Run, Mommy, Run!

In an attempt to exercise more, I decided to run a race. I began a program called "Couch to 5-K," and diligently followed the program for seven weeks. On January 23rd, I ran my first race since the fourth grade. It took me 36 minutes to run the 3.1 miles, but I was very proud of myself. My children were even more proud. After watching over 400 people finish before me, Hannah cheered me across the finish line. "Did you win, Mommy? Did you win!?!" I told her that I had won the Hannah's mommy race.

But I think my biggest supporter was Abby. Look in the background of this picture. See my little cheerleader in the pink pants? My heart swells each time I look at it.



My dad also ran, but being in much better shape than I, he ran the 15K. He got second place in his age group. (There were only two people in his age group, and the 70-year-old man beat him by quite a bit, but still!)

Before the race, there was an insanely long line for the port-a-potties. The announcer kept urging us to get to the start line, but we all had to, um, go. Dad, who was behind me in line, said, "I'm going into the woods." Sure enough, he jogged off into the woods. Seeing him run off, a male voice started yelling, "Yeah, guys! Get out of line! Let the ladies go! Man up, guys!" Slowly, each man got out of line. A few minutes later, dad jogged back yelling, "There's a great spot in the woods, guys!" I'm so proud. Way to problem solve, Dad.

Finally!

Abby was sure she was doomed. All of her friends have already lost multiple teeth. But finally. . .

The Age of Aquarius

We went to our first roller rink! Abby can walk/skate decently enough, but Hannah hasn't had much practice. Luckily, they had skating "walkers." Seriously, little old people walkers. Hannah wheeled herself around the rink. Every time she passed a checkered line on the floor, she shouted, "I win!"

Once Abby saw that Hannah had a walker, she "needed" one, too. My precious little senior citizen children.




When it came time for limbo, Hannah got several cheers when she skated under the limbo stick with about a foot to spare.

Aren't they Cute?

Mike and I have a favorite new saying, thanks to Hannah. She was messing around, and when Mike and I caught her, she smiled brightly and said, "It's okay, because I'm sorry!"

Hannah and Abby get their hair done by the babysitter:



Hannah has Rodeo Day at preschool:

And my favorite - Hannah plays hide-and-seek:

Baby, it's Cold Outside

It started snowing last Thursday morning. I drove both kids to school and pointed a space heater at my feet while I worked on the computer all day. It continued to snow. My folks were concerned about the roads and wondered why I wasn't picking my children up from school. I continued to work.

At 1:00, I sent this email to my sweet husband.
I've been working all morning and just finished both classes. It's 1:00 and I will finally eat lunch, watch a bit of TV, and relax. RING, RING!! It's Hannah's teacher. "We're closing early, come get your child." NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

His reply:
This was so funny I forwarded it to the team.

(It wasn't meant to be funny.)

I picked up my girls.

We made four snowmen in the front yard; Daddy, Mommy, Abby, and Hannah. In making the mommmy, Abby said, "Oh, this is the mommy? I'll need to make her head bigger!" In making Daddy, he seemed too skinny, so I told the girls to make his belly bigger. "No, it's fine like it is," they replied as they made Mommy's head bigger.

I'm the short and fat one. Mike's tall and skinny. Ahem. . . .

It snowed all of Thursday, setting a local record for the most amount of snow in a 24-hour period. The results were closed schools, lots of snow fun, and numerous broken trees. The snow built up on the branches and started snapping them off. (Some business roofs even buckled under the weight of the snow.) They are saying that we will never see a snow like this again. It was amazing.

Mike helped Abby make a snow bunny and a fort.

The vertical lines are where our driveway ends.