Thankful

Thankful Turkey Craft (see below for instructions)

This weekend I ran the Pinehurst Turkey Trot 10K. It was a great way to start off Thanksgiving week... until I went and ate a giant breakfast burrito afterwards and washed it down with a large mocha. 

Confession: I run to eat!
(and that's fine with me)

K and H were troopers and kudos to their moms for pushing the double stroller! That thing is no joke!

Seriously, though, on this Monday before Thanksgiving I was thinking about all of the Christmas shopping I have yet to do and packing for our trip to Florida later this week. I was thinking I should buy a wreath for the front door. I had thoughts of a cinnamon roll and Pumpkin Spice Latte. Then I took a deep breath and realized...

It doesn't matter. 

Black Friday and holiday travel. 

Decorations and overpriced coffees.

None of it is really important!

What's important is family.

Good health.

Good friends.

Making memories

and

finding time to enjoy what you have. 

That's what I want my life to be about all year long!

(Not just during the months of November and December! How does that make sense?)

So in honor of turkey day, get out your crafting scissors and let's show some gratitude with attitude!

How To Make a Thankful Turkey

Supplies:

White paper plate
Tan, orange or brown construction paper
Yellow construction paper
Black Sharpie marker

Googley eyes
Foam sticks in assorted colors (or paper feathers cut from construction paper)

Scissors
Glue

Paper plate cut in half with scalloped edges will form the turkey's wings.

1. Cut your paper plate in half and then use scissors to cut scalloped edges along the round part of the plate.
2. Cut out a turkey head and neck from the brown or orange construction paper. (I drew mine and then added the eyes and beak with the Sharpie- just make sure the head and neck are at least as tall as the halved paper plate.) 
3. Cut out the turkey's waddle from the yellow construction paper. (Apparently the waddle is the hangy-thing under a turkey's chin. Turkeys use their waddles for cooling purposes.)
4. Use 3-7 foam sticks to give your turkey feathers. Fan them out and glue them to the paper plate. Make sure the ends of the sticks all start from the center so they will be covered when you glue on the turkey head. (You could also cut out colorful feathers from construction paper if you don't have the foam sticks.)
5. Using a Sharpie, write what you're thankful for on the end of each stick. 
6. Glue the turkey head to the plate. 
7. Glue the waddle under the turkey's beak.
8. Glue on some googley eyes!

I'm thankful for friends, my electric blanket, running, Girl Scout Cookies and family.

I promise I am thankful for other things like my freedom and clean water- I just had Thin Mints on the brain while I was crafting my turkey!

Gobble Gobble!

Happy THANKSgiving!

Party Like You're One

When you are one-year-old, your expectations are not very high. 

You're happy with a tasty snack, a clean diaper and a game of peekaboo.  

But if your mom decides she's going to throw you a birthday party, there's not much you can do! 

Just roll your eyes and smile...she means well.

She'll probably dress you up and parade you around...

and make guests play silly games...

Sign on the front door greeting guests. Kids and adults marked their height on the chart, and a gift was given to the shortest and tallest guests. 

Each guest placed a dot at their height and wrote their name. 

The Doljabbi Ceremony is the main event at the Dol (Korean first birthday).
Several items are placed in front of the child, and the item the chile grabs predicts the child's future.
Guests get to place their bets on which item the child will choose.
Items included:

Scholar- Pen

Artist- Paintbrust

Doctor- Bandaids

Athlete- Golf ball

Scientist- Calculator

Wealth- Dollar bill

Prosperity- Bowl of rice

Long Life- String

Grace chose (drum roll please) THE STRING, which represents long life!

Then she'll force everyone to look at embarrassing photos.

Monthly photos of Grace

You'll do your best to grin and bare it. Pretzels anyone?

And then, as if it couldn't get any worse, your parents will strip you down and make you eat cake. With your hands. While everyone watches. 

Can a girl get a napkin? Wet wipe?

About that time you'll start to wonder if nap time will ever get here, but if you MUST, you'll jump in the bounce house with some friends. 

Then right when you're starting to get into this whole "party" thing, your mom will pass out party favors and everyone will leave...

Party favors: wavy straws with homemade balloon toppers

Gum ball machine party favors

Turning one is hard work. Maybe next year we could just do breakfast in bed and a trip to Build-a-Bear?

XOXO LOVE,

 GRACE

I Run So I Can Wear These Sweet Tights

Last Sunday I ran the City of Oaks Marathon Relay with some fabulous moms (and few of their very supportive husbands)! Here is a recap* of the day:

*Times are an estimation based on my terrible and unreliable memory. 

3:30am- Alarm goes off and I feel nauseous and shaky. Hope that coffee will help.

4:18am- I decide not to wake Grace for one last feeding and leave her in her Daddy's capable care.

5:00am- Meet Kristin and Heather for carpool.

6:27am- Arrive at "Bell Tower" and locate nearest portojohns immediately.

6:40am- Find the rest of the Wonder Woman team and distribute race numbers and timing chips.

6:44am- Lauri drops her phone to its death. .

6:52am- Realize I gave timing chip band, but not timing chip to our first runner. PANICK a little.

6:56am- Karen finds our runner and gives him the chip.

7:00am- RACE STARTS!

7:16am- Catch the shuttle bus to the 3/4 handoff location.

7:30am- Wait outside McDonalds freezing our tails off. 

7:34am- Decide to go inside McDonalds to get a coffee. Resist the urge to order a hash brown patty. 

8:06am- Cole texts me. Baby is up, all is well. 

8:13am- First place runners zoom by.

8:55am- The 3rd leg of team Wonder Woman takes off from the transition area.

9:07am- More waiting. I'm starting to wonder why I paid money to wake up early, drive an hour and a half and stand in the cold all morning long....Regretting my decision. 

10:22am- It's my turn! FINALLY! I take off running in my sweet Wonder Woman socks, shirt and vintage blue running tights. I feel fast, (and kind of silly). Eye of the Tiger comes on my iPod. Sweet.

10:38am- I pass a runner who's shirt reads, "DFL is better than DNF." (Dead F'in Last is better than Did Not Finish). Good point. Keep running.

10:56am- Witness some marathon runners really struggling to make it the last couple of miles. A volunteer yells to me, "Looking good for having run 24 miles!" (Try 4 miles, actually. I feel guilty.)

11:19am- I cross the finish line and am rewarded with 4 shiny medals! For me?! Oh, for my team, of course! 

Leg 3 and 4 runners from team Wonder Woman Red, White, Blue and Gold!

11:30am- Call the hubbins to confirm he and Grace are both still alive. 

11:33am- Gather the other carpoolers, and get the flock out of there...eventually...my apologies for being directionally challenged. 

12:49pm- Drop off carpool divas. 

12:54pm- Guzzle Iced Mocha from Dunkin' Donuts. 

1:16pm- Arrive home! Baby is napping and Cole is watching football. Must be nice...let me tell you about my morning...

I hope this post doesn't sound like I'm complaining, I'm really not. I had a blast. It's just funny to realize what I consider fun these days. Sure, the relay race took some planning and included a lot of waiting around, but you can't beat the atmosphere and the camaraderie you get at running events. I got to hang out with super nice, funny ladies, the volunteers were very supportive, I had a great run, and I got to spend I morning doing something for myself. Likewise, Cole and Grace spent the morning together and survived with no catastrophes. (I may have worried, but I knew they would be fine!)

Now that I've had some time to reflect, I am really thinking about training for a marathon next year. Maybe the City of Oaks Marathon??? I'm no where near ready now, but by this time next year, I could be ready! I can't believe I'm even considering it, but I really do love a new challenge! 

So, let me know if you have any good training advice or would like to be my training buddy...anybody??? Hellllllooo????? 

Where did everybody go?

Trick-or-Treat Puppy

I hope everyone had a happy, safe and sweet Halloween! We certainly did!

We put our little "puppy", Grace, to work to score us some Halloween treats! (It seemed only fair that we should dress up as her guardians and Trick-or-treat escorts, so Cole was a 1980 Olympian and I was Giants' Buster Posey.)

I'm pretty sure Grace was clueless as she celebrated her first October 31st, but she at least tolerated her puppy hood and got her first taste of a tootsie pop.

I believe it takes having a kid or being a kid to truly experience the magic of holidays like Halloween!