A Rudolph Run and Weekend Fun

After the craziness of last weekend, this weekend was nice and quiet.  No parties, no big plans, and we just got to spend time with our little family.  The only thing I had on the agenda was a race that didn't start till 10:00 on Saturday morning.  I slept in till 8:00, and by I slept in, I mean that's how late Jonah slept in.  Once he got up, I nursed him and then got myself ready to head to the race.

It was the Rudolph Run 6K (first time I've ever raced this distance) and I had convinced a friend to run with me.  I left Luke with the littles and headed out to meet my friend.  The race was at a high school in Howard County, and there happened to be a pee-wee football tournament going on at the school so it was a little crazy, but we eventually found each other and headed to the start of the race. We had red blinking Rudolph noses on, which we decided we would get a picture of us wearing them, and then take them off for the race.  But we did get a few compliments before taking them off.

The race ended up being two loops around the same course and partially on grass, which I didn't love. I did, however, love that there were no hills!  My toes never warmed up until after I finished, but I somehow managed to average a 7:30 pace.  Surprise to me! My friend and I hung out for a bit and then decided to go chat over coffee before we headed home to our families.  It was so nice being out for a bit and relaxing!

not happy about trying to crawl

When I got home we got ourselves ready for the day and headed out to do some last minute Christmas shopping.  Target was super crazy and we ended up just leaving.  But we found some fun white elephant gifts at the mall, and bought the few gift cards we needed for people.  Our evening was nice and quiet- bathtime and bedtime routines for the kids (and me since I still go to bed when Noelle goes to bed!)

I want to remember these little quiet evenings that we have as a family of four.  They aren't always easy, especially when Jonah has a short nap or an earlier nap, and it's a struggle to keep him awake until at least 7.  But there are fun moments too.  Turning on Christmas music and dancing around. Doing "Ring Around the Rosie" with Noelle and Care Bear.  Trying to get Jonah to crawl instead of just sprawl his legs out behind him.  Laughing at the funny things that come out of Noelle's mouth. Reading books and watching Christmas movies together.

Christmas Sunday clothes

I can only imagine what next Christmas will look like with two very mobile children, but in the meantime, I'm loving how much fun the toddler and baby stages are.  And if this is it in terms of how many kids God wants to bless us with, I want to enjoy the last "first" Christmas we will have with our Jonah boy.