Merry Christmas 2010

Love Note

Oh my gosh we have the sweetest little boy!

I just sat down at the computer after dropping Ethan off at school. Sitting on my keyboard was a beautiful little note from Ethan. He left mom and dad a love note!!!

(i luf yoo Walton mom and dad)

Ethan is learning to write in school and he loves writing notes on everything. He leaves notes on his bedroom door, he writes about the pictures he draws and he has fun spelling to us so Cal and Teagan won't know what he's saying.

We love you too Ethan! You are so thoughtful.

Monstrous Weekend!!

Halloween 2010 was a Monster of a weekend!

We started off the weekend with a 10-mile race!!- the Monster Dash!
Nick, Shalene, Mike, Nora and I ran the 10-mile race all together in great time. Our time was 1 hour and 45 min (10-minutes per mile), which included a potty stop and a stretch break when we were greeted by our cheering kids and parents at the 6th mile. The weather was absolutely perfect and the course was fun.

The rest of the weekend was spent carving pumkins, decorating for our 6th annual Halloween Spooktacular, dressing up and eating way too much candy.

The kids had a blast trick-or-treating. I'd say it was the best year so far. Cal and Teagan were running from house to house and Cal was leading our pack of 9 kids. Ethan and Aidan, with Nick and Josh, continued on trick-or-treating for another hour after the rest of us. I'm not sure who was having more fun, the boys or the big boys.

Notice a Theme?

I take a ton of pictures. Yesterday I downloaded about 75 pictures from this month and noticed my "2010" folder was up to 690 pictures...and there are still two more photographic months left this year.
The pictures I've taken the past few months all have a persistent theme. You can't miss it, in ALL the pictures I have taken!

(teagan's 10th surgery last week)

(lunch at grandpa's hospital post surgery)

Twin Support

Teagan had a dry diaper and used the bathroom almost all day yesterday. Just before we left to pick up Ethan at school we had a potty break.
After Teagan was done going potty she ran out to the stroller where Cal was waiting. She hopped up into her seat and here is how the conversation went as I started strolling down the block:

Teagan: "Cal, I went pee-pee on the potty and got a jelly bean!"

Cal: "Good job Teagy!"

Teagan: "Cal, you're a good boy too"

Cal: "You're a girl"

Teagan: "You are a boy and your brother is a boy too"

Cal: "uh-hu"

They are just starting to have real conversations with each other and with Ethan, and it's SO adorable to listen to. They can be so sweet and supportive at times (emphasis on "at times").

Other times you get stuff like this:

Teagan: "Mom, Cal hit me!"

Mom: "Cal, we don't hit. Say sorry to Teagan and give her a hug."

Teagan: (still forcing a cry)

Cal: grunt, frown, head down; mumbles "sorry" very quietly

Teagan: in a teasing voice says, "Say it louder, Cal. I can't hear you."

Cal: walks away and has a minor melt down

Teagan: yells after Cal as she's walking away, "Cal, you need to use your words. We can't understand you!"

Mom: also has to walk away to hide the laughing

Kindergarten!

Ethan is a Kindergartener!!!
This is the 3rd week of school and I think we are just now getting used to our new routine. Ethan's in school full-day and I'm now working 3 days/week, so Cal and Teagan are adjusting to more daycare. Everyone stepped it up a notch this Fall.

Ethan was, of course, nervous and excited for his first day of school. There were tears (mostly mine), but it couldn't have gone better. Ethan is eager to get to school in the morning now and we have a very nice walk to and from school everyday. Even on the first day of school he just gave me a quick wave goodbye and ran into the classroom. I was the one lingering and wanting more hugs and kisses before I could bring myself to walk away! I definitely left in tears, but that just means we did a great job preparing him for school. I can't imagine how hard it will be when the kids go to college! Yikes, just thinking about that makes me tear up.

These first two pictures are of Ethan with his "Count Down to Kindergarten Chain." He made the chain at camp a few weeks before school and then he ripped one chain off every night before bed until the first day of school.

Here are a few pictures we took before his 1st day of Kindergarten. Smiles were hard to come by until he got on his scooter to ride to school.

Summer 2010

With summer already coming to an end I wanted to put together a slideshow of some of our highlights.
This summer has been SO much fun! We've been to the cabin often (of course), swimming, camping, playing at the pool and beaches, running and biking as a family every weekend morning, and Nick and I even joined a softball team.
With Cal and Teagan now 2 1/2 we have more freedom in the fun things we can do together as a family. They are adventurous and full of energy and love to follow after Ethan.
Here I am awake at midnight tonight looking thru all of our summer pictures and it makes me sad to think about this summer being over. Reality hit this evening when we went to Ethan's Kindergarten Open House. Ethan met his teacher and spent some time in his classroom. We were all very excited and it was a wonderful evening.
But that open house marked the end of summer, and the end of Ethan being home all the time with me.

Our baby goes to Kindergarten in 5 days.
And I'm crying already!

Ok, enough. That's not where I wanted to go with this blog. We still have 5 days of summer and I plan to pack in a ton more fun.
Enjoy some of the fun pictures from our summer. I'm sure I'll write a sob-blog after Ethan's first day of school. :)

Last Day of Preschool

Ethan graduated from Preschool a couple weeks ago! We're excited to be moving up to Kindergarten next year!

Copmare this picture to the one I took on his very fisrt day of preschool in 2007... http://waltons5.blogspot.com/2007/09/big-week.html

Where did the years go?

Annual Linden Hills Fest

Our 5th celebration in the neighborhood...

Blurry but Cute

Recent pajama photo shoot...
The animal PJs Teagan is wearing are actually the PJs Cal wore 1 year earlier. As long as Teagan still doesn't mind, she can fit into Cals hand-me-downs. :)

Stillwater 12k

In January I blogged about my New Years "goal" of taking care of myself and training to run my first race. After 5 months of working out and running 3-4 times a week...

I DID IT!!!!

(I should say "we" did it)

My mom, Shalene and I ran the Stillwater 12k (7.2 miles) on Sunday! I loved it! We ran the entire race without stopping and crossed the finish line at 1 hour and 10 minutes (9.41 minute miles). The hilly course didn't slow us down at all. I'm now officially addicted to racing and can't wait to run another one. Maybe we can find a 10-mile run, and then we'll go for the 1/2 marathon.

My official results were: 9.41min/mile, OVERALL placed 257 out of 591 people, of all WOMEN racers I placed 126 out of 368 women, and I placed 31 out of 86 women in my age group (30-34yrs).

Very cool!

Ethan-Date Night

For almost a couple years now, since Cal and Teagan were only a few months old, we've made a point to have Ethan-Date Nights.


That means Ethan, Nick and I go out to dinner and a movie. It's nice to spend time with Ethan and treat him to a night out without the twins. We've been good about doing this at least once a month.

Ethan usually gets to pick the restaurant, as long as we feel like eating his favorite food that night.


And his favorite food is.....

SUSHI!!!

Ethan loves seaweed salad!

And his favorite movie these days, which he's seen twice in the theater already, is How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. It's actually a very good movie.

FOOD, INC.

Earth Day is one of my favorite holidays. For me every day is Earth Day, but I love seeing everyone else thinking about our environment this week the way I think about it on a daily basis. You may think I'm exagerating, but I'm not.

Here are some of the "green" things we do on a daily basis:
-Compost, compost, compost (every meal, everyday)
-Recycle the basics (glass, paper, aluminum, plastic)
-Recycle plastic bags seperately at the Co-op
-Always use reusable cloth bags when shopping (not just groceries either!)
-Use environmentally friendly cleaning products
-Lights off if you're not in the room, and use the "green" lightbulbs
-Walk, run, bike to our destination whenever possible (yes, even with 3 kids)
-We built a very green house!
-We have a rain barrel
Plus many more little things, like turn the water off while brushing teeth...
and so on

For years we have been very concious of the food we eat, for our health and also for the environment (which is why I was a vegitarian for 8 years). We try to buy locally and eat organic food when possible, but it's expensive so we haven't made it a priority....UNTIL NOW!

Last night we watch the movie FOOD, INC.
WOW! I loved it! You must watch this movie. Don't worry, this is not a movie to push you to become a vegitarian. :) Not at all. It simply opens your eyes to think about where you food comes from, and therefore how to make better choices in what you eat and where you buy it.
From now on we will be choosing Organic and LOCAL foods. We will shop at out Co-op more. It will be much healthier for our bodies and our environment.

Just watch the movie. Happy Earth Day!!

Nine Pound Spread

Cal and Teagan went into the doctor for their 2-year check-up last week. Well-child visits are always fun because we love our pediatrician. She lives in our neighborhood and has 3 young kids also, so she totally understands our lives. As much as we like going to visit and check up with her, going into the doctor with twins is always a LONG experience. Each twin gets one half hour of time, so we are in a 6x6ft room for 1 HOUR with very little entertainment except for a chalk board and books. After an hour of dressing and redressing, weighing, measuring, poking and prodding of each child I was exhausted. When we left everyone was covered in chalk from head to toe and screaming from their shots. Next time I'm not doing that alone!

Here are the official stats:

Cal: 32.8 lbs (92%) and 37" tall (96%)
Although Cal is in the 95% overall, his height and weight are proportionate and his BMI (Body Mass Index) is perfectly healthy. He's just big, and actually the average size for a 3 year old.

Teagan: 23.13 lbs (7%) and 33.5" tall (36%)
Not a surprise to hear that Teagan is skinny and on the smaller side for her age. She's very healthy and nothing to worry about.

It would just be easier if they were the same size so we wouldn't have to hassle with 2 different size diapers. Cal is busting out of Size 5 and Teagan has plenty of room in Size 4.

Maybe potty training will happen soon...

Spring Already?

The snow is melting! Raining and 50 degrees every day of March... does this mean Spring is here?

We've had a lot of fun playing outside the past couple weeks. The sidewalks are clear of snow and ice, so we've been going on walks and even biking and running around the lakes.

It doesn't even matter if we happen to get more snow again this month, the past couple weeks have been a wonderful break from winter.

February Flew By!

Where did February go?

We were so busy this month that we didn't even have time to feel depressed about what usually feels like the longest month of the year (which is actually the shortest).

In the beginning of the month Nick and I went on a "revolving door" vacation. Meaning, I took Ethan to Florida to visit Nana and "old Bompa" (as Ethan says) in Naples for 5 days. Then Nick and I switched and he flew down to hang out in FL with Ethan for another 5 days. The one-on-one time with Ethan was very nice, and he had a blast.

After our FL vacation we celebrated Cal and Teagan's 2nd birthday!! Happy Birthday Cal and Teagan!! Everywhere they went last week they said "TWO" and would hold up a few fingers. SO cute.

The next weekend Ethan, Teagan and I went to Iowa with Grandma Rooney to see family. We had a great time! Ethan keeps asking when we can go back and play with cousins.

Now tomorrow is already March, and it feels like the hardest part of the winter is behind us. Spring- here we come!
This picture was taken this morning at the Rooney pad after enjoying Mochas and Muffins.