Halloween 2010

Sofia keeps asking me when we get to go "trick or treating" again. She didn't like my answer of 1 year, so I tried 12 months and 365 days. Neither of those answers suited her either. We also had a mini catastrophe in the house this morning when she asked me if she's 5 yet. I didn't want to lie so I said, "no, you will not be 5 until August 20." And then there were tears--lots and lots of tears. I am constantly amazed at how fast this past year has gone by, but apparently it is just NOT fast enough in the eyes of some...

Ethan dressed up as a horse for Halloween. I do have some pictures of Princess Random riding her horse, but none that turned out that great.

Gram asked Sofia which princess she was dressed as for Halloween. She didn't feel like answering so my generic answer was "just some random princess." Later when she was asked again who she was dressed as for Halloween, she answered "Princess Random." I think Disney should take that and run -- it could make a great movie!

Visiting Great Gram in their Halloween costumes. The kids practiced "Trick or Treat" and "Thanks" with some of the other residents and brought home some loot early in the day.

Spooky Tails 5K

The First Annual Spooky Tails 5K run (and 1 mile walk) was held today at Alimagnet Park in Burnsville. All proceeds benefit Wags & Whiskers Animal Rescue of Minneapolis. I have been training for this for the past two months and can finally say that I finished my first 5K in 30:39! Bella dropped out at about the 3K mark, but joined me in crossing the finish line. I may even go out on a limb and say that I am going to sign up for another 5K soon, maybe a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot?

At the Finish Line

With Katie Archambault, Director of Wags & Whiskers Animal Rescue of Minneapolis and her dog, Sam

AHA Class of '95 15 Year Reunion

This past Saturday evening, Kevin and I headed north to the 5120 Restaurant & Onyx Bar at the Country Inn & Suites in Bloomington to enjoy the company of old friends at our high school's 15 year reunion. Here's a group shot of most of those in attendance. A good time was had by all.

Photo courtesy of Angie Olson Biltz

Family vacation in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Ethan at the National Zoo

Anna, Sofia, and Ethan on the USS Constellation in the Inner Harbor

Ethan and the Washington Family at Mount Vernon in Virginia

The entire family and Anna at the National Mall, taken from Lincoln's Memorial (you know, the Big Man in the Chair...)

We extended our trip to the East coast a few days later than the wedding to allow Anna and the kids to see some of our capital city and surrounding areas. We visited the National Mall and all of its monuments; the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum; the Smithsonian Natural History Museum; Mount Vernon; Alexandria, VA; the Smithsonian National Zoo; and Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Anna may have become "historied out" and the kids secretly asked me a couple of times if they could swim in the Potomac (I told myself no every time!), we all had a good time and some cool things that we hadn't seen before, all made it back in one piece (the kids actually did fairly well on the airplane, though having Ethan strapped into his car seat may have had something to do with that), and I looked forward to going back to work on Thursday, 9/16.

Now, we're counting down the days to our next family vacation to Disney World in April 2011. Ethan, can you please be potty trained by then? Because the fights you are currently putting up for diaper changes are redonculous!

Congratulations, Tim and Kelly!

My sister, Kelly, married Tim Kempisty, originally of Erie, PA, on September 11, 2010. They were married at St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarksville, MD. The reception was held at Overhills Mansion in Catonsville, MD. It was a beautiful day...sunny skies, high around 80. Sofia dressed the part for Flower Girl (though, as anticipated, she did NOT make it down the aisle on her own) and Ethan walked down the aisle as Ring Bearer looking great in his tuxedo. Welcome to the family, Tim!

2007 Piaggio Fly150

On Friday, we purchased a used 2007 Piaggio Fly150 with 1007 miles and looks like new still! Kevin has already passed the written exam and obtained his learner's permit; I still need to do that before I can legally ride it to and from work.

It has a max speed of 61 mph and gets 70-75 mpg. Because it has a 150cc engine, it does require a motorcycle endorsement on our driver's licenses, but hopefully, with a little practice, it will not be too hard to pass that driving test!

The main purpose in buying it is to have something that is a little more fuel efficient for my short drive to work (I canNOT get out of the house on time to actually ride my bike), but as an added bonus, it's fun! Kevin informed Anna (our au pair) that is a new toy so I can feel 15 again... I'm not gonna lie, I don't feel that young at 33, so whatever works.

Training for my first 5K commences

Bella, my reluctant training partner and running companion and I began training for our first 5K last night. We posed for this photo just before leaving the house for a 2.6 mile run. We will be running in the Spooky Tails 5K, a benefit for Wags & Whiskers Animal Rescue, on October 24 at 10:00 a.m.

Welcome to my blog.

Hello all (at least anyone who cares).

This is my first attempt at starting a blog, just an easy way to try and keep people up to speed with what's going on at the Monn house. Now that Sofia has just turned four (and she insists that we still celebrate her birthday a week later!) and Ethan is a very busy two year old boy, we find ourselves constantly hopping from one place to the next. But there are some good things going on in the next couple of months that will hopefully make life a little easier for all of us. The above photos were taken on the annual Malone camping trip to Chetek, WI. We all had a great time.

Sofia and Ethan will be starting in 5-day a week day care in November at Kid's Count, a small privately owned day care in Prior Lake, literally a minute away from the clinic where I work. Since the day care has a preschool program, we cancelled Sofia's registration at Circle of Friends Preschool (where she was supposed to start 3 day a week p.m. preschool right after Labor Day), and she will start a 5 day a week, full day program in November. We have had an au pair for in-home day care for the past 4 years, so this will definitely take some getting used to on my part, but should be good for both of them!

A big part we made this sudden change in their day care is because Kevin will be working from home a lot more starting in October! Yea!!! He will hopefully only be traveling every other week, instead of every week. It is hard to work from a home office when you have two kids staring at you all day long and trying to push down your office door!

I am still working at Scott Lake Veterinary Center and am still very happy with this change. Despite the fact that Kevin is still traveling full time and the kids keep me busy, my stress level dropped precipitously with the job change in January. It was a good change in many facets of my life, but my health has probably been most affected. Since losing the stress of my old job, I was able to focus more on ME and have managed to lose 40 pounds since January! I feel great and have actually signed up for my first 5K, to be run on October 24. I am super excited to get out an start running -- more motivation to keep up the hard work that I have successfully managed over the past 8 months.

Just a quick recap for those that are interested, and I will try to post often!

Time to take the (neglected) dog for a walk, so talk later. A.