Running Man

Matt casually went out the other weekend and ran a half marathon. I think he's what you'd call a "runner" now. I got periodic updates on his progress as I sat around leisurely eating breakfast and getting the girls ready for church. It was fun to follow along... he was done before we even made it to church! By the time we got home, he was back, showered, and cooking up a post-race feast of bacon and eggs, none of which I had earned but all of which I gladly partook.

Picking up the race number.

Look at that pace!

Annie made him the medal at the bottom... she made it a first, second and third place medal, just in case. But who are we kidding, Daddy totally won.

Then Matt casually announced he was entering me into the Peachtree Road Race lottery. He gets an automatic in now that he's part of the Atlanta Track Club, but I had to cross my fingers (I didn't) and hope to get a spot (I wasn't holding my asthmatic breath).

Then Friday morning I woke up to this:

Um, yay?

So now I have to learn how to run!

Fun fact: I've actually run the fabled Peachtree Road Race before. It was... difficult. Sweltering. Uphill. Crowded. I was quite nervous, truth be told. I'm not a runner. I really don't like running. Partly because my exercise-induced asthma tends to flair up when I, um, exercise.  But that fated July 4, 2009, Matt and my dad and I took our places on the starting line, despite my distinct lack of training. Matt eventually abandoned us slowpokes, and even my dad edged past me as I huffed and puffed and churned my way along at what amounted to a walk masquerading as a jog. To be fair, I don't begrudge either man for leaving me in the dust. (And to be even more fair, around Mile 5 I realized that something was quite different about this run, the difference being that I was pregnant - whoops!) I will NOT be running pregnant this time.

But I do need to figure out how this whole running thing works again. So I've designated our resident Running Man to be my trainer. He's put me on the run/walk/run method, in hopes of keeping me below my asthma threshold. I headed out today with instructions to run for a minute, walk for a minute, and repeat for 30 minutes total. Somehow every walking period was downhill and every running round hit during an uphill stint, but whatever, I managed to keep it up for all 30 minutes and "closed my circle" as my slightly pretentious but honestly very helpful Apple Watch would say. I think the plan is to eventually run for two minutes for every one of walking, then three running minutes, etc until I can make it a whole 10k.

So after my first successful day of training, I'm going to go eat some Five Guys and feel good about myself. T minus three months to go.

Marching On

My Little Leprechauns! 

We survived St. Patrick's Day around these parts. It's always a weird day... not really our holiday (not being Irish or anything), not really an official "holiday" (what, exactly, are we celebrating?) but always a day full of craziness. I made a big deal at school of telling my kids the leprechaun doesn't get in. We made sure to lock the door every time we left the room, and I tried to keep it as low-key as possible. No pinching here! I did incorporate a little scientific method experiment using static electricity and "leaping leprechauns" but that was about it, until the very end of the day. Finally that sneaky leprechaun got in (under the door? through the vents?) and left a trail of glitter all the way to a gift of magic green pudding. Thank goodness he waited until the last 30 minutes of the day, because things rapidly went downhill after that! Haha! 

Spring... is just around the corner?

After days and weeks and months of what seems like unseasonably warm weather, Old Man Winter made one last attempt, leading to several days of indoor recess (if those aren't words that strike fear and dread into your heart!) we manned up, grabbed our blankets, and headed back to the playground. Oh March, you've flipfloped on us more than any politician in power, but perhaps Spring really is just around the corner? March also brings us the official start of Quarter 4, so hold on to your hats, people, the finish line is in sight!

In a lovely spur of the moment surprise, I scored tickets to The Head and the Heart along with one of my favorite friends. Such a fun show! We watched the sunset from the rooftop of the Tabernacle (didn't even know they had rooftop access) and then enjoyed our perfect balcony seats (as Emily pointed out, we are too old to stand through concerts). It was such a good show. The sound! The energy! It's a little hard to recreate the experience here, but rest assured, it was well worth the mere four hours of sleep I ran off of the next day.

The Head and the Heart

Grey-Out for the Gretos

Finally, our school nurse had the unbelievable tragedy of having her teenage son diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor (this news coming just weeks after she had a new baby. I can't even imagine). We had a fundraiser at the school to support the family, and there is more info here if you are so inclined to help #justisforall.

Happy Birthday Violet!

In what is quickly becoming a new tradition, I didn't manage to get Violet's birthday party scheduled until March! But nonetheless, it happened and it was awesome and I'm getting smart enough to outsource the entire thing. Last year we took a small group out to the movies and ice cream, which was great, but turned out to be rather like chaperoning a field trip. 

This year Violet insisted on a party at our local trampoline park. For one lovely price, all I had to do is show up with a cake. Everything else was taken care of - we had our own party room, our own hostess who served the pizza, cut the cake, cleaned everything up... it was a steal. Instead of goody bags full of cheap crap just begging to be thrown away, I went to Walmart and bought each guest their own giant bouncing ball. Everyone jumped until they were dizzy, gobbled up lunch and cake, and went home happy. Plus it happened to be an absolutely gorgeous day, which means that most people were playing outside and home, and we had the place practically to ourselves (as opposed to rainy days when desperate parents with cranky kids flood the place).

Here's to my seven-year-old. She's reading chapter books now, can tie her shoes, showers instead of taking baths, but still wants to snuggle in bed with me and play with her little sister. She has mastered the cartwheel and handstand in gymnastics, insists on hugging me when we run into each other in the school hallways, and holds Friday night movie night sacred above all other family traditions. It's good to be Violet. It's good to be her mom.

Girl Scouts

Violet has been having a great year in Girl Scouts. I'm glad we elected to keep her in the same Daisy troop even though we changed schools. Our early-start schedule allows us to still make it to the meetings (although it means I sacrifice my Friday afternoons of prepping for the next week). I got "promoted" to assistant troop leader this year, which basically means I lend my moral support to whatever our fabulous troop leader decides to do. She's amazing and I'm just here to watch!

We participated in World Thinking Day a couple weekends ago. There were various countries represented, set up with booths and food samples and interesting facts, all designed and led by older Girl Scouts. Did you know that Scotland's national animal is the unicorn?! Yep, fun fact brought to you by World Thinking Day. The girls had a great time on their tour of the world, tasting food, getting their passports stamped, goofing off with each other.

We also had our first cookie booth this year! The girls rocked it, singing songs about cookies and hawking their wares to the Walmart crowds. Violet did a great job selling cookies this year, more than doubling her total from last year! It helped that I slapped a notice on social media on January 1, the first day cookies are available for purchase. Of course, that means I'm still trying to deliver cookies to everyone that ordered. If you haven't gotten yours yet - I'm so sorry! Just look at it this way - when everyone else has long eaten theirs, you'll still have some and everyone will be jealous!