Besides the fact that I’m still dragging from my sinus infection, it’s a Darn Good Day.  Let me chronicle it for you…

• A full night’s sleep, waking up on our own time, with just 2 of us in the bed.  That’s wonderfully restful! (That’s 3 full night’s sleep in a row, though probably no one but me is counting!)
• After that great sleep, I felt good enough to start my day by 6:15 or so before the kids got up, with a leisurely shower and even time to blow-dry my hair.
• A few quiet minutes for my quiet time.  Man, it’s been a long time since I was able to read my bible and have a few quiet minutes to pray BEFORE the day really got going!
• Time to make myself a cafe-caliber coffee drink a lovely skillet breakfast for Brian before the kids got up .  
• Analise woke up dry at 7:15 and ate her whole breakfast.  Josiah woke up at 7:30am, happy and hungry.  
• Got the kiddos all dressed and ready to go, Brian off to school in plenty of time.  Josiah and I took Analise to school before heading off to the doctor.  He’s been a little feverish and tired with this cold, and it turns out he’s got an ear infection that’s almost gone.  No antibiotics… he’s a trooper.
• The doctor’s visit was quick enough so that I could make a quick stop at Michael’s for some Easter craft supplies.  Man, I could spend a lot of time and a lot of money in there…
• By the time we were done at Michael’s, though, Josiah and I were WIPED OUT and I was feeling pretty bad from being sick.  He crashed for a nap, but I headed to Analise’s class to help her teacher out for an hour and a half.  
• Her class of 7 two-year old’s was VERY well-behaved.  Analise was very good, and there were NO tears by anyone in the time I was there.  Quite different from home…  But her teacher said she’s very very well behaved, and very smart.  I knew the smart part, but I’m so glad to hear that she’s well-behaved when she’s with others.  Makes me feel better about my parenting to know that the drama and moments we have at home are not extending to other places.  I guess she’s just testing her boundaries with us, and we’re learning to make them more concrete.  Funny moment… we were on the playground with another class.  There was a big orange plastic boat-thing, that rocked and had seats in it.  We had played on that.  But a little boy kept telling me about something orange.  I couldn’t make it out, and a couple kids kept pulling me over there, and finally I heard the boy say, "orange slide".  I realized the kids were trying to tell/show me that the boat flipped over to be a slide!  How many two-year olds does it take to commuicate something like that?!?  Obviously, 5-6… too bad Analise wouldn’t translate for me!
• We also had the a/c repairman here to check our system since it’s been on for days not really seeming to cool the house.  Thank goodness the system’s under warranty, and it was a quick fix for no charge.  
• My dad got great news about a job!  

So all in all, it’s been a Darn Good Day.  I’m ready to be done being sick, though.  I’ve got a sinus infection and a mild ear infection, and I came home from the doctor drugged up – a shot and 4 prescriptions!  Hopefully, this will keep me from getting the nasty cough that always plagues me after something like this.  It’s been a long week of being sick, but I’m so glad I’ve had good sleep at night!

Oh – Josiah note… he’s started waving a little, and yesterday I found him putting his blocks in a box!  He’s a genius! 🙂

It seems like the past few days have been full of small victories.  Analise has decided she’s ready to be done with diapers – FINALLY – and she’s telling me she has to go potty.  She’s even dry in the morning.  I’m very proud of her, and we haven’t had an accident since late last week.  Yeah!  And even better, my little ones are sleeping well.  WOOHOO!  Saturday night, Josiah went to sleep at 6:30, only waking once, and we had to wake him to go to the bike race Sunday morning.  Sunday night, he woke once, at midnight.  The last two nights, he has slept completely through the night, from 7pm to 7am or later.  Yeah!  I’m feeling much more rested.  Except.  That I came down with the sinus junk that poor Analise and Josiah had last week. 

Yesterday was a comedy of errors trying to find a walk-in clinic to see a doctor.  It finally convinced me I needed to find myself a regular doctor, whether or not they’d see me soon for whatever is ailing me now.  Thankfully, I’ve got an appointment today.  Have I mentioned before it’s really hard to be a sick Mommy? 

But I did get caught up on a little bit of computer stuff yesterday, so here are some Josiah pictures from the weekend. 

Josiah’s first taste of Wisconsin cheese.  Really… he was much more impressed than the photo shows. 
(It’s notable that later in the day, he also experienced the ultimate "fake" cheese in a Cheeto. 
No, I don’t regularly give my baby Cheetos… he stole one from Analise when we were out at Roly Poly for sandwiches.)

I’m not sure how he got in there…

A couple from the weekend watching Brian race.

And after the race…(this is how I felt, too)

It sure was nice to have my hubby around last week.  *sigh*  I miss him.  2 sets of hands are always better than 1 when it comes to 2 kiddos…  Anyway, we’re doing fine.  I’m feeling draggy and congested from whatever Analise and Josiah were passing around last week.  Josiah’s a little grumpy and still congested.  Wish we could shake this junk! 

Brian’s got a busy week preparing for the state finals of the Science Olympiad being held at Samford this weekend, of which he’s the director.  I feel like we’re transitioning into summer and it’s not even March… it’s like 85 degrees outside! 

Analise is creating things with PlayDoh, and I’d better get to making dinner.  Parmesean Crusted Tilapia with Roasted Garlic Sauce.  Yum!

I’ve uploaded a quick recap from today’s road race … I finished 3rd in the 1-2-3 race behind two very strong riders. I’ll post more details tomorrow, but I wanted to upload a couple pictures tonight.

Here I am in the 9-man breakaway early in the race.

And here is my faithful, beautiful support crew! It was hot!!!

We had a great time with Robb while he was here with us, followed by an excellent pasta dinner where we planned out our race strategy for today (Saturday), and then celebrated Spring Break at church. Here are the pics!

Robb and Josiah after yummy Southern Chinese.

Brent planning out strategy on a napkin.

Fusion, Spring Break Style

It was a tough race today, but I had awesome fans. Check out my two littlest fans!

I’ve included my heart rate data below. It’s a little tough to make out, but HR, altitude, and speed are all shown on this graph. The altitude peaks outline the 23 laps of the course. Interestingly, my altimeter isn’t particularly accurate as some laps I appear to have gone somewhat higher than other laps — even though it was the same course each time! If you are looking for trends, then note that my heart rate starts out particularly high but then gradually drops before peaking again when I broke away with about 6 laps to go and then soloed in for the last 4 laps. Below the graph, I have listed all the summary information for the graph.

Duration 0:56:05   
Sampling Rate 5 s 
      
Energy Expenditure 709 kcal 
Number of Heart Beats 9604 beats 
Minimum Heart Rate 102 bpm 
Average Heart Rate 171 bpm 
Maximum Heart Rate 188 bpm 
Standard Deviation 9.0 bpm 
      
Minimum Speed 12.1 mph 
Average Speed  23.0 mph 
Maximum Speed   34.8 mph 
Distance  21.5 miles 
Odometer 700 miles 
      
Minimum Altitude  95 ft 
Average Altitude  140 ft 
Maximum Altitude  175 ft 
Ascent 1450 ft       

How is this for a crazy intersection??? This was in Tuscaloosa on our way to the crit.

I’m sure you’ve always wanted to know… how in the world are Peeps made?  The answer can be seen here…

How Marshmallow Peeps are Born

Crazy how this week has flown by!  Spring Break has worn me out!  It’s so lovely to have Brian around, and though we’re getting a few things done, my normal things are sliding a bit.  I have been cooking, hence all the "What’s Cookin’" posts.  I’m really trying to cut back on the number of times we eat out, and it’s really helpful to be planning meals ahead for the week, so I make sure I have all I’m going to need during my one (or less!) trip to the store each week.  Hey… it almost sounds like I’m getting a little more organized!  Horray!

I just looked back on this post of Easter ideas that I shared last spring.  Maybe I’ll inspire someone to try them, or at the very least, I’m going to make an attempt to do them, since I’ve got 3 whole just over 2 weeks until Easter.  (Right?  Or is it 3?  I honestly can’t keep track of the days.  But however many it is until Easter, it’s ONE LESS until my birthday!)  **Note to organized self…Add the ingredients for Resurrection Cookies to my shopping list. 

We had an overnight guest last night, a friend of ours from California who is moving out to Connecticut to start a non-profit organization.  It was so fun to catch up with Robb and to hear his vision for their organization.  We love having friends come visit.  Who’s next???

Tonight starts another busy weekend.  We’re invited to a pasta dinner with Brian’s cycling team, and then we’re going to church for a young adult gathering.  I wonder how my kiddos will handle a busy evening!  Tomorrow, Brian’s racing in Tuscaloosa at 11am for a criterium, and on Sunday he’s racing a 70 mile road race.  Whew.  I’m tired just typing it all.  We’ll check back later…

Honey Hoisin Chicken
Super easy slow-cooker chinese!  I made this earlier in the week for the first time, and it turned out fantastic.  Better than chinese take-out!

*4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
*3 T soy sauce
*3 T honey
*3 T hoisin sauce
*2 T dry white wine
*1 T fresh grated ginger (I used about 1 t dried)
*1 t ground pepper

Put
everything in the slow cooker for 4-6 hours on low. Halfway through
cooking, turn the chicken breasts to recoat with sauce.  Just before
serving, remove the chicken and slice into strips. Serve with sauce
over fluffy white rice, stir fried veggies (or steamed) and top with
toasted sesame seeds.

z

I am on Spring Break this week, and since the kiddos have been sick all week, today was the first day we really had a chance to do anything as a family. We went to the zoo and then Analise and I played in the backyard for a while on the newly remodeled swingset. Thanks Poppa!

Earlier in the day, we went to the zoo and had a great time. I’ve included pictures below from our fun trip.

I don’t think this guy ever moves. This is the same spot he was in when Steve and Corrie went to the zoo with us in August.

Lots of new animals in the zoo. Here is one of them — a "spectacle owl chick".

Here is a young Kimoto Dragon, another new animal at the zoo. He has 55 kinds of bacteria in his mouth,
seven of which are deadly! He had a really long tongue and was probably about 4-5 feet long.

This guy posed for a really good picture hanging on the rope after I took this one,
but unfortunately I couldn’t get the camera to focus on that one. Still these guys
are one of my favorites in the monkey exhibit.

Big Hippo!

First time I’ve ever seen an elephant get a pedicure!

Here is the baby giraffe, about 8 months old.