick their own seats! Social butterflies!