Heartbeat 5000 5k

Saturday I ran a 5k. Dan brought the kids and they played while I ran the race. I ran with a few of my friends from church. Here's a pic a Jade popping bubbles with Corbin.

Running downtown was fun. Running up the bridges was the worst though, they felt like mountains. The finish line was over a portion of the Mississippi River. Here's a picture of me after the race. I couldn't bear to post the one Dan snapped as I crossed the finish line. I look like I'm going to puke, and I felt like it too. I really pushed myself at the end there and it wasn't fun. I hadn't run in over a month prior to the race.
My buddy Rachel was my motivation. Every time I saw her ahead of me she was running, she never stopped to walk. So I had to keep up with her.
This lovely lady next to me is Laura. She's having a baby in October and she totally rocked that 5k, pushing her two boys in a jogging stroller! Um, she's like 6 months pregnant and still skinnier than me. :)
Look at this little cutie!

Minnehaha Falls

The weather here has been so hit and miss lately. I'm really saddened by it, seeing as how we only have a few months out of the year to really enjoy the outdoors. Thursday was probably the best day we've had in a long time. We went to Minnehaha Falls which is in the heart of the metro. It's really a fun, cool park. There's a restaurant, playground, you can rent bike-cars. I don't know the official name.

Jade seems to be thinking, "Get off of me, mom".

Here's a picture from the base of the falls. If you go, know that there isn't a stoller/wheelchair accessible way down (that we saw). We folded up the stollers and carried them (and the girls) down.

It was worth it though, because after following the river down a ways, we came to this awesome wading area! Jade played and played. She was having so much fun, but by the end she was crying because her feet hurt (not to mention she hadn't napped and was exhausted).
She is the cutest thing ever!

Dan's graduation

Dan had his graduation. It was a great graduation but very anti-climatic, because he won't be done with school until August 20th.

Lynn, Ruthanne, Brandon, Emilynn and Harlow were able to come see him graduate. It was nice to have someone to sit with and hold Chloe while I tried to snap pictures.

We had a BBQ at the Randall's house afterward.
Jade's first time running through the sprinklers. I know, you're thinking, she's 3!! She had such a blast and slept like a log that night. :)
Chloe and Harlow! Brandon and Em's little girl.
The cake that Dan's mom got for him.

Jade's last day of preschool

Jade had her last day of preschool last week. She has loved it so much and it has been really good for her. She's always more talkative and engaged with us when she comes home from preschool. I'm so glad that she qualified for free preschool through the school district.

Here's a picture of her class. They sang three songs, The More We Get Together, Like A Butterfly, and some Freeze Dance song.
Jade with her teacher, Mrs. Porter (on the right) and Mrs. Turk, the teacher's assistant (up top).
This is Jade's aide, Ms. Cheryl. She would assist Jade throughout the day. Getting her on and off the bus,helping her with class projects, and helping her stay on task.
Afterward, we went to the park while Dan took a test. The girls had a great time, of course.

Then we went to Mall of America. Jade rode on the carousel with Daddy. :) I love her smile in this picture.

Playing with Grandma

Louann came for a visit. It was bitter-sweet though, Dan's maternal grandpa passed away, so she came for the funeral. It was very nice to have her play with the girls and have her here.

We have several friends here in Minnesota that work for General Mills, so we decided to run in the Run of the Mills 5K. I was expecting that Dan would be able to watch the girls while I ran, but he had an unexpected interview at a hospital in Vegas. So I took the girls in the double jogger. It was a bit worse than I thought it would be. There were many stops to put binkies back in mouths and at one point I took Chloe out and held her and pushed the stroller with the other hand. Really though, my time wasn't awful. Somewhere in the 42 minute range.
Jade ran in the kids race, the Cheerio Chase. She did really well, as in, she kept running to the end. She was running at a leisurely pace. I don't think she gets the idea that she wants to be first. It was so adorable though.

I had to post these two pictures of the girls in their jammies. The first one is of Jade at 4 months old. The second is Chloe, more like, 5 months old.

These pictures have no rhyme or reason, they just couldn't miss out on being put on the blog.

Jade got a train set for her birthday, she seems to like it pretty well.
After a run in with a marker. :) Doesn't every kid have their own version of this picture.

Our little photographer

Jade loves to take pictures. She loves scrolling through the pictures we've taken on the camera, or watching the videos we've taken of her playing with Chloe. Here are a few shots from our budding photographer.

Dad and Katrina visit

My dad and sister, Katrina came for a visit! It was so nice to have someone from my fam come and stay. They're the only two, with the exception of my mom (who's visited twice) to come and stay. It was perfect timing too, just at the tail end of winter, when we were all going a little stir crazy from being inside ALL THE TIME.

This was Chloe's first chance to meet Grandpa Bob. :) She really liked him, and smiled a lot for him.

Jade loves swimming!

One of our favorite activities is swimming. It has been a life saver during the winters here in Minnesota. Our apartment complex has an indoor pool and a hot tub. Lately we've been going pretty frequently.

A couple weeks ago I took her floaties off and wanted to help her practice swimming without them, I turned to talk to a friend for one minute (which is all the time it takes, of course) and saw Jade bouncing off the bottom of the hot tub, with her mouth barely at water level. I quickly swooped her up and out of the water. She was fine but certainly a little freaked out. I can't tell you how panicked I was. I totally balled that night telling the story to Dan. Ever since then, she's been very cautious around the water. Slowly, but surely, she's getting her confidence back.

These pictures were taken pre-water fiasco.

Happy 31 Dan!

Dan turned 31! We surprised him with a cake and a couple gifts. He works so hard and school has been rather stressful for him, so it was nice to celebrate and have a little fun.

He requested a German chocolate cake. I made it from scratch and it was fantastic! If I do say so myself.
Look at Jade's face in this picture. :)
Happy Birthday babe!