Where's Waldo?

This picture is funny for two reasons. The first is Hannah and the dress she wore to church this morning. This was one of Sydney's dresses and for some reason the dress is size 18-24 months but the hat is 6-12 months. It was never an issue with Sydney because she was not a big fan of hats. Hannah on the other hand, loves hats and insisted on wearing this too little for her hat to church this morning. Secondly, have you found Sydney? She sometimes has a little trouble sharing the spotlight and even though Corey tried to get a picture of Hannah alone... Sydney still somehow managed to get part of herself in the shot.

Picture of the week

Corey look this pic this morning before church while the girls were eating breakfast. It's a favorite of mine now so I wanted to share.

Z is for Zoo!

Friday Sydney had the day out for school so we used the afternoon to take some time off work and take the girls to the zoo. It was a great day to go, it wasn't too crowded, the weather couldn't have been better and because it was so nice all the animals were out too. Hannah loved feeding the giraffes...and Sydney liked it. The raccoons were very excited to see us and we thought it must be because somehow they knew Sydney's soccer team was called the Maroon Raccoons, but we found out that is was almost dinner time when we walked up and they probably thought we were there to bring food. The best part of the day was when we ran into a friend who I grew up with at church who now works at the zoo. She let the girls come right up to the fence of the deer and feed them a whole bag of carrots. We then got to go over to the Mountain Lion cage and Sydney got to pet a Mountain Lion. It was through the fence, she wasn't actually in the cage with them. They would rub up against the fence like a cat does against your leg and Sydney would put her hand right up against the fence to pet it as it walked by. Hannah didn't stick around for that part though. When the girls first got up close to the fence the male and female Mountain Lions had a few words with each other because the didn't want to share the attention. Hannah decided she didn't like that and quickly changed her mind about being that close to a big kitty kitty.

A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon

Sunday afternoon, after church and after naps, we headed out to the new Ruteledge-Wilson Farm. We hadn't been out there before and we were impressed with all the things to do. They have lots of farm animals to look at including two HUGE pigs and some roosters and chickens. Hannah was a fan of all the animals especially the rooster. She started to get a little too close to the fence and I was afraid she might get pecked at and then she and the rooster would no longer be friends, luckily that didn't happen. Sydney was very proud of the frame she made with the fall flowers glued to it. We then headed to the play ground and let the girls run around for a while. The only problem with the afternoon was that I think everyone else in Springfield had the same idea as us and the place was very crowded, we will pick another day and try to go back again hopefully when everyone else doesn't have the same idea.

Dressin' up in Mommy's shoes

Sydney has already started teaching Hannah the fun of playing dress up. Saturday morning, before they were out of their PJ's, Hannah and Syd decided to walk around in my shoes after breakfast. Considering both pair have a heel, I was impressed with their struts and turns. Lookout catwalk...here they come.

What a fun weekend!

Saturday morning started with Sydney's soccer game after my run. Aunt Missy was in town so she and Hannah got to watch the game from the sidelines with Grandma and Papa. After the game Corey and Hannah went home for a nap and Sydney and I went to Michael's to make a free jeweled American Girl t-shirt for her American Girl doll. Saturday night was the big event, Sydney and I went to see High School Musical at the Springfield Little Theatre. I'm always impressed with the productions they have there. We really enjoyed ourselves and the show. I think the most memorable part of the show was when a little girl in front of us, probably around 5, farted around an unusually quite time in the show. I think everyone in the balcony heard it. Sydney looked at me and smiled, but we had a good laugh about it when we got in the car after the show.

Sunday after church we went to Grandma and Papa's for lunch before Mis left and after lunch we went down to the dock at the lake to feed the fish. That's always fun, there are these HUGE fish, maybe Carp, and there are so many of them and they are so big and they create a layer of sucking lips across the top of the water that ducks can walk across. It's really pretty weird looking and I do have fear of falling into the water and being sucked to my death.

I think the running bug is back.

I'm training for the Bass Pro Half Marathon Nov. 2nd but I must say I'm very behind right now. My heart just hasn't been in it and guess I forgot what I like about it until Saturday morning. After I ran the Chicago Marathon in '05 I didn't do much running after that, a few 5Ks here and there but nothing regular (I did have a baby in there somewhere so I'll use that as part of my excuse). I think the build up and actually running in the Chicago Marathon was so much work and then such a high to finish, I didn't want to go back to the build up of anything again, I didn't think anything could live up to that race. But on Saturday morning I remembered why I like to run. It's such a great reflective time for me. I like using the time to pray and be thankful and just to think. I like the challenge of my mind pushing my body when my body says stop.

I had a God thing moment on Saturday, as I was driving up to the park where I run, I prayed that I would run into Corey. He had a 22 miler that morning getting ready for Chicago and had left over an hour before I did. I was thinking that he could probably use a running partner for a couple miles to take his mind of the distance he had to go and I thought I could use the challenge of running faster than I would by myself. As soon as I started on the course, I looked up and saw him coming right toward me...the timing couldn't have been better. I must say my body is letting me know that I was not prepared to run as fast as I did for the first 2 miles, but you know what they say... No Pain, No Gain.