The End of 2011

2011  was a year of great accomplishment for our family.  It was a year that wasn't light on struggles for us at times, but also equally full of many blessings.  And what better way to spend the last day of 2011, than attending a KSU Men's Basketball Game?!

At our last Doctor visit we were told Mitchell could resume swim lessons in February and he is also very excited to try basketball for the first time in January.  While it will take 9 months to a year post-op for all the bumps and prominence of his forehead to subside...we think he looks great and his recovery is truly an amazing blessing and highlight to an unexpected twist to 2011.

I was able to participate in 2 10K's both with times under an hour which was a goal of mine for 2011. Along with a few other 5K's, the 5 mile Turkey Trot last month, I also set out and accomplished
my goal of running 2 half marathon's in 2011!!!

Chad was a machine this year!!!!  He ran a 10K with me a 5 mile trail race, a Half Marathon with me, and a FULL Marathon one month later!  He also ran a Warrior Dash, another 5K with me a triathlon, and in July competed in his first Olympic Distance Triathlon!

April 29, 2012

It's official!

Registration Confirmation
December 28, 2011-Angela Bunger
Thank you for submitting your entry for the April 29, 2012 Oklahoma City Marathon: Half-Marathon.

Registration Confirmation
December 28, 2011-Chad Bunger
Thank you for submitting your entry for the April 29, 2012 Oklahoma City Marathon: Marathon.

I am starting to feel more like myself again but still no running for at least two weeks.  It will be a shortened training schedule for me after a long break from running once I am released to start running again.  Chad has already started training for his 3rd full marathon and now we are officially registered!

Christmas 2011...Griswald Style

Merry Christmas to all! We awoke to discover that we have water backed up into our basement ultility closet for the second time in 3 days. Not the Christmas morning surprise we needed to be certain. But the boys are thrilled that Christmas has finally arrived and we remind ourselves that we have much to be thankful for.

                                                             Some assembly required.......

Thank you to my incredible husband. It has been a Griswald-esk week at our house where if it could go wrong, it has. And to add to that with my surgery and recovery...I have been little help. I know I speak for us both when I say we are ready for 2012.

Back Home

 My surgery went well yesterday and after an overnight stay, I was released this morning and now resting comfortably at home.  My extremely thoughtful husband took today off again as well to take care of me and make sure that I am taking it easy. :)  I am also enjoying the beautiful flowers from Chad and my sister Amy. 

Only 4 days until Christmas!  The boys are very excited as today is both of their last days at school/preschool before the holiday break begins.  It will be a low key holiday for us with no traveling as I recover but I'm sure we will have plenty of excitement as the boys eagerly await Santa's visit!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I go in for some minor surgery that isn't running related.....but it will keep me from running for 3 to 4 weeks.  I am still planning to run the OKC Half Marathon on April 29th, but training will have to wait until late January.  There is never a good time in life to have a surgical procedure, but I am definitely ready to have this behind me and to feel better.

This past weekend we had our first Christmas celebration in Hildreth, NE with the Bunger's.  We had another great weekend and as you can see, starting Christmas early was well received!

Union Station

If you have never had the chance to visit Union Station in Kansas City, we highly recommend you do! We took Mitchell here a few months ago after one of our many post-op appointments and knew we would have to be back with Collin after our first visit.

Our second visit was just as exciting as our first.  Collin really loves trains right now so this place was right up his alley!  And all the holiday decorations, music and atmosphere made for a wonderful mid morning outing after Mitchell's 3 month post-op appointment at Children's Mercy.

Collin could have stayed in the model train room all day!  He told us several times that "he wanted to look at trains alone, please."  I guess he didn't want anyone to bother or distract him so he could take in every possible thing?

Does Collin look slightly naughty in this picture to you?  If he doesn't, he should!  During the ride, this little stinker kept waiting until he was around the corner where we couldn't see him and moving up and over into the next seat.  I think he about gave the volunteer running the ride a heart attack.  Oh, the limit testing......

What do you do when you have been released for normal activities and no longer have to wear a protective helmet?  You ride the Sky Bike and Science City, of course!  Don't worry Grandma....there's a net!

Dr. Singhal was very pleased with Mitchell's progress and we do not have to go back to Children's Mercy until September 2012. He is able to start swimming lessons again in January but still cannot dive off the diving board or jump of the high dive. He was also cleared for basketball in January and can also do soccer and t-ball again this summer. We are taking cupcakes to his class tomorrow to celebrate. I'm sure he is ready to hit that playground again at full speed and will know doubt be ready to be an active participant in a friendly round of dodge ball again very soon.

Sidelined

We made our second batch of sugar cookies this weekend.  We will now start a busy week.....I have one last week of school starting Monday and our 3 month post-op appointment for Mitchell in KC on Wednesday.   Then we head to Hildreth for our first Christmas of the season with the Bunger's on Friday.

I have had a huge cold that has kept me from running for a week. I am finally feeling better with the help of antibiotics. I will try to find some time to run a few times during this hectic week. After December 20th, I will be sidelined from running for 3 to 4 weeks after some minor surgery. I hope to be training for the OKC Half Marathon by the end of January. This will be the longest stretch of time I will have to take off from running in almost 2 years so I hope I will be able to recover from surgery with no issues and return quickly to my training schedule.

Bobby

We have a new addition at our house and his name is Bobby. He came to our house last night by way of the North Pole (with a little help from Grandma Bunger) and he is our very own Elf on a Shelf!

There was no debate on the name for our elf....Mitchell declared his name would be Bobby and Collin excitedly agreed.  We read the story book that came with Bobby last night and both boys were anxious to see where they would find their elf when they awoke this morning. 

Mitchell was SO excited this morning that he was up at 5:30 a.m. to locate Bobby's new position in our home after flying to the north pole to report to Santa last night. Mom and Dad are hoping this early wake-up won't be an every day occurrence between now and Christmas Eve!

Winter Runderland 5K

Our last race of 2011 was today at Anneberg Park.  Chad and I ran the Winter Runderland 5K and thankfully all the winter weather stayed north of us yesterday so we had no snow to deal with this year.  This is my third year running this race (it used to be a 10K in the past) so I knew it would be a hilly course with the Manhattan Running Company putting on the event.

I have been battling a cold for over a week and didn't get to run like I wanted this week.  But I was still able to log an unofficial time of 28:48 and averaged a 9 minute mile.  Chad did amazing and ran 25:47!!!  We joked that next year at this time we would graduate to a new age bracket for this annual event.  But at least with age we both seem to be getting faster....so getting older isn't all bad after all. :)

Posts aren't any fun without at least one picture so I included Mitchell's 1st grade picture.  We had this taken at a different elementary school in Manhattan before his surgery since his school had pictures the week he was in the hospital.

Emily

Many of you know about my cousin Emily and her recent battle with stage 4 colon cancer. After months of chemo and radiation, yesterday she underwent surgery to have the tumor removed. Praise God that it appears to have been successful! The tumor is out, her liver was clear, and no surprises were found.

Now it's time to embarrass her (and probably Amanda and I as well) with a few pictures!  I was very fortunate to grow up with cousins that I was close with...in spite of the distance between us.  Each time we were together....we would just pick up like we had seen each other just yesterday.  And I would say that even today with all my cousins.  Even with our own family, commitments and life happening around us, when we see each other we talk and laugh like we always did in the past.

I would ask that you please continue to keep her, Kevin and their kids in your thoughts and prayers as she begins a long and difficult recovery.

9 weeks post-op

Monday, November 28th will mark 9 weeks post-op since Mitchell's Frontal Orbital Advancement!  He continues to do well and is very excited to start swimming lessons and basketball in January 2012.

Mitchell and I made sugar cookies and frosting from scratch again this year!  We made a small batch this time so it wasn't such a huge undertaking rolling them all out, baking them and then decorating.  We will hopefully make at least one more batch before Christmas.

We go back to Children's Mercy in just a few short weeks to see Dr. Singhal again for Mitchell's 3 month post-op check. If all goes well, Mitchell will no longer have to wear his helmet and can resume all normal activities with no restrictions.

Family, Turkey Trot and 10 p.m. Walmart Madness

We returned this evening from our Thankgiving trip to Nebraska with the Bunger's. We did lots of driving during this trip, but also had a great time with family...especially spoiling our nephew Wyatt!

                                                             The Bunger Family 2011

Chad and I completed the Thanksgiving Day 5 mile Turkey Trot at the Kearney Family YMCA.  The YMCA is where it all began for us almost 13 years ago when we met while working there in college.  My time for this race was over 3 minutes faster than when I ran this race 2 years ago with a time of 48 minutes and I averaged a 9:29 minute mile. The back half of the route was challenging with monster hills on Country Club Lane and the last hill before the YMCA on 39th street, but overall this was a good run for me.

These candid pictures of Grandma and Granpa Bunger with their grandson's are hilarious...topped off with Collin summoning the Thundercats with his sword of omens (a.k.a a stick from the yard).

Friday afternoon naps for all the Bunger Grandkids!  These sleepy pictures remind me what I will be doing next year instead of shopping at Wal-mart at 10 p.m. after Thanksgiving! Chad and I took on our first (and last) experience of being at a major department store at the start of Black Friday deals. I have shopped on Black Friday before...but have never been there when it began. Wow. And to keep this blog positive I will just close by saying that I don't believe any deal is good enough for me to experience this pandemonium again.....

Star Power

For some odd reason I couldn't get this video to download on Facebook and really wanted to share it.

Collin adding the final touch to our Christmas Tree....Happy Christmas! :)

Speed and running don't really seem to go together for me, but today I ran a 400m easy warm up 2 mile tempo 400m easy cool down and averaged a 8:55 minute mile.  This is pretty quick for me!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

If you ask me....it's never too early to put up the Christmas tree!!!  But if you asked my husband, you would get a much different response.  This is just one of the reason why I love him so much.  Even though putting up the tree (and all the outside lights) is not his favorite task of the year....he does it anyway.  And almost a week before Thanksgiving. :)

The boys were thrilled to be decorating the tree and have had so much  fun while we listened to Christmas music.  Mitchell and I do most of it as a team and then enjoy a cup of hot chocolate together.

We save a few special decorations for Collin to add to the tree.  And this year, Mitchell even gave over the job of topping the tree with the star to Collin.

This has been where Collin has stayed since he got home! It is so fun to watch the magic of the Christmas season begin through a child's eyes.

The stomach flu swept through the Bunger house this week so today was the first time I have been on a run in almost a week. It will be a cold run tomorrow afternoon, but it looks like the weather could be halfway decent for the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thursday...at least for a late November morning in Nebraska!

Trail Run

I'll be the first to admit...I am not a roughing it kind of girl. Camping is better done without me and while I love being outdoors I have pretty clear limits as to the comforts that I usually require.  So when Chad suggested we do a trail run at Fancy Creek north of Randolph this past Friday, I was skeptical.  But the weather was gorgeous, the scenery was amazing.....my skills as a trail runner however could use some improvement. But I made it through 4 miles and didn't fall once.  Sure I tripped at least 8 to 10 times but making it through without injury seems like a win for me!

Everyone knows that I have always been a huge KSU fan, and win or lose we always have a great time cheering on the Cats with family and friends.  This season has proved to be tons of fun to watch including taking in last night's quadruple OT win of the Aggies.  Chad and I walked home after the game (a perk of living around a mile away from the football and basketball stadiums) but we were still wired from the game well into the evening hours!

Mitchell's silly pose that I took last week.  He is almost 7 weeks post op and one month from tomorrow we meet with Dr. Singhal again and hopefully go off all restriction and loose the helmet.

Cowboy Collin helps Daddy move leaves into Big Red

I got out again today for another long run and picked a course that was full of hills. I logged the 6.6 mile run and was sure to run a solid easy pace. Trying to get my body ready for the hills of Kearney on Thanksgiving Day!

Book worms

This is a frequent occurrence after the boys are tucked in for bed in the evenings. Both boys definitely love to read!

Chad and I are signed up for the 5 mile Turkey Trot in Kearney, NE on Thanksgiving. It will be fun to run another race together again...he always keeps me going!

500 in 2011

Today I hit 500 miles that I have ran in 2011!!!  With Chad preparing for his adventure race tomorrow at Milford, I knew I would have to get my 5 mile long run completed before leaving to pick up the kids today.  So I took on the mega hills around JCMS and was very happy with my time of 49:25 and the fact that I didn't stop going up SpringValley OR Wildcat Lane's massive hills!!!

November is a month where many people give thanks for all the blessings they have in their lives.  I don't think we say it enough....but we have some amazing parents who support us a great deal in so many ways!  We have been so thankful for all that each of our parent's do for our family and this fall their love and support was amazing.  Our boys love spending time with their grandparents and we are thankful not just this month, but every day that we have been gifted such wonderful parents!!!

9 days or 9 weeks off?

Once again...it's conference week! Not only is it conference week for me at school, but we will also be attending Mitchell's on Thursday as well.

Of course Mitchell's Jack-o-lantern had to be star wars.  Both boys are being tough in this picture...just like Boba Fett!

The two pictures above are our family pictures that we had taken the week before Mitchell's surgery in September.  Corralling two boys for pictures can be an ordeal so we felt like they actually turned out really well with all things considered.

Collin wrestling with Daddy!  He has really gotten into this lately and says that he and daddy are "bulls" while they are rough housing. :)

This past week I was able to get back into a good running routine that ended in a 4.7 mile run on Friday with lots of hills during the route. It is funny how taking just 9 days off can feel like you may as well have not ran for 9 weeks! But I have been able to battle through the feeling of heavy legs and hopefully I will be able to fit running into the busy conference week schedule.