Yellow and brown day

Each month at preschool, there is a special "color day" where the kids are all suggested to wear a specific color to celebrate the month.  In September, we celebrated an Apple Day by wearing red, in October there was Orange and Black Day for Halloween.  At the end of this month, for the fading fall colors, we had Yellow and Brown Day.  

The day before Yellow and Brown Day, Sierra was digging through a hand-me-down box and she found this little faux fur shrug vest and exclaimed, "I want to wear this!"  Okay, sure.  It's go some brown it.  As it turns out, we had plenty of other options she could have worn for brown, but her wardrobe is distinctly lacking in the yellow department.  

The only thing to do: make something!  I had this fabric that my Mom had given me when we visited at the beginning of the month that worked out perfectly for a simple skirt (thanks, Mom!).  I could have left as just a simple, gathered yellow skirt, but I decided add a little detail and trimmed the skirt with a brown and white pin dot (again, thank you, Grandma Ginger) and added a matching curved-bottom patch pocket.  I'm actually quite pleased with how this little skirt came together, and I think Sierra is, too!

Thanksgiving week was family fun

Our Thanksgiving week was lovely, with a touch of "not so good" thrown in.  I'll start with the bad.  Sierra was sick for all of Tuesday and Wednesday.  Not physical, throwing up sick, just feeling really down and under the weather.  She didn't eat much Monday night and then woke up Tuesday morning saying "I'm sick," but couldn't explain exactly what was wrong.  I asked her if she wanted to go back to bed and she said yes!  (shocking, I know, but that's how I know she really was ill!!)  I tucked her back in at 8am and she slept for 3 hours!  Sheesh!  That's unheard of.  She had to miss her preschool party and brunch, so that was unfortunate, but she was well by Thanksgiving.  And then she gave whatever she had to me and I spent all of Friday and Saturday apologizing to my in-laws for being a poor hostess.  

We kept our Thanksgiving feast pretty simple.  We had the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce, butternut squash, and a green bean casserole that I made from scratch without the cream of mushroom soup.  I saw the recipe here and it looked awesome; it was.  Dessert was pumpkin pie made with an actual pumpkin and fresh whipped cream (my favorite) and apple pie with a crumb topping and vanilla ice cream (Jason's favorite).  Had my family joined us, my dad's presence would have required pecan pie as well, but we skipped it this year.  

Kaia provided dinner entertainment with her huge personality and playing peek-a-boo with everyone as we finished eating.

I just cannot get over the number and varied expression this child has!!

Sierra was feeling much better and was mostly back to her happy self.

After our feast, we headed outside to enjoy the day and play with Grandma and Grandpa.  Zach and Jason put up our outside Christmas lights.

Grandma and Grandpa left Saturday evening and were heading back west early Sunday morning, so we said our good-byes.  Uncle Zach was staying with us, though, so we got to enjoy one more day with him before he had to return to school in New York.

I designed a quilt block

Since I decided I was going to learn how to quilt, I have been doing little projects to help me figure things out.

I made a table runner.

I joined the We Can Do It!  Skill Builder Sampler and have been trying out different quilt blocks each week as directed by Leila at Sewn.

I made a simple baby quilt.

And most recently, I joined an online 4x5 Quilt Bee.  The "4" is for the quarterly time period.  You sign up for the bee and blocks are started and completed over the course of 3 months.  The "5" is four the number of quilt blocks completed and received in that amount of time.  I am assigned a "hive" with 5 other women (or men, but it seems most quilters tend to be women).  We each choose a color scheme for ourselves.  We each choose one block that we make five times, according to the color choices of the others in our hive.  So, at the end of the quarter,  I have made 5 blocks in five different color schemes that I will send out to my other hive members, and I will receive 5 different block in my chosen color scheme.

While I could have picked a modern block that has already been done, I chose to design my own block for this project.  I started out with a really rough sketch, and then a to scale drawing of the block.  I've named it Sunset Squared because the top portion reminds me of sun rays and the bottom is a just line of little squares.

Finally, I drew the block out to size.  The top portion is done by paper piecing, so I made six copies.  The bottom is just measure, cut and sew.  I first did the block in my own color scheme to see if I liked it in fabric form.

I liked it, and so I forged onward with my first hive member, whose color choices were pink, orange, and yellow with a white background.  

Race report: Earlysville Turkey Trot

We were thrilled to have Jason's whole family in town for Thanksgiving this year.  His parents and sister arrived Tuesday evening and Wednesday, Jason and his dad went to a hockey game in DC and then picked up Zach after the game.  They got back late, but we were up early on Thursday morning to go to the Earlysville Turkey Trot.  I've done this race the past couple years by myself, and I was thrilled to have some company this year.  Diane and Zach ran the race as well, and Jason and Butch spectated with the girls.  

Since Butch was there with his camera, we have documented evidence of me running!  It's so rare to have photos because I often head to races by myself and I'm so happy that my family was able to come.  

Here we are before the race, trying not to squint into the sun to much.  It was a perfect late fall day, crisp and cool.  

Jason played "super dad" with double the little girl fun!

Here's my cheering section!  Kaia's cheering too, as you can tell by her little foot!

Even though there are race photos to show you, perhaps I should not put them out there for public consumption.  Here's why.  Diane looks happily tired at the end of the race.

Zach looks confident and determined. 

I look like I just. might. die.  On the plus side, my leg muscle looks huge.  So I've got that going for me.  Also, I finished as the 4th female overall (missed 3rd by 9 seconds) and first in my age group.  I ran the 5K in 20:56, a respectable 6:45min/mile pace.  I'll take it.  (But I do wonder if I could ever break 20:00 again.)
 

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Harvest table

When I actually manage to clean everything up after a meal, remove the dirty dished from the table, wipe off greasy handprints, and avoid using the dining room table as a catch-all for paper items, it looks like this!  I love it and it makes me happy to walk in the dining room and see this.  That, alone, is motivation to move the dirty dishes into the sink.  

The table runner was made by my mother with fabrics that we picked together at a quilt shop in Bozeman, MT (cannot WAIT to go back there.  Bozeman.  Not the quilt shop.  Okay, the quilt shop, too.)  The crystal bowl was a wedding gift from my friend, Brad.  The vase is stained glass, made by me, one upon a time.  Candles are pumpkin spice scent from Target (mmmmmm ... ).  The pumpkin and the gourds came from our pumpkin patch trips this fall, and the silk fall flowers are from ... I don't know ... a craft store (Michael's?  JoAnn?  Can't remember ... )

Do you like it??  I don't know what I'm going to do here when it's officially winter.  I bought fabric to make a Christmas/winter table runner, but I don't know if I will get that finished.  Maybe I will just pretend it's fall until my summer table runner is in season again.  I could do fall for most of the year.  (but the pumpkin won't last that long!)

Good reads

So many, many things that I haven't posted about here.  I guess I'm on an unintentional hiatus.  I'm feeling unmotivated to update this space right now, so if you've seen my motivation, please send it home.

Jason took this picture of the girls and me as we sat on the couch together this weekend.  We sure love books around here!  Okay, technically, I'm reading Runner's World, and Sierra is reading a coloring book, but we do love to read.  I hope we can continue to encourage the love of books and reading and learning with our girls.

Four under four for four

Are you confused?  What in the world does that post title mean?  That would be Four children under four-years-old for four days.  I just liked the phonetic fun I could have with all those fours (and one for).  Anyway.  

My friend Shannon had to go away for work for a few days, and her kiddos stayed behind with Daddy.  While he was at work during the day, Tommy and Peyton came to hang with me. I dropped the big ones off at preschool, juggled lunches and snack and bottles and diaper changed, picked the preschoolers up, juggled more diapers and snacks and bottled, settled various small persons down for naps and quiet times, and did my best to maintain my sanity while assuring everyone was well cared for and having a pretty good time.  There were definitely some issues with poop and vomit and sharing and whatnot, but all in all, I'd say we all enjoyed our time together.  

Here's everyone in the playroom.  Despite my yelling and jumping up and down and carrying on, I couldn't get more than one child to look at me at a time.  

We had some really beautiful weather, so we went for a walk.  I was impressed with how far Tommy and Sierra walked on their own, but I guess they were just having such a good time, they forgot to be tired.   

Peyton and Kaia had a good time, too, but they had their travel taken care of for them.

One afternoon, we made pumpkin seeds.  Sierra and Tommy took turns stirring in the ingredients, and the babies played nearby.

We're looking forward to next time!

The rest of our Galena trip

Our trip to Illinois was really very nice.  I got to visit with almost everyone I wanted to see while I was back in town and we had plenty of down time and family time as well.  It's tough, sometimes, when I go back to my parents' house because there are so many people I want to see, and so little time, and too many times, I end up feeling like I'm rushing around and I still leave someone out of my schedule.  

The girls enjoyed some fall weather and playing in the leaves.  And Grandpa encouraged them to jump in the giant leaf pile that the neighbor had just raked all up.  Ha!  (My dad also takes our dogs over specifically to crap in the neighbor's yard when we're home with them.  My parents and their neighbors are actually friends, this is just my dad's idea of hilarious.)

It's good to hand with Grandpa Bob.  Not only does he take you out to dinner, he also can get you in to the fire house after hours!

We were sure to set up some play time with Sierra's buddy Colton while we were in town as well.  I've mentioned Colton and his mom, Casey on here before.  Casey and I have been friends since we were Sierra and Colton's age (really!) and it's so fun to see our kiddos now playing together.  I wish we lived closer.  Casey told me later that week, after we had gone back to Virginia, Colton asked if Sierra could come over again the next weekend!  We'll see you soon!

Neglect

My little blog has been neglected more than usual lately.  I hope to fix that soon.  There is the trip to Illinois to tell you about, including the half marathon, which resulted in a 3rd place finish on my part.  There's some sew-y stuff I want to show you as well.  In the mean time, if you really need some fresh content of my two little ones, go visit Carrie.

Race Report: Inaugural Galena Lead Rush Half Marahon

I have been anticipating the first half marathon in the town where I grew up for over a year.  One of the organizers of the race is a childhood friend of mine and he and I corresponded a bit about his desire to make this race happen in the early stages.  Because I felt like I had helped in the teensiest way, and because this was the first half marathon in my home town, and because a friend was instrumental in planning and executing the race, and because my parents still live there, there were really so many reasons for me to head back to Illinois to run this race.

Even better: I asked my friend Brian, who I have known for almost my entire life, and who is a runner himself, if he could come back for the race as well.  (and he did)

The girls and I arrived on Tuesday and had plenty of time to hang with family and see friends.  Of course, there was Chaos, as there always is when I get together with my childhood friends.  As a result, I probably consumed far too much sugar, mostly in the form of jellybeans, than I should have, and definitely more than I would have had it been a different race in a different place.

The race began at 9AM Saturday morning and it was cool and sunny.  A lovely day for a distance race, really.  Brian and I had chatted beforehand and our pace goals were different, so we didn't plan to run together.

However, just moments after the race began, there was Brian beside me.  I was so happy to have my friend running with me.  At that point there were 3 women ahead of me.  The one in front had taken off fast, and I knew I wasn't catching her.  I told Brian that my plan was to catch the girl in blue, who was going about the same pace as me, within the next mile or mile and a half; and then to catch the girl in purple on that first really big hill between mile 6-7.

Unfortunately, I had a side stitch by about the first mile.  By mile two, it was pretty bad, and I spent the next two mile massaging it hard trying to get rid of it.  It was uncomfortable, but I managed to keep a pretty good pace.  I spent the majority of the race with an annoying, painful but bearable stitch in one side or the other.  Still, I managed to catch the other women like I told Brian I planned to.  I'm actually a little surprised because though it's good to have a plan, you just don't know what's in the head of your competitors.  Brian and I went around the first woman ahead of me together, and then I pulled ahead of him as he settled into his pace around 4 miles.  At The Big Hill, the woman in purple walked up the steepest part, and I kept my pace to pass her (I did several long runs up a big hill near where we live to train for this).

I managed to keep ahead of her for the almost rest of the race, but she was right on my shoulder until the end.  The end of the race is a flat stretch along the river and The Woman in Purple was right behind me.  I saw the clock at the finish line from down the road, and I was pushing hard to stay in front of her.  I approached the finish line and one of the volunteers said, "Just one more little out and back!  Almost there!"  AAAUUUUGH!  I thought I was finished!!  Well, I had used up my kick, and when I found out I still had another 1/2 mile to go, I completely lost my mental edge, and The Woman in Purple was able to pass me.  I pulled her back in but wasn't able to catch her before the finish line, and she finished just seconds in front of me.

Still, I'm thrilled with my first place finish.  The hills were challenging, for sure, and I wonder how much faster I could have run if not for the side cramps I had for most of the race.  Perhaps I shall have to try again next year?

Brian finished 5 minutes behind me and we got to ride the chairlift back to the top of the mountain (big hill).  Final results can be found here.  The finishers' medals weren't handed out at the finished, but when Brian and I went to the tent to pick ours up, we learned we had both placed (me, 3rd overall female; him, second in his age group) so we had to wait for the award ceremony if we wanted our medals.  If I'm being honest, the awards ceremony was scheduled for later than it should have been (2PM) but we had lunch, so we decided to wait around and spend some time on the playground.  Brian, ultra-runner that he is, figured that 13.1 miles wasn't enough of a workout, so he decided to add in some squats.

And some pull-ups.  

But then he made my 3-year-old push him on the merry-go-round.

It was finally time for the awards ceremony, and Brian and I collected our prized before heading back to our respective parents' homes for the rest of our time in Galena.