Jelly Beans, the park, and spring cleaning

Tuesday is one of my favorite days of the week.  I get to run in the daylight even though it is on the treadmill....that means I sleep until after 6:30!  Samuel is home from school.  I try to plan something fun for him, me and Elena to do.  And, we usually get some little project completed in the afternoon.

Today started with my run.  I had no plans to run long so I just ate a small banana.   I ran 3 miles and needed to take care of some kid stuff.  Three sweaty and hard miles in 27:52 were done.  I think they were hard because I did too much cross training yesterday.  That is never a good idea for me the day before I run.  I decided to run 3 more and near the end I could tell I was starting to feel not so hot.  It was crazy humid and warm this morning.  That with a lack of food was not a good combo.  So after 27:42 of running and 3 more miles finished I found some jelly beans to eat.  I needed quick sugar and I am still afraid to use GU.  I would have just made breakfast, but I had already decided it would be fun to run 3 more miles.  I wanted my last set to be the fastest so quick energy it was.  Those little jelly beans did the trick.  I felt much better almost immediately and I cranked out 3 more tired miles in 27:25.  Phew....not expecting 9 treadmill miles this morning, but I will take it!  There is nothing special about this run, but that I did it and it makes me happy!

Gross and stinky after my run and so very hungry!

Our fun activity today was the park.  I have lots on my plate at the moment so a nearby park was all we had time to do today.   They love this park because of the merry-go-round.  It makes me sick to watch them, but Samuel and Elena can go around and around forever. Elena's friend Carmendy came with us and Samuel made a friend at the park.   That gave me lots of time to take some pictures!

This afternoon our activity was to clean out the boys closet.  I did mine, Emma's, and Elena's last week so it was their turn.  Samuel was excited to help and he actually was helpful.  I still think we have way too much stuff in these closets, but trust me when I say they are organized and clean.  It makes me happy to open the doors and see all our hard work!

Boy's closet

Emma's closet

My closet

Pile being donated tomorrow.  I should have taken a picture of all the trash bags too!

While Samuel and I worked, Elena napped.  She has not been feeling great and she was tired from playing all morning.  Sweet girl....

I love spring cleaning which is good.  I have many more closets to attack this week!

Our weekend in pictures

The weather this weekend was amazing!  It was coolish in the morning and a perfect 70-75 in the afternoon.  The only thing to do with weather so great is to be outside. 

Drew left in the dark on Saturday morning to drive to Brenham with a friend for a 60 mile bike ride.  Um, no thank you, but Drew loves that sort of thing.  Unfortunately for him, around mile 40 his tire became unrepairable when it was slashed by a piece of medal.  His ride ended early, but he still had good guy time.  Because of his ride, I ran on the treadmill and just looked at how lovely it was outside.

After a relaxing morning, we played outside all afternoon.  We had lunch in the backyard.  Before we went to a birthday party, the kids played basketball, jumped on the trampoline, played on the swing set, and made all sorts of designs on the driveway using side walk chalk.  It was a wonderfully relaxing and fun way to spend the day.

Emma's friend Ashlynn spent most of the day with us.

They received whistles in the party goodie bags and had such fun with them.  I LOVE this picture!

Since Saturday was go fun, we decided for a repeat on Sunday.   We added a little playtime at our church playground.  The kids were willing goofy photo participants today and that made me so happy!.

Samuel was sliding off as I was taking this picture...so funny!

Emma with a little photo bombing!

Today I finally ran outside and it was easy and hard.  It is again really windy.  I think our winds today were consistently 15-20mph and I am pretty sure that I was running directly into the wind for 6 miles.  Still, after an 8:30 first mile I decided to keep it all at that pace.  The last mile was tough, but totally worth it to see that on my watch!

Tomorrow we are back to normal....school, gymnastics, Tiger Scouts, and who knows what else will come our way.  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

500 miles

I remember the first time I ran 6 miles.  I was horribly not prepared for how hot it was.  I thought it was really hard and really, really long.  That made my recent, at the time, decision to run a half marathon seem almost impossible.  Actually, if I am being honest, I thought I had totally lost my mind.   I figured it would be a once and done deal.  The 5K distance was more my thing.  That was almost 3 years ago.

Now I really dislike 5K's.  They are too short and require too much speed.  That is something I am not....speedy.  I have run many more half marathons and I love them.  It is the perfect distance.  It requires dedication, but nothing crazy like the marathon.  The half marathon is like ice cream.  I will always go back for more.  The marathon is like child birth.  After a while I forget the pain and decide to do it again.  Although, my child birthing days are over and so may the marathon running days.

I remember the first time I ran a 100 miles in a month.  I thought that was the biggest accomplishment ever.  Now that is the norm for me and I would not want it any other way.

So, imagine my surprise when I realized last Friday that if I ran 15 miles by Sunday I would have run 500 miles in January, February, and March combined.  I almost fell off my chair.  Seriously?  That is not something I ever thought would happen.  Of course, I had to run that far over the weekend.   500.4 miles in 3 months!

I ran the last 2 miles on Easter morning before church.  I swear the birds were chirping more loudly.  They were also rejoicing!  It was the perfect run to reach a never imagined number.

March Photo Dump

I did a really poor job at blogging in March.  So much family visited which was awesome, but it kept me from writing as many family updates as I like to do each month.  In an effort to catch up and to document before I forget here is a massive photo dump from March. 

After the crapfest otherwise known as the Woodlands Marathon, Drew took a picture of me in front of the finishers background.  I refused to post it previously, but I am over that disappointment so here it is.  Drew also took a cute picture of the kids waiting for me to finish.  Maybe next time I will finish closer to the time of the clock!

We did a little ice cream taste testing when Scott and Kelsey were here.  I prefer Private Selection Vanilla Bean and others preferred Blue Bell Vanilla.  We of course had to take a picture.

The kids posed for this awesome picture at the Blue Bell factory.  I totally forgot to include it on my post about our visit.

Mammy and Jonah played Solitaire.  Jonah loves to play cards. 

Pappy and Samuel had a grand and lengthy discussion about a pirate book.  The book is in German (from a friend) and the boys LOVE it.  There is a poop deck on the ships and they think that is hilarious!

One of my dearest friends, Kim, celebrated her 40th birthday with a super fun party. 

I tried to take a self portrait so I could update my Facebook picture.  It is just okay, but I love the sweater!

Jonah and Grandpa played basketball almost daily during their visit. 

Elena got a bucket for Easter and she thought it would be fun to wear on her head while grocery shopping.  Yes, people looked at me like I was nuts for allowing this to occur!

Samuel is learning to ride his bike without training wheels.

Emma is still loving her American girl doll and playing with her big girl dolls. I am so thankful for this.  I hope she stays young for much longer!

We had some play time at the park yesterday and I snapped these cute pictures of Samuel and Elena. 

Now I am all caught up!  Our April is crazy busy so I need to do a better job of keeping everyone updated on our craziness. 

Happy Easter!

What a glorious day....Christ is Risen!  

We had a wonderful service this morning followed by a butterfly release.  The kids really enjoyed this.  Elena's butterfly took its time getting its wings to work so she was able to stare at it for the longest time.  It was perfect for her! 

After some special treats at church, we headed home for some picture taking and Easter basket hunting.  Of course, Emma, Jonah, Samuel, and Elena loved that.

 Wishing all our family and friends a very Happy Easter!