Date night

The husband and I got a date night last night, the first time in awhile, and we had a great evening.  We saw Thor 2 in theaters, had dinner at Chili's, read in bed, and then got to sleep in this morning.  I haven't slept until 7:30am for ages!  We had breakfast together, went to Wal-Mart to get a few things for Christmas/Santa, and then picked up the girls at their grandparents' church where they were playing.  I'm so happy for date nights!

L's T-ball experience (from my perspective)

L's experience in t-ball has been most comical to me.  I realize that all the kids are 3, 4, or 5, but it doesn't lessen the humor.  At practices, the coaches have learned to make the kids run the bases about three times before starting because they are hyperactive/excited to be there with their teammates.  L's throwing needs improvement - it goes about 10 feet and in the opposite direction she needs to throw it.  She's gotten to the point that she practically runs to the place where she wants to throw it (e.g. first base), and then throws it.  Her hitting is better, but she has problems holding the bat up properly before swinging.  Sometimes, she swings, misses, does a 360, and then hits the ball on the turn around.  Ha!  Running bases, though, is my favorite:  she either skips or gallops to wherever she needs to go, and does so at the most lackadaisical pace.  Most of the time, the ball beats her to the base, but she doesn't seem to mind at all - she greets the baseman with a smile, tries to hold his hand, and then sings to everyone around.

I'm so glad she's having a good time doing this, but I wonder what she'd do if the team was more serious?  :p

Damn laptop

Long story short:  I usually update this blog in the evenings after the girls are in bed, on my laptop, in bed.  My laptop's screen went out a few weeks ago, and since I only have the pad to use/type on up there now, it just doesn't work.  The "keyboard" is a huge joke on the pad - I hit one letter and get six different things happening that I don't want on the screen.  *sigh*

October 19th we went to Buckelew Farms for our annual trek to the pumpkin patch.  It was wonderful!  I love doing that with my kids and in-laws.

Pumpkin posing

Girls on hay bales

Mmmm, Eegee

E went hog wild with her Eegee, ha!

October 20th I ran my second half marathon, this time in Tucson proper.  The damn mountain in the middle was a bit tough, but I finished in 2:17:58.  It's five minutes slower than my pace in March, but I went a lot faster for the first six miles than I intended.  Oops.

The medal I earned for completing the race

Gabe Zimmerman triple crown completion = Ben's Bell with coins!

October 26th - L's t-ball game, a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese, and Trunk or Treat at the YMCA.  We were completely exhausted at the end of the day.

E with Chuck E Cheese

L with Chuck E. Cheese

October 27th - Family pictures at Reid Park.  The girls' favorite part was McDonald's afterwards, lol!

By the zoo

Playing during the shoot

October 28th was my first piano studio class here at the house.  Here's hoping it wasn't too boring for my students.

Chalk board at entrance

October 29th  was pumpkin carving.  E enjoyed it, but L was totally grossed out.  Ha!

E pulling out her seeds

L grossed out

Finished product!

October 31st - Halloween.  The girls dressed up - L as the Scarlet Witch, and E as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz.  It was fun and cute!

Finger painting their pumpkins

Ready to trick or treat!

November 2nd - L's t-ball game again, and then a birthday party for her preschool friend in the evening.

November 3rd - Hanging out with my in-laws is SO much more relaxing than running around like a crazy person!

November 7th - Play date with one of L's preschool friends, who also has a sister just slightly older than E.  It was perfect, everyone had a great time, and the amount of girly screaming coming from our house was awful (ha!).

November 8th - Hey, that's today!  I'm caught up!  E and I went for a run this morning, L has been assigned the role of Mary in the preschool Christmas play (oh my), and all I want is for E to eat her food and do so in a reasonable amount of time.  Sigh.

Problem child

E has been the worst child ever lately.  She blatantly doesn't listen (she told me this morning "no, I don't want to listen"), does things she knows she's not supposed to do, demands everything with "I WANT!" instead of asking 'please' as she's been told to do, fights with her sister, screams/cries at the drop of a hat, and is becoming this pest that I just don't want to spend time with most of the time.  When she's good, she's wonderful.  When she's bad, she's awful.  Tonight, L apparently took her toy away from her, so E bit her on the chest.  Not just bit her, mind you, but literally took a chunk out of her.  It was awful.  L was screaming and crying hysterically, E was standing there looking like "take that, you b*", the husband had to grab E to punish her and prevent her from going at L again, and I had to clean up L and calm her down.  Just...awful.  She was spanked, talked to, and put to bed early with no story or songs.  E was mad about it all.  GAH.

I know she's 2 (almost 3), but still!  This is horrid.  Maybe she has teeth coming in?  Maybe she's hit a growth spurt?  Maybe she's not sleeping well???  I hope that one of these explains it, and it's not that my beautiful wonderful baby girl is turning into a monster!  :(

Sanctuary Cove

After our run this morning, the girls and I went to Sanctuary Cove for a nice hike and look around.  They loved it all and want to go back.  Can't say I blame them, as it's beautiful, quiet, peaceful, and perfect for every imagination to run wild.  Next time, we'll bring the husband!

Running around the meditation labyrinth

Reverend L was bringing down the house this morning (she LOVED the lectern!)

The congregation was small but loud

Window into the barn/chapel

The outdoor chapel, which is my favorite of the two chapels

I mean, who wouldn't like to sit and look at THIS during a service???  It faces sunrise!

Bedroom question

Why is it that the least clean room in the house is always our bedroom, particularly my side of the bed?  It's ridiculous the amount of stuff I allow to pile up in here, and yet I can't stand that amount of piling anywhere else in the house.  Anyone else have this problem?!?

I suck at updating

Yes, yes, I know, it's been awhile.  Let me try a recap:

Saturday, October 5th - The girls and I ran a 5K in Oro Valley in the evening.  E ran 1/4 mile, L ran almost a mile, and I ran/walked the entire thing with both of them (mostly in the stroller).  We all get medals and shirts, which was a great bonus, and all it cost us was three bags of food.  Score!

Sunday, October 6th - I vegetated most of the day, and ended up reading a trashy romance novel for most of the evening.  I'm not afraid to admit that, ha!

Monday, October 7th - While teaching tonight, the husband decided to vacuum.  It's very hard to concentrate on appropriate fingering with a student when all you hear is the roar of the vacuum.  Afterwards, I had to tell him thank you for vacuuming, it's very much appreciated, but could you please not do it while I'm working?!??  Thanks.

Tuesday, October 8th - I did a yoga workout early in the morning and then took a shower.  Afterwards, I started cleaning the house in anticipation of my parents arriving at 10am.  They showed up at 9am.  Great.  I spent the first hour they were here finishing up cleaning while the girls went nuts over their visit (I never told them they were coming).  We spent the day together, had dinner at Boston's (where we saw my friend C's boys), and generally had a decent time together.  Eery.

Granddad the horse

Wednesday, October 9th - Spent the entire day with my parents.  Usually, that would mean I was ready to murder something by the end of the day, but it actually went pretty well.  I think it helped that I kind of let them do whatever with the girls and focused on other things, like making dinner, doing chores, etc.  They came to L's preschool in the morning to see it (she loved that), went to E's gym class (yay!), played a ton, had dinner together, and then the girls were super sad when they had to go in the evening (they start driving back to OH in the morning).  E cried for 20 minutes after they left, poor thing.  At least the visit went well!

A view of E's tea party and L drawing with Granddad

Thursday, October 10th - L spent the morning moping about that Granddad was missing.  Poor kid.  Maybe we can get together with them again sometime.  L's t-ball practice in the evening was good, but E had to come along so I had problems juggling both of them.  I think next time I may just sit out practice and stay with E.

Friday, October 11th - My friend N and her baby came over this morning.  That was fun to get together without our older two running around, and E loved having the baby all to herself.  Ran up A Mountain with C for the last time prior to our half marathon in the evening.  I'm doing better with it - maybe I can actually run the sucker with only one walking break on the 20th?  We'll see.

Saturday, October 12th - L had a t-ball game in the morning, which was humorous to watch, and then we spent the afternoon with the in-laws.  Exceptional fall weather!

Sunday, October 13th - Happy 1st birthday to my wonderful niece V!  I have a hard time believing it's been a year already, but so it has.  I also went for my longest run ever at 14 miles this morning.  Starting at 4:50am, I finished at right around 7:30am.  Nothing like starting when it's pitch black outside and finishing with tons of sun on you.  I fell down at mile 12 but it wasn't bad (dirt/straw surface), and the GU gels I used at miles 4 and 10 were lifesavers.  Half marathon, here I come!  We also spent some time this morning at the in-laws' church, hanging out while the husband helped cook for the annual picnic.  The girls love playing there - I just find it weird that they think of church as a play place.

Monday, October 14th - E and I went to the playground this morning while L was at preschool.  It's amazing to me how she just gravitates to sand no matter where we are - home, playground, parking lot, etc.  She wanted to make a sand castle, and I said we didn't have any water, so she took her water bottle and started dumping it out!  Argh, lol!  In the evening, we watched some old home movies from when the girls were babies.  SO CUTE, and so hard to remember those times.  :)

Tuesday, October 15th - I took the girls to the Children's Museum, the top of A Mountain, and Sonic for lunch today.  They had a blast.  This evening, I took L on a run with me, where a horse bit her.  :(  I guess you have to have some good with bad, right?  At least it's just going to be a bruise.

L in the sand box

E in the carrot car

L and E looking out over Tucson

I think this picnic table has the best view of the city from anywhere

Being silly at the lookout house on the mountain

The insanity of running FAR during the night

My friend C and I do something crazy (no, not the running itself):  we run long long distances in the middle of the night.  That's right, while most of you were snuggled up tight in bed, peacefully slumbering in dreamland last night, C and I were out sweating, pushing ourselves, and hoping that those glowing eyes in the bushes by the trail don't decide to follow us.  It's frightening to think about too much, but we basically ran a half marathon this morning (13 miles) before the sun came up. 

Things I've learned from our several night/dawn runs:
1.  It can be so quiet at 4:00am while running.
2.  There's a $hitload of wildlife out!  I've seen coyotes, javelina, bobcats, deer, hawks, and even snakes out and about.  This is in the suburbs too (outskirts, but still).
3.  Headlamps are awesome devices.  Whoever invented them should be kissed.  Repeatedly.  But not by me when I'm done running - even my husband doesn't want my sweat, salty kisses at that point.
4.  The miles go by easier when it's dark.
5.  Why aren't restrooms lit during the night?!??
6.  Why are there so many f*ing vehicles on the freeway at 4:30am?!??!
7.  There is a truly palpable temperature drop right before dawn.  I remember C and I being surprised by this and commenting on it.  It got cold!
8.  It's so much easier to run in the dark with a friend (and a headlamp!).

I wonder how many more of these we'll end up doing?  C does it before work so that she can spend time with her kids in the afternoon/evening, while I do it with her so that she's not alone, I'm not alone, and I avoid taking time away my husband "babysitting" the girls.  I'm not sure how far back we can push the start time when we start going further and further though - I'm thinking a 3:00am start time is just a touch too crazy for me!

Ah, T-ball...

I remember playing t-ball as a child - the experience was poor.  I can tell you with 100% recall that my coaches did not like me, discriminated against me, and made me feel awful about the whole endeavor.  Who was the only kid that didn't have a uniform shirt?  This girl.  Who was the only one not informed when games or practices were changed?  That'd be me.  Still, I recognize all this stuff as an adult reflecting on the memories, but I remember loving the game when I was 5.  I went on to play softball in town until I was 16 and wasn't too shabby at it, and I'd love to be able to play again sometime.

L started t-ball last week.  When she decided that she'd rather do this instead of soccer for the fall, I was hesitant.  Are you sure?  Wouldn't you rather do soccer, like most of the other kids?  You like running, you can do that LOTS in soccer!  No, no, she insisted she wanted t-ball, so I signed her up begrudgingly through the local YMCA.  It stated that registration was through September 21st, and that the first game would start on September 28th.  Okay, fine, I signed her up in early August, it's going to be awhile.

Flash forward to September 26th.  I called the YMCA to inquire with the youth director as to why I hadn't heard anything yet about L's t-ball practices or games.  Remember my story above?  I don't want a repeat for my daughter.  The youth director informs me that the coaches are at fault, he doesn't know why they haven't called, I should be getting a call that night from a man named B.  Okay then.  I've never heard of anyone having positive dealings with the youth director, and I haven't yet either, but I figured he must know what he's talking about.  Later that evening, I get a call from a very friendly woman named T.  She informs me that she is one of the coaches, L is on her team, practices start tomorrow night, and the first game is Saturday morning at 9am.  Um...okay.

The next day, the girls and I go to get her baseball glove at the sports store.  Very exciting, truly.  After dinner, we grab the glove, leave a crying E with Daddy (she wanted to come but was sick), and head off to the practice field.  We get to the location and realize there are four baseball fields.  Each are in use at the moment, we have no idea who we're looking for, and we were never told which field to go to.  Luckily for us, I spied another YMCA coach that L had over the summer for her sports program and just assumed that we'd be using the same field after his team was done (the YMCA probably only reserved one field, right?).  Thankfully, we were right.  Promptly at 6:00pm, his team disperses and L's team takes the field.  Um, where are the coaches?  Well, they were lost too - apparently the youth director never told them which field they were on, so they were blindly wandering from field to field hoping to find their group of 4- and 5-year-old players!

Now, if you know anything about early fall in Arizona, you'll know that the sun sets around 6:15pm.  Practice started at 6:00pm on an unlit field.  It wasn't too bad when the kids started, but they had to call practice at 6:30pm (instead of going until 6:45pm) because it was just too dark to see.  Brilliant planning on the youth director's part, eh?  While practice wasn't super organized, the kids were having fun and L was enjoying herself.  She's the only girl on the team of nine, so I think the coaches were giving her special attention (ha!).  Game on Saturday, see you there!  Practices changed to 5:30pm next week, see you then!  Off we went home.

L was too sick to go to the game Saturday morning, but apparently that was another fiasco.  Once again, the youth director never told the coaches which field to play the game on.  They thought it was the same field we practiced on, but it was the field furthest from that location.  Nice.  At least we didn't have to experience that first hand, but I could tell how exasperated the coaches were via the tone of their follow-up email.

Flash forward to practice tonight - still on the unlit field.  At least we knew where we were going.  We showed up late because L refused to eat her dinner in a timely manner, and I was super pissed off because of that (I HATE BEING LATE).  At 5:40pm, we roll in.  There is one coach and a few players.  Most of them showed up after us.  Nice.  There is one boy on the team that doesn't speak English!  Wth?  It's not the coaches responsibility to make sure he understands what's going on.  They tried to get the mother involved to help the boy along, but she was too involved in her cell phone to give two $hits about what was going on on the field.  At one point, I think she yelled something similar to "get off your butt!" in Spanish to him while he was just rolling around in the outfield.  Hi, lady, how about getting off your lazy tush and helping out your son?!?  This isn't babysitting!  L had fun but was not pleased we were late (maybe she'll learn????), but was happy to get her uniform shirt from the coaches.  Here's my gripe about them:  THEY'RE WHITE.  Who chooses white as a uniform color for a t-ball team full of preschool and kindergarteners?!?????

I'm hoping the game on Saturday isn't a fiasco again.  They have pictures in the morning prior to playing, so hopefully that's pulled off well.  Again, the youth director didn't manage any of this.  What is his actual job there?  I'm thinking about writing a letter to him and his boss asking that very question.  However, I will point out the good things going for L:  she has a uniform shirt (which I didn't), her coaches and teammates treat her well, and we're kept in the loop.  I suppose you can't beat that, and I'll just have to accept everything else as part in parcel of the whole.  *shrug*

Running bases with the team (in pink)

Running experiment

How did people pre-2000 do it?  I can't run without my phone and/or stopwatch.  Can't.  I literally have my phone app set to yell at me every five minutes to tell me how long it's been (e.g. "5:00"), how far I've gone ("0.5 miles"), average pace ("10:00 per mile"), and current pace ("9:45 per mile").  I feel naked without it, and it's gotten to the point that I don't have "easy" runs, per se, because I'm so obsessed with making sure I meet a certain threshold (speed, distance, etc.).

Tonight, I threw it all out the window.  I went out for a run (healthy, yay!) without my phone or watch.  All I had was my iShuffle, my ID bracelet, and a hat.  Well, clothes on too - you probably would have heard of me on the news if I hadn't (THE NAKED RUNNER!!!).  I went at a casual pace, probably around 10:00/mile, ran what I guessed to be about four miles, and even took a break after 5K to walk, recoup, and then continue. 

Guess what?  I DIDN'T DIE like I thought I would.  It was definitely disconcerting at the start - am I going to slow?  Too fast?  Something should be yelling at me right about now!  Oh no, I'm WALKING, how is that going to figure into my overall time?!?  But, after mile 2, I realized how freeing it was.  I could just enjoy my music, enjoy life around me, and run.  No, it wasn't fast.  No, I don't know how long it took me to do that run.  No, it wasn't exactly four miles (3.9 is close, right?).  However, the freedom I felt from being free of technology was great. 

I'm definitely going to do this again on short runs!