Hi everybody,

It's been a busy month. Matt spent most of it in Mexico. Then end is near, hopefully! Matt should be finished travelling by the end of July. We really miss him here. AJ started soccer. It's his first team experience and he loves it. I used to ask him,"Do you want to play on a soccer team or t-ball team?" His answer was, "I want to play in the front yard." Once we shopped for cleats and shinguards, he was very interested. After the first game he asked if he gets to play every day. I said, "You can play in the front yard." He said there aren't enough kids. So, it's a success. Erin learned to pedal and can ride all around on her Dora bike now. It has buttons for sounds and those sometimes sidetrack her and she crashes. I competed in the Motor City Triathlon on Belle Isle and took 2nd place in the Athena division!

Matt was home for three days this past weekend and we took the kids to see "Night at the Museum 2" which was very funny. Good family film!

The past week's gone by quickly. The kids, dogs and I picked up Matt from his trip on Thursday evening and continued on to Grand Rapids for the long weekend. AJ and I went to the Public Museum of GR, we all played outside when the weather got nice, talked Grandpa into taking us for ice cream (AJ says,"He always says yes."), went to a parade and the kids swam like fish. Matt's gone to Mexico again today after having only one night in his own bed. I'll be glad when the frequent travelling is over.

Awesomness.

I introduce my new bike, a Trek Equinox 7. Fast as lightning, weighs less than Erin. Just look at it in the last of the evening sun...

Hi everybody, I know it's been a long time since my last post. I'll try to cover everything.

Matt's still travelling back and forth to Mexico for work. He's there until next Thursday. AJ is in the home stretch at school. I think he'll be sad when it's over. Erin's learned how to pedal her big wheel, but is too distracted by it's sound and light buttons to pay enough attention to not crash.

It was warm this past Friday while we were at the Plys and AJ and Erin got to play in the lake for the first time this year. Saturday I ran the Fifth Third Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids. I took 5th place in the women's Clydesdale division (145-155lbs.). I was pretty excited when I logged into the site for results and saw my name on the leaderboard!

I have money saved up for a triathlon bike, but I'm waiting to purchase one until we feel more secure about GM's future. So, I've got it stashed! I did buy a jogging stroller a couple weeks ago and I love it. Erin loves to ride in it. While AJ's at school, Erin and I can go for a run and be back in time to pick AJ up.

I placed 9th of 28 women in the triathlon. Pretty good.

Matt got home yesterday. I just miss him when he's not around. Today we got to see my sister who was in town for just the weekend. I hate it that she goes back to Phoenix and I can't just fly there anytime I want! Ugh! Anyway, the four of us, Jess and Gram had a nice long lunch today and visited. We dropped Jess off at Dad's so she could leave for the airport and the four of us lingered over there for a while. It was a fulfilling day overall.

Matt's home all week and we'll be able to have dinner for my birthday on Thursday!

The triathlon went well today. The results will be posted by Tuesday. My friends and I had a great time doing the race and enjoying chit-chat and smoothies post-race. Later in the day I went to yoga to stretch and it felt great.

Matt made some seriously awesome deep-dish pizza, Chicago style, for dinner tonight. My compliments to the chef.

Matt heads to Mexico (once again) tomorrow. The travelling is better than the alternative: living in Mexico for the duration of the launch. So, we hang in there!

WooHoo! I made some PHAT cash with the garage sale! It took two loads to get all the stuff over to Lynette's house, but only one load plus a few miscellaneous items to get it home! Erin's closet has never looked so empty. It was a little bittersweet selling the kids' old things.

Tomorrow morning is the triathlon and I'm ready for it. I want to beat my score from last year. Three friends and myself are in the same heat, making for a super fun time. I'll post tomorrow after I race. I'll have to check, but I think the results will be available by Tuesday.

Matt will be working in Mexico the week that I wanted the family to take the Chicago trip. Don't worry, though! We're just postponing it until summer vacation. It'll be a pretty affordable family trip.

Tomorrow is AJ's turn to bring the snack to school and, once again, I'll send something healthy. AJ said that some kids throw away their fruit. Don't fault me for trying! It'll be cut up melons and yogurt smoothies. AJ and Erin like those things, so I figure it can't be horrible. I don't force it down their throats and they don't die after eating it!

Sunday's the LifeTime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. I'm excited!

Yesterday it was cold, but sunny. The kids and I played outside. Erin got too cold and came in to hang with Matt. Meanwhile, AJ and I played soccer for an hour in the front yard. He suprised me with the amount of coordination he had with running and kicking.

I'm participating in a garage sale on Saturday at a friend's house. I've organized all the kids' old clothes and baby items to sell. I hope some of that can be used toward a triathlon bike-fingers crossed!

Sheesh!

Every time Matt goes to Mexico for an extended trip, someting expensive breaks: a car window, this time it was the laptop. DOA at the repair shop. So we did get another computer and are up and running again.

The kids are doing their kids things-fighting, laughing, teasing, being cute for mom, and being nice to each other when I'm not looking. Erin's started correctly counting things and AJ is , of course, still in love with Young 5s.

Matt's in Mexico this week, returning Saturday. At this point he's still employed and that's a blessing.

Tomorrow night the kids have a sleepover at G&G Wolski's house. I'm going out to celebrate a friend's birthday with dinner in Royal Oak followed by hijinks at Boogie Fever. I've proposed a spring trip for the family and this week while Matt's away I'm calculating costs and time in a spreadsheet. Hopefully it's a relatively inexpensive trip. I'm thinking two nights, bringing our bikes for transport around town, and bringing a cooler of sandwich stuff to curb costs. I figure one dinner a day at a restaurant. I'd like to go to the Shedd Aquarium, LegoLand and Navy Pier. I'll keep you posted on what we decide.

Fingers crossed!

It's SUNNY!!!

I know it's been a long time again...

Erin turned three this past Friday! Three!? And, she got a haircut! I'll figure out how to upload those pictures from my phone. Sorry, it's my first phone with photo capability. Right now the kids are watching Madagascar and being nice to each other :)

I'm training for the LifeTime Fitness Indoor Triathlon that's at the end of March. Today was a long, slow, base-building run. Kind of boring, but kind of nice that it's a day of less intensity. I'll go to yoga this afternoon and get a good stretch. I went to the bike shop yesterday only to be disappointed. The type of bike I should get costs much more than I'd hoped. I've seen some used online, but I'd rather buy from a shop that can help me. Anyway, I'm feeling frustrated about that. I need to save more, but what do I do for this summer's races?!

Matt returned yesterday from his week in Mexico. He'll make "Dragon's Breath" chili while the kids and I go to the gym this afternoon. He does like to cook and it's a treat for me as well! Plus, he's a good chef and always getting me to try new dishes.

Blech!

I spent yesterday feeling yucky, with a finale of vomiting. Not a great day. Matt and the kids went to Grand Rapids as we had planned and I stayed home on the couch. I ate a dozen stale oyster crackers last night with no problem. Then I did some puzzle and watched cable (we just got it Wednesday). I feel good today and I'll join everybody in GR. We will celebrate Erin's 3rd birthday with the Plys tomorrow.

The Christmas Season

We had a wonderful Christmas. Of course Santa came to visit us Christmas Eve. Jess and Tom were in town. We spent Christmas Eve with Andi's family and then Christmas morning at home. Then to Dad & Andi's for the rest of the day. Friday morning we packed for Grand Rapids and then drove there in the afternoon. Saturday we celebrated Christmas with the Plys. Sunday we hosted the BBMM+ crew at the Plys for pizza and catching up followed by "the hall" party with Bousha's family. Santa showed up, can you believe that? We returned home on Wednesday. We were all exhausted and rang in the new year quietly at home. Matt kicked some JP hiney at Scrabble, I'll tell you that much.

Friday I got to spend some alone time with Jess having lunch and browsing the mall and just "being." Aaaah. Today we got to get in a little more time before Jess and Tom had to get to their flight home. Boo Phoenix!

Today, I sent registration in for the Arctic Chill Indoor Triathlon on January 25. I'm stoked to train again. I missed the races over the winter. How come they don't make indoor tris in the fall too? Anyway, I've been a bit "lost" with training lately since I didn't have a specific event to aim for. At least one friend has registered as well, and we're hoping we can get a couple more people to make the event.

AJ can't wait to get back to school; Matt goes to work on Monday; holiday chaos has ended.

Aah, Christmas Eve. I always love Christmas Eve. The family, the anticipation. The kids and I will bake cookies for Santa and for Jesus' birthday today. This afternoon, we'll celebrate at mass and then we'll spend the evening with Andi's family celebrating. Tomorrow's a quiet morning at home and then to G&G Wolski's for family. Jess and Tom are here! Friday we go to Grand Rapids-Saturday is Ply Christmas, Sunday is BBMM Christmas followed by "the Hall" Christmas, which is Matt's Mom's family. Santa will be there in person!

Merry Christmas to all and Happy Birthday to Jesus!

A few slow days...

Matt gets home on Friday. I can't wait!

Patrick Christmas 2009

We are back from Christmas with my Mom's family and we had a fantastic time. The kids and I drove Thursday night to Carmel, IN where we spent the night with my Uncle Tim and family. On Friday my cousin Tara drove with us from Carmel to Boaz, AL. The kids were really good, having their "moments" of course, but overall very well behaved in the car. I wasn't sure what to expect since they hadn't been on that long a roadtrip before.

My Aunt Bobbi lives in the country raising horses and goats and AJ practically wet himself when we got to see them up close and personal. Saturday the kids and their second cousin, Emily, got to play with and feed the horses and goats and put hay out for them. AJ and Emily were right to work, but Erin kept saying,"They're going to get me."

It was cool to see that much of our family together this year. I wish it could last a little longer.

We made it home around 1 a.m. Monday. Everybody was exhausted, but happy.

Super Thursday

Tomorrow (which actually starts 7 minutes from now) is the first leg of our southbound trip! I'm up packing. The kids and I head to Indy in t-minus 15 hours. I borrowed dad's portable dvd player and stocked the car with movies.

A.J. keeps hearing the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" which has the lyric "Cause Santa Claus comes tonight.." So, he gets SO happy when he thinks that tonight's the night-each time we hear the song. I feel so bad to keep letting him down. What do you do when you're 5 and the radio keeps telling you it's "tonight?" Poor kid...

Erin asks, "Bobbi" each time we get our coats on. She knows we're going somewhere, but I know the kids have no idea how long we'll be in the car. Pray that I brought enough movies, books, and toys!

Boaz, here we come!

Roadtrip!

This weekend is the annual Patrick Family Christmas. This year it's at Aunt Bobbi's house in Boaz, AL. She's got a horse and some goats, so AJ cannot wait to get there. We will leave home Thursday afternoon, drive to Uncle Tim's in Carmel, IN, then continue on to Boaz on Friday morning , arriving there in the evening. I'm really excited because all the family is coming, including Jess!

The next couple of days I will spend packing and such.

Matt's still in Mexico and he'll be coming home on the 19th. We're missing him.

What a week!

The past ten days or so have been a whirlwind. Let's go chronologically.

On Friday Nov. 21 the kids and I picked up Matt at the airport from his two week trip to Mexico. Then we continued on to Grand Rapids. Matt traveled for over 12 hours and the kids and I spent 4 1/2 hours in the car. It was a relief to be out of there by time we got to Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Sunday, our nephew Will was baptized. So the day was church, baptism, party, drive home. The kids slept for part of the drive and then weren't exactly ready for bed when we got home.

Monday was business as usual, sort of. We still only had one car due to the window problem in the truck and my phone had issues and wasn't working. Thankfully Katie helped me out and drove us home from school since Matt had to go to work for a while.

Tuesday Matt and AJ went to AJ's Thanksgiving feast at school. Then Matt spent a portion of the day driving to Willow Run airport area to get the window part for the truck. He was able to fix the window faster than the time it took to track down and pick up the part. In the evening, AJ attended a birthday party for a school friend at Bounce House and I got in a quick workout while that happened.

Wednesday, we packed for the upcoming weekend and I had a doctor appointment. So we all piled into the car and Matt took the kids for White Castles while I had my appointment and then we were off to Grand Rapids again.

Thursday-tons of food, fun with family. I am thankful to have not only my family, but the Plys who love me like their own.

Friday Matt and I shopped for Christmas gifts for the kids. Luckily they're not old enough to demand certain things and we got it all done at Target in about an hour. A relatively relaxing day.

Saturday was a decent day with sun and the temperature was in the upper 30s, so we hauled the kids to the zoo. Great time. I loved it. The kids did too.

Yesterday was our nephew Brady's baptism. Again, church, baptism, celebrating at Andy & Nancy's house. The snow started during the baptism and made for a long drive. We went slowly and got home safely late in the evening.

I hope your holidays were spent with loved ones!

Matt left for Mexico again today-this time for a 3-week stretch. We'll get to see my family more for a few weeks since we don't have any more events until Christmastime.

Don't forget!

Check out info at the link-it's a biking event (not a race) and you can even rent a bike. I know people who have done this and say is a GREAT, FUN event.


http://www.zoo-de-mack.com

The holidays begin

A whirlwind weekend is past. Whew! The kids and I picked up Matt at the airport on Friday evening (coming from two weeks in Mexico) and then continued on to Grand Rapids where our nephew Will was baptized. We had a nice day at the baptism and with the family at Matt and Kristy's home afterward. AJ and Erin joined forces with Matt's C's nephew and niece and had a fun time. I got to snuggle Will for a little bit! We'll be home until Wednesday and then to Grand Rapids for Thanksgiving and then our nephew Brady's baptism next Sunday. Then Matt's back to Mexico on that Monday. He'll be home before Christmas, though, don't worry!

So, to let the kids get a good look at some goats, I rolled down the rear passenger window in the truck. And it got stuck halfway back up. Tomorrow Matt gets to have fun fixing that so we can drive it again. Of course it stopped working 12 hours after Matt left for his trip. Luckily he didn't drive to the airport and I drove his car the past couple weeks.

I'm toying with the idea of doing an Ironman race in the summer 2010. Opinions welcome.

Happy Turkey day everybody!