Happy Birthday Dear Alex



I told Alex to hold up two fingers. This is as close as we got!

 Today my dear baby boy turned two years old! I can't even believe it. He still doesn't talk much but he loves to hit a ball off of the tee and watch squirrels in the morning. He calls them all puppy!
While I was at work today Kelly went and got the ritual store bought cupcakes. Poor Alex, he has to wait for his birthday party to be in August. Good thing he does not care one little bit!
I did get his two year sweater done so that is a win. Now I just need to start on D's! I might have some chances to work on it during the fair. It is a super busy time but you should always have some knitting in your purse, just in case!



Daryl likes birthday cupcakes too!

A New Distance! A New Cousin! A New Hat!

It has been May since my half marathon. I am missing that satisfied feeling after finishing a race that I trained for. It also makes it hard to get up at 5:15am if you don't have any distance in particular you need to run.
So I have signed up for my very first 25K! I'll do the math for you
5K=3.1miles
3.1x25= 75.25?? (that's not right...)
25K/5K=5
3.1x5=15.5miles (that's better!)

How does one train for a 25K? You look on the internet for training plans and realize they are all in Kilometers...and I run in miles....I feel like I should have seen that one coming.
So I took a Marathon plan and cut it down to the week you do a 13 mile run. Do that run two weeks before the race. Then taper for a bit, then run 15 miles.
Race Date is September 21st so I will let you all know how it pans out.

Last Sunday our family loaded up in the car and went to meet our new niece/cousin, Ms. Amelia. She was a week old and it just killed Daryl that we had to wait so long. Turns out he really loves babies! He kept saying, "Isn't she a cutie!" She is, and we are now super loaded with July birthdays in our family!

And....I made my friend a chicken hat! Her wardrobe was really needing one because she is often referred to as the chicken lady. The chicken lady needs a chicken hat, right?!

Some Patriotism for your Saturday

It's never too late for some 4th of July pictures! Thank goodness our babysitters took these. On the fourth I didn't event dress the boys in Red White and Blue. Frankly, I was lucky to get clothes on them at all! July is a whirlwind for the Manor but we sure do have fun!
Today Daryl had his last Tee ball game. Maybe ever, at this point for Daryl tee ball is OK, but he thinks it is too hot. Poor kid, we are still trying to find "his thing!" What a crazy world today that we are supposed to be nailing that down at age five. sheesh 
Sleeve one on Al's sweater is done and done! Now for that second sleeve.....

Big plans for the Big Weekend

I don't know about everyone else but I had big plans to finish lots of projects over the three day weekend. Turns out the three knitting projects I was going to finish didn't really pan out. :-)
I almost had one hat done but my misreading the pattern and knitting almost the whole thing with 86 stitches (super bulky yarn) instead of 68 wasn't really going to work out! So I ripped it all out and put it in time out.
So I got a measly start to a sleeve done on my three days of knitting bliss. :-/

We did have a good fourth. We went to Great Grandma and Grandpas and had a meal and some small fireworks with the Ramirez family. It was so nice to visit and catch up. Everyone is so busy these days I really appreciate the times we can get together. :-)
We left before the big fireworks because they pretty much scare the daylight out of Alex. We had to sleep with him on the 3rd and 4th and he passed out pretty early on the 5th and finally slept alone.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend. I know there are a couple of families in Hanston that had scary weekends and I'm keeping all of them in my prayers. Between Mom and facebook I'm getting updates, it is funny how connected we can all be while still be physically away from each other.

Who stole June?

I almost could not believe my eyes this morning when I looked at my calendar and it said July 1st! I don't even remember June it flew by so fast!

We did have a great end to June 2014. We FINALLY paid off my student loan. I was thinking we would get that done in May but the car needed new brakes and roters (sp?). We were happy to pay for that with cash but that meant not paying off my school loan till June. My brain is all paid for!!!

Our last debt is now Kelly's school loan. We have an estimated payoff date of February 2015. Watch our Sallie Mae, the Meerpohls are coming after you!

June 2014 also was my first exchange trip with 4-H. Our county hosted a group from Pennsylvania this summer and next summer they will host us. It was a lot of fun! I had their adult chaperone Lori stay with us and she was a blast! And now I get to be the tall one in pictures! Never thought I would ever get to say that with one of my friends. :-)

Kelly and the boys had fun meeting Lori and some of their kids too. Today when I picked Daryl up after dropping Lori at the airport this was what he said.
D-Mom did Lori go back to Pennsylvania today?
Me-Yes she did.
D-Next year will you go to Pennsylvania and be amazed?
Me- Yes I will!
While I was supervising the exchange I also got some knitting done on Al's sweater! Yay!!