Charlie's 5th Birthday in Pictures

Our eldest turned five earlier this month.  As he says, he's a "whole handful" now.  (And I thought he already was, silly me!)  We had a wonderful day, all focused on Charlie.  He was the lucky recipient of many gifts from us and all his grandparents... he helped make his birthday cupcakes and enjoyed his dinner request of hamburgers and sausages.  We had so much fun watching him grow from four to five, and know that six will be here all too soon!

Christmas Tree

I love Christmas.  If I had it my way, Christmas would last all year long... but since most people disagree with me, I limit myself to making my house Christmasy as soon as I can after Thanksgiving.  This year it took us a few extra days because I was recovering from the half marathon, but we did have our tree up and decorated well before Charlie's birthday.

As he did the last two years, Charlie put the first ornament up.  This year he chose our new ornaments - a snowman ball.  He was really excited to find just the right spot for it.

Once the ornaments were all on, Andy ascended a step stool to put a bow on top.

With the tree decorated, we turned off all the lights and sat around admiring it.  It is our tradition to sing a few Christmas carols the night it goes up.  This year we sang "Oh, Christmas Tree" "Silent Night" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

The next day Ephram and Charlie had a lot of fun admiring the ornaments.  This was Ephram's first Christmas tree experience, and he loved it enough to walk around the tree a little bit!

Boone liked staring at the tree too - and once Ephram noticed he was there, the dog took precendence.

But we managed to get him back to the tree when Charlie showed him a candy cane.  Ephram really loves his brother, and vice-versa.

We each chose a new ornament this year, which is another Kovar tradition.  Here are some photos of the new additions.

For Andy and I, we added a Little Drummer Boy ornament - in honor of our two drummer boys.

For Ephram we have a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament... I've always wanted a reason to put one of these on the tree!

And Charlie, as in past years chose a Snoopy ornament.  There's something about Charlie Brown that he loves... maybe it is that they share a name.

We had so much fun decorating and admiring our tree this year.  I will be sad when it is time to take it down!  Maybe this is the year that I'll win and get to keep it up?  Doubtful...

Christmas Card Photos

I took the kids to see Santa Claus at a photographer's this year.  Before we went they donned matching red sweaters.  In the lobby, while we were waiting, I couldn't help but admire how cute the boys were.  I snapped a picture really quick with my cell phone so that Andy could see too.

The visit with Santa went great, and the pictures were super cute.  Someday I will post it on the blog, I'm sure.  But the visit also gave me inspiration to take the kids out and do some red sweater pictures of our own.  I used a few for our Christmas cards this year, but there were many that I liked... so now you get to see all of my favorites.  The boys are so excited for Christmas!

Ephram at 11 Months

11 months old!  So close to the one year mark, and I can tell by everything that he does.  He is fast turning into a toddler... a very cute and very active one.  I have mixed feelings about this - excited that he's growing up, sad that the little baby is gone...  Seems I feel that way as I reflect on each month!  But this time I feel a little more justified because this is the last time I will post an update for Ephram that includes "months" in the title... next time I will be saying 1 "year".  Holy cow.  Here is some information about Ephram as he hit the eleven month milestone.

The Stats:
There is no 11 month well child check-up, but as far as I can tell Ephram weighed exactly 22 pounds, a six ounce gain from 10 months.

Milestones:
Learned how to give a high five
Able to stand without support
Able to side step
Able to use sippy cup proficiently (yay me!)

Language
Ephram still had 3 words in his vocabulary this month - Boone, mama and dada

He now knows two signs - more and milk

Teeth
Ephram got his eighth tooth, a top molar.  He now has 5 on top and 3 on bottom.

Food
In addition to the other foods he eats we added egg yolk, wheat bread and cherries this month.

Favorites
Book - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Toy - Pots and pans
TV Show - Anything Elmo
Song - Itsy Bitsy Spider
Game - Hang upside down

Nicknames
Buggy
Bruiser
E

Here are some pictures from his tenth month!

Cupboard Capers

What's in here?

Ah!  Tupperware!  And lids!!!

Oh - hi mom!

Hmm... what's this?

How do I open it?

Ah-ha!

There is saran wrap, tinfoil and baggies in here mom!

I love making discoveries.  

Now what should I open, pull out, knock down or drag around the house next?

My First Half Marathon

Finally it was time to complete my first half marathon.  The day before the race we went into Seattle to pick up our bibs and goody bags.  There was also an expo and we had fun looking around.  I was very excited to get my bib and at home I set about preparing for the next day.   Among the things that I arranged for the morning was my bib, clipped and ready to don.  I was number 20085.

I had so much energy that night - excited, nervous, anxious - that I didn't get to sleep until after midnight.  Jordan went to sleep sometime after me, but we were both up in time to be out of the house by 6:15.  We picked up Candice and her mom and headed into Seattle.  We figured we had plenty of time to get there, but we didn't know how backed up traffic would be at the exit.  Jordan missed his race start, but was remarkably calm about it.  The rest of us hit the start line about a minute before our race began.  I had just a little time to get a few pictures of us at the start line.  Yes, it was still dark.  It was also freezing - the snow was gone, but the temperatures had not yet risen.

And then we were off.  We were stuck in the pack at the beginning.  The three of us wanted to stay together, but we eventually jogged our way through the small openings in the crowd so that we could move at a good pace.  Before we knew it we'd covered the distance from the Seattle Center to Safeco field (about 2 miles) and were headed up the ramp to I-90.  Candice's mom took a quick picture of us, and then the camera was put away for a long time.

While we were passing the curve on the freeway ramp, we saw a pace car to the left of us immediately followed by the first marathoner.  The marathon started a half an hour after our race did.  That first marathoner was already in a groove and seemed to soar by.  Soon there was another, then a pack of three, and then a few more.  Seeing them was inspiring... we picked up the pace and got moving through the express lane tunnels.  It was there that we saw packs of marathoners that were running with pace groups.  

The course was so interesting.  It took me through parts of Seattle that I have never seen - and that I would like to visit again.  We were on the side of Lake Washington for quite some time, went through some residential areas, and spent a long time in the arboretum.  There were two hills mid course that were very difficult, but we just kept on going.  We stopped a couple of times to take care of some basic needs, but other than that it was serious business.  We had planned to stick together, but split from Candice's mom around the halfway point.  Then, after mile 10 we were again passed by the lead marathoner.  (The marathon course split off from the half-marathon and then rejoined ours for the last few miles.)  Once again, seeing him in his groove gave me the fuel I needed to finish strong.  Candice and I agreed to pick up the pace, but then got separated for the last two miles.

The last mile was tough for me.  I felt like I had to keep going and just get it done.  When I could see the Space Needle getting closer, I knew it was almost over.  I enjoyed having such a prevalent landmark to gauge my progress.  There was one more hill right before the end, and I thought it took all the energy I had left.  But then, I saw someone standing at the last turn with her completion medal.  She looked at me and said, "This is it!  You did it, great job!"  And then I was running into a stadium and crossing the finish line.  They put the medal around my neck and I felt like I could go do it all over again.  I kept my legs moving while I waited for Candice to cross a couple of minutes later, and then her mom ten minutes after that.  We each had our space blankets to warm up and a bottle of water to rehydrate... and then we headed into the recovery area to meet my brother... who'd been waiting for about an hour and a half.

We all grabbed bananas and some of the other food that was available there.  I ate two granola bars on the course - Candice had some shot bloks - but I was starving at the end!  I did get a picture with my brother as we were heading back to the car.

So how did I do?  I finished in 3:16:06.  I was #222 in the half marathon walk and #26 in my age division.  I am really happy with this result.  When we started training our goal was to walk the distance in under 4 hours.  Many times I told people, "I'm walking it!  I'm not a runner!"  But during training we started jogging and adjusted our goal to finish in 3:30.  So I ended up shaving another 14 minutes off of that - which is not too shabby!  I am so proud of all of us first-timers, we all finished strong.

I went home and admired my medal... I think its pretty cool.  The boys like it too.

My first half marathon was an amazing experience.  And it will not be my last.  But my next goal?  I want to be a runner.  I want to enter a 5k race and run the entire distance.  Training to start in January.  For now, I'm enjoying a holiday break!