Christmas pictures!

Our Christmas, in pictures!

Dennis made us yummy fried eggs, bacon, and sausage on Christmas morning. Oliver said the eggs were so good, they tasted like chocolate. :-)  

The tree, before:

Getting ready to open gifts:

During:

I didn't take an "after" picture, but there were 7 kitchen-sized trash bags full of wrapping paper and empty boxes after we were finished opening presents!! 

The kids really enjoyed their gifts! Grandma and Grandpa gave Theodore this ride-on giraffe, which he LOVES.

Grandma and Grandpa also gave Buttercup this Baby Alive doll, and she was so excited when she opened the package! We learned pretty quickly that you have to hold the doll just right when you give her a bottle, otherwise the liquid will leak out of the baby's head, instead of going into the diaper like it's supposed to. Just like a real baby! Ha ha ha. :-)

Dennis and I gave Oliver a snap circuit set this year. Dennis (and Aunt Anna!) helped him figure out how to get started, and since then he's been working on the projects by himself! He pretty much spent all of Christmas putting things together -- either with his circuit set, or with Legos. :-) 

  

(Theodore has gotten used to my big camera.) :-)

Dennis and I gave Buttercup this cat family to go with her dollhouse. :-)

Of course, we had to decorate more cookies on Christmas! The kids were decorating these for our sweet neighbor. 

Watching Elf, for the 40th time. :-)

 This is a toy that Oliver had been wanting for a while, a remote-control vehicle that can travel on any surface and even in water! It was pretty chilly outside with a steady wind, but of course that didn't deter Oliver from going outside to test it out. In flip flops. :-)

We all ended up outside in the late afternoon, and the wind was very strong and very chilly!!!! Buttercup's face sums it up: 

Oliver was pretending to be blown away by the wind:

Brrrrr, and Merry Christmas!

An assortment of December pictures

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great holiday. Ours was nice, and I do plan on getting around to posting pictures soon. But first, I wanted to share some of my favorite camera-phone pictures from this month. :-)

Soccer, swinging, and sword (pool noodle) fighting in the back yard:

Theodore had another ear infection earlier this month. He didn't want to be at the doctor's office on a Sunday morning (and neither did I!) but thankfully he was easily entertained with a glove balloon and some Matchbox cars. :-)

Later that same day, Grammy and I took Oliver and Buttercup to a ballet performance. It was a lot of fun! Buttercup was enthralled with the ballerinas, although I think the performance was a little too long for Oliver . . . he definitely had ants in his pants during the second act. :-)  

We also made a lot of sugar cookies this month. Theodore loved watching the big mixer in action!

This is a picture that Theodore took of his foot one day when he was playing with my phone. :-)

Dennis and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this month! Hard to believe that it's been 10 years already!!

Buttercup has decided to be a girly-girl lately. This is the outfit she picked out to wear to Oliver's winter party at school. A big hairbow, ruffly Christmas dress, tights, and sparkly purple shoes. :-)  

Here's another outfit she wore the other day -- never thought I'd see my (former?) tomboy choose a bow-bedecked, lacy top with sparkly silver shoes! 

Christmas pictures coming soon!

Reindeer Run 5k race report

A couple of weekends ago, I ran a 5k at a local park. It was a night race, running under Christmas light displays that have been set up in the park for the holidays.

I didn't taper for the race since my goal race is getting closer and I don't want to take any more time off, but I was still hoping to get that elusive sub 20 time. The race was at 6pm, and since I usually run better in the afternoons than in the mornings, I figured that one day of rest, plus a whole morning of rest, would equal a fast time. :-)

Well, I didn't count on the weather...at the race start, it was just under 80 degrees, with 80% humidity. I was dripping with sweat after jogging next to Buttercup in the kids' race, so I changed my goal and aimed to just run as fast as I could. I didn't wear my Garmin because I felt like I was going to run around 21:30 or slower, and I didn't want to see my pace while I was running!

The race started, and I was behind one woman right in front of me (we were literally rubbing elbows at one point since she was drafting off of me -- annoying!!), but since it was dark I couldn't tell if there were any other women in front.

We ran through the lights and, aside from the drafting that was going on, the first half was fine. I felt good, my legs were nice and loose, I wasn't breathing too hard, etc. The only thing was, there were no mile markers and no crowd support (except at the one water stop at the halfway point) -- 2 things that you don't realize you'll miss until they're not there! And then, at one point I finally got so annoyed with the woman drafting that I ran behind her and on the other side of the road, just to get away from her! It's hard enough running through blindingly bright lights, in the dark, with speed bumps, without having someone breathing down your neck the whole time. :-P

The course was very quiet, except for the sound of the runners' breathing and feet hitting the pavement. Then up ahead I could hear the announcer at the turn-around point, then I could actually see the turn-around. As the front runners passed me on their way back to the finish line, I saw a woman running with the lead pack of guys, so that meant that I was currently in 3rd place (Drafting Woman was a couple of seconds ahead).

I passed the halfway point at 10:30 something, which made me feel better, since I felt a little off without my Garmin. I had no clue what my pace was, or if I had gone out too fast, but I was trusting myself to listen to my body and I felt like I was running a consistent pace.

The second half of the race was also uneventful. I did the math in my head and assumed that I would run a low 21 race, which I was okay with! It was much warmer and more humid than I prefer for running, and I'd had a big week of running, so at that point I was happy with whatever I got. :-)

I had about 1/2 mile left to run, when I ran under the last big light display. It was a tunnel of flashing lights, and right when I got to the end of the tunnel, the lights went out at my end! As if that wasn't bad enough, the race photographer took my picture right at that moment, so I was blinded from the flash for about 5 seconds. :-P

Finally, I had just a tiny hill and then about 1/4 mile left to go. I knew there were 2 women in front of me (one whom I could possibly catch, one whom I couldn't), and I didn't even try to catch the woman in front of me since there was no chance of coming in first anyway. Then I got passed by a high school girl, who then passed the woman right in front of me!

I finished in 20:53, which means I ran a negative split in a hot race! That's 6:43 pace, which isn't too bad. :-) And, according to the race results, I came in 3rd overall (not 4th, like I'd thought)...not sure what happened to the first woman I'd seen at the turn-around!

According to race calculators, a 20:53 5k predicts a 1:36 1/2 marathon...which would be an improvement over this year's time (1:46, ugh!) but would not be a PR, nor is the time that I've been training for. However, the 5k would have been faster with cooler weather, so Lord willing, the weather will be nice and chilly the morning of my goal race! If not, hopefully I won't run another personal worst. ;-)

Making cookies, decorating and playing in the leaves

I love Christmas. It's my absolutely favorite holiday, and I look forward to it every year! Sometimes it's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's 80 degrees outside, but the two older kids have been getting super excited about Christmas, which also helps me get excited about it again, too. :-)  Buttercup had been asking for about 1 month if it was time for us to put up a Christmas tree, so last weekend we finally went out and got one! We also decorated the tree, decorated the house, made some Christmas cookies, and some Christmas crafts -- all in the same day. Whew!  Lots of fun.  :-) 

 

Theodore didn't get to help make the cookies this year, but he did enjoy climbing up onto the step stool and sneaking some! 

He also liked swiping the cookie decorations off of the counter. :-)

I love this sweet boy!

And I love this sweet girl!!!

 
As per our usual tradition, the kids picked out a special ornament at Hobby Lobby. Oliver picked out a dinosaur (which I forgot to take a picture of) and Buttercup picked out this black horse. She insisted on hanging it next to the stable, because . . . that's where horses belong! :-)

I gave Theodore a couple of soft ornaments to hang on the tree. He ran around the living room with them for a little while, then threw them on the rug. Then he picked up his dirty sock and stuffed it in the tree (in the picture below). He was so proud of himself! I love that sweet baby!!!!!

The kiddos were getting a little crazy after eating cookies and being inside for too long, so we shooed them outside in the back yard.  Theodore was perfectly happy playing in a big pile of leaves!

Buttercup had fun being herself . . .

. . . and then she had fun trying to make leaf angels! 

Theodore tried to make leaf angels, too. :-)

 
Then Oliver came over with a wheelbarrow full of leaves for his baby brother, and all 3 kids decided to have a leaf dance party. :-) What a fun day!