Huntsville 10K

I ran the Huntsville 10K on Saturday.  It went great!  It was a foggy, misty morning and really freaking cold.  I started my warm up with a headband, gloves, extra fleece pants, a fleece jacket and a down jacket.  It cleared and warmed a bit by the time we started.  It was a gorgeous, quiet, peaceful run.  The views were beautiful the whole time.  I ran more than a 10K, the finish line was 6.7 miles from the start, a half mile too long!  I ran 9:15 miles very consistently which I was very proud of, my fastest mile times.  Unfortunately, I didn't finish under an hour due to the extra length, but I would have and that's what matters!  I finished fourth in my age group, 26th overall for 10Kers.  Mom did awesome too, finishing only 14 minutes after me, a good 15 minutes faster than she thought and with an extra distance!  And she got second in her age group and metaled! I am very proud of her for doing it.

The Week

Last week, Fogg was gone from Sunday to Thursday so I was solo for the week.  It actually went really well.  Usually it's full of sickness, torn jeans, epic problems, and stress.  The kids slept pretty good, no clothes ripped, the kids were really great.  I did get called by the school two of the days because one day Reed had a stomach ache (my diagnosis was gas) and by the time I got there, he was fine, playing outside.  The other day, he fell off a log thing in the playground and landed on his back, he said he was fine when I got there.  No biggy either day.  

Fogg came home and we went out to lunch near my work.  When I got home that afternoon, these were on the kitchen counter.  I love getting flowers!

Saturday was running around a little.  We went to watch the Xterra race up at Snowbasin.  While we waited for the racers, we played in the grass on a beautiful morning.  

 I also made them Mickey Mouse pancakes in the morning.

Sunday we stayed home all day cause the kids had pink eye.  We dressed up for the Steelers game.

Back to the grind for the week. Next weekend is another 10K, I'm ready to roll (and be done running for a little bit).

Cheers~

Playing and Saying

Awww, man I love these kids!  They are getting better at playing with each other each day.  There laughter makes me happy (more on that below).  Reed will initiate play with Nora more and more.  "Nora, want to come with me?", "Nora, come here".  It's cute.  She likes when he takes her for rides, though she can drive her own little car.  Sometimes they do races.

 Here they are playing together in the tub.  Their laughing just makes me smile.

We went over to our friends house, James and Michelle.  Their daughter Gracie has an adorable little playhouse.  Gracie and Nora are going to get into a ton of trouble when they grow up, those two little firecrackers.  But this is so cute, them playing together.

Last but not least. Nora has learned to answer the question "How old are you going to be on your birthday".  So cute!

Diaper Dance Part 2

Back in April of 2011, Reed was a cute little 23 month old.  He created the Diaper Dance.  I posted about it.  In case you need a refresher and don't want to click that link, here is his version:

Last night, my adorable 23 month old little girl decided to repeat the dance.  The similarities are evident.  Here is Nora's version:

I love comparisons like that, so funny to me.  Even filmed in the exact same location.

It makes me think back to the day that Reed did the dance.  I was barely pregnant with Nora.  I look at Nora at the exact same age and think that if there was a third spaced the same, I would be pregnant.  Yikes!  FYI- there is no third!  I feel so much older and definitely more tired. But oh so fun to look back and remember. 

Cheers~

Well, plans change

Boy, were we all so excited for our Labor Day camping trip!  We got the camper all fixed up, we were packed up ready to roll when Dianne brought the kids home Thursday afternoon.  She mentioned how Reed was so excited about camping and had talked about it all day.  We had a fun plan to head up to Jackson area, meet up with lots of friends, go to the Rodeo, visit yellowstone, ride bikes in Grand Teton, suck in the fresh mountain air, turn off our phones and connect and relax as a family.  Dianne dropped the kids off, we were just about 15-20 minutes from pulling out of the driveway.  Reed said he was going to go to the potty then get a snack and we would load up.  A few minutes later, Reed comes into the garage screaming.  Nora was screaming too.  I was confused, what had happened?  Did they get in a fight?  Did they run into each other?  Nope, Reed fell down, he was in pain and he was crying, Nora was just sympathy crying.  We tried to calm him down but to no avail.  We went in the house, tried to check him out, it was clear he did something to his collarbone, I knew it.  So off to the doctor I took him.  He cried for a solid hour and a half, with screams mixed in.  After this x-ray, it was clear that our weekend plans were going to change. 

So home I headed and we unpacked everything.  Reed wouldn't let me be as much as a few feet from him, so after lots of cartoons, lots of snuggles and lots of coaxing, I finally got him to sleep and ate dinner at 9:30pm.  On my couch. Not in Jackson.  Not in my camper.  And not very happy.

It took me quite some time to come to grips with the loss of my vacation.  I'm not so sure (five days later) that I am yet. Reed is a trooper and after finally taking some ibuprofen, realized it made him feel better.  We kept him bandaged up and found things around town to occupy us.  Friday morning, Reed found a few smiles with Nora showing me their feet.

 We ran around town a little on Friday, went to the air force museum, had lunch, ran some errands.  He slept good in the carseat, sitting straight up.

 Saturday we visited the zoo.  Saw the elephant show and the bird show.  Looked at animals.  We loved watching the polar bear swim.

Sunday, after church, mom watched the kids so fogg and I could have a little lunch date.

Monday, it was rainy.  We went and watched some friends fly model airplanes, they let Reed fly a little.  Nora liked to play in the rain.

We went and had some lunch after that, then I took the kids to see the movie Planes while Fogg hit the gym.  

And that was our weekend.  Reed is doing much better, though still not great.  He is sleeping great other than the first night (boy that was rough), which is so good for his healing.  He is managing the pain like a superhero, a little IB a few times a day and he's fine.  He keeps an ice pack on it frequently, I think mostly for the protection of it.  The tough part is to come, he will feel better and better but still not be able to do much.  He will have a hard time with that, wanting to play but can't.  Yesterday he was "sledding" down a friends hill, fell and remembered quickly that he was injured.  Might be more frustrating for me to remind him that he has to take it easy all the time.  Poor kiddo!

He's said some funny things.  "I wish I didn't break my bone". I call him one wing, he said "Good thing that I didn't break both, or I'd have no wings!".  "Maybe a fruit snack will make me feel better?". "I feel super, so much, awesome better mommy!".

Nora has had a little hard time with mommy taking care of Reed more than usual, she has acted up a little and started to depend on daddy a bit more, which is good actually. 

So, though I still mourn the loss of my weekend plans, we tried to have a little fun too.  I know that I'm supposed to learn something from this, what? I'm still trying to figure out.  Be more nurturing? Be less selfish? Let go of the little things? Whatever it is, I hope to learn it quickly, I'm exhausted and sure don't want things like this to happen again!

I leave you with these adorable little curls from my baby girl on a humid day!

Proud

Reed said to us a couple of Sunday's ago "mommy, daddy? I'm going to stop sucking my thumb.".  Fogg and I made a BIG deal of this announcement because as you may remember, we put a little pressure on him to stop before he turned four.  We laid off a little, but would mention it to him now and again.  This announcement came out of no where really, he just decided.  That night he sucked his thumb after fighting for quite some time to not do it.  But then the next day, he kept to his commitment.  Every morning he would announce to me that he didn't suck his thumb.  I told him that if went the rest of the week I would take him to the store and he could pick out a special treat.  He did it!  We went to the dollar store where he picked out an orange motorcycle toy.  The next week went by and sure enough, he's stuck to his decision.  His thumbnail isn't all floppy anymore, he doesn't do it when he watches TV or gets tired.  Separately, he asked for some new shoes.  He old brown DC shoes were getting a little small and he asked for some new DC shoes.  I asked what color he wanted and he said "all of them".  So I found him a cute pair of new DC shoes with "all the colors". I gave them to him last night and he was thrilled!  He kept saying thank you for getting me these shoes.  This morning, he got himself dressed "awesome fancy" as he said and put on his new shoes.  I asked if I could take a picture of him and his new shoes, this is the pose he gave me.  Love this kid!  He also pulled this shirt that he won at a dirt bike race out of the laundry to wear today.  This is the first shirt he has owned that he will pull out of the laundry basket to wear again (usually what goes in there, stays in there). I'd confidently say that this is his absolute favorite shirt (complete outfit really).

I'm so proud of Reed's commitment, strength and pride as he accomplished his goal.  I tell him all the time, it fills my heart up with pride.  I'm a PROUD proud mama!

More biking and teachers we love

Reed is getting really good at his bike these days.  His Grandma and Papa Fogg got him a new flashy one for his birthday, but it was just a little too intimidating for him initially.  Fogg found him a cheap tiny one at the thrift store for $3 for him to get comfortable on it.  He perfected his riding on the little one and now insists on riding his new flashy one.  I wanted to take a video for G and P Fogg to check it out.  He loves doing tight turns and riding all day long.  He loves to ride his bike!

Today was the first day of new classes for the kids, well, really just Reed.  Remember back when Reed's teacher Molly went away?  It was sad.  He had a tough time with the teacher after that, then we got into Miss Caitlin's class.  He really liked her and that was a great class for him.  Well, he has grown out of her class and guess who's class he gets to be in - Miss Molly's!  She has returned and is taking the older 4 year old class.  Reed was soooo excited this morning to be in her class again.  I didn't get a picture, but I will.  Here he is with Miss Caitlin on his last day on Friday.

Nora has long since moved on from Miss Max's class but every single morning, must go to her first.  She loves Miss Max!  Here they are this morning.

Sunday morning, Fogg went for a long bike ride, so I just hung out with my kiddos!  I made pancakes, we watched cartoons and then they both wanted to snuggle.  Love their cute faces!