This year, we bought our tree from the Sea Scouts, who literally participate in Scouting on the Sea. So basically, a bunch of young teenage boys who are beginning to grow facial hair helped us pick out a Christmas tree in the middle of Palo Alto. We found the perfect one and had it delivered later that night after the girls were in bed. When Holly woke up in the morning, she was in full admiration. "Wow!" "Ay yike it," (I like it) and, "Cool" was what she said. We never have to remember to plug in our tree. Holly does it for us. She loves admiring it and she loves playing with the ornaments. We're in full Christmas adoration over here. This truly is the best time of the year. I love that Christmas brings my little family together for fun activities. Our family grows stronger every Christmas season! We feel extra blessed to have my Mom in town this week.

I made this dress for Greta from a pattern I also made inspired by this mini boden dress (which btw, if anyone ever finds in a second hand or thrift store, buy it!). I wish I had made the arm holes a little bigger but other than that, it's great. I love the colors in the fabric and the pattern of it. It's kind of perfect for a little girl named Greta.

In other little girl dress news, I finished Holly and Greta's Christmas dresses tonight! Yay! This week has been good for checking things off my list and it's only Tuesday!

"what do I do now?"

Greta's getting up on her knees and sometimes, she even stands. This is a photo of one of the first times she stood. She was screaming, totally panicked. I had to help her down after I took a couple photos. Oh Greta.

Last week, I ran my first race - the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in San Jose. It was 10 km and it took about an hour and seven minutes for me to finish it. I ran it with a friend, Kelly, which made it all the more fun! The night before, I was so nervous! Between my nerves and the girls waking up, I only slept for a restless 5 hours, so the fact that I even got up to run is impressive to me. I get so nervous about the silliest things. When I fell asleep I had decided that I wasn't going to do it, but when my alarm went off in the morning, I felt awake and I remembered how hard I've worked to get in reasonable shape so that I could do this. In the month previous to the race I ran almost 50 miles total. Not huge, but as a mother of young kids who seem to always be sick and waking up in the night, it's kind of a big deal to me. Plus this was my first race ever. I had so much fun! 

The race itself was hard. I had trouble eating in the morning, so my body didn't have enough sugar and I was tired. I had to lose my shirt because I was way too hot. There were all these people running in pants and hoodies and there I was in my shorts and sports bra! Unfortunately, the finish line was more like a cattle yard so I wasn't able to run across. That was a bummer, espceially since Kelly and I both had a major boost of energy at the end. I didn't think that Conor was going to come with the girls, I had told him not to because the forecast was iffy. But he came and the girls got to see me finish my race. It meant so much to me that Conor got our sick girls out of the house early in the morning to come see me accomplish a goal. That's what a family is all about.

My next goal is a half marathon.

Here's some Sunday shots of my family and me.