1/2 Marathon

January 31st, 2015 - I ran in the Roaring Run half Marathon in Scio, Oregon with Meagan, Brandi and Joy.

We stayed the night together in a nearby hotel and then got up to run the race.  Meagan ran with me the whole way (she hadn't registered for the race, so she was there as support), Joy and Brandi ran together.   We were there with a lot of time to spare and they had an early start, so we decided to do it.  I was the most skeptical, becaus I knew it meant that Meagan and I would be toward the front of the pack and that made it feel almost like any other training run, rather than a race.  We did end up with only one other guy in the early start in front of us.  I felt quite good until mile 9 or so and then I really slowed down.  I didn't fuel at all and it was quite an important lesson for me.  The last few miles were torture and I felt bad for Meagan who could have flown on ahead.  I finished with a time of 1:52:02- 8:33 pace (which also bothered me because I started my watch exactly when the gun went off and according to it I was about 45 seconds faster).  The way they kept time for the early start was super casual, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was off, but it really didn't matter that much to me because either time wasn't was I was hoping for.  I am glad I did the race though because it gave me a wake up call on several things I need to improve upon before my marathon.  Joy and Brandi ran 2:03:17.

After the race was over we went back to the hotel to shower and then hit the road.  I met Jake and the kids outside of La Center so we could head up to Maple Valley to watch the Super Bowl with the Russell Family.

Tessallations

I taught a lesson about tessellations in both Tamsyn's and Thurston's classes this month.  It was a lot of fun to see what the kids came up with.  I took tons of pictures because there were so many that I liked.

This is my example for the lesson --

Tamsyn's class - January 16th

Here is Tamsyn working on her very detailed tessellation. The picture below is of it almost finished (she just hadn't outlined it yet).

Thurston's class Jan. 30th

In Thurston's class we simplified the lesson a little and made it so only one side of the square had a unique line.  

Preschool Field Trip

January 29th, 2015 - Dantely's preschool had a field trip to the Kids Club in Vancouver -- basically just an indoor play land. They ran and played for several hours until they were exhausted and sweaty, and then we went home.

Last of Christmas Decor

I left these up for quite a while this year because seeing the cards with pictures of friends and their families makes me happy.  I had to take a photo before taking them all down.

Preschool Olympics

1/22 - For a fundraiser Dantley's preschool hosts a mini Olympics for the kids.  They each get little booklets with different events and then go around and complete each one.  When they finish all of them they turn it in to one of the teachers and get a little medal.

Twin Day

January 22nd - Today was twin day at school.  Natasha and Katie decided to dress in Seahawks gear and went all out. They made tutus and Tasha made headbands and wrist covers for them. She went over to Katies before school so they could make sure and match perfectly.

Blazers Anthem Buddy

Thursday, January 22nd - Thurston got to be an anthem buddy at the Blazers game.
He was super excited about it.  Jake took Natasha, Tamsyn and Thurston and went with Tasha's friend Katie and her dad to the game.  Dantley had a preschool even that night, so he and I went to that and then to activity days at the church.  (That is my current calling at church - activity days leader)

The kids all got their faces painted before the Blazers game.  When they got home and Dantley saw them he was quite upset about it and said he wanted to have his face painted, so the next day Tasha used our Halloween makeup and painted a chameleon on his face to help him feel better.

New Fairy Land Flipzles Design - Patent Pending

I'm pretty excited for this new puzzle design.  I think it will be irresistible to color.  Tamsyn helped me with deciding what the pieces should be.  She also helped with my decision on the interior.  She drew a really detailed drawing inside the mushrooms that made me realize it would be more fun for kids to be able to draw their own furniture than to just color my drawing, so I decided to leave the inside pretty sparse leaving room for creativity.

Here are some pics of the rough sketches and the pieces as I was working on them.

The finished version will have the three layers below -- only cleaned up and sharper.

Outside

I sent the vector versions to China on January 11th and should have a prototype back in time for Toy Fair in February.  Jake also helped me apply for Patent Pending for this new type of Flipzles.  We officially filed on January 15th.