Zebra-Giraffe

Grace knows what a zebra looks like and 10 out of 10 times, when shown a photo of one she will say, "zee-ba." Grace knows what a giraffe looks like and 9 out of 10 times when shown a photo of one she will say, "zee-ba." This is new. She use to identify correctly. I can only surmise that, in a move of pure ironic genius, she formally named her stuffed giraffe Zebra; you know, how people call super huge biker dudes "Tiny."

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas to all! Our day has been filled with lots of love and time with local friends. We got up, unwrapped presents with Grace which was a quite a bit of fun. Brad and Jessie came over for eggs benedict, monkey bread, and mimosas...YUM. Then we were off to church where we got a good family photo. My pregnant belly is definitely showing that I'm not far from my due date and ready to deliver baby number two! Scott is currently prepping appetizers and desserts for our dinner over at the neighbors house while Grace eats lunch.

Grace was absolutely spoiled this year, which was not a surprise to either Scott or I. She received some great toys and clothes from many loved ones. She loves her new toy train, play hut, dolls and clothes.

We hope you all have a special day, like we have had this Christmas and wish you all a happy and safe new year!

Denver Dialing

Normally, we spend Christmas in Denver with Sarah's family.  As Sarah is 8.9 months pregnant, we thought it better to be a little closer to home this year.  Video chatting only mimics the real thing, even so, it was great to see the family.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve Lunch

Even at 9 months pregnant, Sarah is working - her last full day that is.  I took Grace to meet Sarah for lunch.  It was a beautiful day so we headed to the water for a stroll in Steilacoom, a sleepy little town with a lot of history and a great view of the Narrows and the Olympic Mountains.  We hadn't intended to have as much fun as we did, and so didn't have the camera, but the phone captured a few of the moments well enough.  We even had another couple take a family photo.  Can't imagine a better Christmas Eve lunch.

Coffee & Santa

Today Grace visited Santa for the first time.  One of Sarah's friends runs a coffee shop near our house and arranged for Santa to drop in near midday.  We were excited about this as we didn't have to fight the crowds at the mall AND, even better, we had a time slot - so no waiting in line.  

Grace is a little leery of strange people so we spent the morning trying to get her excited about the concept of Santa.  We got her repeating his name and recognizing him in photos.  While en route, she must have said, "Santa." fifty times.  We thought we had succeeded in our mini brainwashing maneuver.  Unfortunately, as soon as we got within 5 feet of Santa, the shy Grace quickly came out, and there would be no going quietly into a stranger's lap.  Ultimately Sarah had the good fortune of sitting in Santa's lap, and Grace sat with Sarah.  

Unfortunately, Grace does know how cute she is.

We don't have the Santa photos as of yet - the photographers didn't offer an electronic version.  They make money off the prints you know.  Even so, we did get a few photos of Grace and Mom hanging around the coffee shop.  Tartan dresses, emerald scarves, muffins & cappuccinos, oh so cosmopolitan.....

Grace works on a blueberry muffin while Mom enjoys a mocha. 

Grace's first Candy Cane.  She devoured it.

More photos at Picasaweb - Christmas 2011

Family Portrait

This is the time of year we give and receive family portraits printed on card stock or photo paper, sent as annual Christmas greetings.  A month or so ago, I got ahold of a magnetic drawing pad for a few minutes and sketched out our family.  Isn't it awesome!?  Soon, Mom's belly will be smaller and we will have a fourth Templin in the future sketches.  Here's to hoping all your Christmas gifts will be half as good as ours...

Preparations

Here we sit, just 1 month and 1 day from the expected arrival of our second child.  Of course, for those of you following at home, Sarah delivered a bit early last time, two weeks to be exact - and as such we had a little scrambling to do once the contractions started.  This time around we are going to be fully prepared.  Fool me twice... as the saying goes.  Today Sarah and I made several changes to the house.  As you can see above, two sets of diapers, below, the infant carseat has been officially prepositioned, and furniture arranged both in the nursery and master bedroom as appropriate.  These are just a few of the physical manifestations of the preparations that have been occurring over the past weeks and months.  Other preparations not so outwardly obvious have been, and will continue to occur right up until delivery.  Later, Sarah and I have a date to finalize our labor and delivery plan of action and then to practice our labor breathing and coaching techniques.  It's so much more interesting than dinner and a movie...

The infant carseat loaded and ready to go next to Grace's.   

Although she has no idea how much her life is about to change, 

Grace helps move the glider from the nursery to the bedroom

Wok & Roll

The two most beautiful ladies in the wold making dinner. Grace works on her original creation of "stir fried air" while Sarah cooks som veggies.

Visit to Pets Mart

I just picked up Scott from the airport after a weekend in Denver. My father/grandpa decided last minute to also fly out here from Denver an hour after Scott. He's been going through some Grace withdraw. So we decided to stop at Pets Mart to kill some time by the airport before we pick up grandpa. Grace spit up on her clothes she was wearing so she got to put on the brand new Christmas dress grandma sent home with Scott.

Utensils: No Problem

 Here's to my 3rd post in one day. Nothing like getting caught up on things I've been trying to do for weeks. I love my husband and our time together, but every once in awhile I cherish the time when he is out of town and I can be overly productive. Scott is in Denver, eating dinner with my family as we speak. He's there for the weekend meeting up with several buddies for a bachelor's party, and once again, gets to spend quality time with my family while I'm at home. I won't complain too much, Grace and I are getting some quality time together, and this pregnancy thing is getting a bit too tough to fly. Six more weeks until my due date and counting.

Tonight Grace and I had some veggie pizza and finished off with some fruit, kiwi's to be exact, one of Grace's favorite foods. We are working on the use of utensils, and like most other new things, she's a pretty quick learner. Not too messy and pretty efficient. Every day I think to myself "she's getting so big and so much more independent."

Puppy Love

Grace LOVES Porter. Porter simply tolerates Grace. The only time he really shows an interest in her is when she's got his ball when trying out her throwing arm while playing fetch. Overall, our dog is great with our daughter. What can you expect when an 18 month old repeatedly says your name, chases you around the house, wakes you from slumber, and occasionally pulls your hair or delivers an extra forceful love pat?

Now enter Gus, our neighbors new puppy. He genuinely takes an interest in Grace, following her as she moves from place to place and constantly wanting to play. Grace loves it and we get to hear her say "Puppy!" in the most enthusiastic voice! I'm sure he appreciates someone his own size, too. We get to visit Gus often which Scott and I enjoy. Nothing like getting to hang out with a puppy again, although this time without having to worry about the potty training and other responsibilities. Oh wait, we've got kids now, even harder!

Thanksgiving: The Easy Way

 Thanksgiving was a bit different this year than in the years past for the Templin household. There was no traveling to be with family and I had to work the entire week. The thought of putting together an elaborate feast was a bit overwhelming to say the least. But we ended up spending the holiday with our dearest friends Brad and Jessie, and the newest addition to their family, Gus, a black lab puppy. Grace and Gus get along quite well, and together they are just about the most adorable things to watch.
To make the holiday even better, we took the work out of it. Never thought I'd do it, but we ordered the entire meal pre made and cooked, we just had to stick in all in the oven and rewarm. The meal came complete with an 11lb turkey, yams, cranberry sauce, green beans/carrots, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and pumpkin pie. It was delicious!
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and feel as blessed as we do to have so many wonderful loved ones in our lives!

Marine Corps Marathon

One month ago, Sarah, Grace, and I traveled to Washington DC to visit the family of my eldest cousin where we would run together in the Marine Corps Marathon.  Our journey actually started 20 weeks earlier when Kevin and I began a training regime which would allow us to complete the marathon "in the upright position."

The methodology behind the training would be very different from any running I had ever done before.  As a high school varsity athlete for track and cross country, I was accustom to running as hard as I could and as fast as I could for as long as I could, maintaining or surpassing a desired pace, of course.  I used this old training style to train for my first marathon, the Walt Disney Marathon in 2007.  During training I was plagued by tiring long runs and the inability to really extend my long distance capacity beyond the 13 mile point.  I also did not run in the two months prior to the marathon.  On race day, once again, I was only able to make it to the half marathon and walked the entire second half of the race with soreness and pain in every muscle below my waist.  This time would be much different.

Not a very happy finisher - Disney 2007

Jeff Galloway is a legendary long distance running trainer and has developed a method of training that has been gaining notoriety in past few years, mostly as a way for people who never thought they could run long distance to not only complete an endurance run, but also not to feel like crap when they were done.  Galloway even became the "official trainer" for the Disney Marathon - go figure.  This method, which consisted of purposefully walking at regular intervals during a run, was quite foreign to me and mentally off-putting.  I mean, seriously, who walks on purpose during a racing event?  After several weeks of training, however, with my endurance steadily gaining, my recovery times short, my pace remaining consistent as the mileage increased, and nary an injury in sight, I was beginning to believe.  My longest distance run before the race would only be 15 miles, due to my hiking expedition, working in New Zealand, and just a tiny bit of laziness.  Even so, I felt good about race day.

5AM Pre-Race group photo 

Sunrise over DC from near the start line.

The Washington Monument is in the background.

On October 30th, a family friend, my cousin, and myself woke at 5am to begin preparing and traveling to the start line of the Marine Corps Marathon.  It was a beautiful morning - cloudless skies and a brisk 35 degrees - perfect marathon conditions.  Twenty thousand runners plus would join us.  We had a few set backs, like needing to stop and pee several times in the first 8 miles (I guess that's what happens when you hydrate for 3 hours before the run instead of just getting up and going running like in training) as well as loosing our run-walk timing device (we think it fell off on a pee break - maybe) but the running was easy, the fans were many and cheerful, and the course was beautiful. With the run-walk method, we ran well and stayed together for over 18 miles.  I was not able to keep the pace beyond that and the other two continued on.  I continued running and walking, mostly walking, and completed the race with a time of 5:29:09.  

At mile 23 I took a few minutes to hang out with my supporters, Sarah & Grace.

The group "after" photo - much better than the 2007 after photo - smiling this time. 

Not that you didn't trust me... the finisher's certificate. 

I beat my Disney time by less 10 minutes, but the difference in how I felt, and the enjoyment I experienced during the race was large.  I'm an official endorser of the Jeff Galloway training method.  Next up, run a marathon and actually complete the entire training regime.  Plans for Disney 2013 are already in the works!

If you live under a rock, you might not have heard about Tebowing....

I got's mine on the web too: Tebowing.com

Black Friday vs Extreme Couponing

I'll come right out and say it, "I love black Friday." If you have ever seen an episode of Extreme Couponing, then you have an idea of how I approach black Friday. Most people... strike that... All people on Extreme Couponing are at least a little crazy. They horde newspaper inserts. They take ridiculous amounts of time organizing their coupons. They sucker friends and family into going shopping with them when they go on a buying spree. In short, these people are obsessive about their habit. And for one solitary day each year, I'm the same.

So it was, on Wednesday, the day before thanksgiving, I had called dibs on a neighbor's newspaper advertisements for the following day. The holy grail of newspaper insert days came and I would carefully review each and every one of them for over two hours, scouring the pages for the best deals on consumer products and clipping the adds of the items which caught my eye. After narrowing the list of thousands to less than fifty, I then sorted, and performed a "Do I want this item, or do I NEED this item?" check. We were down to just a dozen items. I then sorted again, arranged by store, time store opened, and value of the deal. Finally, I crosschecked with amazon to make sure I couldn't get the same deal without fighting the crowds, and eliminated anything that had a minimum quantity disclaimer on it. Hey, I'm willing to go to some extra effort to get a good deal, but I will not be on tv in a WallMart pepper spray fight for a video game.

After all this, I was left with the list you see above. I checked with Sarah, made sure she approved, and then guilted my buddy Travis into going with me as a body guard. We didn't head out until around 9 AM, well after the door buster crowds had left, but well before the lunch rush. We hit our 4 stores and checked for 6 items, the crowds were large but not crazy, only one of the products I was looking for had sold out, saved an average of over 50%, and we were home in less than 90 minutes. Take that Extreme Couponers.

I have to wrap this up quickly now as Cyber Monday is coming to a close and I don't want to miss a deal...

Holiday Breakfast

It has Been almost 3 weeks since I posted to the blog. No better way to start off a new day than with some brain food - French bread egg nog toast with bananas and nutella chocolate spread, and some bacon on the side. Yummmmm.

Look for posts about our adventures in the past weeks soon.

Grace and Her Birthday Boys

Last night we all attended a birthday party for four of Grace's friends. The four boys Grace's age from right in the group photo are: Taylor (just turned 2), Benson, Dylan, and Kellan who all turned or will turn 1 within the month. Grace of course is center and loving the party fun. The mothers in attendance I played volleyball with in college (except for Dylans's mom who is an 'honoree volleyball girl'). It's crazy to look back at our college days and realize we've been a part of each other's lives as we've graduated, gone to seek careers, gotten married, and now have children. We have so much fun at get togethers with all the kids, although chaotic as they are.

Some of the father's in attendance decided after the party to go out for some much needed guy time and drinks. Grace and I went home, went to sleep and had to crawl out of bed to go pick up daddy at 1:30 am since he'd had a bit too much to drink and couldn't drive home. Grace was a sport and in the end, we all had a blast with some friends we just don't get around to seeing enough!

Fall Cleanup

The Templin household spent the morning doing some yard work today. We sure enjoyed watching Grace help out. Guess we should get her some tools her own size.

Veteran's Day Lunch

The reasons why I continue to serve today are much different that the reasons why I joined over 9 years ago. The one a year discounts at restaurants was never a consideration, but I certainly enjoy them, so i took Grace and Sarah out for a Veteran's Day lunch at the Ram.

Day in DC

We had to get a few snapshots of those iconic DC locations. Unfortunately, the sun wasn't cooperating and Grace thought het time would be better spent napping. We took a few photos with the phone anyway.