Happy TEN to Marin today!!!

I cannot believe that she is T-E-N years old. Not only does it feel like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital, but it also makes me feel old! We love her beyond words. She is such a fun girl who enjoys being silly & laughing with her friends/family. She enjoys cuddling with mom & dad, hanging out with her friends, listening to music, shopping & playing basketball.

Because her birthday was today & she was at school for the day, we celebrated a bit yesterday. First up the Memorial Day parade in the morning. Always so much fun for the kids & the weather was perfect. Low 60's and sunny. First year in a while that we weren't sweating hot.

Then yesterday afternoon we had dinner at our house to celebrate the big 10 year old. The photo props were so much fun! Girls had fun taking pics of each other all afternoon.

Cookie cake for all and presents. She was happy to finally get the Adidas shoes that she has desperately been wanting, a bunch of clothes, swim suit, baseball hat & money to spend. It is so funny to see how the presents have all of the sudden changed. They all want clothes!

This morning she woke up to balloons in her room & streamers on the door as per usual. Gary ran to get her a donut {breakfast of choice}

She had a hard time blowing out all ten of those candles on her donut. We all had a good laugh. Our elf Merry was here for a visit as well. The girls just love her & her crazy places she lands when visiting our house.

This afternoon I had lunch with her at school {Jimmy Johns sub... also her choice} and we all went to dinner at her favorite local restaurant tonight. Lucky girl, I think it's safe to say she had a pretty great birthday. Being double digits is all it's cracked up to be. We love you so much Marin & are so proud of all you've become. Please stop growing up so fast. Thank you... mom xoxo 

This morning my dad surprised the girls with a ride to school in the fire truck! Last few days that they will all be in the same school ever again. Makes me so sad, as much as they argue they do enjoy being in the same school. I enjoy them being on the same schedule.

Marin just happened to look out the back door & see the fire truck pull up at the end of the driveway & she said "Why is the fire truck here?" Once my dad told her she & Margaux were so excited.

Maeve...not so much. She was scared & very nervous. Even crying {not sure why we were surprised!} Eventually I calmed her down & promised I would ride with them. She agreed to ride then.

Sloane came over to see them off & ended up riding on my lap in the truck with the girls. All three of our girls were all smiles the entire way to school. Lots of excited giggles & playing with the power windows in the back of the truck. Maeve would not look at the camera...

Once we got in front of school the girls were excited to see that all 3 of their classes were waiting outside for them to arrive. Fun moment for them & my dad too.

Had to take a pic with all those kids. No way we would have ever gotten them all to look but it is such a great picture.

Thank you Grandpa for the fun ride to school. We love you!!! xoxo

Today we are all still smiling from our exciting day yesterday.
Big News...

We are going to BOSTON!!!!

Gary qualified to run the Boston Marathon yesterday
with a time of 3:04!!!!

We are all so incredibly proud of him & the emotions were running strong for us all yesterday because of it. He has worked so hard & dedicated so much time to make this {crazy} dream of his a reality. I am still in shock that he ran 26 miles that.damn.fast!!! For months he has been saying that in a few years when he turns 40 he'd gain another 5 minutes & then he knew he could do it. But little did he know, he didn't need those extra 5 minutes at all & he made it look easy yesterday.

I had fully intended on bringing the girls down early & tracking with him along the end of the race. Early in the morning when the text alerts started coming & I could see how freaking fast he was running, I got soooo nervous/excited for him. My stomach was upset & I could not handle my nerves. I made the decision to just meet him at the finish line & let him do his thing with out us distracting him. Once we got down to the finish line & saw him come around the corner I was a blubbering mess. I saw the clock & at that point I knew he had it in the bag. Simply amazing.

Gary couldn't hold it together as he approached the finish line either. He was pretty emotional as he ran up the hill with the time of 3:04 on the time clock.

And shortly after he crossed the finish line this happened...

The emotions got the best of him & I was doing the same thing on the other side of the finish line after seeing him run across that line.

 I couldn't get to him fast enough... I wanted more than anything to give him the biggest hug. Such an amazingly proud moment & it proved that I too can cry like a baby at times. haha Usually he is the emotional one. I knew how important it was to him & I was so happy that he made it happen.

After all the happy tears it was time to celebrate. Starting with a little bubbly...

Travis couldn't wait to shake it up & shower him with it. Only took a bit for the bottle to be gone, enjoyed by all {except the kiddos!}Once we got home there was more celebration with a cookie cake! {Before, during & after a few drinks as well}

We had a fun afternoon celebrating the day together. The application process doesn't happen until September so we'll have to wait until then to confirm all the details, but looks like we'll be headed to Boston in April 2018!!!! So excited. Nice work Daddy!! xo

This morning while Gary rested his legs for the full marathon, Marin & I ran the 5k that she has been working so hard to train for the past few weeks. Gary was one of the co-coaches for the program & she did so great with all her training runs. We knew this 5k was going to be a piece of cake for her. She decided ahead of time that she wanted to run it with her bestie Estelle without any parents & we agreed that it was okay. I ran a bit behind with the Veraghen crew.

Marin & Estelle were giggly already at the start. So cute & ready to go...

Marin ran a great race. She finished & ran an average 8:27 mile.

Her time earned her a finishing spot of 445 out of around 6,000 runners! We were soooo proud of her! She was 7th in her age group too!

Maybe we'll have a house of little runners taking after their dad.

The rain stayed away & it was a great morning for a run. So proud of you Marin!!! Can't wait for Margaux to join us next year. Tomorrow is Gary's marathon, fingers crossed for a great run. xoxo

Happy Mothers Day!!

I had a great day with the girls & Gary today. We went to the zoo, hung out at home a bit & then headed to my grandparents house for our annual Mothers Day fish fry. Low key & just the way I like it. I told the girls all I wanted was a photo of the 4 of us together... and that was accomplished.

Last night the 5 of us went out to dinner together as well. We had a great dinner. It is so nice to have weekends where we are not so busy & can just spend time together. Doesn't happen very often anymore with the five of us all having social calendars... but when it does we try to enjoy every minute of it. I love these chicks so much & am so happy they all three made me a mom. Thank you for making this mama feel special today. I loved all your cards & hand made gifts so much. xoxo

Dance recital weekend in the books! The girls danced their hearts out & did soooo well. We are so proud of them both. They each danced in two shows & thankfully one of them overlapped so we could see them both in one show. Mind you, each performance was 3 hours long so they had a lot of time to hang with their friends & eat snacks backstage while they weren't dancing.

Here are Margaux & Hayden in front of the theater before their last show.

 And the big girls Marin, Emma & Rylie posing for a quick pic before they headed in for their final show last night.

They all looked so darn cute with their hair done & a wee bit of makeup. Great job girls!

We all loved the show!!! xoxo