Veritas Spring Fever 5k

Steven and I signed up for and ran our second race together this morning. It was a 5k to benefit his school's athletic department and for this one, we both ran at "our own pace" - which meant Steven left me right at the start line and we paced by ourselves. I will say, running by yourself is not as much fun as running with someone, and next time I will have to bring my Ipod. But nonetheless, we both ran well. The race was a bit harder than I thought it was going to be. The last mile was all a slow, uphill climb, which proved challenging for everyone. In fact, I did not add one picture of me at the finish line that looks as if I had just been tortured (potentially today I may have described it that way!). The boys waited at the finish line with our ever faithful babysitter Alexandra. Steven finished 11th overall at 22:14 (which is a 7:10 mile pace) and I finished 35th overall at 25:04 (an 8:05 pace).

waiting for mom and dad
Just after the finish line
Steven has just passed (the grey shirt and shoe on the right) and as you see the clock says 22:16! Unfortunately for Steven he finished 3rd in his age cagtegory (the 30s are actually the most competitive category for runners) so he failed to get a sugar cookie.
I however (because I am a spring chicken just shy of that 30s group) finished 1st in my age group and was able to come away with a fondant iced sugar cookie with a one on it. Nice.

Two people failed to stay to claim their prestigious sugar cookie prize.... and our boys benefited greatly. Thank you Anthony!

How are they so weird....

.... with such normal parents?!







On their own volition our boys found plant pots.... placed them on their heads... and spent at least 30 minutes gleefully running around our driveway. It was a great memory. And to top it off Steven Edward has fallen in love with any form of water.... more specifically the hose and sprinkler. It is going to be a fun summer!

Buku

This is my shameless plug for the restaurant where my sister-in-law Ellen Breedlove works. We were able to go this past Saturday with our good friends John and Alanna and the food was amazing. Their theme is global street food, so they have different food from all over the world. Their head chef puts his own spin on things, but overall the place was great and I would recommend it to anyone who is in Raleigh or happens to be passing through. Here is their website if you want to check it out. It has only been open a couple months and I was uber impressed. Way to go Tony.


Here I am making them begrudgingly pose with me as they should be hard at work.


And then here are several shots of us at the WNC Nature Center last week. We had a great time in Chapel Hill, but it was a bit of a whirlwind so I failed to get any pictures other than our night out on Saturday.

Don't they look old in that picture!

We're so thankful it is warm!

My Boy is Three!

Steven Edward turned 3 on Saturday, April 3rd. There are plenty of things I could write about him here... the tens of funny sayings he has... or the clever ways he gets what he wants... or how he is like his father.... or his newest tantrum or loving thing he's done for his brother... but instead I'm just going to put a bunch of pictures. I couldn't really capture him here anyway - enjoy the visual.
Our first present of the day... still in pajamas.

We decided to have a party for him (which was a larger undertaking than I thought it would be... Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help!). It was a lot of fun. We started with a scavenger hunt....


... and then headed towards a painting activity... some people went with chance leaving clothes intact... others went with the Father's undershirt theory.... while others abandoned all stainable objects and resorted to painting in the nude.




... then headed to lunch, cake, and present opening... sadly my camera died at this point... so I will be relying on the photography of others!



Upon Steven Edward's request I made him a bulldozer cake. I followed the example of one I found on someone else's blog!