The grown ups

We grown ups have spent the year doing things that grown ups do.  We drive kids around, coach teams, volunteer at school and church, pay bills, clean house, make food and try to get in some quality time with one another every now and then.

 At the urging of Jim, and completely against my better judgement, I ran the Mini Marathon this year.  I didn't run with Jim because I was "too slow".  We did spend 3 months training together.  Many thanks to our wonderful neighbors who would keep the kids during our long weekend runs.  We promise we only ran.  No coffee shops or naps for us. 

Jim finished around 1:43 and I came in at a surprising 2:03  (well, 2:02.59 if you want to get specific).  A great accomplishment for us.  We are considering another half marathon in 2012.  It's like having a baby.  The memory of the pain has faded enough that it might sound like a good idea again.  In the mean time, we are keeping up with running around the neighborhood. 

We also found lots of time this year to hang out with family and friends.  After all, we needed some tasters for Jim's homemade beer.  He has brewed 5 batches now and most of them have turned out pretty good.  He is looking forward to trying to keg his beer in 2012.  Beer on tap?  Something tells me we will be seeing lots more of the neighbors this coming year.

Jim continues to work with Beckman Coulter as a quality engineer.  His job still takes him on the road about 40% of the time.  While he's not working or being a landing post for butterflies, he also coached Evie's soccer team.  He is still the chief light bulb changer around the house.  We celebrated 13 years of marriage this year.  Can't believe it's been that long.

 I continue to stay home with the kids for at least one more year.  I devoted lots of time at the schools and at church with Annalise's religion class.    I am also serving on the neighborhood board and savoring every minute of free time while the girls are at school.  I did spend about 2 weeks working on this Lego model of the space shuttle.  It was an awesome birthday present that no one is allowed to touch but me.

At the encouragement of my friends, I hosted a craft sale this fall. It showcased my knitting and crochet work as well as the creative work of 10 of my friends and family.  It was a lot of work to organize, but a lot of fun.