Pre-race jitters/possible catastrophe?

5 days until the half marathon.

I've been having nightmares for the last few weeks about running:

Starting the race without a bib and not realizing it until I'm 3 miles in.

Trying to run and my feet not leaving the ground.

I'm a bit nervous.

I'm worried that I'll still be running and they'll be packing up the finish line.

I'm worried that I'll have to poop in the middle of the race.

I'm worried that I'll be the only one with sweat dripping down my face (I sweat A LOT when I run).

But none of these are really that big of a deal considering that yesterday, randomly in the late morning, I went to walk up my stairs and felt a sharp pain in my right thigh.

It was so bad that I could barely walk up the stairs.

There was the slightest twinge when I would walk on a flat surface, so that was somewhat consoling.

I applied IcyHot and took some Advil.

I was supposed to go running this morning, but skipped it.

Today, thankfully, my leg is markedly better, but still somewhat sore.

So really, my biggest worry is that I won't be able to run the race at all.

If any of you have tips for a speedy healing, please let me know. 

Unfortunately I think there isn't much I can do, other than rest and take care of myself.

I really should have stretched after my long run on Sunday.

I know, I know.

Still alive and kicking (just barely)

Hi!

Remember me?

It's that time of year and point in the semester where I just try to get through one day at a time with everyone fed and clothed.

Things are busy, but good.

I spent the weekend visiting my family in Arizona and finally cuddling my sweet new nephew.

While I was there I taught a masterclass for my mom, ate some good food, ran a bit, played with my niece and nephew, got to know my brother's girlfriend (love her), and left wishing we all lived close together.

This week it's been back to the daily grind.

Maia was sick at the beginning of the week, the third of the Sternfeld-Dunn family to catch this bug and unfortunately, it's now my turn.

For the next two weeks I am going to be immersed in the score for Mozart's Requiem and trying not to die as I run my first half marathon on May 5.

Warm wishes and thoughts are appreciated for both events.

This Dove commercial has been finding its' way around the internet recently.

I'll be honest, I totally cried watching this.

And then this started circulating.

And I totally cried watching this one too, but for different reasons...

The sun is shining and this weekend we get some actual spring weather!

I hope wherever you are, you have outside play weather too.

What this Friday looked like.

Some of my friends who have blogs, occasionally do a post called Ten on Ten. It's one of those linky party things that bloggers sometimes do.

The premise of Ten on Ten is this: you take 1 picture every hour for 10 consecutive hours on the 10th of each month.

I am notoriously late to any trend/fad/fun thing, but I think it's an interesting idea so I decided to do my own version on Friday.

On a typical Friday I start teaching at 8:45 and finish at 6:00.

This Friday was special.

The girls woke up at 6 and I held them hostage in bed for 45 minutes while I tried to peel my eyes open.

We headed downstairs for breakfast.

Maia turned off all the lights and got out her flashlight.

Which is actually quite wonderful when you don't want to open your eyes anyway.

After breakfast, coffee, and a shower, I headed to the garage with freshly washed carseat covers.

It took me a solid 15 minutes to wrestle them onto the frame.

My first student, this week, wasn't scheduled until 10:00, so I headed in to work early (via Starbucks) to do some score study and catch up on paperwork.

Then my first cherub of the day arrived for her lesson.

Most of my students have 1/2 hour lessons.

I get this ham for an hour and I love it!

 After a 15 minute break (so much coffee!) I get to see this handsome fellow.

I'd like to say that all my students dress up for their lessons, but you already know that isn't the case.

He was going to be singing in masterclass following his lesson.

It was really hard for me to remember to take a picture every hour.

From 12:30-1:20 I have masterclass, which involves my students singing for each other and workshopping ideas, technical and dramatic.

I didn't remember to take a picture, so instead I drew you one.

Can you tell that I sort of dread this hour?

After masterclass I don't usually get a break, but this week I got an entire 30 minutes to eat my lunch!

Which means a even keeled teacher for this young man and his French diction.

Again, this was a rare day in that I had another hole in my schedule.

I spent the time listening to excerpts from the Requiem on youtube.

No joke, every week this kid makes me smile so hard.

By the time I get to this gentleman, I'm usually wiped, but the talent he has is a better pickup than a 4:00 espresso.

After the college kids on Friday, I usually teach 3 private students. This week I only had one, which meant I got started on my weekend early!

For my birthday, Aleks asked his mom to come out and watch the girls so we could go to dinner and spend the night in a hotel.

The point being that I would be able to sleep in on Saturday morning.

I left school and headed straight to our hotel, which afforded this view from our room.

We had a lovely dinner, and some wine.

 And then because I was so good at dinner (salmon, green beans, and quinoa) we had to stop by Krispy Kreme on the way back to the hotel. 

I mean, the "Hot Now" sign was lit. 

You kind of have to stop when those neon lights proclaim their greasy goodness.

Back at the hotel we rented a movie and I was asleep by 9:20.

Best. Birthday. Gift. Ever.

In the morning Aleks had to get up early and take Maia to her soccer game.

I took my time waking up, went for a run at 8, had breakfast, and then headed to my sewing class where I cut out all the pieces for an apron I'm making.

It was a great day.

So there you have it. A somewhat non-typical Friday in my life.

Happy weekend y'all!

4th birthdays are magical

My firstborn is 4 years old today!

I woke up this morning with bags under my eyes, worse than any I ever had when she was an infant.

But so filled with love and excitement and nostalgia for my girl.

When you are celebrating your 4th birthday, nothing is more exciting than going to school on your actual birthday!

On Tuesday, I spent part of my day making cookie pops for Maia to take to school for snack time.

I really enjoy doing these things, even though I have to face my perfectionist tendencies head on.

Seriously, the kids are 3 and 4. All they care about is that sugar is involved.

Which is what I kept reminding myself when I wanted to scrape the frosting off every cookie and start again.

(If you ever decorate cookies like this, do the border first.)

When I wasn't piping frosting onto sugar cookies, I made a triple batch of pancakes.

Why, you ask?

Maia had her first big birthday party yesterday.

It was a PB&J party.

It was a morning party and I think it's actually a really good time for kids this age. Everyone was fresh and in good moods.

We invited Maia's classmates plus two other little girls that Maia knows from dance class.

In case you were wondering, that's 12 kids, plus 4 silbings, and parents.

Our house was full in the best way possible.

So, back to the pancakes.

First, get a gigantic bowl and mammoth whisk.

Then start making pancakes and don't stop.

  

"Mom, take a picture of me looking at the pancakes!"

 I made all the pancakes and bacon the day before and then heated them up in the oven the next morning.

Generally I think it worked ok.

If I had 2 ovens, I would have done the bacon the morning of the party, but alas, that was not meant to be.

And you can't have a birthday party without cupcakes!

I found these cute liners on sale with the Easter things.

They are really cute, but the dough crept up the sides, so when then wrapper got pulled off, half the cupcake went with it.

Another moment that I wanted to start all over and get it right.

My fingers were crossed that the frosting would fix everything.

Well, the decorating didn't turn out the way I wanted either, but at this point it was 8:00 PM and I had been in the kitchen all day.

Turns out, I'm less of a perfectionist when I'm tired!

You know what? They were really tasty.

(Cupcakes from Joy of Cooking, pp. 718 "Cocoa Devil's Food Cake", frosting was a generic butter cream recipe from the internet.)

Aleks came home for about a half hour before training and I immediately put him to work hanging streamers.

When anyone has a birthday, we hang streamers, even if there will be no birthday party.

Maia knows that when the "ribbons" are up, it's birthday time.

In fact, on April 1st she woke up and said "It's April! It's my birthday! Can I go downstairs and see if the ribbons and balloons are up?"

After seeing a bare mantle, I cut out and hung the Happy Birthday banner at 9:00.

See, it's that perfectionist thing again.

I've got to get over it, it's really an inconvenience.

Goody bag included stickers, a pencil, erasers, a little notepad, some candy, and sidewalk chalk.

(I just think pictures of large platters of fruit are pretty.)

And then it was party day and our friends got here!

So many little girls in their jammies!

And then we read Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, in which Lulu and Sam pretend they are bug superheros and save the city from pretend bad guys and then have a parade on the bouncy dinosaurs.

At the 11 hour, after trying to think up a game, or something for all these kids to do, I decided we would make masks and have a parade, like in the book.

Thank heavens for craft stores which have decorating supplies that do not involve glue or paint.

The 5 minutes it took these kids to work on their masks was the quietest 5 minutes of the morning.

And by this point Ruby was OVER it. She hid in the corner with a balloon for awhile.

Group picture?

This is the best we could do; we're only missing 1 guest!

All in all, I think the party was a success.

I take after my mother and made way too much food.

(One time there were 8 of us at dinner and she made 4 quiches. Just to be sure there was enough.)

You know it's a good party when there are half eaten pancakes lying around!

As I mentioned a few days ago, Aleks has been reeeeeally busy.

Sure enough, Wednesday morning there was a meeting he couldn't miss and so he couldn't stay for the party.

He was sad. I was too.

Especially when Maia opened her presents and I was juggling the thank you list, making sure Maia said thank you to each gift giver as she opened the presents, and holding a weary Ruby on my lap.

I don't know how you single parents do it!

Seriously, my hat is off to you. Let me know if I can ever help out. 

Seriously.

I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining.

I really enjoyed putting together the party for Maia and I loved seeing all her friends and their parents, my new friends.

 It was a lot of work.

This morning Maia woke up and I had draped streamers down her doorway to greet her.

I pried open my eyes and we all went downstairs to open presents!

 This year Aleks and I got Maia (and Ruby) a small trampoline.

We're hoping it cuts down on some of the couch jumping.

After school Maia spent all afternoon playing with her new animals, or as she says "animales."

She even read them a book!

I started another tradition this year.

I'm going to write my girls a letter on each birthday and when they graduate high school or get married or whenever I feel like it, I'll give my daughters their own binder full of love letters from their mama.

So, I'm going to spare you all from the sappy stuff here.

I'll just say that it is such a privilege to see this little flower bloom and grow into something more beautiful than I could even imagine.

Inside and out.

Happy 4th birthday dearest Maia.