Merry Christmas!

Time just keeps flying by and I've barely had a chance to post fall photos, let alone photos of our new house colors.

So here we go:

The fall was wet and short, but we did manage to rake a few leaves together for Sofia and Fiona to jump in.

We also took our annual trip to Patterson's for fall fun and apple and grape picking:

Thanksgiving 


Leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, both Sofia and Fiona's schools had festivities and I was fortunate enough to share a Thanksgiving lunch with Fiona and watch Sofia play a "pilgrim" in her classroom.

Sofia and her fellow "pilgrims"

The kids churned butter and shared a meal of warm bread, apple pie and apple cider.

My parents came to join us for the Thanksgiving weekend.  It was my dad's first visit in four years.  We had a very nice time and the girls loved having them for Thanksgiving and Winterfest.

Winterfest
The first Saturday after Thanksgiving, Cleveland's downtown is full of mirth and festivities.  We took our annual trip to Tower City to watch the Toy Soldier show, caught a show of the Akron Steel band at the Cleveland Public Library, and posed for pictures with various Santas and his friends.

The Abominable Snowman looks bigger on TV

The Toy Soldier's actually bigger in person

Polar Express

As part of that same Thanksgiving weekend, we took the girls to ride the Polar Express.  We became members of the Cuyahoga Scenic Railroad just to get pre-sale tickets since they sell out every year.  We took Edie and Cora and the girls had a wonderful time.  It was truly magical and the girls loved it.

Getting to Penisula AKA North Pole

The girls danced in the aisle while singing Christmas carols on our way back.

The head "elf" chats up the passengers

Santa surprised the passengers

Fiona had just finished throwing a huge tantrum and Santa looks worried she'll relapse

Christmas is Coming to Town
Fiona sang in a Christmas concert at her school and played an adorable elf.  The class sang the Christmas Carol favorites including "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", "Jingle Bells", "Driedel" and "Twinkle Twinkle" among others.

The House

Finally!  Getting photos up of the new colors for our house.  It took a few months, but we're very pleased with the results.  Beautiful goldleaf, buttery yellows, olive and hunter greens and a deep red ties it all together.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Random Photos of Sofia

Sofia models the bellydancing outfit Tia Diana gave her (Fiona got a blue one)

Sofia and I joined her classmates for bowling at Mahall's after an early dismissal day

It's been a busy, but great few months and I hope to post photos from our trip to Chicago soon after our return.

Merry Christmas all!

Halloween Fun!

Wow, falling behind again!  We've had lots of great fun over the past few weeks which included our annual Halloween Boyd Bash.  This year's adult theme was the '80s and most of the adults were rad enough to dress up. 

"Mean" Fiona Witch

Jen ("Cyndi Lauper"), Mary (some obsure 80s lead singer) and Ann (another '80s rock chick) get into the groove

Evan (some painter guy from PBS) and Emma ("Tiffany")

Madonna and Rambo

Me again

My little Pocahontas  (aka Sofia)

My little bugs on Halloween

They made out like bandits

Next up...photos of the great house colors!

Out on Top!

I took the leap and decided to run the Chicago Marathon despite very little training (for a full marathon).  Nonetheless I decided if I felt good after a 1/2 Marathon a couple of weeks before Chicago then I would run the Full.  I had a great time during the Rocky River 1/2 Marathon and had an awesome time doing Chicago.

Joe, the girls, my parents and his parents took the "El" to Pilsen to meet me at Mile 19.5 by the Jumping Bean Cafe to cheer me on.  Joe's brother and his family were also there, as were a few of my friends.  A couple of other friends were to meet me at Mile 9, but we missed each other.

I had a number of senior moments leading to the actual race...I forgot my ipod (ugh!), for one, and worst I forgot my racing bib (with the number on it) at my parents' when I left that morning at 5:30AM.  Luckily I had my race chip so I was able to have my run timed, but I did have to sneak into my "special" running corral and almost got kicked out into the general runner area (gasp!).  So unfortunately the hour leading up to the start of the race was a little stressful.  Happily it was a beautiful, sunny day and the spectators and volunteers were amazing.

Huge grin when I finally reached Mile 19.5

Had a sip of caffeine to recharge

Fun at the Expo Before the Race

Little Rock Marathon Posse

So to my surprise I beat my personal best of 4:01 and came in at 3:50:34.  I missed qualifying for the Boston Marathon only because they just increased the qualifying time to 3:45:00.  In any case it's probably for the best because I think I'm done running full marathons.  I had a great time, but I was starting to hurt after Mile 17 and was exhausted for a couple of days.

While the family waited for me to finish, they cooled off at Millennium Park.

Boyd Cousins Fool Around

Random Photos

First Day of Ballet (and first ballet lessons for Fiona)

Sofia riding at the Lakewood Festival

Fiona's Turn!

The Boyd and Barcelona Girls  

Stopping to admire scarecrows at the Ohio City Farms

Fiona DESPERATELY needed a haircut 

 

Looking a lot cuter

More Random Photos of Fiona

Looking adorable during naptime

  

Before her haircut...at the Natural History Museum getting her Ghost On