Intermission

The holiday festivities continued around here with a weekend full of entertainment and fun. Saturday Aurora and I went to a play called Kids of the Magi. I was contemplating the Nutcracker but we've seen it before and I know it would be expensive and crowded. This was super cute, and Aurora got to color and get the actor's autographs afterwards.

Yesterday we went down to the Hays County Performing Arts Center to watch our friend David conduct a special holiday concert. The whole family came along to enjoy the show. Intermission really confused Clark and he was unable (or unwilling) to sit down quietly again afterwards, so we ended up leaving a bit early and heading out for dinner, which worked out just fine!

Even with all the lights and music and plays, it's hard to believe it's Christmas week. Today we put both kids in daycare and I spent my time cleaning, shopping, wrapping, doing yoga and laundry, planning and relaxing before the main events. Looking forward to an abundance of food, gifts, and good company in the coming week!

Happy Holiday Parties

This has been a busy and stressful week at work, but today I was able to focus almost entirely on holiday parties. Aurora's class party was this morning and I volunteered to help get everything setup for gingerbread house decorating. It was awesome.

Afterwards my team at work had a nice yearend lunch together, then I picked Aurora up early so she could join us for Clark's holiday party. Santa visited each classroom, then the kids performed Jingle Bells. By perform, I mean nobody sang - they just jingled bells.

Three down, one to go. My folks are coming over to watch the kids while we go to Chuck's company dinner - but not before lighting our Menorah and Yahrzeit candle in memory of Grandpa Sandler. Now if only Clark would stop trying to blow the candles out...

Happy 4th night of Chanukah and happy holidays to everybody celebrating with family, friends and coworkers this week!

Santa!

After 7 years of blogging it's getting hard to come up with original titles, so I stole this one from Julian's blog... ha! Of course, today we DID go see Santa. Clark wasn't so sure about sitting on his lap for a photo, but he did think he'd been a good boy and asked for a truck.

Aurora has definitely been a good girl and I'm sure Santa will be good to her this year. He gave both kids treats and toys after the photo, so we're already off to a good start. They also enjoyed a little carousel ride before heading over to the Lakeway Trail of Lights.

Look - Santa lights! What a fun and festive way to spend the day. One more week of work and school before I get my Christmas wish - two weeks off!

Hair

If there's one thing Aurora is known for, it's her hair. Her thick, gorgeous, curly blonde hair. This week, that hair was nit-picked and combed for hours. Chuck was the first person to get in there and he got the bulk of the lice, but grandpa and I had our chance as well. We moussed and shampooed, washed sheets and pillow cases, vacuumed and cleaned, and she was kept home from school for a day. Today everything looked clear, but the treatments will continue for the next week or so.

Clark seemed to have pink eye, but it cleared up fast. He didn't have lice but I gave both boys short haircuts just in case. That's right... Clark got another buzz cut! He likes it and looks adorable (of course). My dad mentioned that when he was little head shaving was the common treatment, but I decided we probably shouldn't shave Aurora's hair...

Frozen Festivities

We had so much fun this weekend and I haven't even had a chance to blog about it! I've been busy catching up on chores and work, and now we're dealing with head lice and potentially pink eye. Ignoring that for just a moment, wow have we been having fun! This weekend Aurora was invited to a Frozen party with a very special guest - Queen Elsa.

Then we saw the Austin Philharmonic Orchestra perform holiday songs at the Capitol Rotunda. Our neighbor David is the conductor and many friends were in attendance. They played Christmas tunes AND an awesome medley of songs from (you guessed it) Frozen.

We had another birthday party this weekend where we spent the majority of the time outdoors because IT IS NOT FROZEN in Texas right now! It's been in the 60's and lovely.

I also just threw our annual volunteer holiday party at work (above), and my parents took Aurora & Clark to a gingerbread cookie decorating party at the library (photo taken with my mom's flip phone, below). I hear it was crowded and awesome. 

So yeah... now we're dealing with lice in Aurora's lovely hair and the possibility that Clark might wake up tomorrow with pink eye (or, let's face it, lice). We just got rid of our old couch and are awaiting the delivery of a new sleeper sofa. Add in two busy jobs and life as usual, and I'm exhausted! Looking forward to a long holiday break and many more holiday festivities to come.

Going the Distance

Today I spent 3-hours at a running clinic where coaches video taped my form and gave me pointers on areas for improvement. We also did track workouts designed to improve speed and pacing. I've read that I should incorporate track workouts into my training but I didn't actually know what they were. Now I do! During my 1-mile repeats I clocked some 8 minute splits, which is really fast for me. They're going to send me the footage but I don't think I need to post that here. What I do want to post is a little trip down memory lane. I was chatting with my parents a few weeks back and dad mentioned that he was in the best shape of his life when he was 38 years old and running marathons, which kind of blew my mind. Mom brought some scrapbooks over and there were several pages highlighting various long distance races from back in the day.

What's that? Julian and dad did a half marathon together and I cheered them on in the rain!? Now here I am, 38 years old and working toward the same goal. I'm sure I was in better shape in my mid-20's when I used to run 5Ks like it was nothing. I have no idea how fast I was, but I ran in several events including an 8K and a 10K. The 8K was fairly small and I ended up placing in my age group. Randomly, Bruce Jenner presented my medal. I have a scrapbook page of my own to prove it:

I was so fit back then but I honestly expect my distance and endurance to exceed past performance as I work up to the half marathon in February. I probably got about 5 miles in today at various speeds and intervals and my legs are TIRED, but it sure feels good to be this active again.

We're Ready

The rest of our long weekend was indeed uneventful. Food shopping, laundry, Home Depot workshop, playing at the park, library, running, going to the gym, dinner with Grandma & Grandpa... the usual. Oh, and we DECORATED THE HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS!

I'm amazed that we got the tree up AND got our cards ready to go so early this year. Aurora loved decorating and listening to holiday music, and Clark couldn't believe his eyes. He also can't keep his little hands off the ornaments. Ahhh well, we sure enjoyed having 5 days off. Now, bring on the December festivities!

Blog-worthy

Apparently the long weekend requires daily updates. The light show and turkey trot were amazing but today was pretty darn blog-worthy, too. First, AURORA LOST A TOOTH!!! It's the 5th tooth she's lost and I must admit, I helped this one along (meaning: it was super loose, she bonked it, it started bleeding, she was crying, and I pulled it out). When I asked her to smile for a picture, Clark ran up yelling "My turn! My turn!" because of course we need a picture of his teeth, too.

Clark has some news of his own. The last few nights he's been peeing in his little potty before bath time. I realize this is not everybody's favorite topic but OH MY GOODNESS CLARK IS PEEING IN THE POTTY. I'm not saying we're ready to start potty training, but these are exciting times we're living in. I'd tell you the rest of the weekend should be uneventful but you just never know what's going to qualify as an event around here...

Eat, Run and Be Thankful

Eating: Thanksgiving lunch at daycare yesterday; Thanksgiving lunch with friends today.

Running: The 5-mile Turkey Trot. This is about as far and about as fast as I've gone since I started tracking runs on my phone. I did the Turkey Trot on my own this year. I mean, it was me and about 20,000 other participants, but I arrived early, started up front and met my race goals. Maybe next year we'll have the whole family out for the 1-miler. I think Aurora would've liked it. But, this year it was a training run - just a couple months out from the Austin Half Marathon!

Being Thankful: Aurora probably made about 5 different versions of the turkey hat/hand/art project, and I think we can conclude that she's thankful for her Mommy, Daddy, Clark, Grandma, Grandpa, BFFs and (randomly) her Birthday. Clark's thankful leaf at school says he's thankful for Smiles. 

I'm pretty darn thankful for thankful kids and art projects! I'm thankful for the improvement I've seen in my running, for family and friends, for audiobooks, blogs, long weekends, and the amazing weather we've been having in Austin. Based on the current post-meal situation, I'm going to say Chuck's most thankful for wine and naps...

Awesome!

Today we kicked off our 5-day Thanksgiving weekend extravaganza and it was awesome. Clark went to daycare for a half day and Aurora & I had the pleasure of eating lunch with him at school. Then we played with Grandma & Grandpa, went to the park, and ended the evening with a light show at Mozart's Coffee Shop on Lake Austin. Before it started Clark seemed concerned that it was getting dark and cold, but once the music started he was mesmorized. What a fun day!

There's a LOT more awesome coming up in the next few days and I'd say we have a ton to be thankful for. Wishing all my readers a wonderful weekend, too!

Zoo Party

After years of going to all sorts of kid's parties, I figured I'd seen everything Austin has to offer. Last weekend, we had a completely new and completely fun experience as our friend Van had her 3rd birthday party in a special room at the zoo - with a hilarious animal show! It was a cold and rainy day so a zoo party could've been hit or miss. Turns out that in the time we did spend just walking around we saw more animals looking happier than we ever see in the heat of summer.

Zoo parties are awesome - Happy Birthday, Van!

Go Exercise

Saturday was my last workout with the Moms on the Run group. My neighbor Megan joined up along with me and most weekends the kids and dads would come hang out at the playground while we lifted weights and jogged around the neighborhood. Some days we left the fam at home and carpooled together. Clark seemed to think that if I wasn't going to hold him the whole time I ran, I may as well leave him at home. He doesn't like it when I leave him, but lately when he sees me put on workout clothes, he just gives me hugs and kisses and says "Go mama. Go exercise."

It was a really fun group and I'm glad we did it. We're not going to register for the spring session, but we are planning on running a 5K together next year. Until then, I'll keep working toward the half marathon in February with my own training runs, workouts at the gym, and yoga at work. I'm really loving getting back into shape, but I'm also glad tomorrow's a rest day...