Metal Mouth.....

Brooke has officially become a metal mouth! She just got her top and bottom expander put in last week and let’s just say there is a lot of the following going on………

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  Sluuuuuuuurrrrrppppping……it’s super annoying, I know it’s only been a week and she is producing a lot more saliva with these things in but it seriously sounds like she is swallowing Lake Michigan.


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  Excessive chunks of food on the bathroom mirror and sink due to some inexperience with the water pik.


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  She sells sea shells by the sea shore….......its like we reverted back to being 4 years old in the speech department, however it seems to be improving each day.


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  Hunger strikes…….now I can be sympathetic, trust me the first few days were all applesauce and pudding, but as I see her leave snack wrappers empty and inhaling doughnuts and a salmon dinner at a neighbors house I know things are getting better but if there is something she does not like at our dinner table its now “ugh mom I really can’t eat that with the expander its just too hard” this included white milk the other night……..I reminded her that was NOT on the do not eat list! Oh expander please don’t take my “good” eater away!


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  Enough saliva on her pillowcase to warrant washing it every day!


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  A LOT of absences from school for ortho appts……..wish we would have started this in the summer.

I know it’s only been a week ……what am I complaining about? There are only 358 more days until we get them out, but who’s counting!

Here is a picture to remind me why I must put up with the listed items above.

I do think it is unfair how early they start them now, they will have no idea what it means to be an awkward teenager with braces or crooked teeth. I know I know.......its the ol' walking uphill in the snowstorm to school story but seriously

Gained Three .......Lost 7........

Our Baby Girl tucked another year under her belt as she turned 8 last week!

Surprisingly this year Brooke passed on a Birthday Party, she requested that all she wanted this year was for her Best Friend, Sydney, from Illinois to come for the weekend. DONE AND DONE! You can only imagine our delight as we traded stuffing goody bags and planning party games for a girl day that Brooke and Syd planned themselves! It must be her maturity showing through, you know now that she is eight and all.

Our first stop was Kootsiers, a kid favorite still, for some fall activities. Luckily the boys were able to scam in on some of the fun!

Her birthday wish - Brooke and Syd.

They painted pumpkins......

enjoyed a hayride......

picked pumpkins.......

acted like silly boys......

Pretty much smiled and laughed all weekend long!

Brooke and Syd snuggling in their jammies, waiting for day number two to start.

Brooke upgraded to a "big girl" bike!

Rollerblades........

Then these two turkeys conjured up a girls pampering day of hair and nails.......Brooke actually came over and said they were going to go get their nails painted and matching haircuts and it was going to be short.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME.......no party and she finally is cutting her mane, something I have been requesting for two years? Whose birthday is this anyway.....sort of felt like mine!

So we went and I am not going to lie I was a bit sad to see it go, because as she sat there and it was combed so nicely it really is beautiful hair, but then I snapped back to reality and remembered that it is a cause of a daily battle for her and I so I quickly got over my sentimental feelings.... I guess I didn't realize just how long it was .......The cut off 7 inches!

Syd getting her do done.....

snip snip snip......

And just like that I got my little girl back..........she looked younger immediately!

The pampering continued as they got their nails painted.......

And feathers in their hair.....

So even if the seven inches that you cut off makes you look younger deep in my heart I know I can't stop you from growing up, you measured another three inches taller on the chart for the year and if that continues we might just have to give you a crew cut next year! Happy Birthday to our not so little girl!

The Wall.

I have heard people complain about it, there isn’t a running publication that doesn’t write about it, but I never have come in contact with it……until now……..what I am speaking of is “the wall” this is described by others as a roadblock in a running race when you just lose it. It could be a physical, mental or even emotional breakdown when you bonk into this wall but there is no doubt you will know when you come in contact with it. The best way that I have heard it described is as follows……
"It felt like an elephant had jumped out of a tree onto my shoulders and was making me carry it the rest of the way in.”
Well unfortunately the elephant landed on my shoulders around mile 16 last weekend while running the Chicago Marathon…….and yup….BONK…..I hit the wall. This was a new experience for me, I have never in any of my training runs experienced this, yes of course I was exhausted and tired from running plenty of times but never felt like I was taken out of the game entirely. So there it was “the wall” and I am not talking about any ordinary wall I am talking about the big brick one that the smart third little pig built….. So I huffed and I puffed……and I walked …….and I sprinted….and I huffed…..sometimes the huffing wasn’t even due to the lack of breath I had but the utter frustration I was experiencing. This is the thing last time my body gave out, completely, hurt leg, absolute misery, but here I was walking and I didn’t have an ache on my body. I mean the cardinal sin is to walk, that means next comes cramping, aches, and numbness, I didn’t get any of that…..but I was still walking…..My mind and my body were at total combat with each other and I couldn’t talk either of them down from this standoff. It became sort of comical now that I look back….. I mean I would walk just because the heat and my head had a fueled debate about how it could be 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky in October and it wasn’t right what it was doing to me….. then my body would kick in get mad and I would full on sprint for a mile to make up for the stupid wall that I could not blow down……So the huffing and puffing continued for about five-seven miles and then finally the big bad wolf came to my rescue at mile 24 and blew it down. Take that little pig! So all in all I did finish which should be enough, but honestly for the training that I had I wanted more, I wanted the time I had set in my head, I wanted the victorious feeling of Yes, that is exactly how I wanted it to happen. But with marathon running I am now learning that I am not sure that you can ever control ALL the variables enough not to say…..”I wonder what it would be like if the ____________ cooperated” the blank could be filled with (the weather, my body, my shoes, my digestive track, my iPod, my attitude, my food intake, my liquid intake, my sleep patterns) So people constantly ask “why?” Well I think the answer is besides trying to get all the “variables” lined up, it’s the fact that when I run these races its possible for me a, normal Joe, to participate in the same event that an elite unbelievable athlete can, and that is pretty cool. Think about it if you had a chance to join MJ on the court or Babe Ruth on the diamond or even Yzerman on the ice, you would give it a go wouldn’t you? I say yes.
So am I done? The accountant in me still says I can make the formula for all those variables work......so I guess not.
Here are some pix of us enjoying the expo, the race and a well deserved night out on the town:

Up before the sun ......getting ready to line up......its absurd that I had a fleece on and 4 hours later it was a great day for the beach.

We got to see the guys about 4 times this is early around mile 6 since I am still smiling.

Chris ran with me for a while at mile 12........

Nikki powering past Forest Gump.....

Okay so the legend is created......Long story short ...my running partner finds out at 8:30 pm the night before the race that she forgot her running shoes......I KNOW.......its not a typo....she forgot her shoes..........and she is running a marathon in less than 12 hours......So the boys spent the better half of the night banging down store fronts on State street when one woman finally opened up the store (they were ALL closed) and said they could buy a pair for cash since all the registers were closed........So $120 later Nikki who was probably one in 49,000 runners who wore a pair of Step Up Sketchers for 26.2 miles......Bless her heart! And bless her feet....This is why runners shouldn't forget their shoes!

SITTING and celebrating after the race.

This was Nikki and a homeless guy teaching each other how to dance like Michael Jackson....And I am the one who apparently hit "the wall" I beg to differ! She is sometimes in her own "sketcher world"

Marathon behind us ......a night out in Chicago ahead of us......

I literally think we were using each others head to stay upright.....we had to if we laid down it would have been all over.

We needed some assistance from some 5 hour energy drinks......

Luck would have it our college buddy Drew owns a bar in Wrigglyville and it was Karaoke night.....Perfect!

Here is a link to the professional pix if you care to view.......just enter name and event.

http://www.marathonfoto.com/

Florida Five Day Mini Series - Day 5 - The Ocean.

The last day of our trip we had all these fun ideas planned, water park, aquarium.......but everyone was soooo whooped that we all decided that we would instead have a low key day and show the kids the ocean. We headed out let them taste the salty water and have lunch in the wharf before heading to our plane!

Walking the beach......

Brady said the water tasted "disgusting" I would have to agree!

Watching the storm roll out.....

Lunch in the Wharf.

We had a late flight anyway, but ended up getting delayed - Brady didn't even know we landed in Baltimore stayed and hour and got on another plane.........He was out cold. The poor kiddos got into their beds at 1 A.M. and then got up for school the next morning! I was waiting for the meltdown all week, but it never happened, I guess they both decided that the trip was worth it.

Florida Five Day Mini Series - Day 4 - Magic Kingdom!

This was the kids reluctant effort to get ready after I woke them up to tell them we had another day at Disney........Just five more minutes both of them said......bless their hearts!

Eventually they pulled up their boot straps.....when they realized we were off to Magic Kingdom for another day! And when I say a WHOLE day I mean a whole day. When we checked it we had a lovely lady tell us that it was a special night and they were extending the hours until 11 pm tonight, not 10pm as expected.....Brooke's eyes went wide and was all smiles ....Our little night owl. Here are the turkey balls heading into the park.

Happy to wait in the shade while Dad went to go get a stroller, remember that picture in the bed.....We thought we would get a few places faster with a little assistance today!

This was the first ride, Slash Mountain, and the kids loved it......Most would save the water rides for the afternoon to cool off - well 10 am we were ready to get wet (recall temperature report from earlier) We went on it continuously to cool down, it was also one of the kids favorites!

We couldn't resist...... when you look at their faces you would think that we forced them into it but both of them jumped off and screamed that was AWESOME! I love that Brady looks like he is holding on for dear life!!

Jungle Cruise with my boy...

Brooke thought the tour guide was hilarious.

One of the many sights on the tour...

Dad and the kids enjoying "sitting"

The kids watching the magic happen on the flying carpets......so stupid I couldn't exclude it!

The castle. Brooke was so funny, she would say things like "its just so impressive" "It really is beautiful" but then I would ask her do you want to go meet some of the princesses she would just go "nahhhh......"

We hit the parades....

enjoyed the landscaping...

They loved the Buzz Lightyear ride.......

Dad and Brady shooting away!

Locked up in Jail.

Dad and the kiddos....

It was fun to capture all their looks of wonder and shock on the different rides....my favorite was during the Monsters Inc. comedy show, where Chris was picked to be on the big screen and part of the comedy show.......They couldn't believe it.

Again back to Buzz - they couldn't get enough of it....

Disney and the Munsons.

The castle starting to light up for the night time festivities.

Brooke still bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Brady taking in the electrical parade......he goes like this "Seriously who comes up with all these great ideas?" .....I guess the answer is a man named Walt.

The lights and production were out of this world!

Disney at Night.

Everything was decorated for Halloween, it was like you walked into a pumpkin patch! And I have to tell you we are on our way to do some souvenir shopping because of this little ditty.....

Dad wanted to go back to the haunted mansion to ride at night - Brooke decided to stay out with me so she was asking me what I wished for during the shooting star during the parade and I told her that I wished that we could take another family vacation again soon. So keeping with the conversation I asked her "what did you wish for?" and this swear to God was her response. "Well my wish already came true about 7 years ago?" "It did, what was that?" "To get the best parents ever!" Now I know it was sweet and I should have been standing there with tears in my eyes and my shoulders shaking from crying as the magic of Disney was falling on us......However I smiled and said that was nice and then I waited for it............it took about 2 minutes........"Hey best mom in the world....don't you think it would be great to go to Main street next on our way out and buy a souvenir to remember this by?" And there it is......sweet but well thought out. Kudos to you Brooklyn, so we went shopping just for the fact that she was sooooooo smooth in her delivery!