Salem Lake 10k

Saturday I ran my first trail race, the Salem Lake 10k.  It was humid, and it was starting to get hot (hopefully Saturday was our last 90-degree day for a while).  It was also beautiful to run around a lake and challenging to run the rolling trail while keeping an eye out for roots, rocks, and wet leaves.  I was over two minutes slower than the Bridge Run, but I'm only a month back into running and slower on the treadmill, so I didn't expect to get a PR.  You know me, I'm in it to finish.  It was a nice way to start my morning, and then I found some great deals at our neighborhood consignment sale...the combination of the two made my two-day funk go far, far away.

FINALLY!

Amelia has been READY to go to school.  Unfortunately, construction didn't finish on time on the new preschool building, so school started two weeks late, which translates to 26 days after Seth started school.  Uff-da!  By last week, Amelia was bored with our new routine.  On Thursday, we went to meet her teacher and see the new building.  Here she is sitting outside her classroom, because I knew I wouldn't be walking her in this week:

Tuesday morning she woke up a little bit early, ready for school.  I think she was the first one ready.  She took pictures with Nathan and Seth, and a bunch of silly face pictures, but here is one of the good ones:

Wearing her big girl butterfly backpack:

She was so ready, we were fourth in line for drop off.  Ms. Edna (the director) got her out of the car, and Seth's teacher from last year made sure I got a photo op before one of the other teachers took her down the hall:

She had a great time.  She says her favorite part was walking to the playground holding onto the rope with rings for the kids to hold. 

She was ready to go back today.  The teacher told me that they had to have a little talk about spitting today.  She didn't start it, but she was quick to join in when some other kids did it.  In trouble on the second day of school.  Lovely.

Angels Race 2010

Sunday morning Nathan did the Angels Race at Tanglewood.  You may remember it as his very first triathlon last year.  This year they had inflatables for the kids, and ours were the first to try them out.  This was pre-race:

Wait, this post is supposed to be about Nathan?  Okay.  This year the organizers allowed all the charity participants to go first, so Nathan was number 114.  It was ridiculous, because the people in the 100s literally walked across the pool.  Luckily, there was a ten minute break, so they were out of the water before Nathan got in.  Nathan didn't get to train the last two weeks like he'd have liked, and he said he didn't like how he felt during the swim.  You couldn't tell it by watching him!  He placed second in his age group for the swim, and ninth overall. 

Then it was time for the bike.  This is truly his training course, so he was really comfortable with the bike route.  The kids and I went back to the bounce house.

Here he is, finishing the race...eleven minutes faster than last year! 

Victor Vito, Amelia style

Almost two years ago to the day, I posted a video of Seth singing the same song.  

extended summer

We had a nice, long spring, and it looks like we're having a nice, long summer, too...it is still almost 90 degrees more days than it's not.  Saturday we drove across town for the apple festival.  It was too hot to do much more than eat lunch and buy some apples to take home.  But it was perfect weather for ice cream!

breathing easier

Nathan has always had seasonal allergies, and he's allergic to grass and smoke, so he is always gets congested after yard work and grilling.  Last week his allergies flared, and then he got a cold.  We tried to medicate at home, but he kept getting worse, instead of better.  Finally Tuesday night I realised he was having asthma (but not asthma attack) symptoms (please remember, people, I don't do big people).  Wednesday he went to the doctor.  At first the nurse said his breathing function tests were too good to need treatment.  They gave him a nebulizer, and after that his lung function tests were off the chart!  He is on a round of steroids and was given an inhaler.  He is feeling better, although the evenings are still kind of bad.  I'm glad we've finally got a diagnosis, and a plan now...he's going to be able to enjoy his weekends so much more now! 

Rally Day Picnic

Nathan has been sick, but Sunday I took the kids to the Rally Day picnic after church.  I have never gone to one at our church, but they talked it up in Sunday School, so away we went...thank goodness I had a couple big cans of baked beans in the pantry and some homemade chocolate chip cookies in the freezer!  After we ate, the kids were entertained by the "balloon man".  The snake and the apple was one of everyone's favorites!

This park had a really cool playground, so the kids could have entertained themselves...

...but Amy (in orange shirt), as always, had some great games planned.  We had a balloon popping contest, an egg hunt, sack races, and a water balloon toss...

...which didn't last long.  Then, they had one of those egg toss contests for the adults.  I thought I was safe since Nathan wasn't there, but they paired me up with a single dad.  He is also a triathlete, so I guess it was a good match-up.  We ended up getting third place out of about a dozen "couples".  (And it was his fault we got out.)  It was a fun afternoon, and it was a nice, relaxed environment for our new pastor to get to know us.

make a joyful noise

Ever so slowly, the youth program at our church is improving.  Seth loves his Sunday School buddies.  Last month a few 20-somethings volunteered to lead a youth handbell choir, and Seth loves it!  Unfortunately, I didn't figure out how to record a video on my camera until the kids were done playing, but here is a still shot:

I did figure it out in time to capture this little bit of goodness, though:

Michelle's baby shower

Saturday I went to Statesville to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Michelle and Bobby's little boy!  Michelle is my dear friend from college.  I don't get to see these girls nearly as often as I'd like to, but it always seems like a few days, rather an a whole year, has passed!  Here is the shirt I got the little guy...it says "I'm new here".  I always buy turtle stuff for my DZ babies!

Not long after I met Michelle, we found out Nathan's parents had seats at the Panthers games next to Michelle's parents.  What are the chances?  Michelle's brother is a hard-core fan.  This is what he got the baby, ha!

Me with three of the sweetest ladies ever:

Our DZ family tree:  me, Stephanie (my grand-lil), and Michelle (my lil sis):

you scratch my back...

Our baby snail doesn't come out too often, but I saw him on top of the other snail the other day.  He is about three times the size he was when I first found him.  He was so light, he could move across the surface of the water, upside down.  No new baby fish this month, everybody is just getting a little bigger.

nursery rhyme parade

So...last Friday Seth came home with a piece of paper saying there would be a nursery rhyme parade the following Friday.  The more I read, the more I realized that this was kind of a big deal.  The whole school watched the parade, and the parents were invited to watch the parade as well.  After he shot down a couple (easy) ideas, Seth decided he wanted to be Humpty Dumpty.  Heavens.  So Saturday we went to the fabric shop, and I found white pleather on sale.  Sunday getting the sewing machine set up almost brought me to tears, but Nathan saved the day, and once I started sewing, it wasn't too hard to make the egg.  I spent a better part of the day creating and accessorizing "HD".  We stood in a middle hallway of the school and got to see the kids go by four times.  They had a great time!

Seth's two favorite girls were both Lil' Bo Peep:

The teachers even participated...Mrs. G was still dressed up as a baker when I picked Seth up that afternoon!

dress up

Seth needed a costume for school today (more on that later), so I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon cutting, sewing, and gluing.  Project complete, Amelia starts having a duck that she wants me to make her a ladybug.  (She obviously had me confused with someone who is good at sewing.)  So I took her to Kmart, and she got her Halloween costume.  On Wednesday at Costco, I saw a costume I thought Seth would like.  He LOVED it and wore it all afternoon.  Thursday at the Dollar Tree, I found these foam cowboy hats.  When we got home, the next-size-up rainboots I ordered for the kids had arrived.  The kids transformed into Woody and Jessie.  This is my new favorite picture of Seth:

There was a whole bunch of "Ya-hoo"-ing as they jumped around the kitchen.  This may be the last picture on the blog of Amelia in a Pull-Up (please!).  She overheard another mommy say she could take dance class if she was potty-trained Sunday, and has asked to wear underwear all week.  I do put a Pull-Up on for naptime, and keep it on to pick up Seth, because she sometimes falls back to sleep, and we'd be SOL if she decided she needed to go potty. 

I snapped about 20 pictures while the kids were jumping around.  NOT ONE was fuzzy.  I love my new camera!

weekend houseguests

I spoke too soon about kindergarten homework.  More on that later in the week.  The cooler weather promised to us arrived Saturday morning.  We went to the park in the afternoon and brought our new camera along.  Love it!

I had the camera on the wide-angle lens option for most of the trip (not on purpose), but we did get some cool pictures of Amelia in the field!

Bryan's girlfriend was in a wedding yesterday at a nearby vineyard, so she spent two nights with us.  Free room and board does come with a price...early mornings and lots of playtime!  She and Nathan ran seven miles together yesterday...this morning she left pretty early, probably to catch up on her sleep!

And here is a picture of our other houseguest.  She has moved into one of the windows beside the front door.  This type of spider is supposed to be fairly common in our area, but I don't think I've ever seen one before.  We are enjoying having our own writing spider!

confession

I had such high hopes for our summer.  I was convinced we could have a fun-filled summer.  Well, we did, but it was a lot harder than I thought.  We used the heck out of the neighborhood pool, but this summer has been (I am not putting "was" because the high today is 96 degrees) ridiculously hot, so we haven't done a whole lot else outside.  The kids played well together for the most part.  Until it was time to run errands.  I don't know what it is about the presence of a shopping cart, but it makes the kids' good behavior go out the window.  I had to keep reminding myself that I would have shopping time alone in the fall.  And then due to construction issues, I found out Amelia's preschool won't start until late September! Luckily, she has been really good since Seth started school, especially since any sort of nap routine has gone out the window as we try to incorporate it with pick-up time.  Today is the first day she has consistently asked for Seth since the first day of school.  I had Amelia mostly potty-trained by the end of June, she got mad at me for putting her in the nursery for VBS, and it's been hit-or-miss (mostly miss) ever since.  I'm hoping preschool will provide enough peer pressure for her to finally make the decision to be done with diapers!  Seth and Amelia both got sick once during the summer, and I had two summer colds and two GI bugs.  And don't forget August, with it's Tdap vaccine, swallowed penny, and head lice!  And just so it went out with a bang, I got a jury summons in the mail on the 31st, augh! 

On a brighter note, Seth seems to really like kindergarten.  He comes home happy and wakes up excited to go back in again.  The few papers that have come home so far show us that he really is trying to do his best work while he's there.  Sometimes I have a good 30 minutes of paperwork to send back, but it's mostly just beginning-of-the-year stuff.  I am loving our new schedule (even though I am SO ready to see Seth again when it's time to pick him up).  Drop off in the morning takes about 10 minutes from when we leave the house, and then we either go to the YMCA, or come home and take Colette for a walk.  I have run a ton of errands this week.  We had a couple lunchdates.  I try to get Amelia down for a nap around 12:30, which doesn't always work.  When it's time to pick Seth up, she's either content to play in her carseat or extend her nap.  Pick-up isn't as smooth as drop off.  I usually have to sit for 10 minutes with the car off before the line starts to lurch forward, and then it takes about 15 minutes to get my boy in the car.  I bring a book, so it's not horrible, but it will be nice when it cools down a little bit!  Work has been busy lately, so twice a week I leave the house after dinner, blink twice, and it's time to come home and sleep fast before 6:45 rolls around!  I haven't worked in the intermediate nursery in over a month, and it is so nice to feel like a NICU nurse again!

latest artwork

Tae kwon do man:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom:

Seth made a unicorn for Amelia, and then she colored it in:

Amelia 2.5

Saturday, we measured our 2 1/2-year-old.  She has had a remarkable growth spurt this summer.  Tuesday, she had her check-up, and the doctor asked if he could spend extra time with her, because he was fascinated with her vocabulary.  She drew a perfect circle for him, but I told him it was a fluke.  The next post will show her usual drawing skills.  Amelia weighed 27.2 lbs, and was 35 1/4 inches tall.  They assessed her BMI, and she was 25th percentile.  Next appointment:  March, hopefully!

click

For some reason, after we stepped into Seth's classroom, every picture I took looked like this:

I was hoping the screen was just messed up, but no such luck.  Having the POS camera mess up on your family vacation when there are four other cameras around is one thing.  Having it mess up on your son's first day of kindergarten is the LAST STRAW.  It didn't take Nathan long to convince me to put a little more money into a more substantial camera.  My dad has one like this, and it takes really good pictures.  I haven't played with it too much, but here's a self-portrait in our bathroom mirror:

Seth's first day of kindergarten!

Monday was Open House at Seth's school.  We met his teacher, who is new to the school, but from a local private school.  Two of my friends were so sad that she had left the school, so I'm sure we are going to love her.  She and the assistant made a great first impression on us.   Tuesday morning, we had a slight goose chase around town, trying to find a nap mat.  Wednesday Funigans sponsored a playdate for the kindergarteners.  We met a little boy in Seth's class at the pool over the weekend, and they became fast friends.  When we got home, we packed up his backpack so we would be ready in the morning!

I wasn't sad, or scared, just a little anxious wanting the first day to go all right.  We took our annual "first day" pictures on the deck.

He wanted one of his backpack.  (He told me last night that he had the best backpack in his class, because his was the only one with a picture on it.)

Amelia really, really wants to go to Seth's school, too.  Due to some construction issues, her school doesn't start until September 21st.  Marie told me last year that she uses the book, The Kissing Hand, on the first day of school.  I bought it from the book order last spring, and read it to Seth earlier in the week.  He was so sweet, he explained it to Amelia when she said she was going to miss him.  He is such a good big brother.  When we walked into class, we learned that they were doing The Kissing Hand for the first day, too.  It was perfect!

Seth's classroom is monkey themed (more than a little appropriate):

(This is the point where my camera decided to only take white, hazy pictures.  The rest of the pictures are from Ella Brooke's mom's FB page.)  The kids sat down to do their first project, to color a picture of anything they wanted.  Ella Brooke is one of Seth's girlfriends.  I think the seating is alphabetical, and hopefully they won't need to be separated.  When I asked Seth what he drew, he said "a rainbow, and me, and Ella Brooke".  That should give Mrs. G lots of insight into his little mind!

Then it was off to PE. Their "Encore" (computer lab, PE, music, art, etc) class is first thing each morning. While the kids were in the gym, Mrs. G held a meeting for the parents.

When the kids got back, it was time for the parents to go.  Seth was so busy coloring, he barely said "bye", forget about one last kiss and hug for mom and dad!  It made me kind of sad, but I'm glad he felt secure enough not to need us, and it made leaving a little bit easier.  We went to a "Tears and Cheers" breakfast held by the PTA, and then Nathan went to an appointment and back to work and I took Amelia to get a haircut.
 
The car rider line was pretty atrocious (and it will probably be worse today now that all the kids are at school), but I know a lot of the little ones will start riding the bus next week.  Seth is going to be a car rider this year, no matter how much he says he wants to ride the bus.  Seth said he had a great first day.  He wasn't exhausted when he got home, but he was content to be lazy for most of the afternoon.
 
Today he first asked me to walk him in, and then at last minute he asked to be dropped off.  Mrs. D (the assistant) was there to greet him...so fingers crossed that day 2 is going as well as day 1 did!

kids' weekend

I don't think anyone would be surprised if I said the kids had a great time and were spoiled rotten at Gram and Pops' house.  The highlight of the weekend started out with a trip to the "bird store" to see Gram's coworkers, a small purchase at Walmart, and some patience while Pops got things ready back at the house.  It ended with some....fish!  We haven't fished in the pond since the day after Lisa and Michael's wedding.  I think we will have to do it more often now.  Especially since someone is big enough to do it himself.  I hear he didn't touch a worm, or a fish...

...but he did reel it in all by himself.

Gram Amelia caught one, too!

sneakin' away

Last weekend Nathan and I were able to sneak away to North Myrtle without the kids.  (Thanks, Gram and Pops!)  Our weekend in a nutshell:

• I forgot our cell phone chargers, so we basically only had our phones on to check on the kids.  Oops.
• We probably had the smallest hotel room in N. Myrtle, but it had a nice balcony, and a great view:

• We saw the Avett Brothers at the House of Blues.  It was a great show.  I now have a huge crush on Scott Avett. 
• I met the cello player at the outlet mall the next day.  He was very nice and normal (he looks slightly possessed when he's playing).
• We slept until 8 AM Saturday. 
• We ate a huge breakfast, skipped lunch, and shared a steampot for two that night at Joe's Crab Shack.
• After dinner, we both had baby fever for about 3.2 seconds when we saw a newborn.  Don't worry, the sensation passed.
• We saw The Other Guys at the movie theater.  Had we gotten it from the redbox, I probably would have gone to the other room to read my book.  Yeah, it was that good.
• We went to play putt-putt at a dinosaur-themed place.  Nathan beat me by 2 strokes.  He won fair and square.
• The rest of the time, you could find me doing this, either with or without my book: