Starting of 2014!

I'm just going to throw a bunch of photos at you for this blog entry.  It helps me to share what we've been doing and to show some of my favorite caught-on-my-iphone memories from the past few weeks.  Amazing how we can now take photos ALL the time with the smart phones.  I have always been one to have a camera and take photos (even back in the days of rolls of film) but now it's even crazier.  I'm non-stop snapping pics.  Where as I have probably have viewed a total of FIVE photos from my father's ENTIRE childhood (and I think less of my mother's), I have taken that many of just Ella yesterday.  The times they have a'changed!  

Love this photo of my brother with the boys (though it is blurry--Apple definitely hasn't perfected the camera app on their iPhones...but can't complain!)

the girls!  hike @ Torrey Pines

playing cards (another blurry iPhone pic)

Chloë can ride without training wheels!!

Myke can run!!

Grandpa & Ella

My blondies

A photo taken from my iPhone while jogging on the beach (I carry the phone to track my distance...and to take pics on occasion)

Train trip from Encinitas to downtown San Diego- the boys first time on a real train!

They loved it!

And her first time, too!

Chloë & Gramma

Downtown San Diego

Ella & Chloë and their little friend, Addie

New Year's Eve kiddo Party in our front yard

Yes, we went to Chuck E. Cheese!  Chloë has been before, but it was a LONG time ago..first time for the boys.  They all LOVED the mini-air-hockey table the best.  Besides the fact that I made all my kids bath in a scalding water & bleach solution when we got home (KIDDING...kind of...), it was a great time!

Ready for Pajama Day at preschool!  

Thanks to Aunt Heather for the matching PJs for Christmas!

(Eli is holding a stuffed animal ladybug..he never lets that thing go these days!)

Checking out the beach with my boys

Love these guys!

Owen post-chocolate donut a a neighbor's birthday party

apparently this was on "Modern Family" - sent to me from my next-door neighbor

What a great name for a dance academy!

So here we are...mid-January already.  In just three weeks we get ready for our next round of visitors. Until then, we are on our own for the month of January.  By "on our own" I mean just the six of us.  Myke, myself and four small children.  We kind of get into a little groove when it's just us...and then it goes all up in the air when visitors arrive.  Not to say that visitors are a bad thing, because that's FAR from the truth.  It just changes the dynamic of the household and the day-to-day a bit.  It's great because Myke and I get more date nights, the kids get more one-on-one attention, the kids get time with grandparents/friends/aunts/uncles/etc, I can take the kids on more extensive outings and adventures and try new things that I wouldn't otherwise try.  Having more "hands on deck" lets you do that.  So I love it.  Not to mention the helping hands around the house.  The entire 3 weeks that my parents were here in December I think I unloaded the dishwasher ONCE (and Myke did it ZERO times).  The two of us usually each unload it at least once a day EACH.  Also, I don't think I folded ONE item of clothing during those three weeks.  It was wonderful!  Laundry is non-stop here.  There is almost always a pile of clothes waiting to be folded on our couch.  When my parents were here it was folded so fast and timely that I was backed up with a line of baskets of folded clothes to put away in everyone's drawers.   Ha..if it's not one problem it's another, right? :)

So, on another note, I've signed up for my VERY FIRST 10K race/run!  It will take place on February 2nd here in Encinitas.  I'm super excited...and training for it has taken my running to a new level.  I'm really finding that it's more a mental game than I had realized.  After having Ella, I wanted to get back into running...and by running, let me just explain: I'm not a long-distance runner by any means.  I enjoy a good run.  But we're talking 2-3 miles, tops.  In fact, when I would run 3 miles without stopping, I would have considered it a success.  So, I had talked to some friends about doing a 5K with me this past Fall...but they basically scoffed at the idea of spending money to run 3.2 miles.  They said that I COULD run more than that and I should skip the 5K race idea and go for the 10K.  I needed to stop "building up" to a 10K when I could actually run that much sooner than I let myself initially believe.  Long story short, we verbally planned to sign up for one in early December together but it ended up falling through due to our schedules/the holidays/etc.  I had been running 3-4x per week up until that point and didn't want to let that training fall to the wayside...so I ended up just searching for an upcoming local race and signed up for it.  And there you have it.   Three weeks to go.  I'm ready.  Before my training I had never run more than 3.5 miles at one time.  Ever.  The past week or two I've been pushing it..and Monday I ran 8.5 miles!  Definitely a record for me in terms of distance.  Ella was and usually is my running partner (I BARELY ever get to run without pushing a stroller.  When I run with "JUST" the single jogger I consider it a TREAT...the double jogger is a beast in comparison!).  She's the best running partner ever.  Never says a peep.  Just enjoys the ride and sometimes takes a little nap.

Just moments after our 8.5 mile run!

Two and a half weeks until the race and I'm feeling ready!