Hottest Half

We just spent a long weekend in Ft.Worth with my family. We had a great time. On Friday we went to NRH2O with Anita, Nathan, Abby and a bunch of their friends. On Saturday we celebrated Abby's 4th birthday with a Batman Swimming Party.

On Sunday, Anita and I ran the Hottest Half. It was a half-marathon around White Rock Lake in Dallas. It was Anita's longest run ever and she did great, even with a hurting knee. We got really lucky with the weather. For a run in Dallas in August with Hottest in the name, we could not of asked for better weather. The course was great too. Other that a large hill at the final .1 mile, it was relatively flat. It wound around the lake so it had pretty scenery too. I would definitely do it again. Our one wish was that they would close the course to bike. There were a lot of cyclists in the park that morning. Some were nice about letting you know they were passing you, most were not.

As with any run, there was lots of great people watching. We saw one woman wearing mismatched shoes and pushing a jogging stroller that was holding 0 children, 2 stuffed animals, and at least 1 metal lunch box underneath. I hope this was some sort of training activity or else she might need some therapy. I just saw my pictures from the race and she is actually in the background of one of mine. I saw a guy running barefoot. Still don't get that. There was a woman running about 4 months pregnant. I'm not sure about that. When I was pregnant with Mal my doctor told me that I could run, but only 1-2 miles. We saw a couple people in pants. I guess they didn't catch that it was the "hottest" half.

I think this was mile 9. Matthew, Clay, and two of their friends came out to cheer us on. 4 people with 3 cameras gave me a real paparazzi feeling, but its always great spotting some peeps during a race.

The hill at the end. You can't truly appreciate it from this picture, but believe me it was steep!

Anita and I before the fun. It was so much fun doing this with my sister!

Mallory's Tricks

Mallory has two favorite things these days. First, is shoes! Her love of shoes has been going on for a while and is showing no sign of fading anytime soon.

I'm losing the battle in keeping my shoes put away in the little cubbies in my closet. Mal loves to pull them all out like she is here and wear them or carry them off somewhere. She is thoughtful enough that she rarely separates a pair. At least I don't have a bunch of strays all over the house.

Her other love is climbing! She loves to climb up, in, or on anything she can. I even caught her last week standing on the kitchen table and reaching for the light fixture. I promise I had not turned my back on her for more than a second or two.

Look closely, that is Mallory peeking out from inside the built in laundry hamper in her bathroom. This one is getting really old for me because she has to toss out all the dirty clothes before she can get in.

Take Two

Mallory and I are getting ready to head back to school in a few weeks. Yes, both of us! We are going to be going to pre-school together. We had been planning for Mallory to attend a school close to our house. Last week, our friend Melissa that is the director of the school at our church asked me if I was interested in working there this year. You're probably thinking "hold on Marcia! Didn't you try that last year?!?" Yes, but here are a few reasons why I know this will go so much better this year.

• I will be the assistant in the 3 yr old class instead of the lead teacher. I will not be responsible for the planning and getting the room ready.
• I am not in the middle of unpacking into a tiny little apartment. Last year we had just gotten into our apartment when school was starting. We were still trying to get unpacked as I was trying to start a new job that I had no experience in.
• We are really excited for Mallory to go to school this year. I wasn't really ready for my baby to go to school last year. This year we're ready and I know she will have a lot of fun.
• If Mallory had stayed at the school we were planning on her attending, she would have only been able to go one day a week. At The Vine, she'll get to go two days like we really wanted.
  
• I know this will be a great opportunity to get to know people better and make some new friendships.
• I'm NOT going to break my hand or any bones this year. Anita has a strict no broken bone policy at her house, I'm putting that in force in our house starting now.
  

A Trip to the Big City

I had to go to Luke's on Friday to pick up my running shoes that they were holding. Matthew and Mallory came along to make it a fun trip. We decided to check out Discovery Green downtown. At first, we thought it was going to be a bust. The fountains were being overrun with a couple day care groups full of big kids that would have bulldozed Mal! So we found the play ground and let her run around there for a little bit.

And I got to play around too!

After we baked at the playground, it was time for lunch. Warning: if you plan on taking your own lunch to Discovery Green, be prepared to hunt to find a place to eat. We were surprised that a park with so much planning to it didn't have a real picnic area. We finally found some tables that were in the shade of the building and didn't have a sign on them forbidding us from eating there.

When we were done eating, the water fountains had cleared out. So, we quickly got Mallory changed and headed to the water. She had a blast running around in the water, laying on the fountains, and getting in and out of the water area. We had a blast watching her have fun and get braver in facing the fountains the longer she played.

Mal's 'check out my belly' pose

One strange thing happened while we were there. I was standing on the side watching Mallory. I could hear some ladies sitting in the chairs behind me talking about Mal. They were saying what a cute little girl she was. Duh! Then I heard one say to the other, "I'm gonna take a picture of her." I was pretty uneasy about these strangers planning to take a picture of my baby. I casually took a few steps to my side to block their view. Thankfully Mallory also thought this was a good time to take off running to the other side.

*****

Rewind to buying my shoes. I knew exactly which shoes I was getting. They were holding them for me, so I didn't spend much time trying them on. When I was done Patrick, the sales guy, gave me a high five! I was excited to be getting new shoes. I guess he was excited for me too.

Seriously?

I have our piano listed for sale on craigslist. Its the piano that my sister learned to play on. We have no room for it, so its got to go. We're not having much luck so far with selling it. I did receive an offer for a trade a couple days ago. The offer was so funny to me (especially the third item) that I had to share it with you.

We found your add for a piano for sale on craigslist. We are looking
for a piano for our 10 year old son who would like to take piano lessons for the
next few years to prepare for band/percussion in junior high. He is so
excited about this that he is willing to sell his almost brand new Wii Game
system with all of the games and accessories that he paid for with his own money
in order to buy a piano. We are about to list it on Craigslist along with
a like new Nordic Track Elyptical so that we can pay for the piano and I thought
I would see if there is anyone interested in a trade first. We also have a
bamboo business and grow and sale clumping(non-invasive) bamboos for
lanscaping/hedges etc. if someone might be interested in that type of
trade.

Fun Times

Mallory and I made a trip to Ft. Worth last week for some summer fun. It ended up raining so we didn't get to have the fun we were planning on, but we still had a great time.

On Tuesday we went with Anita, Nathan, & Abby to my grandma's house in Muenster for the day. We had fun at Grandma's with lots of aunts and cousins.

Someone had the great idea of setting up this table in the middle of Grandma's living room. It made a great place for the kids to play all afternoon.

We got to meet sweet Maddie, my cousin Julie's new baby.

No, Mallory is not trying to moon you. She's just doing one of her tricks. She loves to bend over like this and look at the world upside down. If you see her do it in person, bend over at look back at her through your legs. She thinks its really funny!

No trip to Grandma's is complete without some dominoes. Anita and I teamed up so we could take turns playing and watching the kids. Even still, we didn't have much of a game.

Mallory has earned the name of Shoe Bandit recently. She LOVES shoes of any size, shape, or color! No shoes are safe when she is around. These are Grandma's that she swiped to wear for a while. The first thing she did this morning after getting up was to grab her sandals to put on. She wants to have shoes on all day long and is not happy if we try to take them off.