Rain on the Parade

Earlier in the month we went to the local parade which was pretty good with some of the big ol' balloons you might see in the Macy's parade. Unfortunately it was very wet, windy, and cold. We lasted for half of the parade. There was some hilarious dance groups, bands etc. . . we had fun, but hopefully next year the weather will be better so we can stick around at the end for Santa.

Wouldn't be Christmas Without It

1. an ugly christmas sweater party- had with the residents and wives at the poole's home. there was good food and a fun gift exchange game.

2. a cute little reindeer whose chubby cheeks look like they might slide off her face.

3. stockings hung with care- doesn't look as festive as it would with a burning fire and wreath, but preparing for basketball season is apparently much more important. i can't believe that when I first made those stockings i was pregnant with dominic . . . 6 stockings looks like a lot.
4. the christmas tree- purchased from the grocery store lot as usual, much taller than the ones we've had in the past, decorated some by the kids, but mostly by me and as expected it is slowly being destroyed by swords, balls, and grubby little hands.

6. a stunning family photo in a family size homemade snuggie

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Too Fast

Claire is growing up much too fast. She's 4 months today, still chubby, very happy, gets the hiccups whenever I make her laugh (and really it's only with me), sleeps through the night a few times a week, has a fabulous mullet and baldspot, is very close to rolling over, can scream very loud when she's mad, loves to be talked to, hates the loud noise Cole makes when he kisses her, might actually have a slight dimple like Macie and I, and is the sweetest little baby ever!!

Our First Thanksgiving Alone . . .

. . . and we loved it! Don't get me wrong. We absolutely love our families and it was kinda hard to hear them all together laughing in the background when we both talked to our mom's on Thanksgiving, but there was something amazing and special about just being together with our own little family for the day. I even cried when Cole was saying the prayer on the meal. I love my family so much and it was the perfect day and weekend together.

We did get invited to 2 dinners with friends, but respectfully declined so it could be just us. I'm pretty sure some of them thought we were crazy and anti-social, but we were glad we did what we wanted to for Thanksgiving.

This being our first Thanksgiving alone meant it was our first time cooking a turkey. It really wasn't as gross or bad as some make it out to be. We asked our mom's for advice and read up on some tips on some food blogs we love and the bird turned out fabulous, even though I cooked it with the bag of gibblets inside (I'm not dumb. I did look for it and reach in to feel for it, but it wasn't found until the bird was cut.)

It was fun to cook the whole meal by myself . . . Cole and the kids did help too, but you know what I mean. I was able to practice my homemade pie crust skills - made 3 pies from scratch, coconut, pumpkin, lemon (it turned out more like pudding though) and Cole mastered his homemade applesauce pie. Now if I could just get the homemade roll thing down- we did Rhodes instead and they over rose since I couldn't get them in the oven when they needed to.

The food was great and after we cleaned up and put the kids down for naps, Cole watched football and I napped on the couch. It was fabulous. We took a walk as a family in the evening. I forgot to mention that it was a gorgeous day outside - in the mid 60's and sunny and we had our windows open most of the day. It really was the perfect day (and Cole played 3 hrs of football too)!!

Back on Wednesday Macie and Cole both had half days so we went to the Children's Museum and then made popcorn ball turkeys (Cole's family tradition as a kid) for our table on Thursday.

Friday was spent at home, sleeping in, watching football, having friends over for lunch and a tad bit of shopping in the evening.

Saturday we took the kids to Colonial Williamsburg. It was a beautiful day again, clear skies, but windy and brisk. It was so fun to take Macie. She and I have been reading the American Girl book series together and we just finished with Felicity who if you remember lived in Williamsburg. It was fun because she was familiar with some of the history already and laying on the bed in the palace was a beautiful blue dress just like the one Felicity wore to the dance. We took a tour of the palace and got to go to the blacksmith shop and see how things are done. The kids loved the horses and animals and I loved all the wreaths they had on the doors and windows that were decorated with fruit - beautiful.

Sunday was relaxing even though I spoke in Church. While the little ones were napping Cole, Macie and I watched The Wizard of OZ and I took a cat nap too.

We're excited for Christmas and all the things we have planned between now and the new year and just being together as a family.

The Fun We've Been Having

Here are a few of the fun things that we did in November:

We went bowling with all the 1st year residents and their spouses/girlfriends. Cole had a great few games, I did ok and the kids loved the fun of it all. We had pizza and cupcakes too so that made it even more fun for them. Tessa would kick the ball and Dominic and Macie's balls made a very slow journey down the lane usually getting stuck in the gutter.

One of Cole's fellow residents got married the weekend before Thanksgiving. We had no intention of driving the 6+ hours to the small West Virginia town to attend until we saw on the map that it was only an hour away from our good friends Curtis and Nichole in Pittsburg (they are friends from dental school). We were so excited to go visit them for the weekend. The 6 hr drive was pretty simple, the kids did great and most of it was late at night.

Curt and Cole has fun playing and watching football and Nichole and I enjoyed chatting together. The kids loved playing and watching english cartoons. Curt and Nicole were gracious enough to watch all 4 kids for 5 hours so we could go to the wedding. The wedding was in a beautiful Catholic Cathedral and included mass and everything. Very interesting to see the way others worship. It was a great experience.

Curt and Nichole were fabulous hosts and we were so glad to see them and their two darling kids again. (Sadly I only took one photo. Kumorah and Tessa are only one month apart and had fun playing and fighting together.)

Grateful

I feel extremely blessed. I have a wonderful, amazing, hardworking, handsome, fun, and talented husband who I love with all my heart. I have four beautiful, healthy, happy, energetic children that I absolutely adore. I have wonderful parents, siblings, in-laws, and friends. I have a home to live in, food on my table, and clothes on my back. Most importantly I have a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers my prayers, a Savior who atoned for my sins, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. My life is not perfect, but I'm happy and thankful for all that I have. Today is a great day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The 8K

I am terrible at setting goals and accomplishing them. Really, I avoid setting goals. I just don't like it (which is very opposite of my husband and I'm sure kinda frustrates him). But I did it. I set a goal and actually accomplished it this past Saturday.

Once Claire turned 6 weeks the 3 littlest ones and I have been to the YMCA just about every weekday (I love this place by the way). I have never been one to exercise or run. I haven't ever really enjoyed it or had an opportunity to do it consistently (well I didn't ever make it a priority). But I have really started to love working out and running these past 6 weeks (I never thought I would say this). It feels good to run and lift weights and the hour break from my kids during the day is like the icing on the cake!

A friend sent me an email about a month ago asking if I'd like to do the 8k in Nov. I sent her an immediate yes, signed up, and paid my money. That was it. I was committed and had a goal set and knew I wasn't going to give up this time.

I ran the 8k this past weekend and I had the absolute best time preparing for it and running the race! That's 5 miles (well 4.96) - not much for most of you, but for me it's unheard of. I was a mediocre sprinter in high school and never, ever have been a true runner and I'm not yet, but would like to be someday. When I started running six weeks ago I was running a 15 minute mile - terribly slow and completely out of shape. But I worked really hard and the week before the race I was running a 10 minute mile which I was very proud of.

I loved the whole experience of the race. The crowds, weaving around people to get ahead, the music in the streets, the feeling of crossing the finish line knowing I had accomplished my goal. Even better was that I finished in 46 minutes and 3 seconds (a 9:21 mile)!!! I'm looking forward to the 10k in March and hopefully many more to come.

Now, here are more pictures than anyone cares to see except maybe my mom:

The race started at 7am.

(Getting hydrated, but I drank way to much for having only a 3 month postpartum bladder if you know what I mean. The port-a-potties during the race looked very tempting.)

(Just about to start the race. I had planned to start with two other friends from church but I never was able to find them. They were late and started at the end of the pack. I'm actually glad I didn't find them because it was so much easier to run by myself and I ended up doing better than them - I can say that because they don't know I have a blog :)

(Early in the race. We had had terrible rain for the 3 days prior, but we only got a drizzle during the race and it was about 48 degrees. Cool to start with, but perfect throughout the race.)

(Just about to cross the finish line!! I couldn't have been happier- I felt great!)

I loved having Cole there to watch and cheer me on. A friend was babysitting the kids at home so he didn't have to drag them around in the cold. Cole hadn't seen me run since I was a sophomore in high school and we were both on the track team. He said it was really fun for him to watch me and I hope that the next race we can do it together!