2014: A Year In Review (Part 3) - November

I wish that I could remember more about November.  

I know Thanksgiving was tasty. 

I chopped my hair off again.

We played and ate and played some more.

 We saw the new baby orangutan at the zoo. One of my favorite parts was having the kids watch the baby start to nurse. They know all about Mommy Milk.

We did some gardening and dirt digging.

 

We made silly faces.

Paul and I ran another race together, the Color Me Rad 5k.  His two sisters and brother-in-law joined us too.

On our way to the race.  I won this amazing Embrace the Hill sweatshirt from a running blog I follow.  It is my new favorite sweatshirt. I did not wear it during the color run.  This is one of the defining moments of when I new I was a runner.  I had just run 7 miles that morning and was about to run 3 more!

 

We took another trip up north to our friends' cabin.  The boys love it there. Paul love it there. I love it there.

They were also introduced to Super Smash Brothers there.

E took a trip to the Mesa Museum for Youth. They did some really great activities with the kids and learned all about bugs.

E also finished his soccer season.  He did AWESOME!

We watched the Jolly Roger magician at cousin Ben's birthday party.  E and G were in awe.

 G drew a self portrait.  I think it's quite accurate.  I love it.

We played a lot in many hideouts. In this one they were watching a "movie".

We also took a trip to urgent care for some ear infections.  (In hindsight, it was the beginning of many, many doctors visits we would be taking in the next 5 months.)

2014: A Year in Review (Part 2) - October

Well, we made it through the first few months of school and fall break!  Halloween crept up on us as usual this year. Luckily, E was pretty good about keeping us on track because he knew EXACTLY what he wanted to be.  We were able to find his Transformer costume at Costco for $15!  G decided he wanted to be the Orange Monster from last year.

The boys had their annual costume parade at school.  G wanted NOTHING to do with it.  I tried to coax him into just wearing his jacket.  But when G decides he does/doesn't want to do something, he sticks to it.  So this year he ended up just watching his classmate.

E loved the parade.  It's fun to see how the outgoing side of his personality is appearing more and more throughout his kindergarten year.

We also did our annual October traditions: carving pumpkins and visiting Schnepf Farms.

With our neighbor, Naoto, ready to trick-or-treat.

G finally decided to wear the monster jacket!

Our pumpkins!

Making spiders out of pipe cleaners and play-doh.

E started soccer this fall, too.

Dinner and drawing at our favorite pizza joint, Florencia.

Schnepf Farms with the cousins.

I love kindergarten work.

I love preschool work too! It's a bat hat!

E took a field trip riding the city bus to go get ice cream.  Now that's *my* kind of field trip.

2014: A Year in Review (Part 1)

Continuing with recent tradition, I've decided to finally stop procrastinating and post about the end of our 2014.

But first, let's go back to the fact that I never posted about our family vacation to San Diego back in June of 2014.

We took the boys to the beach and stayed at our favorite place, the Catamaran Resort.  It's a block away from the beach and right along the bay. We watched Hula dancers, E swam in the bay, gathered little crabs from the ocean, ate a lot, and played to our hearts content.

We also took the boys to Legoland.  The last time we went was two years prior, so I was pretty new for Grayson.  We talked to both of them about what we did and saw the first time, which made them pretty excited to see some of the same sights.

The helicopter ride was a hit again this year!

As was the fire show.

Our plan worked.  They were tuckered out and ready to go home! Another successful family vacation in the books!

First Cavity and Filling

Last Wednesday, I took the boys to the dentist for a cleaning. E has been three times now, and although this was G's second visit, it was his first time getting any work done.

E did fabulous, as he always has.

G was a bit skeptical, but the dentist finally convinced him to sit in order to get a prize. He was able to do a quick cleaning by scraping his teeth a bit.

Well, today, E had to get a small filling for the cavity that was found.

He was so brave today.

Our dentist gave him two options, one with a shot and one without. He opted for the one without.

The dentist was done in about 5 minutes and E said it didn't just. As soon as he sat up, he started to cry. All that nervous energy was finally able to come out.

I'm so proud of how brave he was!

I'm a Runner

Last Christmas, I decided to get back out an exercise. I started running through our neighborhood and using the Couch to 5k program. I was able to stay on top of workouts because Paul was home and could watch the boys while I was out.

We ran the Run for Ryan House 5k in May of this year as my goal after the 9 week program. I ran it in 35:53. In the rain. I felt so proud of myself. I was also happy that I could share this experience with Paul, since he ran it with me.

Shortly after the race, I got sick and fell off the running wagon. It took me until June to get into running consistently a few tines a week. I started to train for a 10k with another training program that was 14 weeks long. Halfway through the training, I registered for the Esprit de She 10k sponsored by Athleta.

Just 4 weeks before the race, I developed Achilles tendonitis and had to stop running. I wasn't sure how long it would take to heal, but I was out running again after two weeks. That means I had to work up to the 10k in two weeks less time.

My friend, Shannon, and SIL, Brighid, ran with me. Shannon and I finished in 01:01:04. I was amazed that I beat my goal of finishing around the one hour & ten minute mark.

Me and Shannon

My cool, cool SIL, Brighid.

My mom and dad came to cheer me on.  This was the sign they made!

Now, I am training for 15k in December. I've finished the 3rd week of a half marathon training program. If all goes well, I have a *small* goal of running game half marathon in January. It would be amazing, but I'd like to get through the 15k first!

It's pretty amazing to know that I'm the person I always hoped to be. Every time I'd see someone running I'd wish that was me. I've finally taken the time to get myself out there and do this it.

I feel so good after my runs and I've developed some pretty amazing calves, too!

I Hope They'll Say These Forever

I love hearing my kids use words and sayings that are just "not quite right". Someday they'll say it right, but for now, I'm going to let it slide because its too cute.

E:
- Hecacocker (helicopter)
- Ambliance (ambulance)
-Octopus Prime (optimus prime)

G:
- Just Choking (just joking)
- Bawiwa (vanilla)
- Perry Chicker (cherry picker)
- Chicken Nugs (chicken nuggets)
- Shawshis (sausage)

- Deshishun (decision)