Big A and Zack Attack

Christmas travels

2012-01-15T20:18:00.003-06:00

After we opened gifts at home, we drove to Springfield and had Christmas with my family. It was a lot of Christmas in one day, but we had so much fun.
Sweet Christmas toes.

Zachary sporting his new Lego headlamp!

My festive parents!

The next day we drove to Grove and had more Christmas fun!

Watching The Princess Bride with A. J.

Christmas Day

2012-01-08T15:18:00.003-06:00

A little late, but whatever! The boys were pretty excited about Santa coming through for them. Aidan asked for a Superhero house and Zachary asked for a net and a candycane. Easy!

We don't usually get Domino anything, but this year we felt a little crazy. She was pretty excited about the frisbee!

Gloves! Easy to please, that kid is!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-08T15:17:00.000-06:00

We have a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve. The gift is always new PJs. This is our Christmas PJ picture!

We read a lot of Christmas book during the month of December. One of our favorites is Santa Mouse. The boys have to leave cheese out for Santa Mouse. The cookies were from a recipe from Aunt Jo. Santa thought they were delicious!

There is a little known tradition that you leave your gingerbread house out for Santa on Christmas Eve. If Santa likes it enough, he takes it back to the North Pole with him. The tricky thing is that he only takes the best of the best. Aidan was lucky because Santa took his gingerbread house back to the North Pole with him!

Baking Santa's cookies

2011-12-29T20:30:00.001-06:00

This year for Santa's treat we baked Aunt Jo's chocolate chip cookies. They were so good. The best part was, I baked plenty for Christmas and then froze the rest of the cookie dough for later! I am not sure if that will be consumed pre or post baking!

Those are hefty sized cookies, aren't they?! We do not mess around when it comes to Santa's cookies! After this, we put reindeer food in the yard. Can't forget about them!

Lights of the Ozarks

2011-12-24T10:45:00.002-06:00

These pictures were from our nearly annual trip to the Lights of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. The boys oohed and aahed over all of the lights. It was a joy to hear them.

The boys were wearing helmets, cutely camouflaged as Santa hats, to ride the camel.

Riding the camel!

Botanical Gardens Kids Fun Run

2011-12-18T13:13:00.005-06:00

We made a spur of the moment decision a few weeks ago to visit a special day at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. They have the cutest children's garden there that the boys loved!

They have a cool model train exhibit set up. Since Aidan wants to be a train conductor when he grows up, this was right up his alley!

They even had a free fun run for the kids around the gardens! They asked us if we thought they should run one or two laps around...we told them two! The kids were excited to run in a race with a number on their shirt like Mom and Dad do.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!

Zachary's Christmas program

2011-12-18T13:12:00.002-06:00

Zachary had a precious 3 year old Christmas program this month. Look how sweet they are! This picture is with Zachary walking in with his sweet frient, Ava.

They performed in front of the church. Please, ask him to recite his part next time you see him. He would love to give you a performance.

Afterwards, they had a Birthday Party for Jesus!

Team Vagon Wagon!

2011-11-07T20:28:00.000-06:00

This weekend we went to Springfield to participate in our first FAMILY marathon relay. It was fun to get to do something like this with Robin, Darren, and Darren's brother, Jason. We did a five person marathon relay. The race literally went all over town, but my second leg just happened to go right by where the kids were staying! The stood out on the curb and waited for me as they cheered the other runners on.

They saw me and cheered so loudly! It was great to see them and they can't stop talking about seeing me run in the race!

Team Vagon (Van Lear) Wagon (Wagner). Jason's wife, Crystal, ran the Bass Pro half marathon!

We placed third in our division and 9th out of 18 total teams. We averaged 8:30/mile and ran 3:42 for the 26.2 miles!

Farmland Adventures!

2011-10-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

First Field Trip!

2011-10-15T21:35:00.005-05:00

Aidan's Kindergarten class took a field trip to McGarrah's Pumpkin Patch last week. I volunteered to go on an adventure to help...along with lots of other parents. It was so fun and I really liked getting to know his classmates. Now, I know who he is talking about when he comes home telling us stories!

First, we learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin...

...by this guy!

Silly boy!

Aidan and his friend, Cade.

Jumping off hay bales is always a favorite with boys!

Aidan and his friends, Cade and Ethan.

The hay ride.

In the "Land of the Giants."

At the relay races the teachers wondered about whose pumpkin was the best shaped for the job. Aidan's class won!

I believe this was many of the kids first time to play tug of war. We had to explain how to play and they played best two out of three. Aidan's team won! They were then reminded to be "humble winners" after taunting the other teams!

The corn maze! We made it out with all 20 kids!

We even made it out of the EXIT. Many teams came out the same place they went in! Aidan was proud of his class. Humble winner was then re-explained!

Mrs. McCulley's class

Everyone brought home their own pumpkin!

Aidan's 6th Birthday

2011-10-01T20:29:00.003-05:00

On Aidan's birthday, his grandparents came to spend the afternoon with him. He loved the attention and the Star Wars gifts! It was not a planned party or a themed party but all of the gifts were Star Wars just like he loves!

Six candles on a cupcake is just about the max!

He chose to go to the Marketplace for dinner because he heard that you get a free chocolate mess on your birthday. (Saving the parents money, right?!) It was huge and delicious...all he had hoped for!

The next weekend we planned a little get together with a couple of school friends. The excitement level for this outing was through the roof!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's for all of the gaming these kids could handle!

Then, we went to TCBY where the boys picked their own concoctions to eat. It was beautiful outside so we sat on the patio (which I assure you, the inside customers appreciated).

Happy 6th Birthday, Aidan!

Soccer soccer soccer

2011-09-26T17:29:00.001-05:00

Our lives have been tied up in soccer these days. Zachary is playing on The Incredibles and coached by his Daddy. He has been impatiently waiting to play soccer for two years now. He is thrilled to play every single time we let him. It also played a part in the potty training motivation. I mean, really, what kid has a pullup on in a soccer game?! Not this kid! He is potty trained!

Aidan is playing for his third year. It is the first year that Jake is not coaching him, but his new coaches are great. Their team is The Alligators. Soccer has suddenly become a lot more serious with offense, defense, out of bounds, etc and Aidan is keeping up just fine. He loves to play too so I guess we better get used to this chaos every fall and spring.

Zachary's prayer

2011-09-16T17:19:00.002-05:00

I have been crazy busy with new schools, new soccer teams, new job! I will leave you with this precious video.

First day jitters

2011-08-17T11:31:00.004-05:00

Monday we sent our big boy three year old to preschool. I say he is a big boy because we have been working on a particular part of potty training for more time than I care to write. Well, we got it and now that he is a "big boy" he can go to school! This is the same school we sent Aidan to last year and we LOVE it. For scheduling with my new job, this school is going to work out wonderfully. We are excited for Zachary to get to learn and grow at his new school with his teacher, Ms. Erin.

Isn't he precious?!

For scheduling reasons, we requested a transfer to a different Elementary school than where Aidan was supposed to go. We waiting rather impatiently until August to find out he is going to Smith Elementary. We are all so excited. Aidan has several friends there and feels right at home. We met his teacher earlier this week and we love her. Aidan thought she was so funny!

Ready for action! Aidan later told me that he had an "awesome wicked day" at school today. He was all smiles when I picked him up! Success!

Run for the Grapes

2011-08-17T11:18:00.003-05:00

The Marathon Mamas ran in the Run for the Grapes 5K last Saturday. It was hilly, but fun!

Jake and the boys came out to support the Mamas!

A little cool down job with the boy. He wanted to participate too!

Picking up the awards for the Marathon Mamas. We actually placed 1, 2, and 3 in our age group! The other girls did not think we won anything and went home so I took their awards home for them.

Silly boy!

God made us family

2011-08-15T20:48:00.002-05:00

Starting this school year is like nothing our family has ever done. For years, I have wondered, with my current job at the hospital, how I was going to juggle schedules when Aidan started school. This July I still had no idea what I was going to do, and my friend and previous co-worker called me with a job possibility. She called me knowing that I was a mom of small boys and thought the job would be perfect for the flexiblity of juggling parenthood. She knew that, last she heard (one year ago), I did not know what I was going to do when school started. After lots of discussions and prayers, I took the job as the Director of Nursing at the Elizabeth Richardson Center. This is a residential facility that teaches life skills to developmentally disabled adults. I had to put in a four week resignation notice at the hospital putting my last day of work, tomorrow Aug. 16th. School starts August 17 and I will be able to bring Aidan to school and pick him up! Zachary started preschool today and did fabulous. With all of these changes this week in our family and with Aidan being anxious and hesitant about his new school, we made our "God made us family" bracelets. We all have matching bracelets that we will wear as we each go to our different places each day. We hope these bracelets will connect us together no matter how many miles and hours seperate us during each day. I cannot explain to you how many prayer requests and little details that God has smoothed out and literally handed to us. Such blessings.

Summer hiking adventure

2011-08-04T14:53:00.004-05:00

Last week we took the kids hiking at Tanyard Creek in Bella Vista. It is a great hiking spot for kids with a waterfall, easy hiking, and signs up everywhere to tell you what kind of tree or other interesting thing you are looking at. In case you have been in a hole (which would not be so bad), it has been a record breaking summer, in terms of heat. We had to go at 8 in the morning so we were done before we melted. This is actually not hard for our family because the boys get up before seven EVERYDAY!

We splashed around at a creek. The boys looked for crawdads and threw rocks.

We finally found the waterfall. With all of the heat and no rain I was pleasantly surprised that it still had a lot of water running!

The last part was a big downhill that even the most tired boy ran down. It was very sunny on this part so it was perfect to be done and headed to McDonalds for a fruit smoothie!

Swimming lessons

2011-07-22T14:51:00.004-05:00

The boys had swimming lessons for one hour each day for two weeks. It was nice for them to have swim lessons during the heat wave of the century! They did pretty good. This was Zachary's first time and he did OK. There were some days of not participating, not sure how much he learned, but other days of doing well. It is part of being three, I suppose. Aidan was moved up on the first day from Level one to Level two. It seemed like he should have been in between the two levels somewhere! He has more work to do, but came a long way this summer!

On the last day they open up the whole pool for play time. It is the only time kids that cannot really safely swim get to do the big slides and the diving boards because the lifeguards catch them. The kids were really looking forward to it this year. Zachary started with the safe dolphin slide.

Aidan on his way up!

Zachary with his super patient teacher, Crystal.

Crystal, Zachary's teacher, taking Zachary and another three year old down the big slide. It took some convincing, but they both did it!

If you remember from last year, Aidan was determined for months to go off of the high diving board on the last day of swimming lessons. So, when this year rolled around, I asked him if he was going to go off of the diving board (thinking the smaller one) and of course, he replied that he did the high diving board last year so he had to do it again this year. That kid just climbed right up and jumped off like it is no big deal!

Aidan and his teacher, Corrie.

The much anticipated popsicle on the last day of swim lessons.

Goggly goggles!

2011-07-22T14:40:00.003-05:00

With the crazy heat wave we have been having, the only thing to do outside is to set up the kiddy pool and get in with the boys. On this day, I got out their goggles and they looked for treasures (or pieces of grass and bugs) on the bottom of the pool. They have no idea how funny they looked! They do not care that their eyes are squished and slanted!

July 4th fireworks!

2011-07-22T14:28:00.004-05:00

The Harbor Church of NWA had a July 4th party at the Riner's house. It started with kiddy pool and lots and lots of good food. We had such a good time.

The fireworks had everyone's attention. Zachary did not like the fireworks show the night before so I was worried about this night. He did great and really liked them on this night!

This is my favorite picture from the night. The boys had such excitement and joy! It was the cutest thing to listen to!

Crooked Lake, last day

2011-07-05T14:30:00.004-05:00

This paddle boat ride ended up being a little tricky...we decided the boat was not intended for four people, no matter how small some are.

The cousins playing a game of football in the lake, of course.

The boys with the neighbor, Samuel, they played with all week.

I love this picture, too!

We had an amazing family vacation! Thank you, Van Lears for the opportunity!

Day 5 of Crooked Lake pictures!

2011-07-05T14:18:00.004-05:00

This seems like one of the only times the boys had dry clothes on!

A little morning fishing

More tubing action. This time they wanted Mom to come with them.

I love this picture of Aidan watching Aunt Cheryl Sue as they jumped in together!

Zachary's run and jump. He yells "1-2-3 jump" every time!

Crooked Lake, Day 4; we are still here!

2011-07-05T10:23:00.004-05:00

On Day 4 we went to Pokagon State Park. It was a beautiful park with lots to do. We just went for the morning so we did the Nature Center, hiking, and a sandy beach.

Beautiful swans on the lake.

Jake dropping his ski in front of the cottage.

This boy loved the water!

I had not water skied in several years, but got up right away! I guess it is like riding a bike. I did have some pretty decent crashes while trying to drop a ski. Needless to say, I have some work with that!

Jake tubing with the boys. My boys took what we called the T.O.P (tube of putting) and the bigger kids took the T.O.D. (tube of death).

The Van Lear cousins

My all-time favorite picture from the week.

Crooked Lake continued, Day 3

2011-07-05T09:56:00.004-05:00

Relaxing with my 6 am crowd...waiting for everyone else to get up!

Morning boat rides are the best!

Isn't this place gorgeous?!

The lily pads flowered by the end of the week.

We tie dyed t-shirts for the family pictures. It was great Van Lear style fun!

The boys showing their muscles on the swim dock.

Jake leading the kids (big and little) in a music/dancing/singing session!

We had musical instruments for everyone!

Crooked Lake, Day 2

2011-07-05T09:26:00.003-05:00

On Day 2 at Crooked Lake, Jake bought some worms to fish with. It was successful and each of the boys caught 3 fish. You should have seen the excitement!

In the evening we had a cousin birthday party to celebrate all of the birthdays throughout the year that we missed. It was a super day for the kids! I made these letter shirts for all of the kids.

The party was complete with a delicious cookie cake that Jo Nell made!

That evening we went into town (which the only time we did that all week, except for Walmart trips) to see Cars 2 in the theater. It was a cute SMALL town theater and the kids loved the show!

Crooked Lake, Day 1

2011-07-05T08:54:00.003-05:00

We just got back from a relaxing, lovely vacation to Crooked Lake in northern Indiana. The weather was perfect, the kids were nearly perfect, and the company was perfect. It was the perfect vacation for the boys. It was low key, swimming, fishing, boating, eating from sunup to sundown.

Isn't it gorgeous here?!

Aidan's favorite activity was swimming to and jumping off of the swim dock. He literally did that all day long!

We are quite the crowd!

Titans season ender

2011-06-15T17:38:00.006-05:00

The Titans stretching before their last game this season. The kids had a fantastic last game!

Go, Aidan, Go!

It may have taken Zachary all season to figure out that this was not HIS soccer team, but he did great at the last game just watching and cheering!

A party in the park to celebrate the end of the season. What kid doesn't like a sugary cupcake?!

Aren't they the cutest kids?! It is hard to believe they have played soccer for two years now and are going to be starting Kindergarten in the fall!

Joplin volunteer relief

2011-06-02T19:30:00.004-05:00

As everyone knows, Joplin was devastated by a F-5 tornado on May 22. I personally feel a tug at my heart to help my neighbors one hour away from me. When I went to volunteer there I realized that this storm did not just affect the weak or elderly. This storm has taken the lives of children as young as one, strong teenagers, people exactly my age shielding their children, and elderly alike. It somehow tore apart one side of a street while leaving the other side nearly untouched. What these pictures cannot show is that the destruction goes as far as you can see, 360 degrees surrounding you. Yesterday, I met several people that survived this deadly storm. One lady was at church playing the piano when she went to a hallway to wait out the storm. When the 45 seconds had passed, her husband was laying on top of her along with two concrete walls. Since she could not breathe, she literally told herself that this was how she would die. Her only thought was that in 3 minutes she would not be conscious to know the rest. Suddenly, young men from the "bars downtown" came and rescued them. Unfortunately, three others from the church did not survive. We met another man that described hiding in their basement with 9 other people. When looking at their house, I had to ask what I was looking at and where the house was that they were in. Thankfully, everyone in that house survived. He explained that all of this, pointing to his house of rubble, does not matter. It is all stuff and he is so grateful to have his family. My experiences made me grateful for a warm bed, running water, and my boys waiting for me at home ready for a squeeze!

So, on Saturday I go again, thanks for a husband that is more than willing to man the house alone while I go. On this trip I will be working along side my Dad, at a first aid station, giving lots of tetanus shots and mending wounds from the clean up effort.

Summer fun has begun!

2011-05-30T21:08:00.004-05:00

We started the summer off with two BBQs in one day. It was busy but so worth it! We went to Neosho for A. J.'s birthday and had a ball!

It took Zachary awhile to figure out how to hold this huge water gun filled with water!

The goggles are for protection, you know!

Zachary finally found a water gun his size. Jake and I got a kick out of how he held it like a harpoon!

Our second stop was going to our friend's house. We just had to change swimsuits and we were ready for more action!

It is going to be an action packed summer with these two boys!

Joe Martin Stage Race Kids Day

2011-05-08T15:23:00.005-05:00

We went to the Joe Martin Stage Race after church today. These are the real deal professional racers from all over the world. It was neat to see them race.

The cheering section!

The kids participated in a kids bike race. They had a blast! They loved having a number bib pinned to their shirt and getting a medal at the end of the race!

On your mark, get set, GO!

They may have been last, but they finished strong!

Getting ready to race with the big kids.

Heading up the big hill on the homestretch.

Finishers!

So so tired.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T15:19:00.003-05:00

Happy Mother's Day!

Heels and Hills half marathon

2011-05-02T14:21:00.006-05:00

On Sunday, I ran my first half marathon with the Marathon Mamas. We did the Heels and Hills Half Marathon in Irving, Texas. We made it a whole girl's weekend including eating great food and shopping! What an adventure!

That is called being prepared!

Jake and Robin came to support us. We were so grateful for the cheering and pictures!

It was a mostly female race, but most of the pacers were men in skirts!

Having fun!

The homestretch.

Still smiling after its over!

My time on my watch. The chip time was actually 1 hour 50 minutes and 58 seconds.

Strong finishers!

Meghan blew her PR out of the water by 11 minutes!

My handsome husband.

Robin came to cheer and take pictures of this day! Thank you!

When is the next race?!

Zachary's birthday party

2011-05-02T13:59:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago we had a birthday party for Zachary at Durham's Gymnastics. Everyone had a good time. Zachary seemed like he was kinda in a funk....later we figured out why. He threw up EVERYWHERE at a restaurant after the party. That was a lovely first for me. Happy birthday, big guy!

They always let the birthday kid on the rings first. He was fine at first...

...and then he could not let go and it freaked him out.

The dads gave us a vault show!

The awesome cake my talented mom made.

Zachary's reaction to everyone singing Happy Birthday to him. See what I mean by a funk?

Wish I could have seen the "I don't feel good" look on his face at the time.

Marathon Mama shirts

2011-04-29T13:35:00.003-05:00

We leave in one hour for Texas. The Marathon Mamas are running the Heels and Hills Half Marathon in Irving, Texas on Sunday morning! We are so excited for a weekend to be carefree girls on Saturday and then run our hearts out on Sunday! We have been training for this weekend since December! They are calling for a significant chance of rain, but hopefully it will hold off. If not, this week has given us a lot of practice running in the rain!

This is the back of our shirts. It is hard to read in the picture, but it says "working off..." and lists all of our children. Between the four of us we have ten children and they are all boys except for Reese! At the bottom it says "13.1 miles of peace and quiet!" The heart on the bottom corner is to remember Chris, Stacy's husband. I will be back in a couple of days to give a full recap of the weekend! Wish us luck!

Northwest AR Children's Shelter Grand Opening

2011-04-28T19:31:00.004-05:00

Today we went to the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter Grand Opening of their NEW shelter building. There was a great turn out and the building is fantastic! This was made possible by a 13.5 million dollar grant by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. There was fantastic speakers there such as Scott Tassani (from General Mills and president of the Board of Directors for the shelter), Mike Duke (CEO of Walmart), U.S. Representative Steve Womack, Steven Anderson (President of the Reynolds Foundation), and two former shelter residents that have graduated out of the foster care system. It was a lovely ceremony.

This building, where the children live and go to school, along with the recreation center is nearly 60,000 square feet.

The two former residents, Shaden and Stormy, speaking at the ceremony.

The Spiderman mural in the boys wing.

I loved this mural!

Jake's 3rd-6th grade classroom.

Jake's desk where he emails me! The new shelter is so far out in the boonies that there is no cell phone reception!

Beautiful fireplace in the dining room. Aren't those old ladies the sweetest?!

The media room. Can you imagine the Wii tournaments in there?!

The boys letting out some energy in the gym after being forced to hold our hands through the entire tour!

Cow Paddy 5K

2011-04-27T14:06:00.003-05:00

See the storms???!

Last week we heard about the Cow Paddy 5K at a local park here. I read the website and was pretty excited, except for one thing-the reports of thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes. NW Arkansas has received a ridiculous amount of storms and rain this week so I believed the reports! I was talking to a fellow runner at the hospital and told him that I had not signed up yet because of the weather reports. He had the audacity to call ME a fair weather runner. I admit, I used to be, but with all of the weather (record breaking snowfalls, flooding, etc) I have had to run through training for this half marathon, I have become rather tough! That was that and we signed up to run the Cow Paddy 5K-rain, hail, or tornado! We also convinced our friend Sarah to run with us. Sarah has been training for weeks to run her first 5K next weekend. We thought this could be a good trial run! You can read all about Sarah's version of the evening here. We held our breath the entire time and it actually did not storm on us! (We later heard about tornadoes in Bentonville while we were running).

My Cow Paddy trophy! I have it proudly displayed in the kitchen!

Easter celebrations

2011-04-24T20:56:00.006-05:00

Our silly boys on Easter Sunday.

The worship team singing their hearts out!

The preschoolers presenting their song they had been practicing for weeks!

LOVE the closed eyes during the song!

Jake was distracting the kids with old camp songs while the relay course was set up. He does such an amazing job at that!

Receiving their relay race instructions.

Zachary knew what kind of shoes to wear on the rainiest Easter that he could ever remember!

Matching colors during the relay with a big kid helper!

Egg toss

Standing behind the line and preparing to egg the pastor!

The egged pastor!

The choice for the pinata was between an egg and a chick...we thought it better to whack the egg rather than the chick!

We had a wonderful rainy fun Easter this year.

Easter monsters

2011-04-20T14:40:00.003-05:00

We decorated Easter eggs last night. I found a cheapo monster egg kit that I thought the boys would love. It was pretty cute.

They were all very serious about when to turn the egg for even dyeing!

Of course, monster eggs cause you to make monster noises!

The Big Top

2011-04-16T11:51:00.003-05:00

Aidan has been practicing with his Pre-K class for months for The Circus. It all came down to Tuesday night and it was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. Aidan has been telling me about it at home, but I had no idea it would be so precious. Aidan and his friend, Luke, were the Animal Tamers. They cracked a whip on the stage while their classmates sang a song about animal tamers! Aidan was so excited about his mustache (I have a sneaky suspicion it is because Mario and Luigi have mustaches).

Cracking their whips!

These costumes have been around for years. The teachers have handmade most of them. My favorite is the strongman (on the left). The teachers said they purposefully pick the smallest kids to play that role. So stinkin' funny.

The Big Top with Ms. Kathy and Ms. Lucy's classes.

Zachary's 3rd birthday

2011-04-12T13:51:00.003-05:00

Zachary turned THREE years old last Friday. We got him his own "big kid bike." We loved the joy on his face when he saw it!

Now, we are working on pedaling!

Titans soccer

2011-04-12T13:36:00.002-05:00

The Titans have started their spring season. They are bigger and stronger this year! Some of the younger brothers, Zachary included, are having a hard time understanding that they are not, in fact, a part of the Titans. It has been challenging to come up with distractions, yet still see the games!

The warm up and stretching time is one of the cutest things to see!

Ethan got two goals in the first game! Way to go!

Team Van Hastlings!

2011-04-10T20:06:00.003-05:00

Today, we did our first marathon relay with our friends, the Hastings. Our team name was the Van Hastlings (a clever combination of our names that Jake came up with). Of course, we HAD to have Van Halen logos on our team shirts. Our friend, Sarah, helped us design them and they turned out great. We got lots of compliments on them, but my favorite was a guy that told us, "I have to give props to anyone that can run in a Van Halen t shirt!"

Please ignore the googly eyed husband and the pre-race tired eyes on me! Jake ran the last leg (long hills and 8 miles in the hot 80 degree sun, 30+ mph winds) and I ran the 3rd leg (hilly Lake Fayetteville 7 miles).

Brian ran the first leg (5.5 miles with a long steep downhill followed by running all of the way back up) and Meghan ran the 2nd leg (5.75 miles of rolling hills). Meghan actually got to run about 30 seconds with Olympic marathon legend, Jeff Galloway!

The starting line...no idea where Brian is. We left on shuttles to our relay exchange points after our local weatherman, Dan, sang the National Anthem and the gun went off.

Jake bringing it home with some friends he made on the course!

How cool are we?! We had so much fun and our shirts will be ready for next year!

Oh how time flies...

2011-03-20T14:30:00.003-05:00

These two pictures were taken nearly three years apart from each other. Look how they change! I have to stop looking at it...getting teary eyed!

First day of Spring!

2011-03-20T13:28:00.004-05:00

Today is the first day of Spring and it is 80 degrees outside! It was a perfect morning this morning!

Practicing their skills before church.

Did I mention that I handmade those matching plaid shorts they are sporting?!

Love this picture!

This picture reminds me of a picture Jake took with the boys when Zachary was an itty bitty baby.

For some reason Jake and I each have one squinty eye...oh well!

Shirts

2011-03-12T19:33:00.003-06:00

I love the idea for these letter shirts on my new favorite website (www.dana-made-it.com). They were super super easy and fun to make. The boys love to spot "their" letter so they loved these shirts!

I made more...

2011-03-02T16:51:00.002-06:00

I can't help myself! I made more pants! And the best part is, these pants are lined with a super soft t-shirt material. In fact, Zachary is insisting that these are pajama pants. I am working on that.

Zachary's first dentist appointment

2011-02-28T20:18:00.004-06:00

Zachary went to the dentist for the first time today! I took him when Aidan had an appointment earlier this month, so he was familiar with the routine. He did an amazing job! Some of these pictures are not fabulous, but you get the idea. They let him put on a pair of "magic gloves" and he could pick blue or pink...he picked pink!

Getting xrays...he was such a big boy about it!

Watching Toy Story 3 with his panda headphones...memorized!

All done and ready for his bouncy ball!

New pants!

2011-02-21T16:44:00.003-06:00

I have a desire to be a seamstress and sometimes I get caught up it that dream. I will think I can do something and then in reality my Mom lives too far away to understand the problem at hand. Then, I give up. But....my sister led me to this fabulous website that is actually doing projects from boys all month long! Perfect, right?! (the site is www.dana-made-it.com) There is a easy step-by-step tutorial on there to make boy pants. I read through the directions four times before realizing that I can do it! I went and bought the fabric ($2.50/yard) and went for it. Luckily, I bought a whole yard instead of the half that it called for because I messed up the first pair by making a beginners mistake! Knowing what I did wrong yesterday (when the pants were, less say, SNUG on Zachary) I began again today. It took me two hours and I had made a pair of pants! I am proud of myself! If you can't find me later this week, I may be at the fabric store looking for some more fabric.

Valentine's

2011-02-14T20:28:00.004-06:00

We all donned our aprons to make our special Valentine's heart shaped pizzas.

Working very hard.

The finished product!

Looking through Aidan's bag of Valentine's from his school party.

Playing in the powder

2011-02-12T14:54:00.007-06:00

This is what I woke up to Wednesday morning. This ended up being 22 inches of powdery snow! It was beautiful, fun, and there was no ice involved!

The sun came out on Thursday but it was still bitterly cold. The temp was -17 in the morning!

Running in the street!

Where is Domino?!

Prepped for the outdoors!

Good looking boy!

The snow angels they made nearly covered them!

We went to a friend's house when we finally made it out of the house. The dads built a maze for the kids. This is Zachary sitting in the maze paths.

Sliding into an abrupt stop!

The beginnings of a snow fort.

Doing snow angels in the middle of the snow fort floor.

The snow fort team

Feet of snow

2011-02-09T17:07:00.002-06:00

This was our third winter storm in two weeks. This one was predicted to be 4-7 inches at 10 pm last night. I woke up to many more than that this morning. The last check I heard (hours ago) was 22 inches in Springdale! They said this was three years of "average" snowfalls combined in four hours! It was been beautiful to look at but I have to get to work tomorrow. Work is scheduled to pick me up at 6 am tomorrow morning. Here's to hoping I get home before 10 pm tomorrow night! This first picture is the drift at the backdoor.

Our birdbath.

Can you see the snow of the roof?!

Domino having a ball even though it was up to her shoulders!

Aidan told me it was very "tricky" to walk in the snow! Zachary last only a few minutes outside. Its no wonder, the snow was nearly as tall as him!

Jake's obstacle course

2011-02-06T20:43:00.003-06:00

While I was out with friends for lunch today, Jake made an indoor obstacle course for the boys. He has really gotten creative after being indoors for a week. I think the boys had a ball!

Snowday number 4 this week

2011-02-04T17:37:00.004-06:00

We are on our killionth (as Aidan calls it) snowflake this week. Unfortunately, it has been too cold to go outside with below zero windchills. Today was a balmy 23 degrees! We made our first trek out of the house in four days to Walmart and Sam's Club! We also played a little in the snow from earlier in the week with the additional inches that were falling today.

The cozy coupe is tough to push through the snow. Maybe some snow chains are needed?!

Shoveling for the ladies that live across the street. Make my heart melt!

This snowball was aimed straight for me!

Kicking the soccer ball all the way down the street. Soccer is in this kid's heart.

Seeing little parts of skin showing makes me cold!

Maybe we need more snow appropriate toys?!

Jake's snowday birthday

2011-02-04T17:29:00.003-06:00

Jake has had four consecutive snowday birthdays. When they started calling for a snowstorm last Tuesday, I got really excited! He did not want to believe it until Monday night when they were warning us to get ready for power outages! I am always excited for Jake to get to stay home for his birthday!

Being stuck in the house, we were able to polish this cookie cake off without a problem!

Happy Birthday, Jake! I love you!

January Snow Day!

2011-01-20T16:49:00.004-06:00

We had our first real snow day this season!

We started the day wearing our PJs and slippers. We made waffles and ate until we were full full!

Aidan kept an eye on the snowfall to let us know we could play in it whenever we were ready!

We made snow ice cream again this year. Last year we got a recipe that had raw eggs in it which I thought was weird and wrong on several levels. This was much better!

We finally made it outside! I was so glad we waited until the afternoon when the wind had died down and the sun was out! The boys had a blast and we lasted awhile until our fingers got too cold!

Aidan's snow angel.

Jake is really the reason why these boys had so much fun outside. If it were up to me, we would stand around and try to figure out a way to stay warm! He had a plan involving sleds, snowballs, and running around! What a super daddy!

Domino was the best behaved dog ever today. She loves loves this weather!

And now I just heard that we get to do it all over again tomorrow! They have already announced another snow day!

2010 photo book

2011-01-10T13:45:00.001-06:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

500 miles!

2011-01-02T20:38:00.002-06:00

I committed to running 500 miles in 2011. I think that will be so cool to be able to say! I ran 5 today but, unfortunately the 500 ticker doesn't start until tomorrow!

Christmas Day

2010-12-29T14:04:00.004-06:00

Christmas morning at our house.

Christmas dinner at my parent's house in Springfield.

Anticipating present time!

My pretty Mom.

My handsome Dad.

Aidan opening the much anticipated Trio Batcave. Santa asked Uncle Randy to help him deliver this gift. Aidan still says it was the best part of Christmas!

Getting ready for Santa

2010-12-29T13:45:00.004-06:00

We read a lot of Christmas stories leading up to the big day!

Christmas Eve with new pjs on.

Poor Domino!

I love this photo!

We got an elf on the shelf this year!

Making cookies for Santa. They really did not turn out that well, but the boys did not notice one bit!

Salem Lutheran Christmas program

2010-12-29T13:35:00.003-06:00

This is Aidan's sweet four year old preschool class at their Christmas program. They did a great job!

He was so proud!

Afterwards, they had a birthday party for Jesus!

Grandpa Mike and Grandma Shirley came to see the show!

Van Lear Christmas card 2010

2010-12-08T20:54:00.001-06:00

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create beautiful photo Christmas cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Jingle Jacket Run

2010-12-04T21:12:00.004-06:00

We ran the Jacket Jingle Run tonight! It was chilly chilly. Jake pushed Zachary in the 5K and Aidan and I ran the one mile fun run. Aidan has been practicing with us and was so pumped to do his first race. He did great!

It was seriously about 34 degrees and windy....COLD!

Thanksgiving at home

2010-11-25T15:49:00.004-06:00

This Thanksgiving we had our little family of four. I wanted it to still be special. We colored some cute Thanksgiving pages. This one is Aidan's and he was so proud of how well he stayed in the lines!

I thought it was pretty cute. The paper even had chickens and brussel sprouts listed!

I bought some super cheap (I am talking 80% off at Hobby Lobby-which put them at about $1) Thanksgiving sand art projects. Zachary and I did a turkey and a scarecrow and Jake and Aidan did pilgrim people. It ended up being rather difficult and we are convinced that the example cards it came with were digitally created and not actually made with glue and sand!

I need to tell you that mine is the one on the left! Not sure about those creatures on the right!

We bought Thanksgiving dinner from AQ Chicken and enjoyed every bit of it (including not cleaning up)! Aidan ate every bit on his plate and Zachary ate 4 pieces of ham. I didn't want to cook them a whole huge meal if I did not know if they would eat it at all. Well, Aidan did and Zachary did not! Now I know! Happy Thanksgiving! Now I think we are off to decorate for Christmas!

The real pictures

2010-11-25T14:13:00.004-06:00

Didn't my amazing sister do a fantastic job?!

Family Picture Outtakes

2010-11-10T17:11:00.006-06:00

My talented sister, Robin, took some family pictures for us this week. We drove all over Springfield and snapped away! The pictures turned out fabulous and we are super excited about them. These pictures are some of the outtakes. I thought they were funny!

We were trying to peek out from our column on the count of three. Zachary would come running out every time. He never did get that one down.

Aidan started telling Robin a long detailed story about his classmates at school.

Zachary gave me a big kiss!

Cohick Half Marathon

2010-11-08T21:01:00.004-06:00

A little Bass Pro animal hunt before the race day!

We got to the race early so we wouldn't miss a thing!

Our matching tattoos to support Jake's race!

About the finish the 13.1 miles-no problem!

I am so proud of Jake and what he accomplished. Doesn't he look so happy?!

We found out the night before the race that our precious friends from Lincoln, Nebraska would be at the race! We were trying so hard to find them among the 2000 participants and many more fans. We found them and were able to catch up a little bit. I actually know Amy from high school and Jake and Marty were roommates in Lincoln before we got married. We miss those guys! We have four kids now between us!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T14:22:00.004-05:00

For Halloween night we went to the Bunch's house for treat or treating. We have actually never been trick or treating (we have always been to some sort of Halloween event). There was a certain level of excitement about this Halloween because of the trick or treating. Zachary walked around the house all weekend saying, "twick or tweet!"

Aidan was pumped to dress up as Luigi!

Our pirate!

On our way!

Aidan and Ethan! They had the perfect costumes for the two boys that they are!

Our Halloween parade down the street.

They can't get enough of each other! This is like a dream for these two!

Halloween Eve

2010-10-30T20:30:00.004-05:00

Since last year Aidan has been asking to be Dash from The Incredibles. I am not how this started. Dash is not even one of the characters that he is obsessed with (like Lightning McQueen, for example). One of Jake's coworkers graciously let us borrow the costume. Her son was Dash last year and has since been sleeping with the black gloves on every night. Needless to say, we did not get the gloves, but Aidan has no idea! But...last week, our friend Nancy told us we could borrow a Luigi costume (and her son is going to be Mario). Oh the dilemma! Since Aidan's birthday last month he has a new obsession...playing Mario on the Wii. So, we are Dash on Halloween Eve and Luigi on Halloween night! Two costumes and no money!

Every time Aidan put the suit on he felt the need to run laps really really fast!

Zachary was a pirate. His recent love is playing with a Veggie Tales pirate ship and all of the "heroes" on the ship. He is in love with his pirate costume!

Today we went to the All Star Sports Arena Halloween event. It was an indoor miniature golf type thing. We went a few years ago and it was lovely and perfect for young kids. Apparently, the word must have spread and today there was about 5 times the number of people there. Oh well, the kids still had fun.

Do you see the strong resemblance?!

Vanzant Fruit Farms

2010-10-20T19:24:00.004-05:00

We took a little trip to the Vanzant Fruit Farms in Lowell the other day. We went there last year and got some great pictures. The boys loved it.

This is my favorite picture! Silly boy!

I told the boys that the turtle could be of the snapping variety!

They could hardly handle anymore pictures by this point! They just wanted to play on the tractor that you were not allowed to sit on!

Dickey Farms

2010-10-15T19:56:00.003-05:00

We took the boys to Dickey Farms today. The weather was gorgeous (almost a bit warm) and the pumpkin patch was perfect!

This picture is to prove that I (the usual photographer) was actually there!

Last soccer game

2010-10-09T14:01:00.004-05:00

The team huddle before the last game. Zachary is somewhere in the middle of that huddle loving life!

Abby and Zachary holding hands as they walk to their own field to play soccer.

Here is the team cheer tunnel after the game. Anyone 10 and under goes through the tunnel no less than three times and inevitably, someone always ends up going through backwards.

We went to the park for a post season party and to pass out awards.

Aidan was awarded the Speed Demon award and a trophy from Coach/Daddy Jake.

I love those not so Tiny Titans. See you in the spring, boys!

Five years old!

2010-09-29T14:23:00.003-05:00

Last week we celebrated Aidan's 5th Birthday! It is hard to believe he could be five. I remember going out to eat at Noodles the night before he was born.

Last year I took Aidan on a date to Chuck E Cheese and gave him a Cars watch. He LOVED his Cars watch and wore it everyday until the plastic band broke. So, I gave him a brand new Cars watch for his birthday. He was equally thrilled with the "collectors" pencil box that it came in! You see Zachary in the background scoping out the loot?!

My talented Mom made the awesome 3D Lightning McQueen cake!

We had a guy from Mad Science do a birthday party show for us. It was really neat and the kids LOVED it.

Aidan chose Tenney and Ethan to race tornadoes with him!

Here the kids were racing to fill the bags with air.

Aidan and Alli playing with their slime that they made during the science show. Aidan tells me he had a great birthday this year! We love you, Aidan. Happy Birthday!

Pledge of Allegiance

2010-09-17T13:31:00.002-05:00

This is Aidan's version of the Pledge of Allegiance that he learned at school. I had to videotape it so that I could remember it this way before I let him know not all his words are correct!

Playing in Grove

2010-09-12T14:30:00.003-05:00

We took a spontaneous trip to Grove yesterday to play. The kids had a blast swimming in the lake. I am guessing that it will soon be too cool to swim. Thanks for having us Grandma and Grandpa!

Tiny Titans, Season 2

2010-08-28T10:37:00.004-05:00

Today we started the second season of the Tiny Titans. The boys had a blast scored lots of goals!

Go Tiny Titans!

Good defense, Aidan!

Watch out kid, here comes the karate shot!

WEEKEND!

2010-08-21T21:37:00.004-05:00

Today the boys relaxed and hung out at home all day. It was Aidan's first weekend at home after going to school all week. He likes school (though I believe he will LOVE school later) but it is still exhausting and a big adjustment. He now understands weekends and their importance! The boys had so much fun playing in the backyard!

Nice action shots!

I love these boys!

1st day of preschool

2010-08-16T09:02:00.003-05:00

Today was Aidan's first day of school. This year he is going to Salem Lutheran Preschool. It is Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is a big change for us but we think it is going to be great! Aidan was so excited. He loved meeting his teacher last week, shopping for school supplies, and meeting other kids that are in his class! Last night we put him to bed at 8 p.m. and he finally fell asleep at 10:30 p.m. I think he was excited and nervous. He woke up perky at 6:30 a.m. as usual!

He was so happy that I remembered to have him wear tennis shoes because those are his favorites!

He was very nice about the many pictures that I wanted to take!

Sitting at his desk in Ms. Kathy's class. I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and hear all about his day! But for now, Zachary and I are getting ready to go to the park and spend some time together!

Crafty mom

2010-08-11T14:38:00.003-05:00

This blog post is mostly for my Mom and my husband. I wanted them to see evidence of my sewing machine in use! So, Aidan needs a SMALL pillow for nap time at preschool this year. School starts Monday and we needed a pillow. The small pillows at the local store are ridiculously expensive for nap time at preschool. So, Aidan and I picked out fabric at Hob Lob and I got to work! Did you think he would pick out any other fabric besides Lightning McQueen?! Have you met my son?!

First I pinned the fabric, then I began sewing and realized I did not pin the right sides together. So, I ripped out the stitching and started over! I did not say I was good at this!

Then, I stuffed it with stuffing stuff (the package says it was downlike comfort-can't beat that!)

Aidan might just be one of the coolest kids at school on Monday! (I say one of the coolest because I know some other equally cool kids at his school!)

Kansas City with my sweetie!

2010-08-01T14:57:00.004-05:00

Jake and I were able to take a trip all by ourselves! We arranged childcare with Jake's parents for four days and three nights! We have not done this kind of a trip since before Aidan was born! It was long overdue! We started the trip by going to visit one of my best friends from high school. Kristy and her husband, Travis, have an extraordinary family. They have adopted three children from Ethiopia, three children from Liberia, and have two foster children in their home. These children were precious! It is an organized, loving home. We were so fortunate to be able to stay one night there to really experience life in their home. I felt like our home with our two boys is sometimes more chaotic and stressful than theirs with TEN people in it! This is a picture of the almost two year old, Javante.

Emma and Kamari

Micah

Me and Kristy

After our time with Travis and Kristy, we headed to the plaza. It poured down rain for about 30 minutes. Luckily, summer rain is usually short lived, and we were shopping in no time! We went to eat at a yummy Italian restaurant called Bucca de Beppo on National Lasagna Day. We got a free lasagna which Jake later gave to a homeless guy!

We went to a Royals game! We started off sitting in our assigned seats WAY up high and slowly made our way down to a more comfortable seat!

This is how we celebrated National Cheesecake Day! Half price cheesecakes at The Cheesecake Factory! YUM!

We ate dinner at a fancy schmancy restaurant on the Plaza with one of my best friends from nursing school, Kayla!

We are now planning our next vacation! Love you, Jake!

Random

2010-08-01T14:49:00.003-05:00

This is what a storm, that apparently only hit our neighborhood, did to our fence. We have talked to others in Springdale that did not know there was a storm. We had hail, wind, and a monsoon! We were leaving for Kansas City so the Harbor Church guys helped Jake get it back up before we left!

The garden survived!

We ordered t-shirts for The Harbor Church. The boys were a little big!

Robin came to visit with Alli and Rachel. The kids were winding down before bed with movie time!

No fear or determination?!

2010-07-08T15:59:00.003-05:00

On the last day of swim lessons they turn on all the fun stuff and let the kids play. Here, Aidan is going down the blue slide all by himself. These are things the kids would not get to do on a regular day at the pool because they can't really swim well. You can imagine the excitement despite the times of pouring down rain!

Ever since last year when he was too scared to jump off the diving board, Aidan has been telling us that he is going to jump this year. His plan is to be able to jump off the two-story dock at Grandma and Grandpa's house like his cousins do. He said he is going to jump off the diving board on the last day of swim lessons and then jump off the dock next. This is terrifying for me! Well, they walk over to the diving boards and he goes straight up the high dive ladder. The head lifeguard covers her face and says, "what level is he?!" Aidan's teacher is in the water and said, "he is one of my Level 1/2 kids! I will watch him!" He proceeds to jump in, head like a bullet deep into the water, and pop right out! Aidan, said "did you see that?! Are we going to Grove this afternoon to jump off the dock?!" Ummm, no we are not!

This is the regular sized diving board.

Aidan and his teacher, Taylor. His class ended up being very small, usually just 2-3 kids. He had such a great time and really did well. He can swim anywhere with his kickboard, swim small distances in a doggie paddle type move, float, kick, etc.

American celebration

2010-07-08T15:44:00.004-05:00

We had a fabulous time at the Bunch's house for the 4th of July. Zachary watched most of the fireworks from a lap until a BIG one, when we had to take the crying boy inside.

Proud to be an American! Aidan found this flag on our street earlier in the day so we pretended to be in a parade. He was the flag holder and I was the candy passer-outer. At 10:30 pm Aidan was barely awake but still holding his flag upright!

Overall, Aidan was still a little scared, but stayed outside and watched the whole time!

Tour de Fun!

2010-06-20T16:27:00.004-05:00

For Father's Day this year, Jake wanted to do the Tour de Fun bike ride EARLY Saturday morning. We had a great time and would love to do it again.

I love this picture!

So sweet!

What a nice Rogers policeman!

Showing off their Spiderman tattoos. I am not sure why Aidan is standing that way!

Happy Father's Day!

Mr. Independent

2010-06-19T10:58:00.003-05:00

Zachary is our independent, strong willed, lovable child!

When he decides that he is going to wear a sock hat to the pool, it is hard to convince him otherwise!

What?!

I gave him creativity points for his golf technique here!

We are thirty!

2010-06-14T14:16:00.004-05:00

This past weekend was my 30th birthday. Of course, that means it was also my sister's 30th birthday! Months ago we told our husbands we are turning thirty this year, we want to celebrate it together, and that they should start planning something!

Well, they did a GREAT job! All I knew was that we were going to Springfield for the weekend. I was just instructed to take the weekend off of work, which was not a problem because I have a personal policy to not work on my birthday! We started the day off with taking the kids to a neat park in Springfield to play.

Robin got us these shirts so we looked alike all day. It was dorky of us, but we did not care!

For lunch we went to Darren's mom's house to eat and have birthday cake! Then, the boys sent us with a GPS to an unknown location...it took us to a spa for massages!

We left the kids there for the rest of the day. The four us went to Branson!

The party planners took us on a Branson cruise and shopping at the Branson Landing. It was so nice to have adult time! It was great! We ate dinner at Joe's crab shack...yummm!

What great husbands we have been blessed with! Happy 30th Birthday to us!

Quiet neighborhood

2010-05-24T13:07:00.004-05:00

Aidan said he was a planet!

Zachary's is a necklace because it wouldn't stay on his head!

The boys' Great Aunt LaVerne got them these crocs. They love them and I love that they are on backwards and no one cares! The eyes jiggle when their little legs run!

"goccer ball!"