Ugly Sweater Day

Friday December 13th we had “Ugly Sweater Day” at work. It was fun to see everyone get into it. For those that didn’t I brought my bag of goodies that we used last year for our Christmas photo booth…I had hat, reindeer ears, extra sweaters, noses, etc for those who need some festiveness!

This is a few of us from my office! I even had red & white stripe boot socks! My sweater is compliments of my Grandma…she made in {in the ‘90s}!

These guys won! They went out & bought red pants, socks, and those “fabulous” sweaters the night before. SO funny!!

December Randoms

Adelyn helped me decorate her tree this year and she’s so proud of it! Thankfully she’s very gentle with her ornaments and little brother didn’t bother her tree or the big one in the living room (SO thankful!)

She wanted a picture with the green tree too!

Early December we got out Adelyn’s walker for Avery to use and he LOVED it! I should have remembered to get it out weeks sooner. It’s so fun to watch him go, he gets SO excited!

On December 8th I had nursery at church, so I got to hang out with these 2 cuties! Love coordinating their outfits. Adelyn’s dress was from last year and is more like a tunic this year! And it worked out that the boutique was making the reindeer shirts again so I got one for Avery! They are from Pumpkin Butter kids, another favorite!

On December 14th we had supper at our friends Chris & Sarah’s house. They have 2 kids, Tricia & Justus who happen to be right around our kids’ age! So fun to have friends to experience this parenting thing with!

After Christmas at Kyle’s parents {12.21.13} we drove through our local Christmas lights display. Avery was sound asleep in his carseat and we let Adelyn sit up front with us so she had a good view. She LOVED it!  Seeing Christmas through her eyes this year has given me a new love for this joyous season!

I attempted to get their picture one night before bed in their Christmas PJs and it just wasn’t my night!

December 23rd was our first day of Christmas break. The kids went to daycare and Mommy finished Christams shopping & wrapping and the crockpot made supper. We had lasagna…think they liked it? Ha!

Omaha Thanksgiving

Tuesday evening when the kiddos were ready for bed we hit the road for Omaha. All 3 of my sisters and their families spent the weekend at Stef & Geoff’s. Wednesday was low key. It was fun for Lily & Adelyn to have some fun, girl cousin time!

The kids slept horrible on Wednesday night which equaled a tired Mommy & Daddy (and a couple of cranky kiddos!). Despite that though my sisters and I prepared a great meal. I sure do love these 3 beautiful girls!

This is Lily’s “castle”! The kids had fun playing Thursday morning while us girls were busy cooking (and keeping an eye on the kiddos).

Kyle & Matt enjoyed some football. Matt is a big Packers fan and they played Thanksgiving day…hence the all the green garb!

Aunt Wendi had the touch with Avery. He is so clingy right now and has to be held ALL the time. Thanks to Aunt Wendi he got in a good nap before lunch!

We had ham, scalloped corn, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, dinner rolls, strawberry pretzel salad, and pumpkin pie. Yes I know, no turkey, but none of us are big turkey fans, so ham it was! Delish!

Lily, Hayden, & Adelyn even had their own table. So fun!

Its such a shame that this lil girl has no personality! Ha! She has the best expressions!

For Christmas I got the cousins matching Christmas PJs from SheShe Made! I decided to give them their jammies at Thanksgiving so they could get the most wear out of them before Christmas.

Love these four littles SO much!!

The boys! (maybe there will be more boys next year…can’t wait to find out the triplets gender!)

I told them to say “Merry Christmas” and this is what I got! ha!

Last, but not least, my 2 sweet babies! <3

So much to be thankful for this year! My wonderful husband, sweet kids, family, our home, jobs, church, and the list could go on & on! So thankful for all the blessings in our life!

Kyle Runs 26.2

October 20th, 2013 Kyle ran his first marathon, the IMT Des Moines Marathon. He completely amazed me and stuck to his training really well despite some of the HOT days of summer. He did have a few injuries, but pushed through. Read on to check out his marathon recap!

Kyle’s parents, my sister Mindi, Adelyn, and I all were there on race day to support and cheer Kyle on! We even had special shirts made (the day before I might add…I get those wild hairs, just wish they would show up sooner!) The 26.2 on the front was in the shape of the Superman symbol (he loves anything superman!)…

And the back read: “Team BANGert Faster than a speeding bullet” It was surprise to Kyle that we got shirts for race day! He loved it!

We spent the night downtown the night before so Kyle could get lined up at a decent time. Check out the incredible amount of people! Wow! We said our good bye’s, hi-fived, & he was was on his way!

Around mile 3 was the first time we saw him and he was looking great! And running FAST! This was where the 1/2 & full split. 4 years ago Kyle & I were on the other side of race. I’m so proud that he stuck with his goal to run the full marathon!

Mindi was our driver and I was the navigator. I wanted to try to see Kyle as many times as possible. I know when my family was there to cheer us on at our 1st 1/2 marathon it was a HUGE motivator and I wanted to be able to do that for Kyle too. This was at mile night…at the top of a good size hill! Check out our signs!!

Patti is in the orange & black. We work with her at the college. She is a ROCK STAR! She ran 2 marathons in 2 weeks! And has ran in the Boston marathon multiple times. Oh and did I mention she is in her 50’s and in amazing shape! Such an inspiration! It was so fun to spot her on the race route.

Adelyn was a great trooper getting in & out of the car multiple times! She was always excited to see Daddy “run fast”!

Thanks for the warning Mindi!

This was mile 9! I was completely amazed at Kyle’s pace and he looked strong!

After we saw Kyle at mile 9 we piled in the car (for the 4th time!) and drove a little further down the route to Drake stadium where runners ran around the famous “blue mile” and were announced as they came into the stadium! SO COOL!!

This is when I got nervous. {didn’t find this out till post race} But Kyle wasn’t feeling as well around 15 and slowed down a lot. We were waiting and waiting and I just had this awful feeling in my stomach. Where was he? Did we miss him? What happened?

But finally we saw him at mile 20 and I could see the pain in his face. He ended up injuring his knee and in his words: everything hurt! I know it was so devastating for him after all the time, training, and effort he put into it.

Check this out: He ran a 9 minute pace the first 10k and slowed to a almost 15 minute mile for the last 10k. He had to walk the majority of the last 4 miles and said that was even incredibly painful.

But he was determined to finish! We saw him again at mile 22…cheered as loud as we could, gave him hi-fives, and kisses and said “see ya at the finish”. At this point I was praying like crazy! Praying for healing, for his mental state of mind, and that he would get the strength to finish strong.

HE DID IT! It wasn’t the picture he had in his head for his 1st marathon, but he did it, nonetheless and I couldn’t be more proud! I know it took so much for him to finish despite all the pain he was in. So proud of you babe!!

This was the sign Adelyn held! I forgot to get a picture of her with it at the race, but I thought it was pretty funny! Her face even matches the sign, she’s not amused!

Now keep in mind, this recap is from my perspective! I’m trying to convince Kyle to sit down & write his perspective. Oh and I’m thinking this wont’ be his last marathon. He’s determined to do it again (injury free)!