SPONTANEOUS ZOO ADVENTURE

(She made this necklace on a playdate at Azure's house and she is very proud of it!)

CORA WINS!

Cora's mohawk is finally longer than James'. As they say around here... "I wins!"

SWEET VIOLET

Sweet little Violet turned 1-year-old this past week and her parents celebrated with a fun party tonight, complete with lasagna and carrot cake, presents and balloons. The balloons were by far James and Cora's favorite part, and they spent the first 2.5 hours of the party running (and driving) around the house carrying as many balloons as they could. Cora reminded us of a Mario Kart character...

LEGO MANIA

Campers with their grill, cooler, and wind-powered tent near a very weird petting zoo and adjacent to a forest with a waterfall and tree on fire (being rescued by wildland firefighters).

"HOT TEA"

What makes your post long run ice bath feel better? A jacket, the heat fan, and a cute little waitress serving her specially made "hot tea".

(This mornings long run was 10.2 miles at 10:40 pace with Sophie and Christina, and it felt good! Proper nutrition, an ice bath, rolling/massage, and a nice hot shower helped make for a smooth recovery this time.)

SNOWBALLS: TAKE 2

 

We got a dusting of snow last night (while just east of us in Jackson they look to have a couple inches already, and it's still snowing there), so Jay and I were pretty excited to wake up the kids and take them outside for a little snowball fight before work/school.

 James loved scooping up snow to make snowballs, and he REALLY loved throwing them at us all. Cora, on the other hand, preferred daddy to pack her snowballs for her, and she cried when James hit her in the nose... And she was quite offended when daddy binged her in the shoulder too. At least I got one photo of her running around and smiling! They both definitely had a fun morning. I know the snow won't last even a couple of hours here, but I sure wish we were all home playing together!

SNOWBALLS!

The temperature dropped over 30 degrees today, and it rained all day, but it still wasn't cold enough for snow. Since James told me last week "When it snows, we can catch it in our hands, and we will build a snowman, and put it in his eye, and it will have a twinkle in it!", I thought a little pretend snow was in order...

Helping mama mix it up!

Cora loved it (once it was mixed - she didn't want to get gooey hands)

To make your own pretend snow, mix 2 boxes of cornstarch and 1 can of shaving cream (the cheap white variety). It packs like snow (and only sticks to your hands during the mixing process, but washes off easily), then explodes like a snowball against the ground (or person...) when thrown. Idea not my own, but gathered from Pinterest (we were overdue for a Pinterest Kid Craft).

CONSTRUCTION PARTY FUN!

Our little buddy Will turned 3 this week and he had an AWESOME construction party today to celebrate! Kiddie pools full of pea gravel and construction trucks, a race track with trikes and bikes and cars, a cardboard city, and plenty of food and drink and treats to send us all home with full bellies. The kids had so much fun they wanted to stay the night, so Team Lindsay closed down the party as bedtime loomed close. Happy Birthday Will Will, and thanks for inviting us to your super cool party!

(Cora wore her Minnie Mouse bow in honor of her cousin's Addy's Minnie Mouse themed birthday party, happening today out in California)

Three peas in a pod. I mean pool.

Driving each other around on Will's trike

Leo wanted to ride solo, hence the tears

Will had the BEST smile throughout the birthday song! We love this sweet little guy!

Everybody wanted to help him open his presents...

CHILL IN THE HILLS

Jay and I ran the Chill in the Hills 10K this morning (while Cari, Mike, Jacob, and Bridger graciously watched the kiddos for us) and had a great race! Temps were in the 70s (so, not so chilly), a bunch of our friends were there (Al, Ashley, Dave, Jim, Kristi, and a few of our buddies from spin class and some other folks we've grown to know, small town living and whatnot), and we got free pizza and awesome beer afterward (Lucky Town Brewery!), so it was especially fun. The race course was a bit hillier than I expected (I know, it's called Chill in the HILLS) based on the map they provided (mile 5 was TOUGH!), but I had a pacer (Dave!) that helped me stay on (or below) target, with enough wiggle room to walk some of that big hill. My goal was to finish in under an hour, so I was aiming for a 9:30/mile pace or better. We did so, for all but mile 6 (the big hill started right at mile 5), and I ran that last mile with everything I had left (my pace for that last 0.2 mile is off because I forgot to turn off my Garmin until I had already walked over to the refreshment table and filled 2 cups of Gatorade - oops).

Dave, Jim, and Jay at the starting line.

Enjoying our post-race Lucky Town Belgian Pale Ale!

My official time was listed as 57:53 (unofficial Garmin time of 57:39, clocking it until the point where I stopped moving) and I somehow managed to get 2nd place in my age group (probably because many of the speedy girls weren't racing today, due to the Mississippi Blues Marathon being last weekend). And it was a small race (I placed 67 out of 155 total runners). I don't care though, I'll take it! I came in 11 minutes behind my buddy Ashley and got to take home a cool chili bowl in place of a medal, and I beat my previous (and only!) 10K time by over 8 minutes!

Jay also ran a good race today (as did Al, Jim, and Dave), though their age group is equally difficult to place in (if not more so). He ran his first 10K ever and beat my first 10K time by almost 4 minutes. I know he wanted to break an hour, but there's always next time, and I'm super proud of him for pushing through for this time, especially running solo on a much hotter than anticipated day! We're getting really excited about our upcoming half marathon and plan to run it side-by-side, wearing kilts!

CLASSY CORA

Please don't think we dress our daughter like this. Not that we discourage it, I suppose. She came prancing out of her room this evening, after stripping down to her undies and donning a pair of sparkly shades and fancy plastic heels. Makes me wonder what kind of clothes battles we're going to have in the next few years...

78 DEGREES IN JANUARY?!

It was too beautiful NOT to go out for a fun afternoon at the park today, so after school we hit up our favorite place, where the kids climbed, slid, swung, rode bikes, and played in a new pile of (wet) sand (due to the many inches of rain we received over the past couple of days). They hung out with Manu and Leo, and Grady, and made some new friends (and we thought their mom was awesome too). Pretty sure they thought it was one of the best days ever!

Sans pants, due to the wet sand. Window open, singing his heart out, and laughing hysterically at himself. Yup, he had a great day!

FLASH FLOOD!

I took this photo for my dad, since he was curious whether the "Entering Flood Zone" area near the kids' school ever floods. Apparently it does. We got almost 5" of rain in under 24 hours, which resulted in flash floods all over town, including this flood zone. That little blue car is stuck out there, on the road (which had warning signs...), a huge oak fell over in that pasture to the top left, the train was stopped, and the raging waters were filled with branches and pouring through the drainage under the road. Crazy!

Instead of rushing home to check on our house/property, I went to the gym. Jacob spent the afternoon with us, and James was obviously spoiled by all the attention!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY ADDY!

Wishing you a very happy birthday today sweetheart! We love you and miss you and can't wait to see you this summer!! 

Hopefully Dave got the birthday girl a cake pop after their birthday breakfast at Starbucks!

BASKET BABIES

I know, here I go reminiscing again... But I was uploading photos to Snapfish and going through old albums, and realized that I have matching photos of the kids at 3-months-old laying in a blanketed laundry basket, so I had to do a comparison. Cora was noticeably shorter, but she had similar thigh rolls under that sleeper! (I used to keep a laundry basket with a folded blanket in it on top of the dryer when they were infants - it made stooped over laundry transfers from washer to drier much easier when my hands were free, and neither kid liked to be left alone in the living room for even a minute when they were itty bitty. Memories...)

PRIORITIES...

Cora had a BAD week of accidents the entire time my mom was here (no fun for ANY of us, literally 5+ accidents per day while awake, yet still dry for naps and overnight). This is 7 months post potty training, and following a month where she had maybe 3 accidents total, even with all the travel and car rides and messed up schedules. We were flummoxed! We cut out all citrus immediately but didn't know what else could be triggering it. Regression? Infection? Another food? She's been healthy though and hasn't had any new foods, so we think it was just a bad week, and nothing more. She's been almost back on track since the weekend (only one accident each on Saturday, Sunday, and today, even doing great at school), so we're pushing the gummy bear rewards again in hopes we get our potty star back this week!

 The girl has priorities: washing her hands is far more important than getting her pants pulled all the way back up after a potty visit....