Run like a mother

I ran a 10K race this morning.  Good times, aside from my back going into a spasm in the last mile, which somehow caused my groin muscle to also spasm.  That felt good.  But it was only a mile, so I survived.  I may not be able to walk tomorrow, but who needs to walk?

The kids ran races too.  There was a 50-yard dash for two & three year-olds, and a slightly longer dash for 6-8 year-olds.  They even got to wear numbers!  They've been very excited about racing for weeks now, and B has been regularly going out in the back yard to train -- running as fast as he can back and forth across the yard.  I was a little worried about Z -- she's not super-fond of loud noises and big crowds, and I was afraid that she wouldn't want to run a race all by herself.  Well, I worried for nothing!  She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, and you should've seen her face when she finished -- she was so proud I thought she was going to explode!  Here we are after her race:

Here's B's race just taking off at the starting line:

And here he is mid-race (he's right on the double-yellow line in the center of the picture, wearing a long-sleeved black top and gray shorts):

And here he is coming in for a strong finish:

Here's me coming into the finish in my race (I'm #1012):

And me with my B right after the finish:

I'm pretty happy with how I ran, considering that I really made zero effort to train for this race.  I've been trying to recover from multiple injuries for the past four months, and just haven't been putting in many miles.  But my time is annoying me a little -- 1:01.  So close to being under an hour!  I know myself well enough to know that by the end of this coming week, I'll have found another 10K to run in a month or so, so I can finish in under an hour.  I'm an addict.

Z took this picture of M while I was running - I love it b/c it looks exactly like what a girl's-eye view of her daddy must look like:

After the race we headed to my parents' house for a picnic lunch with them and my brother and his wife. I'm afraid I somehow didn't take any pictures while we were there. But after lunch, while M & Z were napping (I KNOW!  It doesn't seem right that I ran a race, but M got to nap, does it?!), B and I went to The Best Park Ever. I snapped a couple pictures of him there:

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Check out B's new haircut -- yep, I finally convinced him to get it cut. I told him it was either that or let me wash & comb it more often. He went with the haircut to avoid that!

And an evening wagon ride around the neighborhood is a great thing to do on a spring day! It's certainly better than staying cooped up in the house with tired kids.

Valentines

My dad sent me these this morning. The first is a valentine card sent in 1906 by my great-grandfather Vivion to my great-grandmother Josie. The other is their wedding picture. Sweet, huh?

Popcorn!

Cheap date

Yesterday afternoon I needed to return a couple things at the outlet mall, so all four of us went. As we were strolling from one store to the next, a childcare place caught our eye. Our kids begged and begged to be allowed to go in (they had good toys), and once we discovered their rate was $5/hour for two kids on Saturday nights, we agreed. They even fed them dinner! M and I went to a restaurant at the other end of the mall that had half-price appetizers & drink discounts for happy hour. We shared a plate of calamari & a small pizza, and each had a couple drinks. So for under $50 including childcare, we had date night. At the outlet mall! I'm not proud of that last part, but for $50, you really can't beat it.

Friends

The more time goes by, the better B & Z get along with one another. I'm not saying it's perfect -- they are still brother & sister and spats are inevitable -- but they play together much more than they did a year ago, and there are way fewer instances of sibling abuse. B is no longer looking for opportunities to get rid of her, and actually seems to like her most of the time. Z thinks B hung the moon.

I do have to disclose, however, that just about half an hour ago, Z somehow managed to bite B on the chest in the middle of what seemed like a happy game of ring-around-the-rosies. She bit him hard, so hard that it broke the skin. I hope this doesn't lead to antibiotics...Oh yeah, and see that little scab on Z's chin in the photo? That's where B scratched her.

So no, it's not perfect, but they are doing so much better than they were. Anyway, perfection would be boring, wouldn't it?

Twinnalicious

Aren't they just adorable?! It's hard to believe that B was once that tiny. These little guys are almost exactly the same size he was when he was born.

Andrew Tyler was born at 9:55am this morning, and was followed a minute later by his identical twin Samuel Steuart. Both little monkeys are doing well from what I hear, as is my sister. I can't wait to get out there next month and hug them and squeeze them and smell their sweet baby smell!

Happiness

Random pictures

These were taken in January & February, and I just never got around to posting them until now.

Riding bikes on a Sunday afternoon:



Giddyup Mommy:

My family, then & now

December 1988 - My brother, my mom, my sister, my dad, and me (feel free to make fun of my hair)

December 2008 - Same people, same place

December 2008 - same crew, plus spouses and kids (my brother's step-kids are missing though)

J's annual family Christmas party, v.1

B and my aunt Carolyn (aka "Aunt Fluffy") play Christmas carols together. She couldn't find sheet music for "Rudolph," so she played it by ear and did it perfectly, even with a cast on one arm. Impressive!

My grandpa, Poppy

My mom & dad and my dad's brother Chuck (he's the one on the left)

B & his cousin Sophie

Now it's Z's turn to "help" play Christmas carols on the piano

B & his cousin Tea in a pillow fight

Me & my monkeys before we left for the party

Osama bin Lulu, the terrorist cat

A trip to DC

I had to go to Washington DC last week for work. I got to have dinner with my little sister & her husband while I was there. She moved to the DC area seven or eight years ago, and I don't get to see her that often anymore. Here we are at dinner last Friday:




I left the redeye unchanged to give a little thrill to the whack-jobs out there. Oh, you know who you are. You people who say you feel sorry for my kids because they're being raised by a liberal (and you call ME fanatical?). I can just hear them now, as they look at these pictures: "[GASP!] You can tell they're liberals (said with scorn and a touch of fear) -- the evil shows through! Just look at how their eyes glow! [shiver]"

Not really. My copy of photoshop is ancient & doesn't have an automatic redeye reducer, and I just didn't have time to fix it. But the first explanation is funnier, so I'm going to stick with that.

Indian summer

We now take a brief pause in the political rantings to look at cute pictures of the kids:

Pure joy

Bike girl & her dad

Wheee!

Silly kids

Those are legos clutched in B's hands

"Ears"

Pictures from my mom

Family picture, taken two weeks ago when we dropped B off to camp with my parents for a couple days:



B doing his # 1 favorite thing in the whole wide world, climbing rocks (OK, maybe rock-climbing would come in second to eating candy):



Miss Z with her parents, also at the beginning of the camping trip:



Z and her dad, taken at my aunt & uncle's house a month or so ago:

How cute are they?

This is my little sister & her fiance. They're getting married on August 2. Seriously, they look very happy, don't they?

Family picture

One more picture from the wedding last weekend (that's me with the man-hair):

Family Christmas picture