The goings on

We had a nice, relaxing weekend with not much that we absolutely had to do. We had our quarterly night out with the neighbors on Friday. This time we rented a Hummer limo and went down to Sundace Square. Believe it or not, this was my first time in a limo! We had a great time. Reese went to spend the night with Avery and Soren went home with a friend from school, so we could have gone anywhere and I would have been happy.

On Saturday I was able to go Denton and watch an old friend get married. Mike Speck and I were in the youth group at Singing Oaks together for 5 years and made a pact that if we were not married by the time we were 25 then we would marry each other. I had not seen him in years and did not even recognize him; his mom had to point him out to me. He looks great and he and his new wife seem very happy. Congratulations, Mike!

While in Denton, Pete and I cleaned up Pop's boat and took pictures because he wants to sell it; anyone interested in a 1993 Malibu ski boat?

Soren got some exciting news at school today. She was chosen to be on the UIL Storytelling team. She did this event last year and loved it. She was very glad to have the opportunity to do it again. The cool thing is that her cousin Wyatt was chosen for the same event at his school in The Colony. Pretty neat. The problem is that practice is at the exact same time as swim team, so we will have to train at home for the UIL competition.

Reese continues to crack me up. Today was rainy and cold and we laid around the house all day which allows for many conversations. I noticed that she is using the words "sweet" and "cool" a lot. We were watching out the window and a guy rode by on his bike. He was sitting backwards on it; I have no idea how he was able to pedal and steer but he was doing great. Reese said "oh mom, that's sweet! How is he able to make that?" When the mail came she had a package from Papaw and Mamaw and each item that came out of the bag was "so tool (cool)". I love that she says tool instead of cool and I do not even correct her.

So that's what is going on with us. Just living day to day and trying to soak up every minute with our kids who continue to bless us in every way.

8 random things

I was "tagged" by my friend Sara to tell 8 random things about myself...

1. I do not eat vegetables or cheese

2. I did not graduate from high school, but I have a college degree.

3. I do not save things. If I have not used something in the last year I will usually throw it away. My attic only has Christmas decorations in it. But I am extremely sentimental about pictures. I can look at pictures all day. I even like to look at pictures of people I do not know. If I come to your house, I am going to want to look at your photo albums.

4. I love to hear people's birth stories, every detail, and I especially love to watch women in labor. I would love to be a midwife. I thought I was going to get to see my first birth when Kara had Parker, but Mat kicked me out at the last minute. I think women that give birth without medication are amazing. I have absolutely NO tolerance for pain.

5. If my car is messy it bugs me. I vacuum it out about every 3-4 days. When my kids eat in the car I get tense thinking about all of the crumbs they are dropping and vacuum as soon as we get home.

6. I did not name either of my kids. Their first and middle names came totally from Pete. He has really great ideas and I seek his opinion anytime I have to make decisions or come up with an idea, so when I was pregnant I did not worry about names because I knew he would come up with a great one.

7. I cannot stand unfinished projects. If I am not positive that I can finish something (quickly) then I do not even start it. That is why my walls still have flat paint on them.

8. I cannot dance. Not one step. I am probably the most uncoordinated person on the planet. Have you seen the Seinfeld episode where Elaine dances at the company party? Yea, that's me. Only I know that I can't dance, so I don't. But I LOVE to watch people dance and if I could dance, I would do it all the time. When I clean I like to listen to loud music, and if I am sure no one is watching, then I will dance. Don't tell anyone.

There you have it. That is as random as I get. I am pretty boring, but very happy.

Crazy Busy Day

Today was so exciting...and so busy. The girls and I left after school yesterday and headed up to Grandma Charlotte's house for the Reuel Little Classic. It is a race that hosts 1 mile, 5K, 10K, and half marathon distances. We ran it last year and had a great time. This year Grandma sponsored ALL of us (Soren, Reese, Jacob, Andrew, Me and herself). We got up bright and early this morning and had our traditional race morning breakfast of powdered sugar donuts and walked over to the park for the races. Reese, Jacob, Andrew and Grandma all ran the 1 mile. Soren ran the 5k and I ran the half marathon. It was such a great day; we all had a blast. The 1 milers received participant ribbons, Soren took 2nd place in the 1-8 age group and I was 3rd overall woman, 2nd in my age group. Then to boot, Reese won the drawing for the bike give away. It is a 24 inch bike, so I am not sure what we will do with it until she is 12 and can ride it! Such a great time.

We got back to Grandma's house at noon, showered and hit the road back home arriving in enough time to get dressed up for the Fall Festival at Soren's school. We left the house at 5:30 and played until they shut down the event at 9:00.

While the girls and I ran, Pete was on the road for the Paluxy Pedal bike tour. He did the 60 mile route and then came with us to the festival...and Tiffy too.

We have had one busy day. Thank you, Grandma, for sponsoring all of us in the race. We had so much fun!

1st 6 Weeks

I cannot believe that we are already 6 weeks into the school year. Soren brought home her first report card today and it was excellent. She is really thriving this year. Her good grades and citizenship are qualifying her for many exciting programs and extra curricular activities; so much so that we are having to pick and choose due to lack of time and timing conflicts. If it were up to her, she would do every one of them. Soren is such a joy and we are so proud of the young woman she is becoming. Great job, Soren! We love you!

The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics

mom my ride

2nd Annual Benbrook Women's Sprint Triathlon

Yesterday was the anniversary of my first sprint triathlon. I am hoping to make this race a tradition since it was my first. This year I had two goals; to improve on my time from last year and to bike at an average over 18 mph. I thought I was only successful in one of those, but according to the race results, I did both! Very exciting. A sprint race is so different from the half that I did in August. You go all out for the entire race, so it is quite painful, but over quickly. They are really fun and this event is packed with such friendly women. I am hoping next year to do this race with my mom and Soren; that would be awesome!

Soren, in her official "volunteer" shirt! And Tiffy, of course

heading out on the bike

coming into the finish

my biggest fan!

3rd place, yea!

And this is my friend Sara; she is a TRIATHLETE! I am trusting her to tell you all about it on her blog...ask her about it if she does not!

I don't know what we were doing here, but I thought this was a funny picture!

Such a great time!

31

Well, I hung on to 30 as long as I could. Today I am officially IN my 30s and not just 30. I have had one of the best birthdays I can remember. We started celebrating on Friday with a family party. 8 of us have birthdays between September 14th and October 3rd, so we have one big party every year and pass around funny cards and eat way too much. This year, Nana planned a murder mystery dinner at Granny and Granddad's house and arranged for a sitter at her house. The mystery was really fun. Four of us were investigators, Mat was the sheriff, and the others played various characters. The neat thing was that no one knew who did it; not even Kara, and she did it! We had a great time and of course great food and birthday deserts.

Sunday we brought Grandma Charlotte home with us. She watched Reese for me while I worked all day Monday. After work, Nana took me out to dinner to celebrate our birthdays and then we did a little shopping before I headed home. Today Charlotte and I got to go kidless shopping while the girls were at school/mother's day out! It was a fun morning for us and we made the local businesses very happy. After school, we took Soren to swim team and then went out for some more birthday celebrating before coming home to the largest chocolate birthday cake I have ever seen. Pete brought the cake home from a bakery in Glen Rose and it was wonderful.

Now Reese is bouncing off the walls and the rest of us are swimming with a major sugar high. What else are birthdays for? It has been a great one for me. Thank you so much to everyone for all of the well wishes and gifts. I am so blessed.

and this is our newest addition to the family. Tiffy was brought home from Grandma's house after Pete's race. This is her getting a bath. She loves it.