Just some photos

Fly like an eagle...

BJ had a dual meet again today vs archrival Antioch (the school he ran for freshman year) and Wauconda. He ran a personal record of 16:39:94....Of course the books will have him down as 16:40, but IM going by the official Fuller timekeeper, Dziadzia. He is convinced that if he sleeps in the family room and eats Mac and Cheese at midnight as he did last night, he will continue to do well. A local reporter even interviewed him after his race today!!!! (the same reporter that got our school's mascot wrong the other day!!)

So, we are going to try to shave a little more time off...sore achilles tendons and all. I dont know how he does it. He is really looking to do well at regionals in a few weeks.


Will keep you posted. Thanks for all of your good thoughts and well wishes for him.

No pain, no gain

BJ continues to do well this week in his cross country efforts. He ran well on Monday in his dual meet in North Chicago and won, as did his team. He ran again in the 17:30 range. Dziadz said there was one heck of a wind while he was running at one point.

Saturday was another invitational. He finished in 9th overall with a 17:01. (His current goal is to be under 17) He again ran well, despite an Achilles injury. (That he only told his mother about...and not THIS mother, so he could run.) Since, we have been icing and stretching so he can run on Monday.


This is homecoming week for BJ. He asked a young lady named Lisa to go. I havent met her. He says she is "pretty". We will post photos of that for you all to see. There are a lot of festivities at the school this week to mark homecoming so Im sure we wont see him much.

Danielle continues to enjoy school. She likes to bring home her daily worksheets for me to see her smiley faces or her stickers. She has all of a sudden developed an interest in God and the devil. She tells me that her little best friend Sarah has been teaching her all about what she is learning in Sunday school...so far we have learned that the devil wears a red power ranger suit and can change his face into the head of a snake. This prompted me to seek out a community church to start taking her to. I tried to get her to go this morning with me, but couldnt compete with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So we decided to go find a children's bible and start there. On the way to the store she asked me if it hurt the devil when the car drives over him. I told her the Power Ranger suit protects him. Other than that, we are enrolling her in a new Cheerleading class, one that has a little bit more structure to it now that her attention span seems to be a bit longer.

Brian is away for 4 days. He is on a volunteer trip to Slidell, Louisianna where he and some of his co-workers from CDW will be helping to rebuild some after the devastation of Katrina. He left this morning for New Orleans. Im sure he will have stories to share when he returns but Im really quite proud of him for volunteering.

As for me, I just continue to try to keep the house running. Two kids, two dogs, Brian and the job really keep me busy.

Hope all is well where you are!!!

1, 2, 7

Three races this week for the kid with the orange shoes. Monday, BJ won his CROSS COUNTRY (how was that, Dad) meet against Grant High School. Busia, Dziadzia and Danielle cheered him to victory as I was in Springfield for a convention Time was 17:30ish per Dziadz's trusty stopwatch.


I was able to make it back for Thursday evening's meet at home against Grayslake North. BJ has a rivalry with one boy on their team since the Grayslake Invite last year (when BJ overtook the kid down the straightaway to the finish.) Not so lucky this year, BUT we almost broke into the 16s. BJ came in second at 17:03.


This morning, to start off UofM/nd Saturday, the crew headed out to the Woodstock Invite. This course was ROUGH. BJ kept saying "it had a lot of hills, big hills, steep steep hills" (and they make these kids RUN up these hills?). He finished 7th today with a time of 17:46.


Danielle loves to go and watch BJ run, run fast. She absolutely adores him.

Top 50 at the Wauconda Invitational

BJ and about 250 other young men, give or take 20, ran Saturday morning in the Wauconda Invitational. Overall, he ran well. He finished in 17:08. He was hoping to break into the 16's for his Dziadzia. His time was good enough for 50th place in the varsity division and once again, he finished first for his team. Overall, his team is getting better and better which is really good for the school. (also saw another boy with orange shoes....doesnt help in my plan to pick BJ out of a crowd.)

He has 3 meets this week. Busia, Dziadzia and Danielle will have to handle the timing and cheering duties on Monday as I will be out of town for work. I am hoping to make it home for Thursday's meet at home...the first of only two home meets at LCHS.

Will keep you all posted....Run BJ...run fast!!!!

I did it....almost

So I figured out the picture thing....Now I hope you can all see them!

Looking good at the end

That is Dziadzia's hand on the stopwatch while BJ runs for the finish line. We have the Wauconda Invitational this morning...will post the results.

Its the shoes....

Tuesday's meet at Warren was all business. Bj ran, and he ran fast. Dziadzia was there stopwatch in hand. I'm sure he will post the split times in his comments.
Bj's final time was 17:15. So he is shaving time off with every race. Danielle made him a sign to hold up as he ran past. I think the team has unofficially made her their one and only cheerleader.
He finished first on his team again and had the lead for most of the race, but a couple of kids from Warren managed to catch him in the last mile. He finished strong though and we are really proud of how well he did.

Danielle's first Day of School

Here is the traditional photo of my baby on her first day of Kindergarten. She chose to wear an outfit that Mommy did not pick out. "it needs to have something Cheetah on it" she told me the night before. She had a great first day. I took the day off of work and we hung out at home. (primarily so I could do her hair) When Brian met us at school at 12:15, we went in to meet Mrs.Allie (Yup we got her!!!!)
Danielle's school is divided into (what else could it be) VILLAGES!!!!! Hooray. Danielle is in the purple village, room 321. She has one little girlfriend in her class from her day care so that made me happy.
On our first day, we got to learn about the teacher and do some art projects with Danielle. (it was funny to see all the Moms and Dads sitting on those tiny chairs.) Then we put away her school supplies which was completely devastating. Danielle wanted to lug her supplies back and forth in her backpack.

On Wednesday, she rode the bus for the first real day of school. The bus was late and Ms. Kristi at the daycare said the kids were frantic thinking that the bus had forgotten them. But like a trooper, when the bus did arrive, Danielle stood in line with her best girlfriend Sarah and boarded the big yellow bus. She even stopped, one leg up on the step, to pose for a picture for Ms. Kristi. (can t wait to see that one.)

All in all, she had a good first week. She said she isnt sure she will like gym class because "the lady shouldn't tell me how to play".

17:47 is good for 47th place!!!

Are you ready for some Cross Country? We are....up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning for the long ride to Bensenville....(not really long, near O'Hare). 1200 total runners all hustling about for the Fenton Invitational. After a quick trip through Burger King for Danielle's breakfast, we arrived in time to wish BJ well before the "gun". We were hoping the new orange (Yes, I know his school colors are royal, red and white) spike shoes would act like little wings on his feet.

And off he went....did well for his first mile, was right at 5 minutes. At my count he was about 30thish as he whizzed by...a blur of royal with a splash of orange. He got bumped a few times...almost fell once that I saw but kept going. (I thought there was not supposed to be any contact in this sport either)

He looked really good coming down the home stretch...ran up on a few kids and surprised a couple as he whooshed by to cross the finish line at 17:47. (10 seconds off his time at this race last year) There were 125 runners in the boys varsity race and he finished 47th....not bad at all. The winning time was a blazing 15:10....who runs 3 miles that fast?

The boy can run....and in the words of his little sister....Run BJ, Run fast.


Next meet is Tuesday against Warren.