Red Shoe 10K

On this 38° morning, Grandma Cathy took the guys to karate while Jon judged SC All State Band auditions and I ran 6.2 miles downtown in the Red Shoe Run!  Aside from a brutal hill in the entire first mile and again at mile 4, I had fun and raced my fastest 10K pace yet.  No, I did not wear red shoes... the race benefactor was the Ronald McDonald house.

The course.  Halfway through, there were officials holding signs for 5K finish to the right, and the 10K 2nd half in the other direction.  Oh, how tempting it was to just turn right!

Plenty of sweat (hence the elbows), even with the cold temps.

Jon and I don't have any races in the plan for February.  Our next will be the Saint Patty's Day 10K March 16, which is great downtown fun, and then the, gulp, Palmetto half on April 13.

Merry Christmas to Us

The uber-romantic gift Jon and I decided to give each other for Christmas 2012 was a new dishwasher!  Color us old, or boring, or maybe simply practical; we are both very happy about the decision.

This is a shot of the old dishwasher, taken a year ago.
It had fallen apart, AGAIN, at some point during a cycle.
Ahh... the memories.

And here's the new beauty, installed a couple of weeks ago.

We are in love.

Where were these lovely sub countertop controls when we had two curious, rotten toddlers?!?

Spiderman: Husky, 3-Feet-Tall Version

Bikers

Andrew's Orange Stripe Belt

Friday night, Andrew earned his orange stripe belt. We are as proud as ever and excited that his next belt test will be for a black suit!

There are lots more photos in my facebook karate album: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151275029839855.487270.735549854&type=1&l=0845e1d0fb

some of the orange guys with mr. mike before the test

his grappling is improving

he's always been good at the kicks

playful

all spiderman, all the time

mr. mike made him stand at attention while ethan paraded by.  NO LOOKING!

jumping jacks

joyful kid

back at it

Today was my longest run since the half marathon on November 10.  The last two miles were rough.  It was nice being back at it, though, and on a sunny, pretty January holiday.  Jon's also taking advantage of the weather; he's out for a long run right now!

Busy Andrew Day

Our district had a teacher workday today which meant Jon and I had no students but Andrew had nowhere to go, either.  So, he went to Daddy's school in the morning, we met for lunch, then he came with me in the afternoon.

As usual, I didn't get as much accomplished as I had intended.... I entered grades and completed a couple of bulletin boards, attempted to get the kiddo to nap in my office (fail), we played around on the steel pans a while, and before we knew it, 3:15 rolled around and it was time to head home.  He fell asleep in the car for a bit, we ate a quick dinner, and then it was off to his karate belt test where he earned his orange stripe belt.

Now, we enjoy a relaxing 3-day weekend!  Yay!

First Lost Tooth

Or should I say TEETH! Andrew officially lost his first two this afternoon after a month of wiggly ones in front of permanent teeth that were already emerging.  We called him the shark this month, but when he awoke from today's nap, we noticed a strange lisp and then the missing teef!  Jon had to go on a search and rescue mission to find them under his bed (?).

This is just another whimsical reminder that our first born is growing up way too fast.

Record Breaking Heat!

We set a record today with a high of 82 degrees. The boys and I took full advantage by staying outside basically the whole day.

Bathtime Padawans

Last Day of Break

Fourteen amazingly glorious days of being off are coming to an abrupt end tomorrow morning as the entire family heads back to school.

The superheroes who protected us so well this break will need to hang up their costumes once again.

Ethan's school was actually open today so we took him there.
He needed  the structure and was excited to get back to see his friends.

So, Andrew enjoyed the day as an only child.  We watched some Star Wars movies.

We also got out my vintage Star Wars toys.

We have all enjoyed the time off, but are mostly ready to get back into a routine.  The rest of the school year will fly by.