Is it Monday yet?

I keep waiting for Monday.

Thursday came and they started talking about the snow, which mattered little because my dear, sweet husband and I were away celebrating our 8th anniversary.
(Thank you Grandmom and Pop-Pop!!)

As an aside... Melting Pot & The Borgota..'nuff said!

Friday came and the snow started.



Saturday came and we had to miss my highlight of the year,
the Annual Family Christmas Party.

Because of the snow.

Sunday came and church was canceled.

Because of all the snow.

Monday came and school was canceled.

Still, the snow.


I feel like I've been living in this perpetual weekend slump.
I don't really like snow.




Once a winter I'll take a few inches, for the kids.
I find 24" to be overwhelming and a bit oppressive.
I'm considering using my hairdryer in an effort to start melting the mountains of snow.

Good thing: The Little People loved it a TON.
Bad thing: I'm pretending it is gone now. I've washed all their snow gear and put it away until next winter.

In five takes I can answer the ?

Why my camera will never realize its full potential?
In one word:
Leah.

Take #1

Take #2



Take #3



Take #4



Take #5

"The Tree"

Josh picked it out.
Seriously.
All on his own.

We were wandering the tree lot when he ran ahead and found it. "The Tree"! He was so excited that we said yes without seeing it (or the price tag).

He picked a great one, under budget.

THAT is my boy.

Then we decorated.
Post-Leah: We have six ornaments awaiting repair.

THAT is my girl.

My girl also had a strong preference for decorating the two lowest branches.
(And, yes, I moved them all when she was napping.)
Because "I" am still "me".

Cousins..

are our favorite, whether near or far.

Anxiously awaiting spring...

while I realize winter has barely started and just last week we spent all day outside sloshing in the puddles in t-shirts, my pre-winter panic is setting in.

I'm coming to grips with the facts that we're about to be stuck inside most days. This week we haven't gotten out much and Josh has already taken to sprinting laps from the living room to dining room for an hour at a time, all while bouncing off furniture, walls and people.

Which brings me to how I found him watching TV tonight.

And brings me to believe that this winter the bounce house and our kid gym membership will be well worth every shiny penny. As will the 400 count bottle of tylenol I bought this week.

Josh, on the topic of girls.

Josh has recently become this articulate young man who has this knack for saying things.

Things that leave me sometimes mortified, sometimes proud and often laughing.

On the topic of playing with girls, particularly Amelie, who he has grown up with and drives to PK with a few days a week.

Me: Josh, we have lots of friends that are boys AND girls and can play with them all.

Josh: Who?

Me: Aiden, Hannah, Jack, Amelie, Jessie...

Josh: I will tell you this. I LOVE Amelie, but I will not play with her. Because she is a girl.

I'm thinking very hard...

about blogging again soon.

But, as far as ACTUALLY getting around to it?

Not so much.

Sigh.

The Macy's Day Parade..

from the best seat of the house.

Have a fantastic day with your families and friends.

Eat lots of food.
Get up and go for a run tomorrow.
Or at least a good walk.

Psalm 100

A Thanksgiving Psalm

^1-2 On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.

³ Know this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn't make him.
We're his people, his well-tended sheep.

⁴ Enter with the password: "Thank you!"
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.

⁵ For God is sheer beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.

Honestly?

Blog tags make my heart happy because they give me something to ramble about.

Jill, of Daily Verses, made me do it.

10 Honest Things:

1. I love preschool for many reasons. Josh is thriving, he has fun and Leah and I get some time with just us. Mostly, though, I enjoy the "break" a few hours a week and am VERY much looking forward to next year when both kids will spend several hours a week in someone else's care.

Ironically...

2. One of the primary reasons I want to homeschool Josh (and Leah, and the Tiebreaker) for a few years is because I love being free to travel when we want. I have no desire to follow a "school calendar" for schedule.

3. I watch too much TV.

4. I don't read as much as I used to, unless you count books made out of board or the never ending chronicles of "Thomas".

5. I drink my whipped cream with a side of hot chocolate. I generally just sit there with the can and refill my cup after each sip. Sadly, I'm not allowed to do that at the coffee shop.

6. I love driving a minivan and I don't care if that makes me a dork.

7. I can't wait for "New Moon" and will probably hire a babysitter so I can go see it during the daytime when all the obnoxious gaggles of teen girls are in algebra. (No offense, Bry & Britt.)

8. I'm pretty much hungry all.the.time.

9. Leah has learned a dirty little habit from me: licking loads of peanut butter off a spoon every chance she gets. If I leave our vat of pbutter out, she'll drag the stool over to the silverware drawer, get a utensil, drag the stool over to the counter and DIG IN. I'm kind of proud.

10. This post took me about five days to put together because I think I've developed late on-set, adult ADD.

Jockey's Ridge

We hit Jockey's Ridge state park for the first time with the kids.

Note:
1. Jockey's Ridge has the tallest dunes on the east coast.
1. Josh LOVED it.
2. We hiked all the peaks.
3. We did it the day after the half-marathon.
4. I'm pregnant.
5. Leah "hiked" most of it in the mei-tai on my back.
6. I'm pregnant.
7. We did it the day after the half-marathon.
8. Josh was the fastest and rolling down was his favorite.
9. I'm pregnant, so I did not roll down.
10. Al hiked too, taking the pictures and catching random kids as they fell back down.

Uncle Frank & Leah

I can't quite describe..

fall on the OBX.

Honestly, better than summer.

It is like no one knows how great it is there, so no one is around. It is extra quiet. There isn't much traffic. No waiting at restaurants. Go to a store and there are a half dozen people ready to help you.

Being on the beach when it is too cold to swim, but perfect enough to kick off your shoes and put you toes in..

is blissful.

Oh, and I had in my mind that I could pull of our Christmas picture down here.

230 pictures later?

I've got a lot of cute kids that are kind of blurry, smiling way too cheesy, looking away from the camera or just plain being weird.

Cute smile, looking away from camera

Kind of cute smile while looking away, kid being weird

And, no matter the weather, Josh can't resist the water.

And, absolutely cute, just because!

Half-Marathon?

CHECK!

I set a very modest, measly time goal because I knew I wasn't in near ideal shape.
2:30 was my "I'm pregnant now" goal.

Goal Accomplished
*2:24, about an 11 minute pace*
(By the way, goals are VERY easy to meet when you set them AS you run the race. Ha!)

Apparently the fetus has trounced my running times, because I *was* training at about 9 minutes and racing at 8:15.

Oh well.

I LOVED it and have found two new obsessions this season:
Triathlons and Half-Marathons.

Oh, and registration for the 2010 OBX Half/Full Marathon opens NEXT WEEK!

As this posts...

I'm likely...

slowly, for the next couple a hours, give or take an hour.
(And why didn't I find this t-shirt until a few days before the race??)

And, when I cross the finish line, along with the other novice peons, after the pros and elites have collected their mega-bucks, hugged their trophies, went home, showered, ate a meal, took a nap, read a novel and ate another meal.... I'll have done a race I swore I'd NEVER do.


I also swore I'd NEVER do a marathon. Hmm.....

Be still, my heart..

all those tuition dollars must be paying off.




And, apparently I'm not such a bad mom, either.
Yes, my little emergent reader did this on his own.
Then he took off mom and put up Leah.
Because he is charming like that.

Had I known...

when I signed up to run a half-marathon to top off my best fitness summer ever, that I would end up training through the first trimester of my most morning sick-yest pregnancy yet, I might not have signed up.


But, I did.


So, I trained.


I'm slow.


Not near the shape I want to be.

But, gosh darnit, tomorrow morning we're loading up the kids and driving to OBX to visit with family and run a half-marathon.

My goals:

finish
be alive at finish
finish before nightfall
(And, since the race starts at 7am, this might be doable.)

He had but one question..

upon learning he will be a big brother again.

"Will Leah stay?"

1. I'm not kidding.

2. After falling over laughing and explaining that we are a family and everyone stays, he replied, "okay, good, because she is my friend."

3. Whew.

My Family

The Dad, Al

The Mom, Megan



The Son, Joshua




The Daughter, Leah




The Tiebreaker, TBA

Shh....

Don't tell them, but all the candy is behind the iPod thinger on the fridge.
Also, don't tell them that while they were only allowed to have one treat, I had candy for dinner.
(Candy for dinner: STELLAR part of my training program for the OBX half-marathon!)





The inevitable post-sugar crash

I have just about had it...

with this,



and this.




Thankfully, these two are lovable, precious and cute no matter how miserable, snotty or gross they happen to be.

The Obligatory "Pumpkin" Post

Its that time of year when all the classrooms across the region flock to the local farms for the "pumpkin picking-hayriding-cider sipping" field trip and Josh was not exempt.

He loved it, named his pumpkin "Wagon" (don't ask) and got us thoroughly misdirected in the corn maze.

Good fun had by all!