Belated 2.5 for Smoochface

We just had a month milestone, but I realized I never blogged about Smoochface's 2.5!  So here it is.

Our little girl is (morethan) halfway to 3, which is crazy but also lots of fun.  She is articulate and opinionated, has a sense of humor and a sense of style, has high highs and low lows, in thoughtful and sweet.  She loves Little Mister and often pats him when he needs attention, imitating our "there there" voices.  She loooooves Big Brother and can often be found trying to sneak into his room after bedtime to sit in his bed and read together (or, you know, play at very high volumes).  She often resists bedtime, usually vociferously, which has been a struggle, but we try to remember that one day she won't even want to hang out and rock with us in the evenings.  She's reportedly a delight in Nursery, she took right to potty and she has a hearty appetite.  She loves all princesses but especially Rapunzel (especially when we get to watch a Perpunzel Cocoon) and she sings along with whatever we're listening to.  She's started trying to negotiate for things which is often hilarious and her emotions are so strong sometimes even she doesn't know why she feels the way she does.  She's healthy and strong and clever and lovely.

Birthday girl montage!

Trimming Goldilocks

<3 td="">

So happy to be wearing Daddy's old running shorts!

C-O-O-L R-I-D-E-R

Summer Smooch

She loves a good bake.

Middle child!!!

She doesn't seem to mind.

2 kewl.

Eep!

She's finally into the water on the day we didn't bring her swimsuit.

Berrypicking!

Miss A's Salon

Though Mommy has been doing her fair share of creative hairstyling too.

... with adorable results.

We love our Smoochy!!!  Sorry about the delay!  See you in a couple months!

MDG Mo. 5

That looks like one of those old classical piece titles, you know, like Bach: Cantata "Christen, ätzet diesen Tag," BWV 63 (more on that after Christmas...).

SO our li'l boy is five months old!  He's smilier and laughier than ever, he's happy through sniffles and snuffles, he's big and tall and strong, he's sleeping fine, and really we have hardly a thing about which to complain.  He was the cutest Tigey at Halloween and spent a good part of Thanksgiving eyeing our plates (not yet, little man, but soon).  He's always quietly observing, though he can make his wants and wishes known.  The big excitement is that his labor and delivery and doctor and hospital bills are PAID OFF, after some distress involving unknowingly out-of-network hospitals, exorbitant, bewildering (not at all itemized...) bills, several calls to several places, and a major reduction of cost after making the right calls to the right places.  Sometimes that actually works.

Here he is!

Little Pumpkin.

Seriously, our other kids were happy but never as constantly smiley as he is.  He poses for the camera and everything.

Third go-round for this precious Sophie.  She cost a few pretty pennies but we've definitely had our cost-per-use.

Get some mileage out of those adorable Daniel Tiger ears!

He loves his mommy so so much.

 And now we're already just a couple weeks away from half a year.  Yikes!  Don't grow too fast, sweet boy.

Halloween 2017 -- Grrrreat? Grr-ific

Halloween!  It has come and gone, but not without being observed very much in our household especially by certain persons age 4 and under.  Without further ado, here's the Instaslideshow:

Either it's Halloween around here or I haven't played the piano in a LONG time.

Funtivity the 1st: Hee Haw Farms!  A huge hit as always.  I can't get over the corn box.

 

This isn't exactly Halloween-related, but having one sit and one push makes walking to church go a lot faster and easier.

Funtivity the 2nd: The Pumpkin Patch!  They've really upped their game this year (though the wait for the hayride was incredibly long, extended ride notwithstanding).

A perfect moment captured by The Wife.

Funtivity the 3rd: A nearby neighborhood party at Dowdle Farms with an art unveiling.  The Wife always manages to find the best local things to do.

Work party.  I must say the cereal bar was a stroke of genius. I made the poster but not the art.

I'm really amazed and annoyed we didn't even win third place (which would mean a prize of team breakfast -- what could have been more fitting?), even enlisting Auditing and Marketing.

Introducing the kids to a classic before heading out.

Halloween greetings from Daniel Tiger and his entourage.

Apparently I didn't do the bat or dragon or hissing cat quite to The Boy's desired specifications, but in my defense he didn't tell me until after.  I finally threw the remainder of these out today.

And there you have it!  We also went to sister Cami's really fun annual Halloween-themed Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra concert/costume parade, Elfman, Grieg, Mozart, Prokofiev, Williams, and a favorite from last year, Ghostbusters.  On the day of I had to rush off before too late to get to a rehearsal in SLC (more on that coming.....) but we had plenty of time to be together and do lots of fun things and trick-or-treat to the kids' hearts' content(s?), though they've largely forgotten about the candy by now, which is still in labeled bags.  I don't understand parents who take their kids trick-or-treating multiple times for hours on end and then complain that there's so much candy in their house.  What other results could you possibly expect???  Anyway.

Colors of Hope 5K

Wups, I wrote this last Friday and forgot to post it, but I collected my prize today so here it is now.

Wow, I haven't done an official race post in a long time.  I've still been running just about every day, but racing hasn't been a priority for a couple of years.  But work organized this one last week for Colors of Hope so I thought it would be fun to participate (last year's was closer to Thanksgiving and not the best day or time for me).

So it wasn't a huge race but there were 35-40 runners/walkers and I did pretty well at 23:08/8:00 miles (25:00 for the full course at 3.33 miles).  I led the pack for the first mile or so but the IT guy I was running alongside for a while pulled ahead and kept his lead until the big finish, beating me by a minute or two.  The weather was beautiful and the course was varied and interesting (though a slight head wind pushed pretty well for the last stretch).

Stuff We All Get

Next morning shot in black and white for artsy photo challenge meme purposes.

Fun race!  I scored a gift card to Smashburger, a place I have never visited, so that will be neat.  I guess I'll be hosting my Thanksgiving walk/run again this year so that will be fun too.

Four Months Later for MDG

This week we had Little Mister's four-month checkup and he's doing great.  Tall and plumping up (but still pretty lean because tall), very happy and smiley and laughy, getting cuter every day, and beloved by all.  Julie noticed this little red mark on his hand and the doctor said it could be from touching a lime, which made us both kind of laugh but which I guess causes discoloring and a slightly darker tan if exposed to the sun, so that was interesting.  Anyway, he's healthy and happy and has a good appetite and is a little more wakeful at night these days I believe but still sleeping well.  He's definitely finding his voice but most of them time he sits in a swing or a blanket or a lap and happily observes all around him.  What else is there to say except that he's extremely photogenic and we're looking forward to his first round of fall/winter holidays!

What I'd usually like to spend most of church doing.

This needs to be shared because Julie made it and it is adorable.

Even cute when blurry!

Such a squishy smooch!

Increasingly happy Saturday morning baby.

Just a sampling of the amazing family photos my sister took.

Bonus because baby in a teepee.

Baby's first choir concert!  The initial applause startled him but he was perfect after that.

Cheering Mommy on for her 5K.

4 months!  I don't think I used to post these but I like that I do now.  Also I just need to take more pictures of this kid.

Sorry I don't have as many pictures of you, son!  I promise I'll take a few more this month!  Halloween is nigh.

Beat Beethoven 2010

A few weeks ago a big group of us ran Pleasant Grove's annual Beat Beethoven 5K.  (The idea is to run the race in less time than it takes to play Beethoven's 5th Symphony, roughly 32 minutes.)  There were some early grumblings in the ranks about a higher participation cost this year, but after some savvy PR work by Melody, they actually offered a group rate without a shirt for a much lower cost, though Julie and I opted to pay full price to get the shirts, which were pretty nice this year.  Dad, Amber, Cami, Melody, Jonny (and Gabe and Julia), Julie and I had a good time and everyone beat Beethoven.  Dad's running speed is increasing at an alarming rate, Amber is getting right back into the swing of things, Cami is doing better than ever, and of course no one can touch the Rejholecs (but watch out when the race directors try to pronounce their names to collect their awards), Julie always shows a remarkable final burst of speed in the last stage of the race, and I did better than last year (21:16, 5th place in my age group--which I still think is too broad, 20-29--and 13th overall).

Notice Beethoven himself in the background.

 Triumphant!

It was great fun, and I'm glad everyone was able to participate.  There are quite a few 5Ks coming up in the fall, so we look forward to those.

I Run Faster than Classical Composers

A couple weeks ago we (me, Julie, Melody, Jonny, Cami, Allison) ran Pleasant Grove's Beat Beethoven 5K, all proceeds going to fund the Pleasant Grove Arts Council, which you should all know is a worthy cause as far as I'm concerned. The race begins with the famous first strains of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, and the idea is to finish the race before the piece is finished (roughly 32.5 minutes). We were pleased to report that each and every one of us beat Beethoven, and were thusly awarded with a commemorative button. It was a really nice course, slightly different from the Strawberry Days one, and it was a nice, cool September morning. Julie and I were afraid we had missed it the weekend previous when we were in Missouri, but as it happens, the timing worked out perfectly after all. There was even a dude there dressed as Beethoven bringing up the rear with the golf cart playing the music. Next year I hope they figure out a way to have the music audible throughout the course, and not just with the cart or at the finish line. We all ended up with pretty good times (21:41 for me, just under 7-minute miles, thiiiis close to being in the top three for my age group, and thiiiis close to being in the top ten overall!)

I'm not exactly sure why it looks like I'm doing some kind of mixture of deer-in-the-headlights and Blue Steel in this picture, but whatev.

Eat it, Ludwig!

Open Letter to the Weather

Dear 64 degrees,

I love you.

Regards,

Drew

It's Coming...

Today I went running at high noon.

Three weeks ago such an activity would have proven impossible due to the killer sun and intense heat.

That's right... Fall is on its way.

Bring it.