I am officially a Shealy!

Well, I guess you could say I have been an official Shealy for a little over 6 years now but I am starting to think that I am really more of a Shealy in spirit than I have admitted to being in the past. Can the desire for structure, hard work, and discipline seep in by osmosis or something? Or is that just called marriage?

As much as I really love summer - and I do love summer! - I am looking forward to the fall with great anticipation. These long, lazy summer days are starting to wear on me. I am longing for some structure. I want to wake up and know that I have specific things to accomplish. I can't take many more of these there-is-no-plan-our-options-are-limitless kind of days. I am like my two year old. I function much better with limits!

Fortunately for me there are two big things on my fall horizon that should help me with this problem. First of all - and this is a hallelujah moment - we signed Noah up for preschool. On Sept 2nd he will start going on Tues and Thurs mornings for 3 glorious hours! He will learn to be a little more independent, make some friends, and I will be able to accomplish an entire task without having to stop to talk him down off the ledge of a temper tantrum. It will be pure bliss.....

It will also leave me time for the second thing that I am so excited about...training for my next half-marathon. I am all signed up to run the Spinx Half Marathon in Greenville, SC at the end of October. It will be fun for a couple reasons. First of all, my old running partner Priscilla, and my new running partner Catherine are both going to run it too. Also, I think I can really improve on my time from my last half. I want to come in around 2 hours and I really think I can do it. I have been a little speedier lately and with my training plan all laid out I am ready to go.

That brings me to today....I met up with Catherine for our weekly run up the Cooper River Bridge. We have decided it will prepare us for anything. Running up a steep grade while pushing 50 pounds of jogging stroller in the hot sun is very effective training! It sounds miserable but I have to say it is sooo much fun. And good for me. Having had a bad attitude from a rough morning I finished that run and felt...I don't know, clean, or something. Yes indeed, things are definitely looking up!

Noah Has Gone Crazy....

.....and here is all the proof that you need!

In other news, I have gone crazy too! (You know, because of my insane 2 year old!) This week has been one extended temper tantrum and I am on the verge of seriously considering spiking his milk tonight in the hopes of 12 solid hours without high pitched screaming. I'm kidding, I"m kidding...kind of.

In order to keep the mental breakdown at bay I went for a run last night and went so fast I almost killed myself. (The upside - I have discovered the secret to speed. Become so stressed out that you have to self medicate with exercise endorphins.) Anyway, afterwards I was so tired and my muscles were on the verge of totally cramping up, so I sat down to roll them out with my nifty foam roller. (You laugh, but it works!) Noah joined me and payed very close attention to what I was doing as I rolled out my calves and quads....

.....and then, in typical "I'm Noah and only need to see something once to get it down" fashion he proceeded to roll out his quads!

He was very pleased with himself!

Now how can I stay mad at that? (I can't and he knows it! It's all part of his plan...damn!)

These are for you Emily!

Okay, I have always meant to put up pictures of our new house but there always seems to be something going on that prevents from doing it. Mostly, it's that every time I think to do it there are a hundred matchbox cars lining my floor or dirty dishes overtaking my kitchen. A couple of days ago my friend Emily made a request for some pictures and yesterday my friend Priscilla said she wanted to see some too because she was starting to think that our house didn't exist and that we might actually live in a trailer!

So without further ado, because Emily asked so nicely - and to prove to Priscilla that we don't

live in a trailer - here our some pictures of the house......

It is all a work in progress - we have yet to find a dining room table we like (and can afford!) so this is our make-shift one.

Looking from the kitchen into the dining room.....

....and the kitchen into the living room.

This is the living room - I just ordered some fabric for curtains so that should add some color!

Master bedroom - notice the bare walls. Like I said, work in progress!

The only fully decorated room -Noah's! My Mom painted the Cars pictures on the wall.

We have a huge bonus room at the top of the stairs. Here is one side....

....and this is the other!

This guest room is somewhat put together - the other is empty except for some random toys and an air mattress.

And finally, here is the view from our top porch - you can see our mostly empty neighborhood!

Watching Le Tour

Because it is summer and there is a lack of decent television on, Wes and I have been watching the Tour de France coverage every evening. It is strangely addictive - even Noah has been sucked in. At first he was just in the room goofing around with us....

But then he started watching pretty intently, screaming, "It's bicycles! Go Bicycles!".....

And before we knew it, he was totally mesmerized, staying in the room to watch even after we left!

Did You See the Flying Pigs?

Tonight, at 7:15? Did you see them? Pigs streaking across the sky? That's right, tonight at 7:15 pigs flew because Noah was eating vegetables!

For those of you who don't know, Noah has been on a veggie boycott for months. He will eat grapes, pear, and cantaloupe but that is it! The rest is one big carb fest of crackers and more crackers. Until tonight, when he casually walked up to Wes, pointed at his green beans and said, "want some". He then proceeded to eat all of Wes' green beans, ask for more, and finish those too. I stared at him, dumbfounded. What had changed? Why the sudden change of heart? Then I ran to the window to look for the flying pigs.

Long Summer Days

Not much is going on with us Shealys. I have been wondering what to post about because we are seriously very boring right now! Wes has been working - a lot - and Noah and I have been enjoying the long summer days. We usually make it outside in the morning and again in the evening because it is definitely too hot to be out during the middle of the day.

The most exciting thing to happen in my life is the new addition to our garage....my new bike! It was an early birthday present that I got so I could have a way to cross train on my non-running days. I'm not very good at riding it yet - oh, I'm fine going in a straight line but throw in a hairpin turn and things get a little shaky. (In fact the other day I crashed into a curb in the back of my neighborhood...thank goodness its all empty houses back there and nobody saw how ridiculous I looked!) It is a good workout though. Riding is fun because it feels so easy but at the end I take off my helmet, get off the bike, and am surprisingly sweaty and tired.

Wes and I have both been trying to run a lot too. We want to run another half marathon in the fall/early winter and are trying to work back up to some longer runs. I surprised myself by running 5 miles in 43 minutes yesterday so I have high hopes for improving my race times!

Noah is also enjoying all these outdoor activities. He LOVES to be outside. It's funny because we take him to the park and try to get him to play on the playground but he much prefers to head to the running trails and go on "nature walks". He collects rocks and points out all the animals he sees. He can go forever too....a couple miles at a time which seems like a lot for a 2 year old! Maybe that explains why his little legs are solid muscle (bye bye baby fat!). Anyway, I think he is in for a rude awakening this fall when the days get shorter and colder and we can't spend all this time outside. Or maybe its me who's in for the rude awakening...how on earth will I ever entertain him?!

Well, like I said we are boring right now - if you made it all the way through this post you are a very loyal blog reader and I promise to provide something more exciting next time!

Farmers Market Saturdays

For the past several Saturdays Noah and I have been going downtown to visit the Charleston Farmers Market. Sometimes Wes joins us (when he is not working), and this week Bebe and Nana came to enjoy our downtown outing. It is such a fun Saturday morning activity. Aside from the fabulous (wonderfully priced) produce there are many other fun things. There is a fabulous crepe stand where we get crepes to eat while Noah runs around the park chasing birds. They also have bouncy houses for the kids - so far Noah is too wrapped up in the bird chasing for that! It's so cool to have an excuse to go hang out downtown and we really love getting fresh, locally grown produce and flowers.

This past Saturday, after our trip to the farmers market, Noah, Bebe, and I played outside with his new favorite toy - his sidewalk chalk. Noah calls it his "outside markers". He loves to draw with all the different colors, but most of all he likes directing other people about what to draw for him. We usually end up drawing all the different characters from the movie Cars. Here are a few pictures of us this past Saturday.....

Noah likes to store his chalk in the trunk of his car.

Bebe and Noah make works of art!

My limited artistic abilities mean that the best I can do is help Noah draw a race track for his cars.