Starshine's First Marathon

Today's exciting marathon day started at the crack of dawn so we could catch the bus. We could have met the Y down at the race, but Jr. Princess was SUPER excited to take the bus...

After the bus dropped the kids off at the 25 mile mark of the marathon, they took Jr. Princess, me and Grandma L down to the finish line. There, Jr. Princess hopped in the jogging stroller with M&M Dad (who luckily got to bypass the bus ride with Grandpa L) and backtracked to find a pace to cheer for Starshine. She spent lots of time yesterday crafting this fabulous sign (Go Starshine!), which we had to blur out on the blog for Internet safety...

A few minutes later along came our running super star! M&M Dad and Jr. Princess got to wave to her several times as he tried to run along the race route.

We are so proud of her. She ran the whole way without stopping and had a blast. Afterwards she made this cute sign at the CNN Fit tent: "Starshine: I ran 1.2 miles!"

After a medal ceremony and lots of fun snacks, there was a super bonus - the girls' first celebrity sighting. Our family LOVES watching The Biggest Loser, and after the race, Jillian was there! We had front row seats and the girls were thrilled.

First Soccer Goal

Starshine scored her very first soccer goal!

I don't have any pictures because I was at Jr. Princess's game, but apparently a throw-in went over her head towards the goal, and she took off and scored. After it happened, M&M Dad said she kind of stood there in disbelief, but now she's definitely excited.

Great Job Starshine!

Marathon Training

Starshine's YCare is participating in an awesome program with CNN this fall. They have running club after school 2 days a week and are also encouraged to track their running at home. The goal is to run 25 miles during the first month of school, and then on Sunday, she will run the last 1.2 miles of the Twin Cities Marathon to complete her month-long marathon.

Well, there are prizes involved so Starshine has been SUPER goal-oriented, and is definitely going to make it. Tonight, because it was pouring rain all day, M&M Dad let her use the treadmill for the very first time. Up until today the family rule was "don't touch the treadmill - EVER," so this was like the tasting of forbidden fruit! She was soooooo excited. Here she is...


Her YCare leader says she's doing great. Yesterday she ran 13 minutes without stopping, even lapping some of the older boys. She clearly got M&M Dad's running genes and not mine :).

We can't wait to go cheer for her on Sunday!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa M

Grandma and Grandpa M came to visit this weekend - yeah! First, everyone drove down to M&M Dad's favorite restaurant to meet me as I just returned from a trip to Boston (it's close to the airport). Punch has THE BEST pizza in the Twin Cities.

Then Saturday morning we were up early for soccer games. The games were at the same time, so we did some frantic cross-town switching to ensure both grandparents saw both granddaughters.

This was also my first time seeing Starshine because I normally have to take Jr. Princess to her game. Check out this awesome action shot...

And here she is making her goalie debut while getting an encouraging high-five from Coach Dad.

We were then off to see Jr. Princess. Unfortunately, both teams only had a couple subs, so by the time we got there all of the kids looked fried and uninterested. Both sets of coaches concurred to end the match early. But at least I got to see Jr. Princess's awesome throw-in...

Then, we were off to the Community Center for "Touch a Truck" Day. It is funny how the littlest things thrill kids. Essentially the city parks all of there big trucks in a parking lot and the kids get to climb all over them, honk the horn, etc...

The Fort Snelling Museum brought up a tank - cool!

And my personal favorite was the nice Sheriff who handcuffed the kids to pose for this picture. (Scared Straight!)

They also enjoyed putting on all of the fireman's clothes...

Later that evening, Jr. Princess loved to show Grandpa M. how much she likes doing his Kindergarten math workbook...

Later, they walked over to the apple orchard so we could make apple crisp for dessert (which Jr. Princess declared DISGUSTING, but the rest of us enjoyed very much!). Starshine almost fell asleep during dinner from all the activity, but ended the day by soaking up some cuddles...

It's been a fun visit.

Jr. Princess is Tougher Than Me

On Thursday, Jr. Princess had a runny nose. That's it. She was smiley, happy, and was her usual "I don't need a nap" self.

Well, Friday afternoon it hit me like a ton of bricks, and by Saturday morning, M&M Dad was requesting throat lozenges.

So, this weekend has turned into a whole lot of nothing as we all try to rest... Though it did seem like an apropos time to go get them flu shots. The girls probably wouldn't even notice, but apparently we just need to make sure they don't get us sick!

Here is Jr. Princess waiting with her bear at Target.

She was very proud that she did cry or scream at all (super tough). She then got to pick out a treat- mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches (good call). Starshine was busy at a friend's house, but she is actually looking forward to going this afternoon because then she gets one of the ice cream sandwiches, too! Though, they were a bit outraged when they found out that we will have to go back later this year for swine flu shots...

Wolf Pride

Starshine was very excited to bring home her first "Wolf Pride" certificate today. She actually earned it earlier this week, for being one of only two kids who followed the teacher's directions the first time. If you don't remember from last year, a teacher can hand them out to anybody who is displaying one of the school's values, and then they have frequent drawings for prizes. Starshine is SUPER motivated by these kinds of reward systems...

Oh - and don't you just love that M&M Dad is hanging out tonight in his black work socks with those shorts. I told him he'd better not go out and mow the lawn like that (with a white v-neck undershirt), or he would totally be like the nerdy math teacher who lived up the street from me growing up!

Jr. Princess's First Soccer Game

On Saturday morning I got to take Jr. Princess to her very first soccer game (M&M Dad was busy coaching Starshine's team across town). She was super excited to finally be a big girl.

The game was very high scoring because we have a "little Mia Hamm" on our team while the other team had a "Jr. Pele," who unfortunately was playing forward while Jr. Princess made her goalie debut. Here she is throwing back a blocked shot...

After an uneventful stint as right forward, Jr. Princess found her calling - defense! She loves to get right in there and clear the ball...

During one of the breaks, one of her coach's commented to me that she was really good at defense, and had "some skills." Then, and here's the funny part, asked if she got them from me. I was wearing my Minnesota shirt (for the big stadium-opening football game), and he thought I may have played for the U! Ha Ha Ha! After I laughed for a minute I assured him that she definitely did not inherit any soccer skills from me, but from her awesome soccer playing Dad.

After the game, Jr. Princess loves that everybody does high fives...

..and then some nice parent always brings a fun snack...

The biggest bummer is that she and Starshine both have 9AM games the whole season, until the last day, so I'll hardly get to see Starshine, and M&M Dad will hardly see Jr. Princess. They definitely are defying the odds of scheduling...

Second Grade

Here is our little Starshine all ready for her first day of second grade - when did she get so grown-up?

Here she is with her neighbor friends in line for the bus. This is as close as we could convince the neighbor boy to get to the girls...

It does not appear that he spent nearly as much time obsessing about his first day of school outfit. Starshine loved her new pink dress which we accessorized with the fabulous gold belt she got awhile back from Uncle B.

Aren't they the cutest sisters???

When I picked her up, the first thing she said was, "BEST DAY EVER!" She was very excited about her new teacher and the fact that the teacher gives tickets for good behavior that are used in prize drawings. Of course, she practically cried when I told her we couldn't return the parent form tomorrow (worth one ticket) because M&M Dad isn't home to sign it.

I sure hope this "loving school" thing lasts for a long time!

Laboring on Labor Day Weekend

I signed up for an energy audit through our electrical company last week and got a lot of great tips on easy things do do around the house. So, we figured with the extra time this weekend, we'd tackle some of them (and some other odds and ends of projects).

We started with a trip to Home Depot (smartly timed during one of their Kids' Workshops). The girls were excited to go make their own bean bag toss games, which they spent more time at home painting...

We then sent M&M Dad into the attic to even out our insulation while I crafted a new foam back for the attic door (I definitely got the better end of that deal because it was quite hot up there). I don't think we've been in the attic since my first official home improvement project 10 years ago when I installed a ceiling fan, so I was a little nervous that he might find some sort of bat or squirrel disaster. Yeah - all was fine.

Poor M&M Dad was also the only one tall enough to caulk the skylights, so up he went. I think he is secretly waiting for some house job that is perfect for the short weakling of the house.

Now I'm just hoping the proposed "Cash for Clunkers" appliance program includes furnaces, because apparently we are heating (inefficiently) on borrowed time.

State Fair Fun

On Wednesday, M&M Dad and I took the day off to have some family fun at the State Fair. Starshine remembers every favorite thing, but since we didn't go last year, the concept was a bit fuzzy for Jr. Princess.

We always start off at a Park n Ride:

1. They are very convenient (and free)
2. The girls think the bus ride is super fun because they don't have to be in car seats.
   

Well, this bus was standing room only and the girls COULD NOT BELIEVE that we got to stand on the bus the whole way (quite controversial for the uber-strapped in youth of today). We didn't get any good pictures, though, because we each had a hand on a kid as the driver was a little erratic.

We headed straight for the little kids farm (their favorite)...

And we posed for pictures in several dozen tractors and lawn equipment (this one's for you Grandpa L!)

We hit all of the animal barns, which everybody loves. We also always go to the DNR building for some great Minnesota themed posters for the girls rooms. Here we are posing in the state flower - the ladyslipper...

The favorite treat was the $1 all you can drink chocolate milk. The girls COULD NOT BELIEVE I let them fill it up 8 or nine times. (Live it up for a day).

We were quite bushed by the afternoon bus ride home - thank goodness there were open seats...