Winter play outside (4/365)

Realised we hadn't played in the garden for a long time! E and A both loved it, must do this again soon...

'Finished!' (3/365)

All that was left of my salmon and leek risotto this evening. Culinary success.

Bit of a slog

Mixed feelings on my run tonight. On the plus side, I ran for over an hour so I'm pleased I had the motivation to run that long on an evening run. Cardiovascularly it felt pretty good too. But my legs felt like lead. If I'd have known they'd still be a bit sore after my hard run the other day I wouldn't have gone. Actually, probably best I didn't know!

Snack time (2/365)

I've included this photo today as it marks the change of our weekly routine. Luke went back to work today, and next week Eden starts afternoons at preschool. As a result we have a new routine, pushing lunch and Asher's nap later. At our new 'snack time' this morning, E and A sat so nicely eating together, I guess it's a bit of an exciting novelty for them as a change to eating at the dining table.

Happy New Year!

2012 was full of some amazing memories - Asher being born, a fun jubilee camping weekend with family, and the unforgettable London 2012 Olympics, just some of my highlights and there have been lots! Feeling expectant and full of positivity for the year ahead, and wishing all my readers a very big 'Happy New Year!'

Project 365 'Downton' (1/365)

Today is the start of a new blog project for me, Project 365: A year in pictures. Last year I saw that lots of other bloggers were participating in documenting each day with a photo, Project 366. I love taking pictures so this should be easy for me, in theory. I'm looking forward to having a photo record of our year and seeing how much the kids grow and change.

So here is today's, taken from my new incredibly comfy, total impulse buy in the January sales, nursing (rocking) chair. The last few nights Luke and I have jumped on the Downton fan Bandwagon (better late than never). We've loved it so much we finished series one this evening. Now to find someone who has series two we can borrow.

Christmas Running

I had all these grand plans of running most days over the Christmas period. Well that kind of hasn't happened, but I'm feeling ok about it, because I've still run every few days, and think I've got the balance right between going out for a run and making the most of family time. Maybe getting up a bit earlier might've helped though!

Today I did a quick 30 minute loop, run at my fastest pace yet, chuffed about that. I deliberately made it a speed session as with marathon training I've found a lot of my runs I'm working on length, and therefore running at marathon pace or slower. I don't know much about training but figured some shorter, quicker sessions are probably beneficial too.

Finding always having my complete running kit made up and ready to put on straight away really helps motivation, as does the thought of a peanut butter and banana recovery smoothie, yum!

Weekly Round Up

I love the winter sunrises that we see from the windows at the back of our house! So beautiful, and a reminder of our awesome Creator 

We seem to have fallen into starting Christmas festivities quite unexpectedly!

This week we did some painting using berries - they were unsweetened, hence the comedy faces!

I made a slow-cooked lasagne, it was delicious - would never have thought it would work!

My longest run yet since training's begun

Headed out this evening, in the rain, with my new running shoes. It's been 5 days since I last went for a run, my legs felt really good for the rest, and coupled with some new trainers, I ran the furthest, and fastest, that I have since restarting my training - so all in all very encouraging!

Autumn Owls

I couldn't let autumn pass without a craft activity involving pumpkin seeds. Today we had a spare half hour so I quickly drew a rough owl shape for Eden to add pumpkin seed feathers to. Eden has always loved glueing and today I just left her to it while seeing to the baby. I especially like the buttons she added for eyes - all her own doing!

Marathon Time!

5 years ago I first applied for a ballot place in the London Marathon. I was in a totally different place in life then, this was a time of life pre-kids and when I regularly entered triathlons for fun (yes, seriously) hmmm....

I've entered every year since, unsuccessfully, but this is my year! About a month ago instead of the 'sorry you weren't successful' magazine that I am used to receiving through my letterbox every year, I received my 'Marathon News', and it's marked the start of my journey to the start line of the London Marathon 2013. It's with slight apprehension that I'm commencing this personal challenge but so far so good with dragging myself off the sofa for a run 3 times a week (even if it is only week 2 of training). Juggling home life, a 3 year old and a baby, with training, not to mention breast feeding, will be interesting!

I'll be updating my progress in training regularly, keeping a diary of the highs and lows along the way.

Donating Milk: The story continues

In early May I posted about how I'd started to donate my excess Mummy milk to the local hospital milk bank. You can read the post here.  Well this week I made my first visit to the hospital to drop off 25 bottles of precious milk.

I'm going to take a break for a couple of weeks now, while I replenish my own freezer stock for Asher, who is a hungry little milk monster!