This and That

October flew by so quickly and now, Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!

I can hardly handle it.

(and PS, you know you're a musician when "handle" looks like it's spelled wrong)

Also, I just found out that my grandpa is going to AZ to see my family for Thanksgiving and I'm so jealous.

Aleks and I flirted with the idea of driving there.

Until map quest showed an 18 hour drive.

And we only get W-F off.

We're just going to have to make do with a Skype date.

Here are some updates:

Ruby continues to be feisty and sweet and adorable. When she turned 2 we took away her pacifiers. Well, actually, the week after her birthday she chewed through both her pacifiers and we just didn't replace them. Ever since that event, Ruby screams before falling asleep. Sometimes she cries for 10 sec., sometimes it lasts longer and turns into somersaults in her bed and no nap. Aleks and I aren't quite sure what to do about it.
Ruby is talking up a storm and has a pretty good vocabulary at her disposal. She's really good at playing by herself and will often be quietly occupied with coloring, puzzles, or a doll house while Maia is at school.

Speaking of Maia, she still loves school. It's so fun to see her develop friendships and experience new things. She adores her girlfriends. The boys; not so much. When we ask her why she doesn't like the boys, she just keeps saying, "they're not girls!" Maia's really been into coloring recently and I think she's starting to show a dominance in her right hand. Looks like us left handed parents are going to have two righties.
Yesterday Maia found our travel edition Blokus game. She spent hours arranging the tiles, trying to get them to cover all the squares. At one point she told me she was making wishes come true. I can't even imagine what's going on in her brain.

Aleks is staying really busy this month. He had a new music festival last weekend, the Knob Festival, which kept him busy. This weekend he's flying to San Diego for a conference where one of his pieces is being performed. Aleks hasn't been able to ride his bike as much now that the weather has gotten colder. However, he's still swimming, running, and biking on regular rotation. I guess the biggest news concerning Aleks is that he's growing his hair out. It started off as not having time to get it cut, but it's looking pretty good.

After my recital and NATS, I've been pretty drained. However, I'm still regularly running. As you may remember, I was training for a half marathon, but never wrote a post about a race. Well, the half marathon I was training for was scheduled on the same weekend that Aleks and I went to Chicago. So, I decided that I would train for the distance, but not enter the actual race.
It's been just over a year since a ran my first 5k and a year and a half since I started running. I've lost about 15 pounds this year and am in the best cardiovascular shape of my life. I'm still slow, but I've stopped caring about speed. I just feel good about doing something good for myself. And that the girls see me doing it.

I asked Aleks the other day if he ever felt overwhelmed, and if so, how many days a week on average he felt that way. He said something like 2 days a month. This fall I probably feel overwhelmed 3-4 days a week. Sometimes it seems like I can barely keep my head above water.

I really just wish I could be fully present in each moment of my life. Instead I feel like I'm constantly being pulled in three or four directions and thinking about how to prepare for what's next.

So I'm learning to let go of some of the expectations I have for myself. My house is certainly not as clean as I would like. My blog posts have been a bit sparse this season. I haven't stayed in touch with friends who are out of state as much as I'd like. I've forgotten the diaper bag on occasion and last month I had to change a dirty diaper at the library using wet paper towels and buckled Ruby into her car seat without a diaper on.

I find that I savor the days we get to stay home. I think it is so important for my kids to play. I love watching them develop their imaginations and learn to play with one another and all the wonderful things that happen when they are left to their own devices.

(For instance, Maia just counted Ruby off, "a-1, a-2, a-123" and Ruby is now playing her toy piano while Maia sings Jingle Bells in her princess dress.)

And I'm learning to accept life when it's not simple and we're running from one thing to the next. I'm learning to find ways to connect with my kids as we're waiting for the doctor. Or how to be creative and play at the grocery store or in the car.

(Is the picture in my header blurry to you? It seems to be fine when it's in the program I use for editing, 

but now it looks fuzzy. Or maybe I need glasses?!)

Overall it's been a busy and full season. But it's been good. 

There are so many things to be thankful for.