Happy Birthday Daddy and KK!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! :)

Happy Monday!

Finally! This is NOT a Manic Monday! As a matter of fact I am now and forever more going to try and prevent manic Mondays! First of all, I am no longer working on Mondays. That in itself helps tremendously prevent the mania in the first place. We are also trying out some new house cleaning tactics thanks to a blog link from my friend Kristin. I've tried several different methods for house cleaning and this has been the best. It's very simple and so far it's working over here! You can check out the Totally Together blog here and see the Daily 7. I swear if you have a problem, like I do, keeping the house "clean" then this will change your life!

So, this morning I woke up to freshly brewed coffee and a fairly clean house. I say "fairly" because with 2 kids and 2 pets a house is never "really" clean! It's amazing how a clean house and a fresh cup of coffee can make a mom so happy!

Now, on to more interesting things!

Jensen went with a friend to a 50's dance (part of a cotillion program) and learned how to Swing Dance. He taught me his new dance moves and danced with me for a while! I was really impressed! He's such a sweetheart! :)

Jensen got 2nd place at the RISD Digital Art Media Fair for his original digital art piece. This was among all 3rd-4th graders in RISD!

GRAN-MOMMY'S LAKE HOUSE ROCKS!

Canoing with daddy

KK with her biggest catch of the day

Fishing with Gran-mommy

"Driving" the Gator

Kodi...still to chicken to actually take a swim.

KK finally got plugged in and is now addicted to the electric guitar. Even better news...she wants a drum set for her birthday. The news gets even better...her dad has always wanted a drum set, so now he has an excuse to get one. Looks like I'll be getting some ear plugs!

So that's what we've been up to this month...plus celebrating a ton of birthdays. BTW, Happy Birthday Nana and Wendy and Steve and Betty Ann and Aunt Margaret! Oh, and ME! Love you guys! :) Now, on to my next chore - meal planning for the week! Maybe one of these days I'll get brave enough to post my menu. Menu planning is another thing that has made life easier and me a lot happier! I've gotten really good ideas and recipes from HERE and HERE. Gotta have a plan! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well...today was the first day of our Spring Break (yeah) and I managed to have a very productive day. The kids and I had fun today buying groceries for our first ever traditional Irish dinner. After putting away the groceries, I threw the corned beef into the crock pot and then we were off to have lunch w/ gran-dad. We ate at the Flying Fish for a late b-day celebration for me. The kids didn't get too crazy so it was turning out to be a good day!

I was so excited when Jarrod got home because I actually had dinner ready! So for dinner we had corned beef with carrots and potatoes, Irish soda bread and for dessert...Irish mint fudge brownies, made totally from scratch. YUM!! The biggest surprise is that everyone loved everything, including the pickiest eater of all time - lil' J. A big thanks to my ABF friend Jennifer for inspiring me to try something new! And another extra big thanks to another ABF friend Amy M for loaning me her kitchen aid mixer! That thing makes cookin' from scratch super easy! I puffy heart L-O-V-E that machine! :)

Alright so now for the fun part. This is for my dear friends Kristin and Cyndi who are always posting pictures of their food...

The corned beef with carrots and red potatoes

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Mint Fudge Brownie

Now...on to a more serious note. My sweet husband installed our new kitchen sink faucet tonight. Yes, somehow he was able to get the job done in 4 or 5 hours. I guess my awesome meal inspired him...or my encouragement. I was gettin' a little tired of the new problem and working around the note he posted behind the sink! Occasionally we have a tendency to get frustrated around our house and sometimes things get a little damaged.

This task proved to cause some additional frustration and during most of the installation it sounded a lot like the scene from A Christmas Story of the dad in the basement. I'm just glad that the new sink is now installed and nothing else is broken! I love my husband to death and I'm glad that he's so handy! :)

Mardi Gras 5k

Jennifer, Mitzie, Amy M, Me, Amy S
Lisa, Rhonda, Wendy

My best friend from high school (Amy S) is training to run a half marathon. To help her prepare and to keep herself motivated, she is running several races in the Dallas area. After talking to her I decided I would give running a try so, I recruited a friend from our ABF (Amy M) as a running buddy. Then Mitzie and Jennifer joined the team and we decided to train together three times a week to prepare us for the Mardi Gras 5k. We had three weeks to prepare so we had Kevin, our ABF teacher, come out to the track one night to coach us. My last preparation for the big day involved shopping! My dear friend Kristin went with me to pick up race packets and to help me pick out new shoes at the Run On store on Mockingbird in Dallas. I won't divuldge the $$$ spent, just know that if you go to Run On, it's not cheap! One of these days, Kristin will join our little running group! Right Kristin....Right! ;)

So, on February 21st I ran my first 5k! There were eight of us who registered for the race: my sister Wendy, her friend Rhonda, My high school friend Amy S, her friend Lisa, me and my three training buddies, Amy M, Mitzie and Jennifer. I was so proud of all of us but my sister blew us all away. She actually got the 3rd place trophy in our age group. Her time we 24.20 and Jennifer wasn't that far behind her at 28 minutes. I was just thankful to run the entire time without stopping and was hoping to finish in 40 minutes or so. When I crossed the finish line I didn't even think to look at my watch or the time clock. My priority was recovery and water! Turns out my time was 32.58 which was great for me considering I had never actually run a complete 3 miles before!

Wendy, Mom and Me
Mom was there for moral support and to take pictures. She is now trying to run as long and as fast as us! Keep it up Mom...just don't hurt yourself! :)

So now, I am addicted to running. I'm still running with my ABF buddies and we're trying to add more friends to our running group. I've even taken KK to the track and she's practically run circles around us. Maybe one day, we can do a mother-daughter 5k!

Amy S joins us on Saturdays and yesterday I was able to keep up with her most of the time. She finished a few minutes before me at the race so my goal is to try and keep up with her at the next race. Yes...we're doing another 5k on March 14th! It's the St. Paddy's Day 5k - Dash Down Greenville. Woo-hoo! My goal is to finish at 32.57 or less! :)

Me and my sister Wendy with her trophy!