Our Fall Celebration

We have finally had two days of beautiful weather! After days in the 30s and 40s and lots of rain we have been blessed with 50 degree weather and sunshine, hooray! Of course we had to take advantage of this and get outside, and it has been wonderful!

On Sunday afternoon we drove to this park that I had heard was beautiful and it absolutely was. Marshall ran around in the leaves and we tried to snap some pictures of him. I have quickly discovered that I have less and less cute, close up pictures of him now because he is hardly ever still, but here's what we have.

I LOVE the fall!






Hmmm...what is this?
An acorn...
I really want to eat it, even though mom says I shouldn't...
Well, I guess I'll listen to her and just look at it instead of eating it, I am a very obedient one year old...

On Monday morning my friend Lynn and I took our two boys to a little pumpkin farm north of Milwaukee. It was a really cute family run farm, and with it being a school day we had the place almost all to ourselves which was perfect for these two one year olds. Here are some pictures from our day...

Marshall Highlights

Sorry for the lack of Marshall updates. Now that I am working more we aren't out and about as much doing fun things, but here are some Marshall highlights from the last couple of weeks...

Morning adventure to downtown Milwaukee and Betty Brinn Children's Museum...

A couple of weeks ago I had the whole day off so Marshall and I spent some quality time together-it was so much fun! We drove downtown and had a picnic outside across the street from Lake Michigan. It was a little bit chilly, but with all of Marshall's walking, he definitely stayed warm. The above picture is Marshall in front of the art museum. And here's the little guy enjoying the grass, and then not really enjoying the post I had him sitting on. :)

After our time outside we went in to the children's museum. They have a special area designated for children 0-3 years old. It was perfect for Marshall and he had a blast.

Sleeping on the floor...

Here's the story, don't worry, Marshall doesn't usually sleep on the floor. A couple of weeks ago Marshall fell asleep on our way home from the grocery store. He only takes one nap a day now and even if he takes a super short nap in the morning, chances are good that will be his nap for the day. So, he fell asleep around 11:00 and had only been asleep about ten minutes in the car. So, I got him out of the car, but by the time I got up to our apartment he was still asleep, which never happens! I thought that if I just laid him on the living room floor he would wake up in just a few minutes as I would be going in and out of the apartment and putting groceries away. So I did just that and he slept through the entire thing! After he slept on the floor for almost 30 minutes I decided I should probably move him to his crib, where he slept for another hour! But, before I moved him, I just spent a couple minutes snuggled up by him watching him sleep. Ah, nothing like a sleeping baby/toddler, so sweet. :)

Playing with the pillows...

A couple weeks ago while I was changing the sheets on our bed Marshall came in and started throwing himself into the pile of pillows on the floor. He was having a ball and I was pretty entertained watching him so I grabbed all of our pillows and we made a pillow mountain for him to play with. It was a very fun morning!

And a video...

New shoes...

Marshall got his first pair of new shoes this last week. At first, he didn't like them at all. Once we got him to stand up he just stood there and it took him a few minutes to start walking. He walked very stiffly at first, it was actually pretty funny to watch. But, within just a few minutes he was back to cruising all over the place, and doesn't he look so grown up?!

Having fun with books...


Being mischievous...


Taking bubble baths...

I gave Marshall his first bubble bath last night, I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of this sooner, but oh well, now he's experienced it! When I first put him in the bath he wouldn't sit down, he just played with the bubbles in my hands. After a couple minutes he lowered himself to a squat and probably stayed there for five minutes. I eventually got him to sit down and then he really started enjoying the bubbles. It was a fun night for both of us.

Sorry there's only one picture, he isn't looking at the camera in any of the other pictures. :)

Making silly faces in the mirror...

For a few weeks every night we would take Marshall into the bathroom to brush his teeth before bed he would make all sorts of silly faces at himself in the mirror. He only did this at night, no other time of the day. So, one night we pulled out the camera and I'm sure glad we did, because he doesn't do it anymore, here it is!

Playing hide-and-seek...

A short video clip, but boy he's cute!

One Year Older and Wiser Too...

Well folks, I hit the big 2-6 yesterday! And surprisingly, it felt great and I still feel young. :) It was a wonderful day and little celebrations will continue to happen throughout the week, my favorite! Anyway, in keeping with Richard and Marshall's birthday posts, I've decided that we will make it a Leake birthday tradition to record the highlights of the last year for the birthday person, so here they are...

* A wonderful year as a mom. I have adored having Marshall around; he is so cute and so funny and has taught me so much in the last 13 months.
*Introduced dance into a local public school by designing and teaching three dance units.
* Made three wonderful trips out west to see family.
* Called to the primary, and have loved getting to know all the kids and especially the wonderful women I am serving with, they have all become great friends.
* Moved in to a three-bedroom apartment; it makes me feel so grown up!
* Trained for and successfully ran a half-marathon!
* Spent twelve wonderful months with my incredible husband and adorable son!

Here's to another year; it will be a great one!

Happy October!

Happy October to everybody! Marshall is very festive! These pajamas are actually pretty sweet-the skeleton glows in the dark! He is pretty fascinated with it, what one year old wouldn't be?!

And, here are just a few other random pictures from this morning. He was on his plane, but once he got on he decided he wanted his hammer, and then also his work bench. He had a ball with all three things at once-love him!

Future Cougar Marching Band Member

Marshall is a natural...

Elroy Apple Dumpling Days Half-Marathon!

Yesterday I ran a half-marathon! It was fun, hard, exhilarating, frustrating, and painful, but very, very worth it!

We purchased a jogging stroller back in May because I knew that I wanted to start running again, but I just planned on running two to three miles a few times a week during the summer. One week into my new running routine, after being out of it for 18 months, Anna, one of my great friends here invited me to do a half-marathon with her and a couple other ladies in the branch. I did not commit right away because I didn't think I had it in me to run 13 miles. But, after some peer pressure I got sucked into doing a five mile run with them one Saturday in May and I survived! After that I was hooked and figured if I could do five miles one week into running, I could definitely train for 13, so it began!

I ran two to four miles twice a week and then on Saturday mornings we all got up early to do our big run together. We started with five miles and two weeks ago we did eleven! These Saturday morning runs were full of highs and lows. Some weeks were great, others we were dragging, but we always enjoyed great conversation and many laughs.

So, on Friday afternoon we packed up my car, sent kids to baby-sitters and hit the road for little Elroy, Wisconsin, three hours northwest of Milwaukee. We enjoyed the drive, dinner in the Dells, some time in the hotel hot-tub and hit the sack at 10:00 pm.

Saturday morning we got up, I did all my pre-run rituals (I may be a little crazy and superstitious), we left the hotel, drove to the check-in spot, loaded the buses, and we were off to the starting location. Once we were all up there we gathered in a clump of 96 runners, they shot the gun and we were off!

Four of us stuck together for the first seven miles and they flew by and felt great! We once again enjoyed wonderful conversation and I think we provided a lot of entertainment to those around us! These seven miles were mostly on bike trails in heavily wooded areas and we surely appreciated the shade. At seven miles our foursome split in half and I opted to keep a quicker pace with Katie Hutchison. We ran together for the next three miles which took us through a residential area and two hills-not fun, but Katie pulled me through it. At mile ten Katie picked up her pace, which was totally fine. I turned my ipod on and kept going, but this is definitely where it got hard. For the next three miles, around 11:00 am, with limited shade, and not very many water stations, I experienced the highs and the lows of running. Finally, I made the last turn, crossed the street and saw the 1/4 mile track that I needed to run around 1 1/4 times. I was ecstatic and almost started crying tears of joy that I had actually done this. I saw Katie who was just finishing, I saw Diane who had finished five minutes before and they were cheering me on, but once I passed them I think that I had a little mental breakdown. I was SO hot, SO thirsty, and SO tired and I was SO mad that I was on a hot, black, track with NO shade and NO water that I actually stopped at my car (which was right by the track), unlocked it, opened my trunk and pulled out my gatorade from my cooler. I was SO happy to have it, it was cold liquid and it felt great. But, after running with it for one length of the track I was SO mad that I was carrying it! But, I kept going, made one more turn on the track, saw Diane and Katie, threw my gatorade to them, made the last turn, and sprinted to the end! (Very dramatic, I know!)

I came in with a time of 2 hours and 25 minutes and I lived to tell about it! I am very happy with my time. When I decided to do this my two goals were to finish and come in under three hours-and I met them both! My time equals out to 11 minute miles, which I am thrilled about because on our long run we were training at 12 to 12 1/2 minute miles-11 is a big improvement-I guess the adrenaline kicked in!

Anyway, it was a great experience. I will definitely do a half-marathon again, even though I am very sore and very tired today, but the whole thing really was surreal. I'm so glad I did it and I am thankful for wonderful friends who helped me through it all. Thanks Dianne, Katie, Katie H., and Anna-yesterday was a day I will never forget!

Twelve Month Stats

Marshall had his one year check-up today and he was a champ despite four shots and a finger prick. He was so calm while the pediatrician was examining him, what a good little boy. The best part about these well-child check-ups are, of course, all the measurements they give you. So, drum roll please...

At twelve months Marshall is...
3o inches tall (60%)
19 lbs. 14.5 oz. (15%)
and ta da...
has a head circumference of 48.5 cm. (95%)!

These measurements confirm that he has a Leake body and a Toney head. :)

And now, just a fun video we took of Marshall a few days ago with one of Richard's medical tools...