I've been wanting to run a marathon mostly to just do it to say I could do it. And true to my personality, I had someone tell me I couldn't do something so I decided to prove them wrong and do it! I had some major abdominal surgery on May 24 and barely could go down the stairs or unload the dishwasher by myself and had to take about 6 weeks off from doing any physical activity. So with about 3 months to go from couch to half marathon (after my dr. gave the o.k. to run), I got started training.

I learned a lot while I trained. Mostly that I still don't love to run, but that I do love to finish a goal that I have set. I also learned how important strong core muscles are for running. So much so, that I got to go visit a sports medicine Dr. about two weeks before the race for some knee injuries. Who knew the two were related?

My sweet friend Heidi signed up for the race literally just a few weeks ago. She said she couldn't run even a mile in May and now look at her...a half marathon finisher! What an amazing accomplishment!

The You Go Girl was Jen's third half marathon (she has another planned in January in Pheonix). Jen encouraged me to run this race and waited around for me to get the go ahead from my Dr. before signing up herself. We did almost all of our long runs together (minus the 12 mile run I had to bail on her due to injury) and I was thankful for not only the company but the expertise.

The kids were waiting at the finish line for me holding signs. It was so fun to round that last corner and see them waiting at the end for me. If you can't see it, Aidan's sign says "Tell your knee who is boss" and Isabella's says "Go Mom, Go Mom, Go Mom" and Owen showed up. It rained nearly all morning and I was soaked. So I am thankful that the family came out to cheer me on at the finish, even in the rain.

Oh, and because of the rain, I got this beautiful little blister on my toe. I prayed and prayed that my knee wouldn't hold me back this race so I just have to laugh at God's sense of humor on this one. I knew He gave me a lovely little blister so that it would transfer the pain from my knee down to my toe! Got to love that!

For some reason I had the goal set in my mind that I wanted to finish under 2 hours. I knew that I probably couldn't do it with my injuries, so I was content in just finishing. I'm thankful to say that I finished in 2:02. Just a few minutes above my goal time. Who knows? Maybe I will run another one just to push myself to get under 2 hours...maybe after this blister heals!

I love that the sun hasn't given up on us yet. I love that the kids still love playing outside. I love that they can come up with crazy ideas of things TO play. I love that we live on a safe street to play on. I love that our neighbors put up with driving around ramps and cones and children. I love that when we see a car we yell "car alert" and all the kids run/bike/scooter to the side of the street. I love that we have accidental playdates in the cul-de-sac and that our kids are learning to relate to kids who are younger or different than they are. This is how you will find out family most days. Outside, playing in the street and loving our neighborhood.

We have had some crazy weather this week. It's been humid and going back and forth between torrential downpours and beautiful sunny days. So as always, the kids made the most of it.

Owen's favorite part about school is that he gets to ride the bus. We make sure to get to that bus stop nice and early and I have really enjoyed walking with the kids spending time with them before they leave. This morning we stopped and smelled some beautiful flowers.

I also wanted to write down a funny Owenism. I haven't done that in awhile. It actually happened a few months ago as we were driving past IHOP. Did you know IHOP has a pancake mascot? They do. I googled it and found that Suzie Pancake actually has quite a few run ins with local hooligans attacking her. But that's another story in and of itself! We happened to be driving by as a family and Suzie was standing outside the store waving. She had a nametag on and Mike happened to say "I didn't know pancakes had names" to which Owen then replied "I didn't know pancakes had arms". So funny!

It's been another busy week at the Teodoro household.

Isabella played her first soccer game of the season.

Go Puma Cats!

And we celebrated Aidan's 12th and my 32nd birthday. We took Aidan and four of his friends to a place in Bellevue called Jump Sky High. It was just a warehouse full of trampolines and sweaty children!

Yep, that kid in the purple shirt is with us. His name is Justin. He just didn't get the memo to look at the camera...oh, and yes, he really is that much taller than the other kids.

How much fun is this foam pit?! Aidan said the foam tasted like saltwater. We're pretty sure it's just people sweat. YUCKO!

They also had a few games of dodgeball that the boys played in.

The boys spent a lot of time upside down doing flips.

Happy 12th birthday Aidan!!!

We ended the afternoon of jumping with some DQ blizzards. Aidan got a lot of money for his birthday in hopes to buy a new electric guitar or an ipod. Not sure which.

We had our birthday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Yum, birthday cheescake!

The summer seemed to fly by! We did all kinds of fun things and really enjoyed our lazy mornings at home. But alas, all good things must come to an end and we are excited about this new school year.

Each year we have a family dinner (the kids wanted to have pizza come to our door...a rare treat!) and we set goals for the year and talk about our responsibilities (another name for chores).


Sweet Aidan started 7th grade at Meeker. He's nearly 12 and was excited to head to school early to have time to talk to his friends before class started. Hard to believe our first baby is growing up so quickly.
Some of his goals: To make the Meeker baseball team
Stay in the top 2 chairs for clarinet
Remain 2 grade levels above in band (for guitar)
Get a 4.0 GPA


Isabella and Owen joyfully started their day off together. This is my first time as a parent having two kids in the same school. Aidan and Isabella were always in different programs, and for a time, even in different school districts.

About two weeks ago, I finally talked to the right person at the Tacoma schools and got the go ahead to make up my own abbreviated schedule for Owen. Tacoma only offers all day Kindergarten and maybe it's part of my personality that when someone tells me I can't do something, I decide it's my mission to actually do it. So when I was told there wasn't a half day option, I fought for nearly a year to make one of my own. Funny thing...I think I started a trend. So, Owen will be working on his own schedule. As of now, I will be picking him up just after lunch and his second recess at 1:15. Definitely a long enough day to get what he needs to get in and not grow too weary of school.

Isabella started third grade this year and is thrilled with her very artsy and funky teacher Mrs. Larsen. I'm thinking that on meet the teacher night, Isabella made quite the impression on Mrs. Larsen when she gave her a really cool looking pipe cleaner person that she made that had quite a striking resemblance to her teacher. Score 1 for B!

Some of Isabella's goals this year:

Read more chapter books

Memorize multiplication facts

Practice more for spelling and get no less than a B+ on her spelling tests

And sweet O. He was so excited for Kindergarten to start and I was thrilled that his excitement helped quell any apprehensions I may have felt sending my baby off to school. The thing he was looking most forward to was riding the bus.

Some of Owen's goals this year:

Learn to read

Learn to tie his shoes

Owen and Isabella were thrilled to skip ahead to the bus stop!

Dad even went in late to work to see the kiddos off.

The bus is here!

And there it goes!

Not to worry, I quickly headed home after the bus left, hopped in my car and beat the kids and the bus to school by about 15 minutes. Owen loved his first bus ride to school and asked if he could do it every day!

We also set a few goals as a family:

Memorize Philippians 2: 3-14

Get a dog :)

Eat more bon bons (really, what is this mom to do all day?!)