Back Again

On our way out of Kearney Friday, we saw this at a stop light.

And with tomorrow being December 1st, the boys are hoping to see Bobby some time soon.

And look who will be waiting for them in the morning! I'm hoping he arrived early enough after the boys went to bed that we could monitor Leo's reaction to our new house guest. So far, so good!

Bobby and Santa are always good about leaving notes on scraps of mommy's wrapping paper and now it looks like they are asking the boys to get into the spirit of giving to start out December. I'm sure they will be thrilled to see him back tomorrow! :)

Turkey Trot

Another successful Thanksgiving Day Race! It was a cold and windy day at the YMCA in Kearney, NE. This is my 3rd time running the 5.2 mile course that is filled with hills in the back half.

My final time was 50:30 and I averaged a 9:45 mile pace. Not too bad in the cold wind and hills of Kearney. :)

Soon it will be time to start training for my 8th Half Marathon. I'm glad to be back into the groove of running and very Thankful to have my husband registered for this race with me!

5 days to Trot

This afternoon I got out and ran 5 miles. And it is now 5 days until the 5 mile Turkey Trot in Kearney!

This will be my first race since my last half marathon in May. And my run today went much better than I had anticipated with the frigid temps and the tight feeling I'm still having in my chest from being sick two weeks ago. I was able to run my hilly 5 mile course without stopping today and at a 9:50 pace. Not too bad after easing back into running this week.

The weather looks good for Thursday morning...while it will be cold, the wind looks to be minimal. And today's run reminded me how much I really do enjoy running in the cold. I really actually do! :)

I also got to start my weekend off going to the premiere of Catching Fire with my good friend Angie! Fun times with a good friend and a good movie as well. I think I liked it better than the first one.

And Saturday night we had a great time with the Ingram's! Two short work says and our holiday weekend will begin!!

Leo and the Tree

The tree is up!!! Now the question is, will it stay that way?

No eating the tree, Leo.

No climbing into the tree, Leo.

NO LEO!

Somehow the tree made it through the first night when Chad assembled it so the boys and I could do the rest of the decorating today. 

And with lots of help, our house is transformed for the holidays. Now we just have to keep Leo from redecorating.

Victories and Defeats

Finally feeling better on Saturday, I was able to take in the second to last KSU home football game with Mitchell on Saturday afternoon.

And beside the strong wind in the afternoon, I don't think we could ask for better football weather...no coats in mid-November is always a treat!

A gorgeous evening and a hard fought, nail biting Wildcat Victory!

Today we attempted to rake our lawn. While Chad got the front yard cleared (and filled the back of big red to the brim), we saved the backyard for a team effort approach after church.

I am holding a few needles from a tree I have come to despise. If you ever think to yourself....hey, let's plant a bald cypress in our yard...THINK AGAIN.  Their needles make a huge mess each fall. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg in our backyard. And what makes this all worse you ask?! This giant tree isn't even in our yard! Most of its branches occupy the sky over our backyard however...so we get the pleasure of dealing with its mess. Every. Year.

It finally got too windy to deal with this afternoon and we gave up. Much like the chest cold that won out all week on any thoughts of running I had, the prehistoric-dinosaur sized bald cypress and it's 30 bazillion needles defeated us....for today at least.

Released

Last week we finally made it to have a check in for Mitchell at Children's Mercy. We tried to do this twice over the summer and had to reschedule due to our summer of crazy medical issues. Then the clinic had to reschedule earlier this fall. So, the 4th time was a charm... right? 

Well, sort of. After some pre-clinic fun at Crown Center and Fritz's for lunch, Mitchell and I headed to meet the new plastic surgeon. Collin got some special time with my folks at the KC Sea Life Aquarium...all of this is right next to Children's Mercy so it worked out perfect.

When we arrived at the plastic surgery clinic we were informed that Dr. Goldstein had taken a leave for an undetermined amount of time and asked if we'd still like to be seen by Dr. Lypka who was also a new ps doctor for CMH. At this point ( and after already driving the 2 hours there plus taking the day from work) I wasn't willing to try for a 5 th time. And we were assured of Dr. Lypka's expertise.

After 9 years, numerous CAT scans, and two cranio facial surgeries...Mitchell has finally been released from the plastic surgery clinic and has absolutely no restrictions on any activities he would like to pursue! The photo above was taken just weeks before his first frontal orbital advancement. What a journey these past 9 years have been.  We are blessed to have such a wonderful 3rd grader who is healthy, thriving and now doesn't have to be seen again at the plastic surgery clinic unless we have concerns. 2013 has been a rough year to say the least for our family, but this is great news as the end of the year and holiday season approaches.

Get Lit

This week I shook things up a bit with my long/hill run.

First, I completed this run on a Thursday ( I usually save these longs for the weekend); second I took part in a group run; and last I completed almost 5.25 miles in the dark!

We all wore neon bracelets and our reflective gear and left from the Manhattan Running Company. This course was full of big hills and was very dark. I was glad to meet a new running friend who I ran the whole distance with and was grateful for her flashlight around Cico Park where there little to no street lights. Still feeling good about the hilly 5 mile course on Thanksgiving in Kearney if I can keep up these kinds of routes in the next few weeks.

Sugar Blitzkrieg

Within 60 minutes, my boys acquired what seemed to be enough candy to sustain an entire village of sugar addicts.

But it was a gorgeous Halloween Night!  And all the trees in our neighborhood and surrounding areas are beautiful in Manhattan right now.

The boys both had fun at their school parties yesterday as well.  Collin had a whole day of activities centered around Minions....it was right up his alley!!

After supper we got on costumes and got ready to trick or treat!  Mitchell was Steven Spielburg.  This is who he has been researching for his biography presentation in school.  We thought he captured his likeness quite well last night. :)

And brought back from retirement....it is the ever-popular (and used for a record 4th time) costume of Mr. Incredible!!!

He came up with the pose and face all on his own.  Wow.......

This was really the first year I can remember the boys just running from house to house down all the streets.  Collin was really into trick or treating and kept commenting on his full basket.  The funniest part is that he really doesn't like sweets/candy all that much.

 I guess it was just the spirit of the night. :)