7/40: rock n roll arizona half marathon and park it here

i had a fabulous weekend with some of my fave girls in phoenix!!!  after a chill saturday morning, steph, jenny and i went to phoenix for the expo and dinner.  my friend, veronica, also came in for the race and we all met up for dinner!

at the start on sunday morning.  steph's goal was 2:30 and we were going to get her there - tutus and all!

i'm going to try to get a few more pics but we had a BLAST!!  love these two girls and steph earned her PR!!!!  we came in at 2:27:06 and placed 6419/11124.  woohoo!!

jenny and i with our finisher medals and our 'desert double down' medals - for running rock n roll las vegas in november and arizona in january.  :-)

we booked it to see veronica cross the finish line...AND qualify for the boston marathon!!  being a cheerleader for my friends is so much more fun than just running and finishing the races.  :-)  

after showers and delicious pizzas...yup...plural...large...pizzas...time to head home for football.  

the weather here has been gorgeous the past few days so we have spent the majority of our time outdoors.  on monday, we met up with veronica (and james) and christina (and evelyn and everett) at reid park.  

poor max.  he wanted to ride the train with me and distracted all of the other kids from looking at the camera.  except ella.  nope, ella still posed and smiled away.  that's my girl!

they all looked!!!  kind of.  but they all sat down in the same vicinity and faced the same direction!!!!!  THAT, my friends, is a true miracle.  

on tuesday, while els was at stay and play with her friends, max and i met up with a few of his friends for lunch at mcdonald park.  then we spent the afternoon playing on our own swing set.  

today, after school, we met up with our usual crew for a picnic lunch at case park.  it's been totally fun and loving the perfect weather!!

rekindled

fun (but long!) week.

maybe it was the minion valentine shirt, but max and josie (who haven't hung out in a while!) renewed their little romance.  including an affinity for not wearing pants.  :-)

awww!!!  seriously did not encourage this.  i was in the other room!!

on tuesday, ella earned being able to attend "stay and play" -  she has been doing a fabulous job of keeping her playroom clean!!  at "stay and play," she stays a few extra hours after school for lunch with her friends and some fun learning activities.  

so excited to bring her lunch to school with her!!

meanwhile, i picked up max from school (he was so excited because he was learning about lions at school!) and we headed to mcdonald park for lunch and a playdate with his buddies jack, josie and everett.

his first time going down the "big" slide all by himself!!  

on wednesday, we dropped els off at school and headed to a place called "playformance" with a bunch of friends.  huge indoor playground with foam mats, swings, climbing ropes and walls, mini dodge ball arena - it was awesome!!  

followed by a picnic at the park with friends - oh so tired!!!

so yesterday, max wanted to play with his "preschool prep" app on my phone.  he couldn't figure out my password, so he brought up siri (i do not know how to find siri).  when she "asked" what she could help him with, he spoke into the phone: "ABCD's please."  

craziness lately trying to figure out kindergartens (oh my!!!  i can't believe els will be a KINDERGARTENER!!!!) and speech therapy (we are at a bit of a cross-roads with his therapy.  he has made HUGE strides and is totally conversational now.  yay max!!).  but no complaints; just love these two and thankful each and every day.  

1 little monkey. and a piggy-dog

busy week getting back into our routines!

ella traded in the bike from santa (she asked him for one with a seat for her baby doll) but instead decided she'd rather have a princess bike.  still riding it through the house...

but we did take the roller skates outside!

max was so proud of his lamb art project.  unfortunately, george ate it.  yup, cotton balls and paper.  seriously, george?

on wednesday, we went to my parents' house for a delicious dinner and to say our farewells to rose, who headed back to the beach on thursday.  max was jumping up and down on the couch...oh, do you see where this is going??  i told him to stop and he said "otay, mommy!"  he stopped jumping.  he decided to just dive off the side, do a flip and land on the tile on his head.  :-(  that leonardo helmet would have been helpful!  ultimately, he was fine, but we had to wake him up every two hours that night to make sure he didn't have a concussion.  

thursday morning, a little bleary-eyed and definitely in need of a venti skinny latte, we got ready for hat-and-mitten day at ella's preschool!!  haha, only in tucson, arizona is this a special day.  i went to, like, 4 stores and found 1 pair of mittens...

it wasn't really chilly, but pretty dreary and a little rainy.  sweet jack fletcher offered his umbrella and walked els to the car.  :-)

today we had speech and ballet!

we took the kids out for pizza and ice cream for dinner.  it's been forever since just the 4 of us went out to eat.  thanks for the date night guys!!!  love you!

let it snow!

happy new year!!!  a few pics leftover from christmas:

the kiddos in their j'animals!

ella showing off her impressive magnatiles structure.

the pics from my mom's camera from the desert museum:

the whole group!  we had a great day with my parents, aunt jeanne, uncle steve, auntie breanna and grandma rose.  :-)

new year's eve!!!

our second year of our new year's eve tradition: fondue.  the kids loved it!!!

sparkling juice toast at midnight (eastern time):

cheers!!  happy new years!!!!!!

and we woke up to SNOW on new year's day!

we headed over the my parents' house for ravioli making (thanks for the lesson, rose!) - mmmm, my fave.  i ate so much, there was none leftover to freeze.  :-(

meanwhile, the kids played 'hide-and-go-seek' with my mom.  max needs some practice:

rose came home with us a spent a few days with the kiddos.  we decorated the aprons she bought for the kids.

we had a great time with you - thanks for visiting!!!

looking forward to a great 2015 with you, els and max!!!  :-)