Growing

Things change so quickly. My babies are growing and turning into kids! I am so thankful and blessed to watch them grow and learn each day.

I am growing older too, recently I have been finding numerous silver hairs- in the front and in my part where others could see them too! YIKES. Age doesn't bother me, but I am not yet ready to have salt and pepper hair. I took an hour of "ME" time the other day, it included a trip to Target where my purchases were: dark chocolate peanut M&Ms, mascara, hair dye, beef jerky (for a care package we are putting together for our friend Ryan in Iraq) and Thermos water bottles with Shrek on them for the kids. My hair is now "dark chocolate" but it has some reddish tint to it. Not much of a difference but it did do the trick, no sightings of those pesky silvers since.

A conversation in our car the other day went like this: G "can daddies be teachers?" she has some strange idea about who can do what. Me "Yes! Moms and Dads can do all the same things, they can both be teachers, doctors, firefighters, chefs, fix things, etc." G- "I want to be a cement truck driver when I grow up!"

Gabby as of yesterday is signed up to take ballet at the rec center. It doesn't start till the middle of October, but we are very excited about it. She writes MOM and "Gabelle" all the time. over and over, in a rainbow of colors. She is on to the second Harry Potter book with her dad. Her legs are so long..."they go all the way from her buns down to her toes!"

Elliot is a growing machine. His feet have grown 2 sizes since April... just found another pair of shoes in the closet that I bought before he was born that his feet will only squeeze into for a little bit longer. Sunday was a rainy, cool day. We had big plans for going bowling with our buddies. I searched E's drawer trying to find suitable pants for him to wear... most are highwaters and on their way out of the house. He was playing, came out from behind his curtain, tripped and fell. His sweet chubby cheek met the corner of his pants drawer that I was sorting. Poor boy has a little gash and what is sure to be a gnarly bruise.

Football is his favorite, without any provoking. He is a strong beast, ran and tackled his BIG sister. He patted his head, I said, yes that's your head. he got the alphabet placemat he was studying, used his pointer finger and found letter 'H' and pointed to the HAT and then his head! Brilliant. All 4 molars are in.. and as of yesterday I see what looks like another tooth busting its way in!

Together these two will eat me out of house and home SOON!

Oh and the Mr is currently growing a mustache! It's a bonding thing with the guys at work. Hilarious.

speaking of hilarious, these two do silly faces on command.

We are enjoying the early fall, going to Trashmore after nap to run the mountain and enjoy the gorgeous weather. Today doesn't really classify as fall, it was 92*

Bellingham State of Mind

I don't know these peeps, but saw their video on FB and wanted to share.. So fun to see all the things you know. I want a "we run BHAM" shirt too!

Ojos

A few months back I noticed that one of E's pupils was bigger than the other. It FREAKED me out, especially when you google medical stuff. It is something that just randomly happens, not all the time and it is always the left eye. The Dr. at first didn't believe me, then he could see it too. He said it was just the angle I was looking at E, no- I look at the kid quite a bit and know all parts of him well. We got a referral just to check it out. Finally the day came, we went to the Pediatric Opthamologist. I was wondering how awful it was going to be, trying to get Elliot to sit still and let them look in his eyes. The boy was a dream! He let 3 different people measure his pupils, do all sorts of little vision tests and then do eye drops. He cried for 2 seconds when the second set of drops were in, but it didn't last. We waited for the drops to work in the waiting room, where we chatted with our 5th grade buddy who was there. He asked if Elliot was in Kindergarten! The Dr brought us back, and again Elliot let them do their job without so much as a fuss! His left pupil measures 1mm bigger than the right, but dilates to within a half a mm. No problem, everything looked really good! He may be a little nearsighted in the future, but nothing to worry about! Hurray! The biggest fight I got out of E was trying to put him into the carseat to leave, he was tired and fell right asleep. The drops did make him look even more googley eyed for the entire night...and even a bit the next day. He was pretty good at keeping his "eye googles" (aka sunglasses) on- in fact G, E and I wore googles inside while grocery shopping!Here is the good patient at the eye Dr.
What cheesy grins these two have sometimes! This was at the zoo.

Finish Line

I borrowed these pics from the race photographers, this is AT the finish line!

Go Mom Go

Gabby and I finally made her a bag, after all the little girl cousins got them. Gabby painted it after I cut out the design she helped pick. it is her new library bag.

These are amazing cupcakes, don't ask how many sticks of butter they have in them. Eat them, share them, crave them. We made these for the Labor Day BBQ we went to.
The shirts I made the kids to wear to cheer me on.
Post Race. No finishing pic yet b/c Clay was holding both kids and didn't have a free hand. I didn't even see them along the finish line.

You know it's been a good day when you are playing ball with friends, cheering for your mom, and you are covered in watermelon juice!

2:34:44

13.1 miles done! I am now proud (and a bit sore) to say I am a finisher of a half marathon. That's right, I ran just over 13 miles today- along with 16thousand+ others. It was a great day for it, not too hot at all.

4am- wake up, alarm not set to go off till 4:35am but might as well get up now.

5am- Clay's car won't start (again! maybe it is the fuel pump??) so I can't drive myself 5 minutes away to the shuttle parking. Wake kids up and put them in the van, they are a little unsure of what is going on.

5:28am- ride shuttle bus along with thousands of others to the Convention center, the start of the race.

wait around, wait some more, wait more, have water, a banana, pee, wait some more, find my starting corral- #22.

7am- Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon 2010 officially starts.

7:35am- I reach the starting line and begin my run!

mile 5 , stop to pee

mile 7.5, bad side ache till mile 9. Walked for first time at mile 8, what a great 8 miles!

mile 10, what was I thinking, am I crazy?? as I run over the bridge with a gorgeous view.

mile 10.5, starting to get leg cramps. ouch.

mile 11.5, my great friends Gina and Anna were on the route with glitter signs cheering and screaming for ME! What a boost!

mile 12, alright almost done.

mile 12.5, seriously still a half mile to go!?!? walking, a medical aid asked if I was okay! Darn leg cramp. I kept going.

mile 13.1 DONE!!!!! legs so sore, with a pain I have never before known. 2nd medical aid asks if I am okay- I mumble yes. They may be concerned b/c my face turns almost purple when I run and I am now hobbling.

My official race time clocked in at 2 hrs 34 minutes and 44 seconds! The most I ever ran training for this race was 6 miles. once. Next time- wait am I saying that??? I will train better!

I wandered around with the other runners and huge crowd, taking breaks to take my shoes off and sit and stretch, and come out of my physical and mental blur, sat some more, and then finally spotted Clay and the kids!

A few funny bits on my run. Mile 2 the man in front of me was juggling while running. I got passed TWICE by a one legged man on crutches, no joke the man was fast. I passed a pregnant woman and a little person (is midget not politically correct?). Some lady talked to me "see I told you I'd see you" still no clue who she was but she was sure she knew me. I got asked by a total of 3 medical staff to see if I was alright.

It was a great day, I can say that now that my legs are only sore and not unable to do anything but ache- I mean each part of my leg was in pain, plus I got one small blister on my toe. Finished the day off at a bbq with wonderful friends and great food!

Earl

Mother Nature is amazing. The colors and wonders are incredible. This is one of the Blue crabs our "buddy" Willie was catching at our favorite park. We went for another after dinner stroll at Lock Park, bringing our friend Marella along. Elliot is going through the stranger danger/ anxiety stage and as soon as Marella got in the car he started screaming and crying. It lasted the entire 15 minute drive. It was a beautiful evening, making it hard to believe that Mother Nature has a big storm brewing. We are under a hurricane warning right now, into Friday afternoon. Hurricane Earl has evacuated the OBX, and is threatening us but I'm not sure as to how much. I don't want to freak out, but I want to be prepared.
In an effort to copy my dear Sissy, I am jumping on the band wagon of getting more pictures of me with the kids (and hubby too). I always take the pics, but having a friend with us, she was able to snap a few just before my battery was totally drained. I have no make up on, my hair is in it's fancy do of a pony tail. Who cares, I am happy and with my family! We finished the night off by introducing Marella to our favorite Skinny Dip- self serve frozen yogurt. The kids went to bed 2 hrs late but it was one night so I am not going to stress. I am just so not used to being out after dark, the kids either. Gabby kept commenting that it was DARK out while we were in the car... hmmm maybe we should be out later more often!