Our 5k

Last Saturday Randy and I ran in the 1st Annual John Deere 5k! Neither Randy nor I are serious runners. We recently bought a treadmill and have been working out on that. I haven't made much time for exercise since I went back to work, but I am hoping to get better about that! Anyway, the 5k was a lot of fun. Saturday morning was gorgeous. Randy's sister, Maria, and one of her friends babysat Quinn while Randy and I trekked to Johnston. We both ended up with faster times than we'd expected! Mine, especially, was much better than I'd anticipated. I even beat people! :-) There were also lots of kids' races, starting with kids as young as one year old. Can't wait for Q to run next year!

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          Jill after race. You can't see the shoes well, but they are pretty sweet.

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                                              Sweaty and tired!

Did I mention that we somehow got locked out of our car during our race? When it was time to go we realized that we couldn't get in! Luckily we had a window cracked and my genius engineer husband was able to remove a windshield wiper and unlock a door. I don't know what I'd do without him!

Back to school....

I am back at school! I had mixed feelings about going back this year. It is so hard to leave Quinn every day! She does great at day care, though, so we know she is in good hands. I miss my girl so much, though!

School is going well. I am in a brand-new building and it seems like there are still a lot of kinks to work out, especially regarding technology and availability of resources. Along with kicking off the school year comes the things I don't like: the piles of papers to check (will soon be hours every night), being so exhausted after a long day, only having time to read one book per week, etc.

I do love my job, though. I love interacting with my kids every day, getting them excited about reading, and working with them to develop their writing skills as we send them off to high school. I feel like teaching is what I am meant to do and it feels very natural for me. Perhaps it is in my blood? :-) Truly, the good outweighs the bad by a large margin. I am just missing my lazy summer days....

I will try to update on our family (with pictures!) when I get some "free time" this weekend....ha!

Two teefers!

Quinn's second tooth has officially popped through! It might be silly for me to get so excited over teeth, but I can't help it! I love how big she is getting.

                                                   Daddy's girl

                                     too much fun at the State Fair!


I have officially started school and free time as I know it is gone! I will blog when I can. :-)

Cousins!

On Tuesday my dad, my nephew Tanner, and my niece Ava came up for a quick lunch visit. They will be starting school later this week and their younger sister, Ella, has already begun. Dad brought food from Culver's and while we were waiting Miss Ava wanted to do a quick photo shoot with Baby Quinn. She took several dozen photos of Quinn on her own! The kids are so sweet and we love them so much.

Fun game, Mommy!

So as the summer winds down, Quinn and I are finding ourselves a bit bored with her usual toys. One way that we have invented to entertain ourselves is something I call "Underwear Drawer." This may be too much information for some of you, but I think it's cute. :-)

I grab a huge bunch of underwear from a drawer or from a laundry basket if I am folding laundry. I set Quinn on her tummy facing the pile, just out of reach. She has to creep to get it, but once she does, watch out!

                                     rrrrrrooooolllllllll over into the undies!

                                          take a little breather

                  roll all the way down the hallway! how much can I hold onto?



 

Lately

I thought I would share a few pics of Quinn lately. I confess that I haven't been taking too many...we have been having too much fun reading books, playing, shopping, and enjoying summer! She recently got her first tooth, so that was a huge deal! We were relieved when it finally broke the surface because it relieved some extreme crabbiness.

                                           napping with Daddy before bed

                  helping Mommy cook supper. Love the crazy post-nap hair!

                                   we love legwarmers! (even in August)


See the kitchen table and chairs in the background of the above pictures? We are on a mission to find a new one! Ours is the perfect size for our kitchen and is in great condition but we are just looking to update a little bit. The one we have now was in my parents' house for as long as I can remember. We spent part of Saturday searching for the perfect table....it is still eluding us. We did, though, find a new coffee table, end table, and foyer table! Woo-hoo!

We don't have carpet in our downstairs so during the day I lie down blankets on which Quinn can play. However, her latest trick is rolling herself up in the blankets! It is so funny to turn back around and see her in a completely different place from where she started. She's not crawling or sitting up, but she can definitely get some mileage rolling and creeping!

The end is near...

This week is my last week at home! It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to summer this year. This is the first summer ever where I haven't taken classes, worked, attended conferences, etc., so it has been pretty relaxing and fun just playing with Quinn! I will be sad to see it end; I'd love to stay home permanently, but I guess I better use my college education for something......

I am playing catch-up around my house today (laundry, dishes) because we had guests all weekend! More on that later.