spaghetti face

We had spaghetti for dinner the other day and Leah wanted to join in on the fun. The noodles kept sticking to her fingers and she couldn't figure out how to get them off...this seemed to work the best. For those of you who know my childhood experiences with spaghetti, I just want to say that Leah did this to herself. There was no smashing any spaghetti (or hot marinara sauce) onto her head/hair/face.

halloween preview

we had a little ward party last night...here are a few pictures of our little tiger. more to come, i'm sure. sadly, she rubbed off all of her red nose before we took a picture. and i'm not sure what was wrong with our camera, but my nose was actually red, not black. hmmm...

and ryan said he would only dress up if he could have a finger moustache tattoo, a.k.a "fingerstache", so i obliged (see http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1685762 or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_mustache_tattoo for more information). We also decided Ryan will be a pirate for every halloween from here on out...we will simply get new props to add to his costume each year. This year he has a hook, an eye patch and a fingerstache.

eight months...

Today leah is 8 months old. I would post a collage of pictures like the ones in the past, but i'm pretty sure InDesign was deleted from our computer in Ryan's fury to get rid of programs we didn't need as we only have a 4-year-old 30 gig computer and were running out of space on the hard drive. (Yes, Scott, I said 30). I'll have him re-install it tonight. For now, these will have to suffice.

Leah loves to read (and eat) her books, play with (and eat) her toes, say "ma ma", scream when she's on her stomach, play with (and eat) her toys, take baths in the big bathtub, go running with mom, smile, giggle, laugh, play pat-a-cake, hear duck sounds, give kisses, peek at things, try to eat cheerios, be scared by dad and listen to Christmas music (shhh, don't tell Ryan!). She is such a joy. Her hair is growing in blonde (much to my surprise...but delight that it's growing)! She now fits in size 2 diapers and 3-6 month old clothes. Barely.

...and a half

rebecca (2:24:49), kaylynn (2:22:04), julia (2:22:04), maren (2:21:11) & molly (2:13:28)

Yesterday I ran in the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco. What a race! It starts in Union Square where you run out to Pier 1, up and around The Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf, Chrissy Field, up toward the Golden Gate Bridge (no fog in sight...what a view!!!)...at mile 6 you tun the opposite direction of the bridge and run UP (yes, i mean UP) for one mile, then down a bit for mile 7, then UP, UP, UP for miles 8, 9 and part of 10...at which time you hit the coast. Wow. As we turned the corner and ran down highway one toward the beach, it was so beautiful! Mile 11 goes inland toward Golden Gate Park and mile 12 is back out to the finish line on the shore. I had tons of energy at the end, which has never happened before.

my little fam...

It was probably the hardest of the three halves I have done...but I think I had a PR. yay! Plus, who could complain when there are men in tuxedos at the finish line handing you a necklace from Tiffany & Co.??? I ran it with four great girls: Julia, Molly, Rebecca and Kaylynn. Molly came in first and our wonderful support crew members were looking for the rest of us running in a bunch. I came in before Julia and Kaylynn and our spectators didn't see me...so, no pictures of me crossing the finish line, but this is a pretty funny video from Ryan when he thought I was coming.

support crew and necklace from tiffany & co.

yummy artichoke scramble post-race (julia is saying, "oh yeah, this looks good!") and matching ribbons we all wore as it's national breast cancer awareness month

so long, farewell...

we threw a surprise going-away party for the julia and jonathan last weekend - a bonfire at the beach in santa cruz. and the wades will most definiltey be missed...(yes, jona, leah will miss you!).

we wish you the best of luck in north carolina.

upon request...

Grandma Hauley wanted to see the clip in Leah's hair. And no, i'm not just getting anxious...there really is enough to actually clip it without it wiggling everwhere! Now we can use the many, many bows I have been dying to use...

...and just another fun bathtime picture. The slippers have what Ryan calls "seatbelts" on them so they stay in place. i promise she is a smiley little girl...just not for the camera, i guess!

no turning back now...

I promised myself I would register for the California International Marathon after I knew I could survive my 16 mile run. I ran 16 miles on Saturday. I survived. And surprisingly, I felt great afterward. And as of 9:30 this morning, my registration is complete.

happy birthday to me!!

Yay for birthdays! We just spent the weekend in Wildomar, CA with Dan and Heather where they were gracious enough to let us use their "guest wing" (love, love, love the house guys!) and they treated us to yummy birthday root beer floats. mmmm.

Highlights of the trip: maren getting food poisoning on the car ride down...and throwing up approx. 30 times, morning walk with heather to "shrek swamp", lunch at Mission Bay in San Diego, touring the USS Miday, an aircraft carrier, in San Diego harbor, birthday root beer floats, somehow turning onto another freeway on the way home and increasing our drive time by 30-45 minutes.

My birthday was wonderful!! Highlights of the big day: birthday lunch with Julia and Sarah (and Leah and Jack...cousin twins), Leah taking a stellar nap, Ryan secretly getting off work early to surprise me, dinner at P.F. Changs (mmm lettuce wraps), a new iPod and Nike+ (yaaaaaaay!!!!), and banana cream pie. Thanks everyone for a wonderful, wonderful birthday.

I did enjoy the card that Leah made for me...thought you might enjoy it too:

For my 26th birthday (wow i'm getting old!), I would like to see who is reading my blog. So, if you are reading this, please post a comment. Birthday wishes are accepted.

oh boy! i've got joy...

so i spent a very eventful morning helping my neighbor kristin take her joyschool group on a "nature walk." there were six kids ages 4 or 5 and she wasn't sure she could handle them all by herself! (pictured back row left to right: siyi, ben, maren (yes! her name is maren!!), brooke and collin...front row: katrina) We walked to a nearby park...and all of the kids held onto a rope as we walked so they wouldn't run off. as we walked, we noticed things about nature: flowers on the trees, spiderwebs in the bushes, the moon in the sky, birds flying...and my favorite...since the needles were falling off some of the bushes, a little girl named brooke said, "those trees are bald like my grandpa!"

when we got to the park, we looked through our "viewers" (aka cardboard toilet paper rolls covered in consturction paper) to see different things close up: dew on the grass, a moth on a flower, blades of grass...and we used our senses to see, hear, taste (cupcakes, not nature), touch and smell (a yummy rosemary plant). as we climbed through the low trees and did lots of other activities, one little girl named Katrina said, "I NEVER need help" and then proceeded to ask for help with each activity. it was pretty funny.

leah sat quietly on her blanket as she watched the action around her and then sang with the rest of them (five little ducks and an ant song i didn't know...i have a LOT to learn!) as we walked back to our apartment complex.

we only had one bloody leg (band-aid is now in place and we luckily had diaper wipes to clean her up), one scratch, three falls, one smack (yes sweet little brook totally slugged katrina in the back) and only a few tears. all in all a very successful nature walk.

(sorry about the blurry pictures...they were from my camera phone...)

grandma and grandpa hauley

Grandma and Grandpa Hauley were in town and came to visit Leah (and Maren and Ryan) on Saturday.

Grandpa and Ryan had fun watching football. Maren had fun just being able to sit down after running 14 miles that morning. Grandma had fun watching Leah while she slept, playing pat-a-cake, feeding her and playing dress-ups! Leah can't wait to play again sometime...

p.s. grandma won the hair growing contest if you were wondering...