Flight Booked!

Grammy and Grampy are officially coming for Thanksgiving and we are so happy!!!!! (And I can't believe it's time to start thinking about the holidays again?! Omg.)

16 Miles In The Rain & Still Smiling

Girl's Day

The girl cousins had a day out together in honor of Rebecca's birthday (happy 8th birthday Rebecca!!) We took the girls to the mall where we got Rebecca's ears pierced, had lunch and took the kids to Build A Bear Workshop. Afterward we went to Amelie's French Bakery for desser and then headed home for manicures with Jamberry nail wraps. Here are some pictures:

Enough Said...

Jasper Snuggles

Running Social & Running Update

Last night Mike and I went to our first dinner party in Charlotte (or probably our first dinner party ever?) It was hosted by one of the guys I run with and his wife, and was for all of us Beverly Crest runners and their spouses. Since he lives all of two streets over, we just walked over once our babysitter arrived. We had a fun evening -- it was nice to get to see people not dressed in their running clothes and when I wasn't half asleep ;-) We had to make it a relatively early night though, since I only had the babysitter until 11 and because I had to run 14 miles this morning. 

Which brings me to the other part of my update: I ran 14 miles this morning ;-) A look ahead at the training schedule has me cringing for the next 5 weeks: for the next 2 Sundays I have to run 16 miles, then 17, 18 & 20 before it drastically tapers down approaching marathon day. 

Bring on week 9, I guess...!

Saturday Sports

Charlie and Amelia started flag football and soccer, respectively, yesterday. They both had a great time and are looking forward to playing again next Saturday!

Picture Day Preview

Fall Color

Hair color, that is! Went darker, in time for fall ;-)

Charlotte Snow Bunnies

It was 50 degrees at the bus stop yesterday morning, necessitating sweatshirts for the first time. Like any good Charlottinians the kids were *freezing* and demanding hot chocolate, despite the fact that it was going up to 80 degrees later in the day. Here they are, cold at the bus stop:

Eight Months Old...

... And officially stronger than me. 

Fall Baking...

... Has commenced! First up: Apple dumplings!

Halfway There!

I finished up week seven of my marathon training program with a 12 mile run and it's on to week 8! Race day is here in 2 short months!

Kindergarten Curriculum Night

What I learned from Kindergarten Curriculum Night:

1) Amelia's teacher talks too much. 

2) Amelia's teacher probably does not have my email address and probably needs it so I should probably get it to her 

3) Amelia, being the brown-noser that she is, is the class's first Star Student of the Week, making it very easy to find her classroom since her picture was on the door. 

4) My knees do not do well when forced to sit in a tiny kindergarten classroom chair for 45 minutes. 

Let's hope I get a little more out of Charlie's curriculum night, on Thursday. 

Busy Not-So-Holiday Weekend

Saturday involved grocery shopping and taking the kids to get equipped for flag football and soccer, which both start next Saturday. We also took them to see the movie Ant-Man, at Charlie's request. Charlie enjoyed it and Amelia fell fast asleep -- mental note, 6:50pm movie showings are past her bedtime... 

On Sunday I did an 11 mile run, took Amelia and Rebecca to the pool one last time before it closed for the season, and helped Heather load up two car loads full of stuff from her apartment to her new house, as they have to be out of the apartment by next Monday. 

Today I had a busy day at work, while Mike worked a half day from home and then took the kids and dog for a walk at the greenway after lunch where Charlie caught the below pictured baby snapping turtle:

After I got home Charlie's friend Lorenzo's mom called to see if he wanted to come over for a play date, so she picked him up and we collected him at six, on our way out to dinner for Mike's birthday (which is tomorrow but I have curriculum night at the kids' school so we won't be able to celebrate.) 

Busy busy!! 

Dogs And Ibuprofen Don't Mix

Just in case you were wondering, dogs and ibuprofen don't mix. 

On Sunday afternoon Jasper managed to get into a bottle of ibuprofen that was left out on the kitchen counter. We found him chewing on the empty bottle, with the pills scattered on the floor. Several of them had been chewed/licked but there wasn't any way to tell if/how many he might have eaten before he decided the bottle itself was more interesting. 

A quick Google search showed that ibuprofen is extremely toxic to dogs and that symptoms (vomiting) usually occur within an hour. I decided to wait and see how he was. 

He was totally fine that night and all day Monday, seeming like his usual self until Monday evening when he didn't eat dinner and began vomiting and having diarrhea. Not sure if this was from the ibuprofen exposure or possibly just Caroline's stomach bug that maybe had been passed to Jasper, I looked on the internet again and read that while symptoms usually occur within an hour they can be delayed by as much as one to two days and that 1 200mg ibuprofen can be fatal to a small or medium sized dog. 

With that information we decided it was best that Mike take him to the emergency veterinary clinic down the street. Once there they checked his blood work and kidneys which both came back fine so they guessed that he only ate enough to cause stomach upset and not the gastrointestinal bleeding that can cause death. 

To be on the safe side they sent him home with a bunch of pills to be taken for the next couple days, every eight hours. Jasper was sluggish on Tuesday but was back to his normal chipper self by Wednesday and today continues to seem 100% recovered. 

And the ibuprofen is now in a drawer in my bathroom instead of in the kitchen cabinet so it can't accidentally be left out again. 

"Off The Charts"!

Here is my big kindergartener who is off to a great start this year, "off the charts" for good behavior 2 days in a row now!