JUST DO IT

Aurora's school pictures turned out amazing. Clark's are cute, but not QUITE as good. I already bought copies of Aurora's and will get those out with our Christmas cards. What do you think... should we get some of these too? 

Sneak Peek

This weekend we met up with my friend Elise at the park and she took some adorable photos of our little family. I don't have them all yet and since I'm going to be ordering holiday cards, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise - but I had to post a preview of the pics she sent me today.

Aurora is like a model, but Clark... he spent most of the time crying, pointing accusingly at the camera, and looking up at airplanes, so I imagine there aren't a TON of good family photos to choose from. He came around and we got some sweet smiles and kisses at the end of the session. Oh well, enjoy the sneak peek!

Veterans Day Assembly

Aurora's been excited about this for weeks. Her music teacher split up military and patriotic songs among each grade and Aurora was beside herself when she learned that first grade was singing the Marine Corps Hymn. She knows her daddy was in the Marines! I remember all the military songs from when I was little so we've been practicing in the car. Apparently she was the first one in her class to memorize the words. Of course we had to attend. Our neighbor sent us these pictures:

We all carpooled in to work and school so afterwards we decided to go out to dinner. Clark is usually pretty hard to deal with at restaurants but tonight he was just a perfect little guy! He loved the food and LOVED sitting in a big boy seat instead of a high chair. I figured since he missed the assembly I could include a picture of our boy enjoying his dinner.

Just a few more years and he'll be the one singing the Marine Corps Hymn (he does love to sing!). Happy Veterans Day and Happy Birthday to the United States Marines. Semper Fi!

Art in the Park

This weekend we went to the Grand Opening of the new Bee Caves Sculpture Park. It was a lovely day - perfect temps, not crowded, nothing else on the agenda.

It's a small park, just right for a leisurely walk. Lately I've been running 3-5 miles twice a week, often through different parks. I notice art all over the place and have taken pictures of a few favorites near work and on Lady Bird Lake.

It sure makes running around Austin interesting. Of course, my FAVORITE site to see at any park has to be these sweet little faces.

Superhero and Princess

Today was a late start day at school for Aurora and a party at daycare for Clark, so I decided to take the whole day off. I voted, went to the library and post office, did a little shopping, and once the kids were home we carved our pumpkin.

Then we suited up for some trick-or-treating and our annual neighborhood block party. There were a lot of superheroes and princesses out there this year and our kids fit right in. They went as Sleeping Beauty and Superman (aka Aurora & Clark!).

We had a good time, as usual. Aurora kept doing sweet princess poses so we asked Clark to give us some superhero poses. We tried flying him through the air and showing him examples of how Superman might pose, but for some reason... this was what we got.

Happy Halloween! 

Poodle Skirts & Pumpkins

Yesterday was Valley View's annual Sock Hop. I wasn't originally planning on going but Aurora got super sad because she misses Grandma & Grandpa and since they could't go she needed me to come (cue the violin music and guilt trip). I had fun doing the twist and watching her jump & jive with her friends in their poodle skirts.

After school we headed to the CCOA Fall Festival. This year they alleviated the parking situation by shuttling us from a nearby lot. Riding in a school bus there and back was Clark's favorite part! It was way less crowded than last year and we played games, won prizes, went down the bouncy slide a million times and danced to some great music.

Clark wore his Batman pajamas and Aurora went in a mermaid dress-up. You'll have to wait until next week to see their actual costumes, but the event was super fun. In fact, Aurora proclaimed it was the best Fall Festival EVER - and the girl knows what she's talking about! This morning she gave the same feedback as we continued our fall festivities at a local pumpkin patch. We skipped the long drive and crowds and went to a small set up at a nearby church. It was super cute and we got two small pumpkins with little face stickers. Best pumpkin patch ever? Obviously!

Gorgeous Girl

I just got Aurora's school pictures and WOW! This year they asked us to pre-order photos without seeing them ahead of time. I wasn't sure how to feel about that, but I'm so glad we placed an order. Absolutely gorgeous, and this is just a picture of the picture. The original is even better! Who wants a copy?

This has been a super busy week of first grade with a book fair, half days, and tomorrow is the sock hop. I may or may not be able to go, but either way there will surely be some cute pictures of this gorgeous girl and her friends in their poodle skirts.

Lounging at LIVESTRONG

Last week Aurora had Monday off from school. Instead of taking a day off from work, she had a sleepover with Presley and the girls came to LIVESTRONG HQ at about 3pm to drop her off with me. I lead them on a tour which included a little bit of this...

... and some of this. Yes, the girls explored every box, chair, and lounging area they could find. The hammock is always a favorite stop on the grand tour.

I'm not sure they saw the blue couch in the HR lounge, but I'm including this picture because I've been working on the staff photo wall for a long time and was finally able to put it up just a a few days ago. I think it turned out pretty cool. Can you enlarge it enough to find me?

This week has been filled with fundraising events, finales, parties, dinners, merchandise sales, bike rides and more. I went to a really cool work function Friday night and after the serious business concluded, we danced to an 80's cover band for hours. The next morning Aurora and I headed back to work to volunteer, handing out t-shirts to ride participants.

A couple of her best LIVESTRONG friends were volunteering, too, which means that in addition to volunteering there was plenty of squealing, running, playing, and more lounging. Maybe you can't call it lounging when all three girls are a blur...

These big bean bag chairs have been in our office for years but these days they're rarely used. I was told I should just go ahead and bring one home, so we are now the proud owners of a HUGE red bean bag - which is why you finally get pictures of CLARKIE!

The sweet boy hardly knows what he's been missing. I've tried to limit my after hours work involvement to his nap/sleep times, but he has been wearing his LIVESTRONG shirt! Who knew lounging around could be so fun?

Certificates

This has been a very exciting week! Our Wednesday night doughnuts were in celebration of a few things. First, Wednesday was our Parent Teacher Conference and Ms. Zaroba had only great things to say about our girl. She said that Aurora finished Kindergarten reading a full grade level ahead and is currently so advanced that the only thing she works on with her is comprehension. Aurora is one of the only kids in class who can read silently to herself. She loves writing and drawing and is excelling in math. She's a sweet, loving friend who works hard and enjoys school. In fact, she's such a good friend that today she was honored at the weekly assembly with an award for CARING. The award says that they recently had a new student join the class and Aurora made that student feel welcomed. Ms. Zaroba told me that within hours of her first day Aurora was already saying that Ella was her new BFF.

I was awarded a certificate of my own this week when I graduated from a yearlong program called SOS Leadership Great Women Leaders. I've been focusing on goal setting, better communication and more confident leadership. If it wasn't for this program I probably wouldn't be training for that half marathon...

I'm so proud of both of our accomplishments but perhaps the most exciting thing was that we got our certificates in the same week! How cool is that?

Doughnuts

Tonight I took the littles to Family Night at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Apparently every Wednesday night Krispy Kreme sets up a station for kids to decorate their own doughnuts. Who knew this was a thing!?

Along with free doughnuts and hats, they got little art projects AND the Ghost Busters were on hand with a game of throw the doughnut in the ghost's mouth. Aurora won a pack of vintage Ghost Buster trading cards. The cards are seriously from the '80's!

We don't usually venture out on weeknights but tonight we braved the traffic and stayed out late for three reasons. First, because we just learned about this crazy Family Night and had to check it out. Second, well, doughnuts. And third because we were celebrating! Stay tuned for Friday's blog to find out why...

Belle

A few months back Aurora asked me to play a song from Beauty and the Beast and I ended up showing her a video from the Broadway musical. She LOVED it and watched nearly the whole performance on my phone. I told her that if the show ever came to Austin I'd buy us tickets to see it in real life. In my mind I envisioned that happening in a few years when she's 9 or 10 years old. Later that night I looked it up and found that the musical was on its way to Austin. True to my word I bought tickets, and today was the day!

Aurora was nowhere near the youngest and she definitely wasn't the only princess in attendance. We saw several other Belle's, a Princess Aurora and Snow White. She was a little fidgety but considering it was a 3-hour performance, she did a great job paying attention and clapped enthusiastically after each song. It was a very special mommy-daughter date. Who knows - maybe in a few years we'll do it again!

On The Run

A few posts back I mentioned I was starting a new training program to prepare for the 2015 Austin Half Marathon. Well, I've joined a group called Moms on the Run, which so far is more hand weights and leg lifts than anything else, but it's good to mix a bit of strength training into my endurance work. Yesterday was our second meeting and both times I followed the 1-hour session with a 2-3 mile jog around the neighborhood. It's been a long time since I was serious about working out and I'm really getting into it. Suddenly I can't focus on reading anymore! After all those great recommendations y'all gave me, the only books I seem to be able to get into these days are about running. I'm reading articles, watching youtube videos, and probably spending more time thinking about my training plan than I actually spend running. But, if I'm going to do it I want to do it right.

Moms on the Run is an 8-week program and I'm sure we'll take a group photo that I can post eventually. After yesterday's workout I took Aurora to a Home Depot workshop, then we met Bailey and Kim for lunch (Bailey's in town for ACL). It was a great morning.

We hung out with my parents afterwards and WOW did I ever feel like I could use a nap!!! I think one reason I can't concentrate on reading anymore is because once I lay down to relax I just fall right asleep. Don't worry, I'm incorporating plenty of rest days into my (so far not very intense) training schedule. If only Clark wanted to nap as much as I do...