In Training

I just got done running 5 miles. One hour, one minute and 23 seconds.
That's a big deal for me.
I've only done that once before, 4 years ago, on a treadmill at the YMCA.
This time was for real.
Outside in the sun.
Me, the dirt, the blue sky.
Quite possibly, you were there too.

Here's what I learned:
canals = stinky
fabric softner from aparment dryers smells good.
Dirt is softer that concrete.
The wind is your friend on a hot day.
The shade tree is your friend on that last mile home.
My town is sorta short on trees, but big on sky.
There's more cars than people on the road.
People should get out more on nice days.

I talk to people in my head when I run.
Good people. People I admire. People I know are runners and people who aren't.
People who accomplish good things. People who preserver. You know, people like you.

Thanks for running with me today, peeps.
See ya on the trails again soon.

A Sincere Fall Festival

Hmmmm. . . how do I best describe this sweet little baby's coming out party? Okay, so this might be an unexpected analogy, but indulge me for a moment.

You know that great classic, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" that we just got done watching in October? You know how Linus goes on and on about finding the most sincere pumpkin patch? It goes something like this:

Linus: He'll come here because I have the most sincere pumpkin patch and he respects sincerity. Sally: Do you really think he will come?
Linus: Tonight the Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch. He flies through the air and brings toys to all the children of the world.
Sally: That's a good story.

(Okay, now you're with me and you remember what I'm talking about. So transfer those pure & sincere feelings from Linus to this shower and then this shower post will be a good story, too).

Because this was the most sincere shower I've ever seen.
I could even quote Linus: " You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see."
Not that I think there's usually hypocrisy at showers, cause I've never thought that in my life, but I'm getting sidetracked.

There was just true sincere love, as far as the eye could see. Really! Sincerely. Each gift that was opened was a beautiful reflection of the giver and her thoughtful desire to bestow something of delight on this miraculous, new little one. There were hand done drawings of the baby in lovely little frames. Hand made bows, handmade dresses, time consuming quilts and time consuming blankets. Not that handmade trumped purchased; purchased gifts were so thoughtful and lovely. Darling lacie layette pieces, sturdy bouncers with woodland creatures. There was even an outfit that looked like classic Coco Channel with a matching bracelet for mom! The home was beautiful, the decorations whimsical and feminine. It was seriously the sweetest, most thoughtful shower.

In short, it was perfect.

Oh, and the the food was the bomb. And we didn't over do the desserts one bit.

So I started to take pictures with my camera and then got asked to use my SIL's SLR. Here's a sampling of what I took with my own camera. If you're noticing I don't have a picture of the guest of honor or her cute mama, you're right. Those are on the other camera.

p.s. If anybody wants to get me a digital SLR for Christmas, I won't complain one bit. Honest and sincerely.

Celebrating Veterans Day

In celebrating Veterans Day at our house, we like to keep the emphasis on freedom.

Freedom to dance wearing mismatched socks is one of our favorites.

We also celebrate freedom to ask questions. Hard questions. Questions like: "Mom, have you ever seen a hamster in the wild? Did you know they're nocturnal?"

Hmmmmm. Can't say that I think too much about hamsters roaming & burrowing the great plains, especially not at night. I'm too sleepy at night.

Also asked on veterans day, "Mom, how big is Pluto? Why is Pluto not a planet anymore? Is Pluto as big as our house?"

I'll let you guess which of my two boys asked those.

Bonus Picture: This one is obviously very patriotic.
He's a firm believer in life, liberty and the pursuit of cuteness.

Blissfest

Blissfest lived up to it's name! Truly a celebration of all things dainty and delightful. It was a girl fest of fabulous finds. A hundred thank yous to my dear friend J for joining me. Mimi and Mindy had the best booths! I picked up a gorgeous vintage necklace and am loving it.

(here I am chatting it up with Heather Bailey. Do you think she notices that I tell her the exact same stories every time I happen to meet her? I think she does, but really I love her fabric and beautiful ways so much that she really shouldn't mind my chat chat chatty self, right? She says her new line will make it to America some time late December early January. Too late for Christmas but just in time for Birthdays)

And remember how I wrote a letter to Nie after she hiked the Y? Well, I got to shower her with my profuse adorations in person the evening before. She and her husband are a sweet miracle and I am so proud of her accomplishments. In fact, I'm so proud I'm willing to put the word "stinkin" in front of that proud to say in public, on the world wide web, Nie, I am stinkin proud of you! (I can't believe I just did that. Blogger's regret is creeping in already over that one. If that's not her next week you'll know I couldn't sleep at night with the word 'stinkin' describing my pride, even if it does accurately
describe my feelings for this fine couple).


Amazing.
Make that stinkin amazing!

Fall Traditions

x

x

One Year Older

Richard + Birthday = TEDx

Scriptures by Moonlight

Whatdayou do when your rambunctious rascals

won't settle down for evening scripture study before bedtime?

Try this Recipe:

Take one part soothing night air.

Add a gloriously full moon.

And one glowing ipod
(no flashlights for rambunctious rascals to wrestle over).

What do you get?

A happy family who actually read an entire chapter of scripture.

A Nightfall Conversation

Sophie: Maddie, Maddie, Is the sun awake or asleep?
Maddie: He's about to go to sleep. But first, he's eating some cotton candy.

This one stopped me in my tracks. The sun eating some cotton candy? This I gotta see!

Yep, that cotton candy sunset sure is sweet.

(Things like this help me overlook her unmade bed and the pile of laundry still sitting on her bedroom chair. They're just kids, and good ones at that!)

Halloween Week

A review. . . mostly in pictures

Monday Night, hit the pumpkin farm at twilight for FHE.
Can you tell that some of my kids were happy to get their photos taken,
others less so.




Wednesday Night, Neighborhood Carnival Fun.
Love this annual tradition.
It's getting bigger every year
and over by 7:00. . .love that!

It was FREEZING cold that night so I opted for an "International Spy" costume.
Scored this awesome trench coat at the garage sales last week. . .$3.00!
Love it!

Some of my favorite costumes of the evening. Soph's little friend was so cute!
She was dressed so funky I asked her what she was.
Instantly she popped her sunglasses on saying in her
sweet little 2 year old way "I'm a cool chic!"
See the nose and feathers?



Soph sang the "Mean Old Witch With a Hat" song
for the Joy School Halloween Performance.
Boy did she get into that one!




The annual Halloween school parade favored us with a
Spider Man sighting again this year!
The kids were in awe.




Family Pumpkin Carving
(they reserve a "special" place in the afterworld for people who
smash kids pumpkins on Halloween night, right?
What evil person even started such a sad tradition?
Luckily we took plenty of photos the night before.)



Family Birthday Party before we hit the neighborhood for tricks or treats!
Happy Birthday Sweetie!





Several people in the fam went with a "Willie Wonka" theme. . .
We've got the candymaker himself, a Golden Ticket,
a Wonka Bar and our very own
"Charlie Bucket"
(yes, perfect opportunity for a Oompah Loompah,
but Sam wanted to be a ghost. . .
whaddaya do?)



As a bonus feature I give you a pair of "treasure trolls"
Can you believe the hair on these girls? Outrageous!


Thanks for enduring our "Super Long" post!
It's been a marathon week!
Goodbye October, see ya next year!

Halloweens Eve 09

About Today

1. Watching the elementary school parade is more fun when you stand by your friends

2. Seeing an innovative homemade costume gives me a thrill! (thumbs up to the walking cupcake and the giant cookie)

3. Most of my daily chores involve putting things away. Dishes with eggs and toast crumbs, costume wigs, purple top hats, talent show certificates, Halloween carnival trinket junk, used Kleenexes, school papers, etc., etc.

4. If you have to cut your baby’s hair, the kitchen sink full of warm water makes a nice location. Rinse baby thoroughly or you will have to refill the sink and rinse again.

5. Listening to Pandora while you scrub last nights pots and pans will reveal I have quite a thing for British pop rock bands.

6. Dancing to Werewolves of London (via a nice youtube link) with the kiddos makes a re-energizing break from folding mountainous piles of laundry.

7. Surprisingly, you can easily do the Robot to Werewolves of London. Also a nice Grapevine. Try it, you'll see.

7.5 When I mentioned this choreographic observation to my DH, he said, "Werewolves of London" with a "derr. . .what?" tone so I played it for him. He said, "Is this from the 50's?" That boyfriend of mine needs to brush up on his 70's classic rock hits.

8. When your kid has repeated meltdowns after school, take him to your bedroom and rub his feet while he spills his first grade woes. Lavender scented lotion works better than threats and time outs.

9. If you left your pumpkin carving until the night before Halloween, you’ll be tempted to order Chinese takeout food for dinner. Did I just see a werewolf with a chinese menu in his hand?

Sew Much Fabric!

Heavens!
I'm loving the fabrics that Chelsea over at Vintage Chic Boutique posted about from Quilt Market in Houston this year.
Luscious. Check it out. You'll be lovin' it, too.

Joy School Joys. (Like Totally!)

Sophie and I are loving Joy School. Its the perfect little all girls school
(It's like, very exclusive, I know).
Some of our favorite activities have been field trips.

We started off easy with a field trip to feed the horses some carrots.
(I totally love living by the horses).

Then we got more adventerous and took a trip to the zoo.

Our little monkies checked out some real monkies! See how close they got to them. . . amazing! (I love monkies, but I'm glad I don't live by them in the wild. My friend told me that, for ser, wild monkies can be totally for rude and throw coconuts at your head. . .that is so bogus! Like what's that wild monkey's prob?)
Then the kids got bored with the amazing monkies and dug around in the dirt a bit,
very monkey like.
We stood in front of the flamingos on one leg
and hung out at the playhouse for snack time.
Everybody had a great time, and I call that a major success
(unless I'm speaking Valspeak--which I've been doing a lot of in this post--
then I would call it "mega huge")

Later we had a fabulous lesson on seeds and how things grow.
We took a little trip down to our neighbors lovely garden.

Here we are racing with excitment to find the special garden!
We were having so much fun digging in the soil and finding flashes of color under the green leaves that we forgot to take more pictures.
(Trust me, though, it was, like, way cool!)

Our sweet neighbor gave us
basil leaves, okra, egg plants and
showed us overgrown cucumbers on the vine.
We took home our bounty and examined it with magnifying glasses.



Did you have any idea that okra looks like corn when you peel it raw?
Me neither!
(See how much we're learning? For sure!)

We ended our learning session with some free form outside play. The weather was perfect! The girls had so much fun that 2 of them didn't even notice when they'd fallen and had actual blood flowing from their wounds. Yes, it was that kind of fun.

(If I were a valley girl, I might say it was a totally, like, bombdiggity kind of killer cool day.
Good thing I'm just a mom and not a total fly valley girl, huh?)

Also of note, Charlie just turned 9 months old. He is currently dumpster diving at my feet (tipped over my desk trash can). . .ooohhh, looks like he found some yummy toast crusts to gnaw on. My little free-gan!! Groody to the max!