Shamrock and Cville

A few weeks ago, I ran in my 5th Shamrock Marathon Weekend.  

1st year: I ran 26.2 and qualified for Boston (by 39 seconds)

2nd year: I ran the marathon as a bandit with my friend Mike Fine

3rd year: 9 weeks pregnant and ran the 1/2 with Team Hoyt, where Kelly F, Rebecca and I had an incredible flat-tire experience and finished in a respectable 2:03

4th year: Jackson is 5 months old so I pushed and finished 3 minutes below my personal best

5th year: 1/2 marathon with Blair Fine (Mike's better half) who set her personal best!!!

As boring as the course is, I do love this race. 

At the beach on Saturday, pre-race

Mr Byrne made me this sign last year when J was 5 months old and when I saw it, and them, I cried. This year I was much less hormonal (and it was SO cold that I didn't stop to hug them...just keep moving...just keep moving). 

The following week, J was pretty sick for what seemed like an eternity. We treated him for croupe and he had his first fever, which we think is pretty great considering he's 17 months old. It's so sad to have  a sick child, one who wants to be held every moment, doesn't eat anything, coughs and has a sad look on his face all day. One afternoon I got him up from nap and he proceeded to lay down on the changing table and try to fall back to sleep. This is a rare moment of not fighting a battle while on this table!

What do you do with a sick child? Drop him off at BB and Grandad's and go to Charlottesville! We left for our favorite place on Friday morning and stopped at several vineyards in the area, most new to us. We didn't take advantage of "wine country of the east coast" when we were in school (too much studying or something like that), and a ton of vineyards have popped up since. We toured Pollak, Flying Fox, Veritas and King Family. We also stopped for lunch at Devil's Backbone, a brewery and restaurant at the base of Wintergreen. We had a sample of their beer the week before at Tapped, a new VA Beach Gastropub and it was pretty good, so we were excited to stumble upon the actual location! 

After a day of wine tours, we picked up dinner at Citizen Burger on the Downtown Mall and ate (and stayed the night..yes we are still those people who stay with friends, at least for the next year...but really, even if we weren't cheap it's still way more fun to have the entire night and morning to visit with friends) with Kelly and Mark and their 1 year old daughter, Colbie. We are so grateful for roommates who became dear friends. 

Pollak

Veritas, in front of their LOVE sign, part of the VA is for Lovers ad campaign

And one of the best parts of the trip was visiting with Christian and her precious girls Lilly Kate and Anne Elise.  They are both getting so grown up and it's so much fun to visit with college friends and see them maturing into the role of mother.  Are we really old enough to be mothers? Weren't we just dancing around dorm rooms in fleece pants? 

 After our fun weekend at the Boars Head in Charlottesville (tough life, I know) we came home to this....Granddad and the three pups, all passed out in the living room. It's exhausting to have a sick child?? Why, we don't have any idea what you're talking about :) 

Easter Egg Hunt

Val had the wonderful idea to have an Easter Egg hunt for our kids this year! She made the eggs, I cleaned the backyard, we all invited a friend and everyone brought yummy snacks to share.  There were 8 kiddos and 12 adults and we had a blast in our tiny Norfolk yard (free of dog droppings after 4 rounds of scooping this week!!!)

J Man and I did some rehearsing this afternoon since I knew he would have NO idea what an Easter egg hunt is. He does love to clean up, however, so I thought I could capitalize on the "clean up and put all the eggs in the basket." He finally grasped the concept of carrying the basket, so I hid some eggs around the house for him to find.  

Once he found a few of them, he thought it was time for an egg toss!  

 We walked around the block and went to practically everyone's front door...wrong holiday, buddy.  Gotta wait a few months for that one, but I'm glad you understand it for this coming year! 

Then we came back and he proceeded to act as the Easter Bunny (but not a very clever one), hiding all the eggs in one spot in the front flower garden.  

Everyone arrived and we attempted to get a group shot (like herding cats) before the festivities began. 

4 of 8 in one picture, not bad

 The best part of the afternoon was eating cheerios that fell into some dirt. 

 Lizzy Kay and Sofi

 I love this face

 Eli, counting his loot...and there was a lot in that basket. He had to empty and go back for round 2!

 Lael and Jordan

 We had a great day. Happy Easter, everyone! 

Although it is good fun to enjoy chocolate, egg hunts and the Peeps, the real reason we celebrate Easter is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Mark 16: 4-7

⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Grandparent time

First of all, check out my new car. It's so fast, comfortable and was totally designed by a mom...it's got keyless entry, automatic tailgate opening and closing with one button and it doesn't scream 'mom car' (until you look inside, that is). 

 We have spent most of the past few weekends down in Va Beach for various events including the Shamrock Marathon Weekend.  Jackson can't get enough of his silly grandparents! They were so sweet to watch him last weekend when Jonathan and I had a Physical Therapy retreat at the Boars Head Inn in Charlottesville (tough life!). J had a nasty cough, fever and was just not a fun kid to be around, but they survived and we're grateful for all the noses wiped, songs sang, tantrums quieted and hugs given.  

singing songs on the steps

looks up to his granddad

I keep having many of those, "You know you're a mom when..." moments.

I find a sweet potato puffs container in my gym bag

Cheerios fall on the floor when I change out of my shirt in the evenings

There are snot stains on my left shoulder and both thighs

I get in the car and instead of NPR or my favorite pop station I hear Old McDonald

My BOB jogger has gotten WAY more miles than my road bike ever has

My Target bills have gone up (is that even possible?!)

Going to bed at 7:30 is not lame, it's awesome

You utter the phrase, "I'm doing this because I love you"

There are little white socks in my clean laundry

I cough when he is congested as if it will help clear his chest

I think I can't possibly love this kid anymore than I do now, and then it just keeps getting better

You realize you would do anything for this little guy

fun at the pirate park

Sweet moments

I am all out of words this week (work is exhausting!), so here are some pictures of our recent weeks:

Jackson's first duet, with Lizzy Kay. 

 Bath time fun! J loves the flowing water

 playing outside with his dump truck

 who needs playground equipment when there is mulch?

Puzzles are fun and we learn so much, too!

 Hangin' with my peeps

Sweet post-nap face

 All things can be made into a scarf, his new obsession

 Eating ice cream with mom. It took him 20 minutes to try it and then he wanted to eat it all!

 Cute Sunday suit....although doesn't it look really '70s? 

Mornings

Every night, Jackson and I would try to read the Children's Bible before bed. This was complicated by the fact that he has a short attention span, only likes board books and the bookmark was too distracting (see image below).

Jonathan was part of a popular board game called Boy Crazy and has 500 of his own trading cards stored up in our attic.  Let us know if you want one...they are going quickly! 

Needless to say, we needed to find a time that was more suitable for reading the Word and sharing the important message with J-Man.  So, every morning we sit down for breakfast and read a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible. It has a great way of presenting the Gospel message through even the Old Testament stories.  We are so grateful for this time for him to learn and to read through this book again and again until he begins to learn the stories and understand the greater message behind them.  

Ball Pit, Boats and Books

Grandmom and Pop Pop came to visit the other weekend and brought a fun surprise for Jackson...300 balls to go in his ball pit!  Some of us in the household were more thrilled than others :)  No, we all actually LOVE the balls and love watching J play around, throwing, dumping, diving. Grandmom and Pop Pop stayed for dinner and bedtime, so Jackson had some variety thrown into his otherwise-very-structured bedtime routine. 

Goodnight Moon, one of my favorites

 We met Laura and Brooke at the Children's Museum on President's Day for some fun with bubbles, trains and boats. What a great museum! I highly recommend it if you haven't visited already.  And as you can tell, J got his second hair cut. We are in an every-two-months-routine but might have to bump it up a little as he gets pretty darn shaggy! 

 And finally, to borrow the idea from some other friends (who are more skilled photographers than I am)...what a great way to chronicle J's favorite books during this current season. We are so grateful for his love of reading and the fact that we live in walking distance of a library. What a way to discover some new favorites (Chica Chica ABC).