Tight with the VEEP

The other day I told the kids to say an extra prayer for Dad because he had an important meeting presenting to one of the VP's. Ty froze in his tracks and with a look of complete disbelief and awe said, "Biden?!!" At least I know he's following politics.

Shayla's Birthday/Marathon Day

Shayla graciously shared her birthday with my marathon day. Here's the recap:

Breakfast in bed for miss Shayla Niccole! Hard to believe she is 6--in her own words,
"I can't believe I'm six--it feels exactly like five!"
We drove to Milwaukee Friday night, had a sleepless night in a hotel and arrived at the Pettit Ice Center early the next morning. Right before the marathon, they had a fun run for the kids. Our camera was still frozen from being in the car, Ty is the fuzzy dark object coming up the track at lightning speed.
Shayla, Garrett and Tyler are coming down the track!
The kids with their prizes--free popcorn coupons at the concession stand!
Starla and Lani before the race. Nervous, but ready to go!

Action shot
I did it!!! 4:43:10--not my goal time, but I was just so glad I finished.
I couldn't have done it without my awesome family. Hearing them cheer my on as I passed, giving me high-fives and hearing "You can do it, Mommy!" made my heart smile.
And kept my legs moving.
My souvenirs--aren't they beautiful?
Opening presents at 10pm after we got home from Milwaukee.
The house was a wee bit cold, hence the coat.
Our wacky birthday girl--birthday dinner of fishsticks, chips, bread and veggies.
Happy birthday ice cream sandwich

Here is a video of me finishing the marathon.
This marathon was a great experience for me. I really learned a lot about myself. Like the fact that I run like a girl. Why didn't anyone tell me I run like a girl?!!!!? Actually, Tyler tried to tell me when we went for a jog together, and I thought I fixed the arm-swing problem, but after viewing this video, it is quite apparent that I did not. Now I'm thinking--I've got to run another marathon just to see how much faster I can go if I'm not punching myself in the face every time I swing my arms!??? Grandma's marathon in Duluth, MN in June 2009--here I come!
So, I hope you all get a good laugh out of this. And realize that if I could complete a marathon--ANYONE can do it! I guess it's true what they say...
Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.


I thought this cartoon was appropriate. Can you guess which one I am?
(at least I'm not the one in back :)

Christmas in January

My camera is back! Here are some late pics of Christmas. Enjoy!

Garrett was Mary for our Nativity play at the nursing home. Yes, we have 6 boys in our preschool, so Garrett was a good sport and agreed to be Mary. He was a cute, manly Mary.

The residents at the nursing home were great! They really enjoyed our enthusiastic boys.
Ty's class Christmas party. I couldn't find a sitter for Garrett and Grant, so they went with me. Ty was so helpful and let Grant help decorate and then eat his cookie.
Leaving treats for Santa and the reindeer on Christmas Eve. (the ninja turtle is Garrett)
Christmas Eve (Grant was already asleep)
Christmas morning
is it possible to get a decent Christmas morning photo--not for us...
Sledding Christmas afternoon--Grant loved it!
Garrett & Shayla warming up after sledding
Ty loved his new sled!
It's hard to tell, but Uncle Brad is pulling the cousins behind his ATV.
Here they are hanging on for dear life. Talk about cousin-heaven--they had a blast!
Shayla lost her first tooth! Bit into a roll, and swallowed her tooth with it. She took it all in stride, though. She wrote a little note to the tooth fairy, and still got her 4 quarters :)
Hanging out with cousins--the definite highlight of Christmas break
Or maybe not...playing with Frodo was a close second for Grant

Freezing-Cold-Day

I would say it was a snow-day, but we really didn't get any new snow. Just no school because the temp was -23 this morning, -40 if you factor in the wind chill. The kids danced for joy this morning when they found out, and we had fun making a pinata (for Shayla's b-day) and going swimming and playing basketball at the YMCA. I forgot to take any pictures--sorry. So we are freezing up here--how about all of you?

Garrett strikes again...

Garrett woke up from his nap the other day with a big smile on his face and said, "Mommy, do we really have a gorilla or was that just a dream?" I wish I could have seen that dream.

Catching Up...

Hello, friends! Yes, we are still alive here. Just taking a blogging break. I never did get to post about our wonderful Thanksgiving Wagner Reunion in Cleveland, so I'm just going to cheat and steal the link to Angie's wonderful post about it. She spoke my heart exactly, so I feel like it's okay to steal her blog :) Click here to read about our fun time together. And enjoy our wacky family portrait--it captures so much personality.

Shayla, Ty, Garrett and Grant displaying their gingerbread houses.

We had a wonderful Christmas and then gathered with 18 members of Tyler's family for an after-Christmas celebration. And celebrate we did! The stomach flu slowly made its way through our party, 2 people at a time until only Trevor and Lani remained. We have proclaimed ourselves the ultimate survivors. In spite of the sickness, we still enjoyed each others company, and came up with the top 5 reasons we LOVED having the flu together.

1. Extra holiday weight getting you down? Not us--no one could eat much of anything-- the perfect holiday diet!
2. Movie viewing--we caught up on all the flicks we hadn't seen--Wall-e, Fly Me to the Moon, Narnia, Madagascar, Get Smart, and on a healthy day we enjoyed an outing to Madagascar 2.
3. All the pop you could drink--my kids were in heaven!
4. Leftovers. Since no one could eat, we had TONS of food leftover so i didn't have to cook much the next week. Sweet!
5. My Green Machine wet-vac was put to the test once again and did not let us down.

So, if you haven't shared the flu with your family over the holidays, we highly recommend trying it--quite a bonding experience.

Merry Christmas--here's to a wonderful new year
(and more photos to come once I retrieve my camera)