Running, Man!

I haven't shared the news that Chris has completed his most recent half marathon. Placing, once again, in the top 22% in the race, and the 4th in his age group! His last 3 races of 10 miles or more he has aced 26th, new lucky number maybe? We were there to cheer him on, and are so proud!

Keepin It Real

Best buds, fur friends, pooch pals, snuggle bunnies, cuddle cousins, amigos, two peas in a pod...

Good Timing....

How lucky am I.  I am.  And I'm not even being sarcastic.  It's been a very long time since I've been laying in bed at night with a plethora of blog posts running through my head.  What fun!  It's wonderful to have other things to think about.  This morning, Big Belle's school had a lovely continental breakfast for families, and of course I could take all of the Belles and attend!  And then we could all walk Big Belle to her classroom.  It was wonderful.

And then...after that...I spent no less than 2 HOURS cleaning.   Punctuated briefly by dancing with the girls, getting out water color paints, and dressing baby dolls, we had a great morning.  It will soon be lunchtime, and -- because I feel I deserve it after all -- I do believe that I will lay down and take a lovely short nap with the Belles this afternoon.

There is still a lot of housework and household projects to catch up on, but I figure if I can continue at this pace, I should definitely be caught up sometime in early 2013.

Picture posts to follow soon, I promise!

Part-Time Cynic, Full Time Mom

So, I had all of the plans in the world to write about all of the negativity enveloping me.  The stress, the sadness, the realization that if truly seems too good to be true, for goodness sakes run the other way...but that was the way I would have written it if I had sat down this morning.

Now I feel a great relief off of my shoulders.  I have a clean kitchen, some beautiful new holiday decorations purchased with a gift card, and spent some time outside raking leaves and enjoying a nice day.  Oh, and a nap.   Let's not forget my absolutely favorite past time.

Depending on who you are, you may or may not be aware of all that has transpired in the last few months, but suffice it to say I am at least relieved that a couple weeks of full blown stress is certainly the trick to lose the last few inches of belly fat left over from that 9 1/2 pound baby 2.4 years ago.

So in short, I have currently made the choice to situate myself "between careers" and with that spend some amazing time home with Clara Belle and Baby Belle (who technically really is not even close to babyhood) and then of course Big Belle when she is not in school.  We made the most of our first day at home, and actually spent most of it running errands, picking out some holiday decorations, and even indulging (or at least now this has to be considered an indulgence) in a lunch at McDonald's.

I look forward to exploring this time period with the family, am so grateful for my family who continue to be extremely supportive of my decisions, and I look forward to getting back to the real us and doing things that are enjoyable and important to us all.

We look forward to our turkey -- the second year we've decided to cook it -- and are probably even going to create a fire in the outdoor firepit later that evening.  I look forward to catching you up on photos and stories of events you may have missed since I was last on here, and just look forward to life.  Even though I have a list a mile long of things to do around the house, for once I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to doing them -- maybe even doing them well.

Until next time -- and may that be very soon.