A Princess, A Cowboy & A Dragon

About a month ago when Delaney decided that she wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween, I really was pretty disappointed. Princesses are boring and every other 4 year old girl wants to be a princess--how boring, unoriginal and unlike Delaney. However, after weeks of watching Delaney run around the house in her Cinderalla costume in pure delight-I've kind of come around. I still think that princesses are pretty boring--but not when Delaney is princess!--She 'charges' her wand by my cell phone and runs around the house, wearing her crown, and plays trucks with Elliot and dives off of our couch. Very orginal.

Taylor Creek

This was our third year at the Taylor Creek salmon run--the kids love it more and more each year. This October, the whole family went up once with family friends and then I took the kids up for a second look during the week. Elliot in particular loved watching the salmon. He's such a busy little boy but he totally was content to sit by the creek and watch the salmon swim and jump. I love watching my kids enjoy nature and being outdoors. We're so lucky to live here.

Goblin Run

My running group sponsored a children's run this weekend. Both Laney and Elliot ran the 1/2 mile loop---Laney and her buddy had so much fun that they ran it a second time! Elliot was super determined and definitely one of the youngest runners. Delaney wore her piggy costume from last year and Elliot opted (not surprisingly) out of wearing a costume. Dave and Louisa cheered us on!




Don't worry Weezy--You'll be running with the big kids next year!

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The kids make my birthday special--they get so excited about making me pictures and baking cupcakes and having a 'party' that I can't help but look forward to it too.

I ran a half marathon on Sunday at Lake Tahoe and came home totally wiped out and exhausted to find this--three little munchkins painting birthday surprises in the backyard. Dave is great at doing art projects with the kids and making sure to include Louisa. Yes, my baby was covered in paint in the backyard, and yes, I loved it!





Laney was a little disappointed with my presents-she kept asking me--Didn't Daddy buy you a watch, or a ring, or a new bike or something? Adorable!

Emerald Bay Trail Run

I ran a 7 1/2 mile trail run at Lake Tahoe. It was HARD--I'm taking crazy steep hills. But so worth it. The scenery was spectacular; however, I have to admit that after about mile 5 I couldn't have cared less about the scenery and just wanted the race to be OVER. I seriously ran the entire race as fast as I could-I don't think that I could've ran it a second faster. And then felt really good. I get 2nd place in my age group (small field) but I'll take it!

My fans arrived 1 1/2 hours after I finished and were sufficiently unimpressed. Oh well.

Markers

This little girl loves to do whatever her big brother is doing--she already can push little cars around the floor while scooting along. She is Elliot's biggest fan and I can't say that I blame her--he's a whirlwind of motion and fun! She can say 'Elliot' as clearly as anything. She's usually the first one up in the morning and when she hears Elliot call for us, she goes crawling over to his door. Today when Elliot was drawing with markers, she insisted that she get in on the action, and happily sat in her booster seat, putting markers in and out of a plastic bag. I don't think that she cared what she did-she just wanted to be with Elliot.

Three Babes In The Tub

Three little naked bodies in the tub--it's so cute and absolute mayhem. As Dave has said, we need to wear ponchos during bathtime. And they won't spread out--all three of them are always in the same corner of the tub--kind of reminds me of puppies. Louisa LOVES to take a bath with the big kids. I worry some about her getting knocked around too much with all of the 'swimming'--flailing arms and legs, but she seems to be able to hold her own-which is a very, very good thing.