Daddy comes home...

With Andy's job change to Chase, we are lucky enough to have him work from home occasionally.  He has a little office (i.e. table and chair) set up in our unfinished basement.  The boys are always willing to help him seal envelopes!

Ta Da!

Fun with Daddy!

Tummy Time

Tummy Time with Daddy.

Daddy-Daughter

Daddy and Isla bond over her first bottle.  She ate it like a champ!  I had to hurry and pump some more and she ate all that, too.  It was a success.  She really is the sweetest little baby.

Accomac 8k- York Winter Series

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"Andy just finishing the Accomac 8k this morning. Great day for a run!"


The boys ran the mile race and they all placed in their age group.


1-12 Male
1st.     Harrison     Age 10     8:20:80
5th.     Ewan         Age  5     10:46:88 
8th.     Zane          Age 8      12:29:35  (Zane was coming down with a cold.)
10th.   Abric          Age 3      14:51:35


And I ran/waddled the race in 14:27:18.  Probably my slowest mile ever, but not too shabby for being 8 months pregnant.  


Andy ran the 8k in 47:07. He wasn't too happy with his time, but I thought he did great for coming down with a cold, too.  

Welcome 2012!

Happy New Year

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Zane playing the trumpet

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"Zane gets his first trumpet lesson from Andy."

England!

Posts to follow shortly, describing in every detail our fabulous trip!

I just need to finish editing our pictures, and get back on top of things.

"Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity…"

Andy + Jamie

I've always known I was the lucky girl who married 'quite a catch'.

I never realized what a catch he was until we started going through old boxes that had made it through every move. And with every move, these boxes have never been opened, which means we really don't need them.

As you see, from 1994 - 1997,

Andy and I lived very different lives.

One box contains college notes.

One bag contains love notes.

You can tell who was the bookworm and

who was the social butterfly.

I just like to say I was a late-bloomer.

But, it sure was a fun walk down memory lane!

The World

While You Were Sleeping, probably one of my favorite movies of all time. I always thought it was so romantic that Lucy's mom had given her father a globe. And, being the romantic that he was, he thought she had given him the world. That was how he knew he was in love with her.
For years now, Andy has wanted a map of the world. Not just any map, but a huge, ginormous map to hang up on the wall.
One day, while lurking on decorating blogs, I came across this one. It was so unbelievably awesome and perfect that I had to show Andy.

And so, being the romantic that I am, I gave him the world.

(Technically, it was with the $$ my parents had

given us for Christmas, but you get the idea.)

After painting the room (Nordic Blue), hanging the map, (no small feat, it came in 3 sections), painting the trim and hanging it to make a frame, the map was complete. We just sat and stared at it, it was so beautiful. Kids are not allowed to touch. (Abric shows how big this map really is.)
And Andy, being the realist that he is, gave me an Oyster Card --- a pass to the London Underground.

We are going to England!

Yes, it will be next month in February.

Yes, it will be freezing.

But we got a super deal.

And I would rather be cold than hot, anyway.

Yay!

Like Father, Like Son

Andy had to do something quick on his lap top on his way to work, so he just pulled up a chair and went away.

Abric had to go grab his laptop so that he could be just like Dad.

Winter Series- D-town 10K

We decided to register for the York Road Runner's Club Winter Series: 8 races, varying from 5K to 15K for $20 total. You just have to bring your same bib to each race. There was a max $50 registration for family, so for $10 extra dollars, I enrolled Harrison, Zane, and Ewan. Each race had a 1-mile fun run before the actual event. This Saturday, we ran our first race as a family. I ran the 1-mile with the stroller while Ewan, Zane, and Harrison ran on their own.

Here we are getting ready to start the race!

And we're off! Can you see how tiny Ewan is?

Harrison is near the front of the pack by now.

Here is Harrison coming in for the finish. He ran a 7:29 mile. He finished 7th place overall. Overall- that includes kids and adults. Seriously, where does this kid come from? Andy and I were never that fast at age 9!

Here comes Ewan in for the finish. He ran the entire way. I was so proud of him!

Here comes Zane! He was starting to get sick and wasn't feeling very well, but he still ran and finished.
Harrison took this picture of me. I thought he did a great job…. he was pretty camera-happy, though.

My little Ewan. He was so excited to have run in a real race.

Here comes Andy, finishing his hilly 10K run.

The boys ran with him to the finish.

Ang, please don't kill me for posting this, but you did awesome!

My friend, Ang, ran her very first 10K today!

A Beautiful Day

The local forecast for Saturday was a high of 64. We knew we couldn't stay home on a day like that! We picked Harrison and Zane up from a slumber party at a friend's house down in Maryland. Our van hit 100,000 miles on the way, so we had to document that.
We ended up taking the long way around the Baltimore beltway (thank you, GPS). With 5 hungry boys, we stopped at the first restaurant that wasn't fast food. It happened to be P.F. Changs. We were worried about our pocket book, but decided we needed to feed the kids fast or the day wasn't going to go as well as we had planned.

I. Love. P.F. Changs! They were so kid-friendly! A kids' meal was only $3 and it came with chopsticks and chopstick helpers. Even Ewan was able to master the art of 'Kung Fu Panda Noodles', as they call lo mein.
Abric loved the 'horsies' out front. You'll have to click on the picture and enlarge it to see his enthusiasm.
Our experiment for the day was to ride the DC Metro with all four kids and a disassembled jogging stroller. Andy carried the main part, each boy had a wheel, and I had Abric.
All the boys loved riding the train. Ewan is in a pull-a-face-for-the-camera phase, which really grossed us out because those trains are not clean. You can even see his gum.

Happy, happy boys.

Abric getting in on the face-pulling action.

Why did we ride the metro? To go to the National Zoo, of course. It is free!
We saw lots and lots of different animals…. and lots and lots of different people. (It was packed.)

We saw lions

and tigers

but no bears.

The more we walked, the more I realized how unprofessional my camera is. Oh my!

We did finally see the elephants on the way out of the zoo.

Quote of the day: after carrying Abric, and Zane, around half of the zoo, I asked Andy:

Me: Are you tired?

Andy: No, because I'm wearing a marathon t-shirt.

Andy, I love how you can always make me laugh.

100miles4kids UPDATE!

Almost 1 year ago, Shawn called Andy up and asked him if he wanted to run 100 miles with him as a fundraiser for the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

2 guys. 100 miles. 24 hours.

Crazy idea? Maybe. Maybe not.

Shawn is a pediatric doctor there and he noticed a need for these sick or dying kids to just be able to be kids. They needed regular toys, books and games, but also toys to help educate them about these scary surgeries that were going to happen to them. They soon got the backing from Children's Miracle Network and a couple other sponsors: Injinji socks and the Appalachian Running Company. Shawn launched a website, 100miles4kids in order to help spread the word. Things didn't start to pick up until the last three months before the big run. Andy, Shawn, and Mike B took a Saturday to scope out the route. They wanted to make sure it went through back roads, but still went through small towns in order to refuel, etc. They had some news coverage the week before the run, which really helped to increase the donations.

On September 24th, the day had come.

Here are the runners across the street from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA.
Here are the runners with their support crew: Christine, Shawn, Andy, me, and Seth. He is Shawn's fellow doctor friend. We needed medical support 'just in case'.
At 4:00PM on the dot, Shawn headed west on Market Street. We went back to the van to put the banner up. Text "cubby" to 85944 in order to donate $5. We ended up getting $75 in donations from this banner, plus a cute little old lady at a farmer's market who gave us a $5 bill.
Andy's bed is set up in the back of our van. Our 4 kids were with their grandma at our house.
Shawn's van contained Seth's bike, in case he needed to ride along-side the runners, as well as medical supplies.
Here comes Andy, getting read to finish his 1st leg. 20 miles down, 80 more to go.
The exchange. Shawn is getting ready to run his second leg. Dusk his coming so he is gearing up with the reflective vest, headlamp, and butt-lights.
Mike B. and Andy's brother, Michael (l to r) showed up around 1AM. They even got pulled over on the way, but no ticket. They were our middle of the night support crew. Mike ran Shawn's 3rd leg with him. During that run, Michael got pulled over again, this time he did get a ticket for expired inspection. D'oh!!!! We were so grateful for their support. Those long miles in the middle of the night were long and lonely. While Michael was running Andy's 3rd leg with him, Mike B. drove Michael's car and he got pulled over yet again! Three times in one night! We don't know why they were cop magnets. Maybe because it was between 1 and 4 in the morning?

We don't know why the cops weren't patrolling in Coatesville, PA, probably the scariest place to run in the middle of the night. It is a tiny metropolis in the middle of cornfields, but it is alive with activity. Christine was riding with me in our van while Shawn and Seth drove ahead to the next exchange in order to sleep. It was around midnight. I was afraid to let Andy out of my sight, as this was before any of the night support had shown up. Christine and I had parked about 1/4 of a mile ahead of Andy. Luckily the doors were locked because a one-armed man came poking around in my window. I guess we weren't what he was looking for because he promptly walked a couple steps away, called someone on his cell phone, met this other man for about 10 seconds, then they both walked away in opposite directions. I guess he was looking for his drop? I wasn't sticking around to find out, but decided to stay even closer to Andy as he ran through this strange little town.
Michael and Mike left around 4 in the morning, just as Lindsey, Andy's sister, was showing up. Lindsey ran leg 7 with Shawn. We had parked at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA for some much needed sleep.

Andy resting his tired legs.

Sunrise over the campus.

Shawn and Lindsey come running in to the exchange point. 70 miles complete, 30 to go.
I ran with Andy during the next leg through Lancaster. He was still looking strong, but getting tired. Lindsey ran the next leg with Shawn. We lost them for about an hour, which was scary. They had made a wrong turn. It was much hotter than the forecast had said it would be. Shawn was very dehydrated and nauseous when he ran in to his last exchange. He had already gone 50 miles! Seth gave him an IV to help replace the lost fluids, which made him feel much better.

We ran through a lot of cornfields.

Here is Andy on his last leg. He was taking more and more walking breaks, so I was starting to get worried about him.
We had gone 4 miles when he started to have some really intense pains. Lindsey was driving our van and was meeting us every 2 miles. I made Andy call Seth to tell him about his pains and how he was feeling, etc.
We decided to all meet in one mile. Lindsey walked with Andy while I drove one mile down the road to our meeting point.
Andy was extremely dehydrated. (He had only peed once that day. Sorry for the TMI, but that was serious.) He was nauseous and exhausted. Seth gave Andy an IV, too. I'm so grateful for Shawn's foresight to have a medical team! They both needed it.
Because of his IV, Shawn was back 100%. (Well, as much of 100% as can be expected after a 50 mile run and little sleep.) He and Christine started walking in order to cover the miles while Andy received his medical attention.

After the IV.

We drove down the road, met Shawn and Christine, and decided to meet one more mile down the road. This meeting place was only 2 miles away from the hospital where Shawn and Andy would complete the last 2 miles together. Andy rested and updated his facebook while we waited. I think Lindsey took a great picture!
After the guys started their last 2 miles, Christine and I went to the hospital to meet our family and friends who were anxiously waiting at the finish line. We don't look too shabby for only about 4 hours of sleep, right?
Christine made medals for our awesome husbands from ribbon and a Christmas ornament from Hershey. She is a creative genius!

Here they come!

Some of the kids from the hospital came outside to see Shawn and Andy arrive.

It. was. awesome.

Words cannot describe the feeling.

My sweetheart.

Shawn, Christine's sweetheart, and the mastermind.

The kids held up some crepe paper for the finish line. They were excited to see their daddies!

At the hospital with the children.

Abric could not get enough of Zach's wheelchair/racecar.

Thank you, Shawn and Andy, 100 times!