Another Race! This time was just a four miler on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. My fastest pace yet. Amy and our two youngest came out to see me finish, and my stepsisters Kim and Kelly, niece Vienne, and their mom and stepdad were out cheering me on at mile number one. It was great having them all there for support. Here are a few pictures.
At the starting line.
Our two youngest, Jenna and Ryan, waiting at the finish.
Approaching the finish.
Less than 30 minutes, baby!
The last 7 months I have become something of a running fanatic. I’ve really started exercising and eating right this year after letting myself go for far too long. I’ve dropped a lot of weight, and I’ve been feeling really good. And I’ve conditioned myself to run some serious mileage. On my recent trip to San Francisco, I was reading a running magazine on the plane, and I saw a half marathon advertised for the coming Sunday. Thinking about running in San Francisco and the pride of completing my first half marathon, I decided to go for it. And I finished! My time was 2 hours 6 minutes 32 seconds. It was so awesome. The scenery was incredible. We ran some hills and across the Golden Gate Bridge twice. The last stretch was along the water with the waves crashing just yards away. It was an experience I will never forget. Here’s a photo of me a couple of miles from the finish. What a sweaty freak!
I have been saying for MONTHS now that I needed recent pictures of my kids. But if any of you out there are like me…getting ready for family pictures, even just pictures of the kids… is on the bottom of my list of *fun things to do*. Frankly, I hate it. I hate all the prep that goes into it…the matching of clothes, doing of hair, ironing of clothes…all of it. Inevitably, something happens that drives me crazy and really makes it hard for me to enjoy the picture taking process. Now, I LOVE taking the pictures. But being in them, or getting ready for them…eek. Not so much.
So a few weeks ago, I decided to go against the grain. The kids were all outside playing. Well, Austin is 16, and he was out working on his truck, so we will consider that playing. I decided at that moment to go into the house, get a camera, and shoot the pictures. I didn’t care about dirt in the hair, about stains on their jeans, or if their teeth weren’t brushed 5 minutes before the smiles began. Although I did have to tell our daughter to go put something else on…the child loves designs and patterns in her clothes…and it doesn’t work well for photos. More on that later…
My point being – The kids didn’t have to be spotless, I didn’t have to have crazy high expectations…we just had fun. Yes, the pictures *could* be better. But at least the granparents won’t be talking about the shoemaker’s kids and no shoes!! At least my children enjoyed it…well two of them did anyway…and I accomplished my goal. I have RECENT pictures of our kids! And the grandparents that live in Florida will have proof that they do indeed have grandchildren. That is, when we take the time to actually send them the pictures…
…kids…
Austin
Jenna
Ryan
Now. Remember that I said there was more to the story? This is actually an outtake from the shoot..but I have to show it. Jenna had a friend over to play, and I asked her to go inside and put something that was brown and plain on. As in all one color. She picked out clothes for her, and also for her friend…so they could get pictures together. Man, I love that girl. She has the best heart and best of intentions. But I think she will need some guidance for future portrait clothing choices.
I shall call this picture *What not to Wear to your Photo Shoot*
We have just added a new kitty to our family! I rescued some kittens from our garbage can about two weeks ago. There were two kittens, but we have found a great home for the one the kids and I named Charlie. We decided to keep Lucky, because I think I literally saved her life. When I found her she could not move…it took over an hour to get any movement or response other than the faintest, saddest meow. But she was a fighter and pulled through, and I’m a little bit attached to her…so we are going to keep her. (This coming from someone who, just a little over a year ago, didn’t think she was a cat person) She is the softest, fluffiest, cutest kitten, who LOVES to purr. I think she purrs if you just look at her! She is trying her best to become friends with her animal siblings, but I think we still have a long way to go with that.
Here are Charlie and Lucky about an hour after I pulled them from our trashcan.
Lucky, who was really looking good at this point…
Charlie
Here they about a week later!
Lucky. I mean…COME ON…how can you resist THESE eyes?
Charlie
The kids saying goodbye to Charlie
Lucky’s animal siblings…well, two of them at least. I can’t find a recent picture of our cat Polly.
Casey, who at this point is scared to death of the little furball we call Lucky.
Bennett, the best dog ever
Amy posting again…
Our youngest son Ryan turned 6 years old last week. SIX. years. old. How did that happen? How did those six years go by so quickly? The poor guy was sick on his birthday, and since he was home, he was able to help me decorate his birthday cake. Which I was very thankful for…I was planning on making the cake actually look like Lightning McQueen…and that meant a lot of time and a lot of work. He decided that he would rather have his actual cars on the cake. So he planned it out, and we decorated it. He’s a pretty creative guy.
The cake.
The birthday boy. Please ignore the messy sick face!
The birthday boy, celebrating at school, even if it was a few days late! Josh and I took cookies in to Ryan’s classroom for the kids.
Ryan, with a hug from a friend and behind him is the best kindergarten teacher in the WHOLE school, maybe even the whole WORLD. (or so he says)
