Jodi's 29th Birthday

Paeton and I threw Jodi a little birthday party last night at our house. In attendance was our entire immediate family: Jodi, Paeton, myself, Kona, Brewer and William. Paeton was really excited about it!

Paeton helped Jodi open his cards...

and his gifts.

Then we came over to the dining room table to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles.

Paeton practiced taking in a big breath so she's ready in a few weeks when she turns 2 :)

Daddy's balloons - more enjoyed by Paeton and William than Jodi.

Paeton getting tired but still managing to eat her cake and ice cream.

It was a fun night - Happy 29th Jodi!

Dinner for 6

Sunday night we attended our Dinner for 6 at the Krause's house. Even though the meal was fantastic (thanks Alyssa!) the highlight was definitely watching Paeton, Eva and Luke playing together. Paeton found this bouncy horse right away in the basement and was thrilled to jump up and down on it.

Eva shrieked with delight watching Paeton go crazy on this thing!

Here's Paeton and Eva banging some of Luke's trains on the sliding glass door. They thought this was SO funny.

These two just loved playing together and posing for pictures.

Eva (18 months) and Paeton (23 months)

Luke, Eva and Paeton - although only the two to the left are siblings, I think this picture makes them all look like a little family.

Paeton giving her friend a little love.

Paeton's New Table

Last Saturday we decided to retire Paeton's high chair to the basement and bring up an old favorite of ours - the pub table! Jodi and I purchased this when we lived in Denver and it's been in the basement since our move to Milwaukee. We brought it back and we're all thrilled!

Paeton loves to color and eat at the new table - all she talks about is the 'new table' these days.

I also have been using this new table as a spot to do Paeton's hair.

This is Paeton's reaction when we told her it's time to get down from the new table and leave for church - not happy.

23 Months - Almost 2!

Here is Paeton at 23 months - she is our little love!

She has started to enjoy posing for pictures - when she's in a good mood.

And sometimes she gives a little bit of attitude :)

Jodi's 1st Marathon

Here's Paeton the morning of Jodi's 1st marathon - Jodi had already left for the race with his dad and his friend John who was running with him. We were eating a quick breakfast and getting ready to go.

Grandma Ulrich and Paeton waiting for the race to begin. It was SO cold!

Paeton all bundled up.

Oshkosh Half Marathon start line.

Paeton and I ready to cheer on daddy.

Can I just say I LOVE this picture??!!! We were standing on the sidewalk watching the start of the race and Mark (Jodi's dad) yelled there he is! I snapped the picture without even knowing what I was going to get and I got this incredible picture of Jodi with a huge smile on his face.

Jodi rounding the bend at the 6 mile marker - he's the one in all black to the right of the girl. But let's not focus on the fact that he's behind a girl; he'll get mad at me :)

Jodi coming off the bridge ready to hit the 10 mile marker.

Jodi just passing the 10 mile marker - we were cheering so loud for him! Paeton couldn't understand why dad was running away every time we saw him :)

Jodi completed the marathon in one hour, 39 minutes and 48 seconds. They announced his name as he crossed the finish line and I couldn't have been more proud. Jodi has NEVER been a runner - he likes to be active and play sports but never in a million years would I have imagined him doing distance running. He made the decision just after Christmas to run this half marathon with his long time good friend John. He trained for just about 4 months and it all paid off. Jodi was the 156th runner to cross the finish line out of 1500 total runners. He averaged a 7:37 mile.

Paeton was excited to see daddy and get out of stroller after almost 2 hours of being couped up. She loved running around the ampitheater where the finish line was. I made her the t-shirt she's wearing that says 'Go Dad Go!'

She's just having so much fun!

Grandpa Ulrich lifting her up so she could see the other runners finishing and all the balloons.

Jodi and his buddy John after the race. These two have always had a very 'friendly competitive' spirit between them simply meaning they are great friends but they push each other to do better. John was behind Jodi the entire race, caught up to him at 12 1/2 miles and ended up beating him by about 30 seconds.

Here's me with Brooke, John's wife after the race. Brooke put out a fabulous lunch spread for us afterwards at their house - it was so yummy.

And here's Paeton after taking a 3 hour nap at John and Brooke's house playing with Roxy and all her toys.

What a great day!

Paeton's Tent

Last Thursday, Paeton started to not feel so well. We were averaging 3 diaper changes an hour and let me just say, they weren't #1's. When Paeton's sick, she sometimes likes her own space. So, we broke out her tent and filled it up with all her favorite things: Elmo, Baby George, Clifton (Cabbage Patch doll), books, pillows, blankets and a snack.

This is Paeton rocking Baby George to sleep - she told me it was time for him to go 'night night'. Sick days are no fun but we made the best of it.

Paeton's Treehouse

Paeton's daycare is having a special week this week called "Week of the Young Child". Part of this event entails each family bringing in a model of either their house, one of their parent's occupations (fire house, hospital, etc) or a special place they like to go. All the models will be put together into a huge village displayed at Paeton's daycare. Paeton is really into being in her 'own space' these days so we decided to build a treehouse representing her space. We went to Michaels on Saturday to get supplies and then Jodi and I spent about an hour Saturday night (after Paeton went to bed) constructing this tree house. I never thought Jodi would help me with this but he totally did and it was actually really fun building it together. We used a lot of foam pieces and a hot glue gun. And just for the record, the sign to the right of the stairs says 'No Boys Allowed'. After we were done I reminded Jodi that this would probably be the first of many school projects we'll be working on!

Nesting already?

Now that I'm over half way into this pregnancy I FINALLY have my energy back and I'm feeling good. With that energy has come the urge to organize every closet and storage space in our home. When I was pregnant with Paeton, my only focus was on getting her room ready and perfect. With this pregnancy, I'm not so concerned with the room. I'm worried about the rest of the house! I know that having two kids is not going to be easy so I want to make sure that everything is well organized and that I've maximized all storage space. I've been buying tons of bins (all sizes) and organizing, organizing, organizing. This was my pile from Saturday that Jodi needed to haul to the basement - poor husband.

Handy Man Jodi

The utility sink in our laundry room has been out of commission for months...probably due to lack of effort on our part. It had started to leak before Christmas so Jodi shut the water off and there she sat. We finally had our friend Mike come over (2 weeks ago) to assess the sink...and he basically said we needed a new faucet. So, we went Saturday to Home Depot, picked out a new faucet and Jodi installed it all by himself despite my recommendation to invite Mike back over for supervision. Jodi is not a 'handy man' and he will admit this. But, he did a great job fixing the sink and I've decided I do not give him enough credit for what he does do to keep our house functioning. So thanks hun for the new sink - it works perfect!

On a side note, William got very used to the leaky sink and all the drips of water he would catch in his mouth. He's very sad that has gone away.

Happy Spring!

We took a few cute pix before we left for church last Sunday so I thought I'd share. I was so good about taking pictures of Paeton when she was a baby and now I've realized...I've really slacked off. So this is my recent effort to pull the camera out a little more often. We're so happy spring is here and we can wear 'happier' clothing than what we sport all winter long!

Daddy, Paeton and one of her babies.

Easter Basket #3

Here's Paeton (age 22 months) on Easter morning. She's super excited to look for her third and final easter basket. This one is from Grandma and Grandpa Marx.

Showing us the frog she got in her easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa Ulrich.

Looking for her basket - not by the high chair.

Not by her toy baskets...

There it is - in the dining room!

Dragging it out - it's a heavy one.

She could barely walk with it.

What'd I get, What'd I get???

A princess backpack - pronounced 'pak pak' by Paeton.

Anything left?

So silly!