It was a pretty wonderful day.

Tom's brother, James recently mentioned that I was falling behind on the blog. I'm sorry. I think it has taken me about 7 months to get used to having 2 kids, and now I'm up for it again. At one point I'd like to go back in time and write some good updates, but for now I just want to write about today. It was the kind of day I want to file away in my memory bank for forever. I'll begin in the morning.

Iris slept the entire night without waking me. This was the second night in a row she's done this. The first night, I woke up throughout the night to listen for her, and in the morning with an aching chest. The second night, I slept hard and woke comfortably to the morning light peaking through the cracks. I tried to resist the morning, but I was so rested, I really was awake. It was lovely to wake up for "no reason" as opposed to baby noises, Clark's scampering feet or an alarm clock. Tom and I even got to cuddle for a few minutes before we heard Clark banging around downstairs.

We all got up and had a yummy breakfast. We had some wonderful eggs from "happy chickens" and I juiced a few carrots with an apple and kale. Clark and I shared this "special carrot juice" while he ate a bowl of cereal and apple slices.

The past few days have been pretty cool for this area this time of year. It is "September weather" in my opinion. We slept the last two nights with the windows open and the A/C off. Maybe that's why Iris slept so well the last few nights.

Anyway, the nice weather is inspiring me to get running again. I usually skip out on it in August because it is too hot to walk to the car, let alone tie your shoes and go for a jog! Not today.

I decided today was an excellent day for a long practice run. I'm doing a 10K in October as part of the Marine Corps Marathon.

I'm running on the Run for Vocations team which is raising money for our seminarians (please give!). So I drove the van and the kids to Tom's work by the Twinbrook Metro. We metro'd up to Shady Grove Metro (almost in Gaithersburg) and I proceeded to run home.

Here's the map, but I ran from the 6 to the green flag, not the other way around. It was 6 miles of hard running on sidewalks and the roadway. The first 2 miles were in the full sun, and the second 2 miles were ridiculously hilly. The last 2 were in my regular running ground - shady and pretty flat. It was hard, but I'm glad I did it. I did the route in 1 hour and 41 minutes, pushing the jogging stroller and 2 kids, with lots of hills and I stopped 1 time to talk on the phone and 1 time to backtrack and look for a dropped item. The max time you are allowed to take for the 10K is 1 hour and 30 minutes. I think it shouldn't be a problem to finish, and that's what I was trying to determine today.

The blessing of the run were that the kids both slept for part of it, which was unexpected, but awesome. 1 hour and 40 minutes in the stroller is a long time. Another blessing of the run was the beautiful area I ran through. This is Rock Creek Park, the last 2 miles of the run.

This is Lake Needwood, the middle 2 miles.

I really love the beauty of this area. The trees and the water are so refreshing and nourishing. I am truly blessed to live here and every time I am in a "wild" place I am reminded of what God has made for us to enjoy.

Towards the end of the jog, the kids woke up and got fussy. I made them stay in the stroller until I was finished, but let them walk the rest of the way home. Oh, sorry. I let Clark slowly meander up the massive hill that led towards home, and I held Iris. This is the google street view of the massive hill. It is long and steep.

At the top of the hill was a special treat, though. We have a new Methodist Church being built, and something being built means... Tractors!

I parked the stroller in the grass by the sidewalk, plunked Iris down so she could practice standing up (yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, she is pulling up to standing already, holy cow!) and put Clark on my shoulders. We stood and watched the backhoe dig a big hole in the ground. Then it drove around to a dump truck full of rocks and scooped them up. The tractor drove back to the hole and then waited. It was waiting for a pipe to be installed, which we didn't see. While it was waiting, the driver turned off the engine and talked to us. He loved it!

We walked a little further to a playground by the Aspen Hill Co-op Preschool. Clark begged to stop and play. I was tired and my legs hurt and I wanted to go home, but instead we stopped to play. The air was cool. Trees shaded the park, and the sunlight danced through the leaves. Clark ran around with some other children. Iris crawled on the grass for a little while. We moved over to the sand box. Clark played with trucks. I showed him how to pour sand through one toy to sift the rocks out, and then the sifted sand poured on a wheel to make it turn. He finally understood how it worked and did it himself. It is amazing to watch him learn new things. 2 and a half is a magical age. Iris crawled around in the sand, occasionally tasting it and deciding she didn't like it. 7 months is pretty magical too.

I guess moments like this aren't especially "special" to others, but to me they are. They are the treasures I lock up to keep in my heart forever. It is in moments like these that I know I am the happiest women in the world and wouldn't want any other life.

Clark never wanted to leave the sand. I finally convinced him to leave by promising him that daddy would bring him ice cream. Tom was having "free ice cream" day at work and I knew he would bring home something for Clark. So we walked the rest of the way home.

It was about 12:30 by the time we made it home. The house was dark (as always) and cool due to the windows being open. I dropped Iris off in Clark's room where she started wheeling a truck around. Clark asked to color. I set him up at the table with a "Waste water treatment" coloring book he got last week at the Montgomery County Fair. I finally got into the shower to get the grime of the run off of me. As I was showering I heard Iris making her baby noises and Clark talking to her. Then, the shower curtain pulled back and there they both were smiling up at me. Iris pulled up to standing on the edge of the bathtub and had a huge grin with her two bottom teeth poking out. Clark was as pleased as ever with his big right dimple, and the left dimple going too. I finished my shower and got out. After getting dressed, I fed Clark and nursed Iris. Tom came home soon after with ice cream as promised.

What happened next? We dropped Tom off at work, this was the way to get the van back to me from the morning's metro excursion. Then we went to Target. I looked through Clearance clothes looking for a special shirt that wasn't there. Then we went up to the toy section. Clark ran amok in the car and Cars 2 (the movie) isle. He carried toys off of the shelf asking, "bring home?". He found the big Tonka trucks and just so many other fun things. He is so good about not taking toys home and knows he can play with the boxes as long as he doesn't destroy them. Eventually, we headed out of Target. I did buy one drink for 88 cents because I was so thirsty, but otherwise no money was spent.

We went to the Twinbrook Library. They have a nice kids section with puzzles and those wire things you move beads on, and a block table. Clark ran over to the blocks, Iris crawled on the floor - headed to the little kids chairs to work on pulling up. I grabbed a few books on Yellowstone National Park - my latest obsession and read them on the floor. Clark eventually came over and started bringing me books to read. Oh joy! He brought me.. picture books... with plots! Yay! the days of one word pages may be behind Clark and I! We read book after book and even on in Chinese! I tried to tell the story based on the pictures, but still I'm not sure what happened with the giraffe whose legs were used as posts for a clothes line. It was kind of confusing. After a while we started to leave, but in walked a dog! It was a reading dog. It sits there with its owner and kids read to it. Clark is crazy about dogs so we had to stay. We stayed for a little while to pet and read to the dog.

Then we headed home. I fed Clark and Iris napped. After his dinner, we played in the yard. We kicked around a ball and swung in the hammock. Clark lay on my chest and together we swang and looked up at the leaves rustling in the trees.

After a while Tom came home from work. He left soon after to go swimming in training for a triathlon he is doing in early October.

I ate dinner, Clark played in our wading pool. Tom came home from the pool and took Iris so Clark could get some alone time with me.

Clark had a bath and then we read a few books. We sang "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" and "Jingle Bells". He said, "all done" and asked to be put into bed. He asked for a "blanket, please". He went right to sleep. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't, but we were so happy that tonight was a sleepy night.

Iris slept late from that earlier nap, so she was wide awake. She crawled right over to me. Tom caught up on the computer, then washed the dishes. Iris laughed and laughed when he sang his special Iris song for her. It is all about her Tonguey Smile! We love her tonguey smile.

Then Tom went to bed, Iris finally fell asleep and I wrote this. I'm tired, but satisfied. Tom is probably already asleep - or tossing and turning because I'm not there.

It was a pretty wonderful day, I wanted to have it down for memory's sake. Since you read this far, I'll give you a cute little photo of the kids.

Clark wants a bow too.

Clark maybe loves his sister a little too much

CUTIES!