Goodbye to Zoey...

Ryan came up with a great idea for the boys. He hung up a plexi-glass sheet on the garage wall for them to color on with dry erase markers. The boys think it's a lot of fun, they each have their own.

Last Sunday felt like spring/summer. We played outside, cut up a watermelon for dinner and everyone was dirty and ready for baths by the end of the night.

Nolan's new trick...

By mid week it was looking more like the start of winter again. Seriously, people of WI and MN were so crabby that day myself included. We ended up with 8 inches of slushy snow.

The boys and I tried to make the best of it. We got out the snow gear for hopefully the LAST time.

Spring is still on our mind so the boys tried playing snow t-ball.

We got rid of another baby item. The last thing to get rid of besides a stroller is the crib. It's getting harder and harder to part with these items. Ryan probably won't let us get rid of the crib though!

So I made each boy sit in it one last time....

The boys want Ryan to bring home different gift cards for them to use as their book marks.

Love when this happens....

You can't see them all that well but cowboy boots and super man pjs go great together.

Spencer picked out his own outfit one day. This is exactly how he laid it out.

I took the older boys to Home Depot for their kids day. We made little pots to plant seeds in.

Later Spencer had a friend over to play....

Since the big boys were at the island Ryan sat with Nolan for lunch.

Spencer is part of a Packer kids club and got a special package in the mail this week...

The day finally came. We had to say goodbye to our ZoZo. That had to have been one the hardest days ever in our lives. I knew the end was coming as she hadn't been great over the last week plus. I noticed one of the days I was home how weak she really was and how much she was drooling blood/spit from her mouth. They gave us the option of Friday, May 3rd. We explained to the boys and Spencer seemed to understand. He cried and said he didn't want her to die. We read a book that a co-worker had given us that talked about where dogs go when they die. It talked about Heaven and how there are a lot of dogs there. It also mentioned there's a house in heaven that dogs can go to eat all the treats they want. Well instead of hearing "Heaven's House" Easton heard "Evan's House." Evan happens to be a boy in Easton's class. So he's content knowing Zoey is at Evan's and Spencer is ok now knowing that Zoey is in Heaven. Zoey was the best dog ever. Even non dog lovers, loved her. She will truly be missed as she was a big part of  our family. I have comfort though in knowing she is comfortable and it was her time. Zoey left this world wagging her tail and was filled with love as we said goodbye to our first born. As Ryan said, "we struck gold with our first dog ever."

The boys wanted to take her for a last walk.....

Then Ryan took her on a walk to remember.

We got some final pictures the night before....

We will always love you Zoey!

It was a long week but I had the 1/2 marathon to look forward to on Sunday. I woke up sleepy and in denial that I was going to run 13.1 miles. The weather was perfect (even if there was snow on the ground still) and we were finally at the starting line.

I got a message right before the race that the boys were up and ready. They wanted to wish me luck and that they would be seeing me along the route.

They were waiting for me at their first stop around mile 2.5.

Here we come!

I was still feeling good....

The 2nd time I saw them I wasn't feeling the best and I'm pretty sure I had already said to Heather "this sucks!" A few times.

We are coming into grandma's water station.

The difference between Heather's race today and mine (yes physically ran the same route together) She was happy cheering with the spectators, waving and running up to friends who were also running to chat. For me I just kept thinking one foot in front of the other, and I would love to hit pause and just stop for a minute, just don't give out on me legs and finally why on earth did I think this was a good idea?

The boys were ready to hand me some water.

We finally hit mile 12. I heard someone yell 1 more mile and then a few feet later I saw the mile 12 marker and then I saw this little orange sign that said 1 more mile to go when we must have been at 12.1. I seriously thought the final mile was going to last forever. I'm pretty sure Heather posted this pic to FB while we were running.

Here they are getting ready to go to the finish...

The last .5 or whatever is all up hill. I mean this feels like you are running up Mount Everest at this point. The family/friends/crowd is very motivating as you work your way up. I knew once I got to the top I would be able to see the finish and once I crossed the finish line I would be able to stop moving my legs and lay down! That was my motivation at that point.

Here we come down the final stretch.

That smile and wave was pretty forced.....

We did it! I had the best running partner. I'm thankful my sister ran with me. She kept me going when I was ready to walk. Even though this was kind of a leisure run for her (she was texting, FaceBoiking and reading me FB posts) she made me feel like I could do it and reminded me how I would feel when I finished and knew that I didn't walk. I did come to 2 full stops when I took 2 drinks of water but I'm told that doesn't count. I tried to run while drinking and well I got a nice face wash instead.

We finished at 2:13 (according to this picture) but on the website it says 2:12. That's exactly what I wanted to do. Run around a 10 min mile and finish without walking.

At this point the runners high hasn't hit and my response if I will run one again is no. I'm sore right now and my knees hurt a bit. Maybe in a month I will think differently but who knows.

Coming to give my boys a hug!

Seriously I ran 13.1 miles and they can't take a nice picture with me?

My medal... Oops I realize now it's upside down. Oh well..

We headed back to Grandma's water station and handed out water to the marathon runners.

This is Casteele one of the boys babysitters.

Amanda (on the left) and I did most of our training together. I'm glad she agreed to do this with me.

I borrowed my dad's car to go home and take a shower. When I left he said "Don't hit anything" I came close but there's still plenty of room to move forward.  :)

Amanda gave me this and I feel this is so true.....

Is Spring Here to Stay?

Our week started off with snow and rain. It didn't stop the boys. They found their suits in the laundry and ran around the house pretending it was summer.

Spencer took a turn with my camera and snapped this picture of Easton and I.

Next was Easton's turn to take one with a little help from Ryan.

Spring finally came this week. The sun was out and the temps were getting warmer. We headed straight outside. In fact we have spent a lot of time outside this week. The boys are so excited to be back outside. Nolan loves going out and running around. Spencer likes riding his bike and roller blading. Easton likes the jeep still and he's the first one that is actually ready to come in. A few times he picked playing inside with me while the other two stayed out with Ryan.

Grandma and Grandpa got Nolan a mini cooper that for Christmas that I finally put together.

He can't drive it so he just sits in it.

Easton was taking it for a spin.

Friday was beautiful outside. I told Spencer we could go to the Y for a bit because the bounce house was up. Afterwards we met friends at a park. Then the 4 moms took on the challenge of bringing 9 kids the oldest being 5 to lunch at Culver's. Lets just say it's a good thing we were eating outside.

We visited a few parks over the weekend.

You gotta love Spencer's outfit!

They spent time at our tennis courts...

I was the lucky one to take these two goof balls shopping!

The swings are up! Have I mentioned how much I love being able to go outside with the boys. I feel like I can finally say we survived the winter.

With all of the playing outside the boys have been DIRTY at night! Why are they so attracted to dirt?

Spencer got a late birthday present in the mail from Aunt Roz. She told him she was going to Texas and would bring him something back. She sent Texas cookie cutters. He confirmed he will not be sharing these with his brothers.

We went to Mike and Suzie's annual Cancun party. Their youngest Simon is great about keeping our littles entertained. They had fun eating Tacos and playing soccer and golf outside.

Nolan has given up the high chair. Poor Spencer has been standing on a little chair for meals because they all insist on eating by each other.

So we bought new bar stools. Don't mind the messy kitchen in the background. The 3rd one has yet to be put together but now they will all have matching seats.

Bath time fun..

Spencer thinks by putting his animals up there they will watch over him and protect him from any monsters.

Grandma kept the boys so Ryan and I could go with friends to the Twins game. Its was the perfect day. The sun was shining and the Twins won. 

The Twins manager got thrown out of the game for arguing a close call at third base.

 Ryan was taking a lot of pictures during the argument, here the ump is throwing him out of the game!

While the boys were at Grandma's they painted bird houses for Grandma Peg's tree.

They also had fun playing outside with Finley. Even though no one looks happy in this picture Grandma insists they were having a good time.

It's moments like these that melt a mom's heart.....

Wish me luck! Next weekend I take on 13.1 miles. I'm not going for time but more for distance. I'm not sure why I thought this would be fun or something I should challenge myself to do, but I guess there is no turning back now. Hopefully when I post next weekend I will be able to say I finished my first 1/2 marathon.