call me a runner

Half marathon, march 2012

Seeing this picture makes me feel hopeful again.  As of today I officially feel like a runner again!  I've been running with my friend, Nicole, once a week and she really pushes me hard.  She's training for a half marathon in November which is a week before my triathlon and because of her I have been able to increase my weekly miles and pace.  It's been hard but it feels so good!  This morning we ran 6 miles in an hour!  Wasn't a mile hard like last month?  I can't wait to get this body back into race shape again so I can cross a finish line proud of my time and accomplishments.  It's seriously a drug for me.  Have you ever gotten the race drug?

Zara faces

This little ham is close to 7 months old and we have been having a lot of fun together while Elliot and Avery are at school.  As much as I love nursing Zara we have both been enjoying baby food adventures.  Well, maybe she's not enjoying everything but I sure laugh a lot!

Gotta love those faces.  Food torture.  Her very favorite is sweet potato but she'll settle for mango . . nothing else.  Also, her knew thing is crawling everywhere and sitting up.  She'll do anything to reach the toy she wants.  Unfortunately it has often resulted in a bruise or two.

sleepies

My favorite time of day is sneaking a peak at my sleeping kids right before I go to bed.  I usually give them a kiss and a quick snuggle and tell them I love them.  I do this before they go to bed as well but it's different this time.  There will come a time that they will feel too grown up kisses and snuggle and I already lament it.  I love that my kids let me snuggle them when they're tired.

The other day I helped out in Elliot's class and he was so proud of me and happy to see me.  As hard as it is to coordinate my morning to make it happen it's good for my heart to see Elliot so happy.  I'm so proud to be his mom!

I'm a little sad that Elliot doesn't take daily naps anymore.  Today is an exception (Oh . . Sunday naps!).

Do you watch your kids sleep?

book review: Wonderland Creek

Last week I was able to go to the library with just Zara so I actually got to look for me books!  This doesn't happen very often.  Wonderland Creek sort of stood out on the shelf so I thought I'd give it a try.  From the cover and summary I thought it would be a modern-day Alice in Wonderland but the only similarities were the name of the main character, Alice, and the name of the creek, Wonderland Creek.

It turns out that this book is more of a historical fiction novel about a girl named Alice during the Great Depression who loves to read all the time but looses her job as a librarian and her boyfriend and just needs to get away. She finds herself in a small mining town where there are lots of secrets and family feuds.  While in this town she has lots of adventures and learns how to work hard.  Ultimately she lives life instead of reading all the time.

I loved this book because I can relate to Alice.  It's too easy to get caught in a good book instead of doing little things to take care of my home and family.  If i'm missing out on an adventure it's now ones fault but my own.  This book was a pleasant surprise (not all books I randomly pick up at the library live up to the cover) and I found myself looking forward to seeing what would happen next.

sewing project: pants to shorts

Last month I took some free time to tackle some of my sewing projects.  Not the fun ones where I start sewing from scratch but clothing repairs and tops that need to be taken in and such.  In that pile I found a couple pairs of pants for Avery that I wanted to turn into shorts.  This was a fun quick project.

One of the best parts about turning pants into shorts is I get to decide the length.  If I wanted to buy a knee-length pair of shorts for Avery I'd have to look in the boy's section.  Now I can just sew the length I want.

We're getting a lot of use out of these shorts while the weather is still warm but I can't say I'm not looking forward to Autumn and the Holidays!

a new office

Since Louise and Stanley moved out we're been planning what to do with those two rooms that are now empty. The first one we're working on is Steven's old room, Andrew's new office.  He's really excited about his "man cave".

Although it's Andrew's office he's letting me help out with decor.  Notice the door sign on the right.  Yep, that was totally me.  So far we have painted all the walls white and the inside of the door green.  Carpets were put in on Monday, with my Dad's help.  Andrew did some track lighting yesterday and some new blinds are going in tonight.  As far as the walls go Andrew has his ideas and I have mine.

In other news yesterday was 8 years since the day Andrew and I met.  We watched Sleepless in Seattle last night after the kids went to bed just for fun and are going to Le Grande Orange this Saturday for the first time to celebrate.  We don't normally celebrate the anniversary of the day we met but we felt like doing something special.  Have you been to Le Grande Orange?  I've heard only good things so I'm really looking forward to it!

school update

I can't believe it's already September!  August was such a whirlwind month for us and now we are already a few weeks into school.

Elliot started kindergarten and he loves it!  I've been really impressed about how responsible he is with his homework and my favorite time of the day is when the bus drops him off in front of our house (he's AM kindergarten only).  If only he would stop being so moody!  I am told it is normal but still!!

Avery has been enjoying pre-school twice a week with her cousin, Lizette, and she feels so grown up.  Her teacher told Andrew that Avery has become the mother hen of the class, always reminding the other kids to clean up and do criss cross applesauce during circle time.

I love watching them grow and learn.  I feel I have grown as a parent during these past few weeks learning to let things go sometimes.