A Good Friday

Last night I realized that I have not written about running in some time. So today I'll write a little about running. My foot is feeling great and I am back up and running again. I am being cautious, though, and listening to my body more closely than perhaps ever before. Sitting out for two weeks screwed with me mentally, more than physically, and I don't want to go through that again.

Today was a good day. Isaac slept straight until 6:30am and I got to stay warm in bed until then as well. Alan is back home and was happy to see Cesia at 5:30 this morning after a few days away from her. We had a wonderful family breakfast, then I dropped the girls off at preschool with lunches so that they could stay until 12:30 or 1 in case Isaac napped long. That is exactly what he did. Little boy slumbered peacefully for nearly 3 hrs. Three hours of uninterrupted work allowed me to finish our annual family photo album for 2013. It looks great and I just need to finish some final edits tonight before proceeding to checkout. I take a LOT of pictures of my kids and I love having a yearly album printed out of all my favorites to look back and review throughout the year(s). Cesia especially loves them, too and at least once a weeks asks me, "Please read my Cesia book to me!" Girl loves pictures of herself. : )

Once Isaac was up, I bundled him up for the 50 degree Fall weather we are finally enjoying after a few weeks in the 80-90's again. This is heaven. I love these cold, windy, rainy days. Ultimate running weather. So we bundled up, strapped baby boy into the triple stroller and completed a speed workout on flat roads near the girls' preschool. Two mile warm-up, 6x200 meters hard with 200 meter jog recoveries, 1 mile cool-down and then straight to pick up big sisters from school. Speedwork with a triple stroller is hard, especially into a headwind. I would have loved to do it with Isaac in the Bob instead but it made no sense to run and then have to get in the car to pick up Adara and Cesia, so we tackled two jobs at the same time and extended the cool-down with a 2 mile run back home in which Cesia passed out. Once home she slept out front in the stroller for another 2 hours covered with two heavy wool blankets.

Sleepy sister and happy brother.

Adara, Isaac and I enjoyed a long lunch at home of homemade kale and black-eyed pea stew that I have been munching on for three days now and delicious cornbread muffins from my sweet friend and amazing cook who just happens to live up the street. Pineapple guavas were our dessert of choice -- picked from another neighbor's tree yesterday afternoon. Eating local can be so easy and tasty. After lunch I let the kids play on the kitchen floor around my feet while I cooked up a very green broccoli quinoa casserole for tonight's dinner. Mmmm.. this mama is excited for dinner tonight! I am back on a good cooking streak where everything seems to come together smoothly and effortlessly. There are many days when that doesn't happen and we are left scrounging together a "smorgasbord dinner."  Smorgasbord dinner is really a fancy word in our house for meaning a plate full of random items found in our fridge and cabinets at the end of a busy week. We must celebrate the little victories, because you never know when they will happen next. Tonight we will eat like Kings. And our wonderful neighbor just dropped off some organic chocolate truffles she picked up at Whole Foods this afternoon. So we are in for a good evening!

Very Green Casserole. Full of Kale, Chickpeas, Broccoli, Quinoa and other good stuff.

My little kitchen helper. Little boy getting into trouble.

The wind is gushing outside, the sun hasn't really made an appearance all day and we could not be happier. Even my legs feel happy -- full of that good achy feeling that only comes after a hard workout.  Have a great weekend, all! We have a jam-packed schedule ahead but all fun stuff - should be good.

My three running partners.