Ice pack

My training has been put on hold.  Hopefully this injury will heal quickly.  It has really bummed me out thinking that I might not be able to do the 1/2 marathon.  I can barely walk right now, so we'll see.

The day he's been waiting for... they get to use real "swords"!

That's Aidan on the left.  I'm surprised at how much he enjoys fencing.  I'm glad he's found something he wants to stick with.

Ballet slippers

My 4-year old has been asking, for probably a year now, to take ballet lessons. It all started with the Angelina Ballerina books and cartoons. Then on our way to swim lessons at the Y we would go past the ballet class and stop and watch. Once we talked to the teacher who did a quick evaluation and said "when she's a little older." In the car she often asks for me to put on the "Angelina music". Then I pointed out that there was a ballet school right across from our library. Every week after story time Sophie would ask me to go sign her up. And one of the teachers at the ballet school even has children in both of my boy's classes at school and I see her everyday at pick-up. So I couldn't put it off any longer. We went over to the ballet school after story time at the library, but it was closed. So I called and left a message. A couple days later I went outside to get the mail and when I came back in Sophie was screaming that "the ballet school called! The ballet school called!" I called right back and made arrangements to sign her up. A few days later we were at ballet class and Sophie put on her first pair of slippers. She was so happy. She slept in her new slippers that night and didn't take them off for two days. That's one happy girl.

Pinewood Derby

Aidan took home 2nd place in the derby, but he was mostly happy to just be with his friends.

New bee in the Beehive

We welcomed a new girl into YW today.

Sunrise run

The only time I can find to run (did I mention that I've signed up for a 1/2 marathon?) is early in the morning before everyone is up.  I'm even up before the birds.  It's so peaceful.  I had to stop for a moment and enjoy the sunrise today.

A few dozen cinnamon rolls

I used Pioneer Woman's recipe for Cinnamon Rolls 101.  They did not disappoint.  The only thing is that it makes about 6 dozen rolls.  Just enough to share.

He's a good sport

I bet if Rick's hair was long enough he would even let her put curlers in his hair.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...

Trying to entertain ourselves while we wait for the car to be repaired.

Happy 6th Birthday, Oliver!

Lego cake

Mommy, let me try!

Keeping me company

Sophie wanted to be sure I had someone keeping me company while I worked on the grocery list.

Lego creations

Aidan's first day of fencing

He can't wait until they get to use "swords."

Eat at your own risk

If you eat jelly beans with these flavors...

You're gonna make faces like this:

My kids want Rick to put them on a bowl on his desk at work and see what happens. They're so evil.

Stuck between two holidays

Afternoon Stroll

I don't know how I raised such a girly, girl.

My day in the hospital

I spent the morning here. Why? A week or so before Christmas I passed out. I don't know how else to explain it. I was getting ready for bed, brushing my teeth, and the next thing I know Rick is calling my name asking if I'm ok. We laugh about his experience now, but he was pretty freaked out at the time. He said I went upstairs and a few minutes later he heard a thud. He thought one of the kids had fallen out of bed. He came up to check, found all the kids still in bed, then found me on the floor in the bathroom. My electric toothbrush was buzzing away on the floor and my face was covered with toothpaste. I woke as soon as he said my name and felt fine, but ended up with a huge bruise on my hip from when I hit the floor. Weird. So I went to the doctor a couple days later under the guise of having just a routine physical. Honestly, I've never had one. The Doc asked me what really brought me in so I told him the story. Well, he immediately ordered every test possible. Not really, but it felt like it. A complete blood work-up, EKG, blood pressure test, whatever. And he told me to stop training for the 1/2 marathon. That takes us to today. I was sent to the hospital for a stress test. That's when they take an ultrasound of your heart immediately after working out. When I checked in they gave me a bracelet that said "Fall Risk." Really? I just laughed. I was told it's mandatory for anyone who has fallen within 3 months. I had a whole crowd watching me on that tread mill--two technicians, a nurse, a resident, the ultrasound tech. I think they were having fun seeing how fast they could get me going. And I think they don't get "young" people in this department very often. Anyway, it was non-eventful. I didn't pass out. My heart didn't explode. And all my tests came back normal. Let's just chalk this one up to exhaustion.

A Letter to Myself

We forgot to do it on New Year's Eve, but we finally opened our "Letters to Ourselves" from last year and wrote new ones from this year. It's funny to see how much and how little we change over a year.

Happy New Year!

Saying goodbye to family and heading home.

Met a shifty looking character in the airport. Or maybe he's an undercover spy?

365: Guns and chickens

Visiting my younger sister is almost as fun as visiting a farm.  We got to shoot a gun, feed chickens, and gather eggs.  Yee haw!
But then we had to say "goodbye". The cousins were pretty broken up about it. Then it was back to the in-laws to ring in the new year. And I made it through another 365. Whew.

364: Visiting my side of the fam

It was impossible to fit in everything that we wanted to on this trip because there were so many people to visit and so little time. Plus, Oliver and Sophie had nasty colds for most of the trip. I'm truly amazed we got photos of them smiling because they felt so miserable. I think we only got about 1/3 of the things on our list cross off. Anyway, we made a quick stop at my (not so little) little brother's. Meeting some cousins for the first time.
And then headed to my little sister's. 

363: Rock Canyon

A short hike up the canyon. We didn't make it very far because we were distracted by the mine and frozen creek.