Instagram

I have started really liking Instagram. It is incredibly convenient and it is so nice being able to capture and showcase some everyday moments in our lives. If you have Instagram or decide to download the app (hint, hint…) my username is “llary523”. Here’s a sampling of some of the pictures I’ve captured in the last few months.

1. Conan swinging at Jones Point Park. 2. Lincoln showcasing his ink covered hand. 3. Conan resting. 4. Conan playing with fridge magnets.

5. Lincoln playing photographer. 6. Lincoln showing off his “I voted” sticker. 7. Playing at the National Building Museum. 8. Cupcakes!

9. We’ve been playing a lot of Connect 4. 10. I love when they play together. 11. Lincoln loves hopscotch all of a sudden. 12. The Jones Family Train.

13. A few of Lincoln’s many, many train drawings. 14. Christmas rocks! 15. Nothing on the coffee table is safe anymore. 16. Lincoln’s Lego train.

17. Lincoln rocked his dental check-up. 18. A huge chocolate bar. 19. Rudolph pancakes! 20. Blueberry yogurt on a super cute face.

21. Gingerbread ready for our gingerbread house play date. 22. Conan’s freshly finished stocking. 23. A letter from the North Pole! 24. Model train show!

Christmas Program

Lincoln had his preschool Christmas Program last week and it was really fun to see him in that setting. His preschool is in a church, so the music was all Christ centered, so his program was a really nice addition to our Christmas season.

Conan got to stay up past his bed time and charmed all the other parents near us, but that’s not unusual.

It wasn’t really possible to get pictures during the program, but when it was over they called up the parents from each class individually so we could all take pictures in an orderly manner. I couldn’t pick just one of these pictures because Lincoln looked so handsome in all of them.

I know I’m his mother and incredibly biased, but Lincoln really did a wonderful job. He knew all the actions he was supposed to do and most of the words to the songs (he’s still singing them) and, most importantly, he really sold the songs he was singing. Watch the following video if you don’t believe me. Sorry for the shaky camera work, but it’s worth it.

 

B&O Railroad Museum

While being praised by my mother-in-law for always diligently posting on my blog the other day, I began to feel a teensy bit guilty. These pictures are from the day after Thanksgiving. I’ll do better.

The day after Thanksgiving we trekked out to Baltimore to visit the B&O Railroad Museum and our friend, Yuri. The museum was amazing and Lincoln was in heaven.

There were extra cars lining the parking lot. Lincoln would probably have just been happy visiting them…

But we opted to also go inside where we were able to see a bunch of steam engines, tons of Lego trains, more Thomas toys then you can imagine and …

The most patriotic Santa you’ve ever seen! Lincoln wasn’t too keen on talking to Santa at first, so we just went about our business. As we were looking at a model train set, though, Santa walked right up to Jonathan and Lincoln and started a conversation. He asked Lincoln his name, how old he was, what he wanted for Christmas and just chatted with him about trains. It was truly a momtog’s dream because I was able to snap tons of pictures of Lincoln and Santa interacting, but it was also just a magical holiday moment. Thanks, Santa.

Lincoln cried when we had to leave the museum and asked to go back as soon as he got up the next day. If Baltimore were a little closer we could spend a lot of time in that place. We might end up spending a lot of time there anyway.

9 Months Old

13.1 Because 13.2 Would be Crazy

I ran the American Family Fitness Half Marathon this weekend with 8,215 other people. Even when I registered for the race, I didn’t really believe I would run all the way, but I trained and trained and I did it.

It was great getting to run with some friends, and the peer pressure really keeps you honest about training. Here we are rocking our awesome race day headbands. At least we had warm ears.

Jonathan and the boys were supposed to come see me at the half way point and then again at the finish, but the race started at 7:30 and I wasn’t really surprised when I didn’t see them. Luckily I brought my iPhone so I could take a picture of myself running and update Jonathan on my progress.

My boys did make it to the finish line, even though I didn’t see them cheering me on. I was just going too fast, I guess.

I hit my goal time right on the head. I said I’d finish in 2 hours and 23 minutes and my official time was 2 hours 23 minutes and 8 seconds. Woo woo!

I thought when I finished this race I would be prepared to give up running forever, but I don’t really feel that way. I don’t want to give up all my preschool time and Saturday mornings either, though, so we’re going to have to find some sort of happy medium. For now, though, I’m pretty stoked to say that I can run 13 miles.