Memorial Weekend... a visit from Hockey Ross

Ok, so this is over a week old now but I'll post it with pics and minimal words. Hockey Ross came back to visit over Memorial Weekend. Ryan was the most attached to Hockey Ross this trip. Reid was busy playing outside, etc but Ryan didn't want him out of his sight when he was home. He's REALLY missed him. (well, almost as much as Russ and I. Russ joked around about him being as excited as Ryan was).

The weekend went by way too fast but we had a great time. We made it out to Independence to watch him play twice, Russ and Ross went to a movie (Hangover 2), we went to our pool and we played in the back yard.

Ross - clearly didn't know how to pack for KS in May:

Ryan climbing out of the pool. The water was cold but it didn't seem to both Reid or Ryan:

Hockey Ross sitting on the edge playing with Ryan until Ryan started thinking about dumping the bucket of water on Ross:

Hockey Ross throwing dive rings for Reid:

Ryan chilling out for a while, didn't last long:

Later that day we were out back playing bubbles. Reid had a motorized bubble thing and Ross was trying to figure out how to use it but kept facing it backwards and blowing the bubbles in his face. We tried to show him how to blow on a wand but he just stuck it on his mouth... the kid ate a LOT of soap that day, but didn't seem to mind:

And last but not least - Ross

Hmmm... I'm sensing a theme here, but Ross is also pretty much non-stop. I think Ryan probably has him beat at activity level but Ross is certainly more work. He's perfected the high pitch, shrill scream that makes us stop and start handing him whatever he wants as a means to save what little hearing ability we have left.

He's mastering more and more these days. One of our favorite games (and means of distraction) is to ask him where his body parts are. He currently knows hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, neck, tummy, fingers, hands, feet, and toes. He LOVES dogs, birds and turtles so we also often mention these or start looking for these to distract him. He says "turtle" in the cutest way. I might have to try and get a video of it sometime. I also love the way he says Lola (our neighbors dog) and koala. His vocabulary is getting pretty extensive to mention every word. He definitely has Reid and Ryan down but is usually hollering for "Ryan" (he might have picked up that habit from us... oops).

Luckily we're also finally getting out of the stage of crying for 20 minutes when we put him to bed. He's now back to going to bed like a champ although that could have more to do with the fact that he's getting to bed closer to 8:30 and spending tons of time "side" (outside)... another favorite of his. Here's one night where he was ready to put himself to bed:

Speaking of "side" here's a couple of great pictures of him playing outside. He loves to ride around on this scooter. Only problem is that after a while it gets really old pushing him around on it :)

Inserted random pic here, just took this one morning I was taking all of the boys' pictures:

I picked up this little blue chair as am impulse buy one day. It was $5 and I thought Ross would like it. I put it back for a night that we were going to have company thinking it would keep him busy. It didn't work that night but he's had fun playing with it since then... and sitting in it to watch some tv. (oh, and standing up on it trying to rock it)

See that face in the picture above? Now when he sees my camera he is saying "cheese" and making this face. Here's another one. This is from the day of our party and my house was clean. Meal time is VERY messy at our house right now so I took Ryan and Ross out to Mimi's cafe for lunch. I had never been there before but had some "free" coupons so I thought it would be a cheap lunch. I don't think that's the type of place you take a 4 year old and 19 month old solo but we had fun. Only one table asked to be moved away from us... but as I told my mom, that lady had a stick up her butt anyway :) HA HA. The boys were really good, Ross was just kind of loud... ok, really loud for a few seconds when we sat down. When they brought out our appetizer (had a free coupon) he said "oooh" really loud too!

It's no secret that Russ and I spend a good deal of time on our computers. Russ basically uses his office as home base and can be found in there most hours of the day if we are at home. I leave my laptop open a lot of the time and check in on my e-mail and facebook quite frequently. Recently we also got a webcam from Aunt Courtney and after over a month I finally got it hooked up and we have been using Skype with her. We are having a lot of fun with it too. Any time Ross sees me on my computer he comes over and starts yelling "Hi Caca, Hi Caca"... not real good with Courtney yet.

Anyway, back to my story. Ross recently found a toy laptop of Reid's and he loves to play with it. The other day when I was getting dinner ready he was on his laptop on the floor of the kitchen:

And just to be clear. I am quite positive that neither Russ nor I have ever laid on the floor of the kitchen to use our computers!

(Hope you have enjoyed these three updates of the boys) One more promised update this week on our Memorial Weekend and a visit from Hockey Ross.

Ryan...

On to Ryan... oh Ryan, where do I start? LOL. Ryan has really grown up a lot over the last couple of months - but he's still going 100 mph any time he is awake. That's just Ryan. He wakes up ready to go and he doesn't stop until he hits a wall - and then he is out to the world!

Here's a picture of Ryan at his last soccer game. FINALLY we got Ryan to play soccer and he's great at it! He has so much fun. The little boy in the background of the picture with dark hair is our neighbor, Andrew. I think getting on a team that Andrew was on really helped and Ryan had a great coach too. In the last game his team dominated the other team, 16 - 0, and Ryan scored 10 of the goals. I have a bunch of great videos from the game so I will do a whole other post on his soccer one day when I am at work (the videos upload faster there).

After we had such success with soccer, I signed Ryan up for tball. He was hesitant for a second at his first practice but then jumped right in and listened and participated really well. Here he is waiting in line (third from the back) to run the bases at practice.

He did really well in his game too. He started down really crouched down like the first picture but after a little coaching (and Russ had been working with him at home too)... he figured out the right 'ready' position. He was one of the most dynamic players on the team (shocking, I know). He got the ball several times and threw it to first base each time. His hitting could use some work but he did just fine. He was safe at first each time. The last picture shows his hit and him taking off to first.

Textbook ready position!! We showed him this picture a few times :)

This picture is just one we took one morning getting around... hair hadn't been brushed yet... but he was all for having his picture taken and I thought he looked so big!

Here is a great example of him hitting the wall. Several days a week he falls asleep on the way home from Beth's house and sleeps in the vehicle in the garage for a while and then we move him in to the couch where he typically stays completely passed out. He slept until 7 pm a couple of nights and then still went to bed around 8:30. When he's tired, he's done!

And lastly, this was actually just from last night. Hockey Ross, Reid, Ryan and I were watching some cartoon before bed time. We just got this cot out the night before and Ryan is really enjoying it. He's now slept on it beside his bed the last two nights. Here he has it in front of the tv in his most favorite tv watching position... yep, he's ALL BOY!

Updates on Reid

I have a lot of updates to do. I'm going to try and do them all this week... so stay tuned!

I'll start with Reid. He is officially out of school for the summer. Reid ended the school year on a pretty positive note. The month of May included only one 'yellow' day for Reid at school. His end of the year testing was phenomenal and he had a great report card. He scored a 4 in all of his subjects which in our grade card world means that he can complete all of the work without assistance. He also had an end of the year reading assessment on which he scored out at a QRI 5 level... basically, he's reading at a 5th grade level. His teacher approached me the week before school was out and discussed the possibility of testing him at the beginning of 2nd grade for the Qwest program (our school's gifted program)... now if only we could get him to listen and pay attention!

He did come home from school with a summer packet of activities to complete over the summer and was eager to check off 'read in the bath with a pillow.' We'll see if he's as eager to check things off in August...

Here are some pictures from Reid's field day that I took. They play games ALL day long and then have an assembly at the end of the day where the kids that raised a certain amount of money get to either be dunked or dunk someone in the dunk tank. Reid picked to be dunked by his teacher... which they both really enjoyed.

Reid also finished out hockey and soccer for the spring season. He's playing baseball right now and getting ready to start karate. On tap for the summer - he's got boy scout camp, swimming lessons, an enrichment class, and of course our family vacation.

This picture was from one of his last soccer games... isn't he getting tall?

Updates in an abbreviated fashion...

WOW, it's been a while, huh? Life is FLYING by these days. Here are a few updates, coupled with camera phone pictures.

1. Ryan continues to surprise us with how mature he is getting these days. Still, in Ryan fashion, he has been going 100 mph at most times (hmmm... I wonder where he gets that). He has been playing SOO hard at Beth's that this picture is what he looks like most nights when we get home from daycare. He is typically so sound asleep that I leave him in the van for a while or bring him in and leave him on the couch for a while. Last night he slept until 7pm and then still went to bed at 9pm and slept "almost" all night (he ended up in my bed at 4:30am).

Ryan also continues to do really well at soccer. Last weekend he had FOUR goals in his game. He really seems to be quite a natural in soccer with great control of the ball. Next week is his first tee ball practice and we're hoping he takes to playing baseball like he has soccer as well.

2. Reid is still busy with hockey, soccer and baseball right now. He has three weekends of hockey left and four of soccer. Last week he had two goals in soccer, hit a great line drive in baseball, and had a rough hockey game. His baseball season is just getting started. His team got a sponsor and they bought them these jerseys. They are the Robinnette Jackhammers and they look pretty sharp:

Oh, and 46 got his new hockey stick in the mail as well...

3. Last weekend I finished my spring races with a half marathon in Lincoln, NE. I finished in 2:07:40. I was running with the 2:05 group but they took off too fast and I just couldn't keep up. I ended up taking a 30 second walk break and a 60 second walk break. Then I realized I was still on pace to PR and I shouldn't have walked. Oh well, lesson learned. It was a good race and a great bus trip/weekend. And I feel like I learned a lot from the mistakes I made.

This picture is of the finish line on the 50yard line of the Nebraska stadium. It's not of me, I took this of a friend that was finishing the full marathon but figured the picture reminded me of the experience anyway.

Russ and I have an 8 hour adventure race tomorrow and then I have a couple of planned 5Ks but nothing else major planned until Chicago in October. I'm taking May pretty light and then in June I am starting my Chicago training!!

4. Last week Ross turned 18 months old. He is SOO much fun right now. And by "fun" I do also mean that he is wearing his mom and dad out many nights :) He is into everything and knows what he wants, when he wants it. He's starting to talk more and more. At his 18 month well-child check up the doctor said that he's at a developmental level of a 24 month old. He's STILL very into his dad... He likes both of us a lot when he hasn't seen us for the day - I LOVE picking him up from daycare... BUT, you should see him react when he hasn't seen his dad for a while. The kid wants nothing but being held by his dad.

We're storing this bench for a friend that is trying to sell her house and he loves sitting up to the table at it. He's such a big boy!

5. May 4th was Russ and I's NINE year wedding anniversary. We're officially 'old and comfortable'... we didn't really do much. He had a happy hour for work and it was a week night. We are; however, doing an 8 hour adventure race together this weekend and it's actually something we both enjoy doing together... so, that's our date day!

6. School's almost out!! I'm very ready for the break from homework, schedules, waking the boys up etc. With school finishing soon, they have been doing end of the year testing. Reid's teacher pulled me aside Thursday while I was at the school volunteering. I had noticed when I arrived at the school that he is now sitting alone at the back of the classroom. The rest of the class' desks are grouped and he is off solo. So, when approached, I was expecting yet another discussion about the fact that he can't leave other kids alone and doesn't pay attention during work time. Luckily, his teacher was approaching me to discuss his testing. She had tested Reid the day before on his reading level and was impressed that he passed the QRI 5 level (5th grade). She said that most kids don't pass this particular test as it is a non-fiction book about the Earth and has some difficult comprehension questions but he passed them all. She is going to speak with his second grade teacher and refer him for testing into the gifted program next year. We are VERY proud of him. However, just to keep us grounded... he IS still mis-behaving in the classroom. As I was leaving the school that day I peeked back into his classroom and he was putting his finger up to a kid's face sitting next to him to see how close he could get his finger to his nose without touching him!

A few updates

I know... I have been a VERY bad blogger lately. And I don't really have much to say. Here are a few snippets of updates from the McDowell's.

1. The boys are BUSY right now (therefore, mom and dad are busy)! Reid is currently juggling soccer, baseball, spring hockey, and boy scouts. Ryan is playing soccer on Sunday's. Ross, well he's BUSY in his own kind of way.. and it might be the most exhausting of everything. Ryan is doing VERY well in soccer. He's had two games and he has played hard in both games and scored goals in both. There has been absolutely no hesitance, shyness, or whining. Of course we are over the moon excited that he has decided to do SOMETHING. He's really come a long way the last couple of months.

2. Russ and I are still trying to be as active as we can. Russ is back to his bootcamp workouts at our gym on Mon, Wed and Fri mornings. Last weekend he ran a 2 hour orienteering race. Results HERE. He got 2nd place out of 22 people. Of course he was slightly disappointed because he had a plan to go for one more checkpoint (20 points) and that would have put him in first place but he decided to play it safe and get back to the finish. There were penalties if you didn't finish in 2 hours. But still... a fantastic finish!!

3. I am FINALLY getting over the stiffness from my Rock the Parkway half that I already wrote about. Just in time... I am pacing another half marathon THIS Saturday. This one should be a relatively easy pace (2:25) if the weather cooperates... current forecast calls for the 30s (NOT FAIR!) I was sure hoping my winter running gear was put up for good, or at least for the season. Then I have my Lincoln half marathon in two weeks (May 1) and then Russ and I are doing an 8 hour orienteering race on May 7th and my mom & I are going to walk the Mother's Day 5K on May 8th. That will complete my spring events and I'm going to take it easy for a month before getting into full training mode in June for the Chicago marathon in October!

4. We stopped weighing in at work for the time being but for anyone that cares or follows along I have not turned into a blimp just yet. My weight has held pretty steady around 165 but my running has helped me with some more muscle tone. I am officially in a pair of size 10 slacks today that I haven't worn since (MUCH) before Ross was born. Maybe there is hope that I can get back in my wardrobe after all! 10 more pounds (for now)!

5. The weather here has been FABULOUS the last week or two. The boys have played outside for hours and exhausted themselves. We usually come in for dinner and showers and Ross is ready for bed shortly after and Ryan is usually not far behind. He has fallen asleep on a couple of nights before we've even made it to 8:00 bedtime. I'm SOO ready for summer!

And of course... what everyone really wants... pictures of the boys (all taken with my phone - I need to get my camera back out):

Ross was eating some dry cereal out of a ziploc bag before Ryan's soccer game... of course he crushed the cereal into small pieces and them dumped the whole bag out! He's an animal I tell you, a complete mess...

Speaking of eating, have I mentioned that he does it nonstop? He is definitely happiest when he has some kind of food. Here he is trying a plum... and he liked it:

Ross is learning real quick that as the third boy in the family he's going to get taken along to many sporting events. And Reid is learning as the oldest that he has to help out :) This was right before going to Reid's soccer game and we had Reid put some sunscreen on Ross' face. It is not unusual at this time for us to go from a soccer game in the sun and then bundle up and head to a hockey game at the rink... preparation has been the key! Oh, that and the cooler that I bought that we are stocking all the time with drinks & snacks.

Ryan and his friend Andrew waiting for their game to begin...

And just to have a decent picture of Reid, here he is on the day they took spring pictures at school. I wasn't going to buy any but then they turned out really cute so I had to buy a few.

Momma "Rocked" the Parkway

I wrote a recap last year when I ran the Rock the Park 10K. You can read it HERE. So I decided to recap the race again. This year I ran the half marathon. The race sold out at 6,500 people this year (double the amount of people that ran last year). The organizers did a great job dealing with the race on a much larger scale.

I've actually felt pretty relaxed running lately and my times are getting a little faster naturally... BUT... I've been fighting this dreaded "drainage" for WEEKS. I've done mucinex, allergy medicine, a round of antibiotics... and NOTHING is working. The mucinex seems to do the best job but it leaves me with a very dry mouth - not fun when you're trying to run 13.1 miles. Anyway, I knew I needed a clear set of pipes to run well so I took all of it Saturday morning - Seriously! I had a plan and I wasn't about to let this take me down. So, I got up SUPER early Saturday morning (4:30 am) to try a new morning routine (hot chocolate) and some time to get my body in gear (I'll leave it there). I took allergy medicine, mucinex, my inhaler and some Immodium AD (TMI but I always have stomach issues when I run). I also skipped the pasta on Friday night as I had started to think that was some of my stomach issues from previous races. For dinner Friday night I had half a chicken breast on a small salad. Saturday morning I had a small bowl of chocolate cheerios. I'm not sure which worked but it WORKED! I was able to breathe and I had NO stomach issues.

The weather was PERFECT - 45 degrees and only a slight breeze. It was cold at the start, my toes were actually numb the first mile, but then it was perfect once warmed up. I did the first mile right on pace and felt really good. Then at mile 2 and 3 I was just seconds ahead of where I planned on being. When mile 4's split popped up on my watch I knew I was going way too fast for my planned 2:10 group... and they were quite a few steps behind me. BUT... I felt REALLY good so I just kept going and the miles kept ticking away at pretty even splits.

Around mile 6 I knew that I was on pace for a PR and feeling pretty good so I made up my mind that I was going for it. I felt pretty good until mile 9 and then I started to drag some. I walked through a couple of aid stations and really had to push on mile 11 but then I hit the last two miles and knew that they were both downhill and I was going to hit my PR. I was hurting but I pushed myself through and ran 2:06:17. My best half marathon ever was 2:08:12 and that was in 2007. Last October I ran a 2:12:29 which was my best of the last two years. So, I took 6 minutes off of my time from October!! I was pretty ecstatic and riding a high all day long.

I went directly from my run to Reid's soccer game, lunch and then playing outside with the boys. I actually wasn't able to even shower until 3:00. It was a BUSY day for sure. I went to bed that night at 9:30 and I was ready to be off my feet!

These were my splits:

1 - 10:31

2 - 9:58

3 - 9:45

4 - 9:24

5 - 9:25

6 - 9:24

7 - 9:34

8 - 9:23

9 - 9:42

10 - 9:23

11 - 9:55

12 - 9:30

13 - 9:00

.1 - 8:51

I'm pacing a half on 4/16 in Olathe for the 2:25 group which should be relatively easy for me and then on 5/1 I am going to Lincoln for another half marathon. I'm now in the process of deciding what my attack plan for Lincoln is going to be? Push it? Enjoy it? Pace it?