Running randomness and cute kid-isms

Currently I'm following a new running training program for the 3M half marathon (in January). I'm going to try my hardest to follow the plan to a T, and so far (3 weeks in) I'm off to a good start. Okay, so I still have a problem with running my long runs too fast, but I've been doing a lot better at making sure I get the quality workouts in and not just doing longer runs instead. Last week I actually did hill repeats (although I should more accurately say "hill" repeats, since there are no real hills in our neighborhood). 

Today was speedwork day for me, and I had planned to go to the track to run my 400 repeats, but as things go, I slept in and had to do sprints on the treadmill instead. I was (am) determined to do this right, so I calculated how fast I needed to run each 400 (1/4 mile on the treadmill), and what speed that would be. I do all of my treadmill runs at 1% incline, so based on that, I would have to run all 7 of the 400s at 10.2 mph. :-O  That's really fast. I wasn't sure I could do it, and since I have a little bit of a cold I decided to cut myself a little slack and aim for 10.0 instead.  I ran the first 4 at 10.0 and actually felt (relatively) comfortable, so I ran the last 3 at 10.1. I really felt like puking on the last two, which makes me think that I did it right. :-)  Yay for God! He is awesome for giving me the ability to do this!

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Now, cute kid stuff!

Before we go somewhere, do something or, in general, transition from one thing to another, I have a habit of saying something like, "Who wants to go hiking/outside/to the store/swimming, etc?" and Oliver and Buttercup usually answer, "Me!"  Well, Theodore has picked up on that, and now when I ask those questions, he'll chime in with, "Me!" in his sweet baby voice! Sometimes he'll also respond that way if I say something like, "Let's go get in the car!" ["Me!"] or we can also ask him something like, "Who's a sweet baby boy??" ["Me!"]  Adorable!

Here are some funny things that Buttercup said over the past couple of days:

-- [While flipping through the Carter's catalog] 
   Me:  What are you looking at?
   Buttercup:  I'm looking to see which baby sister I want.

-- [Last night, while I was tucking her in]
   Buttercup: I love you so much, Mama! I want to live with you forever!
  [Five minutes later, after I reminded her to stay in her bed]
   Buttercup: I'm going to steal all of the sound machines, and run away from you and Oliver and never see you again!

-- [This morning, while picking out clothes for school]
   Buttercup: I want to wear my jack-o-lantern shirt and dress up like a pumpkin patch.
   Me: Do you mean dress up like a pumpkin?
   Buttercup: No. I said a PUMPKIN PATCH. You know, where they make the pumpkins?

-- Her prayer at lunch today:
   "Dear Jesus, thank you for this new, great day. And please help us love each other   
   better. And thank you for this beautiful lunch my mom made for me. Amen."





  

Running with my big boy

Yesterday afternoon the weather was so nice (cool, sunny, light breeze, beautiful blue sky). I normally don't run on Sundays, but after a harrowing morning with the diva, I felt like I needed a short run to clear my head. Oliver had just gotten a new bike for his birthday and since he doesn't nap anymore, I thought he might like to go with me to the trail! 

I figured we would go about 3 or 4 miles at his pace, but we ended up going at my pace, with him zooming ahead at times, and ended up with a total of 5 miles. He wanted to go more, but my legs were definitely done after a hard run Friday and a long run Saturday, so we stopped at 5!  

The whole bike ride/run was such a blessing to me . . . we had so much fun talking and laughing while I was running and he was riding his bike, and I could tell that he felt so big, riding his bike next to me like that. I am so thankful for him, and I am so thankful for that sweet, precious time with the sweet big boy God has given to us. He is such a blessing. 

(And thankfully, our middle blessing had a good nap and was an absolute angel for the rest of the day. ;-)  

Here are some pictures of Oliver riding while I was running (I know you're jealous of my awesome photography skills, ha ha).

We had to stop and get him a sandwich after his ride, he was starving!

Updates

Here's what the kids have been up to!

Oliver:
He's been in kindergarten for almost 3 months now (!!) and he's doing really well. It's funny how, over the past few years, I thought that he wouldn't be socially ready for school, and he would be clingy and not want to go, would have trouble making friends . . . and he has totally been the opposite!!  He enjoys going to school, he has a bunch of friends, he likes all of the different parts of school (art, math, PE, library time, etc). He's even been faced with a couple of difficult social situations, but both times he has demonstrated integrity and turning the other cheek instead of fighting back. I'm so proud of him! :-)  I met with his teacher about a month ago for the fall Parent/Teacher conference, and his teacher had so many good things to say about him. He's an excellent reader, is courteous and friendly, and is a joy to have in the classroom! There are a few areas that need work (3D shapes, money, math word problems) so we've been working on those at home. :-)   

He still loves swimming and is close to graduating from his level at swim lessons. The only thing that is holding him back is the breaststroke kick -- I can't blame him, it looks really difficult to master! His favorite strokes are freestyle and butterfly, and he looks like a little fish in the water. :-) 

Oliver is also still doing well in gymnastics, and moved up a level this week. His favorites are practicing on the "mushroom" (this thing), and the high rings. He has trouble doing some of the skills that some of the other shorter, lighter boys can do with ease, but he tries hard and gets it eventually. :-)  

Buttercup:

She is really loving her "owl" class! I am finally 100% certain that sending her to preschool 3 days a week is the best thing for her. Her teacher always has such nice things to say about her attitude at school, she's never gotten in trouble for any reason, she's sweet and kind to everyone, and she is so bubbly and happy when Theodore and I go to pick her up. She wishes that she could go to school every day like Oliver, but I'm glad that we have 2 days together to (mostly) let her do what she wants to do. And then things start to go downhill at the end of the day, and she goes back to school the next morning. Win-win! :-) 

Buttercup is also still a little fish in the water. She's a much better swimmer at her age than Oliver was! The only thing is, she's easily distracted and she's just so excited to be in her class that sometimes she has trouble paying attention. But she's doing great, and she only has 1 more station to complete before she graduates from her level (at that point, she'll move up to the level that Oliver is currently in). 

She's also still doing gymnastics and just in the past month it's as though something clicked, and all of a sudden she's almost able to do a real cartwheel and handstand! Her favorites are forward rolls (like a somersault) and the bar. Like with swimming, she is SO excited to be participating in the class. She literally bounces up and down the entire time while she waits for her turn. It's adorable. :-)  

Theodore:

He's just an adorable, sweet, funny, chubby little boy. I love him! He is so much fun! He's definitely a ham. He loves to laugh, he loves to make people laugh, he loves to watch people laugh ... he just loves laughter. :-)  He's such a precious gift, I'm so thankful for him and his sweet, sweet personality. 

He's still a stinker though! Today at lunch, he threw some food, so I told him no and took his plate away for about 15 seconds.  He pretended to cry, then gave me the stink eye until I gave him his plate back. I told him "no throwing," and he looked at me, picked up his spoon (full of hummus) and flung the hummus in my hair. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. It was naptime after that. :-)

Theodore's favorite things are being/playing outside, swinging, pushing his lawnmower (he calls it "go-go", isn't that cute?!!), rough housing with his big brother, reading/looking at books, listening to music, stacking things, throwing balls (or any toys, really), and playing with markers. 

His absolute favorite song is "Cotton Fields" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, ha ha! He requests it every time we get in the car. :-) I love these sweet kids!

Spider web crafts

This weekend we got into the fall spirit and made some cute spider web crafts. I love fall!  Now, if only it were cooler . . . but I guess anything is better than 100 degrees. :-) 

One of Oliver's creations:

Oliver's spider webs:

Theodore didn't get to decorate a spider web this time, but he had fun posing for me, and then he got to decorate a mini pumpkin with a marker. :-)  

One of Buttercup's spider webs:

All of Buttercup's:

IBM Uptown Classic race report

This past weekend I ran the IBM Uptown Classic 10k. I ran it for the first time 3 years ago in 43:07 and had really good memories of the race, so I was looking forward to running it again. I started training specifically for this race around the end of June with the hopes of getting a new PR, and I had 3 months of solid running, with several good long runs and speedy runs.  I decided to do a real taper for the race, and everything was going great, and then I ended up having some random knee/calf pain last week (during my lowest mileage week in months!!!). I'd heard of runners getting weird pains during their taper weeks, but this is the first time it happened to me. I took an extra day before the race off to rest my knee, but it was still bugging me the morning of the race, so I decided to forget about trying for a PR and just run it at a pace that made my knee feel the most comfortable.

I ended up running it in 45:16, which is a little over 2 minutes slower than my PR, but is also 3 minutes faster than the 10k I ran in March. :-)  I also ran at a consistent pace, which is something I've always struggled with (part of the reason why I love running on the treadmill!). My knee did bug me during the race, but thankfully it's just fine now. :-)  

Splits from the race:
7:31
7:18
7:16
7:22
7:11
7:17 

Oh, and this was the first race where Oliver and Buttercup both got to do the kids' run. They ran a 1k, which is just about 3/4 mile. :-) Here are some pictures of them before their run! Way to go, guys!! 

Fun monster craft

Since Oliver is off of school this week, I thought it would be fun to do a craft like we used to do! Except Oliver is apparently too old for crafts (or so he said) and he didn't want to do it. So I got started on it by myself, and once he saw that I was squishing paint, he decided to jump in and join me. :-)  

(I got this idea from Totally Tots.)  (Also, sorry for the blurry phone pictures.)

First, you'll need some construction paper and paint. (We used tempura paint.)  Squeeze some -- a little will do, but Oliver really liked squeezing, so we ended up with a lot -- onto  the paper.

Next, fold your paper down the middle and squish the paint together. 

Let your paint creations dry overnight.

Once the paint is dry, time to get to work decorating your monsters!

Theodore mainly played with the scissor box while the other two were working on their crafts. :-)

 Here are the kids' finished monsters (Oliver's on top, Buttercup's on bottom). Lots of fun! And I'm glad Oliver ended up joining in and having fun making this. :-)

Playing at the "far away" museum

Oliver has the week off from school, and we've been having so much fun with him at home. :-) When I first told him that he had a break from school coming up, one of the first things he said that he wanted to do was go to the "far away" children's museum. We decided to go today, and it was our best visit yet! Everyone was so well behaved, the museum was not crowded at all, and we just had a great time.

And as always, I'm amazed at how well Theodore does in the car, skipping his usual nap and meal times, etc. It definitely makes things easier for me. :-)

Pumpkin bread with cinnamon cream cheese topping

Mmm, I love fall baking, with the savory scents of cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon filling my house. It just makes you feel good inside to smell all of the yumminess baking in the oven.  :-)  

I made this pumpkin bread today and I ended up baking it for a little too long (recipe said to bake it for an hour and 10 minutes, but mine was done in about 40). It looked dry, so I made up a glaze to add a little bit of moisture and sweetness.  The result?  Super yummy, and reminds me a lot of carrot cake, but with less fat and calories. :-)  Yum!

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup canola oil

3 large eggs

1 16-oz can pumpkin (the plain kind, not the "pie mix" kind)

2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

butterscotch chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, oil, and applesauce, mix well. Add eggs and pumpkin, mix well. In a large bowl, combine flour, spices, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture, stir and mix well. Divide the batter into the loaf pans. Sprinkle with butterscotch chips if desired.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until done. 

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Topping

*keep in mind that I didn't measure anything as I added it!

about 2 heaping tablespoons of whipped cream cheese (regular, not light or fat free)

1 tbsp packed brown sugar

dash of cinnamon

skim milk

Stir brown sugar and cream cheese together until they're well mixed. Add cinnamon, and stir. Add milk, a little bit at a time, until it's about the consistency of yogurt. Spread on the top of your still-warm pumpkin bread and enjoy!

Toddler cuteness

Wow, I have really been slacking on updating our blog! Life has just been really busy lately. We've also been spending as much time as possible outside since it's been cooler! Nothing like a hot summer to make 80 degrees feel almost cool. :-)

Anyway, the reason for this blog post is to document Theodore's current list of words and other fun stuff. He's just talking and talking these days. I'm pretty sure he has more words at 16 months than Oliver did, and maybe has close to as many words as his sister did! 

Here are as many as I can remember right now:

Mama (his favorite word!)
Oliver 
Buttercup 
no
ball
milk
cup 
that
what's that (I really need to get a video of him saying this, it's so cute!)
banana
stop
dog
book (he also says "dog" for book)
more
cheese
cracker
Os (like Cheerios)
uh oh
bye bye
hi
hello
phone
um (this is one of my favorites! And he uses it appropriately, too!)
shoe
Anna
please
blueberry
bubble(s)
outside
swing
gentle
night night
mwah (like a kissing sound)
all done
hot
thank you
hold
mmm/yummy

He loves to play outside in our faded, steering-wheel-less Cozy Coupe, opening and closing the door and telling me, "Bye bye!" 

Often when we're outside, he'll wave at the cars and trucks driving past on the road and say, "Bye bye" in his soft, sweet little voice. :-)

He's such a sweet baby boy! He is a typical toddler though, and lately he's been a very picky eater. Tonight he pretty much went to bed without eating dinner, but he had a huuuuge lunch so I doubt he'll starve. ;-)  

Oh, one more cute thing -- this morning I was combing Buttercup's hair at the table, and he came over to see what was going on and slapped his sister on the leg for no reason. I told him no and told him to go sit in time out, and he did! He walked over to the rug and sat down, and he stayed there until I got him. What a sweet baby. :-)  

More pictures soon, I promise!