Jake is 7!

Jake is 7! 

Look how grown up he is!  He just lost that front tooth last week.  And he has two more that are about to fall out.  Poor kid is going to have a hard time eating!  Jake is such a great kid.  Right now he is totally into Legos, which are everywhere in his room.  It's like walking a mine field to get to the bed.  But he loves to put things together so who cares about a little mess?

Jake loves sports too.  He played flag football in the fall, basketball in the winter and will start baseball in the next few weeks.  Not sure he has found his sport yet but he is giving them all a chance.  He also still goes to karate class 3-4 times a week.  He is definitely getting more into it.  Let's see he has been taking swimming lessons and doing well.

School is going great.  He is excellent in Math and Reading.  His teacher says he is a joy to have in class.  Best part he is once again in his best friend, JP's class.  They have a great time together.  Pretty much every weekend Jake and JP are playing Wii, XBox, basketball or legos.  We are so lucky for our neighbors!  I know I say it a lot but its true!  We have made the best of friends here.

This year for Jake's birthday party he wanted a Game Truck.  What's a game truck you say?  It's a trailer full of TV's on which the kids can play any kind of video game imaginable.

Jake and a bunch of his classmates and friends spent 2 hours glued to the screen.  We decided halfway was when we would do pizza and cake.  So they came in at 1:00 and inhaled pizza, sang to Jake and then scarfed down the cake. 9 minutes later they were running back to the truck (I timed it).  They had such a great time!

Happy Birthday Jake!  I can't tell you how much we love you!  You are the greatest big brother to Julianna and Grace.  We couldn't be more proud of you!  We love you buddy!

February

,What a month!  After we got back from New Orleans it has been one thing after another!  Such a busy month!  Jake finished up his basketball season.  His team was not stellar but he had a great time with his friends. He is really good at defense.  He follows his man around and always has his hands up trying to get a steal.  I think he learned a lot and with some practice in the off season hopefully he will win a game!

The week after Valentine's Day we had two "snow" days.  Meaning they cancelled school Saturday night for Monday in anticipation of a nasty snow storm.  Well needless to say nothing happened Monday BUT it was so cold and rain was coming they thought kids should be out Tuesday as well.  I guess at least it did rain.  However, rain in 45 degree weather does NOT make ice.  Just saying.  But it did give me time to get ready to go to Orlando!

My sister turned 30 this year!  And she is an avid runner.  She wanted us to have a sister weekend for her birthday and it turned into Orlando and both of us running in the Princess Half Marathon.  Yes I have been training for months so I could at least finish the 13.1 miles.  I was also pretty excited about a weekend to explore Harry Potter world at Universal Studios!  Not going to lie, I love Harry Potter!

It was so fun walking thru the town and seeing all the shops.  They had rides and trains.  Even sold Butterbeer and magic wands.  The butterbeer was delicious!  But most fun was hanging with my mom and sister.  However that fun was over Saturday night when we had to go to bed at 9pm to get up at 3am!  Yes!  We had to be at the race by 4:30am!  I guess I was excited because I didn't really mind.  I was in the last corral so I started WAY behind Lyndsay (whose bib number was 86...meaning 85 people turned in a faster time.  24,000 people ran in this race).  Unbelievable!  Anyway. I was not number 86.  I was 16,281.  So slightly slower.  I finally started my run about an hour after she did.  Which was great because she came and met me at mile 11 and I was struggling.  But I persevered and made it to the finish and claimed my pretty medal!

And drank my delicious beer (thanks mom!)

Gotta say thanks to my sister for making me do this.  I actually found that I really like running.  So now I am looking for my next race.  Hopefully I can come back to the Princess 1/2 next year because I would really like another fun Princess medal!

Only bad part about my Orlando trip was it fell on Brian's birthday.  But he was a trooped and his Mom and Chuck came up to help him with the kiddos.  They were excited to have his presents hidden in theirs closets for him.  I have to tell you Julianna was with me at Target in the chip aisle and said "I want to get Daddy wood chips so we can eat the together."  Julianna calls pork rinds wood chips.  No idea why but she does.  And she wrapped them up for Brian for his birthday.  So silly!

I flew back in Sunday in time for Jake's birthday on Monday.  Wouldn't you know it snowed Tuesday morning and we had a snow day, it started as a delay so a couple kids were at my house waiting for the bus. Then they called school off and it was time to make snowballs!

Such fun playing in the snow.  Then it cleared up but it was cold and supposed to snow again...so naturally they called off school Wednesday and then again on Thursday!  At least the kids got to sled this time!

Just wanted to thank everyone again who supported me the past few months in training.  It really was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and I am so glad I did it!  And I got to go to Disney World...Disney is always a good idea!

January

It has just been crazy busy here in the McNeely household.  Between basketball games, swimming lessons, karate, school and vacations we have been going a mile a minute!  But that is how we roll.

The last weekend in January, Brian and I and our good friends Meegan & Andy and Troy & Heather went to New Orleans.  We all celebrate various birthdays and anniversaries.  For some reason January/February is jam packed with events!  My mom came down to watch the kids and stayed for a week!  She was such a help to me and she watched 3 kids for 4 days!  I assure you its no easy task!  But everyone survived, my mom needs a vacation now!

Before we left we we got to spend a few days running around shopping and running errands.  One day we ate lunch with Jake before he was the mystery reader at Julianna's school.  I can't tell you how excited he was to surprise her.  She kept saying I know it's you mommy because Daddy goes to work and Jake has school.  Jake would look at me and giggle.  And when the day finally came she was super excited!  She sat down next to him and kept scooting her chair closer and closer to him while he read.  Warmed my heart to see how much they love each other!

Then we were off to New Orleans.  New Orleans is such a wonderful city, so full of life and energy.  And Cafe Du Monde has the best beignets and coffee!  I am going to dream about those for a long time.  Makes my stomach ache to think about all the food we ate.  And we even saw a Mardi Gras parade and were on the balcony on Bourbon Street.  Quite an adventure!