Marathon Man

Justin ran in his first marathon today! The annual Flying Pig Marathon held here in Cincinnati started at 6:30 this morning and Justin was on the start line! Justin has been training for the past nine months and the kids and I were at the finish line anxiously waiting for him. He ran all 26.2 miles in four hours.....way to go Justin!!! As you can see he was REALLY tired when he finished and wasn't exactly all smiles for the camera yet.
After he went through the recovery area he was in much better spirits. Tired, but happier. He even got Anna and Cameron a dish of ice cream which they greedily ate at 10:30 in the morning! Who needs cereal when you can eat ice cream?!

Grandparents

My sister and I packed the kids into the car and went up to the Cleveland/Akron area to visit our extended family for a few days. We split up and stayed with diffrent aunt and uncles so not to overwhelm and one household with four toddlers running everywhere! Here are a few pictures. This is of my sister and I with our grandma. It was her 81st birthday this past Friday and she still looks great!
Here we are with our Grandpa. He wasn't too thrilled to get his picture taken.
And here are all the grandkids with their great-grandma. Surprisingly all the kids are looking and smiling....except for grandma!

Zoo Flowers

My sister and her two kids are here visiting us for a little bit. We decided to take all of the kids to the zoo where they are having a big tulip show. The tulips all through the zoo were absolutly beautiful! Unfortunately our MANY attempts at a photo with all four kids smiling failed. Here are a few of our trys. The kids kept freaking out over the giant bees buzzing around the tulips. It made for a few tears in some of our photos.
The tulips in the background of this photo look like they're painted - but they are real!
This was just an overview shot of one area. Like I said......BEAUTIFUL! (not to mention the 80 degree weather we had that day)

Escapee

The past week has been quite an ordeal with Cameron. He has finally learned how to climb out of his crib and he is quite proud of himself. We'll put him down to sleep and a few minutes later he runs out to us, all smiles, and proudly proclaiming that he has "climbed out my crib!" ---And we do this over and over and over again! The other night I thought that he had finally fallen asleep, so as I went to peek in on him this is what I found. He and Anna were all snuggled into her bed reading books. How can you get mad at that?!

Playing Mommy

On friday nights we do a babysitting co-op with two other friends. It's a great way for Justin and I to have a date night without having to arrange and pay for a babysitter. This past friday was our turn to babysit. One of the kids we babysit is Ellie, who is a sweet little girl. Anna likes to pretend she is her mommy and here she is holding her on her lap. Somehow Cameron got into the picture as well. (and no, he was not playing daddy!)

Basketball

Once again I defeated Justin in the Basketball brackets this year. I won 41 games verses his 38. My prize? Justin has to scrub and clean the bathrooms for a month! Yeah Me!!!!

Willy Wonka

Last night I took Anna to see her first play. The girl who babysits for us often was in her school play, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. So I got Anna and I a ticket and off we went. It was really cute and Anna watched the whole thing while pointing out her babysitter each time she came on stage. At intermission they had lots of candy and goodies for sale at the concession area. Anna choose some chocolate covered marshmallows with sprinkles on a stick- mmmm! It was a fun night for us both.