10 miles!

Last Saturday was 8, but today I ran 10 miles :) Who knew I had it in me!? And wow, that felt like my max. Just thinking about running 2 more on top of the 10 I ran today seems crazy. My body was killing me. If it wasn't my knees, it was blisters, or pretty much all of my muscles in my body were aching and begging me to stop. 

So in just one week I'll be running 12.4 miles. Uhh, yikes.

I have many thoughts on this whole running thing, which I plan to post next week after I (hopefully) complete this 20K.

We don't really have any "planned events" this weekend, which is a-okay with me since every weekend in June is full already. So we are looking forward to just chillin' here w/ this beauuuuuutiful weather. And I think I forsee some Tropical Sno in our future as well. :)

Blowing Bubbles

It was sooooo beautiful out today, I hauled all 4 kids, some blankets, and our lunch outside today for a picnic under a big tree. It was lovely.

After that we played and then decided to blow bubbles. (We were out so I had to quickly make some.) After a bit, I needed a drink of water. When I came back outside I found these two sweet children sitting on the step together blowing bubbles.

Aww... it starts out so cute. :)

The little brother got bored and found something else to do.

Little brother's back and now he wants a turn.

He has a hard time doing it, so his big sister helps him.

But then Big sister decides he's had it long enough and now it's her turn. (Might be my favorite pic! Ha!)

Little brother puts the bubble wand in his mouth. Gross.

Then he starts flicking the bubble solution around. (No wait, this might be my favorite picture.)

Big sister is a little annoyed pretty angry that her little brother got soap in her eye.

And that's where the pictures stopped, so we could go inside and wash the dishsoap out of somebody's eye.

Oh, how I love these two. :)

Our Garden

I'm am still learning this gardening thing. In past years, the idea of having a garden sounded so fun and easy. It was my understanding that you just bought some plants at the store, planted them in the ground, and in a few weeks they would bear delicous fruit and vegetables, right?

Yeah...not so much.

Apparently you must pick the weeds on a regular basis, put up a fence so hungry rabbits don't feast at night, water it a lot, figure out how to discourage little insects and slugs from munching on leaves, it takes a lot longer than I thought, and plants don't produce fruits/veggies all summer it's like all at once so then you have to figure out what to do with all of it.

But despite my lack of knowledge, we're trying it again. It's been fun since Reese is way into watching the little plants grow.

An "after planting but before lotsa growth" shot

I have no idea what I'm doing, but we planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries, summer squash, peppers, asperagus (which I learned takes years to grow?), watermelon, and one clump of carrots/a corn plant from the library. We also planted some flowers in the back.

So it's a hodgepodge of stuff. We have little paths but I have no idea how big stuff will get or how much room it will take up.

Please tell me it's a learn-as-you-go thing, right?! Or am I the only one clueless on this subject!?

I just RAN 8 MILES!!!!! So happy. So tired.

Parenting Advice

Do not turn your back on 18 month old boys for more than half a second.

(This was before 8am this morning, while I was in the room, getting breakfast ready. Yesterday it was a glitter fiasco, a shampoo spill, quietly dragging out Daddy's tools, opening the neighbor's gate to sneak into their backyard, and decorating the floor with marker. And that was just Thursday.)

Slow Cooker Meals

Like I mentioned before, I rely on my slow cooker a lot. When I teach swim lessons in the evenings, it's awful coming home at 6:30 to just be starting supper when my kids are already grumpy, whiny, and hungry. So during naptime, I'll throw something in the slow cooker and by the time we get home it's ready to go!

Here are two good ones that we had this week:

Asian Peanut Butter Pork
pork chops (sometimes I put them in still frozen)
1 onion, coarsly chopped
1/4 soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp water
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup peanut butter

Dump it all in. Don't bother stirring it until the peanut butter has melted. Cook on high 4-6 hours. Rearrange the chops and stir about an hour before serving. *This sauce is amaaaazing! Everyone loves it.

Chicken Fettucini Alfredo
2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 parsley
1 bag frozen broccoli florets
1 box fettucini noodles

Combine all ingredients (except noodles) and stir. Cook on low all day. Before serving, cook up the fettucini noodles and toss into the slow cooker to coat.
*This one needs a little salt, but is overall pretty easy and good.

Also, I've been absolutely drooling over the Serena and Lily catalog the past couple of days. And especially loving these:

This is how we started our morning. Couldn't ask for anything better!

(They both do have shorts on, although it looks like they are pantless!)

Loving Up this Weather

Outside = Perfection!!!

I cannot get enough of this 70° weather! Today, the kids and I had a picnic at the park and played until they crashed.

This past weekend we had a lot of lovely outdoor fun as well. Like the last post said (posted while sitting outside, on a lawn chair, from my PHONE!!!) we planted our garden (most of it), played catch with Reese's new ball and glove (for t-ball that starts next week), grilled brats, and soaked up as much sun as possible.

Look at that arm!

Giving her some pointers.

Wade is learning valuable lessons in patience while teaching this ultra girly girl how to throw and catch a baseball :)

We planted the watermelon, corn, and carrot seedlings that we planted at the library during storytime. She has loved watching them grow!

Running update:

Today I woke up at 5 and ran 4 miles comfortably. I have been so proud of myself so far, but I'm way behind on my training and nervous that I won't be ready for the 12 miles that are coming up in only 3 short weeks! AH! More on my thoughts about running later. Now go outside and enjoy this fabulous weather!!!!!!!!

Saturday

Today we are enjoying this ahhhmazing weather, grilling, and planting our GARDEN!!!!!! Life is good :)

My New Best Friend

is my freezer.

Why have I not used this guy to it's full potential in the past!?

I'm am slowly learning all the ways my freezer can save me time and money. Sure, in the past I've frozen some things, but have not made conscious decisions to buy things just to put them in the freezer for a later date.

Yesterday, for the first time, I cut up a 10 lb tube of ground beef and divided it into smaller portions. Instead of packaging them into 1 lb bags like they are sold in stores, I divided the tube into 12 sections, or about .8 lb bags. I originally bought the (80/20) ground beef on sale for $1.69/lb but now it comes out to be about $1.40/package. When used in things, my family will never notice the difference.

I used the cutting board to squash the meat down flat so that they would store better in the freezer. I even cooked up three packages so on my especially lazy/short on time days I can just toss it in to whatever I'm cooking. We don't even use ground beef that much, so this should last us awhile.

My next goal is to make meals ahead of time and freeze them, so they are ready to thaw and cook or just go straight from the freezer to the oven. There have been many nights that I have gone astray from my weekly menu because Wade has called me to inform me he'd be home late that night. And instead of fighting with grumpy, whiney kids while I try to make supper, it's a much easier solution to grab Subway or a pizza on the way home. So, if I know that I've got supper waiting for me in the freezer, I'll save our family some money!

Any great freezer recipes you'd like to reccommend?

Oh, and if I wasn't feeling proud enough already for dividing up my own meat (which took me about an hour from start to finish), my kids played nicely together with play-doh that I had made for them awhile back.

And finally, this is what we had for part of our lunch today. (Leftover hamburger bun, banana slices, peach jelly, cut up prunes, marshmallow, peanut butter) Cute! (Better known as "We-need-to-get-groceries-what-can-I-scrape-up-for-lunch?" Did you notice our bare freezer?!)

Funny Pics

My last few posts have been a little down, but fear not, there are a lot of happy, funny things in my world! And to prove it, here are some funny pics I've taken recently. :)

[It looks like B just knocked her down and ran away!]

[After seeing this in the paper on Sunday, I called and ordered one in every color. Too great to pass up.]

[Reese and Daddy making funny faces. Notice the permanent marker all over Reese. It was on her legs, arms, hands...]

[No words for this one.]

[Not sure why I found this funny. This little boy laid there for so long. It cracked me up, so I had to take a picture.]

[An 80s Barbie?! Too funny!]

[And right next to 80s prom dress Barbie were the Twilight boys. Who buys those!? If they are young enough to be playing with Barbies, they should NOT be reading Twilight.]

[I mentioned before that Reese likes to put her face in the water now. We practice in the bathtub.]

And if that didn't make you smile, maybe this will:

Mother's Day

Here's a few Mother's Day pics from yesterday (and past years). Not our best shots to date, but that's alright.

By the Crabapple tree that we planted the year we moved in.

They are a little hard to see, but I couldn't fit them in any other way. If you click on the picture, it should make it bigger.

On the steps w/ Mama. (Must have missed 2008)

Is it bad that the best part of my Mother's Day was the hour I spent away from my kids? (That or the glazed donuts. It's a toss-up.)

Surviving, not thriving

Today was a hard "mom" day, and I'm not quite sure why. I had a headache and my stomach hurt. Other than that, my day was pretty normal- hugs and kisses, spilled milk on accident, spilled milk on purpose, children throwing tantrums, taking naps, out of coffee creamer, reading books, kids crawling all over me, getting food thrown at me, a garage sale, Wade not home again tonight, dance class, no time to run since Wade had to work early, playing outside, Beckett pooping in the potty, cartoons, and much more.

Pretty normal.

And for some reason, it was just an off day.

I want to be awesome. Extraordinary. Touch lives. Change the world. But instead, I felt lonely, boring, and very average. Surviving, not thriving. And definitely not awesome.

And I 'get' the whole idea that by staying at home with my kids I am shaping the lives of the 2 most important people in my world. But I'm not at the stage yet where I get to see the fruits of all that I am doing. No appreciation. No one there to tell me what a great craft that was or how fantastic I was at folding all the laundry. 

Wow, sorry for the Debbie Downer post! It wasn't all gray and gloomy in my world today... here's a pic of Reese in her new dance recital costume that she just recieved tonight, and Beckett wearing his hard hat and holding his bouncy ball that he takes everywhere.

And I also stumbled across this little video and thought I'd share it, especially since it is so close to mother's day.

Good-bye April, Hello May!

Oh, it's back! That's right! Thought I forgot about it, huh? Happy May Day! This is absolutely, undoubtedly my most favorite time of the year. Flowers growing gets me giddy and do not be surprised if you find me outside laying on the warm pavement while my children nap.

Don't ya just love Beckett's face in the top left pic?

While I (again) play catch-up on the blog, here are some links!

My sister just got her new blog up and running. Go check it out! And leave her some comment love. I'm just so proud of her I could pop. I know I rave about her a lot, but she really is that awesome.

My favorite find of the week: Pam and Jim have a baby blog. Sad part is, doesn't sound like they'll continue with it. :(

And check out this rockstar mom's birthday party for her little girl. So cute!

Wade's at work, Beckett's sleeping, and Reese and I are off to work on her letters. Have a great weekend :)