3 Years Ago

Our 3rd little angel arrived 3 years ago today. He completed our family. Here are some thenand now pics. It's amazing to see how they all have grown and changed.

Time Flies

I wish I could blog regularly like some people. Maybe someday.Time just gets away from me.

I just put a precious 2-year old boy to bed for the last time. Tomorrow he's 3!( But still precious!) I can't believe it.

We had a great afternoon celebrating with friends and family. Knox thoroughly enjoyed his day. Thank you to everyone who helped make it special ( including the firemen of McKinney Station #3!). Tomorrow we will enjoy a relaxing day together as a family. Maybe during that relaxation time I will post pics.

Second Cousins

Today, Shelby and I met sweet Anna Eloise James for the first time. Her proud parents are my cousin Jason and his wife Kassidy. Anna is only 3 days old- she was born December 31st!

What do you want for Christmas?

Shelby:"Barbie and a bike"

Jerzy:"Barbies."

Knox: "Cars." ( and then tears when he realizes Santa doesn't give you what you ask for right then and there)



Patience Bubba....11 more days...just 11 more days.....

Halloween

Halloween weekend was a fun time . On Thursday the kids wore their costumes to school. They had a costume parade through the elementary school next door and classroom Halloween parties in the afternoon.

Saturday we had supper with Andrew's parents and also visited the Hart's house before wrapping up the evening at Grandaddy Herchel's and Granny Trish's. Shelby asked why we didn't go to "more people's houses".... I wish we could have done more, but I was wiped out and coming down with the flu. Knox was also feeling puny ( strep!) and we didn't know that Jerzy would be getting sick also late that night...

All in all, the cheerleader, Sleeping Beauty and Lightning McQueen had a fun time and plenty of sugar.

We Did It!!

BEFORE...7:20am,33 degrees, let's do it!

AFTER... 2:00pm, ~50 degrees, what were we thinking!?!

Our souvenir banners

Andrew and I completed the Chicago Marathon this past weekend! I can now check that off my bucket list! ( whew.) We ended up staying together the entire way...all 26.2 miles, for 5 hours 57 minutes. The weather was cold , but actually perfect for running. It was an amazing experience. I'm not ready to tackle another one anytime soon-- except maybe the New York marathon in another year or two. For now I will stick to shorter distances, maybe a half marathon here and there. Andrew was hoping to do White Rock in December, but his ankles need a little break.

We left here early Saturday morning on a flight to O' Hare. Andrew's cousin Bob, his wife Ann and daughter Carissa picked us up at the airport. We had a drive-in lunch at Superdawgs and made our way to the Marathon Expo. We picked up our race packets and explored the different booths. Lots of runners and all kinds of running related apparel and paraphernalia-- amazing stuff!

After leaving the convention center, we took a driving tour of the last 10 miles or so of the race, giving us an idea of what to expect. We then checked into our hotel and headed out for a delicious pasta dinner. The whole city was ready for the race-- the first thing our waitress asked was if any of us were running.

Bob, Ann and Carissa left us at our hotel to rest up for the race. Bob and Ann returned early the next morning to walk down with us to Grant Park. They wished us well and we made our way into the crowd, anxiously awaiting the start. 45,000 were registered, but somewhere around 34,000 actually finished. It took us 20 minutes to cross the starting line, then we enjoyed our "tour" of the city.

Thanks to Bob and Ann for their hospitality, support, pack mule and chauffeur service . It made the race experience so much more enjoyable. They made us banners and we saw them twice along the route. They took pictures along the way and at the finish. Thanks guys!

Thanks to Aunt Barb for her hospitality in gathering the extended Tokarz/Panek/Szabo/Seitz/McConnell crowd for a delicious supper on Sunday evening. We also appreciated the hot shower, comfy bed and a ride to the airport.

Thanks to Dad, Trish , Kemp and Vicki for taking care of kids and Gus while we were away. The kids had a great time, but we were all glad to see each other on Monday!

Thank you to everyone else for your well wishes and encouragement.

At the expo on Saturday afternoon

Andrew with his 3 aunts ( his dad's sisters)-- Tina, Patty and Barb

Amy, Bob, Carissa , Andrew and Ann

The kids enjoyed all the stuff we brought home for them.

School Ends, Summer Begins

We wrapped school up during the first week of June. I survived my first year as a high school teacher. It wasn’t always easy…it was actually quite stressful and exhausting at times…but it was worth it. I really did enjoy it and treasure the relationships I developed. I will be returning to my same role, with some different, new courses added. The kids did really well at their school and have developed quite a relationship with their friends and teachers. They all will return there in the Fall, and move up one class level.

The Monday after school was out—we started swim lessons. S, J & K went M-F for 30 minutes for 2 weeks, at our local natatorium. It was great! The girls had individualized attention for the most part --- they often shared a teacher btwn the 2of them and some days they each had their own teacher. Andrew and I split duty going with Knox in the infant/parent class. He had no fear at times and then other times he was crabby and hesitant. ( that’s all changed now—2 months later!) We are very grateful to the coach and staff (mostly HS and college students) who showed our three fishies how to love the water.

While they were taking swim lessons, we had the opportunity to start using our next door neighbor’s pool at our leisure. We have used it several times a week all summer. It has been a huge blessing to us and has gone a long way in helping the kids develop more confidence in the water and build on what they learned in their lessons.

On the day we finished swim lessons….we went home ate lunch and started our week long adventure to Disney World!! Stay tuned….