A Run To Remember

On Sunday Wade ran the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon with some of his friends.  While is was a long 4 months of training he crossed the finish line and we couldn't be more proud.  It was also great being back in OKC for the weekend and hanging out with everyone even if they were a little sore.

Pre-race dinner at Bravo with all the runners so they could carb load!  Allison Carter, Steven Carter, Justin Abraham, Brandon Lee, Wade, Matt Allen, Mike Elder and Matt Pollock

Wade at mile 13 - it's a little hard to see him here because of the sun, but he looked like he was feeling great!

The girls waiting for the boys to come by at mile 20 - we went around to cheer them on along the way.  It was really exciting to see all the people running and cheering everyone on.

Matt and Wade at mile 20

Me with the Brighams at mile 20.  Vince has run a few marathons and came out to cheer on the boys and if it hadn't been for him Ashley and I would have had no idea where to go along the route.  Audrey even made this adorable sign for Wade.  It has little people running towards the finish at the bottom!

Miss Channing Mae Pollock sleeping at the finish line waiting for her daddy to cross the line.  We finally got to meet her this weekend and she is precious

Wade and I after the race (and yes, his nipple was bleeding) I guess it was a great battle scar.  People were hilarious walking around pointing at him and talking about it.  Don't worry, he's doing fine!

Wade and Matt after the marathon - Don't they look great for just finishing running 26.2 miles?

Matt, Wade and Steven - the 3 marathoners

After the race is was harder to get everyone together because everyone else not pictured ran the half marathon or the marathon relay and were spread out all over Downtown.   We met back up later that evening for a Post-race dinner

 The OKC Memorial Marathon was definitely A Race To Remember not just because it was Wade's first marathon, but because of it's purpose.  There were many families with t-shirts made remembering the lives of those lost April 15, 1995 and some runners go and leave their medal on the chair of someone they were running to remember.  We hope to always participate by running in some event every year.

MORE Blastball!

Sterling has his 2nd game Thursday night.  This time Wade and I switched off halfway through and he stayed with Hudson and I was on the field with Sterling (note to self: do NOT wear flip flops to tball games!).  I was able to get some pictures of Sterling without the chain link fence in the picture.

Batter up!

Sterling drew this with his foot while we were waiting for the other team to bat.  Coach Hauk said it looked like a gingerbread man and added the eyes and mouth.

He was so excited to get to be the pitcher last night.  Once they get the ball the pitcher is supposed to yell, "Blastball."  Sterling would yell, "Blast OFF!"

Hudson, watching the game

Goooooooooooooooooooo

HAWKS!

I love how excited they all are

Play Ball!

Sterling had his first t-ball game on Saturday.  It's actually called BLASTball and is a water downed version of t-ball for 3-5 year olds so they can learn the basics of the game.  Right now they ALL run after every ball!  It's definitely entertaining!

 A parent stands on the field with each kid!

Sterling chose to be #14, he wanted #45 but it wasn't a choice!

That's Sterling laying on the field, he layed himself out for the ball

Batter UP

This time he ran to 1st base instead of chasing his ball

...and he scored!

This is a video of Sterling's first at bat!  PRICELESS!

Mommy's helper?

One day (VERY SOON) Hudson will probably run the other way when it's time for the dishwasher to be unloaded.  I know it's one of my least favorite chores, but for now, he LOVES it!

Piano Man

My grandmother brought this piano to the boys at Easter.  She's had it in the hallway at her house for a VERY long time and they are so excited to have it at their house now!  I haven't found it's permanent home....yet because Hudson likes to bang around on it when we get home and I'm getting things together for dinner.  The boys LOVE music!

Signs of Summer

The signs of summer are upon us!

Popsicles

This was actually Hudson's first popsicle!  He loved if, of course!

Playing outside

Riding bicycles

...and driving cars!

Sterling was nice enough to fill it up with gas for Hudson

We love being able to play outside every night.  We can't wait for summer to OFFICIALLY begin!

Walking Feet

At 14 months Hudson is FINALLY walking, at least some!!!  He doesn't really like to walk with shoes on, but he is walking.  I'm mostly excited about this so he won't keep crawling around in the grass when we're outside playing.

Woohoo!  Look at me!

"Hey, Bubba!  I want to play!"

Pit stop

Watch out world, Hudson is on the move!

I Wish I Wanna....

Sterling making his silly face, which is what he likes to do for the camera, most of the time!

This sweet boy wants to be and do MANY things as he grows up!

He always says, "I wish I wanna..."  The funniest part is that most of the time they're not things he can "be".  Some of our favorites are:

• I wish I wanna be an alien.
• I wish I wanna be a comet.
• I wish I wanna be a bird, a cardinal, a woodpecker, a shark, a fish, a tree, etc....
• I wish I wanna go to a volcano.

He also has the funny ways he says some words and then just funny things he says.  I wish I could put a recording on here of all of them so I'll do my best to write out his pronunciations.

• Pull - Up (Pool-up) - Sterling still wears a Pull-Up at night.  Wade LOVES to call it a diaper just to hear Sterling get made and say, "It's not a diaper, it's a Pull - Up."
• Dr. Pepper (Doc-chur Pepper) - Sterling has developed a love for my Dr. Peppers....I love hearing him ask for a drinks!
• Thing (shang) - Sometimes I think his brain works quicker than his mouth.  In return we are always trying to figure out what "things" he's talking about.
• Yeah baby - I have no idea where he got this, but Wade asked him he wanted to go outside and he said, "Yeah, baby!"
• Well, - this one makes me crazy.  After a few days of him saying to me, "Well, ....." usually in protest to something he did or didn't want to do, I realized I SAY well all the time to begin a sentence.  "Well, it's time for bed.", "Well, we're about to eat dinner.", "Well, I'm sorry, not right now." You get the idea.

A few more things to LOVE about Sterling at 3 1/2 years old:

• ATTITUDE - He can get one at times (see saying, "well..." above) I don't know if I should love it or hate it and it sure is hard to keep my cool OR to keep from laughing sometimes. 
• PICKY EATER - unfortunately, he did inherit this from me.  He says he doesn't like fruits and vegetables,or spaghetti sauce and he only likes a certain type of bread just to name a few.  He does however like some odd things, well, odd to me since I'm a picky eater.  Stinky cheeses (this is what I call them), pickles (which I despise), salad, and any kind of fish.  He will at least try things which is more than I can say for myself when I was younger.  Who am I kidding, I won't even try stuff I think I don't like now! HAHA
• NEVER FORGETS A THING - I'm liking this, sometimes!  He remembers when he needs to take his lunch, where I leave his things and what he did weeks ago.  The other day he was telling Wade how rainbows are made and Wade mentioned not seeing a rainbow in awhile.  Sterling remembered when we had a seen a rainbow 2 months before that that we didn't even remember.  I hope he doesn't forget anything he learns in school either.
• A WRITER - now that Sterling has learned to start writing letters he writes them on everything.  Any and all paper, Wade's Sudoku book, his easel, the mousepad, pretty much any where that has a pen or pencil lying near it.  So far he can write letters - A, B, C, D, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S (backwards), V, and W - all uppercase, but I'm sure he'll have us working on lower case letters soon.
• A BALL PLAYER - Sterling is getting ready to start playing t-ball.  I was never very sporty and unlike my sister, I had horrible hand-eye coordination.  For a 3 year old Sterling is pretty good and hits the ball most of the time.  We hear, "I wish I wanna play __________." Last night before bed he told me he wanted to play, baseball, soccer, golf, football, basketball and tennis - all the balls he said!  I guess we're going to be busy the next 15 years!
• A GOOD BIG BROTHER - While Sterling wanted nothing to do with Hudson when he was a baby, he's starting to like him a little more.  Sterling will share his snacks, dinner and even desserts with Hudson.  He's very good at making sure he doesn't try to go up or down the stairs without Wade or I.  He can't pick him up, obviously, but he can stop him!  They also like to play ball together and make each other laugh.  I have a feeling this will get them in a some trouble as they get older because if one of them thinks it's funny they're going to keep doing it.
• LOVES TECHNOLOGY - I think he can work my iPhone better than I can.  I download games for him, not me on it and he plays it mostly while we're in the car.  There are some great toddler apps and educational games on there so I'm not complaining.  He recently discovered my iPod also, he likes to sit with the earphones in his ears more than he actually likes listening to the music, but I'm sure he'll be asking for one in a few years.  Starfall.com is his favorite website (another educational one) and the best part is, he doesn't need my help.  He can play it while I'm cooking dinner and I'm still able to be right there while he's on the computer.  Last, but not least, is his Leapster!  This was another FABULOUS hand-me-down from the Brighams and it is the BEST.  
• ANIMAL GENIUS - There is a game for the ever fabulous LEAPSTER called Animal Genius and it has truly turned Sterling into just that.  It takes you all over the world, discovers and explores different animals and teaches facts about them.  Sterling can recite them word for word: "Ostriches are birds, but they can't fly", "Sharks don't have any bones in their body", "Sea Turtles lay their eggs on land" We may have an exotic animal veterinarian on our hands!

Sorry for the LONG post!  I was afraid I was going to start forgetting these things if I didn't write them down and I'm sure there are some things I still forgot!

 Such a sweet smile!