YOUR GANGSTA Name: (first 4 letters of real name)
Amy B
YOUR SPY NAME: (favorite color & favorite animal)
Pink Lion
YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name & street you live on)
Beth Sherman
YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Koeam
YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color and favorite drink)
Yellow Vino
YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of you dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your moms middle name)
Mobogae
YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents' middle names)
June Edgar
YOUR GOTH NAME: (black and the name of one of your pets)
Black Pooh (no pets, so I used my son's favorite stuffed animal)
YOUR PORN STAR NAME: (the name of your first pet & the name of the street you grew up on)
Fluffy Loyland
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
School, school, school
Today is the first day of school for Todd...we sent him off this morning on his bike in the rain...what a trooper! Not sure what time we'll see him tonight again - I hope that his lab doesn't keep him the entire three hours on the first day, but you never know. This is engineering school!
The boys and I have had a good day of school here at home as well. Andrew did some math before JL woke up and we read about sporting events around the world. There was even a picture of a man shooting an apple off a boy's head which goes along with The Apple and the Arrow that we are reading about William Tell. The picture in the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia was a way different depiction then what our book says about the type of bow that was used.
We ventured into painting today with one of those thoughts - why didn't I just let a school deal with this just because of the mess, but in the end it wasn't bad. Washable paint is a very good thing. The 
activity was to paint with string. We had quite a few different types of strings, but in the end our hands ended up being a lot more fun!
activity was to paint with string. We had quite a few different types of strings, but in the end our hands ended up being a lot more fun!They do have fun with painting so I need to let them do it a little more often. It was really funny that JL said that we had to wear aprons, even me because that is what they did at Ms. Russell's school. Aprons ended up being old shirts from the rag pile.
One of our other activities for the day was making letters in rice. In an attempt to get some handwriting in without actually having to use a writing utensil and paper (which Andrew seems to avoid), we started making letters in rice to learn to make them properly with a finger. Making letters properly means starting at the top and making them proportional. As long as they get time to play in the rice, they are willing to do it - at least so far. The handwriting manual tries to put some fun things in there too. We have a song that reminds us to put our letters at the top and the first letters that we are reviewing are called "Frog letters" because you jump back to the top of where you started after you make the original line. If you look closely in Andrew's you can see an M.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Happy Birthday Andrew!
Andrew turned 6 on Tuesday! He had a special day that started with presents and ended with a birthday party. He got to have one of his favorite meals of cheese ravioli for supper then 6 friends came over for the celebration! Andrew helped organize everything about his party and he had an "announcement" at the beginning of the party saying in a very formal and serious voice, "This is my party and we are going to have fun." Andrew decided on bike races down the hill in front of our house, pin the tail on the donkey and hitting a pinata as the games to entertain his guests. We also decorated cupcakes and had a book/puzzle exchange. I believe that everyone did have fun and not just because Andrew said that they had to!
We interviewed Andrew for his birthday so I thought I would share his answers with you. He's going to love this when he's 16 to know all of this about him a decade before...
What is your favorite color? I like all of them, except pink.
What is your favorite car? Van, like a mini-van.
What is your favorite bedtime activity? Read a story.
Who is your favorite bedtime buddy? Pooh
What do you want to be when you grow up? Since the Black Bird is an old plane, I am going to be an airplane maker. I am going to run an airplane factory.
What is your favorite food? Ravioli, of course because it has ricotta cheese in it.
What is your favorite clothing? The shirt that I am wearing now. (it was a gift fro Grandma Coers for his birthday) Oh and my watch, and my hat too.
What is your favorite drink? Green Apple Slushy (from Sonic)
What is your favorite book? That's a hard one. (With some further questioning, he came up with ) The Titanic Lost and Found, The Beginner's Bible, and Spiderman (which was part of the book exchange at the party)
What is your favorite sport? Soccer
What does your dad do? Civil Engineer, not yet.
What does your mom do? Works for a software company called Cerner.
What is your favorite restaurant? Mexican
What is your favorite game? Sorry
What is your favorite thing to do with your brother? Play with Joe and Ellie.
What is your favorite cereal? Shredded Wheat and Fruity Cheerios
What is your favorite song? Tennessee Stud
What is your favorite activity to do with your mom? Play Cribbage
What is your favorite activity to do with your dad? Play cars
What do you like to do when you wake up in the morning? Read books
What time do you usually wake up in the morning? In between 6 and 6:30
What is a food that you won't eat? Tomatoes
What is your favorite animal? Giraffe
What is your favorite sports team? Right now, the Cardinals
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheese Burrito (this is a couple slices of chesse wrapped in tortilla)
What do you like best about your brother? He is funny.
What is your favorite place that you have ever visited? The Magic House (in St. Louis).
What is your favorite Bible verse? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
Who is your favorite professional athlete? I don't know that I know any of them.
What is your favorite sport to watch? Baseball
What is your favorite TV channel? Cartoon Network (Grandpa let him watch it...)
What is your favorite movie? The first Star Wars, not "A New Hope" that one is the 4th.
What is your favorite fruit? Apples
What is your favorite computer game to play? Nick Jr.
How tall are you? About 3 feet and 4 inches
How much do you weigh? We'll have to get the scale out...(mom made him guess) 30 pounds
How far can you run? From the top of the street to the end. (How far do you think that is?) About 100 feet, probably.
We interviewed Andrew for his birthday so I thought I would share his answers with you. He's going to love this when he's 16 to know all of this about him a decade before...
What is your favorite color? I like all of them, except pink.
What is your favorite car? Van, like a mini-van.
What is your favorite bedtime activity? Read a story.
Who is your favorite bedtime buddy? Pooh
What do you want to be when you grow up? Since the Black Bird is an old plane, I am going to be an airplane maker. I am going to run an airplane factory.
What is your favorite food? Ravioli, of course because it has ricotta cheese in it.
What is your favorite clothing? The shirt that I am wearing now. (it was a gift fro Grandma Coers for his birthday) Oh and my watch, and my hat too.
What is your favorite drink? Green Apple Slushy (from Sonic)
What is your favorite book? That's a hard one. (With some further questioning, he came up with ) The Titanic Lost and Found, The Beginner's Bible, and Spiderman (which was part of the book exchange at the party)
What is your favorite sport? Soccer
What does your dad do? Civil Engineer, not yet.
What does your mom do? Works for a software company called Cerner.
What is your favorite restaurant? Mexican
What is your favorite game? Sorry
What is your favorite thing to do with your brother? Play with Joe and Ellie.
What is your favorite cereal? Shredded Wheat and Fruity Cheerios
What is your favorite song? Tennessee Stud
What is your favorite activity to do with your mom? Play Cribbage
What is your favorite activity to do with your dad? Play cars
What do you like to do when you wake up in the morning? Read books
What time do you usually wake up in the morning? In between 6 and 6:30
What is a food that you won't eat? Tomatoes
What is your favorite animal? Giraffe
What is your favorite sports team? Right now, the Cardinals
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheese Burrito (this is a couple slices of chesse wrapped in tortilla)
What do you like best about your brother? He is funny.
What is your favorite place that you have ever visited? The Magic House (in St. Louis).
What is your favorite Bible verse? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
Who is your favorite professional athlete? I don't know that I know any of them.
What is your favorite sport to watch? Baseball
What is your favorite TV channel? Cartoon Network (Grandpa let him watch it...)
What is your favorite movie? The first Star Wars, not "A New Hope" that one is the 4th.
What is your favorite fruit? Apples
What is your favorite computer game to play? Nick Jr.
How tall are you? About 3 feet and 4 inches
How much do you weigh? We'll have to get the scale out...(mom made him guess) 30 pounds
How far can you run? From the top of the street to the end. (How far do you think that is?) About 100 feet, probably.
Monday, August 13, 2007
2:12:31
I finished! 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 31 seconds was my official time from the LaSalle Bank Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon and I ran all of it - no walking...not even through the water stops.
Sunday morning in Chicago was really a very nice morning for a run, even a half marathon run. The gun was at 6:30am so we got started nice and early so we could finish before it was too hot and humid. The course was very flat which is very different from my training landscape and there was a bunch of shade as well from trees and building. And those times when I was in the sunshine the sun seemed to be behind a cloud. I couldn't have asked for better conditions for an August day in the midwest. I ran most of the way with my cousin Becca who was my virtual training partner for the past few months. About mile 11 I had a little more than she did so I went ahead of her. We had another cousin join us for the race, but he ran much faster than we did (he finished in 1:43). I was happy to have the additional cheering section of him and his wife. Mentally I could have been in the race a little better, but I met my goal of finishing before 2:15 and I ran the entire race. I did it and happy that I did and was a great incentive to take care of my temple.
During the actual race there were so many people running! I've ran a fair number of races over the years and I have never been in a race where I ran in such a crowd the entire race. One of the strategies that I have had in races before is that you pick off one person at a time. There were so many people that I was passing and being passed constantly. The strategy on Sunday ended up more about finding a place to run than who I was going to pass or not be passed by. Even though I felt like I was in a crowd the entire race, as I saw the finish line there seemed to be quite a bit of empty space between me and the next set of people. I didn't think that I had it in me to catch those people in front of me. My mind was telling my body to just keep my steady pace until the end, one foot in front of the other. Then I felt someone coming up from behind me...I didn't think I had it in me to catch someone in front of me, but I wasn't going to let someone pass me :) so I found some energy for a little bit of a kick and I wasn't passed. Then it was over and I could stop being in perpectual motion!
It was a really great weekend even outside the race - my mom offered to watch the boys so we weren't carting them all over the place for the run. It was a great idea and are very thankful for that and took my parents up on the offer. After dropping the boys of in Centralia, we experienced some lovely Chicago traffic before we met Becca in Chicago Friday night and ate some Chicago style pizza. We walked around downtown Chicago including experiencing "the bean" in Millennium park and had enjoyed being in the city. Saturday we met more family including Becca's parents and other cousins at a Renaissance Fair then the obligatory pasta meal. We crashed at Heather's house in Chicago so the commute to the race Sunday morning wouldn't be as long and had a rousing game of Apples to Apples with 6 of us. After the race and showers we had a yummy brunch with the group and then we were all off back to resume the rest of our lives.
What's next for my workout routine? I don't know beyond taking a couple of days off and then starting to run with some other women that I met. Oh, and no interval training for awhile. Todd starts school next week and I'm assuming that our lives will get a bit more hectic and not sure of how much time I will have for training. Early mornings will probably still work for awhile until it gets too chilly to run in the mornings.
Sunday morning in Chicago was really a very nice morning for a run, even a half marathon run. The gun was at 6:30am so we got started nice and early so we could finish before it was too hot and humid. The course was very flat which is very different from my training landscape and there was a bunch of shade as well from trees and building. And those times when I was in the sunshine the sun seemed to be behind a cloud. I couldn't have asked for better conditions for an August day in the midwest. I ran most of the way with my cousin Becca who was my virtual training partner for the past few months. About mile 11 I had a little more than she did so I went ahead of her. We had another cousin join us for the race, but he ran much faster than we did (he finished in 1:43). I was happy to have the additional cheering section of him and his wife. Mentally I could have been in the race a little better, but I met my goal of finishing before 2:15 and I ran the entire race. I did it and happy that I did and was a great incentive to take care of my temple.
During the actual race there were so many people running! I've ran a fair number of races over the years and I have never been in a race where I ran in such a crowd the entire race. One of the strategies that I have had in races before is that you pick off one person at a time. There were so many people that I was passing and being passed constantly. The strategy on Sunday ended up more about finding a place to run than who I was going to pass or not be passed by. Even though I felt like I was in a crowd the entire race, as I saw the finish line there seemed to be quite a bit of empty space between me and the next set of people. I didn't think that I had it in me to catch those people in front of me. My mind was telling my body to just keep my steady pace until the end, one foot in front of the other. Then I felt someone coming up from behind me...I didn't think I had it in me to catch someone in front of me, but I wasn't going to let someone pass me :) so I found some energy for a little bit of a kick and I wasn't passed. Then it was over and I could stop being in perpectual motion!
It was a really great weekend even outside the race - my mom offered to watch the boys so we weren't carting them all over the place for the run. It was a great idea and are very thankful for that and took my parents up on the offer. After dropping the boys of in Centralia, we experienced some lovely Chicago traffic before we met Becca in Chicago Friday night and ate some Chicago style pizza. We walked around downtown Chicago including experiencing "the bean" in Millennium park and had enjoyed being in the city. Saturday we met more family including Becca's parents and other cousins at a Renaissance Fair then the obligatory pasta meal. We crashed at Heather's house in Chicago so the commute to the race Sunday morning wouldn't be as long and had a rousing game of Apples to Apples with 6 of us. After the race and showers we had a yummy brunch with the group and then we were all off back to resume the rest of our lives.
What's next for my workout routine? I don't know beyond taking a couple of days off and then starting to run with some other women that I met. Oh, and no interval training for awhile. Todd starts school next week and I'm assuming that our lives will get a bit more hectic and not sure of how much time I will have for training. Early mornings will probably still work for awhile until it gets too chilly to run in the mornings.
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