Dandelion wishes

I wish for a 

Bird

A bunny 

And a dog named Lovie

Oh Christmas Tree

Remember how five years ago we got a real christmas tree and I've never been sicker?  Ever since then when we put up our little fake trees Brent always asks if I'm sure it was the tree that made me sick. Sooooo  this year I got talked into not 1 but 2 real christmas trees.  According to Brent "now we will really know if you are allergic"  And when we took out our fake trees they looked sad and needed new lights so we figured it was now or never. If the trees do make me really sick then Brents promised to buy the most real looking fake tree for next year and never suggest a real one again.   And I stocked up on allergy meds.

 Sunday was a beautiful day and we went driving to a few tree farms.  The first one had no trees to cut down.  We thought if we cut it down then the tree would be fresher and might not bother me as much.  So the first tree farm didnt have any.  Then the next one had one I really liked but then we noticed a huge spiders egg sack in the tree that had recently hatched and even Brent said he wouldn't bring that tree into the house.  Then they were either too short (we couldnt cut a certain size) or too big.  
 

 So we left and took the kids to pungo pizza and they weren't too sad we drove all over without a tree.

 So we ended up at a tree lot down the street from our house where both boys picked out trees and we have one in the family room and one in the sunroom.  Colin and I would smell each tree at the lot to determine which ones didn't smell.  We were the only ones at the lot smelling each tree! haha

But our real trees are beautiful. Colin keeps asking me how I'm feeling because he really doesn't want to have to take these trees down.  (Brent agreed that if I get really sick then he would take them down and we'd buy a big fake one) But so far I'm ok.  A little blocked up but the allergy meds seem to be working for now.

Its been fun decorating this new house for christmas.  And I'm really hoping that our pretty trees don't make me too sick.  I'm pretty sure since they wanted a real tree then they should let mommy sleep in on the weekends from now until Christmas.

College friends

On Black Friday we drove up to Richmond to meet Sarah and our friend Julia and her kids.  I haven't seen Julia in 10 years -  maybe even 11?  The last time we could remember was right after christmas one year with a bunch of college friends so its definitely been way too long.  She and Jase moved to Texas after they got married.  I actually missed their wedding since I was in Kazakhstan but I think that summer worked in my favor! But her parents live near Richmond so it worked out this year that we could all meet and I'm so glad we did.  

Julia has two boys - 6 and 3 and the kids all played so well together.  You never know with kids and their personalities but the kids all hit it off.  We walked around Maymont Park the entire day and then went to Panera for lunch and the kids sat and ate together and then Jake and Joel drew pictures and Colin entertained all of them by making paper airplanes so we spent maybe 2 more hours sitting and talking.  Being able to sit and talk for  close to 2 hours with 5 kids is pretty amazing. The kids loved their new friends.










Joel ended up stuck literally in the mud.  I had to pull him out.

It was a great day and so good to see Julia and catch up. The kids have been asking about their new friends ever since.

Thanksgiving turkey trot

This Thanksgiving we weren't at the farm so Colin and I ran a turkey trot with Jeff and Sarah.  Colin designed our shirts that we made the night before. Marlbank is such a pretty neighborhood to run around.

I'm pretty sure no one is surprised that Colin beat us all.

Then we went and spent some time with Grandma before heading over to Mom and Dads.  Sarah is showing Grandma pictures of her newest great grandson Gideon.




Colin loves his Ooo-Eee

After we ate we all walked down to the river.  Where the boys tried to out do each other with the tallest cat tail.

This picture of Norah and Joel makes me laugh.  They were very concerned at the lack of fish they were seeing in the water. This summer they would scoop up tiny minnows in their nets. 

A fun thanksgiving

4th Richmond half

This was my 4th Richmond half marathon and might have been my favorite. 

Holly and I trained for it and ran almost all the long runs together. After so many training runs over the years I don't think there is an area we don't know about each other. I picked her up at work Friday afternoon and then we drove to Richmond and met Sarah and Bethany. Bethany's mom came with her and it was really fun getting to know her. She was so encouraging and even got us flowers for after we ran. I told her my own husband didn't do that after I ran a full marathon! 

The girl in the middle is amy and she doesn't run. But for the past 5 or 6 years that Sarah's run this race and almost any race in Richmond she wakes up super early on a saturday morning and picks up her sister, Sarah, and anyone else running to drive them and drop them off so they don't have to park. She then waits around for hours watching at the finish line to cheer us on and then help us hobble back to the car. She's a blessing and a lot of fun. She even took off work for this and traded for the day after thanksgiving. That's dedication and friendship. 

It was perfect weather running and I love running through the neighborhoods of Richmond. We don't go for time. We do run the whole thing and don't walk but spend the whole time talking and catching up. I hadn't seen Bethany since the shamrock marathon in March so it was good to catch up. One day maybe we will get dedicated and try to get a PR (personal record in the running world) but for now it's more fun to talk and run together. 

After we ran we all took showers and in the past have all gone straight home but this time we stayed around and spent a few hours shopping and eating lunch. We've talked about it for years and so glad we finally made it work this year. It was really fun to hang out afterwards. We went to short pump and walked around and shopped and talked. Then holly and I came home. It was a great weekend. 

It was funny last night to read the commentary Sarah was giving us on our pictures 

Abigail... I'm so fast & ahead and not breaking a sweat. Look Im smiling. This is fun 

Holly...beast mode. Pump arms, move faster.

Me... Jazz hands!!

This one too. Bethany & holly are runners. Look professional and athletic. I'm all "no body move I lost a contact" stance. Abigail is embarrassed by me and getting away to not be associated with the crazy

So funny. I couldn't stop laughing. Race pictures aren't very flattering so it's more fun to laugh at ourselves. 

Bethany and I are doing the full shamrock in March (and then I'll take a break from full marathons) but we are all already signing up for the Richmond half for next year. It's become a tradition and one of my favorites.