Running update

Two big things this week:

I made it into the Marine Corps Marathon! This is a pretty big event, and they cap the entries at 30,000. It opened for registration last wednesday and sold out in 28 hours!! I made it in, as did Brent, so the Woodruffs and Smiths are headin' to DC in October. Rock on!!

As far as prep goes, we did 10 miles this weekend. Last weekend we did 8, and I remember thinking that it felt pretty good, and I could have done a few more miles when we finished. Not feeling that way yesterday! Ok, if push came to shove, I couldn't knocked out 3 more and been done the 1/2 marathon, but DAMN my knees and hip were sore! Nothing makes you feel old fast like a 10 mile run! Rest today, ibuprofen, and alot of stretching!

Do it!!!

I'm in! I have officially registered for the Marine Corps Marathon in October!! I am getting geared up for my first half-marathon in April (just ran 8 miles this past weekend!), and am PUMPED UP about the MCM!! Oooorah!

Bedtime snack

Boy, nothing makes you hungry like bedtime, right? This one is a favorite of James', the whole "I'm hungry, can I have a snack before bed?" right as we're about to tuck him in. Tonight he noticed a box of Cheez-Its on my desk in the office (don't judge) and asked for those. We reminded him that he'd had yogurt, dinner, and a piece of cake after dinner, and that there was no way he was hungry. He whined, "pleeeeease? but Cheez-Its are HEALTHY! There's CHEESE, and ITS". I did not realize that "its" were a food group, let alone a healthy one. I wonder if they'd help my running.

Boy stuff

The weather here this week is aaaamaazing! After a fantastic Friday evening with no homework and great weather for a little bike riding, etc, James and I were hanging out on the back porch, swinging in the porch swing. As we were snuggling, he let out a little burp and didn't even both to turn his head.. sharing the full brunt of it with me! When I pointed out how gross that was (again!), he reminded me that this is how boys are, they burp and do gross things, and then cracked up!

Well, as luck would have it, I was enjoying an adult beverage and was able to reciprocate a few minutes later.. and it was a quiet burp, but I made sure to blow it square in his face! There was about a 2 second delay before he scrunched up his little nose and said, "ew!! did you just burp?!?! that was awful!!". Now I was the one cracking up while I asked him, "still think it's funny?". Of course the little stinker grinned like a goofball and said "yep! good one!".

*sigh*

Future geek!

Everyone loves science!! We had a great turnout at this year's Science Fair, and once again, Prof. Woodruff earned himself an Honorable Mention for his Mummies! project. He was totally in his element, explaining the project to everyone who came up to the table (and there were many... apparently, mummies are super cool!), and even inviting one kid to "take a seat" and listen to his little lecture! He was entertaining and gracious, and clearly loved every minute of it!

When he found out he won an award, he actually jumped up and down all the way to receive it (which might have had something to do with the fact that it came with a candy bar!). He was beaming from ear to ear, but still had the good manners to go congratulate the winners of the competitive category (grades 3-5). Another great year!

Pic up top is one of MANY that we took, check the Photo Collection for more!

Gentlemen, start your engines!!!

Ok, technically, no engines. It was an exciting night, nonetheless, when James entered his first Pinewood Derby! The whole family has been carving out time (pardon the pun) for about a week or so, to get this sucker built! A few weeks back, James and I went to a PW Derby workshop at Lowe's and picked up a tuning kit (these kids are serious) containing weights, graphite, and sandpaper to smooth out the axles. Every bit of that kit went into his car, and it paid off on the big day!

James' Cub Scout pack consists of 1 den for each age group, approx grades 1 - 5 (I think). James is of course in the youngest Den, the Tiger Cubs. There are about 6 kids in his den. At the derby, each den gave out medals for 1st-3rd place, and then there were trophies for overall placement. James got a 2nd place medal for his den, and you'd have thought he landed on the moon!

If you don't already know what this event is, here's the deal...the boys are given was is basically a block of pinewood, about 3x3x8 (ish). It comes with 4 wheels, and 4 nails to function as axles. Then you do whatever you want to it to a) make it look cool, and b) make it roll downhill fast. It can only weigh up to a certain amount, so the only way to make it faster is to reduce as much friction in the wheels as you can and to make it aerodynamic. Then, at the derby, they set up this track that is about 20-30 feet long, with a hill at the starting point. They release all of the cars at once, and time their roll to the finish line. There are awards for fastest time AND coolest looking car. Typically, whatever has a gun on it wins that category.

Pic up top is one of MANY that we took, check the Photo Collection for more!

How do I love thee....

We were driving around this morning, getting errands and stuff out of the way, when I asked James, "who loves you, buddy?", and he replied "mommy". I asked "who else?" and he said "daddy!". Sterling said "why does daddy love you?" to which our brilliant little man replied, "because I'm as sweet as bacon".

Dude... bacon's pretty sweet.

What a week!!!

Yeesh! Ever have one of those weeks? I swear, you come back from the holidays, ready to ring in a nice relaxing New Year (now that the holidays are over).... but everything that was on hold over the break hits ya like a ton of bricks!

... and it all seems to culminate right around nowish! James' Pinewood Derby is tomorrow, so we've been frantically trying to work on that with him this week. Homework has been INSANE-O, which hasn't left much time for Derby work (hence the frantic attention this week!), and the Science Fair is next week, so we're trying to squeeze in time for that. Oh yeah, did I mention that, due to a trip to a local radio station, the last 3 Tuesday nights have been spoken for, too?!

*sigh*... deep breath!

Top it all with a night of bad dreams, resulting in a morning where we *just* made it to school before the bell, and doggone! Is it too early to start drinking?

So, we're in the home stretch, Daddy has to spray one more coat of paint on the car today, James can assemble when he gets home, then it's off to the races for us! The science project will wait for the weekend, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief!

*oh yeah, the bad dream... for some reason, James was 100% convinced, at 3 am, that his sheets had teeth, so he didn't want to get under the covers. Thank goodness this doesn't happen often, but I spent the remainder of the night in James' bed with him and Blue (and about 5 inches of the mattress).