2011 « Our Life and Times

Archive for 2011

Rainy Day Marathon

Posted Friday, March 25th, 2011 by Mollie

Last weekend we went down to LA to cheer on my sister Jamie as she ran the LA Marathon! Southern California was experiencing it’s Storm of the Year, which made things extra adventurous. Andy declared our drive through Newbury Park/Thousand Oaks as the second worst weather he’d ever driven in, after a giant thunderstorm on our first drive to Texas.

There are many awesome Los Angeles landmarks on the course, which runs from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica pier. I had decided that we should set up our little cheering section in Beverly Hills, based on cleanliness, good parking, window shopping and availability of Starbucks. It started pouring and soaking the kids as soon as we got out of the parking structure, so we had to head back to the car to re-evaluate our setup. We rigged an umbrella over the stroller, which helped a lot. The kids were just happy to be along for the ride, as you can see.

One of the best parts of marathons is the spectators and the fun signs they hold. My mom makes really good ones so I had to try my best to keep up.

We parked ourselves right in the middle of Rodeo Drive, between miles 16 and 17. When the rain got harder, we could back up and hide in front of one of the shops! Thankfully Jamie was texting me along the way so we knew when she was getting closer.

There she is in her rain poncho! She was having a great time despite the weather. She said she felt great the whole way, which is awesome. I felt like that in my Long Beach Marathon.

Sadly I didn’t get pictures at the finish line. We sped over to Santa Monica but the rain was pounding down, it was freezing cold, and the wind was so strong that it was turning all the umbrellas inside out! I sent Andy and the kids back to the car and was not about to take my camera out either! Jamie I did get a picture of you in front of Anthropologie, but I didn’t know if you’d want it posted on the Internet because you looked kind of like you had almost drowned (same as everyone else!). But anyway… Jamie got her PR of 4:54 on this, her 3rd marathon. Way to go Jamie!

Posted in Life & Times, Running | 6 Comments »

Natalie’s 4th Birthday Party

Posted Monday, March 14th, 2011 by Mollie

This post is going to be heavy on the pictures, because they really do speak for themselves. We celebrated Natalie’s real birthday on March 1, but couldn’t schedule her party with friends until March 11. This is very confusing for a 4 year old! She very anxiously awaited the day of her party.

Andy took the kids to run errands in the morning so I could finish the cake…

6 layers of chocolate cake, with toasted marshmallow in between, and chocolate malt frosting on the outside. I always have a stash of recipes I want to make on special occasions, and this is the one Natalie chose.

Natalie has been blessed with so many sweet friends (who also have awesome mommies… bonus!).

I think it took Ben a full 24 hours to come down from his sugar/party high! He was pretty wound up!

After the party, with the Curtis kids… these 4 spend a LOT of time together and always play so nicely!

I think you can tell by Natalie’s face that her party was a success!

Posted in In The Kitchen, Life & Times, Natalie | 8 Comments »

Kids On Bikes

Posted Saturday, March 5th, 2011 by Toad

For her fourth birthday, Natalie got a bicycle. It has “manes” (so she calls them) and flowers and is otherwise very girly, and she has named the bicycle Daisy. When she is tired, it might be because Daisy needs to go eat some grass.

I took the kids out to the front yard, where they can ride in circles around our landlord’s roundabout driveway, and this picture is typical of how I typically saw her:

Natalie on bike

She loves her bicycle! She has trouble riding it up the steeper part of the driveway, and hasn’t quite got the hang of either set of brakes (the hand brakes are too big for her little fingers, anyway), but she has a great time.

When we unveiled the bicycle, Benjamin was quite distressed that there was not a matching vehicle for him. Since then, though, he’s relented, and is content to stomp around on the old Bigwheels trike:

benjamin-on-trike

His feet don’t reach the pedals and the noisemakers don’t work anymore, but he doesn’t know the difference and had a grand time!

Lest you think our lives some idyllic paradise, however, I submit exhibit C:

kids on elephant stump

Long ago, Natalie decided this bit of wood was an “elephant”, and it has been called the elephant rock or stump ever since.

The real joy of the excursion, though, was how nicely the kids played together, and how happy Benjamin was to see Natalie enjoying her bike! He was only too happy to help her out when she needed it. I wasn’t planning to video anything when we went out (because I am a lamo), so this is just a cellphone shot. It comes to you, nevertheless, in enhanced definition:

EDIT: As a quick caption, at the end of the video Ben is saying, “Good job, Nata! Good job, Nata!” I sometimes forget that not everyone speaks his particular brand of toddlish.

As always, if you would like a copy of the non-youtube’d video, feel free to ask.

Posted in Life & Times | 8 Comments »

More Joy of Love

Posted Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 by Mollie

Oh boy! I am so behind on this project. I have given up on keeping up with daily assignments, let alone blogging them! It will certainly extend into March for me but that’s OK. 🙂 I will pick and choose a few each week to share with you guys.

{Love to hate}

In this assignment I was supposed to photograph something a loved one does that drives me NUTS, but life wouldn’t be the same without it… so I caught Andy using his Droid at the dinner table. When a question comes up in conversation that no one can answer, he loves to whip out Wikipedia, find the answer, and educate everyone around him. Smart phones at the table are a pet peeve of mine… but on the other hand, I do learn a lot of interesting information about volcanoes and the British government this way!

{What they wear}

This is a typical outfit that Natalie would choose to wear on any given day. The pink ruffled dress (which is getting too small) is a favorite. She always comes up with great outfits, there really should be a weekly “What I Wore” feature on this blog!

{the eyes}

I have found that my covered porch in the morning light is the spot to get a good picture of the eyes. Benjamin got to be my main subject for this because, oddly enough, he is the only one who will sit still and make eye contact with the camera! I couldn’t decide which one I liked better.