Another One Gone

Sam is definitely the most-handsome-toothless-seven-year-old-boy EVER!

At this rate we are going to have to start putting his food in the blender.

Love, Jennifer

Running, running and more running

Update: Here is the video clip of Scott's big finish. Thanks Victoria!




This weekend Scott completed the Leadville 100. If you are not familiar with the race, it is a 100 mile race on the mountains trails around Leadville, CO. He started at 4 am on Saturday morning and finished in a little over 29 hours. We are so proud of him. I paced him the last 13.5 miles and it was an amazing experience. A special thanks to John the crewman for driving the car and keeping Scott hydrated and fed at all the aid stations. Another thank you to Kent for pacing Scott through some of the most difficult terrain and to Victoria for helping out with the kids and taking all those amazing pictures. She provided all the awesome shots that I have posted.





He finished! Can you believe it? He now has a 100 miler under his belt. Now he gets to wear that cool belt buckle! Race finishers under 30 hours earn a shiny new silver belt buckle!
Sam giving daddy fives as we approach the finish line. It was so fun for me to come into the finish with Scott. Very emotional too. We definitely were not blubbering like babies. Nope, not us.

Scott enjoying a PBR after the race. Man, he earned it.

The crew. Kent (left), John (right) and I all paced Scott during the last 50 miles. John also crewed the whole race and kept Scott supplied with water, food, clothes and moral support.
Yes, I am drinking champagne. I get to celebrate too because I am no longer a running widow. Well, not for a while at least :)

A family pic.
Great job Scott! We are so proud of you!


I am sure Scott will be giving an update over on his blog very soon. Probably once he can walk to his computer. He was very lucky to hobble away from the finish with only huge blisters and a sore swollen ankle. Many others were not so lucky.

Have a great Monday. We start football (Sam) and soccer (Alice) tonight so life goes back to normal.

Love to you all,

Jennifer

Our Brown Eyed Girl

Our sweet Paige.

She won't suck her thumb forever.

Hopefully.

Back to School~ sniff, sniff....

Well, my two biggest babies marched back to school this morning. Sam was really nervous last night before bed and asked if I would consider home-schooling. Let me think about that...uhm, no. Alice was really excited last night and had fun picking out her outfit for the first day. The tables turned this morning. Sam got really excited and Alice was pretty nervous. She and I both had tears as she waiting in line. It doesn't help that she is such a peanut in a sea of big kids. Here are some cute pictures from the morning.

A nervous Alice

Samuel sitting at his new desk.My 2nd grader and 1st grader

Have a great day!

Jennifer

Garage Sale Time

Yesterday, while cleaning everything but the beds and clothes out of my girls room (more on that later), I decided that we should have a garage sale. I have been hoarding girls clothes since we started the adoption with the thought that we would probably be matched with a uhm...girl. Obviously, Mason isn't a girl and I can't get away with dressing him in girls clothing much longer (Just kidding, funny joke!), well...jammies don't count right? Now that I have gone completely off topic...

Anyhoo, I am having a garage sale. Say goodbye to the patent leather shoes in every size imaginable, tiny pink frilly dresses, sweet gingham, etc. etc.

No, I am not selling all the dolls, Polly pockets, ponies, stuffed animals (although I could easily change my mind) and misc. toys that I picked up off the floor of their room yesterday. We organized, sorted, tossed and then relocated all those things to the basement where I won't step on them at every turn. Out of sight...you get the idea. I know my mom and dad are reading this and either 1)rolling around on the floor laughing and the irony of it all or 2) convulsing at the scary memories of picking up said toys from my bedroom floor.

Thanks to my sweet husband who is handling the financial side of the sale (okay, 27 items at 25 cents apiece....that would be....).

Happy shopping!

Jennifer

Hail Yes!

Last night, we had a huge hail storm. It was really an awesome sight to see. We all stood on the porch and watched. Here are some cool pictures. The hail was just dancing in the yard and spraying off the roof. When one of us would dare to run out to pick a piece up, we would get pelted. So glad we were home and not driving.

Jennifer

Get a Haircut!

Momma: Sam, I think it is time to get that hair cut. Maybe I should just take you out on the deck and cut it myself.

Sam: No, I think I want a professional to do that.

Momma: What?! I am a professional...a professional mom. That makes me qualified.

Sam: I don't think you are a professional buzzcutter.

We enjoyed another good but busy weekend. The kids have one more full week off before school starts. Friday night we went the Young's house for Vic's birthday bash. Saturday morning we got up bright and early for the Sue Dinapoli Ovarian Cancer 3 K walk/5K run. Our friend Laura organized the race in honor of her mother who passed away due to ovarian cancer. We were planning on leisurely walking as a family but the kids had different plans and we all ended up running. Scott and I were totally impressed with all three kiddos running a 3K. That's a long way for little legs :) Saturday afternoon, Scott, Mason and I headed to Denver for yet another parenting class. If you remember we didn't get a chance to finish all our classes before traveling to China so now we are trying to get those classes out of the way. We have one more to go, Yah! While we were in Denver, Sam, Alice and Paige were hanging at the pool with the Young's. Sunday was just as busy with church in the morning, a nice hike through Cheyenne Mt. State Park in the afternoon and then ending the day with dinner and swimming at the pool. I would write more but who are we kidding, you (and by you, I mean grandma) just want the pictures. I had fun snapping pics of the kids on the hike today. They all wore their Camelbacks and had a lot of fun jumping off rocks and looking for lizards.

Daddy and Paige warming up before the walk/run.

On your mark, get set.....Go!

Where the Wild Things Are.

It is always good to stay hydrated.

One of our lizard friends along the trail.

It doesn't get any prettier than this!

Sam always makes sure we are on the right trail.

Scott signing onto the trail log.

We saw LOTS of these. Sam actually got poked but just into the toe of his shoe, thankfully.

We also saw TONS of these. Wildflowers and sunflowers in abundance.

Alice was checking out a hole in this tree. We saw a couple of bird nests in tree holes, so she was just making sure we didn't miss anything.

Mason enjoying the hike, as usual.

I hope you all had a great weekend too! Everyone, except me, is sleeping and I am thinking that is a pretty good idea so....

Good Night!

Jennifer

5 months home.

Isn't our guy so adorable? We think so :) Mason is doing so well and becoming an active 2 year old.

Hey, check out these precious piggies!

Animal House

Yesterday we visited the zoo. Our zoo, as the kids so sweetly refer to it. We love our little mountain zoo and visit quite often. You can check it out here. We had a great time feeding the giraffes and watching the monkey demonstration, petting legless lizards and a baby wallaby. The kids rode the carousel and played on the newly constructed spider web. It is always a great way to spend the morning. They also got to see an ambulance (someone keeled over due to heat stroke) and a gorilla eating puke. I digress. The great thing about kids is that they see the good in all experiences :)

*As a side note, we also learned that on the giant animal scale, the four kids and I weigh the same as an adult female orangutan.

Sometimes we do feel like we live in an animal house of our own. This morning Scott took these photos of our friendly wildlife. Okay, so I am still waiting on the bear to make an appearance in our yard, but the giant bucks will have to do for now. Scott thinks this may be the biggest one we have seen.

Just hanging out by the playground. The deer are really glad that our fence is still down so that they can easily go through our yard. The beauty of it is, we cannot even see the downed fence from the house. Sorry to the neighbors. Just waiting for the HOA letter, should be here any day now.

Today we spent the morning at the park with another adoptive family. It was fun to meet them and we hope to see them again soon.
Ellie and Brendan will be spending the night tonight so everybody is currently resting, so they will be ready to go when their friends arrive.

Scott is beginning to taper training for his big race and finish up the logistics of a crew, pacers and aid throughout the race. He is going to do awesome! We are also thrilled with the huge support that he has received for the Xinxiang SWI. Those kids deserve so much and we are so excited to help in any small way we can!

Have a wonderful day!
Jennifer

True Love

Today was just one of those days that could go on forever. We all slept in and through the night. That is a rare occurrence around here. With 4 kids, someone, it seems, is always up at our house. On the odd night when everyone sleeps through, we all wake up happier, especially momma. I started my day with a 6 mile run on the Santa Fe Trail. Sam had a birthday party and the rest of us enjoyed lunch out. After Mason woke up from his nap, we headed to the pool. We haven't been in a while so it felt good to sit back, relax and hang out. We ended up staying at the pool until 6:45 pm. For some weird reason, the pool was nearly empty and it sort of seemed as if we had the place to ourselves. Now my sweet babies are sitting quietly on the couch watching a movie and eating popcorn. Here are some pics from our day. Just in case you didn't expect them, more pool pics :)

Scott and Paige sitting on the edge of the pool while Alice swam. Mason and I sat on the blanket and watched. Samuel was enjoying a game of volleyball.

Daddy and Paige cuddling. So sweet.

Oh, in case I haven't mentioned it lately, I love these kids. I have so much fun trying to capture their expressions and character. They are each their own little person and I love to watch them grow. Scott and I have been so blessed with these 4 beautiful children.

Have a great night.

Jennifer