So we did it!
Disney World here we come.
We're going to some how surprise the girls Christmas morning with a personal invitation to have lunch with Cinderella in her castle. Breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, Dinner with Mickey and friends, and a whole lot of fun at the theme parks.
We leave on January 2nd, and we'll be there until the 9th. This will be a dream come true for Mallory and a much needed break for Tom from work. As it turns out, Emily has become quite the little trip planner with me. She has no idea what's going to happen, although my guess is that she'll follow her sister's excitement as soon as Mallory finds out. If anyone has any ideas about a fun way to surprise two little girls with this trip I'm all "EARS".

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We did it we did it!!!!

So it's been a few weeks! I want to share a success story from our Relay Team known as the Sole Sisters.(aka #9499)
Brenda Worthen and I took two days to have a girl's weekend out. We had the time of our lives up in Baltimore. When we first arrived in town we wanted to go scope out the marathon route. Yep we got lost a time or two, however we were glad we went through that preparation.
Ravens Stadium was the location for the race Expo where we picked up our packets Friday the 10Th. It's there where Brenda bought her a shirt that says,"Toenails are for wimps." I couldn't help but purchase a shirt that says,"Running is cheaper than therapy." After a dinner full of carbs we headed in for the night. Our hotel was literally straight above the starting line which was most convenient for us.
Cindi Atwood, and Carolyn White made the trip up to the city for the day to support all of the runners. It was fantastic to see my pals from the gym there to cheer our team on.
I ran the second leg after Brenda, then handed the proverbial baton off to Hillary. Steph ran our last leg and she came in real strong just like the rest of us. Our final time according to the official records is 3 hours and 55 minutes. we came in 196 out of 694. Not to bad for our little team. O-kay I'll stop the bragging and just say that I'm grateful for true friends who helped me through this exciting little adventure.
So what's next? I'm thinking a Turkey Trot in the District on the morning of Thanksgiving. It's only a 5K so any of you out there temped to join in you're more than invited. Trust me when I say that if I can run, all of you can run too.

Happy trails,
Reese

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LaVern and Shirley

These are the names of my new shoes that are known as my step sisters.

So, yesterday I went to the local Falls Church Road Runner Sports Store to look for new shoes. And the clerk (bless her heart) told me that my current running shoes were and I quote,"A piece of Crap." After I hung my head in shame and agreed with her we started the process of finding LaVern and Shirley. Why those names you might ask? For some odd reason I find myself singing their theme song from the late 1970's show,"We're going to do it."

Whatever it takes to motivate and get moving. Last night the step sisters took me for a 6.2 mile run. And I could still breath at the conclusion of it.

Mallory is in her second week of school and loves it. Today was the second soccer practice for her team with only one more week until they get to play their first real game. I must admit that I'm looking forward to watching all of the soccer boppers clumping around the ball in a solid mass for the entire game. I'll be sure to bring a picnic that day so we enjoy dinner and entertainment.

Emily also began her Preschool this past Tuesday and had a nice time with her new teachers Mrs. Denise and Mrs. Ellen. I Look forward to Thursdays this fall when I'll go teach the music time to all of the classes. Westover Preschool's a great place to be.

Cleo looks forward to tomorrow when Miloki our boxer dog friend comes to stay for the weekend. The girls are thrilled and so am I.

Off I go to finish the book,"Breaking Dawn" I'll wait until I've completed it to give my very biased opinion of it.

Reese 

Back to School

Yesterday the girls and I took our regular walk downstairs to chat with Diane our good friend the office manager when we saw the mailman just leaving the building. Mallory opened up a folder from her brand new school. Yep, my baby will be going to Mount Daniel Elementary School in a few weeks. Mrs. Zafros will be her new teacher. Mallory is lucky enough to ride on the Yellow tag Bus route that will pick her up at 8:20AM, and drop her off at 3:50PM.  She seems to be ready for this new adventure. The real question is am I?

Running update: Four miles.... and then I died!

The "Sole Sisters" are in training for a team relay run in Baltimore this coming October 11th. Brenda Worthen, Hillary Johnson, Stephanie Parke, and Myself have joined forces to complete the Marathon divided by the four of us of course. It should be really neat as it finishes in the Ravens Stadium.

Sheesh, I'm really getting excited/scared about this event that I've committed to do. We're going to have the time of our lives running our little "Soles" out.

I'll keep an update of our groups progress. All you really need to know is that currently as it is, the rest of our Sole Sister's are kicking my trash with their training. It's time to get serious as we only have eight more weeks to prepare. 

Wish me luck.