Obligatory Halloween Photos

 Yeah, yeah, yeah.I know most of you do not care, but you still get to see the Halloween pictures, just because.  We had fewer activities this year and fortunately, fewer candy.  (Can I say "fewer candy"?)  We had the Church Activity, and then on Halloween they went to a Party at their Karate place, and then they canvased the neighborhood.

 Joshua was Chuck Norris.

 Delaney was a vampire kitty.

 Marian was a black cat.

At Karate, The kids got to bash each other with these "swords".  They don't look like swords to me, but that's what they called them.  Delaney was a bit of a pansy and got wacked more than she wacked.

 This is Rylee.I had the best costume for Rylee!  She's wearing her USMC shirt, and I had devil horns and a devil tail for her.She wore them for a mere 5 minutes, before she ditched her "Devil Dog" stuff.

At the end, the kids got to punch or kick boards and break them. They loved that best of all! Somehow, I managed to miss all their actual board-breaking moments, and this was the best shot.  Joshua actually punched through 2 boards and was quite pleased with himself.

It was a fairly Happy Halloween!

Kickin' It

Rylee goes to her Mother's Day Out Program on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Since it goes until 2pm, she usually does not get a nap.  Unfortunately, she needs a nap.  On the days she goes to MDO, I have to watch her closely and keep her distracted, or bad things happen.  What bad things, you ask?

This sort of bad thing happens.  Rylee will fall asleep in some interesting places and positions!  

Unfortunately, it will be at a time when it it too late for napping, and too early for bed. 

(And yes, she really is completely asleep here!)

Then one must decide if it will be a late nap which will be followed by a later bedtime, or try to make it an early bedtime and hope like heck that she stays asleep and in bed throughout the night.  Nope, never a dull moment around here!

And for a random segue....
The kids are doing really well in Karate.  I can see a huge difference in their movements and they are having a good time with it.

That's Callie in the yellow shirt.  Apparently she is left footed kicker and I couldn't get her to face me.  But she got some good height on her kicks. 

And I finally had a break in running kids so I could get a good clear picture of Marian.  What did she do?!!  Well, she didn't kick.  She leaped and swung.  Sigh.  She really did have some good kicks.

Halloween Shenanegins

I'm starting to think that Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  Why?  Late nights and too much candy.  The candy wouldn't be so bad if it were GOOD candy (and thus to be consumed by ME), but it is candy I have no desire to eat and it is everywhere.  Add in staying up too late and life is no longer a barrel of laughs. Saturday was our Ward Halloween Party.  I was grumpy that it started at 7pm (which is when we start our bedtime routine!), but we went and had a great time.  The kids didn't get to bed till 10pm and they begged for candy all Saturday. Saturday night was our block party.  We went and the kids had fun running around with their friends.  Fortunately, between the dark and the cold, it wasn't too hard to get them home at a reasonable hour and they were only slightly late to bed.  Hopefully we will be ready for Wednesday night's festivities and it won't be too bad.  And hopefully there will be enough good candy for me to paw through!

Scary Marian! 

Us at the Ward party.  I'm the scary cat lady.  The 3 older girls are cats and Rylee is a cowgirl.  Fun stuff!  (It took me 2 trips to the thrift store to find my dress!) 

The pumpkins we carved for the event.  You can barely tell that the one on the left is a ninja-like mummy.  Callie designed the one on the right.  She was quite pleased with herself. 

My Marian Kitty! 

Callie was not interested in a picture. 

The kids after the Trunk-or-Treat carnage. 

 I made "monster toes" for our block party.  Cool, aren't they?!!

We also brought "mummy-dogs" and we didn't have any leftovers to bring back home. 

Delaney was so sad at the start of the block party because she lost her tiger tail.  Isn't she pitiful?! 

Rylee had a magnificent time galloping around on her horse.  It was pretty chilly, but she was not going to put on a jacket.  I felt better knowing that her legs, at least were toasty.

A now-happy Delaney!  The neighbor let her borrow a tail, and she got her face painted.  Life is grand again!

Levi got in on the Halloween candy as well.  Or more accurately, he got INTO the candy.

Race Review

I am part of a fabulous running group of ladies called "The Stroller Warriors".  FYI, there are several chapters- I know there is one at Camp Lejune and one on Okinawa, if any of my friends in those areas need a running support group!  Some of the ladies in my group talked me into running in the Jazz 5k today.  I did not realize that I was the only one running the 5k and the rest of them were all doing the Half Marathon portion!  

This was my first real 5k.  MWR ones don't count, and I only did the one MRW one last year on my home turf.  This was a scary, pay real money, drive downtown, and run with lots and lots of other people race.  Yikes!  I was a bit stressed about it.  All my fears were for naught though and today was glorious!

I was up before 5 this morning to get ready and walk the dog so I could meet my friends at 5:30.  We were in downtown New Orleans parking just after 6 am.  I bid them all farewell as the half marathon started at 7.  Then I froze.  I know!  Its been barely below 70 at night right up till last night and it was 57 degrees this morning.  And windy.  I haven't been so cold since we moved here!  

The 5k started at 7:30 and it was wonderful.  Lonely, because I didn't know anyone else and I trotted along by myself, but awesome!   We ran through downtown New Orleans.  They closed off the road to traffic and the race was all on the road, and they had lots of police and volunteers.  It was really well run. (Hee hee hee I made a funny!  The race was "well run"!)   

I really liked that we got to run on the road itself because there was lots of room to run and I never felt crowded after the first quarter mile.  And I have suddenly found something I really like about this area.  They do it in style!  No need to have an excuse, people just dress up for everything!  Costumes galore today.  So fun!  And even if it weren't near Halloween, there still would have been tons of costumes.  I definitely need to get me a tutu for my next race!

Can you see the gal dressed as a bunny?  She even had a cotton tail on the back! 

Yeah, we got to run by some interesting stuff! 

This was the fastest woman.  Does anything here bother you? I could not believe it when I realized she was the fastest girl.  Think how much faster she'd be if she could control the heaving bosom! 

 Yep, I gotta get me a tutu! I'm not sure I could stand a headband, but what fun!

No way to get bored on this run.  So many great things to look at. 

Oh, you can barely see, but check out this blurry gladiator guy.  He has a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. Hmmm.... Dan might need one of these.....

Oooh, look!  Its me!  I'm in the blue, behind the lady in red. (And I passed both the lady in red and the lady in black because I was so motivated there!)  You can't tell, but I'm smiling from ear to ear.  This is where I came around that corner and saw Dan.  It was less than half a mile from the finish and I was feeling the burn from going faster than I usually do.  My goal today was to be under 30 minutes.

Oops, I should have changed the setting on the camera before I left.  This is the best picture of me that Dan took.  I know, I look amazing in blur. 

Here I am, posing with my shirt, by the Jazz sign and the Lafayette Square sign. Oh, and my shiny new medal!   It was a great race and a great day.  

How did I do, you ask?  Well, the kids asked if I won.  Ha ha ha... no.   But I did astonishingly well.  There were 456 people in the 5k.  I was 110 out of those 456.  There were 289 women running and I was 42 out of those 289.  I know, I'm looking pretty amazing right now, aren't I?! There were 93 women in my age category and I was 11th out of those 93.   My time was 28:50 and I averaged 8:51 for my pace.  For me, that is quite impressive, and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself.

Now I have grand designs to go and do more fun races.  And I'm going to need a tutu!

Kids are weird

Those of you who know our family may have noticed what an entertaining child Delaney can be.  I don't know if her fertile imagination has carried over into school and her friend's house, but it is full blown at home.  Lately she has been obsessed with her leg.  When she is home, she likes to wear a purple striped sock on one leg because she "can't move it".  She has some Delaney-logic about how when her arm was broken, her leg hurt too so now she can't move her leg.  She broke her arm back in April and has been out of a cast for over 6 months.  She is completely healthy and there is nothing wrong with her leg.  Or her arm.  Or anything else.  She has been saying her leg is injured, but it really isn't.

However, she has been walking without bending her leg for the last 3 days. It was sporadic for a bit before Sunday, but now she won't bend it at all, ever, that I can see.  It is getting a little weird. Seriously, she has been very consistent with her limp.  Enough that it has been causing issues with the "non-limp" leg. If I ask her about where and how and when her leg hurts, her answers are inconsistent, or make no sense at all.

I can't figure out if this kid is a crack-pot, or if she has a very vivid imagination, or if somehow she really does have a genuine hurt going on.

So do I play along?  Should I encourage her or discourage her?  Should I take her to the doctor?  She hasn't asked to go to the doctor, but this is kind of lingering. Maybe the head doctor.....