Hip Hop 5K Erie

     I'm excited to say that I've been away for a variety of exciting reasons; planning a 5K, prepping for my little sister's wedding, buying our first home and planning vacation.
     You read that right! The Hip Hop 5K is coming to Erie, PA! It's this coming weekend but it's not too late to donate or sign up to participate! Any donation helps and just think, if 50 people were to donate their $5 coffee for just one day that would be $250! If they rounded their donations up to $10 that would be $500! You get the point, small amounts add up quickly!
     Do me a favor and if you aren't able to participate, consider donating. The proceeds all go to the International Hip Dysplasia Institute so that more cases of hip dysplasia can be caught and treated. Together we can, together we will!
     Find the link to the website here, there are options to register yourself or a team as well as to make a donation. Hip Hop 5K Erie registration Website.

I Scream,You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

     It was finally nice enough for our first walk into town to get ice cream! The kids were so happy that we were going to get ice cream and I was happy that we got to be outside for more than the walk from the door to the car! Big Brother walked and held the handle on the stroller pretty well when we were close to the road and ran a little crazy when we were closer to our house. He used up a lot of energy and asked for ice cream with sprinkles when we got there. 

She made this face with every bite she took!

SPRINKLES!

     Froggie ended up grabbing her ice cream and then crying because her hands were cold. Big Brother told her over and over that she was ok and even offered to share his ice cream with her. For how crazy he is most of the time he's always surprising me with how sweet he is in situations you wouldn't expect from a 3 year old. 

     He walked and talked to Froggie on the way home and then tried explaining to me this crazy move Hubby taught him that's hard work. It kind of looked like a cross between a squat and some weird superhero pose. After the third or fourth time he did it I asked if I could take a picture and he agreed (which is rare).

Walking together

Here's his pose!

Is it Spring Yet?

     So with the four letter word floating around in the forecast we took it upon ourselves to enjoy some very spring like weather today. We let the kids wear their spring jackets when we went to the Y and Froggie didn't want to come inside! She kept "running" for the yard, I can't wait to see her running around once we actually thaw out!

How they start their day...

I wanna go out there!

Froggie's Final Birthday Celebration

     Today was Froggie's turn to celebrate her birthday at Chick-fil-a. We got up and ready and headed up to Chick-fil-a and got settled. We've been there for an event once a month since december so we're getting pretty good at this! We got all settled in and had breakfast and Cow came out. Froggie seemed to like the cow better last time when it was dressed as a princess but she was pretty interested in it this time too (until it was time for her to go see him herself!).
     She really seems to enjoy her newfound mobility and walked all over the restaurant and play area after she ate and cow brought her a gift of a little cow and red ball. Unfortunately both Hubby and I thought that the other had her little cow (which she really like and made him dance around and walked around with him) and he was left behind. I e-mailed the wonderful woman in charge of the events and she is holding on to her cow until Monday when Hubby is going to stop in and pick him up.

Froggie and her sign

Big Brother with his breakfast

The boys

Happy Froggie with her gift

Big Brother got a ball too

Making Cow dance

Making Cow dance

Chicken dance

getting an autograph from Cow

games

Froggie with Cow

walking around with her cow

play area

sliding

Trying to join Big Brother

checking everything out

Showing Froggie what everything does

Froggie found a froggy!

     After Froggie's birthday breakfast we headed to Big Brother's last tumbling class. He has a lot of fun before class starts playing around on the equipment but when class starts he runs around and does everything but what he's supposed to. He has a lot of fun and it seems to be a "boy thing" to just explore while the girls seem to do better at following directions. Froggie also had fun wandering around too and meeting some of the younger kids from the earlier class.

Jumping around

Walking around meeting new friends

Checking everything out

Rocking

enjoying his time rocking

No More Cabin Fever!

     With the SUPER COLD weather and snow that we've had (not anything we aren't used to, but an annoyance none the less) we haven't left the house much. Froggie doesn't have snow pants (and we can't find Big Brother's old ones) so we don't go out to play in the snow much which means that we spend A LOT of time in the house.
     I think at this point we have all started to experience a little cabin fever. We leave for school every day but then once we come home re rarely leave the house. Big Brother gets pretty rambunctious since there isn't a lot of "run around space" where he isn't running over Froggie, a dog, or me.
     Today we went to tumbling like normal but decided to get out of the house in the afternoon as well. However, Big Brother decided he didn't want to go with us. He normally doesn't get a choice but my mom said he could stay with her. So Hubby, Froggie and I headed to the mall, a place we typically don't go to unless we need something so it was kind of a strange trip all around.

Testing out the set up for tumbling

Playing with Froggie before tumbling started

Hula Hoop

Hula Hoop!

     Our first stop was the craft store where we picked up some yarn for some new projects, some St. Patrick's Day craft materials and Hubby even picked out a pretzel baking kit. Then we walked around to a few other stores and picked up some small stuff (including some much needed coffee) before heading into the book store. They didn't have the book that Hubby was looking for but we got Big Brother an AWESOME dry erase work book, and we started heading back for our car.

Mmmm Oatmeal cookie from Starbucks!

     Froggie got antsy in the stroller asked to get down so we let her out and she walked a pretty long stretch of the mall holding hands with either Hubby or I. 

Walking at the mall

     When we got home we had pizza and gave Big Brother his new book, which he started using right away and did REALLY well with. He's a lefty so Hubby and I have some issues teaching him since we're both right handed. While he worked in his book Hubby and I made some pretty delicious pretzels! They turned out a lot better than I thought they would. Overall it was a nice change to sitting inside, but now I have some yarn to use up!

Big Brother testing out his new book.

pretzels before

pretzels after

Wordless Wednesday

Blowing kisses

It was a pigtail kind of day

Where did my baby go?

     In less than 12 hours Froggie will officially be 1 year old! Here are some last shots of Froggie as an 11 month old.

last day before she's a one year old

last day before she's a one year old

last day before she's a one year old

Walking?!

     Froggie turned 11 months old on New Years Day and up until recently she had no real interest in walking. If we tried to hold her hands and have her walk with us she would pull her feet up or try to get back on the floor. I remember Big Brother being so much more interested in walking so it made me a little worried that maybe her disinterest was linked to pain, discomfort or an issue with her hips that wasn't resolved by her time in her harness.
     Well, for the past few days she's been pretty willing to walk while holding someone's hands so I decided to introduce her to one of the "walking toys" at work. You know, the things with a TON of toys on them or shaped like animals that kids can sit on or push while learning to walk. She LOVED it!

moving all around!

     To show Hubby how well she did we dug out Big Brother's old one (which doesn't roll very well so she really just slid it around the kitchen, Big Brother already decided he wanted to get her something like this for her birthday). Maybe she'll be right on track with walking as well, though milestones regarding movement are always a little hard for me because I'm not sure if her hips will hold her back anywhere.

Cruising around the kitchen

concentrating!

October 5K Day

     Today was our 5K for the month of October. We headed out to Hermitage House to participate in their "Heart to Home" Festival. This is the 5th year they have done a 5K and even though I've been working with their art club for the last few years I have had a variety of reasons not to do the 5K. As part of my decision to do at least one 5K a month I knew that I would do this 5K this year.
     We came away with one of our best times (even though it wasn't the fastest overall). We finished in about 46 minutes AND Big Brother ran approximately half of it. This is the first time we've let him run more than a few hundred feet since our first 5K in July which took us over an hour to complete. We bought him brand new running shoes yesterday so he was REALLY ready to run this morning!
     It was nice to see a lot of people we haven't seen for awhile and I'm really proud that Big Brother likes to run. After the 5K there was live music, a chinese auction, hay rides, pony rides, games, food, and a lot more. We tried our luck at the chinese auction and Big Brother got to ride a horse for the second time in a month all while Froggie slept! She woke up briefly but did spend the majority of our morning asleep in the stroller.
     I must say that I have a new found appreciation for the people I see running along the side of the road! Today's 5K was ran primarily on dirt roads and the side of the road. It's A LOT harder to run in the dirt and over rocks and dips than it is to run on the pavement. Hubby thinks he bruised his foot because he's still getting accustomed to his Vibrams.
     We did a lot of running around this afternoon and the kids were exhausted this evening. I'm finding that the more time we spend out and about the harder it is for me to stay awake in the evenings and I've been falling asleep holding Froggie quite a bit.
     Right now she's keeping me company snuggled up on the couch cushion beside me. I suppose at some point she will have to sleep in her crib but I love snuggling her so much and it's nice not to have to worry that when she wakes up to eat that she'll wake up Big Brother too.

Before the race

Our view while we ran

Running with a 2 year old can be fun

Hubby and the stroller

After the race

Showing off his shirt and shoes w/a mouth full of banana 

Waiting to ride the horse

Going for a ride

He did a great job!