396th post...oh my!

So this is my 396th post since I started my blog 4 years ago. What's the significance of this number? Nada. But it does mark the day when I have had to actually purchase storage space because I have officially exceeded my 1GB free capacity. I just spent a whopping $5 on another 20GB of storage. Watch out.

 Izzy's hair is long enough to fit two little piggies again. So stinkin' cute.

 And a little Friday night snug time is the best. Who needs to hit the clubs when you have an adorable 3 year old to smooch on?

 Saturday was busy...I ran 8 miles in the frigid cold, raced to ballet with the girls, got a haircut, hit up the library (where, let it be known, Saturdays are filled with kids and their dads...apparently moms get this day off?) and then had a delish dinner out with the fam. I love, love, love days like these; racing around with lots of nothing to do. Then again, I love me a good jammie day! Anyway, Mike and his buddy bought a beer making kit and it came in two large boxes...which made for instant fun in our house. Whenever we get large boxes at our house they turn into a big to-do. I'm going to tell you why - Mike said when he was a kid and moved into a new house they had boxes from their new washer, dryer, fridge et al and used all of them to make himself a huge house in his basement. Complete with a real television. Plugged in. Oh my. So I'm pretty sure whenever we get a large box at our house he tries to replicate that same fun-in-a-box house with our girls. It's purely his gig and I let him have fun with the girls. Hours of free entertainment, I tell you.

After coloring their box-houses, a trip to the grocery and out to lunch...naptime left me time to craft a little baby gift:

We had an impromptu visit from Grandma Laura & Grandpa Bob. We love when they call on the road and say they are passing through and can they stop in for a visit? (They have family in Illinois.) The girls are over-the-moon to get these surprise visitors, too!

Izzy has a small infatuation with taking pictures with point-and-shoot cameras. She can't hold up my new camera, thankfully (but yes, I tried). Molly...I thought you'd appreciate her love for photos!

We had to show Grandma & Grandpa one of our favorite activities inside the house (we have to get creative in the cold months!): scooting back and forth across the kitchen in the buggy cart! This is more hours of free fun and the girls just love it. Plus, there's no box to clean up after this one :)

Delaney is 18 months old...

This little peanut is 18 months old. And I can hardly stand it. She's so grown up, yet still so little. Most 12 month olds are bigger than she is...but she's got quite the personality, so that makes up for her short stature. Laney Bug weighs in at 22 lbs 3 oz (10-25%), she's 30 3/4 inches short (25%) and her head measures 48 cm large (75-90%). Buggy is healthy and happy...and the most fun little 18 month old we know. I would say the large head size means she has a big brain; however, when you ask her what her name is, she answers with "Izzy!" Sheer genius I tell you.

Tutus & Warmer Temps

If you've ever visited our house (or our living room-turned-playroom) you'd know we have many, many dress up items, costumes, hats, jewelry, accessories & tutus. I believe we have 6 tutus to be exact. Some nights just call for dancing (to hip hop Mick.ey Mou.se) in our tutus:

 And some nights call for snuggle time with daddy:

 The weather slowly climbed upwards into the 50's over the last few days and we tried to play outside both Friday and Saturday. Izzy loved being able to climb on her monkey bars, swing and slide once again.

 Here' is Laney telling Katie to "shhhh" her barking:

In other news, the first week of Mini Mara.thon training went well. I mean, if you call having to stop frequently on the treadmill to catch my breath a good thing. Yeah, I didn't think so either. But I still did my speed training and got all my weekly runs in. I even ran 7 miles on Saturday morning in 30 degrees. Was very different than my last long run on the Mon.on just 4 months ago, when it was in the 80's by 7am. Very nostalgic to be back out there among the early morning runners, crossing familiar mile markers and trying to get my breathing in rhythm with my mind and body. Felt gooood to be back. It had been too long (I could tell because my legs have been sore all week). Here's to hoping each week gets easier and easier!

Inspiration...

Tomorrow is the first day of my 12 week half marathon training. I haven't run since October and am dreading the discovery of how out of shape I am. I wanted a LONG break from running after my marathon. And now I've had it. And it's time to get back on the horse. Or the treadmill. Whatever. I'm actually chomping at the bit to start and am ready to get back into fighting shape. Not only am I training for the half marathon in May, but from my previous blog entry, I'm also running a 200 mile relay in June. Which means my long runs will be longer. In fact, training for the relay is almost as intense as training for a marathon. I like a good challenge, can you tell?

Anyway, I've been trying to get inspired for my training and discovered this:

 I love this motto. Short and simple: do what makes you happy. I watched an Oprah this morning about happiness and what makes us happy. The biggest takeaway was to choose experiences that make you happy, not things. Things cannot give anything back to us. However, the memories we have from the experiences in life can. To remind myself of my passion and those memories, I created an inspiration board (in my closet...now that we have kids there is little left to the house that is personal space):

 Hoping to add another few medals and bibs to this board this year: Mi.ni Marathon in May, Ra.gnar Relay in June and the Mo.nument Marathon in November (just signed up today).

I also made a shadow box with my Chicago Mar.athon bib, medal and finisher photo. Just need to keep inspired and reminded why I run...because I can. It's my passion, and I'm pretty sure I wear it.

Moose sighting & Snowman building

Friday night the entire Moosebrugger clan came over for dinner. We hadn't been together as families in way too long. It was a treat for me, as I had just spent last Friday at the pool with Meg and the boys; seeing Meg twice in 7 days!!!

 Sassy Princess

 Jude

 Mike's relay team's shirts arrived this day...so the boys had to try them on. Team name: R.I.L.F.s. Work it out.

 There aren't words for this one.

 Saturday morning we had ballet...

...and Izzy's last gymnastics class. Every last class of the session ends with a few minutes on a large bounce house. Was hard to tell Izzy's favorite teacher we wouldn't be back (for now), especially when Miss Sarah told us that Izzy was ready to move up to the next class. We'll give ballet a year, just like we gave gymnastics, then let Izzy choose which one she'd like to continue with. Regardless, we take the summers off to make time for swim lessons. (Side note: I'm in the final process of finding a summer nanny for the girls so they can spend the summer outside of the same 4 walls of God.dard. Yet another reason why those swim lessons are imporant!)

 Laney and I watched while Izzy & Mike built a snowman in the front yard:

 Aunt Carla gave the girls a snowman kit, and Izzy was able to put all the accouterments on him:

 This afternoon when Mike left for a run, Izzy decided she was going to go for a run too. She put on a cap, sweatbands on her arms (and legs) and a watch. She ran approximately 23 laps around our main floor (counting each one) and yelling out her times as she turned the corners (her times were 20, 22, etc.). She kept on saying she had to find things to put on (or take off) to make her run faster. It was hysterical. I probably should have videotaped instead of photographed, it was that funny.

Saturday night I went out with Molly & Meghan to celebrate Meggie's birthday. Had so much fun dining with friends and meeting new ones. I also spent a long time talking about marathons with some peeps and got so inspired that I signed up for another one (gasp)! More on that later. Was a fun night with friends.

Of course there were nametags! Happy 30th Meggie!

A little bit of crazy & a whole lot of fun!

It all started as one of my husband's crazy ideas. Mike said he wanted to get 12 people to run a 200-ish mile relay from Madison to Chicago. No way, I said. You can't find 12 crazies to do that. If you know Mike, you know NOT to challenge him. He rounded up a group of 12 guys in a week's time. After he registered, we were online watching all the home-made videos previous teams had put together (there are about 15 of these relays all over the country every year). One video in particular inspired me. It was a group of all women who ran this relay. That was all it took. I sent a text to my bestie with the idea and she replied with, "Duh, I'm in." Well if she would be willing to do it, others might too! I sent an email to a bunch of friends (and FB stalked many, too) asking for interest. We got excited when we had 4 people. Then 6. Then 8. The last 4 were a little harder to come by. But we DID IT. We have a group of all FEMALES to run this relay in June. Oh. My.

This is quite a well planned out race, as there are two vans of 12 people and each runner has 3 legs she will be running. The minimum total miles everyone will be doing is 12 miles (with the max at 23 miles). In 36 hours. On little sleep. There are maps. And reflective vests, headlamps and tail lights (for night running, of course). There are staggered start times (the team's pace is averaged out and the slower teams start earlier than the faster teams so as everyone to finish around the same time). There will be lots of driving. And running. And cat-napping. If you don't know your 5 other van-mates, you will soon be besties with her.

I just can't tell you how excited I am to be a part of this. And that I was able to round up 11 other women who are JUST as excited as I am. We have beginner runners to experienced marathoners on our team. I can't wait to see us all come together to complete this crazy race!

These are all pictures taken from http://www.ragnarrelay.com/  There are prizes given out for best costume, best decorated van, and best team name. 

The hand-offs are via a slap-bracelet at each checkpoint

 Team waiting for their runner

 Pretty sure we'll be wearing tutus...stay tuned for our team name!

 And we will all finish in Chicago as a team. Most likely sleep-deprived, stinky and a whole lot of crazy.

 This is a picture from last year's relay that ended in Vegas. H.O.T.

My teammates include:

Jaime (bestie)

Laura (cousin)

Amanda (cousin)

Kerri (colleague & friend)

Melissa (friend)

Karie (friend from elementary school)

Erin (friend from elementary school)

Ashley (friend of Kerri's)

Betsy (Jaime's sister)

Amy (Jaime's sister)

Ashley (Jaime's niece)

Here's to the next 17 weeks of training (some of which have us running 3 times in a 24 hour period to understand what kind of torture we're headed for!). Wish us luck...and sanity!