Happy Thanksgiving

We hope that you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Nicholas is FIVE!

Hard to believe it, I know. Nicholas celebrated his 5th birthday on November 10th. He's been looking forward to this milestone birthday all year. One of his birthday wishes was to be out of his sling. The day before we saw the ortho and received the good news that his collar bone is healing up nicely and that he doesn't need to wear it anymore. He was very happy. Wish granted!

Per usual, there were multiple celebrations for our birthday boy. The weekend before, Tom's family came in for the Hot Chocolate 15K (see post below) so we had a party here at the house. Nicholas wanted a train cake this year. His cake choice was pink. Yes, pink. A pink train cake was the request. Initially I forgot to dye the batter pink. I had already poured it in the cake pan and he insisted that I take it all out, dye it pink, and put it all back in. Here he is blowing out his birthday candles!

Nicholas also had a celebration with his preschool class on his actual birthday. He got to choose a special snack to share with his classmates. Nicholas decided to bring in strawberry jello cups. But he also requested whipped cream and sprinkles to go on top! I heard they were a hit. Nicholas was the star of the week, too. He filled out and decorated the classroom star and brought it back to share with his class.

In case you cannot see it the star says:

I am special because......God loves me!

I love to play with......trains, nerf guns, trucks, Volkswagens.

If I could have any pet it would be.....a gecko.

My favorite color is.....blue. (I was surprised, usually it's pink or yellow.)

My favorite food is.....chocolate and ice cream.

That evening we celebrated again with a teddy bear cookie. Our friends, Madeline, Mallory and Brianna came over to eat cookies with us. Nicholas had been waiting all day to open presents so he was super excited.

Tomorrow is the finale of birthday celebrations for Nicholas. He's having a few friends over for pizza and cupcakes. I'm not sure what flavor cake he wants yet. Earlier today I think he said he wanted orange. He told me that he'd let me know his final decision tomorrow morning. I'm sure sprinkles will be involved.

Nicholas had his checkup with Dr. Lee last week. I waited until the morning of to tell him that he was going to be getting shots in preparation for kindergarten next year. While he wasn't happy, he did fine and just wanted confirmation that the holes in his arm were only going to be little ones. He's now weighs 42lbs (50%-tile) and is 43-3/4 inches tall (75%-tile). Dr. Lee commented on his "unending amount of energy" and deemed him a very healthy, happy boy. Nicholas is excited that he's all ready for kindergarten (nice and early).

Happy Birthday, Schnicky!

Hot Chocolate 15K

On Saturday, November 6 I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K in Grant Park. This was my very first race ever and no, I didn't start small! I skipped right over the 5K! My cousin, Shannon, was the inspiration behind this run for me. She's the one who called me up and invited me to do it with her. I've been training since April and was pretty sure that I could get to 7 miles, but wasn't sure how I would feel after that. I wasn't concerned at all with running the race quickly and I felt good the whole time. My 10K split was 1:08 and it took me 1:44 to run the whole thing. That's over an 11 minute mile, but now I have a baseline time to work from. My personal goal was to finish the race and run the whole time, no walking. Shannon and I stuck together and we did it! We crossed the finish line hand-in-hand. It was so awesome. Afterwards we enjoyed chocolate fondue and hot chocolate together...yummy. Good job, Sha!



I completely understand how people become addicted to running these races. It was amazing and exhilarating to be down on the lakefront with 30,000 people all running together. (I've never seen so much black spandex in my life!) Supporters were all along the course with their cow bells, signs, and encouraging words. Working toward running a race was very motivating for me and kept me committed to working out. I loved the whole experience. I'm hooked now and already looking into the next race that I can run. Shamrock Shuffle anyone??

Jeremy, Sarah, and Ali all ran the race, too! I met up with them before the race for a bit, but we got separated so I didn't get any pictures together with them afterwards. They all did awesome and crossed the finish line way before me. They finished in just over an hour and Sarah came in 27th (out of 2271 people) in her age group! Here we all are together with our bibs. I'm keeping mine forever. Good job guys! I'm so proud of you!

Crush!

Jacob started his second season of competitive basketball this week. This year, he's #33 on team CRUSH! Right now, he's playing the forward position and loving it. This position gives him plenty of opportunity to take the ball to the basket. I'm amazed at how fast paced the games are and how good the kids are this year. We have a rowdy bunch of parents in the stands this season and it's great! One mom made a very handy cheat sheet with all the kids numbers and names so we can cheer for each other's kids (instead of just our own). I love it.

Jacob is a defensive menace and will steal the ball right out from under you.

Here he is on the free throw line after being fouled.

This week he earned 'The Hustle Award" which means he gets to do the jump ball next week. :)

Jacob getting some sideline advice from Daddy and Grandpa.

Swimming

Marissa is in swimming with her best friend, Brianna. Here they are together waiting for their class to start. Aren't they cute? This is Marissa's first class in the water without me. We just finished up a Parent/Tot swimming class and she loved it, but I was with her. This is her first class in the water without me there. I cannot say that she's loving it right now. While she was initially excited about it, she's not so much anymore. She cried for most of the last class and got out of the water early. Her swim instructor, Miss Jessica, told me that it's common for little ones to have reservations in the water on their own especially after having taken a class with a parent. So we'll see. I'm hoping that she warms up and has a change of heart.

Happy Halloween

The Martin's celebrated Halloween to the fullest this year! We crammed alot of fun into just a few days. Jacob was Luke Skywalker, Jenna and Marissa were cats, and Nicholas was a firefighter (who broke his collar bone rescuing his sister cats from a tree).

The festivities started at the library! Nicholas and Marissa went to a special Halloween storytime. They got to do a fun craft and parade around the library in their costumes. Here they are with Mrs. Miller.

Nicholas and his teacher, Miss Cathy

Then we were off to Nicholas' preschool parade. All of the kids paraded around the gym to show off their costumes. It was really cute. Afterwards, the parents went back to the classroom to hear some songs that the kids have learned this year. The next time you see Nicholas ask him to sing for you...the hand motions that go along with some of the songs are really cute. Then the kids stayed for a fun Halloween party and Tom and I left Good Shepherd.....

...and ran over to Steck to see Jacob and Jenna in their Halloween parade! Somehow Jacob escaped my camera. Then they were off to their classroom parties, too.

Tom and I typically don't dress up for Halloween, but this year we were invited to three Halloween parties. All required Halloween costumes, so we figured why not dress up?! I'm glad that we did. The kids got a real kick out of it and we had alot of fun. We were monkeys (no, not bears). The first party we went to was for the entire family so we all dressed up together!

Later, after dropping the kids off at home with a babysitter, we headed to my cousin Shannon's house. It was fun to see my family all dressed up. A few of my favorites....Cousin Joe dressed up as Colonel Sanders, Rick and Shannon as Elin and Tiger Woods, Cousin Michelle as the Jolly Green Giant, and Melissa and Rick went as white trash. It was hilarious. The picture speaks for itself, but in case you can't see, Melissa has an "I love Kmart" button on and her shirt says "Sorry Santa, I tried to be good, but I got bored". She had a cigarette behind her ear and a toothpick hanging out of her mouth. Both of them had a (make-up) hickey on their neck and Rick drew a big heart tattoo on his arm. They played the part well and had everyone laughing.

Even Harley dressed up as a banana split!

After Shannon's we headed over to the Bollow/Baka party. Had a great time here, too. Tons of good food and lots of laughs. Great costumes. I was the most clothed woman there. Tom and I had a fun night out together and got a kick out of party hopping like we were in college. We just might dress up again next year!

We didn't carve our pumpkins until Halloween day. We kept to simple, classic designs this year.

A bunch of the neighborhood kids came over for cupcakes and apple cider before heading out to go trick-or-treating. This has become an annual tradition at our home and my kids look forward to it every year. My mom used to do the same thing at her house when I was little. After having some sweets, we all headed out for tricks or treats. The weather was beautiful and it was nice that Marissa was able to keep up with the big kids this year. They all had a blast running from house to house and came home with TONS of candy...way too much!

Hope you had a spooky Halloween!

Lil' Baker

Turns out that our little Marissa has quite an interest in baking! As soon as she catches on that I'm up to something in the kitchen (the beep of the preheating the oven, the clanking of the bowls, etc) she immediately runs over, pushes a chair up to the counter, and pops up asking what her job is going to be. She insists that we both wear out aprons, too. It's really cute and I love the extra "help".

Lately, she's getting increasingly brave with her job requests. She used to be content just putting in the vanilla or spooning in the flour. Now she's cracking eggs by herself and yesterday she used the electric mixer for the first time! Of course she's also there to lick the beaters and sample the batter. Maybe she'll go work for the Cake Boss one day!

I'm going to be an Aunt!

It's finally true!! Melissa and Rick are expecting! Baby Alejandro is due on April 14, 2011 which means that this is going to be Tom's and my first niece or nephew! We are obviously super excited. I had to wait for Melissa to make the official announcement before I could post about it. (I figured since she has shared the news on Facebook that it's okay now).

Rick and Melissa told my parents about baby when we were camping in Brown County State Park in August. They put a cute teddy bear in a lawn chair between them. It didn't take long for my parents to catch on that they were going to be grandparents again! (I love the picture of my dad with his hand on his forehead).

Rick has been looking forward to being a daddy for a long time.

I'm really enjoying experiencing pregnancy with my sister. It's been fun fielding all of her crazy phone calls and emotional breakdowns. I love that I get the minute by minute updates on everything that is going on with Baby A. We're pretty sure that Melissa is feeling baby kick and we'll be finding out in December if it's a girl or boy. (My guess is girl.) Rick and Melissa are going to be a wonderful parents and I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew. This kid is going to be spoiled rotten by his/her Aunty Jen.