Birthday Reflections

Though my actual birthday was last Friday - the 13th - birthday celebrations in our family tend to start a few days early and end a few days later. It is just more fun that way. It started with a big birthday celebration with family (8 birthdays in all in October/November) when family was in town visiting in late October, included a 4.4 mile group trail run on Saturday and ended last night with my favorite birthday dinner of my youth made by my mom (breaded chicken tenders, egg noodles, cranberry relish and green beans - with chocolate muffins/ice cream for dessert!).

This year I helped my husband and dad lay laminate flooring in our family room on my actual birthday - just one part of the main level flooring project we tackled this fall. My husband took the day off from work, my mom took our daughter to the Tiny Tots program sponsored by the Seattle Symphony and our son was at school. The previous 2 days of the flooring adventure (the last 2 Saturdays) I was on kid patrol while the guys worked. Helpful? Absolutely. But I'm a hands-on gal, so I really enjoyed putting on those old jeans and a running t-shirt from 2004 to help out with the actual installation. I was in bed by 9:30 on my birthday, but I'd still call it a successful and happy day. I love my new floors!

As the day allowed, I did my usual birthday reflecting. I thought back to birthdays past:

1. In 5th grade I had a joint birthday party with my best friend (her name is Briana and her birthday is the day after mine - no joke!). We made cookies at my house and then we all headed down the street and around the corner for a sleep over at her house.
2. My 25th birthday weekend was also my marathon weekend at the SunTrust Richmond Marathon.
3. Last year was a pretty day and I celebrated it with a run! This year I did a quick 2 miles on the treadmill before it was time for the floor fun.

And I thought about how intimidated I was by the number "30" last year and how welcoming I find the number "31" to be this year. So now I give you a quick 5K version of what I'm thankful for as I round out my birthday celebrations (3.1 things!):

1. My body, mind and spirit continue to enjoy running
2. My children are adventurous & energetic souls like their parents
3. My husband and I are making reading a more regular part of our evenings
.1 The thrill of discovering what this next year has in store for our little family

How about you? Do you have something you do every year for your birthday?

Change of Plans . . .

So, this week was one that required us all to hang on tight and just ride out. I'm happy to report that we made it, but it was touch and go there for awhile.

- We opted out of school for my son on Monday due to a raspy/barky cough (which is still lingering, but not as bad as it was Monday morning)
- I took my daughter to the doc on Monday afternoon due to a head-smacked-into-door-jamb incident (all okay, but there's a nice bruise there still)
- my husband is sick
- my daughter is sick (requiring 1 sheet/jammie change through half-open eyes in the middle of the night . . . among other things)
- our son has been up every night (but one - and then I was awake out of habit - grrrr) this week for one reason or another
- I only ran one day

SO . . . mix that in with lots of good things:
- my mom's sisters are both visiting (think silliness, sewing, wine, visiting, eating, etc.)
- the sun has come out to peek at us twice
- the end-of-year school-wide field day and family picnic (think silliness, visiting, eating, running, sloshing through muddy fields to go to the bathroom, picture taking, crying when time to go home)
- the Symphony with the kids and my dad!
- playdates

And you get ONE WHIPPED PUPPY (that's me) and maybe even a somewhat neglected real pup! My plan to do a 10K tomorrow morning is OUT. I don't even think we'll downgrade to the 5K (and my still-sick husband has thrown in the towel, too). I think the plan for tomorrow is:

- sleep as long as the children will allow
- play the remainder of the day by ear
- be sure to fit in a trip to REI to get my dad's Father's Day present (one part is already taken care of, but won't be here by Sunday, so it is ESSENTIAL to have this other part on hand for our Father's Day cookout on Sunday).
- pray that BOTH children nap at the SAME time in the afternoon so that we can kick back and either nap or just veg out
- if everyone feels well, go for a casual run in the afternoon together with the double jogger

Wishing you dads out there a great Father's Day! May you find the weekend to be rejuvinating (that's what we're hoping for on this end)!