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Happy Halloween!

 


Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We sure did. Just wish we got an extra day off in there somewhere … lord knows we could have used it!

 

The kids went as Pebbles and Bam Bam (hopefully you can tell that from the photo). We got their costumes on Etsy and Ben’s club came from one of the Halloween super stores. It squeaks. Too cute.

For once Colorado weather (notorious for doing all kinds of nasty things on Halloween) cooperated with us and it was very pleasant out. Tabby had tights and a white t’shirt under her costume and we put a t’shirt on Ben as well, but nothing in the way of winter coats was needed. Awesome.

We did not get any pumpkins carved, but Matt made a spider whose eyes lit up when you got close to it and if you were really close it shot silly string at you. But we didn’t use it at our house since we went over to a friend’s house to trick-or-treat.

Now I’m looking forward to a nice quiet week of recuperation until Matt’s mom arrives on Thursday. Never a dull moment, I tell ya.

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Random Thursday Ramblings

It's Thursday and nearing month end, which means of course that I'm updating my hyper-active OCD budget. What? Doesn't everyone do that on the last Thursday of the month?? I'm constantly amazed at how much we can spend on food. Sure, it's obvious that going out to eat adds up, but we spend a TON on groceries. I won't even quote you a number because I'm slightly embarrassed by it.

I've read a lot over the years about couponing and how people just save TONS with it. But most of the time when I see what they buy, I look at the loot and go “Yea, but that's not what I buy.” I would say that at least 80% of what comes into our house is a whole food and I do not see a lot in the way of coupons for broccoli and quinoa.

I try not to get too irritated about it. I know Americans spend way less of our income on groceries than most other industrialized nations. Beyond that, I'm not going to eat crap just because it's cheap. Cheap crap is still crap. But it doesn't make my salad greens and apples any cheaper.

Enough about my ridiculous grocery budget. We have another jam-packed weekend. I'm sure that surprises no one. But one thing on our agenda is a little boy's birthday party. He's in Tabby's class and I'm sure he's very nice and all but we don't know him or anything. So why are we going? Mainly because his mom cornered me at school this morning and I felt bad. She said no one had agreed to come. Were we coming? Err… sure. Guilt. It's not a pretty thing.

But what I'm terribly excited to do is go with one of my besties to Canvas and Cocktails. That's right I get to paint AND DRINK! Woot! Not only that but it's my first girl's night out with this particular friend in … I hardly remember how long. I'm so so so excited!! The guys will be staying with the kids carving pumpkins and eating pizza and such and having their own good time. Yay!

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Ben at 1.5

My baby is growing up so damn fast. It half breaks my heart and half makes me happy. The happy comes from knowing that he’s so much easier now that he’s older.

The past month has been as milestonerific as the others. He is now navigating the stairs (both up and down) on his own, erect. He does not want help unless there is nothing to hold onto and though we still supervise, he is pretty sure-footed – and that includes climbing. He is the master of climbing and will go from stool to chair to table to chandelier (not yet, but I can see it coming!). He really digs music and can be seen clapping and dancing around whenever a good beat can be heard. He still has a lethal aim with his arm which has necessitated the advent of the penalty box, a laundry basket we employ for time-outs. He is not a fan and he seems to be throwing food much less often at the dinner table. Continue reading “Ben at 1.5”

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An Organized … err …

As I wrote at Monkey Bars yesterday, it's been a bit chaotic at our house. Note to self: this always happens when WE'RE NEVER AT HOME.

Anyhow, this morning I saw a post at one of my favorite blogs (that I should act upon more often instead of just reading), Unclutterer. They asked, “Without getting up from your chair, do you know exactly where …”

• your keys are?
• your 2009 tax documents are?
• your car’s registration is? (If you own a car.)
• your winter gloves are?
• your social security card is?
• your flashlight is?
• your phone charger is?

I can proudly say that I know where each and every one of those things are. Without a doubt, more crap needs to leave my house. Without a doubt, there are areas of my house that are a freaking mess. Without a doubt, I could do better. But I do think that I have handled the really important stuff … and frankly, having fun is a lot more … fun. I doubt I'll ever regret not cleaning out my closet. But spending time with friends and family? That's a must.

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A Quickie

I want to write a proper post, but I really need to get to bed or my 4:45 AM run will not be a possibility. I will probably be back tomorrow with something profound to say (or not). Rest assured 8 other things have been neglected, along with my blog.

At least I will leave you with this photo from pumpkin picking a week or so ago. Ben had no interest in standing still (typical), Tabby’s hair was kinda funky, and the light was challenging. This is about as good as it gets. Sorry, Theresa, I gave it my best shot!!

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Weekend Recap: May I Have Another??

After a crazy week, we (per normal) jam-packed our weekend.

Friday morning we dropped my SIL, Theresa off at the airport. The kids had a great time with her and it was (of course) a huge help to Matt and I to have her last week. All day Friday Tabby wanted to know where she was and when she was coming back.

After the airport we had to hit it. Tabby and I dropped the boys at home and hit the grocery store to get food for the weekend, particularly my Bunco party. As I mentioned, I made lentil soup, stuffed potatoes, salad and apple spice cake for dessert. With all that to cook, plus a house to clean, I was at it pretty much all day. Luckily, I had the kids to help. Tabby helped me mash potatoes and they both sampled goodies and watched me as I worked. Ben can now proudly say “tato!” Tabby plugged the vacuum cord back in over and over for me as well and helped pick up. They were both good as gold in between and took fairly long naps. Matt took off with the kids around 5 so I could finish up and the kids could hang with my mom overnight so they could get a good night’s sleep.

Bunco was its usual raucous fun of moms unleashed into the wild sans kids. Everyone was in a super chatty mood and for the first time ever, we only played two rounds and quit after dessert and just hung out. At least 5 bottles of wine were consumed.

Saturday we got to sleep in for the first time in … a VERY LONG TIME. Really sleep in. It was blissful. Then we picked up the kids, ran one errand (Target, duh) and headed home for lunch, followed by naps. Before any time at all had passed, we headed out to our friends’ Halloween party where they outdid themselves as usual and everyone had a great time.

The kids were exhausted when we got home, but Matt and I got to stay up later and hang out, just the two of us. Super nice.

Today dawned early with both kids up by 7 so we took advantage of the early start and went for a 4 mile run (plus an extra mile walk) with a friend and then raced like mad over to our friend’s b’day party which included swimming. More naps and another trip to Target and Sunflower followed. Then we came home for family dinner and chores and sent the kids off to bed.

Now I am here, with little checked off on my to-do list, ready to head back to work tomorrow. I guess I know where my weekend went, but I’d loooove another!!

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I'm a Monkey Mama

First things first. I'm happy to announce that I am sharing some parenting stories on a brand new (and super fabulous) parenting blog called From the Monkey Bars, started by my bloggy friend, C of Kid Things.net. She wanted a place for parents to share their stories and takes on parenting topics in a fun and friendly way and she's created this great site. She wants contributors too, so if you're interested, pop over there and share your stories too! It's a lot of fun. My first two stories are up there, one about the challenges of parenting and one about getting dinner on the table … hope you'll check them out! I will be posting 1x or 2x/week from now on. Enjoy!

In other news, we've hardly been home this week. As I related, my SIL is in town and we've been up to all sorts of fun things in the evening. Tuesday we went to the pumpkin patch. Yesterday we did the sewing class (loads of fun!) and tonight we're heading out for some pub quiz fun with The Geeks Who Drink. Of course it doesn't stop there and we've got yet another jam-packed weekend. Someday I'll get back to things like cooking … and exercise. Soon.

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My Blogging Cup Runneth Under

I'm still recovering from my third half, I think. My brain seems a bit fuzzy and overwhelmed. And I know I must have pushed myself hard on Sunday because my quads are still sore and that never happens to me anymore! Hurt so good.

I'm trying once again to feel my way through the election process and find it as irritating as ever. I am lucky to have a DVR (not that I've watched any TV lately) and an answering machine that picks up on 1.5 rings, so I'm spared a large portion of the political crap. But as I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative, there is no candidate for me. I'm rather disgusted with the whole thing and will probably throw my votes away on unaffiliated/independent candidates in protest … that no one will hear. Oh well.

My sister-in-law is here for a week and getting a taste of motherhood, or at least a taste of what our sitter does every week. Our sitter is out of town and my SIL very kindly agreed to come to CO and stay with her niece and nephew for the week. It isn't much of a vacation for her, but we're hoping to have some fun in the evenings, including the sewing class, Geeks Who Drink and a pumpkin patch. Hopefully she'll enjoy her time with us and the kiddos.

I will have some fun news tomorrow.

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Rocking it in Denver

We the single biggest bummer of this race is that I have no photos to share with you. They why has a very long answer and simultaneously no answer at all, but I won't bore you. Matt and I didn't even get our official finish-line photo taken together because we didn't find each other. Boo.

Aside from that, everything was great, at least for me. Though I was at 5280 ft. compared with the 0ish ft. at Disneyland, I actually beat my pace at Disney. My official time was 2:29:01, 1 min 59 seconds faster than Disney. I guess my hill work paid off? It didn't feel like I was rocking it all that hard, but I made myself keep going and mentally I did really well. I have been flying on that high since the race.

Matt, on the other hand, did not have such a great race, even though he beat me almost 10 minutes. He was not feeling his best and it definitely put a wrench in the works.

It was fun seeing everyone and I loved running in my hometown. The course was really nice and had some great views of the city and the mountains, through gorgeous parks and past some of my favorite Denver spots.

All in all, a great experience … but I have to admit. I'm kind of glad to see an end to running season. We have just one more race planned for this year (the Turkey Trot – just 4 miles) and I will be happy to metaphorically hang up my shoes for a few months and figure out what races I want to run next year. Of course I do not plan to stop running … just fewer long ones and no training plan.

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Three Halves

Our third half marathon is rapidly approaching. It has seemed to us like it is so close to our second half marathon, but really they’re about a month and a half apart.

This one is different. This is the first half we’ve run in Colorado. This is the first one we’ve run with (near) a bunch of local friends. This is the first one jammed into our regularly schedule life instead of into a trip. It’s going to be interesting.

Since I got back from Disneyland, I’ve been working on consistency in my workouts. I’ve managed to workout almost every work day BEFORE work and most non-work days as well (laying tile counts as a workout, right?). I’ve been watching what I eat and I’ve lost a few pounds as a result.

Also, I’ve been working on my hills. I am a big-time whiner when it comes to hills. We do not get along and while I can coast along at a reasonable pace on flat, any hill used to lay me out. ANY hill, even tiny little 1% hills. But I am better now. I can run many miles on a 1% grade and at least one mile at a 2% grade. It might be sad, but it is good progress for me, my friends.

So I head into this last half of the year with the goal about the same as my first and second … finish it. I would love to run the whole thing again (as I did in Disneyland) and I would love to break the 2:30 mark (I was painfully close @ Disney), hopefully buoyed by my hometown pride, but I will be happy to finish it. I don’t run for glory … I run for fun and just to say I did it. Maybe I’ll get faster later on.