Volleyball 2012

Last Thursday was the last day of volleyball for my 9th graders.  What an absolutely awesome group of girls.  They will be successful in everything they do for the rest of their lives.  They work hard everyday, and genuinely want to get better everyday.  They have all improved at both volleyball and at being a team this year.  I will enjoy watching them grow in the next few years.  We ended our season at 23-5.  Going undefeated in the conference, making us conference champs! We won 2 of our 3 tournaments, bringing home medals for both! Congrats girls. 

It's been a while...

I have been meaning to write a new post for a long time now, but I have just not done it.  So I am going to update you on us from the last few months.

Jaden:
Jaden learned to ride a 2-wheel bike this summer.  I was the one more pushing it, but he has been doing a great job and he got the hang of it pretty quickly.  I took him to the park where there was lots of blacktop and he just went.  He prefers the smaller bike over his bigger bike but he really is a big boy now.  Here is a video.

Jaden also really enjoys playing the computer or our cell phones.  He is very much a tech guy, and can just pick up a game quickly.  He really impresses me, it is amazing what kids can do with technology that us adults can't do.  In July, Jaden turned 5!!! He wanted a Mario birthday party, so he had a Mario birthday, complete with Mario mustaches.  He LOVED having both his family and friends over to celebrate with water guns, balloons and cake.  

Jaden was in swimming lessons again this year, and he made a 180 degree improvement from last year. This year he had to fear of the water, and got his face right in.  When it was time to jump off the diving board, he ran and jumped in and yelled, "CANNONBALL!"  It was so fun to watch him enjoy it.

He also started Early Kindergarten a few weeks ago.  He loves it, loves his teacher and loves PE and Music. :)  I just love the polite, kind, fun, honest boy he is growing up to be.  He looks out for his brother, (most of the time), he still enjoys spending time with Jason and me, and he cares about other people.  I can only hope he continues to grow this way and grow into just as wonderful school-ager and teenager.  

Bryson:

This then brings us to Bryson.  The baby of the family (he lives up to this title).  He is a little more challenging than this big brother, but he can be the kindest little boy too.  He really likes to get his way and he likes to do the opposite of what I tell him to do.  Maybe it is just because he is 2, but I have a hard time being patient sometimes.  Him and Jaden are sooooo much different, but that makes each of them even more special in their own ways then. :)

Bryson was potty trained pretty easily this summer and he is dry 99% of the times he sleeps, both at naps and at night.  I usually still put a pull-up on him because otherwise I get nervous, but it is almost always dry.  He really got the hang of potting in the potty really quickly.  

He still REALLY loves his blankie and he loves playing "monster" in his bed.  He crawls and hides under the covers and tells me to come and get him.  He would play under his covers for hours.  He loves to watch movies and to snuggle.  He also likes to do whatever his brother is doing and bothering or tackling his brother.  He likes to play outside on bikes or in the sandbox.  Bryson also had swimming lessons this summer, it was the mommy and me class.  He loves the water as well and really enjoys little slides to go down, like at the Ames pool, and Manchester pools that we had sometime to get to this summer. 

 

We had the opportunity to go out on Uncle Joe's boat and the boys enjoyed it a lot.  Jaden and Jason went on the tube and went pretty fast.  Jason and I also had a chance to tube and it brings back old memories. It was so fun.  I love boating.  

Jason:

Jason was really busy helping his dad again on the farm.  They were still doing a lot of work cleaning up from last summers wind storm.  They have been roofing, building a new garage for Grambo :), and building A LOT of fence.  

Nevada Family Chiropractic is also a busy place these days, and we celebrated our 5 year anniversary in August.  We had homemade ice cream and cake to celebrate.  Congrats Jason.  

Heidi: 

I did a lot of running this summer, as you saw before I did the Warrior Dash and then did my favorite, the Bix in Davenport.  Not only have I really been enjoying the exercise I appreciate the friendships I have been making and building while doing different runs.  Here is a picture of the crew in Davenport before the Bix.  It was a beautiful day and I ran my fastest Bix. 

I have started my 4th year at Nevada High School as a PE/Spanish teacher.  I really enjoy it, both the kids and the teachers I work with.  This is my 5th year of coaching volleyball and I am loving it.  My freshman are doing a wonderful job.  They are a wonderful group of girls, they work hard, are kind to each other, and they all understand what it means to be a team.  And they are really good at volleyball!!!  Our varsity is ranked 3rd, currently, in the state and are doing awesome.  Look for us in November in Cedar Rapids.  The girls and James, our head coach, have worked hard to get to where they are, and they deserve to do really well this season! Go Cubs!

Hope it didn't take you days to read this and you enjoyed my little update.  

WARRIOR DASH MINNESOTA

The last few years I have really gotten into jogging, I have 3 runs planned for this summer and the first one was yesterday.  The Warrior Dash - 3.1 miles of mud, hills, obstacles, mud, water, hills, hills and more hills, oh and heat and sun.  I know it doesn't sound too fun, but we had a blast.  I had a great group of friends to join me (or maybe I joined them).  Check out the warrior dash website for pics of the obstacles.  Notice how cute we are before hand and how muddy we are afterwards.  The last obstacle was swimming through a huge mud pit with a blast of mud water being sprayed in our faces, we weren't too muddy before that.  Can't wait for next year.  In 2 weeks I will run a 5K in Ames, Midnight Madness and in 4 weeks I have signed up for the Bix 7, a 7 mile run in Davenport.  Can't wait.  

Yes - still smiling! 

 At the finish line...

After our "showers" - which was a huge machine (like a snow making machine) blowing water out over about 100 people, it burned and was so cold, but we just wanted less mud caked on us.  

Here Fishy Fishy

Jason, and Poppy and Grambo were able to make some time this last week to take the boys and me fishing.  The boys each caught a fish within a few minutes and then they got bored.  But they really enjoyed the snacks and chocolate milk. Thanks Daddy, Poppy and Grambo for taking the time to take us.  

Potty Training

This last Monday I decided it was time to potty train Bryson.  He has been doing a great job and loves getting M&M's after going potty in the potty.  I am very proud of him.  

 Of course Big brother has to help be silly to keep things exciting! What silly willies. :)

Soccer

Jaden is now old enough to play soccer.  He is lucky enough to have his mom for his coach (poor kid). But they have been doing a great job and I think he really likes it.  It is so fun to watch them play games and put what they have learned together.  Here are some pictures from his first game. 

And not to be outdone by his big brother.  Bryson always wants to play too.  After Jaden's game the other day, this is what Jason caught on camera.  

Snowman..... finally

This morning the boys and I were able to get outside for about 2 hours.  We had a lot of fun building a snowman, having a snowball fight and playing with our friends, Gavin and Trevor at the park.  It was over 40 degrees, and the little snow we got last Monday was perfect for our snowman.  We have been so lucky not having much snow and having warm weather all winter, but the boys really do enjoy the snow, so it was nice to have for a few days. 

This is a picture of my 3 boys playing, "hungry, hungry hippos."  We love playing that game, and I remember playing it when I was little.

My little smiley cutie!

Helping mom make fruit dip for our super bowl party! Well helping mom taste the dip, we had to make sure it tasted okay to feed to others.... :)

Big Boy Bed

My baby is now a big boy because he sleeps in a "big boy bed".  He has done great the past two nights, he goes right to bed and even calls for me in the morning.  I am blessed with boys who don't get out of their beds unless I get them... AWESOME!  Jaden would call for me from his bed until he was almost 3, I would much rather have them call for me to get them, then have them up and running around without me knowing about it.  Good job Bryson!  He is so proud to have a big bed like his big brother.  After I get their room all put together and cleaned I will post a pic of both boy's beds.  

Warm Winter... I'll Take it!

What another beautiful day it was! Today is January 10th - and it was about 55 degrees today.  The boys enjoyed the afternoon digging dirt.  Love it.

They both look really good in this pic, but both are getting over some sicknesses.  First off we think Bryson had a concession on Friday night.  After the boys and girls basketball games on Friday night the boys were running around with some of the high school kids and Bryson stepped on a basketball and fell back and hit his head.  He cried some, but then we came home and he was fine.  He went right to bed, (since it was after 9pm) and he slept all night.  He woke up happy and talking, but soon after he started puking and puked everything up he had all morning.  He took a short nap in the morning (which he does not usually do) and then woke up and puked some more.  Then he took his usual afternoon nap and woke up completely fine.  He was happy, playing and didn't get sick anymore at all.  It was weird, maybe he was sick, maybe he had a concession????  Well whatever it was, we are monitoring his rough housing, and glad he is feeling good now.

Well, then yesterday as I was picking up the boys from Cindy's and as we were getting our shoes on, Jaden started puking all over Cindy's front porch.  We went home and gave him some crackers and 7-up and some rest and he has been fine every since.  So maybe something just upset his tummy.  We are glad he ended up being fine.  Hopefully anything else will stay away from us for the rest of the winter.

I DID IT!

This week I enrolled in Cardio Kicks Boot Camp through our Parks and Rec and our AWESOME Cardio Kicks instructor, Monika Hinson.  I have been taking Cardio Kicks Thursday morning, which is a pretty grueling hour of both kick boxing and stations of hard things, like bag pushes and tire flips.  Well for some reason I decided to sign up for Boot Camp this past week.  It was a super intense workout Monday - Saturday morning from 5:30-6:30am, and 200 abs, 50 pushups, 50 squat jumps and 5 minutes of planks outside of class.  Also included was a strict diet, with no snacks, 5 small meals a day no more, 3 liters of water a day, only 30 minutes of TV and at least 7 hours of sleep a night.  It was tough.  I have never before been on a strict diet or starved myself, I scarfed my food when I was able to eat.
Well I lost 5 pounds in 6 days!!!!! and I do feel really good, I am going to continue with the diet (a little modified however) and continue working out.  I am hoping to lose 10 more to fit into my jeans from college.
Here I am today - so happy I pushed myself so hard and stuck with the plan to the T.  Thank you Monika for doing this camp and all the girls in the class for their awesome support and example of hard work.  Also Thank you Jason for doing to diet with me and cooking breakfast for me everyday this week.  Love you guys!

Hehe!