Holiday Cheer

We've been busy this last month doing all things Christmas related! Wanted to share some pictures from our winter events...

Zoolights

Usually the week of Thanksgiving every year we attend this event-kids love it and we can take advantage of member only nights. We went the first night open for members, and it seemed as if we had rented the place out! It was SO nice to have it to ourselves. It wouldn't be Zoolights without Pap-Pap buying the kids some fun light toys ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gingerbread House

I love the holiday craft classes offered through our recreation centers in our city. In this one Nate made a house out of graham crackers. It was nice to have the mess in someone else's room :) He was so excited and had a lot of fun. Meanwhile, little brother colored.

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Visit

I love that our mall has a new holiday event it looks like they might offer each year- we did this last year- it's called Breakfast with Santa. We meet Santa, Wildflower Bread Company provides a free breakfast for everyone, we listen to Mrs Claus read a story, and the kids get to do crafts/decorate cookies. All for FREE! So, my mom came along with us this year. We all  enjoyed it! (well, except for Aaron...)

 

First we created a letter to Santa

Nate requested a scooter, a boat and a toy with an elevator in it

 

 

Patiently waiting in line with their sparkly necklaces

Discussing Nate's letter. This is the FIRST year that Nate has spoken to Santa,sat on his lap and voluntarily taken pictures.

 

Poor Aaron

 

 

 

 

I love me some pancakes and fruit!

 

Yummy-M&M's, "sprinklers" (as Nate calls them) and jelly beans

 

Holiday Drive In Movie Night

I used a huge Amazon box (thanks to Aaron's diapers) to make a "drive in car" for Nate to watch The Polar Express. He loved the drive -in idea : he was comfy inside with his pillows and blanket and had popcorn to snack.

 

 

 

I especially dig the license plate ;)

 

Other Misc Holiday...

 

Nate was in a Christmas pageant at church. Kids his age were just part of the choir. He stood up with everyone to sing and maybe sang a few words...

 

We also went to another event through the city called The Polar Express (we've gone to this the last two years). Another meet and greet with Santa after he reads the story, treats and crafts. Nate was pretty tired so we actually didn't stay for long. At least this time Aaron didn't scream :)

 

And now Christmas Eve is tomorrow. As you can see, we've been busy bees! I've also spent the last week and a half baking and still have a little bit more wrapping to do. Whew!

 

We Love Sandy Hook

Like many others I'm sure, I'm still heartbroken, in disbelief, shock and losing sleep over Friday's tragic event in Newton,CT. I've always thought any sort of shooting episode was saddening, but the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary really took the cake. It struck a chord. How any person could walk in and kill almost two dozen beautiful, innocent young children. It makes me extremely sad and now has made me extrememly anxious. How do we let our children go to school now? We shouldn't have to worry about whether or not we'll see them when the bell rings for the day. It really pains me that this is our new world, where shootings like these are becoming common, almost every week occurances.

It has had me seriously think about home schooling my kids. Keep them safe. Safe from school shootings, bullying...anything that can hurt them at school. I just want to put each of my kids in a bubble to keep them safe from everyone and everything.

I feel so much grief for the victims and their families. Yet again we're reminded of the important things in life- now, to be thankful for the little kisses and hugs from our kids. I know I will for sure be upping my hugs,kisses and 'I love you's'. Friday showed us that you never know when the last time is that you will see someone.

I got a balloon yesterday and wrote all the names of the victims on it and sent it up in the air. Just my personal way of showing that I'm thinking of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nate didn't know why we were releasing a balloon. He's not at an age to need to know the world's horror stories. Had he asked, he would have understood if I told him there were some new angels in heaven. But that's as far as I would have gone.

 

I think I'm going to have a litle bit of a hard time releasing him to school today. I'm reminded of the similarities to Friday's tragedy- that he's close to the one point of entry, near the front office/principal's office....I'm trying hard not to let fear and worry rule our lives. I know that's the way I need to go, otherwise we just aren't living. I know I can't keep my kids in their rooms 24/7, as much as I want to protect them.

 

I'm praying hard that something changes, that innocent killings like these stop. I want the world to be a better place for our kids than what it is.

Vegas Marathon Weekend

I have returned (barely) from my fun, somewhat chaotic weekend in Vegas for my first ever full marathon. Let's start from the beginning!

Hubby and I drove out Friday morning so that we'd have plenty of time to get ready for our nice dinner out that evening with my sister and best friend. That all worked out, until I started to show my sister all my "racing gear" I brought and discovered that...well, with exception of my shoes and my music, I forgot the bag that had the majority of my running gear in it! Oh the horror. I thought I was being all smart before by packing my running stuff in one bag so I didn't have to dig through my suitcase for each thing, but then of course that left one more bag to remember to put in the car. I guess with the nerves and trying to get the kids packed to go with Nana and Pap Pap for the weekend I totally spaced out. So, it was determined that Saturday morning was going to be spent shopping instead of conserving energy...what can you do?

Our dinner Friday night at Gordon Ramsey Steak was delicious!

 

We followed dinner with the Beatles LOVE Cirque show at The Mirage. We enjoyed that too. We met up with my best friend then at the Cosmopolitan for drinks (I had one drink!) This was my designated "fun" night out before conserving, and it was fun indeed! :)

 

We woke up Saturday morning and shopped for my gear-I'm happy to report we found 95% of the stuff I left home. With exception of Snicker marathon bars (a protein bar) and my Sportband (that tracks my miles), I had bought new clothes, anti-chafe cream, a fuel belt, etc. We hopped over to my running expo to get my racing bib and met everyone for lunch. After our busy morning, I REALLY wanted to conserve my legs. Josh and I saw a movie that afternoon so I could sit and then we met everyone up for dinner. That night in particular it was all about fuel,fuel,fuel! I stuffed myself with as many carbs as I could (to give my muscles energy). We went to an Italian place so I could feast on bread and pasta.

 

Until about 1pm on Sunday, I just sat around at my sister's condo until it was time to get ready and head down to the strip (the race didn't start until 3pm).

 

Me and sissy by the start line

 

With my best friend and her hubby

 

In my corral, anxiously waiting to start!

 

I was pretty anxious/nervous of course going in to starting. There was some windy gusts that day, so running in the headwind wasn't any fun (which my first mile was). Wasn't a good way to begin :)

 

Bye guys! Heading in to mile 2.

 

By mile 3 I was over my capri's- so I rolled them up into shorts. The first six miles were for sure the best- the actual running down the strip. There were so many people on the sidelines hooting and hollering. It was motivating, and well that was the best scenery of the race too.

 

I concentrated on trying to get to mile 13 by the cut off point before runners would get diverted (so that some strip points could be re-opened). It was hard to know because I wasn't able to track miles (and miles weren't always posted) and I didn' t really know how much time had passed. I bought a watch with a timer but the watch would re-set itself...

 

Hubby and my sister with her husband were to meet me at mile 13 so that they could re-fuel me.

 

I'm coming and I don't want this jacket!

 

Ok, what stuff do I need/ need to leave off...

 

Yes sissy hydration is important

 

I made it through the first half just fine- I even had a personal best time for my half marathon (13 miles). The second half, however, was not too shockingly more difficult. No, I didn't run the whole thing. When I felt a cramp coming on, I stopped to drink a bunch of Gatorade and tried to walk as fast as I could. With each medical station I passed,however, I had them spray me with pain meds on my calves/knees/lower back which helped numb the area, and then I ran some more.

 

So it took me a little over five hours, but I completed my first full marathon, uninjured! :) I'm very happy I didn't pull any muscles or anything else. Just sore.

 

 

 

 

At least with the cold weather I didn't feel a drop of sweat. I didn't feel cold until I was done. It was so nice not to sweat for a change, unlike here :p

 

I'm pretty happy with the end result. Having a new best half marathon time, completing my first marathon, not in as quite as much pain as I'd thought I'd be, no injuries...the endorphins are awesome. I'd like to attempt another marathon again, however, after I take a break from long distance running for a bit ;) I'm ready to do smaller runs and other workouts without having to devote hours to training each week.

 

We came back home the following day. I'm giving myself the week off from exercise, that is before my next 5k over the weekend :) Good times, and I'm so thankful to everyone who came out to support me and all the well wishes/congratulations I have received!

The Many Days of Christmas

We're a fast moving family. We had a nice Thanksgiving, we went over everything we were thankful for...then bam! On to Christmas. A little while ago I had an idea of wanting to do an advent sort of calendar/countdown to Christmas with Nate. Now that he's for sure at an age where he can appreciate the holiday, understand what's happening all around him, I thought it would be a good time to incorporate activities/books/crafts, etc in our countdown to Christmas. It goes something like this :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, I tried to coordinate books with crafts and shows/movies along the same theme of the day (some with "special" holiday outings or activities). We try to stay busy and quiet during Aaron's nap in the afternoon so I thought this would be a great idea. Each day has Christmas themed worksheets to do and a cotton ball to put on our Santa beard countdown (below) :

 

 

 

Each morning/afternoon he'll unwrap the day's "agenda" taped to a different Christmas book. We're beginning our countdown tomorrow :)

 

By weekend's end I expect all our holiday decorations will be up. We've already started- Eddie the Elf has made his arrival -

 

and after receiving our cute pumpkin light for Halloween , I thought we needed a Frosty one this season -

 

Trying to stay a little ahead before we're away from home next weekend. The holiday will really creep up on us fast!

 

18 Months!

Aaron is hitting the 1.5 yr old mark this weekend. Wow. Before I know it, my youngin' will be two!
:(

At 18 months, Mr Aaron is....

--Pretty much just as active as his older brother. Sure, maybe he's not tall enough for some play structures to do himself, but he tries! He can slide down small slides himself. We're so happy our weather has cooled down to start enjoying the park and the zoo!

--Generally is a little bird snacker, but is open to a lot of foods. His favorite is strawberries, or as he says, "barbies" (that's what it sounds like to us!) He tries to eat things off our plates, which isn't a bad thing. I want him to be open to trying all kinds of food compared to Nate.

Eating pretzels, one of his favorite snacks.

 

--LOVES to play with cars and trains. Nate wasn't ever into those things that young, but then again I don't think we had any of those yet. Bless his little heart-Aaron does well entertaining himself. When I go to check on him, he's usually playing with some cars or trains.

 

--On the same sort of note, Aaron continues to enjoy baths and now likes to run around with his hoodie towel on for a bit before PJ's. Silly boy. Oh, and he likes a good pose in the mirror too ;)

 

--Tries to repeat any words you tell him. He knows a lot of food vocabulary in particular (that's my boy!)

 

It's going to be a fun holiday season. Aaron is in love already with the Christmas light displays/Christmas trees that are lit. Now the real question will be how everyone will do with Santa this year...

 

Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's two weeks away. I'm very thankful for the men in my life :)

 

 

Just Keep Running...

I don't recall if I've mentioned this on my blog yet or not, but over the last several months I have been doing quite a bit of running. Why you ask? I'm turning the big 3-0 in almost another month, and I thought it would be neat to run almost thirty miles as a little present to myself (in other words, I'm training for my first ever MARATHON!) I've done a few half marathons and felt that I wanted an additional little challenge-ok, a pretty huge challenge - and to show myself that with determination and hard work I could reach something I never thought possible.

So, in a little less than a month, hubby and I (and my sister, her husband and my good friend and her hubby) will be traveling to Vegas for my race. I'm super excited for my night marathon there and to have my family and friends to support me along the way.

 

In typical Vegas fashion, I do plan to mix a bit of fun with business ;) Well...I have to be careful not to have too much fun, I need sleep for my race!

 

It is most certainly going to be extremely challenging. At first I tried to stick to a training schedule (running four days a week), but it became too much. I determined my body didn't perform well running consecutive days and of course trying to juggle training around the kids' and hubby's schedule has been difficult. I try to run/do other workouts during the week a few times and do one long run on the weekend.

 

I just completed a half marathon today!

 

I'm pretty sore, so it makes me nervous how much pain I'll be in later. I really only have one more long run left before I should start tapering them off to save my legs. I think I'll need hubby to slyly hand over some rollerblades halfway!

 

Now you know what I'll be up to over the next few weeks-running! Practice, practice, practice.

 

Halloween

The kids had a great evening Trick or Treating. Nate's poor little face was plastered to the window the whole day, watching and waiting for the sun to go down. Finally, it did! :) With hubby out of town, I had my sister and her husband and my parents over to help go out with me. Aaron even walked most of the way and liked looking at all the different decorations.

Before school

 

Scary!

 

Ready to go

The "Cat in The Hat" family! Coudln't get Aaron to wear his hat.

Checking out the loot

 

Now we're already onto Thanksgiving activities. Busy is our middle name around here!