Check!

This weekend I crossed a major item off my goal list by running the Richmond half marathon. I've been really inspired by several friends who have trained for big runs, and when some of my friends here in VA said they were doing it, I knew this was my chance. Training totally kicked my trash, but I had so much fun on the day of the race, and it felt amazing to cross that finish line (a full thirty minutes ahead of my goal!). (For a much, much longer report of the race, you can read here.)

Of course the biggest thanks has to go out to Bria and Sam who formed the world's greatest fan club, cheering me on. They sacrificed a lot for me to go out running all time-- especially the long Saturday runs. I seriously couldn't have done it without them.

Cox Farms

Last weekend we wanted to squeeze in a little more fall/Halloweenish fun, so we set out for Cox Farms for their pumpkin smash (they drop pumpkins from a tall crane and also launch them from a catapult). We took our nephew Colin, which is always thrilling for Bria, and we had an awesome time! It was absolutely freezing that day, but totally worth it.

 

stinky pigs-- they both plugged their noses without prompting or coordinating.

tons of slides! it only took about an hour to convince bria to go down one.

this was my favorite thing ever.

Star Wars Halloween

This was the year. Bria wanted to dress up as Queen Amidala for Halloween, and the natural progression was for Sam to be Han Solo and me to be Princess Leia. I enlisted my friend Katie to help me sew Bria's costume, and every time I sat down to work on it, I thought "what did I get myself into?!?!" but I think it turned out pretty well. The biggest obstacle was the headpiece. By the morning of Halloween, I had settled on just having her wear a gold headband (which means without makeup at her school parade her costume was pretty unrecognizable), but Sam had a stroke of creativity and crafted her headpiece while I furiously whipped out my Princess Leia get-up in the couple hours before the trunk-or-treat.
I always told Sam I would only do a family-themed Star Wars Halloween one time, so he better choose which year wisely, but I have to admit, I kind of loved being Princess Leia. Dare I admit I would totally do it again?