Then there's this man, my amazing fantastic husband, in costume as a Geeky Computer Programmer, at his company's annual retreat. Gotta love that. Especially as it's a bathroom selfie. Awesome!

My stinkin elf sock. Because of my super stinkin Plantar Fasciitis which will not stinkin leave me alone. It likes me so much it's decided to not just move in to my right foot but also my left. Actually, my right foot is much improved. My left foot feels not unlike fiery coals burning into my heel when I run. Or when I don't run. It got so bad that I was starting to walk funny, in compensation, and created other painful spots on my foot. I was hobbling around the house like a 90 year old woman. I finally broke down and got one of these socks and it has helped tremendously. At least there is no more early morning pain. And truthfully, the pain is significantly better all around. 

My last longish run (8 miles) was on Halloween. It was actually a very memorable run as it was pouring rain in the early morning darkness, with 3 running buddies, and I have never ever been that soaked on a run before. It was epic. But it was probably longer than I needed to go on my foot which punished me for it for days. I've had PF in my right foot since April, and I've just been managing with it. One morning in September, my left heel started hurting and it made all the pain in my right heel seem laughable. 

I have new shoes, I have been using the Strassburg sock, and I've taken off basically a month from running which is insanely hard for me to do. For a runner not to be able to run, it's a very difficult thing. It messes with your internal identity. Not starting out my Saturday with a crack of dawn long run changes my weekends. And strangely, not for the better. I won't lie and say that I don't enjoy sleeping in, but there is something incredibly satisfying when you do force yourself out of bed much earlier than is comfortable and join your running friends for a long run.  You respect yourself more, not to mention the benefits your body experiences. At the moment, however, my life is....dealing with this little challenge.

Life is also taking care of your children, which means dealing with messed up teeth!

I recently noticed major cavities in two of Wyeth's molars, as well as in a front tooth which came in with a patch of missing enamel. Since he doesn't eat junk or drink juice or do anything that would contribute to the condition of those teeth, I deduce it's a genetic "bad teeth" hand he's been dealt. Poor kid got to spend several hours at our dentist on morning waiting for conscious sedation meds to kick in before having one of the cavities filled and a crown put on. 

He was a trooper, but even so, we weren't able to finish the job in one sitting. We go in for Part B later this month. 

Oh, and see that nice man Wyeth is all snuggled up with?

Perfect stranger.

Never seen him before in our lives. 

No idea why Wyeth deemed him worthy of plopping down in his lap. Thankfully, the guy was super nice and clearly comfortable with kids. (He was there with 3 of his own).

Kyle took the kids hiking one lovely Saturday, giving me a few hours of complete solitude.

Bliss!

Here are some hand-warmers I knit Brooklyn a few weeks ago. They were so easy to make, so cute and even more precious because while knitting them, Brooklyn decided she wanted to learn to knit too. We spent some lovely hours sitting together and working on our creative endeavors. I love this girl more than I can say.

Voila'!

This little guy is one of the sweeter spots in my life. 

He's opinionated, a total stinker at times, obsessed with wearing shoes, a total momma's boy for now, and has a hilarious habit of dropping things down his shirt. Case in point. He has taken a toy gun or something and wedged it down his shirt! I love it! Occasionally, it turns against him when he's wearing footie pajamas and he drops Lego bits down the front and they get stuck under his toes.

We went to bed one night and he and I were snuggling and I felt something...I reached down to his feet where a pencil was poking from the leg of his pj's. It's always something unexpected, right?

So this is my life....or snippets of it, anyway.