I woke up around 4:20 this morning and could feel immediately that there was no falling back asleep. So I got up, took my time and drank coffee. I got dressed and did some PT and strength training in our basement gym. I could have ran on the treadmill in our basement but I really wanted to run outside. It’s been SO dark in the morning and I just don’t feel as safe as I used to running in the dark alone. So I waited for the sun to just start peaking out. It also gave me a chance to kiss the kids good morning.

It was still pretty dark and the path I was taking doesn’t have many street lights so I still needed my headlamp for the first half of the run.

It was pretty cold, in the mid 20s definitely time to get used to the cold!

I love running outside in the morning, especially in the fall!

Headlamp off for the second half of the run!

Just a quick three miles but it makes such a difference in how I feel all day.

The mountains got a fresh coat of snow yesterday and were glowing pink so the kids joined me to appreciate them when I got home.

Then it was time for school and all the normal weekday morning things.

Even after a warm shower I was so cold that I needed hot coffee, a blanket and fuzzy crocks. Should have switched out for my slippers but these were in the school room.

Later we went bike riding and Cannon banged his knee pretty bad. He came in for ice cuddles. He was enjoying his blanket, heating pad and tablet so much that when I asked for a sad face to show he was hurt this was the best he could do.

For dinner we had Costa Vida salads and the kids had quesadillas. I love these salads so much, we always get the steak ones. When we were done we drove around the neighborhood to see Halloween decorations. It’s not all out like Christmas decorations but many homes had fun displays and two houses even had a really cool light show set to music.

Does your neighborhood decorate for halloween?

What part of the day is your favorite to run?

Cannon and Emmy both got to wear their costumes to school and were very excited about the entire day. Emmy decided to wear her Sally costume from last year since it was better from playing than this years Princess Peach costume.

It was also the first snow of the season, it was too warm to stick but winter is coming!

After dropping Cannon off at school I went to Target for a return and browsing for Christmas gifts. The toy that gets played with the most is our Magna-Tiles. I wonder if the kids would like is these polar animals kits. I also thought it was funny that the seasonal section was half orange and half red.

I did pick up these cute little boards for our play kitchen.

Then I was off to Emmys school for her Halloween party. It was really fun for both Cory and me to see Emmy in her classroom with her friends.

And then it was time to for the afternoon hustle of throwing dinner in the crockpot, making lunch and heading out to pick up Cannon. He had a great day, I love how much he loves school.

Then it was time to play (no more soccer practice this season) and eat BBQ chicken stuffed sweet potatoes.

And now for some running talk, I am so so hopeful that I will finally be back to running and get some fun races in for 2023. I LOVE running but I also hate running. When my non-runner friends tell me that they want to like running but they hate it, I say me too! And they look at me like I am crazy. But the truth is I do hate running when I am out of shape. It’s SOOOOO hard, everything feels weird, it’s slow and annoying. When getting back into shape I start liking running again a little bit when I can run three miles easily, then more when I can run five easily, then I madly fully in love again when ten miles can be a weekday run.

So if you *want* to love running but don’t my advice is to give it at least three months (six would be better) of consistent running. If you still hate it then it’s not for you but you could just find that you love it.

We had a pretty standard Tuesday around here, we got up early to make sure Emmy was to preschool on time. I used to live at the community center when the kids were really little so going there many times a week gives me so many happy feels.

We used to hang out in the play ground all the time. It is soft for babies to crawl around and there are walls to keep toddlers from running. It’s also our go to indoor pool.

Cannon and I did a little Christmas shopping while Emmy was at school, before tackling reading, writing and math exam.

She is so cute with her big ol’ back pack.

After picking up Emmy we went to the library to take back a stack of books and grab some new ones.

We had lunch at home and I just wanted to document how cute this little witch pic is! Emmy liked it.

I know it’s still October but these are on sale so I grabbed them in XS, S and M because I wasn’t sure what size would work for the kids. Also I think they are so cute!!!

I know it’s probably lame to have the kids match, but we love it. The XS and S worked but I think I will keep the M as well so they can match for a couple extra years.

Emmy was wearing one over her Halloween dress, so we are very seasonally confused over here.

In the afternoon we worked on our Bat mini unit, read aloud and some crafting.

When we were done with school, Cory was working late so the kids joined me in the basement so I could do some PT. I also ran a little on the treadmill feeling like it was the easy way out. It was SO nice out and I love running outside in the fall but I just didn’t want to try to get the kids out on scooters and fight with Emmy if she gets tired (bored) or dig out the stroller.

We needed a quick dinner so we made grilled cheese and tomato pepper soup. So easy and so good.

Do you ever feel like the treadmill is the easy way out? I know it’s not really, I use it often as it’s practical but I always prefer to run outside.

We woke up to freezing temperatures and our landscapers showing up to start working on our yard. I am not sure that it will look that different but I am excited to see it transform.

The kids and I decided to have an adventure day and drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park. You don’t have to have reservations anymore so we can just now go when we want. That said most will be closed soon as winter arrives in the high country now.

Driving in it was chilly but sunny. You can see the peaks in the distance are shrouded in clouds. That is where we were headed. We really wanted to hike to Lake Haiyaha to see the pretty milky blue color it has turned.

We got to the trailhead where it was lightly snowing, windy and about 20 degrees. While this isn’t too bad we haven’t built up our Colorado cold hardiness yet. While we came prepared with long johns, down jackets, gloves and hats, I did wish we had snow pants and boots.

It was like taking a short visit to winter.

We made it about halfway before Emmy decided she was too cold to make it all four miles. Cannon and I were pretty bummed but I always want hiking to be fun not uncomfortable for the kids. We still enjoyed the miles we did get in.

When we got home we took Humphry for a walk and found that we had traveled back to fall.

This time of year is just so stunning.

Then Cannon and I did a quick reading and writing lesson and prepped for his math exam tomorrow. He is now 3/4 finished with this curriculum meaning I need to buy him the next grade level soon. He is loving this curriculum.

Cory made us one of my favorite dinners, salmon, broccoli and rice. Simple but the best part is the kids will eat it and I feel good giving it to them.

Today I listened to Billy Yang’s podcast with his partner Hilary Matherson and it was SO good. I immediately went to follow Hiliary on Instagram and YouTube.

What season are you living in now? Are you ready for winter?

I actually got outside on a trail run this morning and I did not die!

It has taken a very long time to feel like I can breath almost normal again, so I am so excited that I got back out there doing the thing I love during my favorite time of year.

The views were stunning, I think the thing that hurt the most when I was done were my cheeks from smiling so much.

Cory and the kiddos joined me as well!

They all brought their bikes, rode around then went to the pump track to ride until I was done.

It was nice to all go together even if we weren’t all doing the same thing. Cannon now wants to start running with me too. We think he might be able to work up to a 5k this year.

I grabbed some of my favorite post run things when we got home. I love my Birkenstock Bostons for the winter for great support and being cozy. I don’t care if it looks like I am wearing slippers, I love them, and I feel like I am wearing slippers. I also love my Stanley Quencher since it makes hydrating easy on the go. Mine is the 30 oz and I love it.

After lunch we went to the furniture store to buy a new bed, we’ve needed a new one for a while but always put off shopping for one because there are much more fun things to do with our weekends.

Then it was time for Costco and the grocery store, thank goodness for grocery pick up, Emmy is a good little helper.

I found this at the store and I am excited to try it.

We made guacamole to go with dinner and put it in some cauliflower to look like brains. The kids loved it!

Then we had to clean off our patio and back yard because work starts tomorrow on landscaping. I am so excited to have a new (weed free) patio and Cory is excited to have the yard leveled. Only downside is that we and our dog won’t get to go in our back yard for at least the next three weeks.

What adult things have you been putting off? If you are on top of all of your tasks please teach me your ways.

We spent our entire morning at the soccer fields, both kids had their last games of the season.

I can’t believe Emmy will move up to an all girls team with official uniforms next year. We also move to Emmy having one practice a week and Cannon having two a week so that should be interesting. Mom’s of more than two kids in sports please tell me how you do it!

We loved both the kids’ teams this season and hope their coaches come back next season.

The rest of the day we worked on house projects. We were supposed to go camping this weekend but the mountains are getting red flag warnings and snow. Adulting at home is way less fun but hoping to get back out there soon.

I pulled out all of the clothes that are too small from Emmy’s closet and added any hand-me-downs in her size. Emmy had some wonderful friends who are older than her and we get spoiled with lots of fun clothes.

I also added a bunch of new shorts to Cannon’s collection. They were on a huge sale at Target so I will be excited to use these next season.

I just received this little Christmas decoration set for Doll houses

I can’t wait to add it to Emmy’s tiny little doll house for the holiday season! She isn’t a huge doll person but she loves these little woodland creatures.

For dinner we had a little pizza party and watched half of Scoob! It was way past our bedtime so we will have to finish it tomorrow. So far the kids are loving it.

Emmy and I decided the best way to start the day was a little manicure.

Anyone else have a child that thinks 5 am is a completely fine time to get up?

When Cannon got up he wanted his nails green with a snake.

I tried…….

Trying all the little ways to get myself to drink my AG 1. I don’t like drinking it at all but I like how healthy it makes me feel.

A fun easy lunch or dinner we enjoy is cheese, broccoli soup (from Costco) and soft pretzels.

We did our normal school routine in the morning before running out to the playground and the library. We are doing a mini unit on bats next week and needed to load up on books.

We left our read aloud time to the afternoon and took our books out to the backyard. I thought the kids might be too distracted to listen but it was so nice, we all loved it. Although our backyard is being redone starting next week but I can see taking books with us to parks and open spaces until we get our back yard back.

We got to take Cannon out for ice cream when Cory got off of work because he got a really good report from his teacher.

And then after the kids went to bed I spent too much time shopping online for Christmas things I don’t need and finally finishing Stranger Things 4.

Are you a fan of Stranger things? If so what did you think of this season?

Now that we are all mostly healed from being sick it’s time to start putting in the work to build a base before specifically training for any races. I am so hopeful to soon be back out enjoying our beautiful trails.

https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20807188/how-do-i-build-a-training-base/

As for today it was a busy day running all over doing kid tasks.

I did have time to reset up the kids’ Halloween sensory bin. It’s always more fun to play with when you get to mess it up again. On Thursdays we have to divide and conquer to get the kids to school. I take Cannon to school and Cory drops Emmy off at her preschool before going to work. I think both kids love this little one on one time we get.

After drop off I get about two and a half hours of kid free time. Today I had the luxury of getting my nails done. I thought these were a fun for Halloween.

Then I got home cleaned and made dinner in the crock pot.

At noon I get my sweet Emmy back, I love picking her up from school.

We came home for lunch, getting some work done and afternoon coffee.

In the afternoon we picked Cannon up from school then stuck around for parent teacher conferences. I love hearing about how Cannon is doing in school. We then had to rush home for the last soccer practice of the season. I will be glad to not have to rush so much on Thursday nights but I will miss his team, it was a good one this season.

I forgot to take a picture at practice tonight but here is one from our first practice in August.

What phase of training are you in now?

We started the day with a little bit of school before heading back to the doctor for Cannon.

Cannon still has a cough three and half weeks after falling in with some trouble taking deep breaths so back to the doctor we go.

I love our pediatrician and she prescribed some medicine that I really hope will help Cannon get all the way better.

After the appointment we went to the park because it was too beautiful of a day not to. We spent the rest of the day finishing school work and visiting the library.

We came home and played outside until it was time for Turkey Chili for dinner.

I am going to be sad when I have to pack away these fun ghost bowls and platter (both on sale now) in a couple weeks!

I spent the evening dreaming of our next big trip. We have been discussing Italy, UK, Norway or somewhere tropical like Costa Rica. I would love to go to Peru but want the kids to be a little older for that trip. Where was your favorite place you have visited or trip you have taken?