Pre-School Graduation

We have a graduate in the house! Miles celebrated his last day of pre-school last Wednesday. I was able to join him for his picnic and recognition. He has really enjoyed his teachers and classmates--a nice mix of old and new friends.

This was one of the really hot days last week, hence the red cheeks. He's with our friend Meg in this picture. Meg's mom drove Miles back to Debbie's all year on Wednesdays (so he could stay for Lunch Bunch). Thank You!!

Interesting...

We're thinking of trading in the Traverse...

It looks kind of crazy, but very professionally done!

Happy Mother's Day

We spent the weekend in Lebo celebrating not only Mother's Day, but also my Mom's 60th birthday and conclusion of her treatments. She warned us months in advance that under NO circumstances was there to be a big birthday party.... so we opted for some family and a BBQ. I think we all had a great time.... and my food was actually well liked :)

The big boys had fun with their cousin McKinley. Miles likes to be the "big kid" for once.
When they weren't on the Mule--which was pretty much the whole weekend--they found other ways to "drive."
Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, aunts, cousins, sister-in-laws, and friends that are moms. Too bad the only pictures I have from the weekend are of grandpas or kids!

First Communion

Owen (and 50+ other second graders) celebrated their first communion this weekend. We enjoyed having all four grandparents, Aunt Emily, Uncle Josh, Baby Brody (and Jersey, Newman's boxer cousin) here at the same time. All of the kids looked so sharp dressed in their fancy clothes, even if it was short lived. Owen shed the tie, belt, pants, shirt and shoes in about 10 seconds upon arriving home.

Observation #1: Kids need "how to smile for a camera" lessons. Such fake smiles.

Observation #2: I really need to invest in a higher quality camera.

10 Months!

How time flies! At ten months Graham: walks/scoots around furniture, squeals with delight if he thinks there is any chance he is getting a bath, downs a big bottle at about midnight EVERY night, chews on everything, understands "no", loves to take all the books off of the big boys' shelf, enjoys the vacuum, and is ready for it to STAY warm so he can get rid of the jeans he barely fits into!

Batter Up!

We experienced our first baseball tournament this weekend. Owen loved it, and has been following the weather in hopes that his Tuesday game is playable (we've had rain today). He played 3rd base, catcher and left field. I'm excited to see how his team progresses this season. I think they are so cute in their uniforms!

These two "Mini Braves" are pretty cute too!
Uncle Quint and Aunt Susan were here for part of the weekend!
I should have tried to get some better pictures...maybe next time.

Early Easter

We spent Sunday in Council Grove celebrating Easter a week early. The kids now have enough candy that I can take it to school, give some to all 120+ students, and still bring some home! So glad that we could all spend the day together AND enjoy a fabulous meal! Thanks Aunt Nancy!

Anxiously waiting to see what's in the eggs from Grandma Jean--candy, Star Wars cookies and new work out type clothes. They LOVE clothes!
There are three kids old enough to hunt for eggs, and there were at least 100 eggs to find! Do you see why we have so much candy??
One with eyes closed and fake smile, one squinting and blocking the sun, and two completely distracted... and this is the best picture I have of the boys and their cousin, McKinley. Good thing I don't take pictures for a living.

Great Wolf Lodge

After the race last weekend, we hit Great Wolf Lodge with some friends (sorry no good pictures will be included here). Graham had his own weekend getaway courtesy of the Lebo grandparents so Adam and I weren't outnumbered. Owen and Miles LOVED the slides and pool. They tried out each ride and liked them all, but ended up spending most of their time doing whatever had the shortest wait so they could maximize their water time. Me? I need a tan. And a new swimming suit. And some goggles :)

That's Miles in both of these shots if you can't tell.
The kids did enjoy the bunk beds in our "Cub Club" room.

Running

I've been running for years, but had not completed a half marathon until last weekend (Rock the Parkway in Kansas City). I convinced my brother and sister-in-law to run with me, and I think they liked it well enough I could con them into another. Now I can say I've done a 5K, 10K, half and full marathons!

PRO's of this race: IDEAL weather conditions, pretty course, close to home, yet still a little vacation-ish, able to spend time with KC friends/family, new playlist for iPod courtesy of Quint, met my goal of finishing between 1:40-1:50.

CON's of this race: ran too fast early and too slow later (need to be more consistent and set a more specific goal), nagging hip pain that I'd been trying to ignore, but was much more noticeable during this run.

I'm looking forward to planning a couple more races this year. Anyone else want to run something or have thoughts on which half or full marathons would be enjoyable?

We went to breakfast after the run at a clever little place called Succotash. This is not mine (you know I hate fruit!), but look how huge it is--dense too!
Susan's mom Leanna came to cheer us on. I think we have her ready to sign up for a 5K or 10K walk.
Quint and Susan--BEFORE!
Me, Quint, and Susan AFTER! Undecided on the "pants under shorts" look...
Owen and Aunt Susan--marketing team for grey Under Armor!

9 Months (Late)

We're a little behind with his monthly picture. So to make up for it, we dressed Graham extra-nice for his photo shoot :) This onesie over PJ pants is courtesy of a lazy dad who didn't want to change his shirt and already had the pants on. Sidenote: I was obviously not home at bedtime to correct this leotard combo!

Anyway, at nine months he is a crawling machine. Pulling up and starting to scoot around stuff. STILL waking up every night for a midnight snack. Sneezes a lot. Booger nose. Likes to stand/lean on the dryer door and bathtub. Loves bathtime. Loves shoelaces, dog water, and the computer cord.

Huskies!

First a K-State fan, second a Duke fan, and when they both fell from the tournament, the Husky fan came out. And, in our house, you must wear clothes in support of your team. So what do you do when you don't have a real UConn shirt? Make your own, of course! Husky printed from google images and traced onto a too small white T-shirt.

Back to Work

Two days back into "real life". . . Back to getting up by 6:00 and trying to be out the door by 7:20. Back to sequences, and factoring, and new seating charts, and grounding from iPods, and construction, and 125 teenagers coming through my door!

People always ask what we did over Spring Break and I say nothing because we didn't travel anywhere, but when I thought more about it we did a lot: ran the St. Patrick's Day 10K, spent a lot of time outside on the early warm days (including trips to the lake and park with friends), watch party for the KSU game, TONS of play dates, a day spent with my mom during treatment, a little shopping, a little crafting, some grading/planning, cleaning and re-cleaning, Target x 5, meal for a friend, to-do pile tackled. . . . See, who needs a vacation?

A trip to the lake = football time.
Graham got to venture out of his stroller and try the slides. It seems like they have a hundred of these little play areas around Tuttle...

I'm a sucker for flower accessories--not real practical in a house of boys, but still fun. I don't think Miles noticed I was using him as a model. Must have been a sticky situation for Mario (he's on his DS).

Edie

One of my Spring Break goals was to get some pictures on here (since someday I plan to actually get this blog made into a scrapbook) to highlight Edie's life. Most of you know we lost Edie in mid-February--it was a very sad week or two, and it's finally starting to feel normal just having Newman. Edie was a WONDERFUL dog, and we are so thankful we picked her from the puppy mill in Omaha to share nine years with us.

Edie as a puppy--she liked to ride on our lap when we drove. That didn't last long since she got big....quickly. (Focus on the cute puppy, not the very out of style sunglasses)
Edie went to obedience training with Deb in Papillion. This was no Petco training class; Deb was hard-core, and possibly part canine herself. Edie placed 2nd in her class!
When she was excited she would get a full-body mohawk.
Photo session at a park in Omaha.
First grandchildren on the Braxmeyer side--Edie and her cousin, Bozeman.

When Edie was 2, we got her a companion, soon to be best friend--Newman. He ended up outweighing her by 20 pounds.
Edie (all of us actually) spent a lot of time at Walnut Creek Park in Papillion.
All of the boxer cousins--Edie, Newman, Bozeman, Jersey--in Denver.
In Manhattan, a lot of time was spent at the dog park and the lake.
Staring down a squirrel in Lebo. We love you Edie!

Hiding

Graham squeezed his way between the couch and the wall. He was content for a few minutes playing with a toy that had rolled under the couch) until he figured out he couldn't turn around. Luckily I had cleaned behind the couch this week so he didn't eat a bunch of dust balls.

Naughty

Not sure how well you can tell in this picture, but the front of Graham's shirt and pants are soaked. He LOVES spilling the dog water and laying in it. So far he's beat me to the water bowl three times (this spring break). I think he's going to like the pool this summer.

Flat Hair

One of the first things on the Spring Break "to do" list was getting Miles a flat haircut. In his world flat = short like Owen's.

Before and after. Not sure where the weird smile comes from.

March Madness

According to Adam these are the best two weeks in sports.... We watched the selection show yesterday and were happy to see K-State was seeded #5, but wishing it could have been in Tulsa. I think we were printing this bracket as they announced the last team--Owen was so anxious! He talked a little strategy with Adam, but made all of his own decisions, including KSU winning it all! I could go for that :) Miles didn't fill one out, but his picks are KSU and Texas, naturally.

By the way--Owen is no longer suiting up (outside in the driveway) as Jimmer, but is now Nolan Smith or Kimba Walker.
Adam found his app which apparently allows him to watch the games. That seems too good for a free app. I guess we'll see. As for me... I bought a green KSU hoodie two weeks ago and I'm just happy that it worked out that the Cats play on St. Patty's Day! Hopefully that's a sign of good things to come.

EMAW

I think the Cats could have used a few more fans yesterday--ouch! Hopefully the NCAA tournament has better results.

Cousins

We enjoyed having family in town for the second weekend in a row. This time, Graham had a little friend to play with. Brodie (our nephew) is two days younger than Graham. These guys are going to love growing up together.

Loving the Weather

What a fantastic day to be outside! Good-bye (for today at least) treadmill! Adam even got home early. . . and that meant he'd be locked into either baseball or basketball in the driveway. With NCAA basketball in full swing, Owen opted for some hoops. Owen (aka Jimmer Fredette from BYU) and Mom (aka Rodney McGruder) battled Miles and Dad to see who got to pick where we went for dinner. We pulled out a 10-9 win, picked So Long, but settled for Old Chicago since there wasn't a wait. Hope everyone enjoyed this awesome weather as much as we did.

8 Months

"I'm eight months old now... I'm soooo close to crawling and working on pulling up. I still don't sleep through the night because I'm starving at about 4:00 AM (and sometimes at midnight as well). I've been pooping about six times a day here lately; I think my top teeth are coming in. I've started eating those little puffs and they are delicious. I love my big brothers; they take really good care of me... but... I can't wait until I can get into their Legos, and crayons, and interrupt their DS games."