One year later…

Ohhhhh and Happy Easter!

The kids have grown (some much I think CT has turned into a man), life has been a whirl wind (I can’t tell you how many times I have recently uttered, I am so glad I am not training for an Ironman this year) and my hope is to take it down a notch (literally have a moment to breath deeply) and find a little more time to jot our life’s adventures back down.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Easter and…

How on earth did these kids get so big?

This photo says it all to me.

CT in control.

PJ with the side-ways smirk.

KP…doing what he does.

I should be concerned…

and in fact, I am, slightly.

As he pulls the knife out he looks over at me, just wondering if I will say anything.

I don’t.

I grab my camera, cause either way, it’s a good shot.

Happy Easter Dad

Ohhh man did my dad LOVE Easter. He didn’t love the bunny, candy part of Easter. He loved the liturgical path towards Easter. He loved Lent, he loved looking at how to get closer to God. He loved the journey and then he loved the celebration it brought on.

So when moments of time pass by that he loved, I miss the fact that this being that filled my life in so many ways is gone from this world even more.

So we find ways to remember.

We couldn’t find plastic eggs to hang. He wouldn’t have liked them anyway…he would prefer crosses but WE are the living ones.

We found seed eggs.

The kids, my mom and I placed them on his tree at Lake Calhoun.

We sat.

The kids played.

We lived….

and we remembered him on this beautiful day.

Little Lady-bird

PJ handing me a piece of gum…

PJ:  You owe me.

Me:  What?

Me:  You owe me.

PJ gives me a sideways look, brow furrowed.

Me:  I gave you life!

Annual exam…

and as long as the table at the Pediatrician’s office.

He will certainly take over as tallest in our family, someday in the not too distant future.

Kinda like swimming

I’m head long into week two of ironman training.  All has gone reasonably well so far.  This week I have about 120 miles on my bike, random running which includes a track workout and three days of swimming.

My plan was to lift, do yoga and swim all winter long.  I have weaknesses and I was suppose to hone all that stuff right to the perfect tip.  Did I?  No!

Which brings me to this morning and the pool and the time trial.  Time trials always makes me nervous. It’s hard freaking work.  I don’t really like going balls to the wall for that long of a period of time.  This morning’s time trial consisted of 3x300s as hard as you can.  You time each 300, get 30 seconds rest between them and then they better be within 15 seconds of each other or the time trial isn’t valid.

The entire “deal” with warm up and cool down really only takes about 30 minutes, but it’s hell while it’s happening.

Here is the breakdown of what went on this am in my head:

1st 100: Oh yeah, feeling good, no problem, you are liquid fast and sleek and efficient and super quiet…keep it up.

2nd 100: Ummm, it’s getting hard to breath in here.  Can anyone see my arms, I can’t really feel them as the blood is starting to pool in my core.  Oh but my legs, wait my legs, I feel those and they seem to feel like logs that are dragging  me to the bottom of the pool and drowned me slowly and painfully.  Are they even moving right now?  Am I swimming or just flailing?  Clearly flailing.  Is the lifeguard coming yet?

3rd 100:  Oh good, the feeling is back in my arms but I really can’t breath, is there something caught in my throat?  Why is there no air?  Why am I moving so much slower? Come on, you can go fast.  Who are you talking to?  You.  What?  Fuck off, this sucks, where’s my coffee?  You should have stayed in bed. No…no…no you can’t talk like this right now, you have 50 more to go.  Shut it, just tell Welle to F-off.  It’s only 50 more, come on, suck it up and don’t be so weak. Done.

30 second rest:  Arms flopped up on pool deck, DEEP LABORING BREATHS, quick drink, repeat all over again 2 more times, ONLY WORSE.

Lip Smacker

I never really thought of PJ as having big lips until my Medieval Queen Lipstick showed up on the scene.

Then we both tried it on (usually an unacceptable practice at my house) and then chose to take photos.

Big lips is kinda like having curly hair, you can spend your time hating it, wishing it was something other than what it is, trying to change it or you can embrace it.

As we perused the photos, PJ said she didn’t want to have as big of lips as mine.

My response to her, work with what you got baby!

F.D.

He looks a bit sad today doesn’t he?

Maybe he knows mom doesn’t want to bathe him again.

Actually, this is his I am about to poop face.  He’s pooping for the 5th time because he ate almost an entire loaf of Irish soda bread in the middle of the night.

Happy St. Paddy’s Day Murphy!

Doggies

Ruby and Murphy enjoying a little bit of an afternoon romp in the park.

As I look at this photo I think, wouldn’t it be funny if people played like this?  Hey buddy come here, I’m going to chase you around in circles as fast as I can and then tackle you, bite on your ear and face and then snif your butt a little later just cause I can.

Oh how I wish this was clear, but you get the idea.  I am sure there will be more opportunities for dirty dog shots, especially with Murphy.