Mission Cincuenta September: Accomplished, Part II

At the beginning of September, I set a goal for myself: RUN 50 MILES IN SEPTEMBER.

I made a chart.

I'm happy to say, 30 days (and one crappy month) later, I met my goal.

Some of the runs I did were a huge test of mental toughness more than physical ability. 

I had a helper with me today, much like I did with my last few miles of my 2012 Cincuenta September success story.

My last 3.5 miles were done with my littlest cheerleader, and I'm actually very proud of myself for sticking with it and making it to the end to reach my goal.

So now I need to set a goal for October, because I know that I need to have some sort of goal in order to actually do something.  But I'm going to do it a little different and call it...

OCHENTA OCTOBER

 

No, I will not try and run 80 miles in October.  My new goal is to exercise (in some form) for 80 minutes per week.  I'm including this week, so there will be 5 weeks.  Therefore, I'm aiming for 400 minutes of exercise in October.

 

We'll see how that goes...

Weekend Wrap-Up

We seemed to get back to regular life this weekend, which was a nice change from the past couple of weeks.  Can you believe the Midwest weather the past few days?  At the end of September?  It was SO hot today, I almost wished for fall sweatshirt weather.  Almost.  It was pretty rad to be outside in a tank top.

Saturday

We had a pretty low-key Saturday- dance class, and play time.

I don't think I will ever get tired of watching 4-year-old dance class.  It is adorable.
I also never get tired of watching 1-year-olds play.  Also adorable.

Sunday

Laura and I ran a 10K race!  It took place on my all time favorite running route, it was a women only race, and it was a beautiful morning for a run. 

In case you can't see our shirts, they say "Will Run For Wine."  We got
a few compliments on them.

That is the last race I am signed up for at the moment, so we'll have to see what happens with my running.  I may need to set an October goal and make myself a new chart.

Callie spent the day with G-ma and Pa at the apple orchard and Taylor's Falls.  They met Chris' aunt, uncle and cousins there and Callie had a GREAT day!

Miss Maya had a nice day as well.  She had lunch with Mommy and Auntie Yoda, took a good nap, and went with Mommy and Daddy to the outlet mall.

She is currently in what I call the "drunken sailor with assistance" phase of walking.  I think you'll see what I mean when you watch her walk in this video.


IMG 2377 (1) from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

It was actually kind of nice to have just Maya with us today.  Normally, when it is the four of us, Callie is the one that dictates where we go and what we do.  This time we got to focus on the little one without interruption.  But she was definitely excited to see her big sister when she got home.

As for the big sister's behavior, it was marginally better.  She is still very emotional and FREAKS OUT at the drop of a hat.  I don't know if that is her response to feeling our sadness and stress the past couple of weeks, the fact that she is four and doesn't know how to handle her emotions, the fact that she really could still use a nap every day but doesn't take one, or something else.  But I guess I'm just really hoping that it is a short phase, because the nightly meltdowns are getting pretty old.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!  And have a great week!

FTPDF

Happy Friday!  It feels good to get to the end of another long, hard week, and even better to be getting to the end of September.  I'm not going to lie, this week has been pretty terrible.  Along with grief and emotional/physical exhaustion, the girls have both had colds and been pretty crabby.  Callie has been especially and ridiculously unpleasant and we have been dealing with some poop issues and meltdowns again.  Pray for our sanity this weekend, because the last few days haven't been pretty.

I'm ready for September to just be over and hope that October is better.

I have already posted a lot of the pictures I took this week in the other posts, so I'm going to use most of this Friday post to share pictures of the memorial services on Tuesday.  Thanks to my Aunt Mary for taking the beautiful pictures.

We started the day at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.  We had an internment of both my Grandma and Grandpa, with military honors for my Grandpa's time in the Navy.

Retired military members

Active military members

Rifle squad

After that service, we headed to Eau Claire for lunch and then the memorial service for my Grandma. It was nice to meet her pastor, who had wonderful stories to share about her.  We got to meet a lot of Grandma's bridge and church friends, and see some family that we hadn't seen for awhile.

Beautiful memorial flowers

 

 

A family prayer before the service

 

We all gathered back at my parents' condo for dinner and took the opportunity to toast Grandma, take some family pictures, and spend time together.

 

Josh, Mari, Bops, Callie, Boom, Chris, Kati, Maya, Craig, Laura

Jim, Coco, Josh, Mari, Bops, Callie, Boom, Chris, Kati, Maya, Craig, Laura, Larry, Mary

 

 

 

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the girls from this week to try and get back to normal.

 

This girl loves to play

Where's Maya?  Peek-a-boo!
(Thanks for the cute pictures, Pa!)

 

Girls getting ready for bed

Girls reading about dinosaurs in the hammock

And a cute Maya video, showcasing her always improving scooting skills. 

 

IMG 2324 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

 

 Hope everyone has a nice weekend.  It looks like the weather is going to be amazing...so enjoy it!



TBT

I have a couple throwbacks and a little Gi-Gi story today.

My first throwback is the girls in an adorable purple jumper.

And lastly, a picture with the girls and "Teddy"

Here is the story of Teddy, which I shared at my Grandma's memorial service on Tuesday.

When I think about Grandma, I think about her love for musical toys and decorations.  If you visited her house during the Christmas season, you saw a variety of dancing snowmen and colorful blinking Christmas trees.  Throughout our years growing up, the three of us received a number of interesting gifts from our grandparents that Grandma seemed to enjoy even more than we did.  My favorite memory of her, though, came when my oldest daughter was about two years old.  During one of our visits with Grandma, she pulled out this bear, Teddy, to give to Callie.

 

 

Teddy looks like a typical kids toy, and of course, it sings a couple of painfully off-key songs.  But the great thing about Teddy is how Grandma acquired it.  She told me the story of how she found a catalog that was in one of her many piles (which is another thing I think about when I think about Grandma, because I DEFINITELY inherited her affinity for piles).  Anyway, she found a catalog that was who-knows-how-old and flipped through it and found this bear.  She said she HAD to get the bear for Callie.  She called up and ordered it immediately, just handing over her credit card information, not even knowing how much it cost.  She just thought it was too cute to pass up.     

 

I'm happy to say that both Callie and her younger sister Maya have enjoyed many play times with Teddy, and Callie knows that it was Great-Grandma Gi-Gi who gave it to her.   

 

14-Months-Old!

This little one is already 2 months past 1.

She rocks at grocery shopping.

Oh my gosh, the babbling and giggling and adorable noises are hilarious.  She is getting better at letting us walk with her, but still doesn't want to try walking on her own at all.  She feels much speedier when she crawls and doesn't seem to want to give that up.

Remember a few months ago when she ate everything?  That is not the case anymore.  She has become way pickier, the little stinker.  She still has a larger palate than her sister, but not by much.

But GAH, her little sweet face and super high pony tail.  They get me every time.

Love you little Squishy.

*******************************************************

On an unrelated note, we had a lovely day celebrating my Grandma's life.  I'll be posting about it soon, just not tonight.

57-Months-Old!

Recently I have heard two different words to call 4-year-olds that I think are pretty darn accurate:

FOUR-NAGER (think TEENAGER)

and

FOUR-NADO (think TORNADO)

The sometimes unbelievable attitude, coupled with the often boundless and unending energy seems to be summed up pretty accurately with those two words.

At 57-months-old, we are moving much closer to 5 than 4, but HOLY MOLY, she is clearly still 4.

She's lucky she's so cute.

So tonight I thought I'd take a video of her showcasing her boundless energy, while also asking her some personal questions.  As you can see, one of my questions was about her favorite person.  I don't know what I was expecting to hear (maybe, I don't know, HER MOM??? or at the very least, her SISTER?), but I shouldn't have been surprised that she immediately said her new friend/obsession, HENRICK.  Have a listen.



IMG 2305 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

As you heard, he has somehow gotten her to embrace Ninja Turtles and Superheroes (which was UNHEARD OF a month ago).  I think she thinks that her super hero is "BAD GIRL" instead of "BAT GIRL."  I should probably say something to her about that.

I also have a couple direct quotes that she has said about Henrick the past week:

While getting ready for bed:"Maybe Henrick will come sneak in my window in the night.  Because he really likes me."

Explaining her and Henrick's future business venture (which she alluded to at the end of the video):"Henrick and I talked about making our own movie theater and showing a lot of different movies.  We definitely talked about Ninja Turtles!"

It is so adorable and sweet, that her teacher gave us Henrick's parents' address and phone number. We may just have to call them up and coordinate a play date.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm going to go "old school" in this wrap-up and actually post full pictures...no collages.  I think I took some nice ones, so I figure I'll display the big versions.  That, or I'm lazy.  You decide.

Saturday

Snuggling with the big one during baby nap time

Dance Class

Grilling in the garage (darn rain!) with Pa

Playing at G-ma and G-pa's house

Sunday

The increasingly pickier eater

Baby in the sunlight

My running buddy

An after dinner stroll

Having a treat in Gi-Gi's rocking chair

Playing with the handles on Gi-Gi's desk- she was entertained for MINUTES,
which is a long time in 1-year-old world

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  This week is going to be busy on the blog, with the 22nd and 23rd coming the next two days, a recap of the memorial services, and the usual posts.

If you'd like to read Grandma's obituary, you can click here.

FTPDF

As I mentioned yesterday, this has been a hard and sad week with the loss of my Grandma on Wednesday.  It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions since Sunday evening, when she really started the process of leaving this world.

My sisters, parents and I were able to all spend time with her on Sunday night.  We thought that was going to be it.  Then she rallied a little bit on Monday.  I was thankful to have had the day off so Maya and I could go and spend time with her and my parents that day.

Favorite Thing #1: Grandma was able to watch Maya play.  I hope it gave her
some comfort and entertainment, even though she was so tired and uncomfortable.

I was in regular contact with my parents throughout the day on Tuesday and we knew that it wouldn't be long.  I was able to be distracted at work, and then we distracted ourselves in the evening as well.

Favorite Thing #2: Even though I was struggling emotionally, the girls were
able to cheer me up with their adorableness and excitement about pet store animals.

I got the call early Wednesday morning.  I took yet another day off of work, sent the girls to G-ma's house, and spent the day with my parents and sisters.  We spent time in Grandma's apartment, went out to lunch, my sisters and I got manicures (with purple polish- my Grandma's signature color!), and we enjoyed being together as our original family of 5.  But I was very happy to see my girls when I got home from a very bittersweet day.

Favorite Thing #3: Enjoying the view from Grandma's apartment.
Enjoying a goofy face at the end of the day.

The girls' routines did not change this week.  They were lucky enough to be able to still hang out with Pa, G-ma, and Boom.  I told Callie that Gi-Gi went up to heaven, but she doesn't really get it (obviously).  Her first question was, "Was she 100?"  And when I told her that Gi-Gi was 91, she responded, "I thought you died when you were 100."  I said something like "No, some people die before that." And then she asked me to get her breakfast.  I wonder how much she'll remember about her great-grandma.

Favorite Thing #4: The comfort of normal routines and family support.

When I knew my grandma wasn't doing well on Tuesday, I shared about it a little bit with my friend Amanda.  We ended up talking a little about Callie's butterfly artwork and then about how butterflies are a sign of transcendence and new life.  She sent me a link about butterfly symbolism, and the first thing it said was this:

"According to Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn, a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you."

So imagine my surprise and delight when, as we were looking through Grandma's jewelry on Wednesday (after she passed away), I came across two butterfly pins.  And then on our walk tonight, I took some pictures of the beautiful sunset.  And when I came home to look at the pictures on the computer, it appeared to me like the line of the trees was the bottom of a butterfly.

Favorite Thing #5: Butterflies.
The sunset butterfly may be all in my head, but when I sketched it out, it looked
enough like a butterfly for me to be happy.

We will be spending this weekend preparing for the celebration of her life that will be taking place on Tuesday.  Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers and condolences.  They really mean a lot to me and my family.

TBT: Remembering Gi-Gi

It has been a very hard week for our family.  After a long and difficult few days, my grandma passed away early yesterday morning.

Miriam
March 18, 1923-September 17, 2014

She was a spunky, witty and inspiring woman who will be greatly missed.

My throwback pictures this week are all related to my Grandma, or Gi-Gi as she liked the girls to call her.

She never felt old enough to be called "Grandma" or "Great-Grandma", but she
did love all the little baby girls she got later in her life (after having 3 boys of her own).

 

Grandma was a piano player and teacher for years.  I have played her piano
many times through the years at their home, and after she moved to Minneapolis
last year, we were fortunate enough to get her piano in our home.



I feel blessed to have gotten a few 4th generation pictures with
her, my dad, and my girls.



We love you, Grandma, and will miss you very much.

FTPDF

Happy Friday!!!!!!!!

It has been a long week and I'm exhausted.  We're looking forward to a nice low-key weekend.

Callie is loving preschool this year (cue the big sigh of relief).  We spent most of last year having her tell us she didn't want to go.  She always had a good time when she actually went, but getting her to go willingly was a struggle.  So far this year she has done great.  There is a boy in her afternoon class that she really likes (Henrick- he is 3).  It sounds like she mostly enjoys bossing him around, which seems to work okay for both of them. 

Maya is so ridiculously fun.  My favorite thing that she does these days is call BOTH Callie and Kona "Di-Der" (sister).  Kona stayed with G-ma and G-pa last week, so she wasn't around when Maya started really saying "sister" to or about Callie.  But when Kona came home, the first thing Maya said was "Di-Der!" and was SO happy.  It is pretty adorable.  She doesn't really say "No-Na" (Kona) anymore.  She seems to consider Kona her sister.

I organized the pictures this week by day.  Here they are.

Favorite Things about Monday:
*A tie-dye onesie
*A fun time at Boom's house for Maya
*A beautiful day

Favorite Things about Tuesday:
*Chris and the girls came to school so the 4th graders could practice their
questioning skills- my favorite question Chris got was, "So you live in a
house full of GIRLS?"
*Playtime in the tunnel
*A wagon to watch little kids play soccer



Favorite Things about Wednesday:
*Adorable baby smiles
*Hanging out with G-ma
*Wrestling with Daddy

Favorite Things about Thursday:
*Playtime outside
*Boom's birthday dinner- it was Lobster night!
*Watching Callie try and figure out why and how Boom was eating lobster,
often saying "That is so gross!"

Favorite Things about Friday:
*Playtime at Boom's house
*Going to the MA Arena Sale
*Taking a jammy wagon ride (with coats and hats)

Have a great weekend!