Boys and Baking

Ahhh... it's finally feeling like fall around here.  Don't get me wrong, I love the summer heat, but once mid-september rolls around I'm ready to pull out the sweatshirts and begin thinking about pumpkins and Halloween costumes.  We had a couple of late September and early October weeks with temps near 80 and that was just wrong!

So, the boys have finally decided on their Halloween costumes.  Originally they were going to be Batman and Robin.  I loved this idea because I think it's cute to have the coordinate/match each other.  I hunted for the "right" batman costume and by the time it arrived, Haden had changed his mind.  He is now going to be a green ninja.  I guess this has something to do with Lego Ninjago.  I was having a hard time finding this costume, but he insisted the specialty Halloween Boutique at the mall had it.  I warned him that if it was over $25 I would not buy it.  He is a lucky boy because the costume was $24.99!  He thinks he's a cool ninja because of the moves he's been learning in taekwondo!

James is going to be a bird.  I think it's a parrot or toucan.  I'm not sure exactly what bird it is, but its very bright and colorful.  I had taken him to Old Navy to look at their pirate costume, but then he saw this bird and really wanted that instead.  He does look adorable dressed as a bird, but it in no way coordinates with green ninja.

Speaking of James, he turned 4 this week.  I can't believe my baby has grown up so quickly.  He acts more like a big kid everyday.  His stubborn streak rivals mine and we struggle to get along at times, but I suppose this attribute may serve him well someday.  I love that he still wants to hold my hand whenever we walk together and I hope this doesn't end anytime soon.  He is doing well at daycare - rarely crying at drop-off anymore.  He enjoys telling me about what he's learning and is improving his letter writing and recognition.  James wanted "Jake and the Neverland Pirate" stuff for his birthday this year.  We bought him some of the "Jake" characters to play with on the boat we already had.  He also got his first set of big-boy legos.  Haden gets so mad when James plays with his legos so it was time to get James his own set.  I was surprised at how well James could follow the step-by-step instructions for assembling his new lego set.  James will have some friends and cousins over this weekend for a pirate-themed party.

Last Friday we went to the annual Hayrack ride at the Colony Farm, here in North Liberty.  The boys look forward to it every year.  After the ride, they have an outdoor movie playing, a large bonfire, hot cocoa, and snack mix.  Here's a pic of our family on the ride:

For the month of October I'm trying a little grocery challenge.  I realized how fully stocked our pantry, freezer, and cupboards had become and yet each week I was buying more stuff from the grocery store.  So, for October, I'm only buying milk and fresh fruits/veggies from the store.  With this challenge in mind, I set about to make some hamburger buns and bread at home.  I have no real experience with dry-active yeast, so it's been a fun learning curve.  First up was the buns.  I was very pleased with how they turned out.  My dough didn't really double in size like it was supposed to, but I baked them anyways and they were great.

The next challenge was bread.  I chose an Amish bread recipe that got great reviews.  Once again, I had some trouble with the yeast.  I did the the "proof" test with the yeast and never got the foam that I should have, but forged ahead anyways.  The bread had a great flavor, except it wasn't fully cooked so we could only eat a few slices from each end.  Today I'm trying a french loaf bread.  Fingers crossed it turns out well!

On a personal note, I finally learned how to play chess.  Kye taught Haden how to play last fall but all the rules were confusing to me so I didn't learn at that time.  Haden has a renewed interest in the game so I thought it was time I finally learned how to play.  Haden taught me and I'm really enjoying the game.  We've been playing every night.  James enjoys playing too, although he doesn't remember all the rules.  

Kids Update

So, I thought I'd use this blog post to give a little update to what the kids have been doing lately.  As school started up I was excited to get them signed up for after school activities.  Now, I'm thinking I may have Haden in too much right now, but he hasn't complained and is enjoying his new sports.  Luckily, two of the activities will be over at the end of October so then we'll be a little less hectic.  The hardest part has been planning dinner because most of the activities fall right around dinner time.

Here is Haden playing ice hockey.  He enjoys ice skating and had previously taken beginner ice skating lessons but got pretty bored with that.  He likes hockey much better because he gets to put on lots of gear and hit a puck around.

Haden is also starting flag football.  This is a combined North Liberty & Coralville league and he knows a couple of kids on his team so that makes it a little more fun.  He is enjoying learning "plays" and tries to get the kids at the busstop to run plays in the morning.

Both boys began doing ATA Taewkondo in September.  We originally planned on only Haden doing this, but after watching for a week James asked to join too.  We try to practice their "forms" at home, but reading the description of what to do is like reading a foreign language.  We really like how much respect, integrity, self control, and other life skills are emphasized in this sport.  They both want to be black belts someday!

Over the summer, Kye and James found a toad in the yard.  They put in into a reptile box thing and planned to let in go the next day.  As it turned out, the kids we're ready to let it go and we ended up keeping him for a couple of months.  We crawled around on our hand and knees in the grass every couple of days to find tiny crickets and other bugs to feed it.  The boys became really attached to Toto and they were really sad when we finally let him go.  Here is a picture of Haden before releasing him back into the yard.

I thought I'd even it up by including some cute pictures of James:

 

And here is what you get when James has the camera and is snapping pics:

 

Marathon Race Report

I DID IT!  I managed to finish my first marathon on Sunday Sept 22nd.  It's one of those things that has been in the back of my mind for a long time and this just seemed like the perfect time to go for it!  I was warned that the training was long, intensive, and would take me away from my family for long periods of time on the weekends.  All of that proved true.  I'll just say that I'm not sure how anyone who works full time can train for a marathon.  I think it was only possible for me because I'm only working 20 hours a week.  Some days I was out running as the sun came up, some evenings I was out running as the sun was setting.  Some runs were on the gym treadmill as James attended the daycare or kids fitness classes.  And then others were late at night on my home treadmill after the kids went to bed.  It got challenging to find time for some of the runs as the distances increased and they days grew shorter, with less available sunlight hours.  I'm relieved to say the training paid off and I was able to make it 26.2 miles on race day.

bottom left sign was my mother's 

The family and I headed into the Quad Cities the day before the race and checked into our hotel room.  Of course the first thing we had to do was swim in the pool.  I remember as a kid that the hotel pool was almost the best part of a vacation and the same rings true for my boys.  After a quick swim, we dropped the kids off with grandma and grandpa Pearce then headed to packet pickup.  After getting my packet and buying a few things at the expo, Kye and I stayed to eat the pasta dinner - I needed a good carb load if I wanted to survive the distance ahead of me!  The featured speaker at dinner was Dane Rauschenberg.  He's written a couple of books and is most known for running 52 marathons in 52 weeks back in 2006.  His talk was entertaining and inspiring.

The following morning, my mother picked me up from the hotel bright and early and took me to the race.  I had been stressing over my attire for the past couple of weeks.  I had a favorite running outfit that I knew felt good for long runs, but it was a tank top and shorts.  However, the week before the race, the weather turned cooler and they predicted about 45 degrees at start time.  I knew there was no way that outfit was going to keep me warm at that temperature.  I'd read about people wearing warm-up clothes and then throwing them off at the start of the race or in the first few miles as they warmed up so that is just what I did.  I bought a $2 sweatshirt from Goodwill and was warm enough to toss it off just before the gun went off. (All the discarded clothing items are then donated to local charities)

As usual, with all the nerves and excitement, I started off too fast.  I had to keep reminding myself that many of the runners were only doing a 1/2 marathon or part of a marathon relay (meaning they were only doing 5-6 miles).  Part of the fun was trying to locate my mom along the race course- kind of like Where's Waldo.  She had mentioned a few spots where she'd try to be so it was a nice distraction to be on the lookout for her.  The marathon course was very scenic.  It skirted both the Illinois side and Iowa side of the Mississippi River.  We also went across three different bridges and all around Arsenal Island.  The strangest part was running across the I-74 bridge.  It is a suspension bridge and is was moving up and down with the weight off all the runners, giving me a bit of a sea sick feeling.  The worst part of the race was the last 6 miles.  My longest training run was 20 miles so I knew the end would be tough.  It was made even harder because of how the course was setup.  After coming off the Arsenal Island, we had to run out 3miles and then back 3 miles to finish.  While running out the 3 miles you can see all the runners ahead of you who are ready to finish and I so badly wanted to be on that side of the road. 

At around mile 23 I started calculating my time and pace and knew that if I could keep a steady pace to the end then I could finish in 4 hours 30 minutes.  That time had been a goal for me so I really wanted to make it happen but my body was getting so tired.  I really wanted to walk by that point but it actually hurt my legs more to walk than to jog.  I kept a slow, steady jog going and then around mile 25 the 4:30 pacer passed me.  (A pacer is someone who signs up for the race and promises to keep a steady pace the entire way.  If a runner has a goal time then if they stick with the pacer they should finish at their goal time)  I really wanted to just give up after the pacer passed me, but I dug in deep and decided that I could tuck in just a few steps behind her so that I could finish at 4:30.  I was able to do just that and was happy with my finish time. 

Some people have asked me "what's next?"  and I'm just not sure yet.  My next goal will likely be to work on speed and improve my 5K time.  After the race my body felt beat up.  By the following morning, all my muscles were really stiff and sore.  I took the whole week off from running and let my body recover.

Thanks to all the friends and family who supported me all year long as I worked to cross both "1/2 marathon" and "full marathon" off my bucket list!  Oh, and I proudly applied my "26.2" sticker to my vehicle as soon as I could :)