Tomorrow is the Day!

Tomorrow is....

Sunday.

It's also the day of my first-ever-half-marathon!

Don't worry.

It looks like I won't be lonely.

I heard from a volunteer that there will be 5,100 people running the half marathon!!!!

{Yikes!!!!}

Who are all these nutty people who want to jog 13.1 miles?

:)

Wish me luck!

I'll be HERE!

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Walk for Arthritis- Go Team Allison!

We joined some of our friends from Annika's school while participating in a 2010 Arthritis Walk. Go Team Allison!

We had a lovely morning for the walk....while some got to play on the play ground...

others of us jogged (and walked). Only three miles (and most of them I got to jog with my good friend Amy). Probably the only photo you'll ever see of me jogging! And there were lovely trees that needed to be climbed....

by friends- Shae and

Paige and

Annika and...

Ava.

Since the rest of the girls got to climb the tree...it's only natural that Ava would want a go at it too. This is as far as she got (with Daddy's help). Guess tree climbing is harder than it looks!
After the event was over we did a little bit of exploring with our friends. Here are some lovely pine trees to admire.
And here's a lovely creek that only some of the kids got wet in. Wet, squishy shoes....

Definitely a great way to spend a Saturday morning!

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Loveable, Squishable Bugs

The only kind of bugs I find loveable:

We made these loveable, squishable, huggable bugs from a pom-pom bead kit I had purchased several years ago (in hopes of some day doing a craft project with my girls). I think those GIGANTIC eyes look super funny (those didn't come with the kit).

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She's riding her bike! (minus training wheels)

On Mother's Day,

Annika finally decided to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels! I think there was a promise of a sushi dinner that helped motivate her. And motivate it did! By the end of the day she was riding her bike confidently (although going uphill still gives her trouble).

Anybody up for a little bit of Polio with your Mole? Yum! Mark took this photo one day while driving around Dubuque.
More photos of Annika learning to ride her bike on Mother's Day. Big bummer for the day...I went on my 11 mile jog and felt awful afterwards....so I spent the entire day napping in bed. As it turns out, I'm one of those people that need to carry water with them on long jogs. I felt better after my 12 mile jog (drinking water during the jog) than I did on my shorter runs.
Go Annika, go!

My attempts at Blue Hour photography. I tried photographing my garden but I honestly don't think it's good subject material for blue hour photography.
Maybe we need to clean out the rain gutters...again? I'm thinking that waterfall happening right next to the house isn't such a good thing.

The weather around here seems like it can't make up it's mind. We just went from needing a fire in the wood stove to keep us warm to holy-cow-it's-90F-and-I'm-melting temperatures.

The garden and the hummingbirds are going nuts. I feel like my flowers are blooming ahead of schedule this year. Very soon I'll plant out my tomatoes and peppers. I'm having a little trouble in my flower garden figuring out whether or not some of my healthy plants are weeds. I honestly should keep a gardening journal. LOL!

This is it! This is the weekend when I finally run that half marathon! I can't tell you how much I long to have this particular event behind me and looking back at it. Am I ready for it? Are you ever ready for such a long strenuous activity? At this point- my goal is to finish the race. Please don't ask me what my time was....I'm guessing people will be finishing the race while I'm not even half-way through- and I'm okay with that. I am hoping to have a good time, hopefully enjoy the music and the company of hundreds of strangers (whom I'm hoping are talkative and friendly), enjoy staying at a hotel with the girls (they're soooo excited to stay at a hotel!), tour the farmers' market on Saturday and spend a lovely weekend in Madison. I'm hoping/praying that my legs, feet and hips will carry me through the race with minor pain...or none! LOL!

Wish me luck!

I'm off now to make homemade OREOS. I figure this will be the last week where I can afford to indulge just a tiny bit. Hee hee. (oh...and I suppose I should go on a short jog...I'm sooooo not a runner!)

ETA- OMG! Those oreos are sooooo good! You have to try them!

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Oh Happy May!

Oh Happy May!

How sweet you are!

We're so very happy you returned...along with the tiny hummingbirds whom I found staring through my windows yesterday for the first time this year. Telling me to go make them some food- NOW!

On a warm spring day what's more fun than sitting in your own little "pool"?

Take a closer look at that "pool"....do you see what it is? It's a sled! The girls really wanted their own personal tubs as we've done in previous years but alas no tubs were to be found! What to do? Improvise! Hey...they loved it, okay? :) Ah, the Simple Things in Life are sometimes the Best Things in Life!

With the return of All Things Spring....the Baby Toads are back! Annika still loves playing (very gently) with them. This year Ava got in on the action....she needed a little bit of help from her big sister.

And here are some of the morels we found this year.

This year the girls actually helped me locate them. They're tough buggers to spot since their mottled appearance blends perfectly with the forest floor. And they never seem to come back in the same spot as previous years. They're an amazing treat from our forest. Check out this link if you're wondering what to do with them. If you like mushrooms you have to try these funny looking ones.

What's your favorite part of spring? Do you have any special plans for Mother's Day?

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No More Shark Teeth & Ava's Vision:: A Tree House

Our Annika is a brave little girl (whoops...I mean BIG girl).

For the past several months she's had shark teeth- meaning her adult tooth was popping up behind her baby tooth. She finally bid adiós to one of those baby teeth recently. Now, the last (and first) time this happened Daddy was right there to help her pull that annoying baby tooth out. Daddy wasn't home. So, what's a girl to do? Get it out herself! Without Mommy asking her a million times if she wanted help. Nope. No help from Mommy. She pulled that sucker right out (it'd been bugging her for a long time). I was really proud that she had the courage to do this on her own. She didn't even want to put the tooth under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy to pay a visit- it was more important to her to show Daddy the tooth the following day.

The Tooth Fairy did pay a visit the following night. :)

(Yes, Annika has a black fingernail- she managed to slam her finger into the car door a few weeks ago. OUCH! And of course there's Big Bear in the background. Whatever would we do without him???)

Look at that new smile! Actually, since the adult tooth is already there it doesn't look like anything happened.

Here is Ava's Vision for a Tree House.

At least that's what she called this drawing.

Hmmm...okay.

Whatever it is- I think it's darling. (although, isn't anything your kids darling, awesome, wonderful, beautiful, artistic, creative? LOL!)

She did explain her drawing to me but I obviously missed most of her explanation.
I *heart* my brave, creative, spunky girls! Life just wouldn't be the same without them! {Thanks for making life more enjoyable!}

Update on Robin's Nest: The eggs hatched! There are now baby birds (didn't count how many; just had a quick glance at the nest). No photos. Yippee!

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