Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! to our wonderful family and friends. I will upload pics of our exciting day soon. Please keep in touch

Jayden Reading

Perhaps the sweetest sound is listening to my four-year-old boy, Jayden, reading stories to his younger brothers. In this video, he is reading a new book to Lucas during our vacation to Virginia. I am so proud of him. Jayden is really enjoying "Bridges Montessori." I finally found the school after we tried a couple others. He has already moved up to the more academic class. I think he really enjoys the individualized attention there. The teachers spend time with each child. Jayden is free to work on and "master" subjects that are most appealing to him. I am falling in love with the Montessori method of teaching.

Massunutten Unplugged

Last week we went on a vacation to Massunutten Resort in Virgina. Don Sr. got a time share condo there for a week. It was a nice mellow trip. It was cold so we spent our time indoors. Don could not find his laptop computer charger/plug so we got him all to ourselves for a week. It was great to be able to spend quality time together like that.
Our favorite part of the week was the indoor Water Park. We had the best time. Don and I took turns running around with just Jayden or just Nick and Luke. I was so impressed with Jayden because just the day before he did not want to step foot in the big swimming pool at the Rec Club. At the Water Park he was a whole different kid; leading us around like he was a fish. He went on the dark tube slides by himself and even boogie boarded on the man-made wave ride. He was dogging paddling (with a life vest) around the pool. He was so brave. The twins were overwhelmed with it at first but now they keep asking to go back.
I am so glad we were able get away like that.
By the way, Don interviewed for another Residency here at Hopkins today. This time it is for Radiology. He thinks it went well which means there is a chance we will be here another 5 or so years. I have mixed feeling about it....
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are very Thankful for all our friends and family! Love you.

Virginia Vacation 08

Our Padawans

This year the boys wanted to be little Jedis, also known as Padawans. What the heck is a Padawan? I had no idea let alone how to make a costume like one. So I googled "Padawan" and much to my suprise there is such a thing as the "Wookieepedia", a knockoff of Wikipedia. According to Wookieepedia: "A Padawan, Padawan learner, or Jedi Apprentice in Basic, was a child, or in some cases an adult, who began serious training under a Jedi Knight or a Jedi Master, chosen by the Knight or Master him/herself from the ranks of the younglings."

Baltimore Marathon

Oct. 11 was a big day for me. I finished the Baltimore Marathon (26.2). The ".2" miles really mattered! A couple girlfriends, Michele and Erika and I met on Sat mornings to do our long training runs together and then went separately to the gym during the week. Way before we started training together I signed myself up for the marathon. Then we decided the half marathon would be a huge accomplishment so we were planning on running that on the same day. About a month before the race I got a letter from the event directors saying the half marathon had a 500 person waiting list and not accepting new applicants. Why did this matter to me? That meant if I didn't do the WHOLE thing I would not getting my coveted "finishers metal". I really wanted the metal...and the cool shirt.
So I bumped up my runs so I would not die before the 26.2 miles was over. On race day I felt pretty good. The most I had run before then was 18 miles. I was nervous because if you look at the elevation map it is a very hilly course. The first 13.1 miles I paced myself so I would finish under 2 hours which was my goal for the half. The rest of the race I just kept a pace that I felt I could maintain till the end. It was really an amazing experience. Their were so many runners and people cheering from the sidewalks all along the course throughout B'more. There was a band playing for us at a lake we circled, nice people handing out gummy bears, or snickers bars or pretzels. Kids played drums on pots and pans, "Hon" ladies all dressed up screaming for us. It was just lots of fun. Don, Jayden, Luke and Nick were waiting for me at the finish. I was very happy to see them. Thank you Don for supporting me in this dream of mine. I could not have done it without you!

http://www.slide.com/r/QB6LB3T_yT9gF87dphBf_Kl7pQAEq7W8

MICHAEL PHELPS!

We saw Michael Phelps! Towson, MD (where we live) is also Michael's hometown. He grew up here. There was a big parade to welcome him and Katie Hoff, also a native. Jayden and I ran 1.3 miles from our house to see the parade and made it for the very end. We were able to hang out by the hummer that he was riding on for a couple minutes. He looked very "cool" in a sweatshirt and shades and a short goatee. There were gaurds all around and no one got close for an autograph (sorry Cole). It was fun.

6th and 65th Anniversaries

Happy 65th Anniversary Grandpa and Grandma Decker! You are absolutely the BEST Grandparents in the world.
Don and I are also celebrating our Anniversary on the 27th, next Wed. It has been 6 very memorable years and I would do it all over again. Well, most things over again. I love you Hon!

Thank You Dad!

California Pics

and here we are in CA... (Grandma I don't have a recent pic of you, can you have Grandpa email one?)

Maine Pics (from earlier this summer)

1/2 Marathon Program Begins

Monday officially began my 10 week 1/2 marathon training program. October 11, 2008 is the Baltimore Marathon (although I am only doing 13.1 miles for now.

http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com/Race_Info/half22d8.htm

Two friends, Erika and Michelle, are going to face the challenge with me. It will be much more enjoyable to do the long Sat. morning runs with company.
I am going to keep blogging about my progress if you would like to check back. Here is the program we are following if you would like to do it too.
Wish me luck!

10-Week Half Marathon Training Schedule

Date Wk Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
3-Aug 1 Pilates 3mi Pilates 3mi 3mi Pilates 4mi
10-Aug 2 Pilates 3mi Pilates 4mi 3mi Pilates 5mi
17-Aug 3 Pilates 3mi Pilates 4mi 3mi Pilates 6mi
24-Aug 4 Pilates 3mi Pilates 5mi 3mi Pilates 8mi
31-Aug 5 Pilates 3mi Pilates 5mi 3mi Pilates 10mi
7-Sep 6 Pilates 4mi Pilates 5mi 4mi Pilates 11mi
14-Sep 7 Pilates 4mi Pilates 6mi 4mi Pilates 12mi
21-Sep 8 Pilates 4mi Pilates 5mi 4mi Pilates 9mi
28-Sep 9 Pilates 3mi Pilates 4mi 3mi Pilates 8mi
5-Oct 10 Pilates 3mi Pilates 3mi Walk Pilates 13.1 21.1

Maine Vacation

Since I have not blogged for a while, I will update you on a couple of our summer trips this year. The last few months have been a whirlwind. We had a great trip to Kennebunk, MD. We still have the home we build there in 2004 and we wanted to check on it as well see some great friends. The house is great and the renters are taking good care of it. I was especially happy to meet up with one of my favorite families in the world; The Taylors. Rich and Heidi have 3 adorable boys about the same age as ours so we all had a great time. I miss them.
We stayed in an awesome "Trade-to-Travel" home a block from the beach. If you ever want to know of a charming place to vacation Kennebunk, MD is a great option.

Nick's Big Day

I want to share Nick's big news. He went both #1 and #2 on the potty! We are all thrilled. It seriously took one day to train him. We have talked about it a little but he was just ready. He is amazing. He got like 10 sparkly truck and train stickers for that one. He was so proud.

ZOO

 
 
 
 

Jayden's 4th Birthday Pirate Party

Arrrggggg! Happy Birthday Jayden! This year we decided to go with a pirate theme. Jayden and his friends played "Pirate, Pirate. Who stole my treasure?", "Sink the Ship", and went on a wild hunt for treasure up and over and under our furniture. At the end of the treasure hunt, under Nick's bed they discovered a treasure chest filled with pirates' loot to take home.

We ate sliced fruit "boats", gold fish crackers, chocolate "canon balls", Sprite with "Sharks blood" (frozen fruit punch ice cubes) and of course Birthday cake and ice cream. The kids had a great time and wanted to stay longer. The moms enjoyed hanging out while we entertained their kids for a while.Jayden says "Thank you very much for all my gifts" He is a very happy boy!!!

a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/ambudall/JaydenS4thBday">Jayden's 4th Bday'>http://

President Gordon B. Hinckley Has Passed Away

We will miss you!

Paintings I Love

Paintings I love by Jennifer Rasmusson. She is one of my new favorite artists. http://www.jenniferrasmusson.com/default.htm

 
 
 
 

Football

 

 

 

 

Jayden loved learning football at Wed. sport mix.

Frosty

We just a had snow storm and it left us with great snowman-making-snow. Jayden really wanted to make one so we bundled up and started building...and building...and rolling...and patting.
Luke and Nick's gloves kept sliding off so I spent most of the time putting them back on. Jayden did a lot of the grunt work. The twins were getting cold and sleepy so we took a break to lay them down for a nap.
Jayden and I went back out to finish our Frosty and have a snow ball fight. Fun day.