Survival Race

Teresa and I before the race

We did it!!!

I ran my first Mud Run today and had a blast doing it! It was a 5k race through the woods with about 20 obstacles along the way. The killers were the little mounds of dirt and sand that we had to run up and down. It seemed like they kept popping up all over the course. We also got to go across a rope bridge, run through a creek, climb over a slanted wall hanging onto a rope, climb a rope ladder and the grand finale was swimming through a mud pit at the end of the course. My friend, Teresa Mudrow, joined me and together we had a great time!

Toledo Zoo

Kids watching the Polar Bears

Our Crew

Boys following the map

Trace and his good buddy, Abram

Trace and Abram

Trace, Abram and Jack watching the elephants

Trace and his class had a field trip to the Toledo Zoo today, along with the other pre-K classes. We had perfect weather. We had a fabulous time walking around with our friends and making new friends along the way. We spent the day with Trace's good buddy, Abram; another classmate, Jack and his family; Ryan and Natalie Johnson, and one of Natalie's friends, Neveah.

LCS Homecoming

Kids with all their loot.

Lexie and Natalie

Trace

Me and my good friend, Rebekah.

We had a fun day at the LCS Football game. Trace spent the morning with Trevor at the Future Playmakers football camp doing different drills. He got a new jersey and had a great time. The girls were with me, along with a few extras. Kaylee had her friend, Ella, spend the night last night, so she came to the game with us. We also are watching, Lexie and Natalie, so their parent's could go the Indiana vs. Missouri football game in Bloomington, IN tonight. The kids and their friends had a great time playing carnival games, getting their faces painted and jumping in the bouncy houses. Somehow we even came away with a goldfish, which is another story altogether...

Hawkeye Fans- Then and Now

Fall 2010

Fall 2013

Fall 2010

Fall 2013

We went over to our good friends, Ryan and Jamie Johnson's house, tonight to watch the Iowa vs Iowa State football game. It is so fun having them here. It is like having a piece of home in Adrian with us. The Hawkeye's even won. We are truly blessed!

Since we were all geared up for the game we had them take our pictures. We had been taking an annual family Hawkeye picture, except somehow we missed the last two years. I guess it has been harder to find someone to take our pictures when we are all geared up. Anyway, the kids look so grown up since our last picture.

Labor Day Weekend- Bloomington Here We Come

Kianna climbing- she is the one in pink in the middle.

Kaylee

Trace

Keri

Trevor

Mommy, Kaylee and Trace

Broderick in the distance on the slanted wall

Broderick upside down on the ceiling

Our little climbers

Sweaty kids

Kianna and Brittany

Trace and Kaylee in paddle boat

Kianna and Trace loved this hammock

Aunt Traci and Kaylee

Our family

Uncle Todd and Brittany

S'more Time

Fun with Broderick

We spent the long weekend in Bloomington, IN visiting Uncle Todd, Aunt Traci, Brittany and Broderick. We had an amazing weekend that began by going out to dinner with Broderick at a nice restaurant overlooking Lake Monroe. We followed dinner up with a trip to the climbing gym. Trevor and the kids had never been climbing before and we were all excited to see Broderick climb. We all had a great time, but Kianna was the one that truly shined. She LOVED climbing and made it to the top multiple times, despite each climb getting progressively harder. Kaylee and Trace enjoyed the experience but were both a bit timid. The whole gym seems to stop when Broderick climbs. It is amazing how easy he makes hanging upside down on one arm look. He is a great climber!

The rest of our time was spent enjoying good company and the great outdoors. They have 13 acres of beautiful land. The kids absolutely LOVE going to Uncle Todd and Aunt Traci's house. They caught salamanders and frogs, went fishing, went kayaking, went paddle boating, and went hiking. Trace and Kianna were inseparable this weekend. They had a blast playing outside and especially enjoyed swinging in the hammock. Kaylee enjoyed the boating and was able to maneuver the paddle boat all by herself this year. In addition to the other fun activities; we played volleyball, corn hole and disc golf. It was one SUPER fun, sweaty and dirty weekend! We decided this was our version of camping. We got to enjoy the great outdoors, but spent the nights sleeping in comfortable beds and air conditioning. It was great! Thanks Todd and Traci for being great hosts. Until next year...

Day of Firsts- Back to School for the Kids and A New Job for Me

Kaylee-3rd grade

Kianna-1st grade.
She is really into owls and despite the really hot weather insisted on wearing her new long-sleeved owl shirt.

Trace- 3-day Pre-K

Our Cuties

Trace and Mrs. Keeler

Today was the kids' first day of school: Kaylee is in 3rd grade with Ms. Arquette; Kianna is in 1st grade with Mrs. Banks; and Trace is in 3-day Pre-K with Mrs. Keeler. Despite having an excellent summer, the kids were all very excited to start school again. Personally, I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to deal with the stress of getting the four of us out the door on time every morning, but ready or not school is back in session. We had a great first morning and two out of the three kids had a great first day of school.

Kaylee loves her new teacher and declared today the "best day ever". She made a new friend, Makenna, and already wants to schedule a playdate with her. Kianna came home a bit grumpy, or maybe a lot grumpy. She got her feelings hurt at recess when two kids cut in front of her when she was standing in line. Unfortunately for her, that overshadowed the rest of her day. She did admit to liking her new teacher. She had PE, chapel and music class today and seemed to enjoy each of them. Trace said "Mom, Mrs. Keeler is a REALLY good teacher. He was excited that they had a scavenger hunt which led to fruit snacks, a juice box, and goldfish in his locker. It doesn't get much better than that!

After dropping the kids off at school, I was off to start my new job at In Home Rehab. I will be working on Mondays and Fridays while the kids are in school and will be home with Trace on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Not too shabby! So why the job change you ask? Well let me tell you...

For the last year, I have worked at Lenawee Medical Care Facilty. I have enjoyed working there, but out of the blue this new job came into my radar. In Home Rehab is located on the campus of Siena Heights University and inside the Dominican Life Center, which is a retirement home for nuns here in Adrian. There are 200 nuns that live on campus and 800 in the county. The appeal for this new job is that it offers the same flexibility as my other job, but the patients only need to be seen 2-3 days a week instead of 5 days per week. Since they only need to be seen two days a week that means that I will be the only physical therapist they will work with. This is a HUGE plus for me!

At Lenawee Medical, I would see different patients each day I worked, which made it difficult to know what treatments were working and what weren't since they were seen by a variety of therapy staff when I wasn't seeing them. It also made it difficult to develop relationships with my patients. I'm excited about my new job as I will be able to build better rapport with my patients and grow more as a therapist. My first day went well. I have some really nice coworkers and enjoyed the sisters I worked with. So far so good! Thanks God for this new opportunity. Overall, I would say our day of firsts was a success.

My 36th Birthday

LCS Fundraiser Golf Tournament

I had a really great birthday this year, mostly because I felt so loved and blessed by my dear friends and family. I had a great time catching up with old friends through phone calls and newer friends with lunch dates. I even went roller blading with one friend. It was a blast!

In addition, my kids surprised me with a homemade birthday banner, which was quite lovely and Trevor surprised me with several gifts. On my actual birthday, we went out for lunch to my favorite mediterranean restaurant and out for ice cream afterwards. Then Trevor and I played 18 holes of golf several days later, which was great fun. I hadn't played in 6 years. It was a best shot scramble tournament and my goal was that my team would use at least one of my balls. In fact they used about six of them. It was so much fun and the weather was perfect! Then over the weekend, Trevor got us a sitter and took me to Toledo for dinner and a movie. Thanks everyone for making me feel so loved!