Bite your tongue!

Cyrus had an accident at school yesterday and fell climbing up the slide. He sticks his tongue out when concentrating and when he fell he chomped it!! We got the call at school so B ran down to Cougar Care to check him out and determined he needed to take Cy to Doc to make sure he did not need stitches. He didn't need stitches but he has a 1/4 inch gash in his tongue that shocked me when I saw him after swimming. He is such a tough little boy!!!!

Birthday dinner

Dad and Jill both share the same birthday, the 27th of November. So, B and I wanted to have them over for a celebratory dinner. The problem is that I work until 630 now so B was in charge of the whole thing!! He went to Carytown Cupcakes to get dessert and cooked a delicious quinoa stir fry with edamame, chicken, red pepper, butternut squash, and onion. He did so great and the dinner was awesome!!!

Gingerbread House

I saw a gingerbread house kit at Target and thought that it would be a fun project to do with Cyrus. I had never done one before and neither had he (obviously) so we decided to give it a shot. He wanted to eat it so I compromised and told home he could eat the little gingerbread snowman after decorating him. I put the icing in and let Cy do the candy. It came out pretty messy, mostly my fault!!! That's ok though, I now have a strategy for next year:)

Holiday Decorating

I think it is challenging to decorate a new home. It never seems like the decorations from the previous home work in the new place. I am working on the Sitting Room because I think that is the only room I am going to decorate this year. This house is just too big to try to decorate every where. So, I am working with what we have but want to add to it, especially the mantle. It's a work in progress...

Sweet Frogs

We met the Anders at Sweet Frogs for some yummy frozen yogurt this afternoon. It was so great to get the kids together, they love each other so much:)

I could not get them to sit still long enough to get a picture:) They were crazy today!

12.5

My long run this week needed to be 12 miles and I wanted to do it on trails since our full (should Shawn and I actually commit to doing it) marathon will be on trails. Brad told me he wanted to join me, much to my surprise as he is not really a runner. He is in great shape for sure but doesn't like to run. So, we set off from Forest Hill to Buttermilk to Belle Isle to North Bank to Carillion to Buttermilk and back to Forest Hill. 12.5 miles of ROLLING hills. It was great but I was hurting by the end. After finishing, we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for some chips and guacamole. It was such a wonderful day together!!

Off we go!

And, we're done! Yea:) Aching legs/feet!!

Ouch, feeling it. Even more so this evening. He is currently sitting in the "Man Chair" with ice on his knees:(

Yum. Well deserved:)

Nose Piercing

I have been debating getting my nose pierced again and decided that today was the day:) it's cute, I love it!

Oh Christmas Tree

We embarked on our annual Black Friday tradition of getting and decorating our tree this year. We found a beautiful Frasier Fir at Home Depot, which cracks me up. We have gone from hiking & skiing in the back country of the Flat Tops Wilderness area to putting a tree in the shopping cart and wheeling it to the cashier. My how times have changed:)

Thanksgiving Dinner

Dinner was so delicious this year! We fried a turkey, as usual. And, for sides, I did a roasted Brussels sprouts dish with cranberries, goat cheese, and pecans. Sliced sweet potatoes topped with a mixture of cranberries, apple, apple sauce, butter, cinnamon, & pecans. A stuffing dish and roasted green beans. Delicious and I ate way too much!!

Turkey Trot 10K

Creighton signed up for the Turkey Trot this year and asked me to do it with him. I, of course, dragged my feet a bit with signing up because I've been so busy and it filled up. So, I am running with him anyway and sneaking onto the course. It is a HILLY course and super challenging so we'll see how this goes!

Update: We had an awesome race, and, I PR'd with a time of :47.09. If that was a flat course I may have broken :46...that would be great! It was a fast race today, regardless of the hills. I'm happy and ready to eat pumpkin pie!

"Brunch"

Brunch is the girl version of Feast at Collegiate, I guess. It is also an age old tradition which involves all girls from grades 5 and up. It is a play production put on by the Jr. class for the Senior girls and one they look forward to all year. It really goes without description but I can tell you it is incredibly loud and confusing...let the video be the description.

Feast of Juul

Collegiate has a time old tradition called "Feast of Juul" for the Senior boys. It has morphed into a dinner of a HUGE steak and sides and all the boys and some select faculty come together and the boys "roast & toast" certain faculty members. The faculty members are dispersed amongst the tables and our job is to serve the boys their dinner before the roasting begins. I was feeling like it was going to be pretty awkward since I only teach a handful of senior boys but it was a wonderful evening. I actually got "toasted" by one of my very favorite guys, Jack Sutton, and he said some really wonderfully touching things about me and our relationship. I was delighted.

Makin' Tracks

Cyrus got this cool construction set called "Makin Tracks" for his belated birthday from his cousins and he is obsessed with it! There is a whole book of things you can make with the pieces so we've been showing him how to follow the directions a little bit. He figures out what pieces he needs (based on color) and will bring them over and help us put them together. It's actually a really cool learning tool and he loves it. Last night we made a train with two train cars, it took forever but he stayed focused the whole time!!

Juggling

This week has officially crushed me. Swimming has started and I am completely overwhelmed with that as well as multiple other meetings and appointments that have seemingly taken all my free time this week. It's been a tough adjustment for me, not seeing Cyrus in the afternoons and spending time with him. I miss that time with him but I"m glad he is getting some alone time with his dad too. I am enjoying swimming more than I thought I would, to be honest. There are many reasons why I was dreading this part of my job but so far, I'm really enjoying it. It's good to be back on the pool deck with these kids who are serious about their sport and thinking about the possibility of swimming in college. There are a few girls who would even like to swim at USC, and though it's been 100 years since I swam for USC, I remember those moments like it was yesterday. So, I'm excited about helping them prepare, mentally and physically, for that opportunity should it present itself. The part of the week that was the most exhausting honestly were the meetings that I had each morning at 7am dealing with curriculum issues and parent issues...I totally get that these parents are paying $20,000 a year for their kids education and feel that their kid should get 100% of my attention and effort but the problem is I have 100+ students to worry about. That coupled with teaching and now practice until 7pm has worn me out. I am ready for Thanksgiving break!!

The Instant Classic Marathon

Shawn and I have decided to train for the Instant Classic Marathon that will take place on

SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2013

Pocahontas State Park, Chesterfield, VA

Shawn has just started running this year, seriously, and is loving it. He ran his first 1/2 marathon a few weekends ago and seems to be hooked. I would like to run it so that I have something to train for through the winter. I chose this one because it is on trails and I think that will be nicer for my legs/feet. From the reviews, it's a pretty tough course in that there are lots of obstacles to jump/hop over so we're not going into this with any kind of goal in mind. I would certainly like to break 4 hours but it depends on the course and my feet. We'll see. I'm excited for it, quite nervous too, but excited nonetheless. I am also super excited about doing it with my big brother. How great is that!!

Thanksgiving Art Projects

Cyrus did some really cool art projects focused around Thanksgiving this year! I love them:) My plan over this break is to find a place in his room to dedicated to his art projects because he does so many of them and is so very proud of them!!

Tree Lighting

Mom, Brad, Cy, & I went to Stony Point to see the lighting of the Community tree this year. It was great. There were TONS of people there, actually, too many for my taste, but it was worth it. The tree was beautiful. There was a live band and a DJ of sorts counting us down. As they lit the tree, "snow" (which tasted like peppermint) came exploding out of the surrounding roof tops. It definitely got me in the Holiday spirit!!!