Portland 1/2 Marathon

FINALLY I accomplished my first 1/2!!! It feels good to get it under my belt. A friend of mine from college came out to do it with me. We got a hotel in downtown Portland (which I love!) and had a great girl's weekend. We also met up with an old HS friend of mine after the race who lives there. It was a nice break and definitely a fun time!! I didn't do as well as I had been while training, BUT I finished and that's what I wanted to do. It was also raining horizontal freezing rain and hail at various points during the race. For this reason, Jay and the kids (who were planning on driving out to cheer me across the finish line) got halfway to Portland and stopped for breakfast. The following statements were heard by Jay at the breakfast table...

Sophia - I do NOT want to watch Mom run in the rain!!
Hayden - Why she runnin' in da rain??
Blythe - Because she's crazy.

I had called Jay to tell him the conditions before the race, so I figured they may not make it. I did receive a very sweet text from Jay when I went to get my stuff saying that they loved me and were very proud of me....But, they'll come watch me another time. So, they'll get their chance in another month when I run a 10k in Astoria. It's much closer, so it should be more manageable for all of them even if it does rain. :-)

My Happy Place!!!

THIS is my happy place today.

I'll admit I hate laundry. Well, I hate folding and putting it away, that is. The only thing worse, in my opinion, is cleaning my kids' bathroom. I will also admit that I OFTEN have a basket/entire bed covered with clean laundry. A typical response when asked where a particular item of clothing is is usually "check the clean laundry pile."

Today, Blythe was looking for something and asked where the clean laundry was. I was oh, so proud to say folded/hung up and put away!! This, however, really annoyed her since she had already checked the closet. Even an eye roll and stomping down the stairs couldn't ruin my laundry high today! :-)

You're breakin' my heart

Hayden's new saying is "you breakin' my heart"
Perhaps it's from HSM3 being played on DVR a few too many times during 2 days of rain.
The conversation usually goes something like this:

Hayden- Mom! Oyi(Oli) breakin' my heart.
Me- Why?
H- A Tuz (he means because)
Me- Because why?
His response is usually followed by any number of reasons like Oliver (or anyone else) not doing something he wants.

Last night I tried using "breakin' my heart" on him when he wouldn't go pee before bed.
Hayden- NOOO!!!!
Me- Hayden, you breakin' my heart!
Hayden- No, I not!!
Me- Why not?
Hayden- Tuz (meaning cause) You no have one!!

Obviously Jay found this quite a bit funnier than I did.

Conversation between Jay and I...

JAY - So, when does school start?

ME - (Shoulder shrug) Dunno.

JAY - (Raise of eyebrows then a chuckle)

ME - WHAT? Am I expected to keep track of EVERYTHING around here?!!!

This is why I did better on year around schedule in Vegas. There was never enough time off for me to get lazy. But I don't care. I LOVE summer and think there's something fundamentally wrong with forcing children to sit in a classroom all day when they should be enjoying summertime activities. Just my opinion...

Some Highlights...

The view from my favorite place to sit and relax in the whole world!




The girls on the dock



Ragged Edge. (this can be the before picture of the remodel, Dad and Sonia)



First, I should start with the not-so-highlights of our trip to Bermuda...

It was only Blythe, Sophia, and I. Originally, I was just going to take Blythe, then come back by myself and let Blythe stay longer, go to camp, and fly back with my brother, Mike. To make a long story short, plans changed. Jay had to work and volunteered to stay home with the babies. My dad's place is on the water with lots of cliffs, etc. and hard work with toddlers. (I know this because I took a 4 & 2 yr. old when I was 8 months pregnant. Trust me. Not very fun and somewhat stressful.)

The other downside was that Oliver wasn't able to come with us. He did something earlier this summer that has had him on house arrest. (I'll save him some embarrassment by not saying what) This was tough because I know how Oli LOVES exploring, swimming, and anything outdoors. My girls had SO much fun and I hated having him miss out.

NOW for the good parts...

Summer 2011 we ALL plan on going! (next summer we have something else planned)
The kids will all be older and even the babies will be able to enjoy everything. Plus, if we go for a long time, Jay can come for at least part of it. YAY! Still do-able for me to travel without him with them older.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED seeing the girls do things I used to do there. And loved seeing them enjoy it so much.






I think they watched TV once or twice while we were there, and didn't even last an entire movie. Even the evenings were spent sitting out on the patio talking or searching for tree frogs, etc.

Blythe learned to swim!! She has known how to for a couple years now, but (being my reserved child) hasn't ventured more than a few strokes. She was a FISH!! She snorkeled, swam in ocean waves, kayaked, picked gross things up...all without any fear. We kept joking that she was channeling Oliver.

We were literally outside from the time we woke up until bed. We went to the beaches, swam and kayaked from the dock, took the boat to many favorite places. I'm happy we got SO much vacation in to our (what seemed)short visit.








We were able to spend so much quality time with my Dad and Sonia, and Mike and Allison. Everyone was very accommodating. They all work and yet found time everyday to take us places, come see us, and just making the effort to make LOTS of time for us. I know it's not easy when your own everyday life still happens. Thanks guys!!!





The girls met two daughters of some friends of Sonia and Dad's. They had so much fun together!!! They played for hours on end.


All in all, a really great trip!! I love getting to see my family and it's tough not having my kids see everyone regularly (most of my side of the family are on the east coast)

At Least She's Honest...

The Drama Queen (Sophia) just came upstairs to tell me she CAN'T clean up her mess in the playroom. Why not??-I asked. (Said with a hip poking out and a hand on said hip) Because I don't want to. The best thing I can say about my stinky day today is that at least she's honest.

It's EXHAUSTING!!!

I'll post more junk later. But, for now, I couldn't resist some of the shots I've grabbed on my phone where poor Hayden has just POOPED out during the move in process.

Waiting for Dad to get home from work while watching out the window....



Fell asleep on the stairs about 6:30 pm....



Crashed in the entry while I loaded up my car with the giveaways (I knew it got too quiet)....


SIDE NOTE: I'm aware H man is wearing a diaper in these photos. We've suffered a major setback with potty training. However, by next week we'll be back on track (with the exception to poo, as it has been an ongoing issue)