Halloween Revisited

For the months before Halloween, Lucy and Caroline were steadfast in their choices in costume: Lucy would be Elsa from Frozen and Caroline would be a wolf.

Cookie was very generous and offered to make Caroline a wolf suit. (Side note: had Cookie not offered, Caroline would most certainly be wearing gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt with a felt tail pinned to the booty.) This is certainly an improvement:

Note how serious she was in her role.
Her patch reads: I am a wolf. Hear me howl!

She was very proud of her costume and we spent a lot of time perfecting her howl.

Lucy's costume was much easier and basically involved going to Target and throwing the dress and tiara in the cart. She was equally as pleased with her look:

We spent about an hour trick or treating with friends and then headed home. It was low key but the kids had a great time and were happy to leave the crowds and craziness when we did finally call it quits.

YIKES.

Last post: first day of school.
Newest post: Thanksgiving?

This fall has been nuts, BUT I will try to put some pictures up from the past few months. Luckily for me, I know that my most loyal readers (my mom?) won't hold this hiatus against me.

First Day of School AKA When Did Caroline Get So Old?

Today we had our first day back at school. Most years, I spend the night before the first day tossing and turning. I agonize over new shoes for the girls, how we are going to all get out the door in the morning, how I'm going to get all of my prep done, and the list goes on.

For some reason it just didn't happen this year.

Maybe it was our awesome summer? Maybe it's just more experience? But this year, I went to bed at 8:45 (don't judge - I was up early to run), I had everything prepared for the girls, and we actually got to school early.

The girls had an awesome day at school. (The only tears were the ones I held inside as both girls just walked into school without hesitating.) My classes went well. And although it was like a rain forest outside today, I managed to not sweat through my clothes. That is success.

For the first time in a long time, I am very content with the idea of the school year starting. I have always loved my job, but September usually brings a sense of remorse that I didn't do more with my summer or that I need just one or two more weeks to feel ready.

This year feels good.

And that's nice.

So here's to a wonderful year full of new experiences and challenges for all of us. And may I still feel this sense of hope in a few months when the sneakers aren't so shiny white and my patience level is significantly lower.

Cousins

Boating with the Cousins

Earlier in the month, we went with the girls, Auntie Emily, and cousins Cate and Cooper out on a boat ride and spent the morning on a neat little "island" that is only there at low tide.

Dare I say it? I enjoyed the boat ride. I'm sure that is mostly due to the fact that the ride was short and we spent the majority of the time on the beach, but that is progress!

Running

For the first 26 years of my life, running was something that I actively avoided. In college I was forced to run and lift, and I swore that I would never do those things again.

Soon after graduating from college, I realized that my metabolism was not the same. I was no longer participating in two hour practices everyday. I was no longer waking up at 5:30 am in order to take part in a "Hartman" workout three times a week. In other words, I could no longer justify the 10 pm large cheese pizza order. (FYI it took me way too long to make this realization.)

I begrudgingly continued to do cardio and lifting for a couple of years until I became pregnant in 2007. I then spent the next 9 months eating my way through my pregnancy. McDonalds cheeseburgers were my favorite. After I had Lucy, I became motivated to be more active. I then discovered running, and while running had always been there, I now thought about running in a different way.

Running allowed me to do a lot of things:

1. Get out of the house - with or without a small child in a jogging stroller
2. Get my body moving which always made me happier after the run
3. Become competitive again - I started challenging myself to go longer and run faster
4. (Eventually) Have some time to myself

After having both girls, I began to carve time out of each day in order to run. I signed up for road races and have started to (gasp!) think of myself as a runner. Steve has come along with me for the ride, and we often run the same races.

The interesting thing about all of this is that the girls, Lucy in particular, have become very interested in running and races. They come to the races that we run in, they enter "fun runs" for kids, and Lucy even asks to go running with us. The best part about all of this is that it is initiated entirely by the kids. They have an interest in running that I never had.

Why am I rambling about running? Because I went through my Instagram photos and realized that many of them dealt with running and races. So here is what we have been doing for the past 6 months:

4th of July road race

Lucy doing the Meikle Run 

Lucy going for a jog

Caroline doing the Meikle Run

Father's Day road race

Hazelwood 5k

All of these races have been fun to participate in, and they are made even better by having a great group of people there to cheer us on. A special thanks to Cookie and Grumps who were at nearly all of these races.

Being Brave

For a long time, Caroline would not put her head underwater. If, for some reason, her head accidentally went under, she would reemerge to the air sputtering and coughing and would then say to anyone who passed by, "I was so brave!"

Much like Lucy, Caroline took swimming lessons at Cookie and Grumps' beach, and (again like Lucy) it was these lessons that finally gave Caroline the confidence to willingly put her head underwater. Since these lessons, Caroline has celebrated the fact that her head can go underwater, and she has become enamored with jumping off of the dock where Cookie and Grumps keep their boat.

Earlier this summer, while Steve took Emily, Cate, Cooper, and Lucy out on the boat, I stayed on the dock with Caroline and let her jump over and over and over again.

So excited

Ready ...

Set ...

Go!

Very proud of herself

Warming up 

Eventually the others came back because the allure of jumping off of the dock was too much:

My favorite shot of the summer: