Happy First Birthday Soren!

Here are the pictures from Soren's first birthday photo shoot at JC Penny in Canton on Ford Rd. We will be doing cake today with just us, and will have more updates and photos later in the week.

It is Officially Fall

This week was a much more low key week for us. We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the fall weather.

Monday was really low key. We apparently wore ourselves out so much last week that everyone slept in pretty late, missing Soren's library storytime. We took a long time getting ready, which is party of why Soren has his pjs on in his walking video on the last post. I started my work with Girls on the Run. It is pretty fun. I don't get a ton of running it at their workouts, so I still need to run when I get home. There are games around all the running they do, so I need to pass out cards, words, or something as each girl does a lap, depending on the workout.

On Tuesday, we were back up early to get Keira to school. I did a few errands, including digging out our Halloween costume for Soren. Ryan and I got a kick of how chubby he looks in it! It is really padded, and I had to put a picture of him in normal clothes below for comparison.


Here is Keira's craft from today.

We also did something today that I had thought about doing for a really long time, and with it being the last official week of summer, this was one of our last shots at it. Keira rode her bike to Stuarts from our house while Ryan was at scouts. It was their last week, so we had to do it today. Keira did great on the way there. She was very excited. She arrived and ate her ice cream. Soren, on the other hand, didn't like the ice cream at all, but he did enjoy the ride. I was glad that I took the double jogger (one of the main reasons we hadn't made it this far yet, we usually don't take it for Keira's bike rides), because Keira got too tired of biking with about a half mile or so to go. I think she biked well over a mile this evening. Stuarts is just short of a mile from our house.




On Wednesday, we did the library storytime for Keira's age group. She had one of her preschool classmates here today, so that was fun for them. Soren had a great time as well.


Linda took Keira and Soren up to our swings while I was at GOTR. Ryan and I met them up there once we got home. Soren LOVED the slide.



We also went to Maybury in the evening. The colors are really starting to look beautiful. I love the contrast of the red with the green.


On Thursday, while Keira was at school, I took Soren in to have his birthday pictures taken (I will post a slide show of them on his actual birthday). I amazingly was able to make it back on time to pick up Keira. Here is Keira's craft for today. Her hand seemed so much smaller than everyone else's.

Keira got pretty brave today and climbed up an extra step.

That evening, Ryan went on a quick ride and I was able to enjoy a girls night out at the Olive Garden to celebrate the birth of Haley's son Garrett. It was fun to get together with just the girls for a fun dinner. Garrett is adorable.

Friday was another bid outdoor day for us. In the morning, Valerie was so great to watch Keira and Soren so I could go mountain biking with Cristina. We met at her home, and rode to Brighton State Park and did the Murray Trail (not the Torn Shirt). It was the perfect day for a ride, it wasn't too hot or too cold, and it was beautiful with the leaves changing. We completed about 12 miles of riding, including the ride to and from her house. Keira and Soren had some fun outside our house once I brought them home.


That evening, we all went to Maybury so Ryan could ride. I walked and took a few more pictures, and then Keira and Soren enjoyed the swings.





Our Saturday was not our typical Saturday. I woke up and went on an 8 mile run around the neighborhood before Ryan left to go to the UM/Indiana football game. Ryan managed to stay dry for the whole game, which was good. We did a few errands during the day, but otherwise played around the house since it was pretty damp and dreary out.





Happily, UM, OSU, and BYU all won their games. That evening, I attended the General Relief Society Broadcast, which is something that I have not been able to attend very often due to the kids bedtime schedules, but we got them to bed early enough this time. It was great to have 2 nights outs in the same week!

Sunday was another busy Sunday. We had our Primary Program today, which went really really well. Keira and Soren did not need to be removed from the meeting due to unruliness, which is always nice. I think they enjoyed having their "peers" do the program, and Soren certainly enjoyed all the music. We also said farewell to the Carter Family, who has been in our ward longer than us. We wish them good luck on their new endeavors. Ryan also went home teaching this evening, and Keira and I worked on a craft for school. She already has "homework".



Soren was his usual cute self.

Up for next week, we will be really busy because Soren turns 1! We can't believe it has been a year already. It has gone by so fast, but we feel like we have known him forever.

Busy Week!

This week felt really busy to us. We had something to do everyday, and by the end of the week, everyone was pretty worn out. The highlights of this week include Ryan completing a century ride (100 miles) on Saturday, and Soren walking for real.

On Monday, Soren got to go to his first Storytime at the library. It was really fun for him, and it was geared for the younger children, 12-24 months in age. Keira was allowed to come, and she made sure she was front and center. Soren does already do some of the hand motions to songs, which is fun to watch. He really likes to shake his sillies out. He really liked the touch and feel books that each child was able to use to read along.

Keira is demonstrating "the mommies on the bus go shh shh shh!"
Soren is shaking his sillies out.



We had fun with chalk once we got home and Soren was asleep. Soren just gets it all over when he is outside with us. Keira gets it all over too, and this is the last of the porch decorations because it never gets washed off.

On Tuesday, Keira had school, and I took Soren over to the civic center because I will be coaching a Girls on the Run team starting next week and needed to meet with the coordinator of the program. When we got back, we played outside a bit. That evening, Keira rode her bike about halfway to Meadowbrook and back.
Here is Keira's artwork from today. She was a bit grumpy in the photo taken by Miss Sheila.



On Wednesday, Keira had her storytime. She had a blast as usual.


After that we met up with Valerie, Katie, and Luke for some playtime at the mall. Soren was making his famous face; he is now usually "talking" when he makes it. Luke is in the background on the lollipop.
Keira and Soren had a great time on the Popsicle.


On Thursday, Keira had school again and Soren had fun playing in piles of blankets and pillows in Keira's room while I remade her bed. He loves soft blankets, pillows, and toys. We are letting him take a blanket to bed now that he is almost a year.

Keira made this at school today. It has glitter on the wings.

Once Keira was home, I got out our Pooh pushcart for Soren, and Keira decided that she needed to play with it. Soren still needed some help with it. I was hoping he would be able to use it to help him walk, but it would get away from him and I didn't want him falling on the sidewalk. He used it mostly up against the porch, when he got a turn.


Once Ryan got home, we went to Maybury and I was able to get in a ride.

On Friday, we had another early morning and got up to go to a Presidency meeting at Michelle's house. Keira and Lizzie got into one of her sister's makeup kits, and the result had Keira with more makeup on than me! She has on glitter lip gloss and eye shadow.
We spent some time swinging at our playground until Ryan got home.
" Cousin It" Oh wait a minute, that is Keira.


Then, we went to Parmenters to get some tasty cider and donuts. Soren got so dirty playing with the rocks. Keira loved the train as usual. She and Soren also enjoyed the small wooden playhouse. Soren took a couple steps, but just wanted to eat the rocks.





We have a cute picture of Keira with her head in here from last year, but she wouldn't let us take her picture. Here is Soren as an apple man.

On Saturday, I was really looking forward to a restful morning and not going anywhere right away. Ryan got up for his PEAC ride at his normal work time, so he was up early to get his 100 mile ride completed. It was the Celebration of Cycling ride, and the goal was to be inclusive of all cyclists and ablities. There were several distances to ride. One of the riders from Ryan's Wolverine group is blind, and is part of a tandem team. He was the one to coordinate the Wolverines for this ride. They averaged 19.9 miles/hour for the ride. This is the Wolverine group that met in the MAGs parking area to ride to the start. Kent is on the far right, and Ryan is next to him. David is crouched in front. Thanks to Eric for taking these photos, and to Kent for posting them.
This is the group from the official start. Ryan, David, and Kent are in the middle.
Kent and Ryan
Kent and Ryan

We finally got up and ready to go run some errands, and heard about the Fall Festival at MSU's Tollbrook Farm that is really close to our house (12 mile and Meadowbrook). I am so glad our neighbors mentioned this to us, because we pushed back our errands to check it out. They had so many crafts set up for children. Keira painted a rock, made a bracelet, colored a pumpkin, made a caterpillar clothespin, sheep from cotton balls, and a pipe cleaner bead worm. We could have done a lot more crafts too. They had several presentations that we skipped, the police and fire department, and snacks. We skipped the hayrides as well, because we were short on time. We had a great afternoon.





Ryan got back from his ride while we were still out finishing up our errands, so he was able to recover for a little bit in peace and quiet and watch some football on TV.
Once the kids were down for their naps, I headed over to Island Lake to do a fabulous run to Kensington and back. I parked where my triathlon club meets and ran from there on the path to Kensington Metropark (about .9 miles), around the trail at Kensington (about 8.5 miles), and back for a total of 10.25 miles. It was a beautiful day for a run and I was able to average 8:36 minutes/mile, and was very pleased. This was my first run at Kensington since Soren was born, and it was felt so nice to be back there. I had to park at Island lake because we haven't had to buy a Metropark pass yet this year, and it is so late to do it for just a few months. I can park even closer to Kensington if I don't want to run quite as far next time.

Overall, the football games were OK. Michigan and OSU won, however, BYU had a bad loss to Florida State.

Sunday was a busy Sunday. We had church, and the children are practicing for their program for next week. After church, we headed over to Kris and Linda's for a quick dinner before rushing home to clean for our home teachers. Our home teacher Kyle, brought his family with him for the visit, and we had a good time sharing stories with each other, especially my conversion story. Also, Soren really took off walking during their visit. Here is a little video from Monday morning:

Up for next week, I start coaching my Girls on the Run team. I will also be taking Keira and Soren to their storytimes and starting to work on getting things ready for Soren's birthday the following week.