Pettee Family

My dear friend and college roommate, Megan, and her hubs Marty came for dinner last week. Still love them to pieces. (l to r: Jeff, me, Meg and Marty)

Who wouldn't have a good time with all these fun kids!!! The Pettees have 4 awesome kids.

Busy workers at the Lego Table.

We spend HOURS at this table. Literally.

Dressed-up Kiddos

First Day in First Grade

S started 1st grade last week. As an intro, here's a fun song that our family enjoys... about crazy Billy Joe McGuffrey. You might remember it from Veggietales' JONAH movie.

S with her "other" 1st grade teacher. We homeschool 3 days a week and S is in a traditional classroom 2 days a week. I'm the main squeeze when it comes to teaching :)

So proud of our little girl. It's going to be a great year.

James' Marathon Video

Back in May 2009, my brother and I both ran and finished the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon.

I totally spaced and never posted my brother's neat "first marathon" video that he put together. Really neat (and amazing) how he chronicles his training runs and the transformation that he went through. James was tough, he (and his family, be sure to notice my two sweet nieces in his video) lives in Denver so he trained there (in plenty of ice and snow) but then got to run his marathon in San Diego at a decent temp and... most importantly... at sea level. He did so great... so proud of my little bro.

Tomato Picker

Forehead Bonk

About 3 days ago, Z (2 years old) accidentally slammed his forehead into our coffee table. It was bad.

Check out the egg on his forehead. This is NOT his normal profile...

Now that the swelling has come down, the internal blood from his bruise has traveled down his face and is currently residing in the bags of his eyes.

We're calling him "Raccoon Boy" for the next few days.

What is it with 2 year olds who like to connect their foreheads with any hard object, about 23 times a day?

Dinner Election

Last week we "elected" our dinner. We chose 3 candidates per category, then voted. And yes we had politicking. The devoted Mr. Garland wanted hamburgers but said he would vote for spaghetti as the main dish if S voted for milk as the beverage (instead of chocolate milk, one of her favorites).

Our winners included...

Main dish: Spaghetti

Vegetable: Broccoli

Fruit: Grapes

Drink: Milk

Dessert: Rootbeer Floats

Election dinners are especially tasty.

Memory Monday: Jeff's HS Reunion

August 2008: Just last summer we took a family road trip from CA to Colorado. In addition to seeing lots of fun family, the devoted Mr. Garland and I got to attend his 20th high school reunion (Denver Christian High School, Denver CO, Class of 1988). So fun for Jeff to reunite with his HS friends.

Terry & LaNae Clap

l to r: Joel, Dave, Jeff and Mike.

Our Second Home: The Pool

Palomar Observatory

We trekked about an hour from our home to visit the Palomar Observatory for the first time recently. Cal Tech owns and runs the telescope/observatory (my Grandpa graduated from Cal Tech in 1939, go Beavers!) and it's used every single night. Usage hours are in high demand, and if it's cloudy on the night you reserve the telescope, too bad.

"Awesome" doesn't even begin to describe this telescope or the building around it.

The devoted Mr. Garland calls the observatory a symbol from back in the "glory days" of science. Jeff's a former physics teacher, can you tell?

Z walks the border of the observatory, with his escort.

Our 3 kids at the observatory main entrance.

Picnic lunch in the grove after the observatory tour.

3 photos I borrowed from the website:

Open doors.

200" inch diameter glass.

The main Hale telescope is in the middle, with 3 smaller scopes in the surrounding hills.

Running Update

My "Running Update" posts are probably usually pretty ho-hum.

This update is different. Stick with me on this one... you'll be glad you did.

I ran my first marathon over 2 months ago, the San Diego Rock n Roll on May 31.

Since then, my girlfriend Alisa and I signed up to run the AFC half marathon (13.1 miles) which takes place this weekend Aug 16. We continued to meet for one long run once a week after the marathon, and that has been fun. I've definitely slowed down (and gained a few pounds) in the last 2 months, but I'm still running! I also maintain that my marathon was my "first and last." I don't think I want to run another marathon, but I do enjoy running and want to continue.

So, a slower running pace and a little weight gain. Both to be expected after marathon training, right?

But then there was this other small thing.

I took a pregnancy test in June...

and it was positive.

(Thank you Lord for your many blessings!!)

Turns out I ran my marathon... while pregnant. Oops.

Bet not too many gals can say that!

Apparently a little weight gain was to be expected.

That's my running update.

I'm still running, but much slower and more carefully than before. I dropped out of the 1/2 marathon race (sorry Alisa!). And yes, the running will probably stop altogether in the coming months. I hope to pick running back up again postpartum, when I'll certainly need it to lose the extra (hundred) pounds.

The devoted Mr. Garland and I are so very excited about "G4"! Our due date is 2/15/2010. I'm in my 2nd trimester now (about 3 months), so the morning sickness has passed (hooray). Our ultrasound is scheduled for late September when we will (hopefully) find out G4's gender.

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD..." Psalm 127:3

Toy-cicle

Take a 9x13" casserole dish. Put in a dozen or so small toys. Fill 'er up with water and pop it in the freezer.

After it's set, take it out and run warm water on the backside of the dish to loosen.

Set it out and let your kids try to figure out how to help the toys escape the frozen tundra. We found that pouring water over the toycicle worked well. Doll's hair takes a while to escape the cube. I don't recommend letting your kids use knives to 'chip away' the ice, you know, like I did. Bad mom. S cut her finger.

I found this on a blog somewhere, but being the bad blogger I am, I don't remember where. Sorry.

Memory Monday: Mom's Birthday

August 2006: My mom's birthday is coming up this week on Aug 15. Here's a photo from 3 years ago of my parents with all their grandkids (at the time) in Westminster, CO. Everyone is so small!

Happy birthday Mom!

Surf Monkey

We volunteered at a swim-run-paddle competition today at the Oceanside Pier called "Surf Monkey." Getting to watch the paddleboard competition (where competitors stand up on their boards and paddle) was especially fascinating.

Competitors finish the swim and enter the transition area to start their run.

The little snack shop across from the pier. Only 2 years old and he already runs his own snack shop. Impressive.

My volunteer T.

Beginning of the paddleboard competition.

Eek, you have no legs, J!

S&Z with 4 very tall surf boards.

We ended our day with church and a couple of hours at Legoland, complete with fireworks.
Jeff and Z are in the yellow helicopter bottom left.

Legoland: Never often enough.

"Mommy, we haven't been to Legoland yet this week.

When are we going to go? I've been waiting a looooong time!"

-J, 4 years old

Memory Monday: Mt. Evans

July 1999: My 3 forever girlfriends (l to r: me, Trish, Anne Marie, and Krista) came to visit me in Denver from northern California. The airline lost Krista's luggage (major pain). We camped overnight and then hiked Mt. Evans, a 14er (for those of you non-Coloradoans a 14er is a mountain that peaks above 14,000 feet). It was a tough climb, lots of rocks.

Little did I know that Mt. Evans is one of the few 14ers that have an actual, paved asphalt ROAD going up the other side of the mountain. I felt so incredibly stupid when we summitted and then noticed a stinkin' parking lot at the top of the peak.

We hitched a ride back down the mountain in the back of a Ford Pickup Truck.

Love you gals!

Fruit Pizza

Sticks

So sorry for this one. S and Z using sticks.

S has a lollipop stick.

Z is using his stick/finger to get a different kind of tasty treat.

Mmmmmm.