A Salute to Reality

People tell me they think I take great pictures. In reality I take lots and lots and lots of pictures and hope for 1 or 2 that are decent. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not. I guess that's one advantage of digital photography--no film to waste, all you have to do is delete. Today, the weather was nice, Katherine had just showered AND was wearing matching clothing--the trifecta of a good kid photo! I wanted to get a nice picture of her with her hair shorter (oh yeah, we cut about 3 inches off--her idea, not mine). The older she gets, the goofier her expressions are. Here's what I got:

Which if it looks a little grainy, it's because I cropped it down from this:

She wanted me to take a picture of her standing on one foot. Check.

Then there's this:

And this:

Really not sure what to say about this one.

And this:

Great smile, but what are you doing with your shirt? (still may end up on a scrapbook page!)

And this tilt her head to one side "look at me, how cute am I pose"

Also seen here:

AND here:

So that's a few of about 35 pictures taken in a few minutes outside this morning. There were a few more, but I had the camera on manual mode since the light was so good but I guess the shade from a tree was enough to challenge the shutter speed when you put an almost 5 year old into the equation--lesson learned!

Of course these can't equal the gems Katherine took:

(although the sky in this one does look awesome--and I didn't touch it in Photoshop!)

There was a lot of talk in blogland and scrapbooking in general about how we (as bloggers and scrapbookers) portray ourselves and only focus on the good, positive perfect lives we lead. When if that's all you see out there, you're naturally going to compare your own life and feel bad you're not measuring up. Instead we should be exposing our realities so we can support and encourage each other. Several bloggers I read regularly did a post about their real life so here's a few from mine:

• 
  
  I never make my bed. It only gets made when the sheets get changed. I'll never make Katherine make her bed either--I'd feel like a hypocrite making her do something I don't.
• 
  
  I donate at least monthly to the Harford County library. These little donations are my way of saying "thanks" for reminding me about my disorganization and/or absentmindedness when I'm overdue.
• 
  
  I question regularly my job performance as a mother and wonder if I put enough energy & time into it or if I spend too much time on my hobbies. Hence my latest two books checked out from the library: "Mitten Strings from God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry" and "Bringing up Girls."
• 
  
  It's a good week when the laundry gets put away before it gets pulled from the basket and worn again.
• 
  
  I compare the cleanliness and decorating of my house to houses on TV and even though logically I know it's a TV set, I still wish my house looked like theirs.
• 
  
  Sometimes I look at the clock and it's only 3pm, Charlie's at work and I wonder how in the world I'm going to entertain Katherine till bedtime.
• 
  
  I watch the Bachlorette--and I like it!

Pheww, that was a long one. Gotta get to bed so I can run 11 miles in the morning!

So few and far between...

...blog posts that is.

What have I been up to?

A little birthday party planning.

Some running: 9 miles at 1:46, 10 miles at 1:57, and last weekend when I was going to run 11-12 miles I didn't feel well on Saturday and it was really hot & humid even at 6am on Sunday so I skipped it. To make up for it I ran 6 miles this morning. I needed to switch my long run days to Saturday anyway since I joined a training program through Charm City Running and they do long runs on Saturdays. I also learned through this program that the coach doesn't believe you should run more than 20 miles for training (which we'll do 2-3 times). This isn't the first time I've heard of this so he's not making this stuff up. I'm just not sure I can psych myself up at the end of running 20 miles to run 6 more. But I'm all for running less for training! :) So I'm not all that concerned about missing a week with a long run since I was ahead of schedule for the training program I was using and that one went the whole way to 26 miles.

Katherine got to see a real baby yesterday. Which has only renewed her desire to "get one" for us. Since she's decided she wants to marry Aidan, we thought now that he has a brother maybe she'd change her mind and want to marry Peyton instead. Which means these pictures will come in handy at the wedding...

And some recent craftiness:

 

depressed bunnies, dance recitals, & running (sorry couldn't think of anything else starting with a "d")

Apparently the bunny world around our house needs some help...like a psychiatrist's help! In the past week or so we've found three bunnies that have commited suicide (bunnicide?) in our pool--THREE! It's a little unnerving to see a dead bunny floating around and kinda feels like a bad omen coming our way or something. Every year we have a bunny nest in the grass above the pool--it's probably a good spot because that grass is fenced and therefore protected from dogs or other predators. Once we know they're there--we stop mowing that grass until the bunnies are old enough to leave the nest and we keep all dogs out of there--that's what bunny lovers we are! So why, I ask, are they killing themselves in our pool?

The much awaited dance recital went well for Katherine. I was hesitant that she would get out there and do it since she's not a fan of being in the spotlight, but she did awesome. And we're really proud of her for doing it! The photos onstage are from the dress rehearsal and we couldn't use a flash...and yes the girls are supposed to be doing the same thing at the same time! :)

Last Sunday I ran 8 miles in 1:34 which wasn't too bad considering it was about 956% humidity. I did get up to go at 5:30 to try and beat some of the heat...The week before I ran 7 miles in 1 hour 23 minutes. But that was guess-timating my distance. I figured out (before I ran the 8 miles) how to use the personal trip odometer in my car (amazing how that there technology works) and discovered my 7 miles was a tad short. I also felt like crap running that 7 miles so when I ran the 8 miles, I was pretty happy with my time. This Sunday--9 miles!

overheard...

...this morning....to Aidan....Katherine said:

"hey Aidan, I think I've finally got these two convinced to get a new baby!"

ha! little does she know! and in case of confusion I'm assuming "these two" would be referring to Charlie and me and not some random stuffed animals or dolls. I say again, ha!

I'm a dork.

Just downloaded the theme song from "Rocky" to start running to. I may be a dork, but it seems to work...along with some Nickelback, Snow Patrol, and Green Day. I just ran 5 miles at the gym--54 minutes and technically I only needed to do 45 minutes, no walking, and I even increased the pace at the end (ok so it was only from 5.5 to 5.7, but still!)--so there--I'll take my dorkiness and run with it.

And because I know you'd rather see Katherine than hear about my dorkiness...

twirliness

I told her to smell the flower for the picture. Apparently the flower thingys (the stamen, I believe?) went up her nose.

So innocent...what an actress!

Countdown

Countdown

Marathon Watch 2010 and other exciting updates

So yesterday I ran 6-ish miles--from Whiteford firehouse to the 3rd telephone pole past the horse farm on the left past where Old Pylesville Rd comes out on 165 and back (distance was pre-measured in my car, hence the -ish part). Only 20 more miles to add (and yes I know it's 26.2, but if I can get the 26 part done, I can crawl the rest of the way--it'll make a great Kodak moment, don't you think!). It's amazing how flat a road will look in a SUV going 50mph. However when you actually get out and move say 5.5 mph, there's lots of hills you never noticed before. That stretch of road they call "the flats"? Anything but! It took me 68 minutes which wasn't bad considering the pace I've been doing on the treadmill should have clocked me at 65 minutes--and there's no hills there! 

Before I ran I was dreading it, questioning why I was doing this. Really wanted to go home and take a shower instead. But I did it and felt great afterwards to have accomplished it (mostly because I ran the whole way--I'm much less likely to stop and walk outside than I am on a treadmill). I need to remember the good feeling at the end and channel that next week when I run 7 miles. Although there was a moment at around 5-1/2 miles when I needed to speed up to get out of the way of a turning car and I'm pretty sure my legs said, "what the hell Robin, you think we're going to sprint NOW?" Yes they have their own personality...

Katherine has been accepted to 1/2 day kindergarten. They save the full day spots for kids who need extra help and we weren't sure with her dog barking if she would qualify for extra help or not. But I guess they were more interested that she could write her name, knew her address and phone number, and knew her letters and numbers and could count to 29 (except for 15, she always misses that one?). According to her preschool spring evaluation they did at school, her points accumulated were equivalent to a 6 year old (except for the reading part, I'm guessing). Which just goes to show, what she'll do when she's comfortable in her environment.

And 2 scrapbooking layouts about Katherine (because blog posts without pictures are just boring!)

(you can click on the photos to make them bigger if you want to read the journaling)