March Madness

http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/entry?entryID=3646358

That is the link to my NCAA tournament bracket.  We usually make a group with our friends and this year my bracket won.  By a lot.  I was in the top 7,600 people, that's the top .1%!  So this post is just so I can brag about it.  I killed it.  Oh yeah!

Nym-gastics

No, you didn't read the title wrong, that's what Sophie calls gymnastics.  Starting last fall (?) we enrolled Sophie in a community gymnastics class to help her get some energy out during the cold weather.  She loved the gymnastics part, but struggled with the warming up and stretching part.  She's very physically gifted, but not the best at listening to and following instructions.  Not the best, yet.  We're working on it.  She did two sessions of class, but we dropped the ball on signing her up again so her gymnastics days in Cambridge are over.  Out of all those classes I think these are the only pictures we got.  Ooops!  Oh well, enjoy Sophie in action.

Bear crawl

Hollow banana, done with a smile

With her wonderful teacher, Marco, on the bars

 

Balance beam was one of her favorite things, here on the small one

 

Now on the big beam.  She was one of the only kids who would do the tall one and always wanted me to let go of her.  No fear!

Holiday Races

We just got back from a wonderful trip to New York City where we stayed with Loren's brother and his family, whom we love very much, plus, my parents and sister came for her Spring Break, so we got to hit both sides of the family, which doesn't happen very often due to geography.  But...  I have a few more backlogged posts I want to do first, so you'll have to wait to hear all the juicy details.

After running multiple races last fall, I took a break and just ran for fun.  (Let's be honest, even when I do run a race it's still just for fun, because I am by no means good enough to be a competitive runner)  Then February rolled around and I didn't want to break my two-year streak of running the Bradford Valentine's Race, so it was off to the races once more.  This year Loren and Sophie couldn't come, but I ran behind with my friends Colin and Ariel.  I ran the 5 mile race in 43:00, which I was reasonably happy with.

Ariel and I after the race.  As you can see, there was zero snow.

In March I decided to try a new race for St. Patrick's Day.  It was a 4 miler in Norwell, which is south of Boston.  The weather was lovely and cool, the course was hilly and lush and this time Loren and Sophie came!

Sophie remembered that she had cowbells from last year's Boston Marathon, so she rang them to her heart's content to cheer on the runners!

Action shot - that's me in the green, ha ha.  And yes, I passed that woman just before the finish line

It was hosted by a tavern (of course, it's St. Patrick's Day)

 We all had a good time and my time was 33:40, which I was very happy with.  However, Loren has forbidden me from participating in any more races before we move (because of the time factor) so I guess that just leaves cheering at the Boston Marathon next week.

Winter Sports

Don't worry.  I know today is April Fool's Day, but this is a real post, not a trick.  This winter was extremely mild (read: lame) and so we didn't ever have a chance to enjoy any snow.  We even bought Sophie some real snow pants, which she never got to use.  So, in lieu of playing in the fluffy white stuff, we turned to the smooth, frozen white stuff for our entertainment.

We were able to go to two hockey games to support our friend Alisa.  Alisa was the only senior on, AND the captain of, the Harvard Women's Ice Hockey team!  The first game we went to was against BU, at BU and was part of an annual hockey tournament called the Beanpot.  These are our attempts to get a good picture (we failed):

Sophie had fun running up and down the rows, although she did narrowly miss getting hit by a puck (!) and Loren and I enjoyed watching the game.  I was actually surprised by how exciting it was and really enjoyed spectating.  Unfortunately Harvard lost, but our tickets were free (courtesy of Alisa) so we counted it as a successful outing.

Only Sophie and I went to the second game, which was Harvard's last regular season home game and was against Yale.  Harvard won this time, Alisa got sent to the penalty box and they had a heartfelt senior tribute to her at the end of the game, so it was really great!

Sophie took this picture!

After watching others skate, we decided to try it for ourselves.  We first went to a small rink at Harvard that was put up in celebration of the school's 375th anniversary.  375 years, wow!  We went with our friends Alex and Celeste.  It was Sophie's first time ice skating and she was pretty hesitant, but as long as people were holding on to her, she did alright.

Our second ice skating excursion was at the Boston Common Frog Pond.  I have wanted to go ice skating here for a long time, so I'm glad we were able to do it before moving.  Because of the warm weather the rink actually ended it's season early, so we made it on the last day!  I could tell that Sophie was more comfortable on the ice this time and she was able to skate between Loren and I by herself a few times.

Surprise, it's your birthday!

I forgot to mention that the last post was magical number 50.  Woohoo!  I'll try and get through the next fifty in less time.  So... I had an awesome birthday.  I first had lunch with two friends, Rachael and Julia, at Julia's apartment.  We all have daughters around the same age, so they played while we talked.  Then Rachael brought out mini bundt cakes and they sang to me - so sweet.
 

Another friend, Emily, watched Sophie for us so Loren and I could go to dinner.  We went to an Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant.  I enjoyed the food and really enjoyed the whole dining experience.  Your table is like a large basket and they put the plates inside, then you use a special bread to pick up the food and eat it.  The bread is made of a grain called teff and I guess there's a family in Idaho who are the only domestic producers of it, so that's where all the Ethiopian restaurants in America get their grain, otherwise they would have to import it from Africa.  That's a nice little fact there for you.  I also got some lovely presents from Loren, Sophie, my family and Loren's mom, Marianne.

Loren wanted to get all three of us in this picture, so that's him in the mirror

Classic crazy eyes from Sophie

My loot - awesome new earbuds, a new purse, several shirts, very cute homemade hot pads and a phone.  Oh wait, that's definitely NOT new

  Then, to cap off the day, I thought we were going to go play games with our friends, but that turned out to only be a clever ruse to get me to a... surprise party!

All the sneaky surprisers, just sneakily waiting

 The party so was fun!  All the decorations were in purple (my favorite color) and they had games that tested everyone's knowledge of yours truly.  They had cake, cupcakes, cookies, need I go on...?  A huge thanks to Maryn and Loren for planning it and to all our wonderful friends who came.  I felt so, so loved and had a wonderful time.

Oh yeah, and I got a crown.  Sophie was quite jealous

 

All the party attendees, from L to R, back row:  Kelsey, Ryan, Stephanie, Lindsey  middle row:  Alex, Jonathan, Nate, Ken, Loren  front row:  Celeste, Kristal, Maryn, Kelly, me  very front row:  Sophie.  As you can see, Sophie elected to sit with Maryn, not her parents

Valentine's Day 2012

We had a fun Valentine's Day as a family.  I started off the morning by making a yummy breakfast, including bacon (for Loren) and pink pancakes (for Sophie).  Sophie and I had set out Loren's present (new gym shorts, so exciting!) the night before, along with our cards for him and a big Reese's peanut butter heart.  Sophie got some green dress-up gloves and a Tiana purse, from The Princess and the Frog, and some heart-shaped chocolates.

 These pictures aren't from Valentine's Day, but I thought I'd throw them in to show Sophie's typical cooking style, aka messy and/or naked.

 She's wearing an apron my mom made her for Christmas

My present came later in the day.  Sophie and I came home after running some errands to find that Loren had left for class, plus these beautiful flowers.  Sophie firmly believes that Daddy got them for her and whenever I said something about "my" flowers, she immediately replied, "No, those are MY flowers!"

Anyway, next to the flowers was a note which was the first clue in a scavenger hunt!  For your enjoyment, and to show how clever and thoughtful my husband is, I'll share the clues and where they led, if it's not obvious.

#1  Look round the house, my dear, to see / What clues and gifts I've left for thee / The flowers tell you next to look / Inside my Second Nephi Book
#2  When cleaning up my daily scruff / This reflects my good-looking stuff  (behind his shower mirror)
#3  Contains odor-fighting "atomic robots" that "shoot lasers" at your "Stench Monsters" and replaces them with clean masculine "scent elves"  (on his deodorant)
#4  On the telly/boob-tube you will find / The next clue -- Look behind!  (behind the tv, where there was a card)
#5  "A card, a card!" says I, the bard / To remember one was not so hard! / But the game to play! The trail, don't drop! / You might have to settle at the next stop  (inside Settler's of Catan)
#6  Some puzzle for me to daily today to do / What is it called? Ken, times two  (on his page-a-day Ken-Ken calendar)
#7  Orange, round, with a toothy grin / October candy is stored within  (inside the Jack-o-Lantern treat bucket in Sophie's room; there were earrings inside!)
#8  Earrings, yes! But something more / Hides by an electric potential store  (on our scooter battery, which is charging above the kitchen cabinets)
#9  A golden creature whose legs are three / Hides the next clue, page seventy  (this one stumped me for a few minutes, then I found the clue inside Brisingr, which has a picture of a golden dragon, Glaedr, on the cover) (yes, we're a little nerdy)
#10  "Go left," "Bear right," and "Turn around" / Tap it twice to be homeward bound  (on the GPS in the car)
#11  The final item which you lack / Is stashed inside a red backpack / You see now that you took the bait! / For your last surprise, you must wait!

When he got back from class, I found a beautiful silver and blue necklace in his backpack.  Loren did such a good job planning this for me and Sophie thought the whole thing was very exciting.  I made Red Velvet cake in honor of the occasion and Loren and I went to dinner later in the week.  I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day!  I love you Loren!

My Two Loves

In honor of Valentine's Day and as a tribute to our friends, Josh, Terese and family, who moved to Utah a few weeks ago, I wanted to post a sampling of our family pictures that Terese took last fall. Some of these were on our Christmas cards, but most of you reading this didn't get one (what can I say, Loren has a big family!) so here you go - some beautiful pictures of the two people I love most.

This one is my favorite! Who do you think Sophie looks like now?

We took these by Leverett, Loren's house (kind of like a dorm) at Harvard, by the Charles River and at the Harvard Business School - hence Loren and Sophie's school spirit