The first few weeks of November

The first few weeks of November didn't start out really great. There was a lot of bodily fluids being cleaned up by yours truly.  The smell of poop and vomit were burned into my nostrils. I am happy to say we're going to come out of this alive but it was a reminder that winter is going to be long and hard. We (I) have a hard time being trapped in the house all day and night.  

Look at that girl's side eye. She's got it perfected. She's exhausting.  He's exhausting. Hell. They are all exhausting.  He's still awake at 9:44pm b/c I didn't wake him from his nap in time to go back to bed.  Now he's got markers out at the kitchen table while I try to ignore him.  I ignore him enough to ensure he doesn't draw all over the kitchen with the markers.  

 She's such a mess.

 But as long as she's feeding herself it's a win.

There is a challenge that the local running store is putting on re: running all the North/South streets in OP. I have approx 9 miles left to go out of the 100 miles (+/- 10 miles). My body is starting to revolt against me. I am exhausted. It's almost over. The only way to cover ground is to get outside and move. Even if it means throwing three kids in a double stroller and praying for the best.

I find him sleeping in random places around the house.  The last two days he has gone to his room and put himself to bed. It would be awesome if it wasn't 3:30pm when he decided he was ready for a nap.

 Serious.

The babysitter took them to the library (b/c I don't) and let them check out 15 books (b/c I don't) and they loved it. They picked out some really fun ones to read and we read them all the time. If I didn't feel like the library was a breeding ground for some contagious disease I would go more often.

Taking care of business.

I signed up to run a 15k. I hadn't ever run a 15k before. It turned out to be a nice day after my race partner, Jill, and I stood in the chilly November air for 1.5 hours before the race started. My feet hurt they were so cold. I was happy with my overall/average per mile time.  It was a good race. During the race they handed out M&M's, chocolate chips, strawberry & chocolate marshmallows. I snagged some M&M's just in case. Then at the end of the race we received delicious hot cocoa, marshmallow, banana, chocolate sticks and pretzels with some melted chocolate for dipping. It was awesome.

The sunglasses were free from a bank handing them out on the course. They ended up being really useful b/c it was really sunny and they fit my head without falling off or needing pushed up every 2.7 seconds.

Check out that Keokuk sweatshirt. That's some pride :) It was the only sweatshirt I was comfortable ditching along side the street if I got too hot.  Luckily it came home with me.

 Oh the dramatics. She gets really ticked when you shut off the running water.

On one of the last nice days of the season (I am afraid) I made Miss M go outside with me and plant the tulip bulbs Andrew and I bought in Amsterdam. Planting bulbs was not fun. So far I think the bulbs are safe. I was really worried the squirrels were going to dig them up right after I planted them. I did sprinkle the ground with cayenne pepper. The problem was that it was really windy and I got a lot of it up my nose and in my eye. It was miserable. The burn lasted for quite awhile.

He loves watching shows with Miss M.

Mimi  has a mini-me.  Like for real.

Miss M found my glasses and had tried them on the day before Mimi sent me a picture of herself. Mimi was showing me she was ready for the Hawkeye game but I immediately noticed that the picture looked insanely like the one Miss M had taken.

It kills me.

And Aunt Nessie spent her last birthday in her 30's with us.  We had a surf and turf dinner with friends and family over. It was a fun evening.  The kids were so excited about decorating we started on Friday when the party wasn't until Sunday.  And decorations are still hanging on Tuesday.  We might have to take her out for her next birthday dinner b/c it will be such a special/monumental one!!!