Happy Hanukkah (and other updates)

James would like to wish his preschool friends a very Happy Hanukkah!

I've been taking James to preschool this week for a couple of hours in the morning so I can get some last minute shopping done and errands ran. This morning, his class was already in the social hall where they had rented a large bouncy inflatable for the kids. Picture a bunch of 1 1/2 year olds bouncing and laughing! It looked like so much fun, I wanted to stay and bounce with James! Well, I stayed all right, but only to console my terrified child. He HATED being inside the bounce house (even with me inside, holding him) and cried the whole time.
Note to self: cancel the bouncy house for his 2nd birthday. Who knows, maybe by July he will grow out of his fear of bouncy houses.

After he had calmed down and was happily playing OUTSIDE of the bouncy house, I made a quick exit to finish my holiday shopping. This included a much-needed trip to the commissary (that's the grocery store on base, for you non-military peoples!) On my way into the gate, I noticed that some cars were getting these Hess boxes. When I pulled up, I asked what they were for and the guard told me that they were handing them out to all the children who came on base. I sadly looked back at James' empty carseat and explained that my son was in preschool, but that he LOVED trucks! So, the guard gave me not one, but TWO Hess trucks. I guess he thought that I loved trucks, too? They are SO nice and I can't wait for James to open his truck! (should we say it's from Uncle Sam or Santa?) As for the extra truck, we have a very nice neighbor who gives James all of her son's hand-me-down ride on toys and outdoor play equipment, so he will be getting an extra gift from us this year. Too cool!

For those of you interested, I did run my 14 miler on Saturday. Well, my IT band started talking to me about mile 10 and it started screaming at me at mile 13, so I only got in 13.5 miles. Apparently, IT issues take a long time to heal, so I didn't want to risk any injury. I ran 4 miles yesterday and I need to get in a few more runs this week. On Saturday, I plan to run 15 miles. It will be a long, slow 15, but I need to keep increasing my mileage.


I hope your holiday plans are coming together nicely and for those of you traveling this year-
Good Luck!