For Nanna

Nanna really loves little man videos so here are a couple of cute ones we caught this week.

He found a little hand mirror at Gregor and Amy's and carried it around for a couple days calling is a magnifying glass.

He's figuring out the ABC song. He does a pretty good job on his own but doesn't always finish it when we're watching. We catch him singing the song to himself all the time while he's playing with toys, eating, or walking around.

Sorry for how incredibly dark this video is. We've been trying to catch him saying the whole thing for little while but the time we finally caught it was late at night and in the car. So it looks terrible but at least we can hear him.

Thanksgiving 2010

We just got back from a great trip to New Hampshire and Massachusetts for Thanksgiving. We rented a car this year which made getting around a lot easier. We stayed with Gregor and Amy and their family from Sunday until Thursday. Nelson was sweet to give up his room so we could camp out in there. It was fun to be able to stay with their family and spend so much time playing with them. We played some games of course. Pit was a hit this year. Anything loud, fast, and aggressive is a hit with a family like ours.

We got in a few rounds of Pounce as well. My personal favorite. The Andover Makechnies were incredibly wonderful hosts. We had our fill of great conversation, delicious food, and tons of playtime for the little ones. Tate loved having so many cousins to play with. AND the Makechnies have a dog AND chickens. He was in heaven. The first thing he would say every morning was, "I see the chickens!" Followed closely by, "I see Paige(or Nelson or Brynn or Cope)!"

One morning we got up and I told him it was too cold to go see the chickens just then and he said, "Mom, I jus a little boy." I just stared at him. Okay that's true but wherever did you hear that, little man?

Tate spent some quality time with their dog Tennyson, Tenny for short. He was constantly following him around and when he found him on his dog bed by the fire he would lie down and snuggle him. We had to monitor the snuggling a bit as Tate is not as light as he used to be.

We went on a little day trip to Portsmouth with Seth and Vincent one day. It's a beautiful little city right by the ocean. Charming shops and restaurants, beautiful old buildings and streets. Good company and of course the boys got some "chowdah". It was a very fun day.

Tate found lots of rocks, sticks, and leaves so of course he was happy.

Tate met his Great Grandma Alice this trip. She came up from Florida for the holiday and helped Grandma Heather make Tate this train cake. He was so intrigued by a choo choo train that was covered in candy and made of cake. Does it get any better than that?

I envy my sister-in-law Amy's running routes in New Hampshire. While the hills are killer, especially for a Texas runner like myself (I'm used to flat, flat, flat), you couldn't find more beautiful scenery. Even at this time of the year when all the trees are looking a little sad, running along woods, streams, old bridges and train tracks...it was so peaceful. I just took one morning jog by myself and then we ran the Thanksgiving day Turkey Trot again this year. It was FREEZING that morning. Here is Seth doing a little dance and trying to warm up.

The route starts out with a huge hill and then the rest of the race is great. After we got up the hill, the cold wasn't as bad! It was nice to have a little exercise in the morning and feel much less guilt about what I was about to do to my body for the rest of the day!

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing as always. Arthur and Gregor always deliver absolutely delicious food. I always come home inspired to cook more and better.

The little cousins table.

Nelson. Tate's only boy cousin chillin' on his own.

Nelson is the best boy cousin a mom could ask for. He's kind and respectful and he also loves to be a boy. He's a great example for my little man. Nelson spent lots of time playing with Tate and trying to teach him boy things. One night they spent about a half hour wrestling each other and quoting Kung Fu Panda. "Ski-dush"

Tate slept very well that night.

And here are all the kiddos with Great Grandma Alice.

Next it was off to Boston to visit the Needham, MA Makechnies. We hit the perfect weekend to visit them and were able to see Hailey play a soccer game AND score a goal. (Tate even cheered her on, "Go Hailey!") And on Saturday we went to little Chloe's first performance of the Nutcracker with the Boston Ballet. She did great and I'm so glad we were able to go and support her. I have missed the Nutcracker. For several years growing up it was a big part of our Christmas routine. One or more of us were in the production so there were rehearsals and performances. It was great to see it again and listen to the beautiful music and wonder at the stunning dancers.

Arthur, Heather, Glenn, and Kim at the Boston Opera House.

We didn't spend much time down town in Boston this year but we drove through a bit. I love that city. It's big. It's old. It's kind of got this attitude of, "We don't really care about you. Do whatever you want, just don't bother us." I love it. It's gorgeous, it's got tons of fun cultural and historical things to explore. The one drawback is the cold. I'm even more of a wimp after living with out winters for a few years here in Texas. But still, every time we go I think, "I could totally live here."

The Needham Makechnies were wonderful to us as well. Tate slept in Hailey and Chloe's room and luckily didn't wake them up too much! The girls were such adoring cousins and were great to play with Tate and share their toys. We were even able to partake of what is apparently a weekly tradition at their house, home made pizza and movie night. A treat indeed!

We only stayed with them for 2 night but we stayed up into the wee hours to have great conversations about just about everything. I love those guys. Then it was time to head back to Texas. Tate, giving some love to Hailey:

And Chloe:

Our trip home was a bit of an adventure. We checked in the night before but by the time we got to the airport our flight had been cancelled and we were put on a flight leaving two hours later. So we waited for that one and then waited on the tarmac for over an hour for something to be fixed so we missed our connection in Detroit. We waited in the Detroit airport for 4+ hours and then finally got home at 10pm. This is how we all felt:

Amazing how we seem to come home from vacations more exhausted than we left. Totally worth it. Thanks for the good times East Coast Makechnies. We love you and miss you already!

Half Marathon

This morning Glenn and I ran a half marathon. We did. We ran 13.1 miles. It was really cool. I don't have pictures of us but our good friend took some and hopefully she'll send them to me and then I'll post some later.
I had all these irrational fears of bad things that could happen during the race: bodily functions gone very wrong, tripping fellow runners, injuries and such. None of them happened. So that's good. Glenn signed up for the race with me months ago but then decided he probably shouldn't run it because he has patellar tendonitis and some other stuff that makes running really painful but he went to a doctor last week and the doc told him to wear some bands and that he would be fine. So he ran it with me. It was nice not to be alone out there.

Janelle Cluff, our friend from Austin, is from Houston area and she was going to be down here for Thanksgiving week so she offered to watch Tate while we ran. We stayed at her parents house last night in Clear Lake to be closer to the race this morning for us, and then she took care of Tate all morning while we were running. She got him ready and brought him down to see us at the finish. It was wonderful. So wonderful to have her help. Really, the only alternative if she hadn't offered, and since Glenn was running with me, was to push him in our jogging stroller. Tate would have been going crazy stuck in the stroller for that long! So a big shout out to Janelle and her parents for all their help. We are so grateful.

Glenn and I woke up at 5:15 to head down to Galveston. I was feeling nervous and having a conversation with myself that went something like this:

- "Why did I think this was a good idea?"

- "You must be really stupid, I guess."

- "You're right. This was a dumb idea. Seriously, who does this? Look at all these people who are in amazing shape and do this all the time and then there's me. Just decided to train for something with my sister because I was feeling stuck about my situation and needed a goal. That doesn't make me a runner."

- "I know. Like I said, not real smart."

It was exciting and scary and about 10 other emotions at the same time. Glenn was his normal social, jovial self, making jokes with people in line for the bus and packets and chatting with everyone in BYU or Boston Red Sox gear. I think it would take a lot to make Glenn feel any pressure.

We picked up our shirts and bibs and got on a bus to take us to the race start at a beach on the other side of the island. It was beautiful. Just beautiful. It started at the beach that we went to a couple months ago and wound around a little loop before turning beside the sea wall for about 8 miles. I could not imagine better conditions for my first long race. The sun was coming up but it wasn't too hot or too cool, the ocean view for miles and miles, sea breeze, the course was flat flat flat, and there were water tables every 1.5 miles. Seriously, hours of looking at this:

It was beautiful.

I realized when I got there and as I was running that there is so much more about running and running races that I don't know. The only race strategy advice I was given was not to start too fast because you will run out of steam and have a hard time finishing strong. So I spent the first 5 miles making myself slow down and watching my pace to keep myself at the pace I wanted to maintain. Then about mile 7-8 is started to get hard to speed up and maintain the pace I was aiming for. It was discouraging to look down and see myself going slower than I wanted and try to speed up...then look down again and realize I hadn't sped up at all. I just couldn't get myself to go any faster. Glenn did great. It seemed, and actually was, pretty easy for him. He didn't hurt or get too tired. He stayed with me and could have gone faster than me most of the time too. That made me mad. I'm over it now but it was frustrating that it comes so much easier to Glenn. He's not too sore or tired now. He's basically just a natural athlete. Impressive, and impossible to compete with...so I'll stop trying.

I was a little disappointed with my time even though I made really generous goals and I actually made it under my really generous goal time. I'm fine now though. I'm realizing how amazing of a thing I did today. I'm proud that I was able to train and get through it fairly easily. I never had to walk. I never felt like I had to stop. And the miles seemed to pass pretty quickly. It was a great run and certainly the most beautiful I've had. Never ever in my life before a few months ago would I have imagined running a half marathon. I just started running after Tate was born and it's been huge for me, someone who has never regularly exercised before to have this as my thing. I'm not fast or good but I'm happy with it and I actually enjoy it. I never thought I would, but I do. I'm so glad I ran this race and now I have a time to try to beat for the next time!

So...anyone wanna run it with me next year?

Me in 1983

Is this Tate today, or me back in 1983? I'll let you guess...

Little Adventures

Last Thursday Tate and I went downtown to play. The Museum of Fine Art was free that day so I thought we could check it out. We found this great furry caterpillar on our way in and stopped for a few minutes to watch him. Tate is still talking about the "capillar" with yellow stripes. He was a really cool find.I walked around the museum a couple days last summer with little man in a front pack and really enjoyed it. It was a different story this time. He was busy, and while he loved the pictures of "castles" and finding all the animals and pictures of Jesus, he was a bit too noisy and got bored quickly. But we made it work for a short time with the help of some fruit snacks.
I loved it. It was a much needed deep breath. Not sure how else to describe it. Just taking in those beautiful paintings brings me back to my days abroad wandering through larger museums filled with beautiful paintings by some of the same artists. It was relaxing to wander through paintings in styles and by names that I recognized and remember all the things I've been lucky enough to see and learn.

Then we took off to do something Tate would actually enjoy. There is a little train that goes all the way around Hermann Park, a huge park in the middle of the city. Tate is so excited about trains lately that he and I couldn't resist taking a ride.

We sat in the very back row. We watched the train tracks go past. We waved at the ducks in the ponds. We pointed out bikes, trees, fountains, big rocks, squirrels and castles (every big building is called a castle). We even went through a tunnel. He's big into tunnels right now.Little man couldn't sit still. There was so much to see from every angle. He kept touching every screw, pole, board, everything he could get his hands on. It was a fun morning exploring a couple things our city has to offer and spending some quality time with Tate-o.

Little Sweetie

I just have to record a few recent moments of sweetness before they're lost to the dusty recesses of my brain. This morning I was doing my makeup on the couch and Tate crawled up next to me and tackled me in a big hug and said into my neck, "Because I love you". I just about cried. He's such a sweet, happy boy right now and I swear my chest can barely hold my heart when he, in his tiny little boy voice with his sweet little lisp and limited vocabulary tells me little sweet things.
Sometimes when he wakes up way too early and I'm not ready to get up I take him in to our bed and let him drink his milk while I lay down for a few more minutes. A couple days ago he woke up and I came in to talk to him. I told him it was too early to get up and it was still dark outside. He said, "snuggle (which comes out thnuggle) in Daddy's bed?" He has my number, that's for sure.
Last week it was, "Mom is SO bootiful" as we were driving to Costco.
A little while back I was putting clothes away in my closet and he walked in, held out the skirt I was wearing and said, "So darling!"
He's been such a happy child the last couple of weeks. Just a joy to be with and talk to. I love these times.

Halloween Festivities

We had a very fun and very busy weekend. We started off with a fun zoo trip with Glenn on Friday afternoon. I love those half day Fridays. They have a dinosaur exhibit there for just a few more days and Tate loved it last time I took him so we thought we'd have a go with Daddy. They have huge dinosaurs that move and make noise. The first time we went it was all I could do to keep him from crossing the rope and climbing on them. This time he was a bit more timid. He was glad Dad was there to reassure him that these big guys were okay. He has new favorite animals all the time but right now his favorites are definitely the fish. He loves all the fish exhibits. We've tried to convince him to crawl in this tunnel underneath the fish several times but this time he agreed...as long as Glenn went first to make sure it was okay, and then I had to go through with him.
He also loves the sting rays and the jelly fish. It's nice to have an excuse to just stare at these creatures. They are pretty incredible.
Saturday the 30th was really our Halloween and we had a full day. I got up early to go for my longest training jog. 10 miles. I found a few ladies from a different ward who jog every Saturday and met up with them. One lady is training for a marathon so she had to do 20 miles. I ran 10 with her then she kept going. It was great. It was the first long run where I felt like, "That wasn't so bad. I could totally do another three miles" afterward. It was a huge confidence booster.
Glenn took Tate to his first little birthday party and I met them as soon as I got ready. A little girl in our ward here turned two and she invited him to her party. He was in a great mood and being well behaved until I showed up and then he turned into the fuss monster. What's that about? He seemed to have a good time playing with all the other kiddos. I was so proud of how well behaved he was. I love those times.
Then we took kiddo home for his nap. He took a great nap but for some reason woke up a total grumpster. He was ornery pants for the rest of the day, which is a bummer. We dressed him up in his "Woody" costume and went over to a neighborhood festival for a bit. This is the only picture we got with all of his costume pieces on. He kept removing them as the night went on.
They had pony rides at the festival which was a must for our little cowboy. He loved having a chance to ride "bullseye" just like Woody.
Then of course there was the petting zoo which he loved. I think he could just chase and snuggle smelly animals all day if I let him.
After that we headed to the ward Trunk or Treat. It was a good time. There were so many darling costumes on tiny little people. Glenn and I took turns walking around with Tate, sharing a root beer float, chatting with ward members, and trying to get rid of all our candy. I think Tate got the "trick or treat" thing by the end but he was really content just to carry around a couple candies in his fists until they melted and got all squishy inside. He had moments of giggling and being sweet and happy but if anything went wrong he would just melt down. Silly kid. All in all though, I think we had a pretty great day.