Preview of things to come

The kids were able to do a test-run with their Halloween costumes on Wednesday night. They wore them to the library for story-time. Noah loves his muscle-man spidey suit -- but the mask, not so much. At least I was able to grab a quick pic! I have to admit -- deep down I was hoping that Evelyn was going to pick a "cute" outfit like Minnie Mouse or Strawberry Shortcake... but the witch turned out pretty darn cute, too!! :)
We are all looking forward to Halloween!!!

In other news, this Sunday will be our second week of leading "Kids Church" during Mass. Travis and I volunteered to lead/teach a group of 12-20 three and four year olds every other weekend. It is a great ministry - and a nice way for the children to be introduced to the bible stories.

Travis also has a bunch of work travel coming up. I am not looking forward to the hectic schedule that brings for me... but -- I am going to try to make the best with what I can. Instead of being frustrated that I can't go to the gym or run outside... I am going to run intervals on the treadmill. Hopefully that will help with the boredom issues that I get with just maintaining pace.
I will not allow myself to get overly stressed, I will keep up with my work-outs, I will get enough sleep, and I will cut myself some slack on getting "everything" done.... I will try :)

Lesson in Productivity

Seriously -- this little guy is lucky that I think he is so darn cute!! He is going through another whiney/moody stage... and it is so exhausting! He did have a great time at the aquarium today though -- and wanted to get his picture taken on the sea otter :)

I had a pretty non-productive weekend until Sunday early evening came... once I started doing laundry and vacuuming, I got more motivated, and was able to get a lot more house stuff done. And -- I finally got motivated to go for a run, too. Even though I was running from 6:30-7:30 PM tonight, it was dark. I put on my reflective harness for safety - don't want to take any chances of drivers not seeing me :) I better get used to running in the dark -- that is going to happen a lot again over the next 4-5 months. Here I am post-run (colors changed on picnik site): It is amazing how much running changes my mood... I swear -- part of the reason why my Saturday/Sunday was so unproductive was because I missed out on my early Saturday morning run. I planned to go -- but the kids were up around 6:30ish (before I was able to sneak out the door) -- and I was kinda mad all morning that I didn't go... so dumb -- but that is the way it went. Note to self: avoid missing Saturday AM runs!

Tonight after my run -- totally re-energized and ready to take on the world again :)

Playing Catch-Up

Love vacation, hate the game of catch-up that always follows... got back from Michigan late Tuesday night, worked Wednesday through Friday... and finally was able to catch up and return life to our "normal" state over the weekend.

Running Stuff: Ran Thursday night on the treadmill while watching The Biggest Loser on Hulu. Ran 4 miles and walked 2. It was my first time watching tv while running on the treadmill. I set my laptop on a shelf in front of the treadmill and it worked perfectly. The only issue was headphones... I had a hard time wearing them without the cord swinging around and driving me nuts... or being too short and pulling on the computer. Without headphones, my speakers aren't loud enough to overcome the treadmill noise. I have little speakers that I used to use when I worked for Pfizer... I am going to try those out next time.

I met up with my new friend Sarah early on Saturday morning for a run. I just met her at my women's retreat... we hit it off really well, and this is our second run together since. We have a lot in common (midwest girls, Delta Zetas, two kids close in age, over-achievers, runners, etc) and I am so, so happy to have met her!

Here we are after the run (I look tired, huh?!)
I haven't decided what my next goal is going to be... thinking about Eugene in April. But -- the big question is... half or full?? I never though I would want to do a full... but I kinda do :) Half or full - what do you think?

Family Stuff: We had the Teichmans over for dinner on Saturday night. It was totally last minute... and we both had crazy/hectic days... but managed to get together and have a meal together :) The older kids (Noah, Lucy & Evelyn - see below) played really well together. The even hung out alone up in Evelyn's room for maybe 20 minutes before dinner -- without any fighting! Little Charlie was busy crawling around with us and following Cocoa around :)

Evelyn was still wearing her soccer clothes... and carrying around her water bottle. She only has one more week of soccer. She has definitely made progress. She no longer cries at practice or on the soccer field, she actually enjoys the practice part of it! The games are painful for me to watch though... She doesn't watch the ball or get involved. She kinda just aimlessly follows the other kids around. The only way she will kick the ball is if someone kicks it straight into her foot! My competitive side wants to just jump inside her little body and run around out there!! :) I am so proud of her though -- she has stuck with it, and gets better every week.

Back to the Mitten State

Family Stuff: We made the trek to Michigan last week -- it had been an entire year since my last visit -- we were long over-due!! Here are the kids on Tuesday night in the Seattle airport:

We took the red-eye flight - and the kids did great. They both slept maybe 3 hours of the 4 hour flight to Minneapolis... and then we had a 1.5 hour layover before our next flight. It was comical to see Noah try to function on 3 hours of sleep -- Travis and I couldn't help but laugh at him :) Both kids took a nice nap late Wednesday afternoon to make up for the lack of sleep the night before, and bounced back quickly.

I love our fall trips to Michigan... the weather is nice, leaves are starting to turn, plenty of opportunities to get dirty, we can visit pumpkin farms/apple orchards, etc. Here is Noah getting ready for his next ride on the 4-wheeler:Oh yeah -- and he also learned how to start it, too (and practically give his mother a heart attack at the same time!) Crazy story... that thankfully had a happy ending :)

Here is Evelyn on the John Deere:

The kids had a lot of fun driving this thing around. It took them a day to stop running into things and figure out how to steer... but thankfully there is a TON of open land at my parent's house... so they had a lot of room to roam around.

Here is Noah and my parent's Golden Retriever Titus. He is a cow!! Both kids were terrified of the high-energy "puppy" at first. Noah would scream, cry, and run away (which is weird, because both kids love dogs). As you can see, Noah had a new buddy by the end of the visit :)

Travis and I also spent a day in South Bend, Indiana for a Notre Dame football game. His parents came into town to visit my family and then go to the game with us, too.

Running Stuff: I managed to fit in a couple nice runs during the vacation. I enjoyed running down the old country roads where I grew up. Each "block" is a mile long though -- so when I decided to extend my run by one block.... I went from a 4 mile loop to a 6 mile loop!! :) The mornings were cool and misty... corn and bean fields on either side of the road... it was so peaceful and relaxing - a perfect start to the day!

When we returned to Seattle, the kids were so excited to see Cocoa again. They have grown really close to her lately -- and they wanted to give her extra special attention when we got home. They also have been asking me to take their picture with Cocoa practically every day!

Inspiration Found

I am WAY behind... so I am just going to talk about the most significant thing that has happened since my last post. A couple weekends ago, I attended a women's reTREAT in Kingston, WA put on by Beth Brewster (owner of Kingston Adventures). She is an amazing, inspirational female athlete who has done just about everything - including ironmans and ultraman competitions (6.2 mile swim, 261.4 mile bike, 52.4 mile run -- YIKES!!) -- and is really one of the coolest people you will ever meet. She held a 30 woman retreat that was filled with stand-up paddleboarding, yoga, trail running, lots of yummy food, crazy fun, and some really cool free swag!! (see shirts below - courtesy of Oiselle) I didn't know anyone that was going to be there. I seriously contemplated not going (but I had already gotten on the ferry at that point -- so there was no turning back!) ha ha But -- we all know that we just need to put ourselves out there sometimes... and I quickly made friends and knew that I wouldn't regret it from the moment that I walked through the door :)

The weekend was filled with challenging physical activities, and also goal-sharing, and talk about distractions and things that hold us back from achieving our goals, etc. It was really great to be around a group of strong, athletic women -- and to hear that we all deal with similar stresses, time-restraints, and fears... just a really empowering experience... hard to put into words..

Here we are on the paddleboards... yes, not only did we stand on them and paddle around, we also did a "boot-camp" workout... push-ups, squats, plank poses, etc... so HARD... but so FUN!Here I am with a new friend during the morning trail run (hats courtesy of Kingston Adventures)... we aren't too tired... yet :)Here is the group pre-trail run... we are all sporting our compression sleeves courtesty of RecoFit -- awesome product for fellow runners... :)
So... had a great time, had good workouts, made some new friends (running with one of the ladies this Saturday morning - Yay!), and most importantly... I found new inspiration and motivation for my goals :)

Little Peanut... Growing Up Fast

Evelyn started school (Pre-K) recently at our parish school. She was excited to wear her "unicorn" on her first day. She only called it her unicorn for a while (I don't think Travis or I wanted to correct her at first - it was too darn cute!!). Here she is with her Hello Kitty lunch box all ready to go:Evelyn also started soccer a couple weeks ago (also a school/parish related team). Here she is looking like a pro already:She had a heartbreaking experience the first game though (heartbreaking for me, anyway). She did okay and was excited and everything during the practice portion, but had a hard time during the game. She completely froze on the field and burst into tears. She couldn't even move to walk herself off the field. I had to get her and carry her off. Boo-hoo :(
She couldn't really verbalize what the problem was -- but I think it was a mixture of being confused about what she was supposed to do, overwhelmed by all the kids chasing after the ball that she wanted a turn to kick, etc. It was tough to watch... I am doing whatever I can to help her just have fun with it-- and trying not to push too hard. I really hope she gets the competition bug and enjoys athletics someday though!! :)

Family Time

Made a family trip to the circus on Sunday... kids (and Travis) finished this popcorn before the circus even started! We all enjoyed the show -- amazing stunts/tricks by humans & animals -- SO glad we went!!
Made a trip to the Evergreen State Fair today. This has become a Labor Day annual tradition for us. We started out with the Alaskan Pig Races --- so cute!! Nothing better than tiny mini pigs racing around a little track!! Highlight of the fair for me - every year :)

This year we decided to do some rides (last year Noah wasn't quite tall enough -- so we avoided that whole area). Noah enjoyed the teacups ride... until Travis got it going around and around... I think that was a little too much for him. He enjoyed it again after they stopped spinning so much. Here is a video (not great quality though - I used my phone)

Cute kiddie roller-coaster...

Ended the night with a bath after dinner -- in our master bathroom. This was a treat for the kiddos -- they usually are in their little tub.

Well -- feeling a little anxious tonight. Evelyn starts Pre-K tomorrow at a new school. Noah will still be going to his daycare/preschool center for another year. I will post some pics soon of Evelyn in her big school-girl uniform. Gosh - I feel old all of a sudden!!!