Holiday Cheer

All you need sometimes to bring holiday cheer into your life....are holiday toe socks! The running Beans celebrated with a holiday lunch last Sunday at Adam's Mountain Cafe in Manitou Springs. It's one of my favorite post-run locations, so after a nice hilly jaunt through Garden of the Gods, we headed over to warm up with their super delicious orange spice tea, followed by yummy food and a fun gift exchange.

The following evening, we headed to the zoo to preview the Electric Safari before it opened to the public. Thanks to Papa Mike and Grammy for being supportive zoo donors, this is a special treat for us each year. It's so fun to explore the zoo without the crowds, but the girls most enjoy the chocolate fondue fountain they get to dip into! Special sightings of the evening: the new baby giraffe and Santa!

This was our second time seeing Santa, we also visited with him over the weekend, at a Breakfast with Santa at the club. As I've been told by Emma and Camryn, he was the "real" Santa, and he definitely looked it! I'm so happy that they both still believe this year, there is just something so magical and exciting about the spirit of believing.

Other exciting news, Emma auditioned for the elementary talent show last week and made the cut! She is doing a solo dance to Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me". I was so nervous for her, but she rocked out the audition in her typical bubbly and self-confident way. She'll be practicing over Christmas break, and the show is in mid-January.

And last, but not least, a big shout out to my running buddies afar, for both qualifying for Boston recently. Jennifer gave a stellar performance at the Marshall Marathon last month, while Amanda blew Kiawah Island out of the water last weekend. I'm so proud of both of them!

Pumpkins and Papas

I love October. Fall is in the air. Activities with the kids are aplenty. Holidays are right around the corner. It's just a great month. Ours started out busy and is going to end on that note.

Emma and I had a special Mommy/Daughter event last Sunday, we went to see the Olympic Gymnastic Stars Show here in town. We had so much fun watching the gymnastic events during the games, and it was great to see the amazing athletes again up close.

Last week was also Emma's annual pumpkin patch field trip. This year they visited the Colorado Pumpkin Patch, which is very close to our 'hood. Her and her classmates had the best time! There was a fun slide for them to go down, it was very fast too - as I found out when I rode down with Emma! They found their way through the maze, played on tractors and picked out their very own special pumpkins to take home.

To finish off the week, the girls and I took a trip to see my 91 year old grandpa in Kansas. Brian had planned to go with us, but with the craziness at work, he couldn't afford to be away on Friday. His phone is literally ringing off the hook. So - girl trip! We headed out Friday morning, driving across the lovely state of Kansas. Could there be a more boring drive? I shouldn't say that, because I had two wonderful little girls in the backseat keeping me entertained. I think they quite enjoyed getting to overload on movies since they don't get to do that at home! My grandpa was so excited to see us, you could see his face light up. He's not getting around so well anymore and we are thankful for every moment that we have with him.

And as I sat here today looking through my calendar, there are is so much more fun planned for the remainder of the month. Tomorrow night is Family Night at the club - spaghetti dinner and Ratatouille showing. My mom is coming down this weekend for Boo at the Zoo, we are taking Camryn back to the pumpkin patch (she was a little sad she didn't get to go with Emma), Emma has a classmate birthday party and we are planning to take my girlfriend that finished the Kona Ironman competition last Saturday out for brunch to celebrate! Next week is book club, a Bar Mitzvah, adult Halloween party, kids Halloween party, and a wedding that Nanna and Pappa will be coming from Las Vegas for. I'll post more pictures as we celebrate our way through October.

Happy Fall!

Feeling the love

Here's this week's birthday girl bouncing around last night in her new Valentine nightie. The girls made out this year, with matching nightgowns, books, a new movie - "The Music Man", Little Mermaid reading light, lipgloss, headbands, and lots of cards and candy from their friends. I forgot to tell Brian I had already picked up a few things for them at Target, so he got a few more things and before you know it Valentine's became a major holiday!

Emma turns 4 this weekend. What a big girl! She has over 20 of her friends/classmates joining her for two hours of fun at the jumping place. My co-worker that made the princess castle cake for Camryn's birthday is making a Barbie character cake for Emma's party. It won't be quite as elaborate but just as tasty! Actually, Emma ends up with multiple birthday celebrations this year. We are having cupcakes at her school this afternoon, party tomorrow and another celebration with family on Sunday (her actual birthday). Check back for pictures after the weekend.

Update on me. I didn't make the dr appointment as previously mentioned. After talking with my training partner on Wednesday night, I'm pretty sure it is just shin splints. The bone is not hurting and the more I massage in that area, and have taken a few days off from running, it is feeling better. I trust her advice, which is actually her hubby's advice and he trains athletes for a living. I got some new shoes today at the running specialty store and also have some SuperFeet insoles on order. There may still be some pain present on Sunday's long run, we'll have to see but I'll do my best to be smart about it. Nobody said running 20+ miles is supposed to feel good but we don't want injuries, that's for sure!

One more thing before I go, Camryn has a new song that she learned at Stretch-N-Grow. Both girls go to this little extracurricular activity at school where they talk about nutrition, exercise and healthy living. I remember Emma singing this at Camryn's age and now Camryn is doing the same. In case you can't quite understand two-year old speak, she is saying "We will, we will, EXERCISE!"

Magical moments

White Christmas? Chances are rare, even in Colorado, of seeing snow on Christmas. But that's exactly what we got this year - yippee!! Wonderful day to stay inside with the family, cuddled up in front of the fire, celebrating.

We were plenty busy in the days leading up to Christmas. The girls decorated a gingerbread train, I got in some good weekend runs, we hit Christmas Eve candlelight service with Grammy and Papa Mike and baked a cake for Jesus' birthday.

Each year, the holidays get more and more fun with the girls. Emma was super excited about Santa coming on Christmas Eve. At one point, I went to check if she was sleeping yet. Our conversation:

Emma: Did Santa come yet?

Me: No, but he just called and said he won't come until you fall asleep

Emma: On his cell phone?

Me: yep, on his cell phone, now go to sleep

Emma: Mommy, Santa is SO magic.

In the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle, I hope you and your family experienced some of the magic this year.

Antlers and all

How does one get twenty 3 and 4 year-olds organized to sing Rudolph and Jingle Bells? Lots and lots of practice. Emma has been talking for over a week now about the show her class was planning to put on at their holiday party. She's been singing holiday tunes in the car and wouldn't wear her jingle bell hair bow yesterday because "mom, we have bells already at school".

Presenting Emma's Montessori class singing Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer (Emma is on the far right, front row):

Ho, Ho, HO

Holiday season is in full swing at the Lindsey household.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

Since I started this blog almost 1 year ago exactly, my readers haven't seen our stocking collection which I am so very proud of. All of them were made by our mothers. My mom made the one on the far right when I was a baby, I made the two middle ones for the girls and Brian's mom made his on the far left last year so that we would all have some love from Mom.

We trimmed the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We had to laugh at Camryn's contribution, when we looked over and noticed that one branch had been blessed a little more than the others.

Holiday parading was at the top of our list of things to do this past weekend. We attended the Festival of Lights Holiday Parade in town with some friends. The girls oohed and aahed and we saw lots of "neigh neighs".

Last night was our annual trip to the zoo's Safari of Lights. For the past several years, we have been fortunate enough to attend the zoo donor special night prior to the general public opening with Grammy and Papa Mike. This means fewer people, special Santa treatment and yummy treats. The girls got to pet reindeer and both enjoyed digging into the chocolate fondue fountain. Emma loved talking with Santa and was eager to tell him that she wants a camera and more dress up clothes for Christmas.

Not really anything to do with our holiday, but Saturday was a good running day. I headed down to the Pueblo Rock Canyon 1/2 marathon with 5 other ladies. The weather was unseasonably warm, route was scenic and it was a great way to kick off my marathon training.

Lots more fun in the weeks to come, with two holiday parties this weekend, another Santa visit and holiday party the following, plenty o' baking, charitable gifts to give, and precious time with family and friends. A few more pictures to enjoy and December album has been added. Wish me luck getting to my bookclub read before Monday, I can't put down Josephine B so bookclub might not get done.

Memorable Memorial Weekend

Too much activity = two tired little girls!!

We didn't even make it out of Grammy's neighborhood yesterday afternoon before both girls were completely sacked out. After a fun sleep-over Sunday night, Monday was packed with a zoo trip, swimming and no naps. Oh wait, mommy and daddy got in post-run naps after returning home from Bolder Boulder. Thanks to Grammy and Papa Mike, somebody got rest.

The race was lots of fun! Brian and I got in a dinner date the night prior, followed by some strolling and ice cream eating. Jennifer met up with us to catch the bus to the run and we all kicked a little booty. My race goal was to break 50 minutes, my best time until being 54:46 last year. Goal accomplished! I finished in right around 49 minutes. GPS watch was just under 49 and unofficial results said 49:02, which is probably race clock time. The race had a bit of trouble with the new timing system, so we'll see what the chip results come out to be. I was proud of myself though. In all the years I have been running, I've finally stepped out of my comfort running zone and learned how to push myself a little harder. Brian also did awesome! He ended up with the wrong bib/chip and raced as a "Peggy" but gave her a nice finish time of 53:30. Not too shabby for someone who has run maybe a hand-full of times since last year's race! He always manages to pull it out of somewhere. We are still waiting to see if anyone actually ran as "Brian" and if they helped or hurt his cause.

The rest of the weekend was also much fun! We kicked it off on Friday night by joining some good friends and their 2 little boys for dinner at our favorite pizza joint. Then, we all attended a summer kick-off party at the club pool on Saturday. The weather was a bit breezy, so didn't get in much water play but we made up for it plenty on Sunday when the weather was sunny and beautiful! The girls splashed in the water and dug in the sand for hours. Brian, aka Mr. Sports, also took 2nd in the member-member tennis tournament on Saturday, bringing home a little trophy for display.

Hippity Hop Hop

Easter's on it's way. Here are the girls enjoying some egg hunt fun at school today. Happy Easter Everyone!

Emma finds an egg, each child had 5 eggs to find on the playground.

Emma cuts up veggies for the Easter Bunny salad that her class made.
Camryn attempts to eat her plastic egg.
Coloring Easter eggs at home.
Emma tries out the boiled eggs - yummy!