Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for imagination and horse statues, both of which will help keep a toddler busy while waiting for family to meet us for dinner.

Running... or not

So now that we're almost on to this weekend already, I'm finally getting around to what happened last weekend. Some weeks are like that. I'm sure you can relate.

Last weekend we went to the River Run for Orphans. The event has been going on in our town for several years now. Over the last three years it has doubled each year - both in size and in monies raised for various orphanages and children's charities around the world. We had to move the event from the actual river trail to the college campus because of the number of people who signed up to run. What a great problem to have! This year there was $50,000.00 raised by race participants. Not a bad improvement over the $20k from last year, especially considering the economic times.

I, being Great With Child, did not participate in the run this year. I thought about walking it but realized that since my whole family was running I would end up having to walk while pushing Norah in her stroller. Norah is two. She is as she says, "Geddin' bigger". She no longer wishes to be confined to the stroller. Long story short, it was easier to just take her to the kid's play area and let her run amok. Since the amok-running was taking place throughout the race, I also did not get many photos of the actual event. So, here's the best picture I got of Mark:

What? You don't see him? Oh, fine...

How about now? Man, it's a good thing I have a good zoom on my camera.

As far as Norah's activities go, well if you saw her happy face on Wednesday's post, you know that she was enjoying herself. If you were observant enough to see the bounce house behind her head and to the left... you know where she spent most of her time. Other highlights included:

Eating popcorn.

Getting said popcorn stuck in her teeth.

Getting a rockin' Dora tattoo. Norah also learned what the words "tattoo" and "temporary" meant.

Meeting up with her BFF, Ellie was another highlight.

As was helping Ellie paint a lovely ceramic snail.

Which turned out to be quite colorful (if not a little over painted) in the end.

Norah learned one more new word at the race that day. See, she's potty training, and the closest place in which to relieve herself was a porta-potty. When she asked me, "Mommy, what is 'porta-potty' mean?" The best response I could think up was, "It means, 'Don't breathe through your nose.'" Of course, Norah thought the porta-potty was fabulous! So much so that she sat in one at least five times and actually went potty in one twice. Despite her enthusiasm, I'd still rather she use the regular potty. It just doesn't seem like a good idea for a preggo like me to be holding her breath that many times a day. Still, we had zero accidents on Saturday so... maybe the porta-potty is ok in my book. But only under special circumstances.

Letters of Intent - Nerd Edition

Need to get a little snark off your chest? Have an actual "thank you" that you want the world to hear? Head on over to Julie's blog and link up!

Dear Dora the Explorer (known in our house as Doh-wuh Ta Poh-wuh):

On behalf of my husband and myself, I would like to thank you for holding my daughter's attention for an entire 22 minutes and not being incredibly, insufferably annoying. Unfortunately that seems to be quite the rare combination in todays children's programing.

Norah's daddy - who once used the descriptor "map nerd" for himself on a resume cover letter (which got him the job, by the way) - appreciates the fact that you teach basic mapping principles through your journeys. Sure, in the real world maps don't sing and dance, but the way technology is going they probably will by the time Norah's all grown up. Heck, most of them already talk to you which is way more than they did when I was a kid.

As an added bonus, your show is so formulaic that we can tell by which song is being sung exactly how much time we have left to get our chores done before the crying and begging for "one more Doh-wuh" begins.

So thanks. You make it possible for dishes to get done on Saturdays. Believe it or not, I'm at a point in my life where I'm actually grateful for that.

Adventurously,

The Lady Who Can't Get the Backpack Song Out of Her Head

Dear Nerds (the candy, not the people group):

Your sweet, sugary goodness has gotten me through two of the last three afternoons with no caffeine. Thank you for not judging me because I have to pour 20 or so of you into a cup and then eat each color in order of preference. I'm OCD like that.

Sweetly,

The Pregnant Lady Who Hits a Wall of Exhaustion at 2:30

And in honor of today's "nerd" theme, I give to you my first (and probably last) Letters of Intent joke of the day. A fabulous, as yet undetermined (and possibly imaginary) prize goes to the person who writes the best and/or funniest response the to following, somewhat nerdy chemistry joke:

Dear Carbon,

So.... I hear you're into bondage. Call me!

Sincerely,

Hydrogen

Wordless Wednesday - Weekend Fun

Wordless Wednesday - The Easiest Way to Share Popcorn

Free Ride - Part 2

Riding a tractor is fun and all, but the REAL highlight of Saturday had to be the other free ride that Norah got to take.

If you've been reading for a while, you may remember Annie, Great-Grandpa's horse. She's the first horse Norah ever met in person and Norah just loves to help with her.

So after helping scratch her nose...

and helping her get a drink of water...

Great-Grandpa asked for Norah's help getting Annie to the pasture down the road.

Annie is 23 and probably hasn't been ridden in 10 years, so Norah helped to reassure her...

And with the form and grace of a real-live horse and cowgirl team...

Norah and her trusty Annie hit the dusty trail.

Free Ride

The Saturday of Labor Day Weekend we went to visit Mark's grandparents.

One of the benefits of having a grandpa with lots of farm equipment is the free rides!

It took a little work to convince Norah that the tractor was safe...

But Daddy's lap is a pretty secure place to be.

So they did a little loop behind the horse corral (which made it difficult for me to get many good action shots. I can only climb the fence so high being almost 6 months pregnant!)

And they made it back safe and sound.