After being up all day with just one short nap in the car, one would think that getting Sierra to bed last night would have been easy. Let me rephrase, one would think that if one did not know my daughter. But, oh no, she was just full of energy and kept going and going ... and going ... and going ... phew! This child does not wear out! We finally got her to sleep at about 9PM.
And ... she slept ... in her crib ... for eight and a half hours!!
Did you hear that?
SIERRA SLEPT FOR EIGHT AND HALF HOURS! STRAIGHT!!
EIGHT AND HALF HOURS!!!!
WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!
Ok ... Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. :-)
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Race Report: CHO Airport E-ville 5K Turkey Trot
My parents rolled into town to celebrate Thanksgiving with us Wednesday afternoon. Since my sister is busy/working for the holiday, they also brought my 4-year-old niece, Harmony.
I love to run a race on Thanksgiving morning. It allows me to justify stuffing my face later in the day. Sure, I could just go for a run, but it's much more fun to get yourself out the door at the crack of dawn to run down the street in the cold with several hundred (sometimes thousand) other crazy runner-types. Since I started running in high school, I've run a Turket Trot almost every year. It started out with my high school's yearly Turkey Trot, which I came back and ran when I was running in college and had a winning streak that was 6-years-long. Then we moved to Connecticut and I ran the Manchester Road Race, which is huge, and awesome, with 8000 or so runners (Eight thousand! Yipe!). Needless to say, I did not win that one.
This year, I found a race north of Charlottesville, and they had a free kids' 1/2 mile run. So Harmony got to run her first race! And she had a great time. She kept telling me how fast she was. (and she was!) So cute!
My race started after the kids races and was actually quite nice: rolling hills on wooded country roads. There were nearly 300 people in the race, so I had lots of company. I started out fairly near the front of the pack and was passed by a few women along the course, but I felt good about the run. I'm sure if I actually did some speed work or ran more than twice a week, I could run a lot faster, but that's just not my life right now (side note: Phoenix half marathon is getting closer and closer, and considering the limited amount of training I've been able to do recently, it could really be a mess!). I finished 5th overall female in 20:41, a 6:28/mile pace (according to the results). I think that I will definately do this race again, and I'm already excited for the day when Sierra will get excited about running a kids' race!
I love to run a race on Thanksgiving morning. It allows me to justify stuffing my face later in the day. Sure, I could just go for a run, but it's much more fun to get yourself out the door at the crack of dawn to run down the street in the cold with several hundred (sometimes thousand) other crazy runner-types. Since I started running in high school, I've run a Turket Trot almost every year. It started out with my high school's yearly Turkey Trot, which I came back and ran when I was running in college and had a winning streak that was 6-years-long. Then we moved to Connecticut and I ran the Manchester Road Race, which is huge, and awesome, with 8000 or so runners (Eight thousand! Yipe!). Needless to say, I did not win that one.
This year, I found a race north of Charlottesville, and they had a free kids' 1/2 mile run. So Harmony got to run her first race! And she had a great time. She kept telling me how fast she was. (and she was!) So cute!
My race started after the kids races and was actually quite nice: rolling hills on wooded country roads. There were nearly 300 people in the race, so I had lots of company. I started out fairly near the front of the pack and was passed by a few women along the course, but I felt good about the run. I'm sure if I actually did some speed work or ran more than twice a week, I could run a lot faster, but that's just not my life right now (side note: Phoenix half marathon is getting closer and closer, and considering the limited amount of training I've been able to do recently, it could really be a mess!). I finished 5th overall female in 20:41, a 6:28/mile pace (according to the results). I think that I will definately do this race again, and I'm already excited for the day when Sierra will get excited about running a kids' race!
Race Report: Pack it Out Canine 5K
Dogs!
DOGS!
DOGS!!
This race was so much fun! There are actually a series of Canine races that have occured throughout the year, but the race on November 14th was the first one that Molly and I raced. Molly Brown-dog was my race partner because our other buddy is just getting too old and slow to run very fast. Though, I'm certain he would have loved all the things to sniff. Sooooo much "pee-mail" to check!
These races benefit the SPCA and there were SPCA dogs on hand that people could run with if they hadn't brought their own.
When we first arrived, I thought that Molly was going to lose her little doggie mind with all the other dogs around. Though, she pretty quickly found her groove and calmed down. The race was on a trail and had a pretty laid-back vibe. By that I mean, the race was supposed to start at 8:15, and when it began about 20 minutes later, no one really seemed to mind. I've done plenty of trail running, but this was the first time I've raced on a trail. I enjoyed the trail, but it is really difficult to pass someone on a single track.
Molly and I ended up 3rd overall, and the first-place female. The results put my time at 28:35, though I think that the course must have been long. I know it was a trail race, but the Turkey Trot I ran this morning (more on that later) was significantly faster. I can't imagine that there would be that much difference in just two weeks.
I was chatting with a couple who also ran after the race and the guy said he thought I looke familiar. Turns out, they've only lived in Virginia for about a year and he used to play hockey with Jason in Connecticut. Crazy! Small world!
Goal next year is to run the whole series (5 races, I think, through the year).
DOGS!
DOGS!!
This race was so much fun! There are actually a series of Canine races that have occured throughout the year, but the race on November 14th was the first one that Molly and I raced. Molly Brown-dog was my race partner because our other buddy is just getting too old and slow to run very fast. Though, I'm certain he would have loved all the things to sniff. Sooooo much "pee-mail" to check!
These races benefit the SPCA and there were SPCA dogs on hand that people could run with if they hadn't brought their own.
When we first arrived, I thought that Molly was going to lose her little doggie mind with all the other dogs around. Though, she pretty quickly found her groove and calmed down. The race was on a trail and had a pretty laid-back vibe. By that I mean, the race was supposed to start at 8:15, and when it began about 20 minutes later, no one really seemed to mind. I've done plenty of trail running, but this was the first time I've raced on a trail. I enjoyed the trail, but it is really difficult to pass someone on a single track.
Molly and I ended up 3rd overall, and the first-place female. The results put my time at 28:35, though I think that the course must have been long. I know it was a trail race, but the Turkey Trot I ran this morning (more on that later) was significantly faster. I can't imagine that there would be that much difference in just two weeks.
I was chatting with a couple who also ran after the race and the guy said he thought I looke familiar. Turns out, they've only lived in Virginia for about a year and he used to play hockey with Jason in Connecticut. Crazy! Small world!
Goal next year is to run the whole series (5 races, I think, through the year).
Monday, November 23, 2009
Uncle Zach (x2)
Last March, Jason brother, Zach, moved to Maryland, about 2 hours from us. Since that time, he's made the trip down to visit us several times, but we hadn't yet been to his place (what can I say, Woodberry owns us during the school year, or at least Jason, and it's tough to get away). We finally had a free day to head up there the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but the week before that, Zach came to see us. Zach's most recent trip to Woodberry ended up being one of the do-nothing, relaxing-Sunday-afternoon days. We didn't plan anything, didn't go, just relaxed into the welcoming "arms" of the couch (ha!) and watched some football. Sierra made Zach feel welcome by giving him all her stuffed animals! 
We tried to get Sierra to say "Zach," but it's a pretty hard name for her to say. So we switched to encouraging her to say "Zee," and ended up with "Zzz." She'll get it!
The next Sunday, we headed up to visit Zach/see his place (finally) and he made us pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner. It was great! Seriously, the guy went all out. Turkey (14 pounds! For 3.5 people!), stuffing, cranberries, pie. I was completely impressed. I don't know what he did with all that leftover turkey; he's probably still eating it! I pulled it all off the bones after dinner and suggested he freeze it since he was going to St. Louis (for more turkey) that Wednesday. Turkey sandwiches, turkey casserole, turkey soup ... so many options.
We tried to get Sierra to say "Zach," but it's a pretty hard name for her to say. So we switched to encouraging her to say "Zee," and ended up with "Zzz." She'll get it!
The next Sunday, we headed up to visit Zach/see his place (finally) and he made us pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner. It was great! Seriously, the guy went all out. Turkey (14 pounds! For 3.5 people!), stuffing, cranberries, pie. I was completely impressed. I don't know what he did with all that leftover turkey; he's probably still eating it! I pulled it all off the bones after dinner and suggested he freeze it since he was going to St. Louis (for more turkey) that Wednesday. Turkey sandwiches, turkey casserole, turkey soup ... so many options.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, Friends-day
Once again, I find myself a week behind in what is happening around here, but that's okay. We'll just go with that. Last Wednesday, our friends from Charlottesville came up to visit. We had a play date, phew, must have more than a month ago, and we've been talking about having Megan and Margaret (she'll be a year in February) come up to visit us the next time we got together. Well, we finally made it happen. Yay! Unfortunately, it was sort of a rainy gross day, so we didn't really get to stroll around campus, go to the playground, hand out outside like I had hoped. We did get to show M and M the excitement that is lunch in the Woodberry dining hall. An experience you should definately have! Ha! After lunch, we had some playtime, Sierra showed Margaret how to play her little music toy and the mamas got to chat. (Talking to grown-ups is something you really take for granted until you spend most of your days with a 17-month old!). The little ones started getting a tad grouchy, so we said good-bye in time for nap time.
Ah! But last Wednesday was a two-friend day! That evening was a faculty meeting, so Milo (have I mentioned that Milo is Sierra's idol?) came down after dinner while his mama was coaching and his daddy was at the meeting. Milo is 6-years-old. He lives down the street and Sierra adores him. She thinks that he is the bee's knees and the cat's pajamas and all that other stuff that is great. He is the only name of another child that she has learned to say so far. (and it's so cute, you should just hear her pronouce his name "mile-lo") Sierra just stares at Milo in awe, like, "you. are. so. awesome." So we played baseball (tiny baseball, with a baby tee and little plastic bat and ball), and also "what's going on out there?" which is a game we made up where we go to each window and say "What's going on out there?" "A bush" "The dog", etc. This game came because Sierra has a little Elmo jack-in-the-box (Elmo-in-the-box?) that while you turn the crank says "Elmo will be there soon." and "What's going on out there?" So Milo decided that Elmo would pick the game we were going to play and it was "What's going on out there?" (did that make sense? Because it sounds kinda crazy).
Ah! But last Wednesday was a two-friend day! That evening was a faculty meeting, so Milo (have I mentioned that Milo is Sierra's idol?) came down after dinner while his mama was coaching and his daddy was at the meeting. Milo is 6-years-old. He lives down the street and Sierra adores him. She thinks that he is the bee's knees and the cat's pajamas and all that other stuff that is great. He is the only name of another child that she has learned to say so far. (and it's so cute, you should just hear her pronouce his name "mile-lo") Sierra just stares at Milo in awe, like, "you. are. so. awesome." So we played baseball (tiny baseball, with a baby tee and little plastic bat and ball), and also "what's going on out there?" which is a game we made up where we go to each window and say "What's going on out there?" "A bush" "The dog", etc. This game came because Sierra has a little Elmo jack-in-the-box (Elmo-in-the-box?) that while you turn the crank says "Elmo will be there soon." and "What's going on out there?" So Milo decided that Elmo would pick the game we were going to play and it was "What's going on out there?" (did that make sense? Because it sounds kinda crazy).
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Not a delicate flower
It seems that our daughter is leaning more toward the "tomboy" end of the spectrum and less toward the "delicate flower" end. Though, I was am much the same way, so I guess she comes by it honestly. She has recently discovered that though she is still a touch too short to get up on the couch by herself, she can climb onto the ottoman. Then jump onto the couch. What fun!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
December travel plans
Jason and I both grew up in the midwest. In 2004, we moved to Connecticut, lived there for 4 years, and then relocated to Virginia in 2008. Every December since we've moved away, we've made the trek back to the midwest to celebrate Christmas with our families. Eventually, we'll probably stop making the trip (sorry parental units) and start making our own traditions, but for now, we're still planning on making the long haul (less long from Virginia than it was in Connecticut -- sort of ... having a small child means more stops and stops takes longer. sigh.). We switch off between whether we spend the "actual" Christmas holiday with my family or Jason's. Even years, we're with my family, odd years, with Jason's (because his family is odd. Get it? Ha! Just kidding. I'm obviously tired and should go to bed.).
This year features an extra event because my friend Dani is getting married in Minneapolis in December (big congrats to Dani and Scott). Since this is a wedding I really want to be able to attend, Jason and I talked about how to make it happen. The wedding is the 18th. Jason teaches through the 17th. We discussed him missing one day of class, driving all night the 16th, arriving at my parents' on the 17th so we could leave the dogs with them, then driving the six hours to Minneapolis the 18th before the evening wedding. Ugh. Certainly not ideal. And Sierra probably wouldn't tolerate that much time in the car. Can you blame her?
So the revised plan is Jason will not go to the wedding with me (too bad). Sierra and I will fly to my parents' the 16th, then I will borrow one of the vehicles and drive up to Minneapolis. Or maybe I can catch a ride with Sarah or Jen, but I haven't talked to either of them about this yet, so we shall have to see. Jason will begin his journey from Virginia to Illinois on the 18th, stopping somewhere along the way, and arriving at my parents' on the 19th. I will also return that day. Planning on a party with my extended family the 19th.
We'll leave my parents' on the 23rd, and head south to my Gram's place to visit and stay overnight. (A note about Gram: she rocks. I hope that I resemble her when I am 88 years old!) Christmas eve morning, we'll make the quick drive from Gram's to Jason's parents'. We'll stay there through the 28th and leave early the 29th, making the trip home in one exhausting run. Phew.
Now you know. Let's hope the weather cooperates!
This year features an extra event because my friend Dani is getting married in Minneapolis in December (big congrats to Dani and Scott). Since this is a wedding I really want to be able to attend, Jason and I talked about how to make it happen. The wedding is the 18th. Jason teaches through the 17th. We discussed him missing one day of class, driving all night the 16th, arriving at my parents' on the 17th so we could leave the dogs with them, then driving the six hours to Minneapolis the 18th before the evening wedding. Ugh. Certainly not ideal. And Sierra probably wouldn't tolerate that much time in the car. Can you blame her?
So the revised plan is Jason will not go to the wedding with me (too bad). Sierra and I will fly to my parents' the 16th, then I will borrow one of the vehicles and drive up to Minneapolis. Or maybe I can catch a ride with Sarah or Jen, but I haven't talked to either of them about this yet, so we shall have to see. Jason will begin his journey from Virginia to Illinois on the 18th, stopping somewhere along the way, and arriving at my parents' on the 19th. I will also return that day. Planning on a party with my extended family the 19th.
We'll leave my parents' on the 23rd, and head south to my Gram's place to visit and stay overnight. (A note about Gram: she rocks. I hope that I resemble her when I am 88 years old!) Christmas eve morning, we'll make the quick drive from Gram's to Jason's parents'. We'll stay there through the 28th and leave early the 29th, making the trip home in one exhausting run. Phew.
Now you know. Let's hope the weather cooperates!
Happy Birthday, Sophia!
Sophia, who has been mentioned before on this blog, is 1-year-old today! Happy birthday to you, Sophia. Sophia is exactly 5 months younger than Sierra which also means that it's Happy 17-month-birthday to Sierra today. Can you believe it? Nearly a year and a half! When I look at her now, I definately see more and more little girl and less and less baby. How quickly time passes.
We celebrated with Sophia this past Sunday and had a great time. Sophia's mama, Sarah, and gram threw a great party and it was a lot of fun. And the cupcakes were delicious. For you, a taste of the good times!
Sarah asked me to take photos at the party for her, so there are a lot more (I took over 200 photos!) but I'm going to give them to Sarah before I post a link so she and Raph (Sophia's daddy) can have first look.
We celebrated with Sophia this past Sunday and had a great time. Sophia's mama, Sarah, and gram threw a great party and it was a lot of fun. And the cupcakes were delicious. For you, a taste of the good times!
Sarah asked me to take photos at the party for her, so there are a lot more (I took over 200 photos!) but I'm going to give them to Sarah before I post a link so she and Raph (Sophia's daddy) can have first look.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The joy of babywearing
I read a blog called Adventures in Babywearing. Recently, the blog owner requested from her readers a link to our favorite babywearing photo. This request is in conjunction with the Sakura Bloom triathlon she his hosting on her blog. Sakura Bloom is a company that makes baby slings and they are holding a contest (for which my entry was not selected as a finalist -- too bad) that includes three parts (interview, photo, video) and allows contestants to try out some of their slings.
The contestants have this prompt: "Your challenge with this sling is the photo challenge. We're not just looking for pretty smiles (although we do love those!) but photos that capture the joy of carrying your child in a sling."
But since the request on Adventures in Babywearing doesn't specify sling, here is my favorite babywearing photo.
This is Jason with Sierra at the top of Stony Man Mountain in Shenandoah National Park this past June (this photo is even better when viewed larger). We love hiking, experiencing nature, exploring the world around us. This photo truly captures the beauty and joy of babywearing because without it, we would not have been able to get here. Seriously, I'd just love to see you try and get a stroller up that trail! :-)
Some other good ones:
Babywearing Grandma! (I love you, mom!)
And you just can't beat the precious beauty of a perfect sleeping babe.
Checking out the tiger in her tiger carrier:
And a teeny Sierra with her adoring mama (me!)
The contestants have this prompt: "Your challenge with this sling is the photo challenge. We're not just looking for pretty smiles (although we do love those!) but photos that capture the joy of carrying your child in a sling."
But since the request on Adventures in Babywearing doesn't specify sling, here is my favorite babywearing photo.
This is Jason with Sierra at the top of Stony Man Mountain in Shenandoah National Park this past June (this photo is even better when viewed larger). We love hiking, experiencing nature, exploring the world around us. This photo truly captures the beauty and joy of babywearing because without it, we would not have been able to get here. Seriously, I'd just love to see you try and get a stroller up that trail! :-)Some other good ones:
Babywearing Grandma! (I love you, mom!)
And you just can't beat the precious beauty of a perfect sleeping babe.
Checking out the tiger in her tiger carrier:
And a teeny Sierra with her adoring mama (me!)
A perfect afternoon
Jason was on duty Saturday. Part of his weekend duty included hiking the river trail and visiting some of the forts the Woodberry boys have down there. Jason invited me to come along and I nearly declined, but I am so glad that I decided to go along. We drove to the where the trail begins, and I popped Sierra in the Ergo and we brought both dogs. It was an absolutely fantastic day and we had really lovely walk on the trail. We hiked all the way out to the farthest fort and ran into three junior boys, one of them our advisee, Robbie. Jason asked the boys how many faculty actually make it out that far and one of the boys said, "In two years ... you're the only one we've seen." A good place for a fort if you're a high school boy.
Robbie accidently threw his drink in the river because he flung his arm when a bee was buzzing around. Fear not, though! Molly, the rescue dog, saved the day! We sent her down over the embankment and into the river and she retrieved the gatorade bottle. Good retriever. She had a little trouble getting back up the steep bank and dropped the drink back in the river, but she wasn't giving up. She headed right back down and didn't lose her target. The bottle was a little muddy and slobbery, but a quick rinse would have fixed that and there was no litter in the river. A success! Hooray!
After a two hour walk, we came home and had a nice long family nap before dinner. You can't go wrong there!
Robbie accidently threw his drink in the river because he flung his arm when a bee was buzzing around. Fear not, though! Molly, the rescue dog, saved the day! We sent her down over the embankment and into the river and she retrieved the gatorade bottle. Good retriever. She had a little trouble getting back up the steep bank and dropped the drink back in the river, but she wasn't giving up. She headed right back down and didn't lose her target. The bottle was a little muddy and slobbery, but a quick rinse would have fixed that and there was no litter in the river. A success! Hooray!
After a two hour walk, we came home and had a nice long family nap before dinner. You can't go wrong there!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Happy Halloween
Every year, Woodberry hosts a Halloween party for faculty children. We went last year, but Sierra was still too small to really enjoy it. I just went back to check, and it seems I didn't really take many photos. Here's one of Sierra with Grace. 
And here they are a year later. Sierra is far to busy to sit still for a photo!
It was great to see all the little ones dressed up in their fun Halloween costumes!
Sierra the ladybug is in the front row between the bunny and Rainbow Fish (in my opinion, the best costume! So cute!)
There was music playing and the spider and the ladybug danced their legs off!
The ladybug also played beanbags with the peacock
and Jason held the teeny teddy bear.
There was some ... um ... interesting? food to eat, including eye balls and a spider web
and all the kiddos won trophies for their costumes. Trophies are especially good for chewing.
More photos from the party here.
And here they are a year later. Sierra is far to busy to sit still for a photo!
It was great to see all the little ones dressed up in their fun Halloween costumes!
Sierra the ladybug is in the front row between the bunny and Rainbow Fish (in my opinion, the best costume! So cute!)There was music playing and the spider and the ladybug danced their legs off!
The ladybug also played beanbags with the peacock
and Jason held the teeny teddy bear.
There was some ... um ... interesting? food to eat, including eye balls and a spider web
and all the kiddos won trophies for their costumes. Trophies are especially good for chewing.
More photos from the party here.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Pumpkin painting playdate
As I mentioned at the end of my last post, Sierra and I were invited to a pre-Halloween pumpkin painting playdate. My friend Lorae was so sweet (and brave) to host a playdate where we gave paint to three 1-year-olds (well, Sophia will be 1 this week!). Spencer was there too, but at just 3.5 months, he has not quite developed the eye-hand co-ordination necessary to smear paint on a pumkin. 
After a little pre-pumkin painting playtime, we got ready for the main event. I was really happy that Jason was there (came by to see his mom off) because the actual pumkin painting was sort of like a justice of the peace wedding. That's the reason you're all there, but it's over in a flash. With Jason, the pumkin painting would just have to live on in our memories instead ofon film in digital files. First we decked out our tiny painters in some old t-shirts.
I just realized that I didn't take a photo of the finished artpieces, but Sarah did, so you can go over there to check them out!
After we cleaned up from the pumpking painting, we had some playtime before heading home.
After a little pre-pumkin painting playtime, we got ready for the main event. I was really happy that Jason was there (came by to see his mom off) because the actual pumkin painting was sort of like a justice of the peace wedding. That's the reason you're all there, but it's over in a flash. With Jason, the pumkin painting would just have to live on in our memories instead of
Here's Harper in a monk robe her dad's old shirt.
Lorae gets set-up.
Pumkins are ready and waiting.
We're all ready to paint.
First, you must taste your pumkin to make sure it is "good" for painting!
The girls let their creative juices flow while Spencer looked on, anxiously awaiting the day he, too, could paint all overhis mom's arms a pumpkin. 
Sierra also decided to taste the paint ... um ... mmmm? (Good think it's non-toxic!)
Lorae gets set-up.
Pumkins are ready and waiting.
We're all ready to paint.
First, you must taste your pumkin to make sure it is "good" for painting!
The girls let their creative juices flow while Spencer looked on, anxiously awaiting the day he, too, could paint all over
Sierra also decided to taste the paint ... um ... mmmm? (Good think it's non-toxic!)
I just realized that I didn't take a photo of the finished artpieces, but Sarah did, so you can go over there to check them out!
After we cleaned up from the pumpking painting, we had some playtime before heading home.
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