Testing, testing, 1-2-3....is this thing on?

I have been absent. Bad blogger. It's not on purpose, or for lack of interest. I never could have anticipated how busy life would get with a husband, house, job, two kids, and the bit of a social life that I try to cling to. I feel like we emerged from the plague that hit over the holidays and hit the ground running, never looking back.

I can't juggle and I don't wear dresses

Fred has now completed kindergarten. His first year in institutionalized education went quite well, and I am certainly looking forward to his first grade experience. He has now lost six teeth (one of them at 2AM last week, which was awesome), and I'm still getting used to seeing him without his top fronts. He is very excited because without these key choppers, he proudly declares that he looks like a real hockey player (Duncan Keith of the Hawks, to be exact).

We've enrolled him in baseball for the summer, which he's really looking forward to. I can't count the number of cold spring days after the snow melted when he would take his tee ball set out back and set up a field and practice hitting and running the bases. I think the cutest part is the way he lays out the bases. His patterns are wonderful. :)

Ethel continues to excel in school and just finished up 2nd grade. She reads like it's her job and is still as artistic as ever. She began to lose some focus toward the end of the school year, something which we're trying to target to keep from getting too far off track. She's hot a huge heart, but often times her desire to help others keeps her from doing her own work. I admire her charity and am insanely proud of all her accomplishments this school year. She's excited to have a teacher she knows pretty well when she returns for third grade in August.

Hot Dad has finally found a hobby which I think is sustainable. He's joined a Lego User Group and spends lots of time building, researching, and sorting Legos at home. It's an activity the kids can get in to, and Ethel has taken to it like a fish to water. The two of them could play with Legos for days on end if I let them.

I have not just returned to running, I have regained my love of running. I started out slowly in the fall and slowly brought myself back to decent mileage, and along with that came some speed. I'm not breaking land speed records, but I am pretty happy with the way things are right now. I've run a lot, raced a bunch, and am having a great time.

I completed a Whole30 program in April as part of my attempt to kick start my diet and continue on the Paleo way. I can't say enough about how much I learned about food, my body, my mind, and my overall health. It was difficult at times, but I couldn't be happier with myself for sticking with it. I continue to eat clean and still feel great. I hope to soon post my daily diary that I kept during April. I also hope to jump the whole family into better eating, clean eating. We'll see how that goes.

Pictures and more details will follow, of course. I just completed my second Ragnar Relay Chicago, and am trying to readjust to life at home. It's funny how quickly one can adapt to the fast-paced life of Ragnar, living in a van with five others, yet, it takes several days to get used to being back to the life you spend every day living. It's crazy.

More will follow soon, I promise!