26.2!!!!

I'm so happy to say I have now done 8 full marathons :) Mankato was definitely a great one and we had so much fun as a family on our lil weekend trip. I was so thankful to have Chris, the girls and my mom and dad there. We enjoyed the expo where both girls got to "race"...

and we staged a few photos on these haystacks and pumpkins...I got my packet...everything but the shirt which is fine by me...it says finisher. I should not get it until I finish. Some races give you your shirt that say finisher before you actually finish it. I also bought myself a headband that says 26.2 and I think will keep my hair back better than anything I have tried before so thats good. Nothing more annoying than your hair in your face or a headband that wont stay on and keeps popping off your head.

 

We ate a quick lunch at the hotel and then headed to Minneopa State Park to do a short hike and find a letterbox. It is a beautiful state park in the fall with all the colors but it was quite cold when we went so we didn't stay too long. The falls would be gorgeous on a different day/time of year too. There was no water at all coming down...so weird. Here are some pics from our fun:

I was hoping to go out to eat for my carbo loading the night before but we checked out a few places and learned everywhere would be 45 min to an hour wait just for a table 

and then it would be even more waiting for food once ordered. SO we realized our best bet would be to order Olive Garden for pick up and eat it at the hotel. We swam while Chris went to pick it up and then we feasted in the lobby. 

The girls had a hard time getting to sleep but eventually did and then I got some sleep too after setting everything out for the morning.

Here I am before the big run:

And here are a few during:

about mile 13

water at 10

finally the end. what a long but fun homestretch!

It was wonderful to see these guys' smiling faces and hear their cheers every few miles after mile 10, which is where I saw them first :) They also supplied me with GU and energy jelly beans :)

DONE! WOO HOO!!

And me with the fam showing off 8!!! 

2 more to go and I have reached my goal of 10 in my life...maybe I will do more but will be so happy when I reach 10. This one was awesome. A lil cool to start but no snow and it was only a real windy cold rain from about mile 14-16. A couple hills but less than I was expecting and plenty of pretty scenery! It was not my fastest, but not my slowest either and I did it just a year after a baby and working mostly fulltime. I don't toot my own horn very often but I am proud of myself for doing this :) I couldn't have done it without the help of Chris and my parents making time to watch the girls so I could go run. I think I would have been closer to 4 hours 30 minutes not 4:38 if I didn't have to pee three times during the run. That was so strange for me. I have never had that happen in any of the previous 7 or on my long training runs. Must have been a little nervous? We had hoped to go to Emma Krumbees on our way home but the weather had different plans. Cold and rainy is not ideal for an apple orchard. We ate at one of Chris' favorite places from when he went to school near Mankato and stopped at a huge candy store near the orchard which sold apples and of course candy but also hundreds of fun kinds of old fashioned bottled pop. I bought some Honeycrisp, fudge, caramel apples and root beer and black cherry pop. Now that I have taken a full week off I think I will try running again tomorrow.

Date Night and Thursday day of mostly fun...

Chris and I finally used our wonderful friend neighbors to babysit the girls and got to go out to dinner together. I do believe the last date was for Chris' bday back in July. We need to do it more. No excuses. The girls did great with our neighbors and they even have a lil girl Linnea's age. We decided to go to the Bull Dog in downtown St. Paul this time and it was delicious! Kind of just a burger and a huge variety of beer spot but thats what we were going for this time. They also have flavored tator tots! We got garlic ones. yummy!

Linnea and I had the next day off for MEA and we mostly had a wonderful day! We went to lil explorers at the Como Zoo again which is something I LOVED while on maternity leave so it was great to go back. It was a bear theme so L did some sorting, coloring and told Harper the story of the Three Little Bears on a felt board. We also listened to a story before heading out to Woodbury for the Teddy Bear Band Concert.

Once upon a time in a nursery rhyme there were three bears...

sorting.

After the concert I decided to take Linnea to the dr again for her nagging sore throat. She survived the culture with a few tears and resistance but that was nothing compared to what happened next. Since she didn't have strep I thought we may as well get the flu shot/mist. We decided to go with the mist this year but she was absolutely terrified and cried and cried. With the help of two nurses the mist got in her nose 45 minutes later :( The doc thinks the throat issue is allergies so we are trying children's zyrtec as needed. So far it seems to be helping.

Putting this cute costume on later cheered her up:

Pillow from Lalaloopsy! Thanks to my friend for giving it to us :)

And Harper just remained fairly happy and patient through it all.

I am getting so strong and brave! Cruising along the furniture and pulling myself up on everything. Soon I'll be standing alone and then walking :)

Friday morning we met my dad at our bank to get our free pumpkins before heading to our usual storytime and puppet show. 

We met Susana (our nanny) and her son Andres who was also off on MEA there this time which was lots of fun. Linnea enjoyed having a buddy to listen to stories with and play in the library for a little bit after. Afterwards we packed for our trip to Mankato and had Sawatadee Thai food for dinner with my living social coupon. It was delicious and Linnea really enjoyed coming with me to downtown to pick it up. I tried to go to bed somewhat earlier than usual since we left for marathon weekend on Saturday! 

Halloween fun begins...

Last Sunday we had our annual New Parent Connection Halloween Party. As usual all the kids were adorable in their costumes. Linnea wore her Rapunzel costume, even the hair for a bit and Harper was a mouse. Linnea went to the party in the mouse costume when she was nine months. I hope to find a picture and compare but for now you just get them at their current ages:

 We brought some spiders to share:

and here is the crew posed and then running up and down the hill :)

The party got me feeling more festive so we decorated our door the following day...

We love our lil monsters!

Chris and the girls created another monster on one of our other doors too while I was out running...(Linnea would like to make every door a monster) speaking of running...marathon weekend is here so I better get to bed...26.2 miles on Sunday is going to be here before I know it! 

I'll catch up more next week! 

fun fall day :)

The girls and I had a super day yesterday! We didn't sleep in as much as we usually do on Fridays but that's alright :) However even tho we had extra time we still skipped our usual storytime before dance so we would have some time to do Halloween crafts and get ready for our afternoon at gma and papa's house. Oh and I tried to clean a lil since we were home...but not too much gets done with two lil ones around. Anyways...we went to dance early enough to have a picnic and play at the park beforehand this time. 

After dance we were ready to go to Woodbury to see gma and papa and also uncle Brad who was here for the weekend. Papa had a surprise for Linnea:

Kaylan was over too so I did some crafts with the girls after my run. We also went to the park and played in the leaves. 

Our sweet girl.

Linnea played too but while I was running...I hope to get some shots of both of them in the leaves together too :)

We ended the day visiting GG and having a Chinese food feast :) As usual GG loved seeing everyone together. Even if it gets a little loud and the kids chase each other around the tables and "play" the piano. Actually the kids did great with their toys and my crafts and eating. There was just a minor amt of running this time. That Harper also enjoys watching and tries to crawl along. Dwights (minus Kevin), Erik and family, Brad, my mom, myself and the girls were all there. Brian and dad were bowling and Chris wasn't feeling well so they missed the gathering this time. But there will be more :)