In favor of naked time and gratuitous praise

Today, while spending his quality time with a book on the toilet, Nathan called out to me....

"Momma!"

"yes Nate"

"I love you" he said

Wow, I thought, where did that come from? "I love you too" I yelled back.

"You're my best friend" he yelled back at me. "I like it when you play planes with me. Oh, and Momma.... You Rock Dude!"

Aww Nate.

So I walked over to the bathroom, and said in my sweetest voice.... "I love you too buddy, you are my best friend too and I think YOU rock."

He was quiet for a second and said. "Momma, will you wipe my butt?"

and back to reality.

Mosquitos are really good at their job!

One night, while trying to relax (on the only night Chris reads stories to Nate-Monday) Nate came in the room to show me his mosquito bites that he got during water play at school.

"Wow, mosquitos are really good at their jobs!" he said. And when I think about it, he's really right! Mosquitos don't really have a lot to do, they aren't a part of that birds and bees equation, aren't needed for pollination, all they are is food for spiders and the only job they have is to bite people so they can get bigger and live longer, hence a bigger meal for a spider.


It's amazing how incredibly insightful a 4 year old can be, if you actually listen to what he is saying (which sometimes, I am guilty of really not listening).


Last night on our way home from visiting Nana and Papa at the lake, I glanced in the back seat to notice that Nate was NAKED except his pants. He had taken off his shirt, socks and shoes and was sitting there just like normal with no shirt on. Nate, I asked. "why are not wearing your shirt?"

"Because I wanted to" he said. Ok, makes sense to me, why didn't I think of that? (This is also the reason he is currently running around the house with no pants on).

This morning I reminded Nate that he would be going to a new classroom at school tomorrow, and that it might make him sad at first, but that he will really like playing with his new teachers and learning new things.

He said, "Don't worry Mama, I won't be sad, I will be happy about my new class. I have to do new things because I keep getting bigger" and again, he's right. Bigger= Older in his world. Like when we went to the park the other day and another child called Marisa a baby. Big Brother Nate got all up in his face and said... "She's NOT a BABY, she's a BIG GURL!" Which once again he's right, Marisa is certainly a BIG girl now. Or at least she thinks she is.

Marisa, the baby book entry

Marisa does the cutest most amazing things. She loves to read and will easily remember phrases, and words in books after only reading them one time. She reads to anyone around and likes to hold the book like "the teacher" Can you tell she is reading a book about Curious George? Every other word is "George"

Those are the cute times... then there are the not so memorable moments. Like this one.

This one is definitely for the baby book.

They grow up so fast

People say that all the time, but I'm starting to notice it so much. When you do the same activity (like go to the toledo zoo) year after year, you can see the changes. We had a blast! We got there just as it was elephant bath time. Nate was worried that the elephants would be loud.

Marisa was in love with the penguins. She could have watched them all day, if Nate hadn't been yelling at us to get moving.

W also really enjoyed the tigers.

The toledo zoo is such an awesome place for young kids, they even have an entire kids zoo area complete with face masks. This one has a blankie just like Nate.

We did get lost a few times, of course look who was navigating!

Nate actually posed for a photo on the same tiger he did 3 years ago when we were trying to do as much with him as possible, for we had just found out he was going to be a big brother (Notice I'm already wearing a maternity shirt 5 days after I found out) He has changed so much!

Ugh... why do I sign up for these?

So I did it. Ran the first 5K in 37 minutes. Definitely not a stellar performance as I got a side stitch and did this kind of spastic run hop the whole rest of the way. Not to mention someone who ran with me thought it would be funny to slap me on the butt when she ran by. Duh...what was that Newtons Law thing... about momentum? Anyway she hit me so hard my Ipod skipped a song. Then I ran with what felt like a hand print on my butt pushing me the rest of the way.

So why Per Se did I decide to sign up for another one this weekend? Because I'm a glutton for punishment. And running these (subsequently training for them) is keeping me in great shape. So here I am 3 days before the next one thinking... why? Plus it's hotter outside, although it will be at 9am. UGH... whine, complain, whine, complain. Here are some photos from the last race...

My cheering section

Marisa holding my sign. Now it's in my garage, I feel so motivated when I pull in the driveway.

If you look hard you can see me coming down the road, I'm wearing a purple shirt.

And here I am running past my cheering section. It was actually chilly that morning.

So be thinking of me Sunday morning while you all relax, I've decided to torture myself once again. The Gallup Gallop, here I come!

Training Log Day One

Ok so I signed up for the Dexter Ann Arbor run. http://www.dexterannarborrun.com/ This is a 5K. I totally know I can do it, if I could just find time to train for it. Lately with how crazy work has been it's been beyond difficult to get to the gym. But seriously why is it harder to run outside than it is to run on a treadmill?

So my time on a treadmill is 35 minutes for the whole thing. Outside... more like 45. I really want to come in around 25 minutes. That is my goal. So today I have to wait until the kids are asleep and run on the treadmill. I'll update with my time.

OK Janna... been wanting to do this for awhile... Here it is

Friday Favorites...

1. GREAT WOLF LODGE!

Here's to family togetherness. We actually have far too little. This was the most amazing way to spend three days together. The kids had a blast and so did we. I couldn't believe how brave they were (or how bad my photos turned out). Will definitely do next year. 2. Nate's photo taking ability. I went to put the photos from our digital cameras on the computer this week and discovered that Nate has been photographing everything.... even the view up his nose. But along with that, his now cheesy smile and letting me take his picture, how great is that!

4. Again with Nate... Going pee standing up!!!! I don't think many people know what a huge accomplishment this actually is. I'm so proud of him, all we had to do was bribe with a few jelly beans. Yuck jelly beans.

5. Marisa. That child is seriously a bundle of energy right now. If she's going somewhere she is running, and not even running kind of a dance run. Hard to explain. She DOES remind me of me. She is passionate about everything. She is passionate that she wants JUICE instead of MILK. Passionate about wanting to be held, passionate about standing on the table. Ahh she does wear me down, but her smile and her imagination are so amazing I want to smooch her all day long. Wait until she sees the outdoor playhouse Mommy scored for FREE for her birthday present!

Lifetime Fitness. I'm in love with my gym. I'm so comfortable there. I'm so excited about the way my body, stamina, and energy have progressed. And thankful to my family for allowing me the time to go every morning. I'm really lucky.

Well there you have it. My first Friday Favorites.