Sunday's Juggling Act

At one point in time yesterday afternoon, Max and I were 'relaxing' and not doing a whole lot of anything and we both commented on what a perfect end to the weekend it had been. Now, thats not to say that we weren't busy, because we were. Here's a quick glimpse of what our Sunday was like:

Early A.M-- Max is up and out the door to go bowhunting. It's his "happy place" :)
8am- I am up with the kids, got them dressed and fed them breakfast.
9am- Max returns home (no deer, unfortunately!) and takes a shower while I get dressed and ready for a run.
9:40am- I head into town for my LAST long run before the half marathon this weekend! It was brutal and I had to run in the rain for the first 4 1/2 miles, but it was worth it and I made my goal of 12 miles. My leg issues are nearly healed and I was so happy to get that run over with!
10:30am- While I am still out on my run, Max takes the kids to church
12pm- I return home, stretch out with some yoga poses while playing with the kids, and feed them lunch while Max goes on HIS run for the day.
2pm- Piper is down for her nap, we spend some quality time with Ry before he heads to his dad's for the evening.
3pm- Ryder leaves with his dad, Max and I lounge around with coffee while making our meal plan/grocery list for the week -- (**We use the Paprika App on our Ipad and we love it! Check it out if you haven't already!)
4:30pm- We wake up Miss P from her nap so we can head over to my parents for the evening. Max and my dad went out bowhunting and us girls just relaxed, played, and watched House Hunters repeatedly!
7pm-- We headed home so we could put the kids to bed.
8pm- Kids in bed, Max runs to the grocery store and I picked up the house and started in on some laundry.

Needless to say, we slept well last night! Weekends (well actually, everyday!) is a juggling act for us since we both have our hobbies/stuff we want/need/like to do. And of course, we both want to spend time with the kids as well... Days like yesterday make me so appreciative for the relationship that I have with Max-- I can't imagine doing this alone!

from a frustrated runner....

I had planned for today to be a great day. It was Monday, yes, but good old' Christopher Columbus was going to pull through for me and allow my husband to be home with P and I today since Max didn't have to work. I had visions of us having a great time together, being super productive, kicking ass and taking names getting stuff done around the house, and just having one of those awesome days.
It didn't exactly pan out quite like that.
I woke up disappointed that I was still in quite a bit of pain from a running injury that happened early LAST week. I had been to the chiropractor and although most of the pain had been taken away, my left calf was still very weak for the most part and I knew the best thing would be to just accept the fact that although I desperately NEED to be training right about now, it needed rest to heal. I told myself that over and over as I continued to wait for the day when I woke up and it would feel back to normal. Unfortunately today wasn't the day, but I did have a follow up appointment at the chiropractor already scheduled so I went in and expressed my frustrations to the doc. I still had some resistance/swelling in my calf and because of the way things had shifted since last week, I was also having a lot of knee pain. My chiropractor adjusted me, listened to me whine and complain about how my race is NEXT weekend, and again told me to stay off of it for another day or so and then try to ease back into some short runs depending on how it was feeling at that point. I was really sore after leaving the chiro, but I am hopeful and excited about the fact that very late this afternoon, I noticed that I was able to walk around the house without noticing any pain in my leg. Either way, I am bummed at the thought of this race coming up. The farthest I have gone to date is 10 miles which really isn't terrible but now after a full week off from any type of cardio at all, I feel behind and inadequate once again. My head was not in the game during the last few months of training. Clearly, my body wasn't quite on board with this idea either as this is the 2nd time I've been held up due to calf/knee/hip injuries in the last two months. I am so excited for this race to be over (although I know it will be fun and I'm sure I will be glad that I did it!) so I can give my body a nice long break from pounding pavement. My gym will throw open it's doors in excitement to see me, because well, it's been a while. I will greet the elliptical machine with a big fat kiss. Well, maybe not, but you get the idea. I will give my body a well deserved break from running -- only of course until I realize how much I miss it when Spring rolls around ;)
Anyway, my day was not exactly as I had pictured it would be because of my running frustrations putting me in a bad mood. Combine that with the fact that my husband is quite positive he has strep throat (again) and really didn't feel great in addition to the fact that it rained for the better part of the day really made this Monday a flop. We did manage to run a few errands, but not much else. Oh well I guess! On a more positive note, I did make this stellar quinoa salad tonight and it's pretty delish if I do say so myself! It makes plenty to munch on throughout the week and it's packed with protein and yummy goodness. I found the recipe here:
http://fitfoodiefinds.com/2012/05/chunky-southwestern-quinoa-salad/

Enjoy!

little miss p....

Tomorrow morning, my baby girl will be a TWO year old.
I can't even begin to explain the emotions I am experiencing over this!! We are hoping the weather holds out for a fun filled day to spend time as a family tomorrow and we will be celebrating with a party on Sunday at our house...

Some other fun facts about Piper at age 2:

--usually wakes up around 7:30am, bedtime around 8pm
--takes one long nap (3 hours) every afternoon
--just recently began to eat vegetables, she would hardly touch them the first year and a half of her life!
--loves apples, her daddy's homemade pizza, and anything sweet that mama bakes
--she is fearless
--she has no idea when she is in trouble. She simply ignores the fact altogether and smiles and say, "no mom, just hug!" --(Honestly, how do you stay angry at that???)
--i'm quite certain that she loves getting to hang out with mommy all day, but she RUNS to her dad when he gets home from work
--she plays with mainly boy toys, she doesn't mind!
--she does, however, love a good pedicure from her grandmas and aunties
--she is also a big fan of sofia the first, "lella" (aka--cinderella), and minnie mouse
--she seems to think every piece of furniture in my house is a trampoline, especially her crib
--if you ask her what she wants for her birthday, she will tell you "I want pony for burday" :)
--she weighs in around 25lbs, give or take - and last I heard, she is a little on the short side
--she is a little mommy -- her newest cousin, baby jack, is her obsession. She feels completely confident that she is able to attend to ALL of his needs, including picking him up and feeding him. (Poor baby Jack!!)
she has many nicknames, including but not limited to: peeps, pipes, P, little miss P, peepsie pie, pips, pipsqueak :) --When asked which of these is her favorite, she says "Pipes"
--she copies everything her big bro does

Happy birthday to our sweet peeps! :)

piper's debut

I had to share this.
Piper was on the kitchen floor today playing with cups of water (Why, you ask? Well-- because water entertains toddlers like no other, so we roll with it.) We had the radio on, as usual to 97.1 and I noticed that Piper started singing along to some of the songs. I sat down with her and whipped out my camera to record her and although she got a little camera shy for a bit, she resumed her usual dramatic ways and belted out tunes like no other.
Her song of choice?? Well Rihanna's "Stay" of course :) Check it out to get your laugh in today at the expense of my little drama queen....

June '13

June may have been one of the craziest months we've ever had. Ryder finished up his Kindergarten year at Dassel Elementary and I finished up my own school year, for good this time.... Due to loss of funding, my grant was not going to be funded for the 13-14 school year and since we have been debating about the idea of me staying home with the kids for the last couple of years, it seemed like maybe this was the best time to make that transition. I will say that I have never in my life envisioned myself as a stay at home mom, but sometimes things change and right now, it is what my family needs. I think it's in my nature to always look for little things to 'dabble in' on the side because I like contributing to our finances and having a little extra money to spend and because I do actually love working most of the time, but for right now, Max and I both believe that home is where I need to be for a while....

Goodbye office, goodbye career!

So after we wrapped up with school it was full throttle as we jumped into basketball camps, vacation bible school, kinderball, and swimming lessons! I think my tahoe is still recovering from all the miles she had to put on in those first few weeks :) Then we celebrated the wedding of some of our best friends, Joe and Katy Beckman in Waseca. Piper was honored to be their little flower girl, Max was 'co-best man' and we had such a fun time!! The following morning was father's day and after the long drive back home we spent the rest of the day relaxing with our little fam.... The following weekend was busy as I threw my sister a baby shower honoring my little nephew to be (at the time!) and after that, Max and I said goodbye to our kiddos and our loving bed as we dove into the boundary waters for a canoe trip with Max's brothers and their wives.... I told you June was busy :)

my basketball stud...

I passed, mom! 

My sweet flower girl (who actually was NOT acting very sweet earlier that day!) 

Piper helping Auntie Lissa open presents for baby!

let's review....

The last time I actually blogged was back in April, I think. Luckily for all of you, absolutely NOTHING has happened since then ;)

Just kidding! Here's my attempt at very 'brief' (although it will probably get long--my apologies!) recap of the last few months....

April 2013: First up--our Nashville trip! We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet this amazing city and we definitely soaked up all it had to offer. We can't wait to get back there!!

heading to the grand ol' opry!

we saw some great performers, but our favorite was darius ruckert!

following the opry, we headed downtown... we had the best time ever and thanks to some awesome expertise from a friend of max's--we knew just where to go. The band was incredible and the drinks were pretty delish too, obviously! Note to self---always bring cash in to the bar bathrooms in Nashville or else you won'g get to use the soap! :) 

following our late night, we found a much needed coffee shop, had some breakfast and later went on a a beautiful run in a park downtown. 

Our last night in Nashville, catching a quick drink before eating quite possibly the most expensive meal we've ever had at Etch. Seriously, worth every single penny. We had a five course meal that was to die for. We still find ourselves talking about this place. If you ever find yourself in Nashville, do your tastebuds a favor and make reservations to eat here!!

Other things we loved about Nashville: the opry hills mall (it kept me company during the day when max was working!) The home2suites hotel was fabulous and we loved the location, the frothy monkey coffeehouse was worth the cab ride  and the neighborhood (12south) that it's in is very trendy and and full of 'my people' as my husband put it ;) Prior to our show at the opry we also grabbed an app and drink at The Patterson House. We would recommend this place over and over and over. Their drink menu is so unique and the bartenders have it down to a science. It is very tricky to find since it is a 'speakeasy' establishment and we happened to have gotten very lucky to find it, but we are so glad we did!! If you can't tell, we fell in love with this awesome town.... :)

Not long after our return from Nasvhille, this little guy went and turned SIX on us!

Look at the sweet smile! And yes, the tooth fairy had just recently payed him a visit if you can't tell from the big gap in his teeth :) Ryder is the most considerate and loving little boy I know. At six years old he loves ninja turtles, sports (baseball and basketball are two of his faves), hunting and fishing, swimming, (he is a little fish!), dirtbiking, and all things boy. He loves to be surrounded by the people he loves. I am so lucky to be his mama!

May 2013: 

May kept us busy with mother's day celebrations, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and field trips!

Mother's day snuggles and coffee with my little ones! (Check out Starr in the background!)

Ryder checking the giraffes on his Como Zoo field trip!

stay tuned.... :)

I'm still alive :)
Just now finally feeling like maybe I could find some time to sit down at a computer once again and play around with this so called blog. Considering the fact that the whole purpose of this blog was to document our adventures as a family and to be able to look back on and cherish these memories---I got to thinking that perhaps maybe I should once again 'document' --huh? :) So stay tuned, friends.... There will (hopefully!) be more coming soon and maybe a fresh new look as well ;)