Half Marathon

Last weekend I ran my half marathon. I am so relieved to have it done! I had signed up a long time ago because I knew that paying for it was the only way to make me see it through. Anyhow, as it drew closer I was feeling pretty glum about it and felt like I was not going to meet my goal of running the whole thing. That is why I didn't really tell anyone about it : ).
Luckily, my friend Jenna, who also happens to live on our street, decided to join me with it and that made it WAY easier. We ended up doing better than expected and even surpassed our goal time. I was really happy with how the race went. This is the first goal I have actually met in a really long time. So, its nice to achieve one. I had been feeling a lot of pressure about the race for weeks leading up to it, so I feel a lot better now that it is behind me.
Otherwise our trip to Cincinnati was kind of a flop. We had made big plans of hotel pool fun with Jill and Cooper. We made a pretty big deal out of it on the way trying to get Jill excited. Of course, upon arriving, we discovered the heater to the pool was broken... so it was an ice bath. Also, I really wanted Olive garden the night before, but after driving forever to find one the wait was so long we had to give up and get Arbys. They messed up my race # too so that my name isn't listed anywhere.Oh well, it was still fun.
In the pictures below, you can see some of the fun from the race. The highlight of the trip. The dark one is before the race. Then there are some action shots. I love that you can see Jill cheering in one of them. She would yell "Go Mama, Go!". I was suprised how much that lifted my spirits and actually did make me run faster!

Sweet Jillian

We were lucky that when Jill was little we were able to get a alot of photos of her. In fact, most of the photos in our house are pictures of her as a baby/toddler. The other day she had a friend over and Jill took one of the pictures down to show her friend. She said "this is me as a baby. I was soooo cute- cuter than Cooper." She's hilarious.
Anyhow, this is the first time we got professional pics of Cooper so we chose to use our alloted pics mostly for Coop and not as many for Jill. This was really hard because Katie took so many close up pictures of Jill and Jill is so good at posing for pictures. Anyhow, we picked a fave of just her and then got her in some of her many roles.
I love that in the one family shot you can tell she is just dying to get up and drag Cooper back to pose. She is so loving, sweet, eager to please, and quick to correct anyone on what she thinks is the right way to do things (especially Cooper). We all love her very much!

All suited up

Our friend Katie took some family photos of us the other weekend. It was a lot of fun. Here are the best of Coop. Since we are on the topic of Cooper I will share some of his latest interests. He loves to jump, dance (spin in a circle with his arms out), do his "trick" (put his head on the ground, bum in air like a human triangle, fake laugh to fit in, and he has finally started liking books! He will bring me books now and then turn around and back up until he is sitting on my lap. Its one of my favorite things.

BikeAThon

A couple weekends ago Mumsy and Gus came to visit. And of course, Molly came too. Cooper was so funny with Molly. He is really intrigued by her but also terrified.
We all were really looking forward to this visit and Jill was so sad when they left. She always wants us to "tell her the days till they come" which means like the day after next (which unfortunately is not the case). That weekend was also Jill's bike a thon at preschool. We went there and then to a fun park to play. I think Mumsy got much better pictures than me, but here is what I have.

Here is some video of her in action. The movie also really captures the squeakiness of her bike. I definitely have tried WD40 (I am my father's daughter) but it will not quit squeaking!