The Oregon Half and A Birthday Celebration

Preparing for a race definitely requires a time commitment, and Scott, Maddox, and I had a lot of fun training together. Maddox is a good coach and pushed us hard. The Oregon Marathon and Half over in Banks, OR sounded like a good idea. We could spend time together running, would get in better shape, and spend more time outside in the awesome Summer weather. And then the rain came early and poured on race day... It was a cold, wet one! The rain actually wasn't terrible while we were running, but pre-race rain was not cool and post-race it was just plain miserable. Despite the weather, it was a great race. We ran on a paved trail, which was beautiful with all the leaves turning; Fall is absolutely stunning here. Scott and I stuck together and finished in 2 hours 1 minute (we started in waves, that's why our official time is different than the clock in the video below). Brittney ran the whole time and finished within her time goal. Tara pushed through a hurt foot and sickness and finished not too long after Brit. This was the first half marathon for my sisters and for Scott, and I am really proud of everyone!! And thank you, mom, for being such a great support and capturing our finish!

My favorite/most memorable thing from the race: Tara, "Brit and I joked about how old ladies were going to pass us. Haha. And then they did..."

Since we had family coming into town for the race, we decided that Saturday would be a great time to have a birthday party for Maddox. Half marathon in the morning, birthday party in the afternoon... it was a busy day! We had a lot of fun though. Originally, we were planning to be at the park for the birthday celebration, but the rain thwarted those plans. Instead, we hosted 30 adults and 10 kids in our home. We called it a mustache bash and loved celebrating Maddox with so many family and friends!

Maddox wearing a stache for the invitations... he wasn't a fan...

The main event at the party, of course, was Maddox eating his cake. For those who don't want to watch all these long videos, here is a summary of what happens: Maddox timidly begins with just a finger licking the frosting, then he gradually moves to handfuls of cake to the mouth, and wraps up with massaging the cake with both hands. He delivered on the entertainment portion of the afternoon! Huge thank you to Melinda for the beautiful and delicious cake and cupcakes!!

We followed up dessert with opening gifts. Maddox is blessed with generous friends, and he came away with a lot of fun toys. I don't know who was more excited about all of them, Maddox or Scott.


We're excited for another year of this awesomeness!

1 year!

September 25th, a special birthday! Maddox is such an awesome kid; he really is just a happy, content little guy, and Scott and I often talk about how blessed we are to have him in our family. As cliché as it is to say, this year has gone by so fast, and sometimes it is hard to believe that he isn't this small anymore...

September 25, 2012

And here are some pictures of the birthday boy!

To celebrate, we started off the day by greeting him with some balloons. Maddox loves playing with balloons, and he gave us the biggest grin when we walked into the room with them. Maddox also loves dogs, and he points at them and giggles when he sees them. So, we thought it would be fun to take him to a nearby PetSmart, which has a doggie daycare. There was a huge glass wall he could look through to watch all the "puppies," and Maddox was thrilled when one came and sat right next to him. We walked around and looked at the other animals in the store, and he thought that all the ones that moved were interesting enough. I was NOT tempted to bring anything home... Maddox thanked his mom for the fun morning with an awesome mess in his crib when he woke up from his nap. We'll spare the graphic images. He got his favorite, Mac and Cheese, for lunch. We opened his gift from mom and dad,  a walker (IKEA, $20), and he was ready to cruise with it before Scott even had it assembled. It was a lot of fun to see him just get up and go with it, no instructions necessary. Maddox chose Red Robin for dinner and shared the clucks and fries with mom. After being unsure with all the birthday singing, he was extremely enthusiastic about the dessert he was given. We had a really fun day together!

Maddox weighed in at 20 pounds 3 ounces (15th percentile) and 30 inches tall (50th percentile) at his 12 month appointment.

11 months

Maddox and dad have a lot of fun together; dad teaches him only the best...

Maddox's first parade.

I think this was one of Scott's proudest moments as a father. Maddox received this awesome Mater for his birthday from Grandma Quinton. Scott had to take the seat off to charge the battery, and Maddox watched his dad closely and then knew just what to do with the screw driver once dad stepped away.

We play a lot in our family...

Maddox is a good helper when it is time to clean up.

Maddox has four teeth on top and four on the bottom. He still babbles a lot, and added "hot" to his vocabulary last week. He doesn't really understand the meaning of the word yet, but he calls all food "hot" now. Meal time is entertaining more often than not.

Putting Maddox down for bed is a dream now. I would've laughed out loud if you had told me when he was 3 months old it would be this easy one day.

At 10 1/2 months, Maddox switched from his army crawl to a "normal" crawl. About this same time, he conquered the stairs as well. I had been working with Maddox for almost a month on how to go up and down the stairs. The first Sunday in August, Scott spent five minutes watching him and he magically had the ability to impress his father...

Maddox is doing a lot of cruising these days. He holds on to the furniture, walls, doors, your hands, his walker, anything really to help him get to the destination of his choice. It was pretty entertaining watching him figure out how to use those legs at first though...

We went to the bank one Saturday, and Maddox enjoyed his first sucker. I didn't realize swallowing the yummy saliva you create was something a person had to learn...

Maddox is a great storyteller.

Another new trick Maddox learned last week is to take his socks off and pick out the toe jam in between his toes. Haha. We love this kid!