Now my turn

Last night I picked both kids up early and took them to the dentist for a cleaning. Aurora's been a few times and she was clearly excited. When we arrived she told the dentist that she would like go first to show Clarkie what's going to happen, so he won't be scared. The dentist thought that was a fine idea... Clark, not so much. The entire time Aurora was getting her teeth cleaned he was touching the equipment and lunging for the chair saying "Now my turn!"

As soon as it was his turn, he changed his tune. "No, we go home now." I had to sit down on the chair with him on my lap and play a Dora video on my phone to keep him still. Taking selfies can usually produce a smile, even in the dentist chair.

Aurora is such a model patient, but Clark is exhausting! You know, in the best possible way...

Busy

Lately it seems that our lives are just busy. Work is busy. The kids are busy. It's not even the sort of busy that's interesting for a blog - just busy! Clark's always moving, bonking his head, wanting me to hold him, insisting on snacks and TV shows. Aurora's busy with friends, art projects, and playing games. Chuck's working late most nights. Now that I'm in the height of my half marathon training I'm even busier than usual running! With just 3-weeks to go until race day my mileage has been increasing significantly. Back in August I struggled to go 2-miles at a walk/run. Nowadays it's hard to get motivated if it's below 40 degrees or if cedar allergies are getting to me - but for the most part, the weather has been beautiful and even if I'm not feeling great I can have a great long run.

Lately I've been running less in my neighborhood and more on the actual marathon course and around the lake. That 9.5 mile run was a little slow, but I decided to take it easy and run without music - allowing myself to walk up steep hills and stop at red lights without worrying about pacing or time. It was actually quite nice. Next weekend I have a 10.5 mile run planned and then I'll taper (sticking with 3-5 mile runs) for the final week or two leading up to event day. A couple weeks ago I got new shoes - exactly like my old pair but PINK! Aurora might love them more than I do...

And hey, every blog post is better with a picture of Aurora! We took a nice long walk earlier in the week in honor of Grandma's Birthday. Aurora doesn't run with me, but she assures me that she CAN run faster than me and that is that. Time to go get ready for another busy week!

Splatter

This weekend Aurora went to a splatter painting party at a little place called Smudge Studios. Paint was everywhere and it was awesome. She's been saying for months that she wants to have a painting party for her 7th birthday, so not only did she enjoy it but I picked up a few ideas as well.

She also got to stay up late on Friday night. Chuck decided she's old enough to stay up past her bedtime and watch big movies every once in awhile, and we started with Edward Scissorhands. Next time we're going to watch Maleficent. Clark was not given the same opportunity, but today he refused to nap and asked to watch Pirates of the Caribbean instead. He seems to think he's big enough to skip naps every once in awhile to watch a movie, but we're all hoping he doesn't make this a regular occurrence - just as I'm hoping our painting party won't be QUITE as messy as that one was.

Weekend Videos

I just went a full week without blogging! Not much to report... the weekend was really cold, I wasn't feeling great, but I went running anyway. That's about it. We also took a bunch of videos and I decided it would be fun to share them here. This is actually three videos strung together. The first was just meant for my Bachelor-viewing friends, but once I showed it to the kids they wanted to watch it over and over and over and over again. Then they wanted me to take more videos, so the other two are just silly but for those of you who haven't seen the littles lately, they're pretty cute. We often play the "this or that" game in the car and while Clark may not have a great vocabulary, he does know what he likes! Enough talk... you have nearly 4 minutes of videos to watch. Enjoy!

 

The Measure of Love

Aurora did her own Christmas shopping this year at the Dollar General. She spent $8 of her own money and got gifts for Grandma, Grandpa, Presley, Clark, Zeland, Grandma Nancy, and me. I helped her shop for most of the gifts, but she snuck my present into the cart where I wouldn't see it - and she wrapped her gifts all on her own, which was awesome. She picked out this cool sign for me, which I decided would be perfect in the kitchen, where I hang my measuring cups:

Speaking of measurements, over at the Slane house they're celebrating Hansen's 15th Birthday and Julian & Maren's 24th wedding anniversary! Wow. And speaking of love, tomorrow a new season of the Bachelor begins and my friends are coming over for a viewing party. Do those belong together in the same paragraph? Probably not, but there you have it. I'm using those measuring cups right now to make chocolate peanut butter cupcakes for the Bachelor viewing party... I mean, to celebrate Hansen's birthday! After all the running and yoga I've done these past two weeks, I'm looking forward to eating them.