Justin and Kristin

This Just-in

A bit behind in posting. You know how the holidays suck you up and don't spit you out again until the New Year! It's a good thing right? So here we go with some catch up. December 17th was Justin's birthday. Having come out of a week or two of sickness in our household it was tough getting my act together. I was a bit disappointed in myself especially since his birthday was on a Saturday which meant we could have had all day to celebrate! It wasn't what I'd consider an extra ordinarily awesome birthday for him, but we still did some fun things.

Sage's present was learning to ride her bike without training wheels! Wahoo! Go Sage!

and we got to see Santa!

(I admittedly, and perhaps a bit sadistically, like these photos with babies crying on Santa's lap. I think they are hilarious! Thanks Nouvelle for not letting us down!)

 

The best was getting out on a date with just Justin and eating at one of our new favorite restaurants, 

and then hitting the Parker Omni House Hotel for supposedly the original Boston Cream Pie (Boston Cream being one of Justin's all time favorites!). This certainly was a decadent little dessert, but shhh don't tell, I think I'd take a Boston Cream Pie Donut from Dunkin' Donuts!

 

One thing for sure, we are glad to have Justin in our life. He is a calming force, a sound of reason, a source of support, and  an endless supply of love. He is an understanding man, who sees no discrepancy between women's role and man's - but that we all share in our family responsibilities. He is the person we miss most when he is away, and the person we all look forward to seeing when he returns. He is definitely everyone's favorite person in this house. Thank goodness we have him. Happy Birthday to the love of my life and the best dad in the whole entire world!

From Us To You!

They certainly are! 

More on our fun Christmas festivities to come, once the excitment dies down! Hope everyone is having a great day! We miss our famiy and friends who are far away, but we are enjoying the ones we have here!

Merry Christmas!

Nothing Like Dilapidation

Like my previous post stated while my bro Nick was in town we were able to go out for a photo shoot. I have fun shooting him 'cause he doesn't need much direction, he holds still, and is patient with me while I find better lighting, cooler backgrounds, and fix my camera settings.

For years I've been driving past a certain dilapidated building on my way to and from work. Everytime I see it I have just felt drawn to capture some sort of life in front of it's baren backdrop. I don't know, it just seems poetic and artistic to me in some way.

I was glad for a willing participant to ignore the "No Tresspassing" signs and sneek a few shots before we couldn't risk leaving ourselves to the cops any longer. :)

 

Here's a few of my favorites.

For more from this photo shoot click HERE

 

 

 

 

Trottin' Little Turkeys

We were so excited to know that my brother Nick was going to come for Thanksgiving. Sage couldn't stop telling people: her friends, teachers, random people at the store. We were glad for her enthusiasm while waiting for her "crazy" uncle Nick to come into town. 

I had a few things I wanted to accomplish with him while he was in town. 

One: get him to catch the fire of running races

Two: eat a LOT of good food

Three: introduce him to the exhilarating world of the "long run"

Four: Have a fun photo shoot with a more docile subject than my ADHD children

Five: Chill, relax, catch up, laugh, create great memories

 

I think we accomplished all of these things!

Thanksgiving morning Nick and I joined in on a Turkey Trot 5k. It was meant to be just an enjoyable race. However, I couldn't let myself take it too easy. I still pushed myself pretty hard, and managed to pull my fastest min/mile ever and got a great new 5k PR! Given the "break" I'm taking it was quite the surprise and I'm pretty proud of my time! The $25 award money was nice too! ;) I seriously don't know how I ran that fast! Wahoo!

Nick caught the fire of racing, the thrill of a cheering crowd, the energy of running amongst so many people, and the sense of accomplishment of pushing yourself to your limit.

Way to go Nick! He seriously did awesome for his first official 5k ever!

 

And what a small world! I ran into my running buddy from the Bar Harbor Marathon! Even from a distance I recognized her seriously amazing body (I know that sounds creepy, but seriously she is so buff and tone - especially for a 50 year old! :) ) It was fun to see her and catch up. I know we only spent about 4 miles together during the marathon but there is just something so bonding about sharing in someone else's physical and mental struggles that connects you on a deeper level. I hope I "run" into her again soon! :)

Thanksgiving was great. Great food, great company, great conversation, great memories.

 

The rest of the weekend was completely relaxing with beautiful weather and fun times. Nick and I went on his longest run ever, and believe or not he's talking about doing a marathon now! That would be so fun to see him run one! Here's hoping!

We got to do a fun photo shoot, just him and I, right before he left (That post to come soon).

We really loved having him here. I'm glad he lives close enough to make these kind of visits possible and we are all already looking forward to the next one!