Cold 5k

I ran another 5k this morning. And by running, I mean, I jogged. My sweet Werty surprised me by being at the finish line with the kids cheering me on. Bear ran the last bit together with me. Werty almost didn't recognize me - I was so cold that I put the shirt they provided on over the brightly colored shirt he had seen my leave in this morning. He also noticed that I had improved my form since the 5k I did in May - I looked like a real jogger. (Whereas last time I looked like I was going to keel over at the end.) And it's true, I had more control this time. But it was cold. Really cold waiting for 45 mins for the kids mile to be done. Then the first part of the race was a slight incline, in the shade and the wind, next to a smoggy major street - State Street for those familiar - and it was more unpleasant to breathe than I expected. The second half of the race was in the sunlight, and was much nicer, as we ran back and forth through the neighborhood streets. With the weather turning cold, I have no intention of purchasing a bunch of gear so that I can run any of the winter 5ks. So this was it for a while. I am proud of the improvements I have made this year. I will continue to run at the rec center, where it's nicely climate controlled.

FHE and Costumes

After we had a lesson out of the Friend magazine for FHE, we went to T@rget to check out Halloween costumes. I have learned that if I wait until October to look for costumes, the cute ones (for little kids and toddlers) are already gone. Last year, Bear was not impressed with any of them, and insisted on being a snowman, which they don't make costumes for, so I had to sew one and make it up as I went along. This year, we found something he liked -- maybe not his first choice, which would have been something I had to sew, a red ghost (think Pacman Blinky ghost) -- but he was excited enough about it, that we bought it. And we found something cute for Little Miss as well. Next year, she will be old enough to have an opinion, but this year I get to decide. Bear will be a fireman, and Little Miss will be an owl. Unless they change their minds. I am keeping the receipt just in case.

Zoo Trip 2013

Last weekend we went on our annual zoo trip. Werty vowed that next year he is taking a day off work and we will go on a weekday instead of the last Saturday before the school year starts...it was so crowded that we missed meeting up with Werty's brothers and their kids. We being the only ones without a cell...they found each other just fine. We did find each other in time for lunch and the bird show. Then we split up because they had already seen the things we hadn't.

 Here is our zoo's baby elephant - she just turned 4, same age as Bear.

 Last year, the snow leopard had 3 baby cubs about the same age as Little Miss, the zoo still has mother and one cub, this one. I love the baby animals...

 Here is a new baby giraffe!

 Bear at the bird show. He loved the birds flying right at and over his head.

 Bear and Werty on the carousel. He wanted to sit in the peacock seats because he didn't want an animal that went up and down.

Bear is almost as big as a female adult orangutan. 

 They had a special lego theme exhibit going on, although some of the lego animals had been removed due to heat damage...but here is the polar bear, make completely of little legos. And the kids spent about 20 mins playing with these big legos before we left.

 Even Little Miss tried doing some legos.

 After the zoo, it was about 5pm, so we stopped by to visit my grandparents before leaving Salt Lake.

Conquering Stairs

My kids continue to grow in different ways. Little Miss has been climbing up the stairs for weeks now, but still couldn't climb down. Last week, she got it. She has conquered the stairs! Every day she tries out new sounds and new words. Yesterday, the word was 'cheese' (because she didn't like any of the other options I offered to her for her snack). Meanwhile, Bear is becoming a 4 year old. This morning he found a fortune cookie in the kitchen, and declared that he was going to help me with cleaning up his room and the family room, that he was old enough for chores, and as a reward when he was done, could he have the fortune cookie? Sure! So, he cleaned up the toys throughout the house - his room, the living room, the family room. Then we had lunch, and after lunch, he ate the fortune cookie. It's so nice when there are opportunities for positive reinforcement!

 (I would like to point out that Little Miss is eating a roma tomato from our garden in this photo. She was eating raspberries, but they ran out before she wanted them to. Werty gave her a tomato to cheer her up, and a few minutes later she started eating the tomato quite happily.)

This is the newest dress I made for her.

PS Mom, do you like any of these pics for your book?

15 Month Stats - Little Miss

Poor Little Miss had a tummy virus, and spent Wednesday and Thursday with a high fever (103 is high in my book - and it got to 103.9 Thursday night). Today she is finally back to eating real food, and very happy about it. Here are her stats from her 15 month check-up on Friday. I will have to take her back in next week to get her shots now that her fever is gone.

Weight:  22 lbs.  40%  (I think she probably lost a pound being sick this week.)
Height:  33 inches  95%  (She might not be as tall as Jack-Jack, but 95% is still tall in my book.)
Head:  19 inches  95%

First Step

So, Little Miss 1 is pulling herself up and wanting to stand. She still isn't sure how to get back down again. She took her first step from the piano bench to the couch, while we were having a google hangout call with Werty's family on Sunday. Not that the computer was aimed at her feet, so all anyone saw was her head. I cleared off the camera today so that we have it ready for when she takes her first independent steps. She continues to pull herself up on stuff, even toys in the middle of the room, so I think she will start walking very soon. Meanwhile, she continues to climb on everything she can reach, including the stairs. Here's the photographic evidence:

 And here are both kids, playing together, in case you think we only take pics of Little Miss.

Idaho and Back

We attended the funeral for Werty's great Aunt yesterday. We had a nice visit. We saw Cherney's cute little new house. When we got home Little Miss was hugging everything, so happy to be back at her own house and out of the car. The smelly car. This is not the first time that BooBear has thrown up half way to ID. Now that he's a little older and can tell us what happened, we have realized (we're a little thick sometimes, ok?) that he gets car sick. Werty finally told me on this trip that 1. Werty got more car sick than the rest of his siblings when he was a child and 2. what tips and tricks that we can do to keep him from getting car sick. I had learned from past trips to bring extra clothes, which turned out to be a good thing as BooBear went through all three outfits (he sat on pair of short #3 to keep his nice shorts from getting soiled by his yucky car seat.) I was also smart and didn't put him in his church clothes for the acutal car trip, so he still had nice, clean clothes for the funeral/reunion. It was nice to see everyone. Good luck to cousin L and his upcoming trip to Cape Verde. We hope he will be able to bring his fiancee to the US soon, so they can get married in the temple.

Here are some new pics to share:

BooBear said he was making a "sandwich."

Little Miss riding her bike by herself, pushing with her legs, for the first time.

She has reached that age where she does lots of "firsts" and cute random things. I took this pic this morning, when she was sleeping with her bum up in the air.