Scenes from a Monday

We are doing normal life today... harder but easier, all rolled into one. I had the kids by myself this weekend so that Zach could study (finals are this week... then he has a little bit of time off... then his next semester starts May 2). We headed to my parent's house to hang out with them... they just had some fun out of the country, so we got to catch up and they helped me with the "babies." Sunday afternoon was full of preparing for the week and laundry. Of course. Today was spent on errands and school and homework and just hanging out. A picture diary: 

Our pretty red canoe (and huge ladder) nestled among the bright green new leaves. They've really exploded in the last few days! 

Love the new green against the Carolina blue sky! although today that looks more like a Colorado blue sky :). 

While I was outside snapping a few pics and playing with Pete, Sammy did this  little mess. 

He was "hiding" from me so that he didn't have to clean it up! 

found the little rascal 

While I was amazingly productive and actually helped with cooking... 

My ears were blessed with this... 

My brilliant daughter is teaching herself piano... 

She is so much better than me in every way, as it should be... I'm such a proud mama... 

Zach came home from exam #1 and studying to fit in a little fishing with this handsome fella... 

And on the running front, here are my new shoes! I've been a happy Saucony shoe wearer for many years, and my latest pair got me through the 1/2 marathon training and did great. I went to buy some new Sauconies and sadly learned that the company will completely fade out their typical models (mine is already kaput) and transition entirely to the minimalist movement. Which is fine, but I like my shoes and do well in shoes, so I guess I'm not a cool runner. Oh well... the shoe store people like me! The dude watched me run and helped me make the transition from Saucony over to the Brooks brand. This shoe really seems to work well for me... the longest I've run in them so far is 6 miles, but they felt great. Lately I've been working on my speed, and I ran 6 on Saturday averaging an 8:41 mile and finished in 50 min 49 sec, which is way fast for me! I was really excited that my effort actually resulted in a faster time... I'm excited to see how I do in the future. I kept my eye on the Boston Marathon today and felt very inspired... not sure if I EVER want to run that far (totally love that 1/2 marathon distance) but I'm certainly more open to it once I have time to train someday (translation: when my husband is not in school!). We shall see. I'm completely blown away by a fellow adoptive mom, Erin, who started running 3 years ago and ran the Boston Marathon today. She didn't meet her goal due to the terrible heat, but she still did incredibly well and is a HERO to me. (Did I mention she has TWELVE kids? yah. Get off your butt and run! If she can, WE CAN TOO!).

Anyway, that was my Monday (I didn't take pictures of me running on the treadmill for who-knows-how-many miles while pounding microbiology notes into my head while Sammy played at the gym, but I thought that might be a tad bit boring). Going to sleep and hoping we get through the week and Zach passes all of his exams! And I remember the meetings and reports I have! Oh! and that quiz! I have a quiz! Someone send me a personal assistant... haha.

Hope you all have a great week!