Tis the Season :)

I am officially in the holiday spirit :) The house is decorated, we took our annual cut-down-a-tree trip on Saturday, lights are up, etc. I am a happy, happy girl!! Here is a picture of the fam (minus me) after we found our perfect tree:
In running news: Sarah, a new friend Megan, and I went for a run together early Saturday morning. I am still battling a cold -- but I decided to tough it out and go anyway. (Per Runner's World advice - run with a cold/neck up symptoms, stay home with flu stuff) We met up and went 6+ miles around Lake Union. It was a cold morning low 30's - but we warmed up fast. I definitely had a few coughing fits -- but thankfully my running buddies didn't mind stopping for a minute here or there so I could catch a breath :) Here is Sarah and I after the run:

Santa Train

This past Sunday we took a trip to North Bend to go on the Santa Train. We ate lunch at a local cafe before heading to the train depot. It was a fun train ride on an old-fashioned passenger train. We took the 20 minute ride to Snoqualmie. Here is a picture from the train: In Snoqualmie they had hot chocolate and cookies to enjoy, papers for the kids to color, and of course - the main event was waiting in line to see Santa. It is nice - when you see him it is pretty private. A smallish room -- with only a few other kids and parents in there at a time.

Evelyn went first and told Santa that she wanted Play-doh, markers, and more coloring books. Then it was Noah's turn to climb up. Santa asked him what he wanted --- and Noah froze. He just sat there and smiled at Santa -- and didn't say anything for a while -- and then he said "more football shows for my daddy". Very thoughtful of him -- but I think mommy would wish against that one!!! College football season is long enough!

Here are the kiddos having a talk with Santa:
This one is a keeper :)In other news, I officially have a cold -- and can't breathe through my nose. Boo Hoo :( This better pass quickly!!!

Pineapple Classic

My catch-up post from the past couple weeks... Here is a family picture from Halloween. We had a great time -- we went with our neighbors Greg and Jody, and their daughter Turynn. The kids really got into it this year... every house it was "Trick or Treat, Monster Feet!!!" followed by lots of giggling and laughing. It never got old :)
In running news, the only race I have done lately was called the Pineapple Classic. It is an adventure run 5K - and it definitely was an adventure!! Army crawling on your hands and knees through the mud... climbing stacks of tires... a huge wall that we had to scale using a rope to pull ourselves up...many more obstacles, and SO much fun!! (oh -- and we carried a pineapple and passed it around like a hot potato the entire race!) I am grateful to Beth Brewster from Kingston Adventures - she sponsored our team and provided t-shirts. These ladies were women that I met at the retreat that I went to a few months ago.

We have an appointment tomorrow for family pictures -- it is supposed to be pretty cold -- but as long as it is dry, I think it will be okay... :)

I am still undecided for Eugene... I am going to try to set some running goals over the next couple weeks and see how it goes. If I can regularly fit at least two good runs in during the week and a long run on the weekends, I will register for the full.

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!