Copy Lu

Our sweet little Lucy Girl is growing up so fast.  And the funniest thing to watch her do is try and do everything big brother does.  She LOVES watching, playing and annoying the heck out of him.  But pretty much anything he does, she will try and do it right after.  It's intense!

One of her favorite things to do right now is get dressed in his clothes.  Since his dresser is right at Lucy level hands she loves getting into his stuff.  She was so excited the other day when Gaetan put his PJ's on her... and then she found a pair of training pants and wanted them on over her clothes.  She likes to be doing whatever Tristan is doing, whether that is playing with a certain toy, reading a book, or just being in the same area he is in.  There are days that he tolerates it better than others, but it's sweet to see them together.  Most of the time he is really into helping her and teaching her things, which warms this Momma's heart.  He really does care for his baby sister.

In his PJ's trying to lay down next to him

Hanging out in his chair

Super Lucy!  They were dancing and holding hands

They love to chase each other... they're so fast, hence the blur!

She was NOT happy about the idea of being in the car, so we put her in Dude's chair and she piped right down.

She is already talking a bit too.  I think she hears him talking all the time and wants to join in.  She recognizes and can say on command, Momma, Baby, Ba Ba (which I think might be big brother) and Da Da.

It will be so interesting to see how they grow and develop together.  :)

JVG

High school alum softball game

I was asked to play in our high school alumni softball game.  I was apart of the original team that the head coach started way back when!  He always wanted to have an alumni game against the current team, but this year it finally happened... after 8 years!

I don't think I have to tell you how old it made me feel being there with all these kids that are going to graduate in like 2014! Ridiculous.  The girls that were on the alumni team had graduated high school AFTER I graduated college... by a few years.  Oof.  It was a lot of fun though.  I pretty much haven't played/seen fast pitch softball since 2006... so it was a bit of an adjustment for me.  The other girls that were on the alumni team are currently still playing at universities so they were really good... so I looked like the old fart that didn't really know what was going on.  haha.

I had a lot of fun though, and it was good to see Coach again.  He retired this year from his job but is still going to continue coaching.  It's amazing how far the program has come since he took it over.  At the beginning it was such a big deal that we didn't lose all our games.  But by the end of when I graduated we were winning more than half!  Now they are winning conference, districts and they are awesome!

I was glad that Tristan got to come and see.  He was really excited about watching Momma play softball.  And now everytime we drive past the field he says that's where Momma was playing softball and that I was the best player.  :)  What a sweet heart.  He cheered for me too, which was absolutely adorable!  "Yay Momma!"  "Go Momma!"  What a sweet little voice from the stands.

JVG

A Rat and a Pomba

This past weekend I was so lucky to have a good friend spend a few days with us.  :)  Ashley came out Friday night and spent the night so we could hang out all day Saturday!  She initially was going to run the Mud Run with me (and I thought it was early in the morning) hence the spending the night.  Well, she was a huge help at the actual race... the kids were less than thrilled to be there.  Dude thought all the mud and splashing was great, but Lucy wasn't pleased when she got splashed about 10 seconds into the run.  Apparently Dude told them, "No!  Don't splash my Lu!" haha.

After the race we got some serious girl time in.  The kids went down for their naps, I showered (much needed!!) and then we took off for our big day of shenanigans!  SIDE NOTE:  I had so much mud and yuck in my hair I think my hair had the consistency of dreads...

The first line of business was wedding dress shopping.  We both have a lot of weddings to go to this summer, so we figured we should have something nice and new for it.  :)  We joked that since we had the whole day we would find our dresses at the first store, which, incidentally we did.  We just grabbed as many things as we could, things that we thought might not look that great, but we tried them regardless.  We tried on things that we wouldn't normally try, because we figured all our clothes looked the same :)  We had a BLAST.  We, of course, had to try on some extra silly things... check them out.

Panda Ear Muffs!

Classy...

Ridiculous dress

We named this Burlesque... it actually looked really good on her, but the pattern is a bit... much.

Leopard print!

I'm not sure who thought jump suits were a good idea...

This was our PJ dress... comfy, but i felt like I was wearing a night gown.

After we got done and I purchased my dress (which I'm extremely excited about) we just kinda looked around.  Now, we never usually go into Forever 21 but this time we did.  She said that she got some of her favorite tank tops there and wanted to see if they had them... we didn't find any clothes but we did find $60!  We were just looking at some shirts and I saw some money laying on the floor.  I told her that she dropped her money and she said, "thanks" and picked it up.  She then said that she didn't lose any, so we looked around to see if there was anybody around.  Nobody.  Not even close!  So, we figured it was our lucky day, split the money and went on our way.  :)  She bought a purse with her money and I was debating on two dresses but one was significantly cheaper than the one I really liked, but with this money it was the same price.

We ran a few other errands and then we gorged ourselves on Sushi.  Yum Yum Yum.  After that we went to World Market, because really, who doesn't like that store, and she got some stuff.

I don't think this post does this girls outting justice.  We had so much fun.  It was a much needed break/change in scenery for her and I always love hanging out with her sans kids.  :)  And it was really nice that she came to our side this time!  So, we look forward to the next girl outting... as silly and crazy as it will guaranteed be.  :)

JVG

Getting muddy for clean water

My campaign with 20 liters is still going on.  We are at 70% of our goal (which is $3200).  Which I am impressed with and happy!  I will have this going on until we are at 100% of our goal.  :)

I got to participate in my first mud run this past weekend.  The church that hosted was raising money for clean water also... a different organization and country, but who cares!  I'm glad that they are spreading awareness and helping meet the needs of those who are without.  It was a 5K run with 9 obstacles... I thought the 5K part wasn't going to be a problem, but I was SO TIRED.  It was a 2.5K loop, so we did all the obstacles twice.  I ran with a friend of Gaetan's, Parker, who was really good at the obstacles!  We had a lot of fun, got super muddy, and the church raised $35,000!  Which is awesome!

Me and Parker before and after the race.  Notice his not so white shirt anymore...

L to R (clockwise):  Getting out of the last obstacle.  Going into the last gap. Getting across the last gap.  Getting out of the last obstacle.  Finishing!!

The first obstacle was called little dipper.  It was seriously less than 70 yards into it and it was this hole that was about knee deep of water (and mud).  Just getting things out of the way early!  My friend Ashley came (she was going to run it with me but they sold out so they closed down registration) and we joked that I should try to jump the hole but I didn't think I was going to make it... I told her if I tried I would fall down... and I did ;)  So instead of it being knee deep I got soak up to my waist haha.  And that water was COLD.

The second obstacle was called the vertical plague.  Now, the course was in the woods so it was more of a trail mud run... but this was quite the hill!  I was surprised at how hilly the whole thing was, but this was a pretty substantial hill.

The third was called tire trouble.  One of the sponsors of this was a CrossFit gym and they brought their huge tires that we had to run over.  It wasn't so bad, but the tires had different toughness so some of them where real squishy and others hard, so the footing was tricky.

The fourth was called snake belly.  They had these long tubes that you had to crawl through.  Not so bad because I'm not that tall ;)  I pretty much bear crawled through it because I didn't think it would feel so nice on my knees to crawl.

The fifth was called the Big Nasty.  And in my opinion was the hardest.  I have no idea what they did to this mud but it would be more accurately described as quick sand.  I took two steps in and I sunk in thigh deep!  I saw this guy who was stuck and had 3 people trying to help him out... I sympathized.  People lost shoes in there it was so insane!  I tipped over because it was so hard to get out and I had probably an inch of mud caked on both sides of my hands and up to my mid forearm.  It was intense.  That obstacle probably took the longest just because you would get stuck and then you would have to pretty much wait patiently as you let the initial suction loosen up.

The sixth was Jericho which was a wall they had made that you had to climb over.  Not so bad.  The seventh was Paul Bunyan's revenge.  There were probably 6 piles of down logs that you had to jump over.

The eighth was called the last gap.  You ran up to this big pit that had slides into this waist deep pretty stinking cold water.  It was kinda nice though because it washed off most of the big nasty.  You had a little ways to go through the deep water (it was deep enough some people swam!) and then you had a hill to go up and down into more water.  This repeated 4 times.  Running through water is exhausting!  As you went on though the water got more and more shallow.

The nineth was pole pit.  They had made these make shift bridges that you had to crawl under.  It was deep enough that I could have my arms straight out and could barely touch the bottom.  So it was this strange kind of treading water/swimming/running.  That was probably my least favorite because there was a high probability of getting muddy water in your mouth... and in your ears and hair. haha.

Overall we had a blast!  I think next year we are going to get a four person team together to do it.  We did it in 37 minutes, which wasn't to bad all things considered!  :)  I had a lot of fun and I'm glad that it could go to a good cause.

JVG

Lots of free time

Man, ever since summer started and I haven't been running a bagillion miles a week I feel like I have so much free time!  I have to admit that I like the idea of knowing I don't have to run (if I don't feel like it) at night time.  After my little two week break, which felt like forever! I ran a little bit yesterday.  Only 4.5 miles but it was great!  I was watching a movie and it was getting to a part that I don't enjoy, and it was getting rather late, so I decided to call it a night.  It felt really good though :)  And I thought I should try and get a few miles in before this Saturday's Mud Run!  I'll have to let you know how that goes :)

I also just went back to my first capo class tonight.  I'm not going to lie... it was tough.  One would think that after all that running I would be a bit more prepared, but capo is something different.  I have little weak arms and the 100 push-ups we had to do wasn't so fab... haha.  My hamstrings are probably wondering what the heck I was thinking, but I am glad to be back at it.  I hope that we can start training more regularly now with my nights free!

We hit up the beach again... we decided that going during the week is our best option.  The last time we went it was so crowded... so it wasn't that much fun.  This time, there weren't a lot of people there, and the kids LOVED it.  The water was still a bit cold, but that didn't stop the kids!  They made a little lake so that the water would warm up faster, and Lucy played in that.  It was nice because then she had something to do and we didn't have to worry about her getting swept away into the great big lake!  Lucy got a new babin' suit and I think she was pretty happy with it.  We got some ice cream on the way out and then the kids threw the biggest fits of their lives.  I couldn't believe it!  It was actually pretty embarressing... I was trying to put Lucy in a diaper and she wouldn't stay still, so she was squirming all over the place.  Dude was crying because he wanted to stay... and both of them where beyond tired they really didn't know what to do with themselves.  We pretty much just had to get them changed as quickly as possible and drive away before people started to really stare.

She was much more about the sand this time than last

She was pointing out where Big Brother and Papa were

Dude starting his 'lake'

Realizing that sand doesn't taste that good

Getting adventurous and walking around a bit

Papa and Dude hard at work 

Dudes giving Lucy kisses

She was going to TOWN and splashing splashing splashing!

We paused for a snack but she was having to much fun, so he brought her cup to her.

I think that we are going to take it easy for the next few days.  We have been doing a lot and I know that Lucy has been cutting molars, so she's not been sleeping very well, and Dude is sleep deprived.  He tells me that he's so tired in the morning... but then refuses to nap, so you can imagine how that goes.

A good friend is coming to visit this Saturday to go dress shopping... we have a lot of weddings this summer so this was a good excuse to get together :)  She was going to do the run with me but it got filled up before she could register... :(  So I hope that we can find something good this weekend... I'm sure we will have some ridiculous pictures :)

On a happy note I got a new Mom suit for this summer!  I'm pretty excited about it actually.  So hopefully I don't look terrible in it.  I'll take a picture (maybe) I'm sure that it will show up in the numerous times we are at the beach.

JVG

A visit from the MIL

So, it's been awhile since we've had a visit from Ingrid.  The last time we saw her was at Lucy's birthday party and they had just gotten back from Spain so they were still pretty jet lagged.  The last time I really talked with her was when Zoe was in town and we were trying to get together and I was a bit snarky with her... ever since then she doesn't text me or anything!  I think that she still thinks I'm mad at her, so she doesn't want to face the music.  And I'm not.  There are things about her that drive me crazy... but in small doses I think that God gives me the grace I need to get through.

Today was a really good visit actually.  She came relatively on time (Whoa!) and she was pretty low key. She wasn't feeling that well, and I think that she was still walking a bit on egg shells to test the waters.  We had a nice lunch together (the kids ate their weight in sushi I think).  Sushi was Tristan's request for lunch.  After that I was going to head to capo class so Gaetan, the kids and Ingrid went back to the library.  She said that she was thinking of going home shortly after that so I thought that was it for the visit for me.  It turns out that after the library they started walking the trails and ended up at the 'big playground' (as Tristan calls it).  After I got out of class I called them and they were still playing so I went and picked them up.  They were having a blast!

Lucy loves going down the slide.  She lands right on her feet too!

They were trying to do a train... but then Tristan pushed off before Papa could get behind them.

Oh the kids loved it regardless.

It was a good visit and I know that Tristan was happy to see her.  I hope that this continues!

JVG

Cooking

We have acquired a 'new' toy for the kids... its a kitchen set that DJ and Hannah were so gracious to part with.  haha.  While we were there the kids flocked to it and played really hard with it and DJ and Hannah said they were looking to get rid of it!  So, it was a win win for everybody.  :)

We have set it up in the play room and the kids can't get enough of it.  They are SILLY.  We put their sushi kit, stir fry, tea set, and ice cream cones up there and they have a blast.  Tristan made us some stir fry soup, and we've had a lot of tea.  :)  We got EXTRA silly today after dinner... check it out.

WARNING:  My kids are extra cute so you might be blinded by their cuteness.  Also, Lucy is naked.

Kiddos cooking.

Duder was giving Papa his creation and Momma and Lucy were getting ready to make the next round.

It was delicious stir fry.

Dude trying it.

And of course Lucy gets some too!

Dude and Momma getting extra wild with the stir fry... see the white blurs? Mushrooms flying!

Afterwards we needed some tea

And it's a good way to show you're done by putting the bowl on your head right?

Oops... Goose was about to shut her hand in Dude's dresser...

But it was all better by a little tickling

Sweet sweet baby girl

Dude adding his own touch to the stir fry... ice cream.

Lucy giving it a try.

I love that I am able to play with the kids!  We like to get silly and use our imagination.  Lots of laughter and love going on in his play room.  :)

JVG