a life beyond running shoes.

for not having done this sooner. we have not had a date since july. that is terrible!!! but last night we hit the town. joe's pub. dinner, drinks, and music. dinner was only decent. my grey goose dirty martini was perfection shaken. the music was phenomenal. laurence juber (fingerstyle acoustic guitar player of the former band wings as in paul mccartney's other known band). he was insanely good.....down right amazing. set list included fav: strawberry fields, live and let die, a spoonful of sugar, little wing. one song he played that i loved was one he wrote: in your arms. we had a great time!!! thanks for the free babysitting, tiff!!! and the tix, mom!!!!

here is the re-cap...... tuesday - botanic gardens. boys love the children's area. sweet pea is learning how to pick flowers. wednesday - coney island. temperature was 90. there was at least a breeze at the beach. thursday - school potluck. peanut with two classmates and his teacher. friday - "mommy school" peanut has figured out basic addition.....by himself. i promise i only erased the problems he got wrong. he did this whole worksheet without assistance! saturday - marine park. deep, deep brooklyn. park, playground, bike riding, picnic. perfect weather!!! happy memorial weekend, friends.

this is just crazy!!! but indeed it is true. he is riding a bike. for daddy's birthday we had steak and roasted beet salad sunday night with flourless chocolate cake (thank you 3 peas) and watched series finale of lost . but monday, we went up to nyack.... rockland state park to try out the boys on their bikes. we tried taking off little bit's training wheels.... and low and behold..... he could do it. peanut finally got the hang of starting by himself last weekend (he learned last summer)..... but little bit's new bike was more comfortable with training wheels. we had to push him to try w/o. this. kid. is. amazing.

sweet pea is a funny little girl. she amuses herself.... and the rest of us as well. she is a joy and delight and makes each day interesting.... so somewhere between a funk and a slump is the possibility of being a little depressed. that is okay.... i still like my kids, love them and want to eat them up.... i still like my husband, adore and enjoy him to pieces. this too shall pass...... now, if i could just get my running shoes back on.....i'm sure it would do wonders.

funk : (noun) a state of cowardly fright; a severe depression. slump : (noun) an extended time of poor performance; a sudden falling off or decline. not sure which better describes my state of being..... but in an attempt to get out of it, i signed-up for a 5K. well..... truth-be-told, i had mentioned that there was a race that had a kid's race on the same day. peanut, who is actually an elephant, didn't forget and reminded me about it about a week ago. (i think i mentioned it a month ago...seriously) it was a great way to spend the day as a family. driving up west side highway and playing in riverside park. there were hills to run down and dogs to run away from. it was a glorious morning! so.... i would have skipped but i did it for the kids.... and i am so glad i did. my race time wasn't too shabby.... it gives me something to beat (30:30). and peanut LOVED it!!!! notice what place he is in? third... that is right. he got third place. on wednesday he did admitted that he ...

for mother's day i went to california to visit my family. i took sweet pea. 16 hours at my mom's. (left sweet peat there) 40 hours at my sister's. 18 hours at my dad's. and got no pictures. here at home the boys were busy, busy, busy, busy. what a mother's day gift! here is the before: and the after: now for some outdoor furniture, a picnic table, and some landscaping... but baby steps.... and seriously, i need to leave more often!

orthodoxy . gh chesteron. this took me a year. perhaps longer; i've lost track of time. but i finished.....and it was a struggle. it tested my mental faculties, my ability to pay attention for much longer than was comfortable.....but every couple of pages, i was struck with lucidity for which i am richer. this one chapter made the struggle of the entirety worth it.... completely: "the paradoxes of christianity." if you have time to read over these quotes, do so..... they are brilliant. he is brilliant, cheeky, and way over my head. "there was never anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. it was sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad." "and then in a quiet hour a strange thought struck me like a still thunderbolt. . . suppose we heard an unknown man spoken of by many men. suppose we were puzzled to hear that some men said he was too tall and some too short . . . . he might be the right shape. outrageously tall men might feel h...

but i finally finished our latest book club book. albeit, two weeks late..... but the conversation of the book was not really about the book. it was about food. which the book is about. thanks to mary...... for an amazing meal. fresh pasta..... and that is just where my palate memory begins. heat - an amateur's adventure as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta-maker, and apprentice to a dante-quoting butcher in tuscany. bill buford. how can you not want to read this. well..... mario batali makes more than just a few cameo appearances. buford works in his kitchen. learns what it looks like on that side of the order. fascinating. daunting. intimidating. then he travels to italy to learn pasta and butchering. mario takes a back seat and the book loses its flare. could mario's robust, obnoxious, foul-mouthed presence have made the book more interesting? possibly. i work my way to the end and then in the last section..... nuggets: "it's not in the breed but the breeding" ...

we under charged. didn't make our start up cost back. (sign says "lemonade 25 cents - 5 year old handwriting!!) we learned..... 7 0z of fresh-squeezed should cost 50 cents. not a quarter. but what a fun experience. great way to meet our neighbors on a sunny saturday morning. maybe next time we'll have cookies for sale too. trying to figure out how to teach start up cost, profit margin, etc. peanut (5 year old) loves it. loves learning about change, tips, coins versus paper. it is fun to see.

in an attempt to make the backyard usable space...... we added 700 pounds of sand. there was much rejoicing. found a used box through neighborhood group. the only one that does not love it..... sweet pea. there were many tears. also.... night out with friends. celebrating her 40th. i got to wear a dress and heals. anyone recognize the dress??? (mom?)

a year. wow. even as i process being with my husband's family last week, i am still overwhelmed by how quickly it went, yet how significant of a year it has been that it seemed to have crawled by at the same time. sweet pea was only six weeks old when my father-in-law died. she is getting so big. these guys are all within four weeks of each other. (sorry locks.... didn't mean to capture you in tears) this is how i know that time is passing. i also realize that i don't feel as raw. i don't feel as if i am walking around with my nerves endings on the outside of my skin. i can still get bowled over by my grief, but it doesn't come as often. and god's comfort and grace come more quickly. it has been a long year..... but we are still resting in the arms of our savior. he has been good.... all year.

it is a strange thing to realize your life was altered significantly a year ago. my husband and i flew down to florida to be with his family on the one year anniversary of his dad's death. strange to say, but it was nice to have the occasion to reflect, remember, rejoice. in the midst of daily life, work, school, busyness, those moments can slip by. we got to gather, sing god's praises, tell stories of god's goodness in the midst of sorrow, and laugh. lots of laughing. there were tears.... but there was more laughter. i remember singing jesus, i am resting last year. it still was like a salve to my soul again this year...... jesus, i am resting, resting in the joy of what thou art. i am find out the greatness of thy loving heart. oh how great thy loving kindness, vaster, broader than the see. oh, how marvelous thy goodness lavished all on me. yes, i rest in thee, beloved, know what wealth of grace is thine, know thy certainty of promise and have made it mine. every lif...

i had a date with my new 5 year old. we went and saw our first musical (off broadway). 101 dalmatians . he loved it; i tolerated it. he did not want to go back stage to meet our friend from the show. he is 5 and was hungry: sushi. in the city. he ate half this plate. the business lunch next to us thought he was a riot. then, we got home..... the perfect day was over.... scooter was stolen off stoop. little bit wet his pants 2 feet from toilet. sweet pea had a screaming fit - 102 fever. she pooped in the bathtub three times. we went to the school potluck.... it was the wrong night. it was a poor end to a great day. i am thankful for the my little man that is getting so big.

his favorite place. (in this photo he had to get up and dance with the mouse..... not his idea of fun but he was a champ and a good sport!) games, tokens, tickets, and a mouse thrown in for fun. he was bouncing around all day. i guess he had fun..... i know i had a ball watching him enjoy the day. here is the cake i made. think it is optimus prime....but i am not totally sure. it is a good thing we don't go big for every birthday. i am exhausted!

while we did not capture a good easter picture yesterday..... we did celebrate big! we feasted for easter sunday, rejoiced over the resurrection, broke bread with friends, and sang heartily. we also had my mother-in-law to help celebrate the big 5 year old. amazing. how did that happen?! 36 cupcakes after church during the potluck...... does it get any better than that? well, maybe..... he gets to go to chuck e. cheese on friday and skip school!

2:15:20 i beat my last race time by 4 minutes. i loved my cheering section. they really helped for that last half mile. what a day. it was hard, but i finished. and the final fundraising total for team world vision was $250,000. way to go!!!

while on vacation with the kids this week, i got to do one more final run. 26 minutes. 40 degrees. country roads. hills. faster pace partner. rain. thanks a million, jessie! while it might not do anything for my race on saturday, i think it did heaps for me mentally. i have done all my training. 12 weeks..... long runs, intervals, speed work, hills.... i finished! now let's just run 13.1 miles. oh boy!

we are away for a few days with some friends... no daddy. so he doesn't forget us..... this is our favorite church song right now. he sings it all the time. full volume. full body. it is awesome. enjoy! and yes, we use photo booth.

here is world vision team brooklyn: we ran 10 miles in central park today. it was 35 degrees. i was freezing. i had gotten very used to the warmer, spring weather. this was a terrible joke. but it was nice to have a change of scenery..... i keep having those moments of "hey, i live in NYC.... wow!" it was really fun and amazing. thank you to everyone that helped me reached my fundraising goal of $500. i decided to try and go for $700... they give orange (team color) shoelaces to wear on race day to those who hit that mark. i have never been on a team before. it is really fun to see other people wearing the team jersey.... it was super encouraging yesterday to see other teammates running.... especially on that second five mile loop as we were heading uphill. orange jersey - what a great sight! i think there are 600 (of the 3000 runners) that will be wearing jerseys. HOW COOL!! as much as i get nervous before a race, i am also getting excited. thanks for joining my jou...

we love to sing church songs all week long. we have some new favorites but today he wanted to sing one of our favorite from christmas. never mind that we are in the easter season..... theology lesson to come :) he also likes to make up words that fit into songs. he is the creative type!