Winter

Every now and then, I get a few minutes at work while I eat at my desk to look at my favorite websites. Today, I checked our lovely little blog, kept up to date lovingly by Jean, and noticed that we haven't updated it once in 2011. So sad.
But I needed to write a blog post at least once this month, or risk being hounded by friends and family when we see you next.

But let's be honest...we all hibernate a little in January. While we haven't gone so far as to stock up on provisions and bar the doors, we do tend to put our heads down and plow through the winter months, every day thinking more about the sun that will soon warm our faces in the Spring and Summer.

But we have had a couple of things going on this month:
-We have enjoyed several Penn State wrestling matches. Alexander started really liking them last year, and Jean has now attended two matches this year. For those of you who aren't into wrestling, we understand, but on a cold and snowy January afternoon, we have enjoyed watching our recently top-ranked Nittany Lions on the mat. CJ justl looks forward to the popcorn and soda...

-State College hasn't really gotten a big snowfall this year, just several one to three inch coverings. But when the temperature doesn't rise above 30 degrees for the entire month, snow piles up a bit and now we have 6-8 inches on the ground. So this weekend we played in the yard a bit, unsuccessfully tried to make a snowman, and went sledding on our tiny hill in the backyard. Unfortunately, the hill likes to steer sleds directly into our shed, and at one point I pushed CJ down the hill only to have her go head first into the corner of the shed. Needless to say, she immediately wanted to come inside for hot cocoa...

-Jean and I have consumed more than our share of red wine this month. Enough said.

-We signed Alex and CJ up for a wrestling/fitness class Wednesday nights with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. It's fun to watch CJ run around the mats in her socks playing tag with 200 pound behemoths, and equally fun to watch Alex wrestle his buddy Luke after receiving instruction from some serious wrestlers.

-CJ is taking a gymnastics class on Tuesday afternoons. Look for pictures from Jean soon. I think CJ is more excited about wearing a leotard than about the actual gymnastics.

-The Steelers run to the Super Bowl has been tremendously exciting for our family. Alex is a true football fan, watching every game intently. Even more fun to watch are the mock games he plays by himself in the kitchen area, scoring touchdowns and interecepting passes with ease. He even keeps score, and accurately predicted a Steelers victory over the Jets (although his predicted score was Steelers 84, Jets 14). CJ just likes that we make nachos and have soda for every Steelers playoff game. (Do you sense a pattern here?)

-Finally, we've had two events for me this month. I was honored at my final "Dads Are Cool" breakfast at the pre-school earlier this month. The highlight of the breakfast, other than the 4 pancakes that each of our kids ate, was CJ standing on her chair singing the, "Dads are cool, dads are cool, sometimes they bring us to school" song... This past Saturday was the annual "Doughnuts for Dads" event sponsored by the elementary school PTA. Doughnuts and coffee, and a presentation by the general contractor on the elementary school renovation! Good times!

Hope everyone else is surviving this winter without Seasonal Affective Disorder...

Zack

Christmas Follies

What a great two weeks of fun our family has enjoyed. Not sure how to web a cohesive story about all our adventures, so you will have to be happy with the following pictorial review.

My sister Ann joined us for the festivities. We loved having her with us! She was here by Christmas eve and helped all of us gear up for the big day!

Constant checking of Norad's Santa tracking website. They were so in to it. In fact, when they went to bed that night, they begged us to go down and check it so that we knew if he was getting close that we had to hurry and go to bed so that Santa would stop at our house. Too cute!

The Great Debate: How many cookies does Santa eat at every house and how many carrots are the "right" amount. After much back and forth, they settled on six cookies and 8 carrots.

The final picture before going to bed with high hopes and excitement for the daybreak.

Here they are ripping into the big Santa present.

The camera caught this expression as he read the back of the steelers shirt. "Polamalu" -- he was loving it!

Santa brought CJ the "little sister, Purpley" to her Pinky horse (a white stuffed horse with a pink saddle). This gift was on CJ's Santa list for the last 3 months. Let me just say how excited I was that Santa was able to make this toy that CJ dreamed up in her head. It was just right, according to CJ, albeit "smaller" than she was hoping or thought it would be. That's when I reminded her that it was the "LITTLE" sister.

The the next day was spent playing with all the new games. Guess Who was CJ's favorite. While Alexander was all about marathon Uno.

To finally burn some of that energy, we all headed ice skating. This was the first time the kids tried ice skating while it was Ann, Zack and my first time in something like 15 to 30 years. Not sure what was more special about this day: was it the success and fun everyone had ice skating or the fact that CJ was wearing pants???

The Tuesday after Christmas, we headed to visit family. First to Zack's sister to exchange gifts with them and Zack's dad. It was a great visit for the five adults and 8 cousins.

CJ and Saren all dressed up.

Gift exchange, Part Two.

I guess you could call this controlled chaos.

Then we hopped in the car to head to my Mom and Dad's house. Another house full of aunts, grandparents and cousins. The kids were in heaven!!! On Wednesday, Zack and I took the kids and our nephew, Mike, to the Please Touch Museum in Philly. Talk about an interesting place to people watch!! The kids loved all the stuff to push, pull, poke and throw. I was on a mission to find every available Purell station.

This was a cool green-screen, dress up area. I can't believe we got Alexander to wear a pseudo costume!

Curiously, Alexander was the best of our group hula-hooping. He can shake those hips!

This was Flamingo croquet from Alice and Wonderland.

That night it was our last present opening escapade with the cousins and my parents. CJ opened two presents and then declared, "That's all I get?" Nice. That was a proud mommy moment! (Please detect my comment's dripping sarcasm).

These cousins look like they had enough of Christmas. Love the expressions of boredom on all of them.

My Mom and Dad. Always great to see them and spend some quality time.

Aunt Mary came through on this present. CJ opened it and within 2.3 seconds had changed into it. Three days later she is still wearing it. Not sure when I will get it off of her to wash!

We headed home the following day and everyone was a bit exhausted from late nights, early mornings and copious amounts of Christmas stimulation.

Another soon to be classic picture of CJ. Her Aunt Ronece gave her a dress up kit and she just had to put it all on. She stayed like this for most of the afternoon, belting out the lyrics to all of her own made-up songs. Hannah Montana better watch out!

Homework Time

Most people cringe when they hear a homework story coming. It usually involves frustration, confusion, short tempers and occasionally tears. So far, I have been lucky. Homework for a 1st grader is not that tough and my kid seems to like doing it. This fact I will, of course, remind him of in a few short years when teenage melancholy hits.

Alexander has homework Monday through Thursdays and it always include 10 to 15 minutes of reading to me. This is my favorite part. Now the tables are turned... which sadly means no more Goodnight Moon, but I really enjoy a good Berenstain Bears from my 6 year old toothless narrator.

CJ is never to be left out of anything (even homework), so she frequently joins in. She will do a few pages in a preschool workbook, color something, or try to "help". In fact, she is already writing kid-sentences and using punctuation. Sibling rivalry can be an excellent thing --- once harnessed and used for good!!

The other day, I was inspired to document our table-time. I want to remember how cool this time in their and my life is.

They were learning and having fun. Just the way I like it!

Deep thoughts....

Doing homework gets tiring, so a little head rest is apparently needed.

CJ was writing out a number chart from 0 to 100. She completed the whole thing and I was so proud!!! Four Years Old. That's all. She amazes me.

Alexander is doing a subtraction sheet. For some reason, he believes the answers are hidden on the top of his pencil.

Here comes the fun.....

"MUSH FACE"

"FISH LIPS"

Funny CJ

Two things made me laugh today with that sassy 4 year old.

1. Walking in to the HUB (that's the union building) on campus, a group of college students opened the door for us. As I thanked the man for his chivalry, CJ marched in. The three women with him looked at her and said to themselves, "She is sooooo cute".

Four steps later, CJ looks up at me and says,"I think they were talking about me."

I replied, "Yes, I think they were."

2. Playing at home, CJ goes running into the bathroom and announces to me loudly that she is going to go #2. Okay then hurry up and go to the bathroom, I replied (not sure why I always get the notification, but whatever).

Then she screams to me, "Mommy, I just hold my breath to keep the poop up."

What does that even mean? It means I got to laugh again today.

HA!

My first "really old" comment

Today at the bus stop I commented to Alexander and our neighbor's child how I was glad that they didn't have to walk to school in this 20 degree weather. Of course, Alexander replied, "Why?"

Me: Because it is really cold out here and my ears are already freezing. When I was going to school, I had to walk and I remember how cold I was.

Alexander: Did you have cars back then?

Me: {Dramatic pause to absorb my first old comment from my kids, then smile} Yes, honey. I just lived "close" enough to the school that they made me walk.

Alexander: Oh.

Christmas Season

It's only one week after Thanksgiving and our time has been filled with Christmas activities for the kids. The tree was decorated by that following Sunday by the kids, the decorations were hung with care around the house with their help and they have been diligent about counting down the days on their advent calendars in the morning when they awake.

Thursday we ventured out in the cold to see the downtown's annual tree lighting, the next night we went to our church's Advent Family Fun Night where the kids have a great time seeing friends, eating pizza, and doing Christmas crafts. They make those wonderful, hand-made ornaments that I will especially treasure when they are off at their first year of college.

Then we headed to a local Elf's Gift Shop. This event takes the kids with the help of the girl scout troop around to a vendor fair to pick out secret gifts for mom/dad/sister/brother/etc. They love this event. Although I am fairly certain that CJ will not be able to keep my present a secret. She keeps telling me "hints". Soon I suspect that she will just say, "Here's a hint Mommy: It's a necklace" or something to that effect.

Next weekend, I am taking CJ to The Nutcracker. Since her recent statements to "what I want to be when I grow up" question have been that she wants to be a ballerina and a teacher... or teach ballet, I think it is time she actually see some ballet. Stay tuned.

We received our first Christmas card on Saturday and I talked to a friend who just mailed hers out that day. Wow. Cards are always thought of as such a chore of the holiday season for me.

It's all the effort of the project: gathering the addresses, writing special notes inside and then picking up the stamps. But I sat down today to work on it, nonetheless. I have a huge storage bin of cards from years past. I mostly keep them so that I can go through and capture addresses to send to people the current year. Plus, it just feels weird to trash something people took time to mail to you.

I decided to go through all of them today. I will admit that it made me sort of melancholy if not a bit sad seeing the pictures of little cousins and children of friends who have grown up so much, seeing my plump pregnancy pose with CJ in my belly and Alexander on my lap, reading the notes from friends that we have moved away from and lost touch. Time passes. People move on. Loved ones pass on.

As I gathered up the mountain of cards from the last 5 years for the recycling bin it made me realize that everyday, not just the 4 weeks of Christmas cheer, I must love those who I have in my life today and remember to thank God for having blessed me with them in my life.

Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy the Season and hopefully you'll get a card in the mail soon...

Great Fall Day

Although we have mainly been busy on the weekends with Penn State football (Yeah!! 400 wins... booo: Ohio State), we did find sometime to do some yard work. We also had some good old fashioned fun jumping in leaves and pine needles with the kids. Here's a peak into that day:

Halloween on 10/28??

While I could go on and on about how ridiculous it is that the local government can dictate when "trick or treat" will occur versus the timeless tradition of doing it on HALLOWEEN, October 31st, I will save you from my heated rant and just tell you what a wonderful day Thursday, October 28th was in our household.

Zack got home a bit early and decided that the kids needed to make their jack-o-lanterns. Since this is an activity I abhor, I was happy to take pictures and make dinner.


Alex was not excited about pulling out the guts, but was told he had to at least do a couple of handfuls. You can see what he thought about that.

Meanwhile CJ had no problem with the gooey innards.

I was pleasantly surprised how fast and easy this project went. The kids cleaned out most of their pumpkins, helped saw off the eyes/nose/mouth and clean up. Wow, they really are growing up so fast!!!

Then it was off to trick-or-treat. Since there are only two other houses on our street and only one house that looks forward to seeing us, we did a quick candy call at their house and headed over to a friend's neighborhood.

Princess Leia and Darth Vader ready to roll with their jack-o-lanterns behind them.


Here they are at the friends' house. We had a great cast from The Empire Strikes Back and then SuperGirl to boot! We were out for about an hour and half and then we called it quits. I am not sure if the kids were colder or the parents, but we were all happy to get inside and start enjoying their treasures!

Here comes the candy!

Today started the quest for the most candy accumulated in a 4 day period.

CJ went with a friend from school to the Villages at Penn State, which is a assisted living residence. Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Princess Leia made the rounds and scored well.

Here is Keira and CJ -- the Princesses.

Then I took CJ to Zack's office to trick-or-treat. As always, the ladies in the office offered her lollipops (which she and Alex can get without costumes) and some DELICIOUS peanut butter chocolate things.

CJ with Old Main behind her. This is SOOO going on her college application in 14 years.

Tonight is the real deal. We are going out with some friends and I am sure that we will have more than we could ever consider eating. In fact, I think I still have some from last year in the cabinet.

Alex-O-Lantern

Alex lost his other front tooth on Monday. Just in time for Halloween.....


Just kidding.... Here's the real toothless grin:

While Zack was racing, we had Fall Fun Fest!

The kids and I had such a wonderful Fall weekend at my sisters. Zack was there, of course, but he was doing his pre-race and race-day activities. The kids did miss their final soccer games, but when we told them they would be spending the time with their cousins, not a single fuss was made.


Alex is in full-on Jack adoration mode. He LOVES his older cousin. I am not sure what he loves more about Jack -- his ability to play football with him or watch him play DS or computer games. I doesn't much matter since Alex has a fabulous time and we don't even see him until we are ready to leave.


Meanwhile, CJ and her cousin Nathan are attached at the hip. With only 6 months difference in age, they play together so very well and constantly. Here they both are enjoying the 3rd hay ride of the day.


On Saturday, we took the kids to my sister's friend's farm for a fall-fest. The kids got to ride ponies, run through a corn maze, pet farm animals, do a apple sling-shot, and enjoy the beautiful weather. Here they are taking a quick rest between activities.


My reluctant rider. I had to "convince" him to ride since Jack was not going to do it (Jack is a tween and totally not into THAT!). Alex did enjoy it... much to his chagrin.


This cowgirl was in HEAVEN. She rode both horses for a total of 4 times. I see lessons in the near future.

The kids loved petting the week-old calves. For cows, they really were very cute.

Back at Aunt Mary's the fun continued. She really does have an amusement park out back. The huge playset hardly even gets used when you have a big sand/dirt pit to dig in and ....

Hay rides around the property. Here's Mike on "his" tractor taking us around the yard.

The happy riders in back. I don't know what Zack is doing in this picture but his face and Ripley's seem to be the same!

Here's my mom. Doesn't she look fabulous? She is doing weight watchers and just slimming down to a mere fraction of her former self. I am so proud of her!

Here's my Dad. The grandkids call him Mr. BigHands. You can see why.

So your wife just completed a multi-sport race, get off the couch!

That's pretty much how it all started. Literally the day Jean was off rocking the Dewey Beach Triathlon, I was sitting on the couch after putting the kids to bed and started looking for some motivation of my own. I checked the calendar, looked at a couple of web sites, and came upon an Adventure Race that worked for the calendar. And Bonus!, the race was just miles from Jean's sister's and parent's house. Thus, an adventure race weekend was born.

For some background, 10 years ago (or thereabouts) I convinced my friend Henry to try an adventure race with me. An adventure race is a multi-sport race like a tri, but usually with paddling a canoe instead of the swimming leg. And adventure races are usually off-road (think mountain biking and trail running). Well, Henry and I haven't raced together in years, and neither of us were or are in the shape we were 10 years ago. But we were both looking to put a date on the calendar to serve as workout motivation, and so we agreed to give this race a try.

Now this race, menacingly called THE EDGE, was a little different and a little longer than any I had completed before. This was a 6 hour race, with "approximately" 5 miles of running, 5 miles of canoeing, and 10 miles of mountain biking. With a total of 5 weeks of "training" under my belt, I thought for sure we would finish in about 3 hours. How wrong I was!



We show up to the race and are given a map of the park. Then we are told that each team has to designate a runner to compete in a Prologue. Pretty simple, right? I have learned that nothing is ever simple in an adventure race. The Prologue consists of running 250 yards to a point and back, and then running into waste deep water (it's mid-October in Pennsylvania!) to pick up your passport, which will determine what order you complete the legs. Ready, set, go! Needless to say, I am happy I brought an extra pair of shoes, socks, and shorts...

On the map are 17 points marked F1-F5, B1-B7, and C1-C5. The deal is that you just have to stamp your passport at each of these checkpoints in any order you determine.



The catch is that they are spread out all over the park, and that for the canoe, one of the checkpoints is 150 yards uphill from the water, and the passport has just been attached to the canoe. Ever portage a canoe 150 yards uphill right after you've run a mile and a half over a small mountain just to get to the canoe? I never had either until Sunday! And we paid for the chance to do this!



Oh, one other thing about adventure races - there are always "special tests" or obstacles. This race included 2 special tests in which Henry had to carry me around on his back (I am so thankful I lost some weight earlier this year). And it included one where you had to climb up and over a 15 foot tall cargo net. This is some serious adult fun.



As you can see in the pictures, we had a great time and smiled throughout the race and after. We completed this race in 4 hours 53 minutes and traveled about 20 total miles with some serious elevation gain and loss.

We are already planning for a couple of races next year, with the goal of trying a 24 hour, 100 mile race next summer.

Sounds like fun, right?