13.1 miles

For the last few months I have been training for the Cowtown Half-Marathon. Since I was about to have surgery, and I didn’t know if I would recover in time, I did a practice run of 13.1. I used mapmyrun.com to figure out a route but had to write the directions down somewhere. Sam thought it was pretty funny.

Snow Day. . . Well, Kind of

School was cancelled because of ice. The kids played in it even though it wasn’t snow. It was kind of nice to have a day with no obligations.

When Dad is Gone

Sam was in Maryland on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I got to run things here. While Renée was taking her bath Carter fell in. I am not quite sure how this happened but the last time it happened Sam was out of town. Gavin was taking a bath and Renée fell in fully clothed. Sam was working in Texas and I was in Maryland trying to sell our home. This time it really wasn’t a big deal but I remember the last time and it totally overwhelmed me to have to get Renée ready for bed for a second time. I was pregnant and Sam was gone for two months, so that is probably the difference.

Birthday Quilt

My mom made me this quilt for my upcoming 30th birthday. She knew I was a little down about leaving my 20s behind. She sent me a letter that told me that, “Life is wonderful and every year should be celebrated.” I love my quilt and am thrilled to have something to remember this birthday by. Thank you, Mom. It is beautiful!

Sam and Gavin in Kindergarten

Deb, Sam’s mom, sent me this picture of him in kindergarten today. She was saying how much Sam and Gavin look alike. They sure have a lot of similarities.

Transformer Party

Gavin had a Transformer birthday party from 12-2 on his birthday. We had 12 kids if you count siblings and cousins. It was kind of crazy and totally stressed me out, but Gavin had a wonderful time. In the first picture: Darren, Ethan, Roger, Gavin, Savannah, Paige, and Claire. (Blake didn’t fit in the picture and the little kids are at the play table.)

We started with lunch, hot dogs and chips. Then was had Transformer cake.

Sam created a scavenger hunt for the all spark. Gavin said that this was his favorite game.

Then we played Transformer bingo. I made this one out of all the Transformer characters. I was surprised at how many the kids new.

The funniest game to watch was the battle between the autobots and the decepticons. The autobots had a red balloon tied to their ankle. The decepticons had a blue balloon tied to their ankle. The idea was that you had to pop the other team’s balloon. They also wore transformer masks. The problem was that no one had on shoes so the balloons were really hard to pop. The kids were jumping on the balloons with their bellies and using fingers to pop the balloon. Alycia, Nick, Sam, and I were laughing so hard. Luckily the autobots won so our planet is still safe.

Instead of playing duck, duck, goose, we played decepticon, decepticon, autobot, which is tricky to say. It kept kids from going around the circle more than once.

Next we played hot potatoes. We couldn’t think of a way to make this into a Transformer game, but the kids still enjoyed it.

After Gavin opened his presents from his friends, we played don’t eat Pete until the parents arrived. Overall the party was a success and Gavin loved it.

6 Pancake

Gavin’s 6th birthday started with a 6 pancake. I can’t believe my little boy is already six. Am I really old enough to have a six year old?

School Birthday

Gavin celebrated his birthday on school on Friday. It just happened to be the day I was volunteering. We brought store bought sugar cookies and juice boxes. I had a busy week with HOA, so I didn’t get around to making homemade cookies. I figure that if I start the expectations low, I can only go up from here.

My mom made Alycia and I elaborately decorated heart cookies every year to take to school. Our birthdays are four days apart and I have memories of them covering every surface in our kitchen. Thanks mom!

love right now

"I love you right now." - Rene'e to Sam after he got home from work.

Painting

To celebrate Martin Luther King Day, we painted the kitchen and the family room. We actually painted it the same color it was but used satin finish that you can wash. I did try a sponge technique in the kitchen, but I hated it, so I got to paint the kichen again on Monday. We got the kids three red box movies and they were really good.

The Commandments

“What did you learn about at church today?” – Alycia
“The Commandments.” – Gavin
“What are the commandments?” – Alycia
“When the light is green, go. When the light is yellow, slow down. When the light is red, stop.” – Gavin

I guess we will be learning about the commandments during family home evening this week.

Renée’s Talk

Renée gave a talk today at church.

Cherries

“Why are there rocks in all the cherries?” – Renée

Showers

“I am going to a baby shower.” – Tiffany
“Are you going to take a shower first?” – Renée

Cabela's

Sam is now the Cub Scout committee chairmen, so he has to go to pack meeting once a month. So the evening he was gone, Susan and I took our kids to Cabela’s. There is a Cabela’s less than five minutes away but I had never been there. I am not exactly a Cabela’s kind of girl, but they have great fish aquariums and Carter loves fish. They also so have tons of stuffed animals. The kids all seem to enjoy themselves and they even give out fudge samples.

Little Carter

Oh my gosh, Carter has gotten hard. We have to keep the kitchen chairs on top of the table so he doesn’t use them to get on the counters or into the stuff we keep on the counters. Today after my run on the treadmill, I found him standing on my desk tearing things off of the peg board. If he wasn’t so darn cute, I would give him back!

Carter’s nutritionist came today. Here are his stats:
Age: 27 mo. 15 days
Weight: 20 lbs. 10.9 oz, 0.06 percentile
Length: 30.8 inches, 0.05 percentile
Weight to Length ratio: 9.12 percentile

The nutritionist doesn’t really think there is anything wrong with him. We have already gone to a pediatric GI, geneticist, and an endocrinologist. I don’t think there is anything left to check out, but man is he little.

Smartness

"I want to fill my brain with smartness." - Gavin

Pregancy Reports

The primary president came up to me before Ward Welfare meeting and congratulated me on my pregnancy. I was a little shocked because I am not pregnant. I guess Renée announced to everyone at the Primary Activity that her mom was pregnant with a baby girl. So not only did people think I was pregnant, they thought I was 20 weeks pregnant! This prompted the start of a diet.

When I explained to Renée that I didn’t have a baby in my tummy, her response was, “well get one!”

Baseball

It hit 80 degrees here, so we had to do something outside. We decided on a family game of baseball. Alycia and I still couldn’t hit the ball to save our lives but we had a great time anyway. We really need to invest in some bases because rocks aren’t cutting it. Blake took the group picture. I thought it turned out nice.

Miss Cory

Miss Cory came to visit us from Frisco. While I was at Dane’s wedding, Cory watched Renée and Gavin, so they especially love her. Even now, Gavin will tell me that Miss Cory would have let him do that.

Cory is starting her own family and is due in February. We are so excited for her!

New Year's Day

Alycia’s friends cancelled on them for New Year’s Day dinner, so her and her family crashed our party. Our traditional New Year’s Day meal is roast pork, sour kraut, mashed potatoes, and naddles (bread dumplings), and home made rolls. Vegetables are optional. Since we were having the same meal, it made it easier to collaborate. The Meyers family joined us and we had a relaxing day playing games and recovering from our late night. The kids made this “Christmas Tree.”