Girl in motion

Spinny spin like a ballerina.

Point and flex

Cute little body.

Paige and I started a Mom and Me dance class last week. I really want to capture some better pics but a girl in motion is hard to capture especially when mama is supposed to be dancing too. I think I get more of a workout than she does. It's pretty cute. The class is for 18-24 months and they pretty  much just play around the room and pretend to dance. They run the class! It's only 30 minutes long and that is plenty because after about 15 minutes they are animals!! Paige LOVES to twirl and put her arms above her head like a ballerina. This is the same studio Claire took class last year so Paige remembers watching every week. She is excited to actually be in the room now!

13.1 miles

My first morning run!! 6am!!!

Rock N Roll Course! Blue is the half marathon!! Can you imagine doing the red course?!
NO WAY JOSE!

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!!!! My dear friend, Amanda, talked me in to doing a HALF marathon with her in January! She has done this marathon before and said it was an amazing experience. I haven't always understood the whole marathon thing. I don't get just running around! In the past couple of years though I have seen friends do different marathons and mud runs that look like a total blast. I have been curious what it's really all about and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with it. I want to feel that. Amanda is a great support and this will be a great bonding time for us.

Now why didn't I start with a 5K or even a 10K instead of a 13.1 mile half marathon?? I am crazy I guess!! I am SO nervous and freaked out about the current state of my body and how far this course is that it is giving me the motivation to really get out and start working on myself. I haven't worked out consistently since I was a teenager and having 2 kids really shows now. I have gained 20lbs since having Claire (10lbs with each kid) and although I am proud of my body for carrying my girls, I don't love it anymore. I am tall and skinny and all my weight goes to my middle and butt which is easy to cover up. Skinny arms, legs, and face give the illusion that I am in great shape but I ain't!! It's time to get my body back to a good place. I can't promise to lose 20lbs because I don't feel like I need to look like I did at 29 but I do want to feel good overall. I know some of my friends shake their heads at my "out of shape" comments but I hide it well. I plan to take pictures of my body now and my body in January so that the proof is there. I don't want to set myself up for failure so I am keeping my goals realistic for now. I really really hope I can do this!!!

If any of my friends (Kelly???) are as crazy as I am sign up here:

http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/arizona

Claire Bear

Claire Bear has been a busy girl these days! She had her BFFs birthday party last weekend and her first Girl Scouts meeting. Guess who her troop leader is?? ME! That's right....what have I done!!! What did my sweet friend, Megan, wrangle me in to is the real question!? It's quite the under taking to set up a troop but we are figuring things out the hard way. Our first meeting was cute but a little too long. We lost them about 45 minutes in to the meeting. All went well overall and I can't wait to see what other crafts, meetings, and field trips we have up our sleeves this year! Soccer starts next week! Then it's Claire's 5th birthday. FINALLY!! She has been dying to turn 5. 11 more days!

THEN....it's Halloween and Claire already wants to be Minnie Mouse. Luckily her bff, Jordyn, had a costume for her to borrow. Paige thinks that Claire is the real deal Minnie and gives her lots of hugs. Claire loves all the attention. So cute!

Labor Day

This cracks me up. I said "SMILE" and Paige (who has total bed head!) gave me this face and Claire stopped smiling as soon as I snapped the picture. Gotta love taking pics of the kids. Eric looks thrilled too with my point and shoot! Claire then proceeded to make "crazy" excited faces.

 

Labor Day weekend Claire got to have a sleepover at her Uncle Tom and Tia's house and boy was she excited. She woke up at 7am fully dressed and drug wheeled her suitcase down to the front door. They didn't pick her up until 1pm. It was a LONG morning. She sat in her car seat for about an hour waiting. She was a bit excited! Good thing she had fun because she came home late Monday and ended up sick Tuesday - Saturday and missed school all week. Terrible viral crap hit her hard!  Glad that is over.

Picture inspiration

I have rarely been able to blog without a picture and lately I just haven't had too many pictures! Since my last post we moved in to our new house and have been busy with all that entails. We are completely unpacked which is great and wasn't too hard to accomplish since we don't have that much stuff. Now we are in this big empty house! Okay, it's not that empty but it feels like it since we don't have much stuff to hang on the walls. Our last house didn't have a lot of wall space but rather windows so we have a lot of empty walls. We also have white walls. I want to add some paint and color but it's a big job! Slowly but surely right? I love the girl's rooms. We painted those before we moved in and Claire's all pink room is adorable. At first I thought it was too much pink but I love it! The entry way is my other pet project. I added a table so far with some decor....much more to come!

Celebration Friday

Claire and her best buddies finished their first week of school!!! We took the girls to their favorite ice cream (don't tell them it's frozen yogurt) place after school today. They were exhausted but still happy after 5 full days. I am so proud of my baby girl and all her friends. The twins, Morgan and Milina (pictured above), are at the same school but different class. They get to see each other at recess so that's pretty cool. Claire and Jordyn are in class together and doing great. It's nice that they have each other. It gives me so much relief each day to know she has her buddy. I think we are all getting the hang of things. I am getting used to this carpool drop off. It's a little daunting to just drop her and drive off. I am trying to time when I need to get there each day. Claire is learning who her classmates are and where to go (BIG thanks to Jordyn's big sis, Irelynn, for walking the girls to class each morning from carpool drop off). She loves when they play freeze dance and go to recess....gotta love kindergarten. She said she really loves Gwen and Michael so far which is incredibly ironic because those are the names of my bff's parents (that I met in kindergarten!!). So crazy! I had to call Kaylan and tell her about Gwen and Michael. Hilarious.

One week down....many more to go but so far so good!

First day of school!!!

First day of school was today!! More importantly, first day of KINDERGARTEN!!! Claire did awesome going in to her new class. I was so proud of her. She was nervous but more excited than scared. I was just as nervous too (maybe more). I held it together but was tearing up on the way to the parking lot. It was tougher than I thought. I  had all these flashes of memories in my head of being big and pregnant painting her nursery, joining our first baby group, and all the memories in between. Ack. It flooded my heart and I cried big ole tears. It's true...total ugly cry. As I have mentioned before, we tested Claire in to school a year early so it really feels like time went fast getting to this moment. We still feel really good about our choice and are excited to see how the year unfolds. One day at a time!!

When I got home from school drop off  I felt a little lost. Obviously, I still have Paige with me all day but it really hit me that our whole life revolves around Claire. Paige isn't in a baby group. She doesn't have parties or classes to go to yet. I drag her around on MY errands and to CLAIRE'S classes and events. I guess I have to now focus on what Paige and I can do together in the mornings. I am sure it will be great for us! It's just a shift in dynamic for our day and it will take some adjustment.

Moving day is next week! I am simply overwhelmed with all this "newness"! Having never moved with kids before I am a bit anxious about getting them settled in and seeing how they handle it all. Kids are so resilient and I keep reminding myself of that! I am so excited for our new home!

Bye bye summer break!!!