Fall Fun

It has been a busy few weeks around here!  We've been enjoying a beautiful Colorado fall.  Here are photos of the past few weeks.

Halloween costumes were assembled and revealed.  Yes, I did get prior permission to make their costumes the same.  They had a lot of fun with these.

 We went to the Longmont Halloween parade

 Met up with some of our favorite friends to walk the parade together

 Jacoby and a BFF from school...Darth and Frodo made a good pair. 

 The parade was very popular and we had a good time.

 We raked leaves in our yard.

 We participated in the Teal Pumpkin Project to raise awareness for food allergies.  We didn't give out any candy this year (just a fun mix of small toys) and it was a big hit with our trick-or-treaters.

 We had a man down for about 1.5 days.  He recovered quickly and has been eating us out of house and home.

 The little sickie built himself a fort and then layed in it for awhile.  Poor thing.

 Even the Lego mini figures got involved with the Teal Pumpkin Project!

Morgan's class took a field trip to the farm across the street from school.  Here they're learning all about sorghum molasses.  Who knew you could get molasses from sorghum!?

 

 I helped out with the Kinder Halloween party, which was a lot of fun.  Morgan is going to school with a great group of little kids.

 The school had its annual Halloween parade.  Jacoby's teacher is the one right in front with the dogs and cats pinned to her umbrella.  We love her.

 Justin helped man the second grade party

 

 Morgan opted to stay home and give out our Halloween loot, so we had fun doing that together.

 Both boys opted for small Lego sets instead of candy, which was just fine with us!

 The boys had a great time at a school pool party.  They had to raise a certain amount of money for the annual PTO Jog-a-thon to get to the party.  Both boys started another round of swimming lessons today--Morgan finally got to advance to the next class.  He's a seal now.  (:

 We met up with Morgan's preschool class today for a park date.  Miss S. is stealing a kiss from Morgan.

It was so fun to see everyone and to hear how Kinder is going.  They're growing up so fast!

Jacoby decided it was time to wear tie shoes, so he spent an evening practicing and is pretty much a pro at it now.

26.2!

Today was marathon day!  I joined around 15,000 other runners this morning for a beautiful 26.2 mile run through Denver.  I'm so glad I did it, but I'm also so glad it's over!

Here are a few tidbits ruminating in my head as this long running journey finally comes to an end:

Miles logged from the time training started in June to race day:  502.46
Calories burned from June through race day:  59,115
Weight gained: 10 pounds (not kidding!)
Pairs of running shoes: 3

Most of my runs happened at o'dark thirty in an attempt to reduce the impact on my family.  As a result, I witnessed some of the most beautiful sunrises.  Here are a few favorites:

Favorite quotes during training:

"Mommy, you can run far" --from Jacoby
"Erin, I don't understand the point of running so far for no reason.  There are only two reasons to run: if a thug is chasing you or the police are chasing you!" --from one of my favorite people at work

Why do I run? A question I've asked myself countless times when I'm out by myself at o'dark thirty:

I run away from:  feeling overwhelmed and stuck; fear; impatience; mistakes of the day, week, month, year; sadness

I run toward:  grace; gratitude; wanting to be a better mom/wife; patience; renewal; calm and peace, strength; and a desire to instill in my boys that if they try their best, they can do hard things too

Favorite signs out on the race course today:

"It seemed like a good idea three months ago!"
"Motivational Sign" --held by a sullen teenager of course
"Not much farther to go!" --as we pass mile three

Some unexpected tunes on my phone that came to be mighty helpful for getting the miles logged and across the finish line:
Usher
Guns n Roses
Flo Rida
U2
Bon Jovi
Macklemore

I owe a huge thank you to my family for putting up with the countless hours of training and an often tired mommy.  Justin, whose patience knows no bounds, has graciously endured my emotional roller coaster over the past few weeks after the Boulder Marathon was canceled and lots of things were in flux for awhile.  And my boys, they are the reason that I run, and as I wearily climbed the front steps after my long Saturday runs, they would greet me cheerfully and want to know if I was finished with my run so that we could go to the park and library.

I am a Marathon Mom!

 

Snuggling with my little one on the bus ride to the car...Morgan was eying some rambunctious Broncos fans.  Very busy day in Denver!

 

 Jacoby taking care of my medal on the way home for me

Hooray for 26.2!

Ordinary Days

We are thoroughly enjoying the beautiful fall days here in lovely Colorado.  Life is pleasantly uneventful...definitely busy, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Both boys are in the 100-Mile Club this year.  The school hosted a 3.5 mile run/walk a week ago or so, and we saw two bald eagles along the way.

 There is also snow on the Continental Divide now.

 

 Here they are towards the end of 3.5 miles...a tad bit tired but they made it the whole way!  Both boys are up to 15 miles already!

 Our fall porch...we grew four good-sized pumpkins in our garden this year.

 Some wildlife seen outside my window at work

 Lovely fall in Colorado

 Playing soccer with a new friend at the park

 We had parent teacher conferences this week.  Both boys are right where they need to be.  Jacoby's 2nd grade teacher comes back from maternity leave next week, so we're looking forward to getting to know her.  Jacoby went on his first play date all by himself last weekend with his two BFFs from school.  It was a very important day for him...and us two, since it meant a little more letting go with this food allergy business.

 And then there's this boy.  Morgan is trying to decide if he's left-handed or right-handed.  He's also needing a little bit of OT support (from us at home) for some fine motor skills.  He absolutely loves school and is pretty much friends with everyone.  We're so very blessed that both boys are healthy, growing, and loving school.

These are my third pair of running shoes.  Marathon in five days.  I sort of wish these were outfitted with jet packs at this point, but I'm for the most part looking forward to race day.

  This is how most of our days end...the little one in bed early (Kinder is such hard work you know!) and the rest of us relaxing with our books.  Justin is doing well--he's not necessarily less busy, but I think having both boys in full-day school now is helping a lot on the dissertation front.

Catching up...

Whew!  The back to school rush is over and we've settled into a good routine.  Here are some pics of the last few weeks:

 Been married to this guy for 13 years now...seriously, I feel like we were children when we got married every time I look at this picture! And, considering all of the curve balls life has thrown us, I guess we were in a lot of ways.

 For our anniversary we took a drive to Rocky Mountain National Park and enjoyed the animals and fall colors.

 The elk were out bugling

 Morgan loves school but needs naps most weekends to catch up on rest. This is how I found him one Sunday afternoon.

 I've been finding treasures on Craigs List for Project Master Bedroom

 I made a mad dash to Anchorage, AK last week for work.

After appointments in Anchorage, I drove along the Seward Highway to Girdwood.  It was very rainy the entire time I was there, but still so, so pretty.

 I had the best hot chocolate at this little shack in Girdwood.  I think the locals were wondering about the new girl in town tromping around in her Danskos instead of rubber boots. #totallyoutofplace

 This is the beautiful Hotel Alyeska, which will hopefully be the location of our spring board meeting if I'm able to pitch it just right to the powers that be.

 The boys really, really, really want to go to Alaska some day. They sent me off with a list of animals that I had to see "in real life, Mommy".  But alas, none of the real live ones graced me with their presence, so I took pictures of the ones I did see around town.

 This is the largest halibut on record...he's 9 ft long or something like that.

 A moose at the airport

 We had a fall festival at school which kicked off the 100 Mile Club. Both boys have signed up this year.  We love that they love to run!

 Jacoby's long strides serve him well.

The boys are also in swim lessons. Jacoby got to try out his front crawl in the deep end of the pool and did awesome!