cuddlefest

I've had four un-diluted days of love and kisses from my people and my family. And sleeping in. And leftovers. Over our long weekend it got really cold here rather suddenly - as if someone flicked on the "winter" switch and walked away. We had actual snow.

Instead of Thanksgiving, we'll call it Cuddlefest, because we did a lot of that over the weekend.

In no particular order, here are my observations from Cuddlefest '07...

* I marvel at the heat outputs of my two children. The BTUs that 5 year olds put out is just staggering. If I'm ever watching a movie with my people, they insist that I sit between them - which is an invitation to certain naptime, since it's like being in a heat sandwich. Global warming is probably my fault. Even so, we lit two actual fires in our fireplace with real wood, and we unearthed all manner of hats and mittens and scarves and winter coats.

* I've come to the conclusion that the cuddly days with my five-year-old twins are numbered. They can only take so much of mommy mauling them in public places and applying raspberries to their naked bellies before they squirm away. Won't be long until they call me "Mom" instead of mama, and start saying things like "stop mom, you're embarrassing me." Sigh.

* Though they are extremely cute, they are difficult to keep under control - and by control, I mean generally not destroying things. Control is a relative term. If my little entropy machines are left to their own devices for any length of time, silence equals trouble. You can count on things to be going horribly wrong if you suddenly notice the quietness. They are like Jack Russell Terriers, those two. I have to be on the ball giving them jobs all the time - because when they are bored, they are destructive.

* I must be a good mom, we got through Thanksgiving dinner at our Adopted Parents' house without breaking anything. Yay! I had an excellent dinner with good friends and Adopted Family. I'm grateful for giggles and laughs and good food and people who love my children almost as much as I do.

* Showing the Agents Of Chaos (or AOC, for short) chinese vampire movies makes for some interesting adventures for them at playtime. It would be intresting to hear them explaining chinese vampires to their friends on the playground - not every kid will "get" that I'm sure. Though it is fun to watch them hopping around, arms straight forward, pretending to be zombie Chinese vampire people.

* Yes, my kids are going to be weird.

* 5 year olds are a gift to humanity. They are genuine and sincere. They make interesting observations about the world. They ask interesting questions (though they are not always interested in the answers). And they are completely transparent - in their moods and their motives. This weekend they informed me that "this is a really bad finger" referring to their first finger, Mr. Pointer. What does it mean? I ask, using my most clueless countenance. "It's a really bad word mommy." What's the word? I'm feigning as much ignorance as I can manage without giggling. "We don't know, but it's really bad. And we know what Six is." Daddy just about has a heart attack at this one, so I ask, what does six mean? And they said, "I dunno, love and kisses?"

* I had real grown-ups over this evening. There's two benefits to having real grown-ups over: one is that your house gets cleaned up in a hurry (oh mommy has LOTS of jobs for you to do today!). The other is that they bring food. When you tell grown-ups to bring pie, they bring pie.

* "Annie" (you remember Annie - the musical with the red-headed orphan?) does a good job of keeping the Agents Of Chaos at bay while mommy talks to the grown-ups.

* I ran a 5K (Turkey Trek) on Thursday. I remembered my strap, my knee didn't hurt. I felt like I was going really hard - and I was. I pulled virtually the same time as I did last year (27:47), except my heart rate was easily 10 to 20 beats higher (175 average, 200 max) because I haven't run in about 3 weeks. Let's hear it for de-training! It was a fun run, if cold. (60th in the women, 5th in my age group). That extra 20 beats meant that I nearly hurled in the last quarter mile. I left it all on the course.

* Look - here's a picture of me doing actual running! My husband managed a shot where I look like I'm actually running! Yay Hubby!

* Hubby went so fast in the Turkey Trek he got 2nd in his age group (21:02). Go hubby!

* I did a little bit of training during Cuddlefest, but nothing too strenuous - a 1500m time trial swim, a spin class, some Pilates. I think it'll be time to get back into the saddle now - my break in training will be officially over soon.

* Beowulf in 3D is a lot of fun. I wouldn't bother with it in 2D, but the 3D gimmick is way cool!

* I finally started the wheel building project I had lined up in the spring. Dave and I spent a couple of hours building beautiful new wheels for Irene. Building wheels is tricky - but not impossible. It is amazing - I started with a bag of parts and a pair of rims, and now I have two wheels. Amazing. Now I need a cassette and some rubber, they're nearly done!

* On the long list of things I am grateful for, it bears repeating that I have really, really great friends. Many of my blog friends wrote to wish me a happy Thanksgiving, one of them even said nice things on her blog. I love you all, and I hope your Thanksgiving was as warm as my Cuddlefest.