Taber conquers the Hartford Marathon

Hello blogosphere. I have missed you : ) 

Things have been a little crazy but they're starting to settle down so prepare yourself for a picture overload as I crank out the posts over the next few days to get caught up. 

First up: Taber the dominator kills the Hartford Marathon.

 Hartford is just a 2 hour drive from us so the night before the big race we drove down to get settled in. The city was bustling with marathon fever and it was fun to see signs everywhere welcoming the runners.

 We hit the expo and Taber picked up his bib number and timing chip.
 He looks so excited : )

One of the booths was giving out Larabar samples. They had a sign that said, "Just take two please" But when Taber told them he worked for General Mills (GMills owns Larabar) The lady gave him this giant bag with at least 100 bars. SCORE!

The kids did great at the expo, they scored free glasses and suckered Daddy into buying them some sporty little headbands. : )

 After the expo we went over to the park for the Pasta feed so Taber could get in a good carb load before race day. 

Then it was back to the hotel to attempt to get some rest. Attempt definitely being the key word here. We were all crammed in one small room with Cam in his pack and play and the girls on a blow up bed that wouldn't stay inflated. They replaced it around 9pm and then had to come in again at 3am to fill the replacement back up with air.  Also our toilet flooded and maintenance had to come up and deal with that. It was a rough night but with pre-race nerves I'm not sure how much Taber would've slept anyway.

Despite the lack of sleep Taber was up early and ready to roll. We were only a 5 minute walk to the starting line so he hung out and stayed warm until the last minute.

This is the view of the start and finish line from our hotel room. Once we sent Taber on his way we hunkered down in the room and alternated between watching the live broadcast on TV and watching out the window. 

I had signed up to receive text message alerts when Taber hit the 10K, half marathon, and 20 mile mark so I would have an idea of where he was. For some reason I never got the text for the 10K and I was freaking out wondering what had happened to him and if he was okay! Luckily I got the half marathon update an hour and 49 minutes into the race and after that I was able to calm down knowing that he was okay and cruising at an awesome pace.

I was very grateful for the hotel room to corral the kids and keep them entertained. Especially because it was chilly and very windy that day.

Before long I received a text that Taber had crossed the 20 mile mark in 2:51:05. That was my cue to load up the troops and head down to the finish line with our cow bells and posters.

We met up with our my friend Darby whose husband was also running it and anxiously kept our eyes out for our runners.

Soon we saw Taber coming around the corner. He was well under his goal of sub 4 hours and crossed the finish line in 3:54:00.  Here are his thoughts he posted on Runkeeper after it was over:

 "Wow what an experience. New PR by a good 45 minutes. Going into the marathon my main goal was to break 4 hours and I'm happy to see my time starting with a "3" in front of it. I felt like I might be able to push for a 3:40-3:45 so I decided to start the race with the 3:40 pace group. I couldn't find the 3:40 pace group so I just started off on my own. Mile 1 felt great. Found the 3:40 pace group at mile 2 and decided to hang with them. This was probably my biggest mistake because the pace group was running a very fast 1st half to bank a lot of time for the 2nd half. I clocked a ridiculous fast mile 2 and 3 (7:42 and 7:48 pace) before I realized that this group was not the right pace for me. Once I clocked 8:03 for mile 4 I knew I was going to be hurting later in the race. I started to let up and eventually settled into my own groove of 8:20-35 splits. I took a gu after mile 8, 17 and then again around mile 22. Those fast miles early on really wore on me during the last 6 miles. I ended up getting through the first 18-20 miles at a decent clip, but the last 6 miles I hit a wall. At that point I was glad I had banked enough time to start running 9-10+ min/miles because that's all I had in me. The last 4 miles were especially tough with the wind (20-30mph) coming head on. I finished at 3:54 and was spent! It was so awesome having the family there to catch me. The marathon was put on really well and had a ton of water stops. Also the finish shoot was really impressive and there was a ton of loud screaming fans. Overall a huge success and a very memorable weekend with the fam."

It took awhile to find him after he finished but when we finally did we made sure to let him know how proud we were.

Marathon Dad!

We took some pics and then dropped him off at the massage tent.

While we were waiting for him to get his massage the girls kept themselves entertained by digging up an impressive collection of earth worms. I know it's disgusting but it kept them busy so I wasn't about to stop them.

When it was all over we took our runner boy to Five Guys for a victory burger.  

I guess spectating a marathon is almost as exhausting as running one if you're a 3 year old.

 Brinley literally stayed passed out through the entire meal. 

We're very proud of our Marathon man for training so hard and pushing past the pain to reach his goal on race day. He really is such a great example to our kids and a huge inspiration to me. WTG Taber!!

Rigg's Annual Halloween Party 2011

I love love love Halloween! A holiday that gives me an excuse to dress up and throw a party? I am all over that! This year I felt like the planning was a lot easier since we had a year of experience under our belts. The party ran smoothly and was a huge success but I still learned some things this year that I think will make next year even better! (Such as more costume prizes, better voting system, some new games and possibly a spook alley! Gotta start planning these things early ; )

Originally we were going to be Dora and Diego, but when my "Dora" wig arrived in the mail I realized it looked more like Cleopatra hair. Plus I've done Dora before so we decided to switch things up and went as Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. 

We had about 40 people this year and everyone brought fabulously spooky desserts and appetizers. My favorite were the candy corn rice crispy treats. WOW! those were awesome!

The costumes this year were SOOOO good!  It was tricky trying to narrow it down because everyone received lots of votes! It was so hard to just give 1st, 2nd and 3rd which is why next year I think we'll do some house prizes and category prizes too.

Here are the awesome costumes:

 Steve Jobs and the iPhone, Punk Rockers, 

Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth, and the Flintstones.

 "Bad News,"Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa, 

Carl and Ellie from UP, Static Cling and She Devil.

Settlers of Catan game board and victory journal, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra.

Dominos delivery boy and Pizza, Father Time and Mother Earth.

Candy Corn, Vintage Comic

Popeye and Olive, Adam and Eve and baby apple.

And now for the winners:

First place went to the Blanchettes for the second year in a row! Last year they were the Grinch and Cindy Lou who. This year they got tons of laughs as Sonny and Cher. I don't know how Jenn convinced Casey to dress up like that but watching him work those heels and flip his long hair all night was hysterical!

2nd place went to the Fry's for their re-creation of Russ and Teresa's engagement picture from the 80's. (background story below)

 It's kind of a big inside joke with our church friends. Russ used to be the bishop and when he posted the old engagement pic on Facebook everyone went nuts over it. The feathered bangs and jean jackets were just too funny! When the Fry's showed up dressed just like them with a wedding announcement and their iPod blasting "Take my Breath away," No one could stop laughing! 

And 3rd place went to the Nelson's who dressed up as a black and white TV couple from the 50's.  This is not a black and white photo, they just painted their skin gray! Definitely impressive and well deserving of their prize!

We enjoyed an evening of chatting, eating, and crazy minute to win it games (see post below for games). It was a lot of work to put together but soo worth it when it was all said and done. Now I just can't wait for next year, I already have some costume ideas brewing in my head.... ; )

Halloween Party Minute to Win it Games 2011

We had so much fun playing Minute to Win it Games last year that we decided to do it for one more year. There were lots of laughs and cheers as we watched our friends complete the challenges. Here are some of the games we played:

Ready Spaghetti: two players had to move soda cans from one table to another using only their mouths and a spaghetti noodle. They had to build a tower of three cans before the minute was up.

Mad Dog: Each  player had a ruler with two boxes of tic tacs glued to each end. Payers had to put the rulers in their mouths and shake till all the tic tacs came out and then their partner had to do the same all within a minute. Messy but so funny to watch!

Baby Blocking: Players had to balance a plate on their head and stack 5 blocks on top of the plate without falling. This one is WAY harder than it sounds! 2 of the 4 players got it.

Nervous Nelly: Player had pedometers strapped to each arm and leg. They had to shake, wiggle and move around as much as they could in a minute to try and get a total of 500 clicks. I will definitely be posting video of this one later, SOOOO funny!

 Rapid Fire: Players had to use rubber bands to knock over a tower of 6 empty soda cans. The cans had to be completely cleared off the table before the minute was up.

 Separation Anxiety: Players had to sort 50 M&M's by color with only one hand. If they accidentally put the wrong color in a cup they were disqualified. I actually practiced this one with Teya and she was able to do it so I tried to make it harder by using 60 M&M's and no one got it! Guess Teya just has mad skills!

Ka-Broom: Players had to set up a marshmallow on a plate on the edge of a stool. Using a broom to tip the plate they had to launch the marshmallow up in the air and catch it in a cup, 3 times. This one was intense but so much fun when the players caught the marshmallows!

We also did a game where players had to bounce ping pong balls off the ground and onto a table and try to get them to stick onto a piece of bread with peanut butter. Much harder than it sounds! We finished with one more round of nervous nelly to break a 3 way tie between some of the teams. Whoever got the most pedometer clicks in a minute won. It was tons of fun and hopefully I'll be able to get some video up because watching this stuff in action is hilarious!

All Things Halloween...

Forgive me if I've been a little absent from the blogging world. 

I've been busy with preparations for our Halloween bash which is tonight!! 

 We sent out these invitations a few weeks ago and ever since then I've been in full throttle party planning and prep mode.

We've been slowly decorating the house a little more each day. It's looking pretty spooky!

We've also been working on our costumes. 

This wig is a little sneak peak! ; )

 Also on the agenda: Pumpkin carving. 

The girls did a great job scooping out the guts.

 They helped Daddy pick out a great design and supervised him while he carved away.

The finished product. Spooky spider!

 Even better in the dark!

Last weekend I had to do some serious shopping for the party so Taber took all 3 kiddos to the pumpkin farm by himself. Brave daddy! The girls jumped hay bales for over an hour.

While Cam the man munched on apple cider donuts. 

(you can see the sugar in his eyelashes, that's good stuff!)

They brought home 5 more pumpkins which we painted on Monday for FHE. The paint has been holding up pretty well through the rain and snow from the past few days.

On Wednesday, I had a little bat cookie making playdate for the girls since they were feeling a little left out by the Halloween party for grown ups only.

 I found this idea on Our Best Bites, Here. I loved it because it was something the girls could do themselves without any help. (Even the 3 year olds!)

 Teya and her bat

 Mia and her bat

 Brinley and the remnants of her bat. 

Chocolate never lasts long around this girl ; )

 We used candy eyes and cut wings out of cardstock. I think they were supposed to have fangs but Teya wanted smiley faces.

 This project passed my two main criteria, easy and delicious. : )

 After cookies the girls had popcorn and watched a Clifford Halloween movie while the grown ups enjoyed some lovely adult conversation.

And that's what we've been up to. Now back to party prepping!

Teya lost her 1st tooth!!

A couple weeks ago I noticed a permanent tooth coming in behind Teya's baby teeth.

It kind of freaked me out for 2 reasons.

1)  Two sets of teeth just look shark-like and kind of scary

2) Baby teeth are the last babyish thing Teya is holding on to. Once she loses those I feel like she's going to grow up on me and I'm not ready for that!

Once I got over my freak-out I told her she needed to start wiggling her baby teeth so they'd come out and we could make room for the permanent ones.

She wiggled and wiggled until that baby tooth got so lose it was ridiculous.

Finally last Sunday she let me have a go at it. She was definitely scared but once she let me really grip it it popped right out. Taber caught it on video and her reaction is priceless. She literally says, "I'm so happy I'm crying!" You have to watch it.

That night she put her tooth safely under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

Meanwhile the tooth fairies were in a quandary over how much a 5 year old's first baby tooth is worth. Tooth Fairy B thought $1 was good but Tooth Fairy T thought such a significant milestone deserved more. Luckily Teya's tooth fairies have a Facebook account and were able to consult with other fairies across the country. After several fairies weighed in it was decided that the first tooth was indeed significant enough for a $5 prize, but all the other's would go for $1. 

The next morning Teya woke up to find that her tooth was gone and in it's place was a crisp 5 dollar bill and a note written on flowery paper in handwriting so tiny it could only have been written by a fairy. 

She was on cloud nine and said she didn't even feel a thing when the tooth fairy took her tooth. Those fairies have skills, no doubt.

Later I took her to the dollar store so she could spend her money. Since there's no sales tax where we live she was able to pick out 5 things. True to character, she skipped right past all the candy and went straight for the puzzles and coloring books. She bought a princess puzzle, a my little pony coloring book, some glow in the dark stars, a Tangled notebook, and then without any prompting from me, told Brinley she could pick one thing out too. Brinley chose a stuffed caterpillar and both girls were happy as could be. 

The whole thing was pretty exciting and fun to mark off another big milestone for Teya. 

(and her fairies. : )

Cam's 9 month pictures and stats

These were supposed to be Cam's 6 month pictures but between ear infections, crazy schedules and just trying to find that elusive slot of time where he is happy, fed and doesn't need a nap, they ended up being his 9 month pictures. : ) 

So yes, Cam is now 9 months old

He weighs 20 lbs 10 oz (58th percentile)

and is 28.5 inches long (53rd percentile)

We have finally gotten him on a real schedule where he takes two naps a day, then goes to bed at 6:30 and sleeps for 12 hours. GLORIOUS!

He is eating a lot of solids now. We still do baby food but he also likes pasta, bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, Cheerios, bread and pancakes.

He is also finally taking a bottle and is officially weaned! (full post to come on this later but lets just say that for me, weaning my little piranha has been a very good thing ; )

He army crawls like a champ and can get almost anywhere he wants at record speed.

He is also still a major thumb sucker and has sucked his poor little thumb raw. I tried covering it with a sock the other day to see if he would go for his other thumb but he just screamed for 30 minutes till I took it off and then he popped it back in his mouth and fell right asleep.  What can you do?

So that is the latest and greatest with our little man. Hope you enjoy the pics, I think they came out pretty cute : )

Happy handsome boy.

 Rockin' the orange puffy vest

Munching his kakui nuts (love how they match his eyes btw : )

This one is my favorite! Love it so much I can't stop looking at it.  :)

HUGE thanks to auntie Naomi for making him that cute malo and sending out the haku and kakui nuts. 

 Adorable

My chubby love : )