ITCHY GLEN CHRISTMAS DECOR 2014

Christmas decor went up around here on Saturday afternoon (after our race) and Sunday afternoon (after taking family portraits). The kids started by planting some new flowers in the pots they painted at Isaac's birthday party, with Gramma's help.

While Jay was stringing lights along the house (our first year with house lights!!), the kids watched, and Gramma trimmed the crazy tree so it's branches wouldn't block the lights. (Earlier in the week, Jay borrowed a pole saw to finally cut down a large branch that has been obnoxiously hanging directly in front of the front upstairs porch for years, so that helped the lights shine through too.)

After the lights were up, we started a bonfire to roast hot dogs for dinner and s'mores for dessert. There's nothing better than campfire food to kids.

The next afternoon we set up the mantle and tree, and let the kids have free reign over ornament placement. We tried to encourage them to spread them out, but once the step ladder came out (SO MUCH FUN for little kids!), pretty much every ornament went arms-length above it! We decided to just put the lighter weight/less sentimental/less fragile ornaments on the tree this year, not so much because of the kids as because of Cannon... So far he's been a good kitty, but we don't want him to get hurt (or break any of our favorites).

James designed that Spiderman decoration himself. It will stay up throughout the month, so if you see it hanging off the stairs this weekend during the Turducken party, please tell James how awesome it is. He is very proud of his creation. 



GG's quilt found a place close to the tree



We added a string of green lights to our pre-lit tree this year.
It feels a bit like a disco in here...

(And in case anyone has forgotten or doesn't know, we named our house Itchy Glen back when we moved here in 2007 because the yard was COVERED in poison ivy)

BIG DOG 10-MILER

Jay and I sneaked out of the house at 5:30 this morning to drive over to Ruston and run the 10-miler at the Big Dog Ultra Trail Runs event at Lincoln Parish Park. I did the 20-miler there with Sophie last year as a training run for my first marathon, and I have to admit, I was giddy today knowing I only had to run the loop once this year (those hills are no joke)! It was MUCH warmer this year than last (hence our shorts and tanks), which also made me happy to be finishing in 2 hours (well, 2:05, officially) rather than 4-4.5 hours (when the heat index would be even higher)! We met up with some of our running buddies (Mack, Lee, Lori, Daniel, and Tom) before the race, but decided to stick together just the two of us for the miles (not that we could have kept up with Tom anyway, but you know what I mean). Jay twisted/sprained/tweaked his ankle while running a trail with me on Wednesday (having Gramma in town allowed us lots of fun runs together - thank you Jean!), so he had some pain throughout the duration of the race unfortunately (not necessarily his ankle, but the overcompensation for it, which caused other muscles to ache) and perhaps shouldn't have run today... As such, we took it slow and easy, which for me resulted in a super fun run that left me with zero aches or pains (during or after the race). Lucky me - a fun, pain-free run with my best friend in a beautiful place! Hopefully Jay will be feeling better soon after a few days off to heal and recover, so we can get some more runs in together while we're in Florida, then while my mom and grandma are visiting at the end of the month.

 Photo Left: Early on in the race when we were still moving at a good clip (it's hard not to go out fast, even on trails, when excitement is high and adrenaline is pumping!), Jay is nothing but a blur.
Photo Right: I told him to "Smile if you love switchbacks!" (this section of trail has you running back and forth up half a dozen switchbacks, with the aid station just out of reach at each turn).

 Jay's first experience with ultra aid station fare - here he's enjoying Pringles!

 Lincoln Parish Park is truly gorgeous and we're lucky to have such a place not too far from home (too bad a storm came through earlier in the week though, knocking down so many leaves - I bet the fall colors were even more incredible before Thanksgiving).

 I attempted to take a photo of us with one of the Big Dog mascots (they have painted wooden cutouts of rescue dogs marking each mile of the course), but Jay got the tail end...

 See that scar and suture tape above Mack's heart? He had a pace maker put in a mere 12 days ago. No big deal.

 Got my picture taken with the girls, Lori and Lee. 

Nobody placed at this event, but we all got finish medals!

This is an event I'll return to year after year. The park is beautiful, the race director is super organized, aid stations are well stocked, the volunteers are all really nice, and the registration fee is minimal, especially for an ultra event (they have a 50K as well as the 5, 10, and 20 milers). If you're looking for a great first trail race experience, I can highly recommend Big Dog!

GRAMMA KEEPS KIDS BUSY!

 

 

 

THANKFUL

 I love Thanksgiving! While it might not be my most favorite holiday (ahem, Halloween), it's always nice to take a day (well, the week, or even the whole month) to reflect on the year and count our blessings, especially leading into the busy holiday season when it's easy to get preoccupied with other things. We never expect ease and perfection throughout the year (we're realists), but despite the sad and difficult things we've experienced this year, we've certainly had more than our fair share of joyful and fun times. We are thankful for those times, for each other, for our amazing family, and for the wonderful friends near and far that are like family to us - living this life wouldn't be half as fun as it is without your presence in it and influence on us, and we thank you for that. We'd like to send a little holiday love to each of you, so consider this our first group hug of the season!

 

Now, onto the turkey (the other reason I love Thanksgiving)!

 

Showing the kiddos the gross part of Thanksgiving - prepping the turkey:

 

Attempting family photos:

(and mostly failing - too cold and too close to lunch, but those leaves sure looked great!)

They really do love each other (giving kisses was James' idea, which is actually a little out of character for him, as he still prefers hugs and kisses from adults over those of his peers). Best friends for life!

Playing with Frozen Slime:

 

His latest obsession: my old Gameboy Color (and Super Mario Bros):

I told him on Sunday that this was his vacation week and he could do whatever he wanted (as long as he behaved and Gramma approved), including playing video games whenever and for however long he wanted. He woke up Monday and immediately came to Gramma's room with my old Gameboy saying "I can play this all day if I want because I'm on vacation!" Safe to say he likes being on vacation!

Once again we underestimated turkey cook time (it was still more frozen than we thought last night), so we had a very late lunch, but it was worth the wait. We covered all the basics and tried not to go too overboard this year: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato dumplings, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing (or dressing, as they say in the south), cranberry sauce, deviled eggs (for Cora, of course), and a chocolate pudding pie (we'd made pumpkin cheesecake swirl bread with cream cheese icing for breakfast, so pumpkin was represented earlier today).

I told everyone to point to their favorite thing, and this might be my favorite Thanksgiving table photo ever!
(James is pointing to the cranberry sauce and Jay just loves it all.)

We didn't have room in our bellies for that pie right away, so we took a walk around the neighborhood to make some. It was cold. We should have worn bigger jackets. And maybe gloves and hats...

(This was actually her 5th outfit of the day. She is constantly changing her clothes and putting crazy outfits together. Laundry is an ongoing battle at our house, but that's ok - she cracks us up with some of her creations. And her obsession with a particular dance outfit reminds me of how my cousin Vicki went through a phase around this age where she never wore anything without a swimsuit underneath it all. Unfortunately though, Cora's outfit changes also reflect her reverting to having tiny accidents again this week after almost 4 months without any issue. We're not sure if she's just keeping busy and not wanting to miss out on even a moment of fun with Gramma, or if the change in diet/routine over vacation is messing her up, or if she's just wanting to be treated like the baby, but we hope we can get her back on track soon.)

CATFISH ROW SUNSET

The kids needed to get out of the house and run some energy out this afternoon, so after a little trail run at the park with Jay (thanks to a 2-hour early release from work!), I took them up to Catfish Row to play at the playground until sunset. Then they threw rocks into the Yazoo until they got too cold out on the water. Then they played on the train cars until daddy starting texting about when we were coming home... It was a fun hour and a half, just letting them do whatever they wanted.