a life beyond running shoes.

it has been about 15 years since i have read jane eyre . after having read the eyre affair , my book group thought it would be fun to go back and read the original even though we were breaking one of our rules: we try to read things no one has read yet. while i missed the discussion, i just read along anyway. i found myself, once again, terribly upset when i reached my stop on the subway and had to put my book away. i was enraptured with jane and rochester, devastated about bertha, and perterbed by st. john. but i was engrossed in the book like i don't remember being when i read it in high school. i loved it. it is funny how many people i have talked to about this book and how many really love it or how many reread it every couple of years. perhaps, it will become that for me. anyway....I LOVED IT!

my husband was out of town last week for a few nights. then, we had a crazy weekend...really crazy. think wedding with indian food and zytego music reception ... SO FUN.... pumpkin carving.... preaching (twice)...and jet lag. and none of that was counting the boys. well, we decided to escape to the catskills for a night away as a family. it rained the whole time but two kid movies, some books, and a woodburning stove made it a nice trip. here we are throwing rocks in the creek...the only time we were outside. when we woke on tuesday morning it was snowing. it was actually raining slush but it looked like snow. it was nice not to be plagued with how much laundry and sweeping there was to do from last week's survival mode... and just nice to have family time. AND i wish we had video of the boy's dance party..... at 22 weeks, baby girl is kicking up a storm.

fall has come upon us here in the northeast.... and i love it! we took the family apple picking yesterday and had a ball. just about an hour outside of the city are apple orchards. this happens to be one of the oldest in the area... 1860s. wow! the weather was spectacular! temperatures right at 60 degrees, sun shining, yummy ripe apples. i think husband had as much fun picking as the boys did eating. we also learned a valuable lesson.....don't start baking apple pie at 6:00 at night. it turns out very badly when it is not finished and little boys have to go to bed. let's say tantrums were flying....tears everywhere.... and that was just the husband (just kidding!). needless to say, we had apple pie for breakfast this morning. peanut has decided now that he doesn't really like apple pie - just the crust.... after all that... really?!

that is what he is saying, "ready, set, go." i have two boys..... all they want to do is run, jump, tackle, and play. okay, it's not entirely true. they both love books, music, play dough, paint, and markers. little bit would choose the playground over almost any activity. well, maybe his scooter or if he was taller - his brother's bike. they love to go, go, go.... it is hard for me that i have had to so significantly had to slow down.

so, i guess we will find out! it is a girl... what on earth am i going to do with a girl? the parenting adventure continues..... i felt like it was a girl based on the difference of the pregnancy (still throwing up), but i think i assumed it would be another boy. we are thrilled and completely stumped on the idea of coming up with a girl name. completely!! don't get any ideas that she will have a name soon.

last night for dinner i thought i had a grand slam kid-friendly, budget-friendly perfect dinner. roasted a whole chicken for dinner on friday night. sunday night, made bbq chicken pizza with home-made pizza dough, caramelized red onion and smoked cheddar cheese (on the adult side not the kid side - allergy factor). here was the vote: parents - major hit! kids - major failure. THEY HATED IT!!!! what?! tonight, i made pork chops, couscous, and green beans. they cleaned their plates.... so strange. they both asked for more green beans..... just plain weird!

this is a great article to read. one of my respected reading endeavors ... michael pollan.... wrote in today's new york times magazine, " farmer in chief: what the next president can and should do to remake the way we grow and eat food." addressed to the president elect - who ever that might be. of course, i find this all very interesting - especially since it is my dream to have my own vegetable, herb garden & compost pile in my backyard - but it is a good summation of his political/ethical agenda.... and for those not wanting to read his book the omnivore's dilemma (which you should read anyway but it has taken me a year to get through) it gets to the heart of some of his arguments. anyway, just thought i would pass that along. especially since i have not figured out how to get two kids and a pregnant belly to the farmer's markets.... i just read about it now.

than just finger paint. i guess with a 21 month old i should expect this but it still catches me off guard sometimes. it was everywhere!!!! i managed to get some off before the bath as to avoid them getting bluer from the water but failed to get it all out of his hair . but, they had fun!

it is a strange phenom to be pregnant all over again. it is not like i crave anything weird... or at least not anything that i didn't like before. for example, i have always loved pickles... i just like them more now. but i don't do the crazy crave pickles and ice cream. no. not me. i am 19 weeks tomorrow. we get to find out gender in a week. i am still throwing up. if past experience tells anything this should have stopped about 7 weeks ago. it has to be a girl... right?! two things that seem to make my stomach and soul happy..... avocados. not sure why. but i love them and have to limit myself to one a day. crazy. root beer floats. husband has willingly been recruited to be the king float maker. we have actually started comparing types of ice creams with types of root beer. so far, we have concluded that boylans root beer and breyers ice cream make a winning combination. YUM.....