Slumber party

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This is where the kids are sleeping tonight.  It's totally their idea.  I think it's a fabulous idea. They've been getting closer lately.  Getting along better, playing together a lot.  I think the fact that they want to sleep together is wonderful.  I just wonder if the reality will play out the way the think it will.

It will either go really, really well, or it will be a night of hell.  Wish me luck.

UPDATE:  The slumber party went astonishingly well!  Not only did both kids sleep all night, but they even got up in the morning & tippy-toed past my door to go watch cartoons.  I got an extra half hour of quiet in bed!  Awesome.  Of course, it was too good to last.  We tried it again the next night and it lasted all of two minutes before there was screaming and Z needed to be removed to her own room.  Oh well.  Maybe we'll try it again in another week or so!

See J run: an update

I haven't talked much about running lately.  Or much about anything actually (bad blogger!).  But I'm coming back from a nagging injury, have acquired a new nagging injury, yet am loving my spring runs.

I signed up for a race series last fall -- three races between December and February -- just to give myself a reason to keep running through the winter.  It worked.  I even bought a three-month pass to the rec center near my office so I could run on a treadmill on those days when the temperature was in the single digits.  I ran in the worst possible weather -- wind, sleet, freezing cold.  I ran on streets when the trails were too muddy or icy.  I took running gear with me when I traveled for business, and found great runs all over the country and hit the treadmill in a few hotel gyms.  I was the Energ!zer Bunny -- I kept going and going and going.

Race #1 went great.  It was my first race ever, and I finished faster than I expected to, which really got me excited.

Then I got hurt.  I'm not even sure exactly what I did, but my medial hamstring hurt like a mother for weeks.  I ended up skipping race #2.  I quit running for about ten days, but it didn't seem to make all that much difference, so I started back slowly.  That didn't make it any worse, so I kept going.

Race #3 was even more fun than the first!  Once gain, I finished faster than I expected to (although I'm sure my time would have been even better if I hadn't taken off those 10 days in January).

Unfortunately, while the hamstring has been feeling better & better, now my right ankle hurts.  I gave it a two-day break, but it hurt again after the very next run.  I'm going to keep going as long as it doesn't get worse.  If it does, I guess I'll go to the doctor.  I am resisting this, because I know the first thing she will say is that I have to stop running for awhile.  I don't want to!

So now I've finished my race series, and rather than be left without goals, I've come up with some new ones:

Mother's Day -- I'm running a 9K.  An odd distance, I know, and it will be a bummer not to have a 10K PR to work off of.  But it should be a fun race -- all women -- and there's a kids' race before it for the monkeys.  B is already psyched for it and has been doing some backyard training.

September -- I'm either going to do a half-marathon, or a full marathon.  I haven't decided which yet; it'll depend on how many miles I am able to get in over the spring.  I have to decide which race to enter by May 31.

Thanks Banana!

B's school held a fundraiser recently, and their Nana won a four-pack of Hammond's lollipops in the door prize drawing.  The kids didn't think Nana needed lollipops so much, so they came up with the idea that they should persuade her to give the lollipops to them, and in return they'd send her some art work.  She fell for it (she's kind of a pushover when it comes to the grandkids!), and here's B enjoying his lolli after lunch today:

Pancakes with chopsticks

Isn't that how you eat pancakes?  With chopsticks?  Oh.  Maybe it's only done with chocolate chip pancakes then.

B found these on our walk this morning. He brought them home and very artfully arranged them in a bowl of water "to make the house more beautiful."

This is Z with my cousin Ali. She was in Vail for a few days, so the kids and I drove up to have dinner with her last night. We only manage to see each other once every couple of years, so it was a treat. In this picture, Z is playing games on the phone. She also figured out how to get online and then started making calls to China.


This is the only picture I got of B while we were in Vail. He wouldn't sit still long enough for me to take a picture. He wasn't even really still in this one! I'm mainly including it here because I can't get enough of his toothless grin.

Birds & the bees

B: Daddy, look what Kenai and Josie are doing!

[M looks out the dining room window to see Kenai vigorously humping Josie in the backyard.]

M: Uuuuuhhhhhhhhh..... [imagining B explaining how dogs do the nasty to his kindergarten friends]

B: Josie is trying to give Kenai a piggy-back ride!

M: Yes, yes she is. [audible sigh of relief]

Hoppy Easter!

I'm sure my Christian friends will be disappointed (yet not surprised) to read this, but Easter is ALL ABOUT THE CANDY in this house. Easter has hands-down the best candy of the year, and I get very excited and a little out of control when I go shopping for it. But oh! So yummy.

I'm not really sure why, but this is what happened when M asked Z to say "cheese." Probably she was too focused on all the candy to be able to summon a real smile. Or maybe that's a defensive smile; she thought he was going to take her candy and replace it with cheese.

And for some reason, both kids gave us pirate smiles this morning:

The best part of the morning though? B was so kind to his little sister. He helped her find eggs, and even gave her some of his. That's right, B shared with Z. It's an Easter miracle.

Play date

Lucky B got to spend the morning with his best bud from school. We tried to meet at a park, but the wind was blowing hard & cold, so we gave that up after about two minutes and headed to the friend's house.

B's going to spend the whole summer with this friend -- his mom is going to watch B while M & I are working.  "Watch" is an understatement -- she's got lots of nannying experience & works in the boys' classroom at school, and has planned the summer with a lot of care.  They're going to have a blast!  And I'm happy that B will have a "real" summer instead of going to camp at the school.  That just seems like a variation on more school to me.  Z will stay at her preschool for the summer (more fun than "school" every day of the year!).

By the way, B's friend lost that tooth on the very same day that B lost the first of his two top teeth. It happened at school for both of them. B lost his second tooth at my mom & dad's house last Tuesday (corn on the cob for dinner did the trick!), but his bud is hanging onto the second one for now.