Some Pictures`

My sister couldn't join us for Thanksgiving and made me promise to take lots of pictures.  I've failed. I've been absolutely swamped making plates (which I'm grateful for!) but that has left little energy for picture taking, editing or blogging.  So here's a few random ones I like.



Honestly, I want to cuddle with this boy whenever he'll let me.



These are from before we left. Finley really likes to rake and play in the leaves.  I think he would sit on the deck and crumble leaves all day if I'd let him.



I'd cuddle with this guy all day too.  (I think he's getting a haircut tomorrow.  FYI.)

And the best part of today was this... my dad and Finley making no bake cookies.  Mmm....

Back to watching TV and having my parents take care of me!

May You be Thankful for all the Great Sales Today.

I'm a little annoyed the Rebecca's Black song is stuck in my head today... and I'm sorry if it's stuck in yours too.  Really, I am.

I'm here to share two things with you.

One, my cute boys.



And two, a code to get you your very own plate at 25% off.  I'm so excited that I get to participate in the Black Friday insanity!  (Sidebar: does anyone else think it's strange that Thanksgiving is all about thankfulness and then we switch gears into being very needy crazy shoppers the next day?  Like seriously, the Amazon Lightning Deals make us lose our mind over here.)

Go use the code BLACK25 to get 25% off until the close of Cyber Monday.  Christmas orders need to be placed and approved by November 30th to arrive in time for Christmas!  I'm shocked at how many plates I've sold in the last two weeks, so go be a cool kid and buy a set.

Time to Buy Stuff!

Hey!  I don't think I've bothered you recently about the awesome Etsy shop.  

For example, we changed the name... to RV PARTIES!!!  Woohoo!  We'll come throw a party in any RV you want. Just kidding, we won't.  

Secondly, the custom plates have been selling like hotcakes, I tell you.  And they really make awesome Christmas presents.  If you are interested just make sure to order by November 30th or they won't make it in time.  And.  Use the code SAVE10 to get 10% off.  It's a good idea.

And also-ly, Vic just listed some super cool enclosure cards that would also make darling gifts.

Come check out our wares on Etsy.

And please PLEASE like us on Facebook.  All we want is to be your friend.  And then for you to buy some stuff.

Three Fun Things

I did three fun things lately that I don't want to forget about--unfortunately I didn't take pictures, which makes this kind of a boring post.  I did go ahead and steal some images from the internet, so you are welcome for that.

Thing #1: Martha Stewart.
Dudes.  I went to go hear Martha Stewart speak at DAR Constitution Hall with my pal Vicki.  I wish I could say it was inspiring, but mostly it was a little depressing (and awesome).  She's such an incredible lady--she's just done so much and knows so much.  She cooks, she decorates, she throws lovely parties and she goes to prison!  I mean, talk about diverse interests! But seriously, it was pretty cool to listen to her talk about all her stuff and her life. And she also harbors some serious feelings about technology, she referred to tech stuff as the things that are "ruining our lives."  Now where's my iPad?

Thing #2: Jersey Boys.
Sol and I went with some friends to see Jersey Boys and it was lots-o-fun.  I obviously bought the soundtrack today so we could continue jamming to the sweet sounds of Frankie Valli. The sign outside the theatre warned of "authentic Jersey language" and I was a little surprised at the "coarseness" of the language.  But I guess that's Jersey?  We both loved it and had a great time getting out of the house and doing one of the things we loved to do before we had two little boys to wrangle.

I left the boys for both of those adventures--and learned that we need to work on Braden being able to go to bed without me... apparently he really loves me.  I would be lying if I said that the highlight of both evenings wasn't coming home and having the boys burst into tears when they saw me because they missed me so much.  Is that bad?  It's just so nice to be needed. :)

Thing #3: Twilight 3.1
My pal Amy and I snuck out after our kids went to bed to see Breaking Dawn Part 1.  I'm slightly annoyed they split up the movies and are going to suck $12 out of me twice, but it was fun to get out and go see it.  It made both of us miss our babies and also made us a little queasy--it was definitely the bloodiest of the movies. Gag.

We did get to see the HUNGER GAMES trailer!  We definitely can not wait for that one.  Team Peeta for life.

Now that I look over this post... I think the casual reader might think I'm crazy.  Those are three wildly different things.  Oh well.  I'm cultured?

Seven Months

Time just keeps ticking, doesn't it?

Braden turned seven months the day of the marathon.  Have I mentioned how sweet that boy is?  How he really just loves to snuggle?  And suck his thumb? And how he is just so pleased when you look at him?  Oh he's a doll.  More Braden, please.



Lil B-Town (that's his thug name) is successfully sleeping through the night--from about 7:45 to 8:45.  What a boy.  He takes two or three naps and goes down without protesting much.  We've started him on some solids... and I'm kind of trying a version of baby led weaning where you don't feed them purees... which is another post entirely.  Basically he shoves large pieces of banana and sweet potato and broccoli towards his mouth and sometimes swallows some.  It's funny.  And messy.  But requires much less work on my part.  I'll let you know in another week or so how it's going.

Braden's up to 18 pounds, so as expected he's starting to fall off his growth curve.  That's ok.  He's cute.  And he really is a great nurser so there's not much else we can do.

He's getting to be a steadier sitter, though I still don't trust him enough to leave him sit alone.  He likes to stand and does a pretty good job balancing and holding on to my arm.  No scooting or crawling yet--he's a little behind Finley but I'm a little grateful--there are lots of little toy cars laying around that he can't quite reach yet.  He almost got his second tooth. And he really likes to blow raspberries and be adorable and charming.

Finley just keeps getting a better and better vocabulary.  He says funny things like, "Well, sure!" Or "That's a great idea!"  I need to write down all his silly little sayings because they are delightful.  Sol took a seven minute long video of him singing "Baby Oh" (obviously) and it's delightful.  But I'll probably spare everyone from watching it... it might be the video only his parents love.  (Although I do appreciate all the people who said the watched the trick or treating video over and over!  It was precious.)  Also, Finley weighs about 26.5 pounds.



The boys are starting to interact a little more.  Finley will sometimes bring Braden a toy if he thinks he's sad.  And also sometimes he takes his toys if he's being ornery.  They sit beside each other in their high chairs and giggle at each other... I'm just so excited for them to be BFFs.

Richmond Marathon

Marathon 6, done.  It ended up being my slowest time--4:10--but I ran 2:05 for both halves which makes me very happy.  It was a great race.  Perfect weather, a really nice course and an outstanding downhill finish.  Like outstanding.  I felt really good the whole way--except some knee pain starting around mile 18.  It got better and is still bothering me a bit today.  I think I could have run a good deal faster if I wanted to, but I was so happy just to get out there and run and not try to kill myself.

It was billed as the friendliest marathon in America and I think it was--I've never had so many people cheer for me by name.  There were a lot of spectators the whole way and most of them were cheering--rather than waiting for the one person they knew to come by.  The race also gave out wet washcloths and junk food.  Washcloths are my new favorite race item--I felt like a new lady after I wiped off my salty face!  One of my favorite things about races is the signs--here are some of my favorites:

• Chuck Norris never ran a marathon. (I saw about 5 of these, but one of the girls was telling everyone "I googled it!" which made it funnier.)
• May the odds be ever in your favor. (Hunger Games!!!)
• Worst Parade Ever.
• And my favorite person was a cute old man who was asking everyone how many marathons they'd run.  Cute.

Sol trucked the boys to seven (SEVEN!) different spots to see me and only missed me twice.  I'm super fast.  I was so so grateful that he took care of them for so long and kept them so happy.  That was the longest I'd spent away from Braden!  And he didn't even want to eat while I was gone.  Finley told me the best part of his day was "seeing Mama run" even though his day included Chipotle, Chick-fil-a and watching Cars 2.  I was pretty thrilled to be the highlight.  And it's pretty cute to here his sweet little voice say, "Mama run a marafon."  Swoon.

It's super hard to photograph while you are trying to take care of two boys, so here's the best picture of me running.  I think Sol did a great job.

I was going to have Sol take a picture of me with the boys after the marathon, but I laughed out loud when I saw myself in the mirror.  My hair did not hold up well and I looked ridiculous.  I'd rather not share that with the whole internet.

And because I have a hard time running if I'm not training for something, Sol and I BOTH registered for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in DC on March 17.  Anyone want to come run it with us?  Or watch our kids while we run?

I'm Running a Marathon Saturday

I keep forgetting that.  It's in Richmond.  It's 26.2 miles long, just like the rest of them.  It will be my sixth one.

My goal is just to beat my slowest time--4:07.  I'm not sure if I'll do that--it's been tough training with two little ones.  And my long runs were slower than the long runs at this point last time around.  I'm struggling with being competitive with myself and how fast I think I should run.  I need to relax and just go have fun.  (And the non-marathoners laugh and say, I'm pretty sure that's impossible.)

I guess my goal should be to run the race with the same determination my non-mobile child went after that awesome toy.  And to be half as cute doing it.

La Biblioteca de Clinton

Basically this post is for Victoria, who loves Presidential Libraries.



The Clinton one is lovely.  It's a cool building (although less cool than the JFK one) even if it has been compared to a mobile home sticking out over the Arkansas River.  I'll let it slide.  I mean that figuratively--I don't actually want it to slide into the river.



The coolest part was a replica of the Oval Office.  I mean, I live near DC so I guess I could maybe somehow go on a tour and see it... but that sounds like a lot of work.  And security clearance.  So here's a replica--complete with the Presidential seal on the ceiling.




The security guard who took our picture said, "Who knows, one day one of these boys might be President!"  Which made me think a little because I guess they could.  I mean currently I was thinking Finley would probably go on to be a professional button pusher and Braden would be a world class drooler... but I guess I shouldn't count being President out yet.

My dad used to talk about using our "White House manners" for when he was President... I guess I shouldn't quite count him out yet either.  I don't think there's an upper age limit on the Presidency, dad.




I'll leave you with this picture, especially taken for Vic.



How many of our presidents/lady on the right can you identify?

All Aboard

We're in Arkansas right now, enjoying all the pretty fall colors, rolling hills and the awesome snacks that my mom buys.  The highlight so far has been a little restaurant that delivers your food by train--obviously Finley was mesmerized.  I didn't take a picture of the train, but here's Finley watching it go around.



And can you believe this picture?!?  All three of us smiling!  Possibly the first of its kind.  Also we are all wearing stripes.



And my parents with the boys.



When we got home, Finley wanted to play with the train set.  He was thrilled that the set had a Thomas the Train since we don't let him watch it.  (They always seem to be grumpy and I don't like it... even if it is narrated by Alec Baldwin/Jack Donaghy.)

And two miscellaneous pictures from our time in KS that I just really love.

  

Oh lil stripey guys.

Little Minions

Have you seen these little guys?

They're the minions from Despicable Me.  Perhaps a little obscure, but Carrie and I thought it was a good idea... unfortunately her minion hat didn't arrive in time for the boys to get a picture together when we were together in Charlottesville.

While in Lawrence, Braden reconnected with an old friend.  Here's Braden with his pal, Ben the Lion.

And here's me with my minions.  Sol's gone for the week, so Vic and I trick-or-treated in KC with the boys.  My camera got stuck on a very funky setting that we couldn't seem to fix... so let's pretend these pictures are awesome.



They were cute lil minions.

And here is my dear boy with his loot.  The child LOVED trick or treating.  He was pretty good about saying either "trick or treat" or "candy" when people answered the door.  His favorite part was ringing the bell at the doors and I never had to remind him to say thank you.  Unfortunately, he picked Milk Duds a lot of the time when he got to choose his candy.  Luckily, his mom doesn't let him eat much candy so we have a LOT to eat now.  He was SO EXCITED.  I can't even describe it.

And a sweet video that's also out of focus, but cute.