Rodes City 10K Run

Saturday was the second leg of the triple crown of running. This was the 10K which was 6.2 miles. I rode down to the race with Christy and Amber and then we met Chris there. Chris actually ran the whole race with me which was fun. :) He was so good about encouraging me and even let me use his ipod when mine for some unknown reason wasn't charged and wouldn't work from the start line. He's such a good boy! :) It was a great race, a few small hills (although any hill seems big to me), and the sun was shining. I am so grateful that all of these races have had such perfect weather so far. Fingers crossed that the 10 miler in two weeks is the same! We finished with a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 26 seconds (1:03:26). Amber was a few minutes ahead of us and Christy a few minutes behind do to a bathroom detour. :) I'm pretty happy with my time. It's right at a 10 minute mile pace and that's about as good as it gets if I'm going over 3 miles. I'm a little nervous about the 10 miler because I've never done more than 7 but I'm just preparing to walk some if I need to....just as long as we finish. :)

Christy's bday

Last night was SOOOO much fun! Monday was Christy's birthday and for those of you that have followed the Vaughn's and their fight to keep Grayson home, it was also a huge deciding day-whether the U.S. Supreme Court would hear their case. The case was denied and without question a terribly devastating day for Christy and her family! :( Jen and I thought we'd plan a girls night for Tuesday night and just get Christy out of the house for some fun. We sure did have some fun!! I am so blessed with such great friends! We had a blast. :) Thanks to all the girls that came and made it an extra special day for Christy. :)

We started with pedicures.....ahhhh, so needed right now...Especially on my nasty running feet. :)


Then we headed to Puerto's for dinner. Christy's friend Heather (who is hilarious) had told Christy that Monday was "the crappiest birthday ever" and Tuesday was her "new year." A new day to look to the future of happier times. So, she bought all of this New Year's decor and had it on the table when we arrived. It was fun and such a sweet gesture. We sure did get some looks from people in the restaurant. :) One couple stopped and said, "you realize your a few months late....maybe it's the margaritas." ha!

Happy birthday Christy!! Oh and Happy New Year! :)

I must say, all of us hard working mommas needed a yummy margarita last night. :)

Christy, Jenn and me :)

The whole gang....after this a handful of us went to Cluckers just to sit and talk and hang out some more. I didn't get home until 12:30 which is pretty late for a Tuesday night! Chris was proud of me. :)

Boys...

Sunday night Papa T and Mimi watched the boys while Chris and I got our long run in together. I had to capture this sweet moment with Papa T and Casper. The boys LOVE Casper and Braden continuously asks me why we don't have a dog. :)

This is just random but oh so funny. Chris' brother gave Braden a couple of lego sets. I had no clue lego sets were SOOOO complicated. What happened to snapping together some blocks??? Anyways, Braden couldn't wait to have Chris work with him on these sets. I actually didn't get a picture of them working together but had to capture Chris still at the table working AFTER Braden went to bed. There were 99 steps to build this guy." 99 steps!!!!! Anyways, he was doing legos by himself which cracked me up and then in the morning it was all finished and Braden picked it up and dropped it within 5 minutes of seeing it. 99 steps shattered on the kitchen floor! I guess these things are meant to be put on a shelf. :) oh well, Chris didn't care because he secretly loved it and wants to build it again I think. Better you than me babe!

Jackson's 4th bday party

'Tis the season...for birthday parties that is. :) March is the month that most of our friends' kids were born so we hit a lot of cute birthday parties during this time of year. Today's was Jackson's 4th bday celebration and it was a Toy Story theme...right up Braden's alley.

The kids waited so nicely while Janelle ran a game of stick the badge on Buzz or Woody

Braden giving it a try

Ahhhh, sweet boys! They are just getting too big!!!

Ethan plopped down with the big kids too. Of course he didn't stay long but it was cute watching him "back it up" to the couch to sit like they were.

Happy birthday Jackson Lewis! Check out that tongue. :)

The wild boys eating downstairs. When I came down to check on them I heard some big time bad words being said..."poopy" was the word and they were using it with all conversations and cracking up! :) (It was cracking me up too). Oh my....boys! I guess I'll take poopy talk for now. What will it be in a few more years? Yikes!

Ethan and Darbi are so cute together. They were both trying to get into their capri sun drinks. Later on Darbi was trying to feed Ethan his sippy cup. She likes to take care of the babies (of course he's almost as big as her). So cute!!

* Thanks for having us Lewis' and happy birthday Jackson! It was fun!

5K to support Romania missions

This morning I ran in a 5K at Northside to help support the next mission trip to Romania. Since I went to Romania in 2005 I totally understand the $ they need to make that trip happen and it's especially close to my heart so I really wanted to do this race. :) Plus, a 5K is not so scary now and I know I can do it. It was raining pretty hard when I got up so we were so fortunate that it only sprinkled during the run which actually felt pretty good! Chris surprised me and was sitting in the car with the boys in the street when I came around a corner. He looked like the paparazzi with the camera out the window as I ran by. :) It was fun to wave and yell at the boys and gave me a little push to keep going. Then they were at the finish line when I got there-so sweet! Anyways, I didn't shatter any running records today (ha!) but I did win a pretty cool door prize. It was a basket full of dental items (actually from my dentist) that included the sonic toothbrush and a whitening gift certificate along with several toothbrushes and toothpaste. I was quite excited! That was a perfect door prize for me. I was so excited. It was just a great morning!

Chris and the boys catchine me at 2 miles

Finishing the race

Tina and I after the race

Carrie after the race-She was the first female finisher overall! Way to go Carrie!! That is sooooo cool!

Such a funny boy :)

Ethan is in that adorable stage right now where he imitates everything he sees us doing. He's always brushing his hair, putting on lotion if he has any kind of a bottle with something in it, sweeping the kitchen, dusting and even blow drying his hair. I had a little pet shop set in the house that I bought at the consignment sale to take to school and Ethan's been loving the hair dryer. Such a funny boy!

He loves to dress up because he sees big brother Braden doing it. :)

It's beginning to happen!

My boys are actually starting to play and hang out together and not hurt each other! ha! A couple of days ago I was cooking and it got so quiet in the house. Well you know what that usually means...TROUBLE! But to my surprise, I came around the corner to see this. Now granted Ethan had pulled every book off of Braden's shelf but they actually sat like this together and just read for about 15 minutes and were happy. I love that Ethan is getting big enough that they can really start playing together. After all, it does say in their hallway, "Brothers are the best of friends." Here's hoping for many more moments like this. :)

Jace & Lexi's bday parties

Last weekend Jace and Lexi celebrated their birthdays. Jace turned 4 and Lexi turned 2. Their birthdays are just a few days apart so they had a combined party at "Outside In." It was a fun party and my boys had a blast! Thanks Johnsen's for inviting us. :)

Jacob is Jace's cousin and also in Braden's class at preschool-such handsome boys!

Jace & Braden take a train ride

Ethan loved this place! So many cars to get in , balls to throw and bouncers to jump in. He was in heaven!

Peek a boo cutie pie!

Happy birthday Jace & Lexi!!

Anthem 5K

Today was the anthem 5K. Chris and I both ran it along with several of our friends. :) This year I felt so much more prepared compared to my one short race last year where I over dressed for it and hated every minute of! Ha! The girls and I have actually been training and doing short runs throughout the week together and then our long runs on Saturdays with our church's crosstrainers. I definitely am a person that needs people to run with. It makes it so much more fun and keeps me going! Chris has been doing his long runs on Sundays with a group of guys so that's worked out well. Chris ran a 25:04 which was great considering he's sick and hasn't been running as much lately and I ran a 29:21 which I was thrilled about. :) In two weeks we have the 6 miler and then the 10 miler (yikes) on the 26th.

Jen, Amber, Christy and me before the race. :)

Chris and I after the race when we got home.

Uh....Chris captured this a few hours later. Yep Iwas pooped! And freezing!

Braden, still in his jammies enjoying some Disney Jr. while his wonderful parents zoned out on the couch. ha!

Rudolph

Ethan took his first real spill yesterday. :( He was outside playing and fell over the curb and the street caught his face. Poor baby! Chris brought him into the kitchen in a hurry and we weren't sure how bad it was because his little nose was bleeding in two spots but thankfully he was fine. It could have been a lot worse! Even so, on that cute little pudgy nose of his, the redness just kind of shines like a cute little reindeer. :)

Eating his mashed potatoes tonight and making quite the mess. :)

Ethan is....

INTO everything!!! That is how I would describe Ethan these days. He's kind of like a steamroller and just roams room to room dragging things everywhere...actually maybe he's more like a tornado then...anyways, this child is a busy, curious little guy on a mission. Sometimes the mission is to take the soup cans and put them in the bathroom, sometimes the mission is to take small toys and hide them in our shoes, or maybe it's just dragging my clothes out of my drawers and trying to wear them. Whatever he's doing, he's going full speed getting into something and climbing on something. He cracks us up! Braden wasn't a huge climber so I'm not quite used to this. He's constantly getting on the kitchen table and grabbing the apples out of the bowl and saying "ball" in which case we run to save the apple... I mean save our child. :) He's keeping us on our toes for sure....what a boy!

"Hmmm this looks like something to climb on..."

So proud of himself!

Uh...is my child sticking his tongue out at me? Surely not! He's just being cute...I think :)

Cleaning out the closets

Today was the day...Chris and I hauled all of this and more to Little Treasure's Consignment sale in Louisville. It was a good thing because we can now walk in our storage areas and actually reach the washing machine without spraining an ankle but it's oh so very sad. :( I found myself hanging clothes, tagging them and then turning around and keeping it because it was a special shirt. But aren't they all so special? I can remember where I got almost everything...like if it was a shower gift and who gave it to me or if I got it at a sale myself. Each little piece just has so many memories of my boys in them that it's so hard to get rid of it all. But our little family is complete (we think :) and we couldn't be more blessed to have two beautiful, healthy boys! I am so grateful for what God has given us and every baby memory that I can cherish forever!! Even so, a little sad to drop it all off but making a little money and cleaning out the clutter is a good thing too!

Some of the sale items