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.

4 weeks post-op, bucking broncos and jail break

Today was another milestone for Mitchell as he was able to attend the morning portion of the Boys and Girls Club Before/After School Program at Marlatt since before his surgery.  He was very happy to be back with the many friends he has there.  Hard to believe that his second frontal orbital advancement was 4 weeks ago today.

October 17, 2011 and 4 weeks post-op

This weekend Collin got to ride a REAL horse again at the Lazy T Ranch which renewed his love for all horses.  Sunday he gave the bucking bronco on our playground equipment a real work-out with a little help from Daddy.

Apparently our 10 year old indoor only house cat found a new sense of bravery and exploration! The boys thought it was hilarious that she snuck out of the open screen door on Sunday.  She provided lots of pre-lunch entertainment with her own version of jail break.

Conversations at the dinner table

The directions a conversation can take around the dinner table with a 3 and 7 year old boy is interesting....

This is classic Collin!  His preschool teacher sent this to us....Collin was pretending to play the guitar using a shovel and was "rocking out ."

Dog pile Daddy!

During supper Wednesday night Chad announced that Grandma and Grandpa Bunger were coming for a visit this weekend. Here is where the conversation went from there....

Mitchell: Are they coming because it's Christmas time?
Chad: Mitchell, do you really think that could be right? Is it that time of year yet?
Collin: No because the snow will fall and santa will come and then I will get MY AIRPLANE CARRIER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mitchell: Whatever you do just don't eat the yellow snow Collin
Collin: Oh, okay!

All Chad and I could do was shake our head and laugh at this point......

I hope to get a few easy runs this weekend and return to training starting Monday.  My goal is to run the 5 mile Turkey Trot in Kearney, NE on Thanksgiving and the Winterrunderland 10K in December.

Leaf walk

I'm down and out for the next few days and won't be able to run.  But Collin and I got out and did our own discovery walk around the neighborhood looking for leaves this afternoon after a brief downfall of rain.

 Most of our walk consisted of Collin making lots of sound effects as he hurled himself over puddles and cracks in the street.

 Finally he came to a sudden stop and said "I FOUND IT MOMMA!"

 Collin kept picking up leaves, looking at them and then saying "no, this one is still wet, it needs to dry first."

We finally settled on one red and one yellow leaf to take home for daddy before suppertime.

First day of school....again

We had a great post-op appointment with Dr. Singhal yesterday and Mitchell was cleared to start full days back at school today!  He was very excited to be back with his class and all his friends for the entire day, said he only laid down briefly twice and didn't need anything for pain all day. Still no PE or recess until Halloween but we are getting back to normal a little more each day.

Thanks to the Cranio Angel Network for Mitchell's pirate do-rag!  He's doing his best impression of a pirate in the picture and wears this under his helmet to school every day.

Wood chips 1......Collin 0

This last picture is Collin's latest run in with the ground.  We have Collin's first preschool parent/teacher conferences next week!

Amazing. Stud. Hero. Rockstar. Mitchell.

Admittedly, my post as of late have had very little to do with the title of my blog.  While a journey to my next half marathon looks like it will have to wait until 2012, the journey our son has been on during these past few months has been a huge part of our lives.  I've kept lacing up my running shoes when I can, but his strength, courage and resilience is greater inspiration than any 13.1 mile race could ever be.

Mitchell on October 2, 2011....13 days post-op

Mitchell will start back to school tomorrow with 1/2 days in the mornings. Two weeks ago he underwent a major surgery....he continues to almost scare us with how quickly he is bouncing back!  He misses his friends and was ready to go back to school last week so he is very excited to start trying get back into the school schedule.  We make the trek to Children's Mercy again on Wednseday for another post-op appointment.  That trip seems to be one of the few criptonites for Mitchell in his recovery as he is usually very tired from the long day of traveling, getting up very early, etc that comes with making a 9 a.m. appointment in KC. 

The only other pitfall that Mitchell seems to struggle with is rest.  He wants to go and do just like the usual, active 1st grader that he is.  Getting him to rest or even.....heaven forbid nap <gasp> is a tall order to say the least.  So when he pushes too hard, he not only gets overly tired, but then he has night terrors.  We haven't dealt with these since he was 3 years old.  They were no fun then.....and trying to deal with him now as a big 7 year old (who just had surgery...ah!  watch the head!) is a short lived nightmare for mommy and daddy. 

But worrying about keeping him safe at school and night terror that even happen during an afternoon nap..... seem like small potatoes at this point.  Mitchell's attitude and recovery are the reason for the title of this latest blog.  Here is part of a conversation I had with Mitchell that sums it all up.

Mitchell: Mommy, I wasn't worried at all about my surgery

Me: I know you weren't

Mitchell: But you were worried about it a lot.  And you know what?  I didn't even hurt that bad.

WOW.  Who was comforting who here?????