Dance! Dance! DANCE!

Adyson had her first dance recital on Friday, June 10th.  I somehow managed to score front row seats and Quentin and I were delighted at how well Ady actually participated.  She has been known to play shy when people are watching, which she did some of at the dress rehearsal, but she danced very well at the real recital!

This was also the first time Ady has worn makeup, and I think I created a monster.  She asks to wear "scara" and "lipsticks" all the time now... Sigh.  I can usually appease her with some blush and chapstick, but I doubt that will last long!

All in all she did great, but I am not sure dance is for Ady.  She had fun but often didn't want to go to class or asked to play other sports instead.  I think we are going to look into "cheater-leading" for flag football and playing basketball and soccer. 

THIS VIDEO (click the link)  is from dress rehearsal (no cameras or video allowed at the recital so you have to buy the dvd for $39.99, of course) Adyson is 3rd from the left!

Girls on the Run

I ran my second 5K today, and It.  Was.  AWESOME!  The kids and I (and some friends too) ran the Girls on the Run 5K at Mt. Trashmore today.  There were several times I fought back tears as I saw these girls run.  They were tears of joy, of course, but tears of accomplishment for many of these young girls.  There were a around 1000 runners today, which is double last year.  I cannot wait to continue to support this program in the future. 

Girls on the Run (GOTR) is a national non-profit prevention program that encourages pre-teen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.  Their curricula address all aspects of girls' development - their physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. (quoted from www.girlsontherun.org)

(From left to right: Jamie, Nicole, Me, Devon, and Katie)

Today also marked the first EVER race for two of my friends, Nicole and Jamie.  They are both hooked.  Just like I was!  Today we dubbed ourselves as "Moms on the Run!"

This race was not one that I had planned to crush any records, especially since there was a whole lot of walking to squeeze through the crowds, but it wasn't about speed or a finishing time today.  Today was about showing these young girls that anything is possible, even running 3+ miles with a stroller full of wiggly children :)

Jamie, Nicole, and Me

Jace (Buzz Lightyear), Cooper, and Ady

Me and Devon

The Month of May

There has been a lot going on lately.  A lot that I have chosen to keep off the blog.  However, it sounds like the plans are actually finalized and we now know that Quentin will be deploying to Russia in June.  I am less than excited and starting to stress about how Adyson is going to handle it.  I think Cooper will be ok for the most part, but Adyson is a HUGE daddy's girl.   We are going to start watching the Elmo Deployment dvd tomorrow. 

On Mother's Day we went for a 10 mile bike ride at False Cape State Park.  The views were beautiful.  It rained on us on and off, but we had a great time.  We cam across a turtle nest and had only missed the eggs hatching by a few hours.  We also met up with a nasty cotton mouth water moccasin and he was NOT happy!!

Friday, May 27th was Ady's last day of pre-school.  She has had a wonderful year.  They 3 and 4 year old programs put on a little show which I recorded and you can see it on YouTube by clicking HERE.   (It is just over 20 minutes long).  Cooper was a great "help" keeping the camera steady.  Or not. 

Quentin spent this week in New York City.  I will post lots of pics once he gets home and I can copy them over.  He has has a ton of fun.  But I will save all that good stuff for another post when I have the pictures to go with it.

This past Saturday, the kids and I ran in the Elizabeth River Run 10K in Portsmouth.  It was a great race.  I set a personal record (PR) for 10K (this was my second 10K).  My first 10K was the Turkey Trot last November and my time was 1 hour 24 minutes.  My time on Saturday was 1 hour 13 minutes!  Woot woot!!! 

March of Dimes - Marching for the Munchkins

On May 1st I will be "Marching for the Munchkins"

While I do not have a story to share about how March of Dimes has helped me personally, there are many, many parents out there who do.  I have many friends who have been through premature births, NICU stays, and an uphill battle since day one. 

While I cannot show you the pictures of my own children fighting day after day, I know you have seen them. The babies so small they look like dolls, with parent's wedding rings worn around their arms or legs. 

This is why we March for Babies.  Every dollar counts. 

When you walk in March for Babies, you give hope to the more than half a million babies born too soon each year. The money you raise supports programs in your community that help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies. And it funds research to find answers to the problems that threaten our babies. We’ve been walking since 1970 and have raised an incredible $2 billion to benefit all babies.

Please help me in my goal of raising at least $100 for the March of Dimes.  Maybe you can help me double that goal.  Every dollar counts.  You can donate online by clicking the banner above, right here on my blog.

Thank you for your support!

What? I have a blog? That hasn't been updated?

As usual, times have been crazy around the Lease household.  Since my last post on Feb5th, here is a quick recap.



On February 12th I ran the Virginia Is For Lovers 14K.  This was/is my longest race to date.  That is 8.69 miles.  It was a great race, though at times I had a hard time convincing myself to keep running.  I did.  And I crossed the finish line in 1:42:14.  Here is a post race pic of myself and my good friend Andrea.  I only wish I could run 9 minute miles like her : )

There was a huge group of us who ran wearing tutus.  We got tons of compliments and even made the J&A Racing 2011 Calendar!  Woot Woot! 


And yes, that is beer.  Yuengling to be exact and it was GOOD!!

(In our defense, we were all about to jump up for a "let's all jump and someone will take a picture" shot)

The loot.  And no, the Avocado seed didn't come with the glass... ha ha!

Adyson had a perfectly timed field trip to Chuck E Cheese's on Friday, Feb 25th - her birthday!  We brought cupcakes to share with all her classmates in celebration.

Cooper was all over the rides, but if you put a token in and made them move, he immediately wanted off. 

Twins?

The Birthday Queen

The Queen, the cupcakes, and Mrs. Stark (one of Ady's teachers)

Aaaaaaaaaaaand then we moved.  And boy was it a pain in the butt.  I don't have any pictures of the new house yet, as it is still pretty much chaos.  Most things are where they are supposed to be but there is a never ending pile of papers/crafts/mail that I just keep moving from place to place.  One of these days I will sort it all out.

On March 19th I ran the Shamrock 8K.  This was the "end in sight" to all my training.  And while it was a great race, and I finished in under an hour (my goal) I couldn't help but feel disappointed.  I had already run the 14K so the 8K felt like a step backwards.  However, I know that there is no way I could have run the half marathon (13.1 miles) with all the injuries I had been battling, so I have decided to hold my chin high, knowing that I shattered that goal of an hour by FOUR minutes, and start looking for more races! 

Haircut!!

We went to this great "kids' salon" called Pigtails and CrewCuts this week to get Adyson and Cooper's hair cut.  This place was great!  There was a train table in the waiting area and a separate room where  a movie was playing with even more toys to entertain the kiddos.  There were also smaller tvs at each station so the kids could watch tv while they got her hair cut!  Ady flew an airplane and Cooper drove a police car, all while getting a hair cut!

Ady just got a trim!

Beauty Queen, ready for her close-up!

Cooper on the other hand.... It doesn't look like he has much hair, but I was having to use more detangler on his hair than Adyson's hair.  It was buts.  All that baby fine hair in a HUGE mess on the back of his head every single morning.

This is the "detangled" version of the above mentioned mess.

Vroooom!! VROOOOM!!!!

The last "long hair" picture.

Cooper did great, despite this escape attempt.  He sat still and never even flinched.  No tears.  No screaming.  He wiggled around a lot but that is pretty much expected of a 15 month old boy!

All done.  So handsome. AND the sucker was a nice  reward!

This was Cooper's first sucker.  He seemed to know just what to do with it!