Survival skills

Jason is traveling the next 9 straight work days, so I'm planning on doing whatever I can to make life a little easier for myself. I'm going to shower at night to make the morning routine a little less hectic (bad hair, who cares!). I'm planning on eating a random combination of leftovers, fridge items, and frozen food for dinner so I don't have to cook (my version of the raw diet). I've booked a babysitter for next Thursday night so I can go out for happy hour with my coworkers (I have a feeling I will need a little fun with friends to get through the next 2 weeks). And finally, I've worked with Molly to draw up a schedule that makes us both happy.

Molls does soooo much better when she knows what's coming. If we wait until the morning to pick out clothes, she'll want a pink dress and nothing but a pink dress and will refuse to put on anything until after breakfast. But if we talk about her outfit the night before and lay it out on the bed, there's a good chance she'll wake up and put it on without me even asking.

Same thing with deciding what to do after school. If I ask Molly in the car what she wants to do when we get home, she'll tell me she wants to watch TV. By the time we walk in the door, we'll still be negotiating what she can watch and when. But if we discuss an activity in the morning, she'll usually bring it up on her own after school and be excited about it.

So, Molly and I sat down this morning and made a plan for the rest of the week. I knew TV had to factor in there somewhere, so we started with a movie night. Easy. Tomorrow we'll paint and take a bath. She's even agreed to wear pants! And then on Thursday, we'll break out the stencils. Jason comes home Friday night, so I think we'll wait and see what he wants to do. Can't have a plan for every night :)

Our schedule for the week...we'll see how this works

Soccer mom

I better blog about this now...my time as a soccer mom might be limited :) We're three weeks in and have yet to see Molly dribble the ball or even really participate in the game. She has thrown the ball in from the sidelines a few times. But when every other kid is running after the ball, Molly is usually running to the other goal to be as far from the action as possible.

That said, I have loved sitting on the sidelines with the other parents, cheering on the Silver Bears (our team). And Jason has absolutely loved being a coach. Molly is still very young and has plenty of time to figure out how a team works and that playing soccer does not always involve sharing. She also needs to figure out how to get through a 20-minute game without taking a bathroom break!

Coach Jason and Molly

Action shot - a rare moment with Molly running in the same direction as her team

Mix and match

Some days, I think I am raising a miniature Punky Brewster. Or a tiny fashion diva. Molly has pretty strong opinions about what she will wear and usually ends up in a somewhat ridiculous looking mish mosh of layers.

She prefers pink, the more shades the better, unless of course the top or dress has spaghetti straps (what she calls "noodle straps"). In that case, any color or pattern is acceptable. Molly likes to show some skin.

Molly also likes skirts and dresses, but will consent to wearing leggings under a dress or skirt if it is cold. Leggings with sparkles are preferred. The thought of wearing jeans usually sends Molly to the floor in tears.

I am sick of having a closet full of adorable clothes that Molly will not wear, so this year, I am going to take her shopping at Kohls and Target and let her have fun picking out new clothes herself. We'll probably end up with characters on the front of every shirt or dress and tights in every color. Or, it could end up like the time I took her to the Gap and she only wanted one thing - neon pink ballet flats.

Whatever happens, I'll just go with it! She's learning to express herself and what I think is cute may just not be cool enough in her eyes. Sigh. I get it. Instead of fighting about clothes, maybe I can inspire Molly to channel her inner Project Runway!

Born to run

I did it! I finished my first half marathon. I was hoping for 2 hrs and 15 mins and managed to cross the finish line at 2 hrs 17. Pretty close to my target time (approx 10 min and 30 seconds per mile). Whew. All that training paid off.

It ended up being a beautiful day for a run, which helped. As did the new songs on my playlist. Lose Yourself came on right at the 8-mile mark (perfect timing!) and really helped me get through the worst part of the race. Eye of the Tiger came on near the end when I most wanted to walk.

The best part of the race was the last quarter mile when I saw Susie, Sean, Betsy, Archie, George, and James in the crowd cheering me on. I missed seeing my parents for some reason, but then I was lucky enough to see Jason and Molly smiling by the finish line. It meant the world to have everyone there.

It definitely wasn't easy, and I still feel like I'm recovering (mostly from lack of sleep...I had to get up at 4 am on race day), but I'm glad I did it.

Thanks again to everyone who supported me through training and donated to my fundraising campaign. I promise the next race won't be as big of a production. What's that? What did I say? The next race? Who knows...but I'm thinking about it.

Before the race, wearing my lucky purple and bib #7575 (apologies for the port-a-potty background)

The home stretch! Thanks to Sean for capturing these action shots

Not too tired for a fist pump

20 years and counting

I love these girls:

Me, Natalie (holding Eva), Dana, and Lindsay

I'm so happy we're still such close friends after all these years. And even happier that we were all able to get together for a long weekend in Michigan.

It was a pretty lazy weekend. We hit the beach when the weather was nice, but most of the time was spent just hanging out together with the kids at the house. Here are some gems from the trip:

Our road trip included a stop at Big Boy. Neither Jason nor Molly had ever been!

Enjoying a little paddle boat ride around the lake

Family pic. No smiles from Molly.

Plenty of smiles with a guitar in her lap!

Posing with her best pal from the weekend -- Dana's dog, Gus!

Jason, Molly, and I also got some good family time in while everyone else was napping. We hit up a water park one afternoon and discovered that Molly is fearless when it comes to water slides. She even went headfirst, by herself, down one that was a good three stories tall. Go Molls! Check it out:

Off the grid

We just got back from 5 days in Northern Michigan with my favorite high school girls and their families. My cell phone service was spotty, at best, so I haven't been very well connected over the last few days. It's been kind of nice to take a break from technology, though we did post a few cute pictures on instagram when in service :) I'll write more later in the week, but until then, here's the happy family on vacation:

The other side of Lake Michigan

Thank you, Dana, for getting us all together for a long weekend. It was fun, fun, fun!