a little christmas cheer

grace had her fun polar express day at school.  jammies and cocoa in class. what more could a 1st grader ask for? 

and as a mom i cannot thank the teacher enough for not using the full sized box for the train cars.  mrs. mcgrath you rock! (and for the record, the smoke stack was entirely her idea. little creative bugger.)

 looking for the perfect tree.  

we were so excited that it was chilly the night we went christmas tree shopping!  it made for a definitely festive trip.

  the annual christmas concert. (thank goodness there was only one.)

 visit to the big guy in the red suit.

 sarah the sullen pre-teen.

 unfortunately for my kids, the only way they will ever see snow in south florida is when we visit the snow globe in the mall.

construction zone: hard hat required

another reason we have been busy these past few weeks; i had a great idea to start doing gracie's room!  of course 2 weeks before christmas is THE best time for this project don't ya know?!?!

while getting high off paint fumes lovingly painting a gorgeous butter yellow on her walls i came out for a breather and stumbled upon this sign. and seriously, earlier in the day she asked me to glue the stick onto the paper and i didn't even pay attention to the sign. focused? yeah, let's go with that.

 as soon as it is even close to being done, i'll post some pictures.  but she does have a great dress up station courtesy of a couple of ikea expedit bookcases and a shower curtain rod.  and don't you worry your pretty little heads about that lovely white bookcase being unloved. it has already been put to good use this year.

our stockings were hung on the bookcase with care....

i love that it gave me an extra surface to decorate this year.  had to find a place to display all these great gifts and thrift store finds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the command adhesive hooks held just fine for santa!

you want fries with that?

 i have to say that grace has come up with a lot of different things with her play-do creations, but this was the best;  a happy meal.  

when i told her to clean up, i guess i was putting her little shop out of business.  i walked through later on that night and found this sign taped to the wall:  "closed down".  

dad can't have all the fun

we girls can't let our dad have ALL the fitness fun.  the girls and i have participated in a few races this year as well.  they may not have been as tough, but they were just as fun.  

Here we are in our first race ever. I did a 5k and the girls did a 1k.  

all i have to say is that i think we will opt out of any races that take place in JULY next year! it was H-O-T!

sarah and savannah checking out the competition.  seriously girls, i think you take him.

grace coming in for her photo finish.  the thing that is great about this girl is even when she gets tired, she. does. not. stop!

and a race would not be complete without the viking man!

if you look closely you will even see the nipple ring! (he surfaced again at one of m's races later in the year, but no pic that time.)

or some random dude with a speedo.  (this one's for you rebecca. ;)

here we are at the fire fighter's 5k.  grace and i were the only participants this time. 

 this race was super fun with all the firemen.  one was even racing in full gear.  the race is a memorial to a firefighter who died, but while he was alive he loved running.  this ladder truck was at the entrance to the race with the big flag blowing in the wind.  nice touch.

the last race of the year was the pumpkin run.  we entered with a few friends and their kids too.  savannah and grace did the 1k, and the rest of us did the 5k.  sarah and her friend, katie, beat me by 20 seconds! i'll get you next time girls!  matt (on the right end) beat everyone. he's a little speed demon!

a season of triathlons

even though it is difficult to arise at 4:30 a.m. on race days, nothing beats the calm of the beach or the excitement before the starting gun.  this post consists of photos from three different races, so you guessed it; it's picture heavy.  have fun! 

south beach in the a.m. 

(seriously saw some people still up from partying when we arrived CA-RA-ZY!)

for one of mauricio's races we were lucky enough to have his dad visiting.  he was super excited to share this part of his life with him since his dad has been in utah for the entire year.

  

 the ever faithful spectators.

hey zach! can you actually SEE ANYTHING?

 neal, m's brother joined him for a few races this year too. he's below coming in for a nice finish.

  

 and a race on south beach wouldn't be complete without the vlasic pickle dude.

 maybe one day they will be excited for a race. (i won't hold my breath.)

 feeling the pain.

what a stud on the bike to the left.

and sometimes you get to stand on the podium! 

2nd place in his age group.  he did win the master's division, but a bike penalty knocked him down. 

 the following photos were taken during the escape to miami race where the athletes had to start on an island in biscayne bay. here it is the day before the race.

 and here it is on race morning.

the causeway he had to bike over.

 one of my other favorite parts of the race also takes place in the morning at the bike racks.  everyone is preparing themselves and all of their equipment;  lots of good energy and hopes of a good race abounds.  not a lot of chit-chat, just a lot of focused athletes.

 all the athletes boarding the ferry to get to the island.

 grace was the only one who got up with me for the start of this race.  we watched it from our hotel.

not a bad view right?

 these two photos were taken at two different races, but i thought it was funny as they are sitting in the same order. 

 feeling good starting the run.

 even though he bonked on the run he still finished strong and we were proud of him! what a champ!

 when publix is the sponsor you can expect not only good food, but also pretty food. and let's face it folks, we only go to these things for the free food. ;)

  why is there always a sign like this at all the races?

these pics are from the last race of the season which was the miami man half- iron.  70.4 miles total.  we couldn't get very close for the start of this race so i randomly took some pics of the start and kind of got m in the shot.  he is the guy in the middle bending over stretching.  lucky shot.

the duckie wanted to enter the race too!

thanks to savannah's great eagle eyes, we were able to get some good shots of m swimming. this was the best. the cap is classic.

 the ironman dude got tired.

 since this was his first half- iron, we've never seen the racks look so empty mid race before.  weird.

 coming up on the finish of the first loop of the half marathon.

 grace couldn't wait and fell asleep at the finish line.

 coming in strong!!

here's a shot of the super athlete with april.  (yes, he named his bike.)