460 miles

I had planned a lovely look back at 2010 here on my blog and I suppose I'll get around to it eventually, but tonight we have big plans here at the house so I'll keep this short.

I keep a running log at MarathonGuide so I'm able to track my runs month-by-month. I dded it up and I learned that I ran 460 miles this year, including a really fast 8 this afternoon. It was my last training run and it went VERY well. It was 60* outside and I ran in shorts!

I had hoped for closer to 500 miles, but since there were a few months where running had to fall to the back burner (surgeries, illnesses, work, etc) I didn't make it. All in all I am proud of my running accomplishments in 2010 and can't wait for 2011.

Word-A-Day

I know all parents say this, but my baby is really smart. Look at her....I know on the outside she looks like a normal 15-month-old, but on the inside she is an information processing machine! She continues to add new words to her vocabulary and her latest trick is to put two words together....as in "sock off" "down please." It's pretty amazing! And she's quickly learned that throwing the word "please" around will get her pretty much whatever she wants. Smart move, Allie....smart move.

Wordless Wednesday

Notes from the Road: Training Update #12

Well here we are. I can say, "My races are next week." That statement sort of freaks me out and excites me, all at the same time. I registered for this race almost 12 months ago and now it's almost here. I've started making my master packing list. Last time I ran at Disney, I forgot a few things...safety pins being one of the major ones. Jamie ended up paying like $12 or something for a pack at the hotel gift shop. So this time, safety pins are at the top of the list along with my Stick and my running shoes.

Disney has e-mailed my final race instructions (FOUR pages worth!) and our hotel has been confirmed. We'll be staying with Ry, Scott, and Isabelle for part of the trip, but we're staying on Disney property the nights before the races because traffic makes race morning logistically impossible. By staying at Disney I can just walk out of my hotel and get right on a bus to the start line.

Thanks to you (and so many others!) I was able to reach my fundraising goal for Inheritance of Hope. I'm very much looking forward to the pasta dinner next Friday night when I will be able to meet the families I will be running for. I know their stories will keep me going on those long 39 miles ahead. I hope to share their stories with you when I get back. Thank you again for your continued support. I wouldn't be able to make it to the starting line without you.

Blogger's Note: The photo above was taken during the 10 mile race on 10/10/10. It really has nothing to do with this post except it is a picture of me running. And it sort of gets me pumped up....

Snow What Fun!

As I mentioned in my last post, we got snow on Christmas. It was just enough to cover the yard and allow us to have some good snowball fights. Most of it melted, so that's why I was quite surprised to wake up on Sunday to this.....

At least three beautiful inches of perfectly perfect snow! After lunch we grabbed the sleds (that we had thankfully remembered to borrow from Nana and Granddad) and headed for the park. We managed to secure ourselves an awesome patch of hillside.

Everyone got to enjoy the sledding. Even Allie! She was a big fan!



We were out there for over an hour.

Once we were all frozen solid we headed home for hot chocolate and cookies. We southerners don't get to see very much snow so to be able to spend an hour sledding the day after Christmas was excellent!

Christmas Day 2010

Time now to catch you up on Christmas day! It started at 3 a.m. when Anastasia padded softly to my side of the bed and asked if it was time for gifts. I returned her to bed where she then slept until a little after 7.

She and Ainsley each got an American Girl doll. They were immediately in love.

Mom and Dad brought them the dolls and Santa brought them TONS of accessories!

Yeah, that's a scooter...and like 12 pairs of shoes. It's pretty awesome. Allie's gift was awesome too. She got a car!

She has pretty much spent every waking moment in it since she saw it that morning. She wouldn't even eat breakfast! She just snacked on stuff in her stocking.

See? She really loved her stocking!

We got so many wonderful gifts. We must have been REALLY good this year!

And as if a living room full of presents wasn't enough....we also got snow for Christmas!

It was the perfect way to top off an already wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve at Our House

Jamie and I were fortunate enough to have all of Christmas Eve off this year. That turned out to be a good thing because we had a LOT to do! I needed to get a run in, but I only did 2 miles outdoors before chickening out and moving my run indoors. Brrr! After my run the girls and I made another batch of sugar cookies.

Then it was time for church. They offered a 3 p.m. service for families with young children. (SMART MOVE!) It was exactly the service for us.

Notice Ainsley sitting in Pastor Sarah's lap and Anastasia clutching a donkey. She was able to place the donkey at the manger scene when Pastor Andy called for it. The service was noisy, just as that stable must have been so long ago. I so hope they continue this family service in the afternoon. It was perfect.

They also served communion. Since Allie wasn't in the nursery, she went up with us and took communion. She then proceeded to sign and say "MORE" when we returned to our seat. I guess she was hungry. We ended the service with Silent Night and the lighting of the candles. Although it wasn't dark outside, it was still a beautiful moment.

After church we came home for dinner and dispersed our reindeer food out in the yard.

The kids went to bed so easily! I think we wore them out.

The Many Days of Christmas

I've been too busy enjoying Christmas to blog so now I have some catching up to do. Gran and Pop were able to spend much of the early part of the week with us so we celebrated with them and did presents on Wednesday before they left for Florida on Thursday morning.

The girls got some wonderful things! They had plenty of surprises for Gran and Pop as well.

(Notice my awesome new canvases in the background! Thanks to Jamie and Pop for hanging those this week. )

We were sorry Gran and Pop couldn't hang around until Christmas Day but we were SO glad they got to spend so much time with us this week!

Christmas Eve Eve

It's Christmas eve eve. I bought the reindeer food ingredients on my way to work. Then when I got to the station...I spotted this.

I'm pretty sure he's trying to get the inside scoop on tomorrow night's forecast. Sounds like we may actually have a White Christmas for the first time in more than 30 years!

10 years

Ten years ago today, Jamie proposed in his parents' driveway. I cannot believe 10 years has passed since that frosty December day. Today's milestone means we are just about eight months away from an even bigger milestone-our 10th anniversary. We're trying to plan our anniversary trip. We realized that our anniversary will fall the week that the girls start school so we're pushing it back a bit.

This picture is one Anastasia took when we went to Gran and Pop's at Thanksgiving. We don't have any photos of the actual proposal so this one will have to do. Much to the girls' chagrin, we stop and kiss *every* time we pass the mailbox.

A Christmas Miracle

Twas three days before Christmas and all through the house,

All the siblings were arguing like a bunch of grouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

But at this rate all they're gonna get is a bunch of coal.

Until....they opened their presents from Laura.....

The gift included these awesome window markers. These miracle markers bought Gran and I about 25 minutes of NO arguing!!!!! It was amazing.

They scribbled and drew all over the house. Mirrors.....the french door.....everywhere.

And the cool thing is...it all erases with a wet paper towel (even off of marble window sills).

Christmas at Nana and Granddad's

As in years past, we like to spread out our Christmas celebrating. Last weekend we were fortunate enough to spend a few days at Nana and Granddad's. It was the perfect respite after a very hectic week.

We begged Nana to let us open gifts on Friday morning, but she resisted and said anticipation was good for us. Before the presents could be opened, I grabbed the tripod from the basement and set up our annual family Christmas morning shot. I must say this is one of our best ones!

With the photo out of the way, we were free to begin opening the 12 rounds of presents Nana had so painstakingly wrapped. Allie got new PJs. She had to put them on ASAP so the present opening thing came to a grinding halt until she got dressed.

Ainsley got Zoobles. She was kinda excited about it.

Anastasia got a set of Tinkerbell and her pals. She too was excited!

After it was all over we were left with a pile of wonderful gifts....and a pile of discarded paper/bows/tissue/boxes.

It was such a great way to kick-off the week before Christmas. The last seven days leading up to Christmas are always hectic so it was nice to slow down, play games and just enjoy some family time. We also let the girls watch White Christmas for the first time. They adored it, although we did have to explain why everyone smoked so much back then!

Note from the Road: Training Update #11

Technology is an amazing thing. It means that I can wear a tiny little chip on my shoe and it will determine my exact finish time during the races. In a race with 20,000+ participants that's a really good thing. Technology also means you will be able to track me during my Goofy feat. You can sign up to track me here. You can choose to track me by e-mail or by text message. It's half-stalking/half really cool.

With just a little over a week to go in my fundraising efforts, I am thrilled to announce I am less than $200 from my goal! Remember that you can contribute to Inheritance of Hope here. I will be meeting with the families who are directly benefiting from these funds raised on Friday night before my half-marathon start.

Just a Week to Go

Christmas is coming up at the end of the week. The kids are insanely excited and probably won't sleep until Saturday night. We spent the weekend at Nana and Granddad's for our family Christmas. We did presents, games and ate more food than humanly possible or necessary. I'll blog more about our weekend later, but for now...I've got to unpack and get to work!

Anastasia's Christmas Party

Before the ice storm and before I spent 17+ hours at work, we had Anastasia's party at school. It's a good thing they had the party scheduled for Wednesday because the ice canceled school on Thursday.

One of the other moms planned the party and it was fantastic. There was cookie decorating and face painting...

A visit from Santa during a game of musical chairs.

Here is Anastasia with her best friend. Aren't they cuties?

The kids had a blast moving from classroom to classroom for the various activities. After each child went to all four classes, Santa read them "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

It was pure chaos for about an hour and a half, but the kids had fun and it sure beat being outside in the cold. It was a great way to celebrate the end of first semester. Now they have a wonderfully long Christmas break!

Ice Storm

So I've been at work for almost 17 hours. We've been trapped by an ice storm that is apparently going to get worse before it gets better.

This was the view of the parking lot around 1 a.m.

Then, just after 8 a.m. a HUGE tree outside the station toppled to the ground.

It shook the whole building!

Here's to hoping I'm heading home soon.

Notes from the Road: Training Update #10

Until this week, my participation in the Goofy Challenge has been less than tangible. It was something in the distance. Something in 2011. Then.....I got my race waiver. It's really just a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo that I always sign before a race, but it made everything real. It came in my e-mail and also included my bib numbers. So I guess this thing is actually happening. Hard to believe its just three weeks from Saturday. I'm very much looking forward to the trip. It's the first time Jamie and I will have been away from the kids since Allie was born. I've got the Mad Libs ready and can't wait to have control of what's being played on the CD player. Our first road trip together was to Florida for Spring Break in 2000 so it's kind of a trip down memory lane only with nicer wheels and and better cell phones.

I'm so close to hitting my fundraising goal. You can check out my progress or make a donation on my page. Each person who contributes to Inheritance of Hope in my honor will have a special place on my race bib. I'm taking a Sharpie with me and will be writing everyone's name on the back of each bib so I can carry you all with me along the way. You will be able to track me with text messages during the race, and I will post that information as soon as it is available. Just a few more training runs to go!

If you want to check out course information or other details about the race, click here. Thank you all for your support. It's nice to know I will have so many people behind me as I attempt this Goofy jaunt.

The Cat's Out of the Bag

Anyone who has spent any amount of time with Allie will tell you that she is...how can I say this....rambunctious/mischievous/a handful/full of life. Jamie and I keep saying to each other, "Maybe our memories have been erased, but I don't remember her sisters being like this."

I had to utter that phrase again yesterday after my beloved youngest child ate cat food. (And yes, you read that correctly....she ate cat food.) I saw her pull her fist out of the cat's dish, loaded with food. I quickly emptied her hand and then diverted her attention elsewhere. A few minutes later I noticed she was swallowing something. Apparently she had stowed some in her cheek before I could get her hand completely cleaned out. This incident came right before she managed to remove the blanket over her crib rail that had been tightly tied there to keep her from gnawing the paint off the side of her bed. I've been finding a few more gray hairs lately and I know EXACTLY where they are coming from!

Dear Winter

Dear Winter-

We live in Tennessee. We do not own snow tires and we're out of salt for the driveway because of your antics earlier in the year. And waking up to things like this are just plain unacceptable.

Besides, my calendar says you aren't even really supposed to be here! Oh and don't even try to follow me to Florida for my races. That would just send me over the edge!

Snowmageddon '10

We don't usually see a lot of snow/ice in Tennessee, especially not before winter even begins. The snow started yesterday afternoon and in a matter of 20 minutes the ground was white. Work was a zoo and we had over 50 school and business closings. I braved the elements and carefully crawled home at 1 a.m. The yard looked so beautiful and peaceful.

School was canceled so I was home all day with the girls. After lunch I decided to let them venture outside. I figured it was so cold they wouldn't last long.


But I was wrong. They had important things to do. Things such as snow angels.

And snowball fights.

They were outside for quite some time.

I have a bathtub full of wet laundry now but I'm so glad they got to experience a snow day. Anastasia already has her fingers crossed for tomorrow.