The Wilson's

Kaylen's Kindergarten Favorites

2012-01-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

Kaylen is 6!

2012-01-11T11:26:00.001-08:00

Kaylen had a great birthday this year. Here she is on the morning of her actual birthday. It was the first day of school. She got to wear a crown all day and Allen and I brought her lunch and cupcakes. Aunt Christy, Mamaw and Tripp all checked her out of school early and went to Chuckie Cheese for a mini party. She got to do the ticket blaster, which she talked about wanting to do for an entire year! We ended the day with a meal at Outback.
On Saturday we had a party at the Matrix. She has a special friend these days. Eric. Oh my! She is smitten. Every day it is something new. He came to her party and she didn't leave his side. She told me yesterday that he told her it was okay if she wanted to get married. The day before he asked her if she had a crush on him. She said yes. He said that was okay with him. She has had this crush for months! Apparently he is a really great kid. He has learned to be a gentleman and hold the door for ladies and let them go first. He also asked his teacher if he could say a pray before the snack time. So I don't want her to like boys yet but I am glad she is learning how she likes to be treated. :)

The next two are an attempt to get a picture of Tripp playing in the foam pit. It was next to impossible!!! He is cute anyway! :)

This first video is me playing at the party too! The matrix is way too much fun!

Here are my sweet little ones jumping too.

Christmas

2012-01-11T08:08:00.001-08:00

For some reason I took a major break from blogging so I need to catch up a bit. We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas. My pictures are a little jumbled and all from my phone so you can tell I am not as organized as I once was.

So here goes: This is our trip to Santa's Village. By this time my kids had seen Santa so many times, they were over it. Kaylen wasn't that way so much but Tripp was.

Kaylen was so happy to be there and finally see snow. Bless her heart she thinks it should be snowing like last year. I keep trying to tell her last year was special and that doesn't always happen.
Tripp was wild as always! He had the best time! He kept taking those candy canes off their posts though. But he was all smiles!!!!
Kaylen and Rylie gave each other a little jewelry for Christmas this year. This is the best friends necklace Rylie gave Kaylen. They love to wear stuff and be twinkies. Sweet girls!

Our trip to Gatlinburg was awesome. We stayed an extra day and I think we all really enjoyed the extra time. We went to Wonder Works (the upside down house) and then a magic show that evening. It was all so much fun and there were so many things to do. Kaylen and I rock-climbed and did a high ropes course. That girl is so brave! I was a proud Momma! Tripp was absolutely wild in there and Allen gets the Best Dad of the Day Award for keeping up with him! We also ran into these characters on the strip in downtown Gatlinburg. My kids absolutely love people in costume. Always have!
It is a tradition that Uncle Wayne makes us all breakfast one day and we all sleep in late and laze around until the afternoon. It is such a relaxing day in the midst of all the chaos of the Christmas Season. This year Kaylen helped with the pancakes. She loved it! She felt sooo big!! She flipped them all by herself!
This is the first time we saw Santa this season. And what a great Santa he was! We were walking around at Bridge Street and there he was just hanging out! Tripp wasn't with us so only Kaylen got to see him.
Here are my beautiful babies on Christmas Eve about to walk into church. They were so good during the service. They both went in and enjoyed it with us.

Here is a sneak peak at what Santa brought the kids this year. K got a trampoline and since it was outside Santa sent her on a scavenger hunt. She looooved that! She couldn't believe that Santa had been all over the house and in her room!!!! The kids jumped out there even when they were shivering cold! We had to make them come in!Tripp got a train table. He actually has played with it a lot! You never know if the toys they get are going to be things they will actually enjoy or not. :)
Santa was good to us all this year but we tried to focus our thoughts on giving instead of receiving. I tried to make sure K knew that we give because God gave the ultimate gift by sending his son for us. So this year, Kaylen did a 12 days of Christmas knock-n-run thing for Rylie where she left gifts each day with a little poem about the gift. It was really fun and Rylie caught Kaylen before the end but they kept it a secret. ;)

One day during the break I came in to this. The kids had gotten on my iPad and chosen a song and Tripp was dancing up a storm! So I videoed him without his knowledge. Cracks. Me. Up.

Christmas Photo Shoot

2011-12-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

Well, Emily and I got together and took pictures of each other this past weekend so that we could get our Christmas cards out. To say my kids were challenging would be an understatement! I don't want to spoil our cards for anyone who might get one so I am posting a picture of our girls. They are so cute together these days! They play so well together. I think they are both such beautiful little girls!

Tripp

2011-11-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

This is such a cute video of Tripp. I love talking to this kid! He is precious.

Go Vols!

2011-11-21T07:18:00.001-08:00

We decided on a whim to head on over to good ole Knoxville and catch the Tn/Vandy game. It ended up being a great decision. The game was soo exciting all the way to the last play of the game. We won on an interception that we ran down the field for a touchdown during overtime!

While we were there we picked up a jersey for Tripp. He so wanted to wear it immediately. We made him wait until the next day but look how happy he is to have it on!
Tripp didn't actually get to go to the game. He stayed home and my parents came up and spent the weekend with him. Kaylen, Allen and I, and his parents and Aunt and Uncle all went to the game. It was a night game so we had plenty of time to walk around and take it all in. Kaylen had a blast and is really getting in to the actual event of it all. Last year she didn't really seem to care but this year she kept asking me... "What just happened?" every single time people clapped. Before the game they have this area for kids with inflatables and face painting. You can see her T in this picture. Also while in the bouncy area a little boy asked me if that was my daughter. I told him yes and he said, "Well, she's kinda beautiful." Sweetest thing ever! He was around her age... maybe a year younger.

She looks so old in this picture with her daddy. I am so glad she loves going and cheering on her team! It made the whole day a great memory.
This is about an hour before the game. We got to our seats a bit early. She was so pumped!
On a side note, her other bottom front tooth is very loose. Last night she took a bite of corn on the cob and that really helped things along. We didn't even know it was loose until then.

Also, she told me multiple times that if Eric (a boy in her class that she talks about ALL THE TIME) knew she was wearing that Tennessee sweatshirt he wouldn't like it. He cheers for Alabama. I am wondering why this is important to her... hummmm. sigh. Apparently all the girls think he is funny.
This last video is of Kaylen playing before the game. The girl's got an arm! :)

Halloween

2011-11-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

My babies were Minnie and Mickey Mouse this year. There are more pictures of Tripp because he had a program at school and K didn't. But... K dressed up and went to a special event during our Disney trip so her extra photos were earlier. Tripp loved his "guhbes" (gloves).

Here he is walking into his program. Never a smile from that face when he sees the camera!
I couldn't make it but I heard all he did was sit and stare out. No singing but no crying either.
He was sitting by his good friend, Joseph. I am so glad they are in class together!
Here he is trick or treating at school. He is so good to speak up and say, "trick or treat".
Here's my beautiful Minnie! She is so precious right now. The two of them were so sweet together.
And can you believe that is almost a smile from my little Mickey?
He was so good to keep his costume on and carry his own basket. He wanted to do everything by himself.
We went trick or treating with the Bolton's and they were so cute as the firetruck and the fireman.
Here we are at the Willowbrook festival. They had swings this year and my kids loooved them!
All smiles from both of them!
Our token family shot. I try to get at least one each year. It is usually pretty hard to get everyone focused even for a few seconds! You should see the out takes!
My two playing together.
Kaylen loves the bouncy inflatables. She slid down like a champ!
My two bouncing it up. I love Tripp's tail. Too cute.
Here we are eating dinner at around 7:45. We played and collected candy until we were famished and then went and had some chili. It was a great night!

Update...

2011-11-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

I don't think that many people follow me anymore but I have been wanting to post Halloween for a few days and keep forgetting to bring my camera in. So I still plan to put that on here soon. I may just edit this post, who knows?!

So just to tell you what all has been going on with us... Kaylen has been having a great year in Kindergarten. She is done with soccer and is now doing gymnastics at the Matrix. She loooves the trampolines and the foam pit. Tripp is not doing so great in his 2 year old class at Twickenham. Apparently he is hitting other kids and telling his teacher, "no!". I don't know what to do with this kid. He really is sweet most of the time. He just thinks he is the boss. It is typical two year old stuff. I will say he can be so well mannered and gives the best hugs! Allen just finished up a month of serious travel. He was gone for three weeks in October. We just got a new car. It was an unexpected change but we found a car that met all of our criteria and fit me better. It's an Acura MDX. It's white and I absolutely love it! It is smaller than my other car. I may be the only person on the planet going smaller instead of bigger but I hate driving that wide and long vehicle. We now have a 7 seater instead of an 8 but it really is a lot smaller than the last. I started this cardio fitness challenge at the gym that will last 6 weeks. I got behind in the very first week because of Halloween so I had to log 3 hours of cardio before Thursday. So last night I went to the gym at 8:30 and then I couldn't sleep due to exercising so late at night. My alarm went off at 5 am this morning and I was back there logging my second hour. I have body pump this afternoon and it doesn't count since it is weight lifting instead of cardio. UGH! I am sooo exhausted right now! But tomorrow I will log my third cardio hour and be back on track. Some of you know that I drastically changed my diet back in March or April and I have continued to eat this way. Basically I am trying to cut out flour and sugar. I still get some of each every day but it is drastically less and a more healthy version of it. I feel so much better (minus the sheer exhaustion of today). I haven't been sick nearly as much! Actually I haven't been sick at all. Even sinus issues have been minimal.

I get asked what I snack on a lot. So some of my snack options are 1. Nuts. I almost always choose this around 9:30 or 10 am. 2. Cheese. This is another great option. 3. An apple and if I am really hungry, I put peanut butter on it. 4. Grapes. They are easy and quick. 5. baby carrots. crunchy and fresh!

Well, that's about all going on in the Wilson house.

Tate Farms with Kaylen's Kindergarten Class!

2011-10-20T09:55:00.001-07:00

This post is happening backwards in picture order... mostly because I am too lazy to switch it! It really wont matter though. :)

We ended our very first field trip as a kindergartner with a class picture in the photo op spot at Tate Farms. Please notice the boys on the left hand side throwing up gang signs! I need to know who they are and that my sweet little one thinks they have cooties! Hoodlums! :)

Here is Kaylen with her prized Punkin'. It started drizzling pretty good when we were headed out to the actual pumpkin patch. So we are looking a little misted.

She loved the animals. This picture cracks me up. She is messing with one goat's butt so it only serves her right that another one is messing with hers! Thank goodness for Purel!
I am holding this furry bunny because only the adults could hold them. I really didn't want to... Long haired rabbits = rabbit pellets stuck in the fur. yuck! Anyway, it was also because the kids would drop the little furry germ bouncers. Well, it was all I could do to keep this little guy alive! He was scratching and squirming. I am glad he didn't plummet on my watch but he just about did!
This girl likes heights! Look how long those legs are getting!
Cutest goat I've ever seen! :)
Making corn angels with her favorite classmate.
This looks like childhood to me. So much fun. She loved to bounce on this big pillow bouncer!
And one last smile (or the first smile of the day, actually). She is growing up so much. She is the tallest girl in her class! I don't realize how tall she is until I see other kids her age. I love her sweetness. I am so glad I could go with her for the morning trip. The dreary weather didn't bother us a bit!

Disney 2011

2011-10-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

Warning: PHOTO DUMP!! There are a ton of pictures in this post... I don't even know if I can have a post this large!!!

We had the best time at Disney. I am so glad my kids like characters! They did great on the plane. The video player helps a ton!

It was very early in the morning but we were all still so excited!!!!
My men! :) Honestly, Tripp was who I was worried about on the plane but he did great!
This was our very first activity after getting to Disney and grabbing a great lunch that Allen found since we missed our lunch reservations. I think it probably ended up working out better. We went to the Italian place that was fantastic! Then off to the Muppets show.

For dinner we had our first character meal. It was the Cinderella characters. Tripp fell asleep before we even got seated. The wicked step mother was Kaylen's favorite at this character breakfast. They danced and had a great time. Go figure! :) I guess K didn't care that she locked Cinderella up in the attic!
Prince Charming was very kind. :)
Well, I can't remember the names of the wicked step sisters but I am going to guess Drizella? Who knows?!?! Kaylen seemed to love them too! All of them! I actually don't have a picture of Cinderella until a later meal but she was there!
For breakfast we went to the Polynesian and had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. They invited Pluto and Mickey and my kids couldn't have been more excited!
Look at this face! Tripp is seriously the coolest kid. I know I am his mom but he is hilarious. He really has the best personality. He can get into stuff and drive me crazy but he is precious! He would NOT wear his lei. Guess it was too girlie for him.
Both of my kids adore their Papaw. He was a trooper because a lot of the time one of them wanted him to hold them. I know he had to be exhausted but never said no! That's Papaw! The breakfast was really good! They delivered it family style and it has a Polynesian flair. The Pog juice was great! The kids loved the parade. Kaylen held Lilo's hand. :) Look at that excitement!
Tripp didn't care anything for holding hands but he did love the maraca. Anything that makes noise... he is in!
My kids loooved Stitch! He is a short character and so cute. They both adored him!
This may be one of my favorite character pictures. They were both so excited to see Mickey. I love their sweet smiles! So worth it!
Pluto was a favorite as well!
We went to the Magic Kingdom on the second day. This was while waiting in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride. Kaylen loved the drums and Tripp loved those flower bells behind her.
But when Tripp saw her playing on this fun contraption, he had to take her spot.
There was a battle... Tripp won. He usually does. Right now Kaylen has a big goose egg in the middle of her forehead because Tripp hit her with a barbie doll. So they are becoming true brother and sister. Arguments and all.
This was one of the longest waits we had our entire trip so we were very glad to actually be on the ride.
It was almost lunchtime so they were also very hungry.
On our way to lunch, we ran into this street party. The kids loved dancing with the characters and each other!
Kaylen had to get to Jesse to give her a hug. Just so you know, she did. Poor Jesse couldn't hardly dance due to all the kids needing hugs!
Tripp napped in line where ever we were. It really made it easier to keep going with Kaylen.
We really were at the Magic Kingdom. Ta daaa!!!
We ate lunch at the Crystal Palace with the Pooh characters. The desserts there were fantastic! My kids absolutely loooove Winnie the Pooh so this was a highlight for them.
I even got in on one of the pictures!
Sweet Piglet. Kaylen adored Piglet the first time we came too.
I love how Tripp had to hug Eeyore. So sweet.
We enjoyed playing on Tom Sawyer's island.
The kids also liked the boat ride over there!
Tripp loved being able to climb and run free on the island!
My kids love the tea cups. I, on the other hand, would not be caught dead on them! That looks like a hurl fest to me!
This was the best food we had the entire time. It was called Narcoossee and it was at the Grand. Some of us had surf and turf, some fish, some steak. The desserts were amazing too!
The kids were so good for this loooong dinner.
That night we went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) with Kaylen. This was her special event and she loved it!
She was the cutest little Minnie Mouse!
The parade was so amazing to her. She said hello to absolutely every character that walked by. She was bubbling over with excitement! You can sort of see that little hand waving on the right. It stayed up the entire time.
She had to see Minnie and Mickey to show Minnie her outfit.
Kaylen loved driving and we laughed so hard the whole time. I must say, whenever she turns 16, we should all put bumper pads on the edges of the road! The girl can't steer!
We went to the Animal Kingdom in the morning of the last day. It rained on us big time! We had breaks in the rain so that was nice. We watched the Nemo Musical during the rain. We had great seats!
The rain stopped and we went on the safari ride. Tripp had been wanting to see the "aminals" all morning and he tuckered out on the nice and breezy ride.
We saw so many animals but the baby elephant was my favorite.
Flamingos!
This is what we were riding on.
The alligators in the front were biting each other. Creepy!

Epcot was a fun time too! The kids picked out their own mickey ears.
Kaylen also picked out her Sleeping Beauty sun glasses.
This was an imagination ride. The kids loved the play area afterwords. There are so few times that the kids can run free.
The princess dinner at Epcot was the best character meal - by far! Both of my kids were in heaven!
Snow White was the favorite for Tripp. She smooched him with those red lips and he was smitten the rest of the night.
Look at that face!!! So funny.
This was the same Cinderella as the other meal we had with the princesses. Lucky us! :)
I am not sure if they purposely make Sleeping Beauty look dead but she completely did. This is Kaylen's favorite. Don't ask me why... she looked the worst! Kaylen has always loved Aurora the most. This did not sway her opinion one bit!
Ariel was by far the prettiest and sooo nice! Tripp was a fan of her too. :)
Have you ever seen her smile bigger?!?! She was exploding throughout this entire meal!
This was our last breakfast before flying out. There were a hodge podge of characters! Tigger was there again!
Kaylen and I have read this really amazing pop up book on Alice in Wonderland. She loooves Alice!
We haven't seen Mary Poppins but are now planning to. She does looove to sing Supercalafragilisticexpalidocious! I know I didn't spell that right but I don't even care! :)
They loved Pooh just as much every time they saw him!
Kaylen thought the Mad Hatter was hilarious but Tripp wasn't sure about him. This is the only person that Tripp even looked at funny.

Well, if you are still with me, sorry I took 20 minutes of your life! I know it was long. I just wanted to preserve all the details on here for the future. :)

Kaylen's favorite rides: Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Sorin.

She said her dreams came true on Sorin because she had always dreamed of being in the middle of a firework and having it sparkle all on her. Too funny!!!

The End of Soccer

2011-10-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

Soccer was a blast this year. I highly recommend signing your kids up with some of your friends kids. Of course you see Andrew and Rylie in all these pictures with Kaylen. Also the other two are kids she played with last year. We had a great team and they did awesome! Kaylen got much better this year and is beginning to understand the concept of getting in there and getting the ball. She stalls out sometimes... that thinking gets in the way! :) I was so proud of her and I can't say how much fun it was!

The kids under the bleachers! :)

This was at their end of the season party. They were all having a blast posing for the camera!

They are celebrating here for all their wins!!!!

We are off to the Matrix now that soccer is over! :)

messenger bag/stroller bag

2011-09-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

so I am going to Disney very soon and I needed a bag that I could clip on to the stroller to carry our stuff in. I found this great tutorial on this website: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/09/2-in-1-bag-stroller-bag-into-messenger.html

Here is the finished product: (well almost... I still have some buttons and velcro to add.)

This first picture is with the long strap out for use when your bag is off the stroller.

Then you tuck the strap in and use these small straps to clip on to the stroller.
Here is an example of what it looks like size wise for easy carry. Fairly simple!

A new dresser!

2011-09-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

I am turning my bonus room into my craft room too. My sister lived with me when she first moved to H'ville and she left this broken down dresser at my house for ME to put on the curb. Anyway, half of the drawers were busted up so it didn't really work. I decided that I could take the broken drawers out and keep the top two drawers in. This is a before:

The first thing I did was take a piece of wood off the bottom inside (the piece that the drawer used to slide along) and cut it to fit as a divider to make 4 cubbies for some baskets to fit in. This is what it looked like:
Lastly I painted, stenciled, distressed and polyed the whole thing and bought two knobs for the drawers that were left up top. I have ordered wicker baskets that will fit in the 4 cubbies in the middle and then two that are wide to fit in the two bottom sections. I will put up another picture when it is in my craft room with the baskets in it.
Now it looks sooo much better! Stay tuned for updates! :)

Recent Projects

2011-09-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I like to always have a project going on... it makes me feel like I accomplished something this week. Last week I got my kitchen table finished up. (I need to get a picture of that up). This week was a sewing week. I finished this first outfit of Kaylen's. It has a hairband with it. After making that I have decided that I really need to make more. The actual band works sooo well and stays in place. Maybe I will do a tutorial for how to make it. I may not always put the flower on it... you could put all sorts of things on the top or leave it just the fabric. I like them a lot!

PS... K doesn't have lipstick on... it is just the alterations to the photo from instagram that makes it look like that. :)

We are going to Disney World this fall so I decided to make shirts for the kids. This first one is for Tripp. I am having their names embroidered on it as I type! :)

Here is the outfit I made for Kaylen. This is also another example of the skirt that is in the tutorial two posts down. It is really a very easy skirt to make and is perfect with leggings.
I have one more outfit that I am working on this week that I may add to this post if I get it finished up... It isn't my favorite. I bought the fabric and then decided I didn't like it at all. Why do we do things like that?!?! But I am using it anyway. It isn't totally horrific... just not a fav of mine. :)

Soccer's Back!

2011-09-14T12:24:00.001-07:00

This year Kaylen is on a team with Andrew and Rylie... two of her favorite people. You will see from the pictures that they tend to run in a pack. :) Look how hard they are all going in this pic!

Here they are together again. :) Look at the determination on their faces! Kaylen really has become more aggressive this year than she was last year. I am not sure that she knew people were kicking a ball around while she was on the field last year but she figured it out this year!
Even though she is playing much harder... she and Rylie are still the girls of the team. The boys run circles around them as evidenced in this pic with Andrew far ahead! :)
She almost made a goal this game and I am hopeful that she will this year. She carried the ball down the field a few times. She seems to have better control of the ball than she has in the past.
If this isn't a motley crew. Sass galore!
Mr. Jeremy had these girls hold a blade of grass to show that they like to go out and pick flowers on the field but in all honesty, both of them play pretty hard (I think at least).
Sweet friends.
Here Kaylen is getting some skin from her coach. This was right after she carried the ball down the field and the little boy in the corner of the picture (who is picking his nose) made the goal... he actually made all but one of our 6 of our goals so pick away my friend, you've earned it! (Andrew scored the other one!)
See what I mean about these girls?!?! They get after it their fair share!
I am sure there will be way more soccer pictures than necessary on this blog but I just can't help it.

And Ashley... I am almost done with my tutorial post that I am creating for you! :)

Pumpkin Outfit Tutorial

2011-09-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

You can use this drawing as a template by clicking on it to enlarge it and then hitting ctrl P. I drew it out and you will cut the large red outside edges out as one whole piece, then cut the yellow sides out as one piece then the middle piece out. So you will have three pieces when you are finished cutting out. The red pieces will be out of the same fabric and the yellow will be the coordinating fabric. I used a different piece of fabric for the stem than I used anywhere else.

Iron on seam a steam to your cut out pieces and straight stitch around the edges. Don't worry about staying exactly straight... It looks good a little messy. I also steamed the three pieces together and sewed around the "yellow" and around the center "red" piece so that all three pieces are together and ready before you put it on your shirt. I think it is easier that way.

So I am not typically a tutorial kind of person. Just not organized enough for it but I think I can do this with the help of a few other blogs. :)

I found this tutorial on www.kukyideas.com and she aparently got it from 3 Peas who no longer has it listed. I changed a lot of the instructions because I did mine differently but this tutorial is really easy to follow if you just do exactly what it says. :) I used red to show what I changed or did differently. I hope this isn't confusing.

Supplies needed:

Fabric: a total of 1 1/2 to 2 yards of cotton of your choice (plenty for girls’ sizes), for a lady’s skirt you will have to do some simple math based on the dimensions of the strips we calculate in a bit; I’d say 2 1/2 yards should be plenty, but don’t hold me to that!

I used 1 yard for the top and bottom layer and 3/4 a yard for the middle layer. This left me some for the pumpkin as well.

Thread

3/4″ wide elastic (enough to fit comfortably around waist plus a few inches) dont make it too big or it wont stay up! :)

Notes
All seam allowances are 5/8″.
The things I did differently are in red and I didn't really care too much about the seam allowances and it came out fine. I also never serge my fabric or baste all that much except to gather the material. Feel free to do it how you would like.

Measuring
To begin, you will need to determine the dimensions of the strips you are going to cut.

Step 1: Measure the waist and hips (in inches) of the intended wearer. Choose the larger of the 2 measurements, we will call this number “A”. You also need to determine the desired length of the finished skirt, so measure from the waist to where you want the hem to land; you will divvy up this number into three for the different length panels. I chose a 12" length so I had B = 4, 6, and 2 (tier 1, 2, and 3 respectively). (you can do a little rounding here to make your life easier, maybe choose the closest 1/4″ or 1/2″ increment). Call this number “B”.

For example: kaylen has a waist measurement of approximately 23″ and the finished skirt should be about 12″ long.

A=23 B=4, 6, and 2 (tier 1, 2, and 3 respectively)

Step 2: (sorry to bring algebra into the picture) You know that wasn't me doing that!

(A x 1.5) + 1.5 = _____ “C”

Again, you can round your answer a little, this is not an exact science.

Example:
C=36

Step 3: You will cut 2 strips to make the top tier.

C divided by 2 = ____ width of each strip

B + 2 = ____ height of each strip

Example top tier: width=18″ height=6″

Step 4: You will cut 2 strips to make the middle tier.

C multiplied by 1.5 = ____ then divide your answer by 2 to equal your width ____

B + 1.25 = ____ height of each strip

Example middle tier: width=27″ height=7.25″

Step 5: You will cut 2 strips to make the lower tier. Cut these strips to the same dimensions as those in Step 4. Except the height will be, B+1.25=___ height of each strip using your B for tier 3 number instead of tier 2.

Example lower tier: width 27" height= 3.25"

Her pictures will vary from my final because I didn't have two scrunched layers... the bottom layer was more of a bottom border and was the same width as the middle tier... just a smaller height.

Now we have all of our pieces and are ready to start sewing!!

Sewing the Skirt
1. With right sides facing each other, sew the side seams together on each set of strips. Edge finish each of these seams with a serger if you have access to one, otherwise trim the seam allowance to about 1/4″ and zig-zag stitch to keep your raw edges from unraveling. You now have 3 “loops” of fabric, one for each tier. (I never do this, I just sew it together and let it unravel a bit. After it washes I trim up the frazzles and all is well... but that's just me.)

2. At this point, I like to go ahead and sew a narrow hem around the entire bottom edge of the lower tier. Press up 5/8″, open the fabric back out, and press the raw edge in to meet the first crease. Sew the hem.

3. Edge finish the upper edge of the top tier, fold 1 1/4″ to the inside and press to form a casing for the elastic. Stitch about 1″ in from the fold almost all the way around, leaving a small opening to insert the elastic into later.

4. On the top edges of the middle tier (and with right sides facing out), sew a long machine basting stitch all the way around 5/8″ from raw edge and also 3/8″ from raw edge.(I don't measure this... I just do two rows of sewing as close to the top as I can without going off the fabric or touching my original sew line. )

5. Sew the bottom tier to the middle tier with right sides facing. On the middle tier, grasp the bobbin thread ends and start pulling gently to form gathers in the fabric. When the circumference of this edge matches that of the lower edge of the middle tier, stop and tie your bobbin threads together to keep everything in place. Then slide the gathers around until you are happy that they are distributed fairly evenly. (She ruffled the bottom tier as well as the middle but I had the bottom tier the same length and straight sewed them together and it formed a bit of a border. I think it looked better... but you be the judge.)

Update: I added some new pictures with a new skirt. Hope the different fabric doesn’t throw anyone off.

6. Flip the middle tier inside out so that the right sides (the outsides of your fabric) are facing each other and pin it to the top tier — the bottom edge of the top tier (the edge without the band for elastic) should match up to the top gathered edge of the middle tier and the right sides should be together. Now machine baste this seam. I machine basted at 1/2″ (again the whole sewing straight thing). I’m usually one that skips the basting steps, but, trust me, basting is your friend on this project! I also reduced the pressure on my presser foot for this step, don’t forget to readjust the setting after you baste. (I don't baste this... hehe)

Now you can flip it right side out and check your gathers. Don’t worry if you see the basting stitches from where you gathered the bottom tier. When you sew the seam at 5/8″ you won’t see them anymore.

7. Now serge or sew the seams you just basted using a 5/8″ seam allowance (trim and finish your edges if you used a regular sewing machine for this step). (I don't do this either)

9. Thread your elastic through the top casing. I like to use a big safety pin to help me work it through. Adjust the elastic to comfortably fit waist. Overlap the ends and sew them together (I used several rows of zig-zag stitch and zig-zag back-stitching for security). Using a straight stitch, sew the opening of the waistband casing closed.

You’re Done!

YAY! And that was 3 Peas tiered skirt tutorial. Too bad I don’t have her pictures. I’m sure she had more pictures showing everything in more detail then what I did. But her directions are quite clear and it was quite simple to make this skirt. It was totally awesome of her to share her tutorial! Thank you 3 Peas!

Casey Cooper Photography: Part Tripp

2011-08-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Tripp is much more difficult to photograph than sweet Kaylen. He is wild and busy all the time. He also does much better when Kaylen is around so you will see lots of pictures of him with people and few of him alone. He was definitely not feeling this photo shoot either.

With that being said, Casey still did a great job making it look like he was being sweet instead of cranky and hot. :) Check her out at www.caseycooperphotography.com.

This was one of the last pictures so you can see Tripp is a bit over it. Still a really cute pic though.

Out of both of my kids. Tripp is the one that absolutely loves all things golf. Golfcart was one of his first words. If the kid is ever in a bad mood, just offer to take him for a ride. That will make everything perfect in his world. He loves golf balls and trying to hit them with his clubs. So you will see the most amount of concentration in this picture.
Look at him taking it all in and actually looking at the ball! I am telling you, there is something about boys and sports. So crazy.
He really does love his sister. It is so much fun to watch them together. One of their favorite things to do is to jump on my living room furniture. I allow it. They love it. They will jump from the ottoman to the couch and back.
This is probably one of my favorite pictures of the two of them. It is also probably one of the few times Tripp was actually smiling! Only K can bring that out in him!

Here they were playing chase. So sweet.

Tripp is definitely a daddy's boy. Although, if given the choice, he will always choose his Papaw. That kid absolutely loves his Papaw. Cries every time he leaves. Cries every time he think he might have to leave. Cries at the sight of me knowing that I am going to take him away. Seriously attached.

Tripp is so full of life. He says the funniest things. He is definitely more vocal than K was at this age. I think that is because there are more people to talk to. He likes to get in to things like medicine. I can't tell you how many times I have had to grab some type of medicine away from him before he eats it. The only way to get him to eat is to tell him that it is your food and he better not eat it. This will get him to quickly shove anything in. Ugh. He is always smiling and is very expressive with his eyebrows. He likes to cross his arms when he is scolding you. (which he shouldn't be doing but tries anyway). Tripp makes me smile. He is full of life and is waaaaay more opinionated than his sister. I love the dynamic he brings to the mix. Oh, and his favorite thing to do is jump knees first onto his daddy.

Casey Cooper Photography: Part Kaylen

2011-08-22T09:17:00.001-07:00

We had these pictures taken by Casey Cooper this summer. (Please use her if you are looking for a photographer because she is great! www.caseycooperphotography.com)

Here are a few of Kaylen she took. I love the look on Kaylen's face in this first one. Sheer excitement. This girl loooves to fish! This is usually something she does with her daddy.
We took these pictures by our house and both of my kids really like golf right now. I hope it is something they will take up when they get a little older but we will see. :)

I just love her little face. I know I am bias but I think she is beautiful. Her face just says sweetness to me.
I had to put a picture of her in here with her daddy. They have been having daddy/daughter dates and she loves to wrestle with him as well. They are snuggle buddies too. She loves to spend just a few min. in the morning snuggled in with her daddy before she has to get up and get ready for school.
She has been my girl lately. We get to spend so much more time together now that she is in school. I love this time that we have been given. I hope we are always this close.
This picture is my favorite. She is such a cutie. Just love her.

Kaylen is at such a great age right now. I feel like I say that alot but she is a joy (most of the time). :) She loves to be the mom when playing any make believe game. That is always the role she wants. She has such a big imagination these days. She really wants to please people as well. So the other day she got a treasure for getting 5 greens at school. She picked out a dinosaur type creature that had a crown on that lit up. She told me that last Tuesday her toy's eyes shrank and now she couldn't see very well. She said she thought we needed to go see Nurse Jana and make sure she was okay. She is always telling jokes. They NEVER make any sense! :) She really likes to tell them though. Usually they go something like this: Why did the walls hold up the ceiling? Because they were painted green! HAAA. I always tell her that didn't make sense. She doesn't seem to care because she just goes right on telling them. This year she has made friends with a few girls right off the bat. I am so glad for that! They are Savannah, Rachel and then I have heard Anna and Avery. So she is adjusting perfectly. I love how she tries to help Tripp. He doesn't always let her but she is always looking out for him. She is also easy to please. She will wear anything I want to put on her and she never complains about it. She isn't always quick with her manners and this is an area we are working on but other than that... she is an absolute angel. Kaylen, thank you for being you these past 5 years because I have really enjoyed being your momma!

Sewing...

2011-08-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

So I have been on a kick lately. All I do is sew these days. I think it is because I am realizing my clothes making days are numbered with my sweet girl. Anyway, I already put one outfit I made on here and that was the one she wore on her first day of school. It is Wednesday and I have made two more outfits for her to wear already this week. This outfit is what I like to call free. I made it using only things I had at home. I didn't buy one single item for it! It was a really fun exercise. I had to piece some fabrics together and make things work. It was a mental challenge to get everything to match and fit with the pieces I had. If you have lots of scrapes at home, you should try to do something like this. It ended up so cute (I think the free part makes it even cuter for some reason).
Well, when Kay comes in here in a few minutes I will take a picture of the other outfit I made this week and add it to this post. I may collect some pictures of the other items I have been making and add them here as well. :)

She was acting silly but here it is. You can't really tell but there is a flower on the apron that has buttons as the center of it. Ricrac is the stem.

Tripp's "Second" Day of School...

2011-08-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

In typical second child fashion, I forgot to take pictures on his first day... so he gets second day pictures. :) He doesn't LOOOVE having his picture taken these days anyway. One thing he does love... his backpack! This kid likes wearing that backpack. Tripp is my kid with such a sense of humor. He is always furrowing those eyebrows and saying, "hummm... let me see." while tapping on his lips with his first finger. It is so stinking cute.

In this picture he is trying to get into his lunchbox. We had a meltdown after the pictures because he realized I meant no. At least I got smiles first! We are officially in the swing of things at our house. We have almost one week down and we have all (minus Allen) been going to bed by 9. The kids are around 8:30 and then I head on in to my room completely exhausted! I will adjust soon enough. :) Hope everyone else is adjusting to the first week of school!

First day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-09T09:39:00.001-07:00

Kaylen had the best day yesterday! She loves school. We take first day pictures each year right outside on our way to where ever we are going. (Tripp didn't get his picture taken this morning... :( I just remembered that. )

Anyway, She was nervous and excited all at the same time. I never put a picture of the other outfit I made on facebook but here it is. I have one more I need to sew together that I have already cut out. I may get to that tonight. We will see! :)

We each took a turn getting our picture made with her. I am so excited for her! :) I did get a little emotional even though I know she is fine and in the building with me. It is just hard to think of her this old.
I think all of this will be hardest on Tripp. He is so used to spending his days with her. My inlaws said he spent the day asking where K was. :( She is such a great big sis and she really does watch out for him.
Allen may kill me for this picture because he gets up with us and makes sure we get out the door before he gets himself ready. So I had to force him to get in the picture anyway! :) This ended up being one of my favorite pictures of the day! I love that look on her face. He has been so patient with her lately. He will sit down with her and work through a puzzle or activity and he asks her questions and lets her figure out the answer on her own. I tend to get too antsy and tell her what to put. I guess this is one area that I am glad he is a part of the slow club in. She learns so much more with him than me! I love watching that too.
This is Kaylen's teacher. Since meeting her, Kaylen has pretended to be her on a very regular basis. I have never seen Kaylen take to a teacher as quickly as she has this one. Just look at how sweet she looks?!?! How can Kaylen help but love her! I am soooooo thankful that K will have the experience of having her as a teacher this year!
I have to say... the best part of my day yesterday was K running in my room at 2:35 with the biggest smile on her face and asking her how her day was. Since it was so fresh I got more information out of her. But the first thing she said was, "Mom, I really want to know how your day was." Really?!?!?! My day was full of 7th graders and me doing all the talking of first day boring rules stuff... Let's get back to you. Sweet baby! I hope she always thinks of others like that.

AARG! Tripp is TWO!

2011-05-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well, my baby turned 2 this Saturday. We had the best little birthday party. It was low key due to the upcoming wedding. I think it turned out really cute though. I did a pirate theme since we did it at Kid Venture and they have a pirate ship as part of their play equipment. I do have to say that Allen sadly had to miss the party... I will tell you that story at the bottom of the post. :)

Here is my big man. Getting a picture of him was torture for both of us! He would not stay still for anything! So this is as good as it got. :)
The kids looked so cute in their pirate get up. Rylie and Kaylen had a blast... as always!
Tripp tore into his cupcakes! He was a huge mess.
He loved his actual cake. Look at that face! His favorite was the candy necklace.
He didn't keep his bandanna on that much but it looked cute on him while it lasted. :) They also had kettle corn for their pirate's booty.
Tripp loved the blow up slide he just kept throwing himself down to the bottom. He would go flying through the air... he didn't care.
Here he is with Cooper and Cohen. I think he was a little rough for them but they didn't seem to mind too much.
We waited to open gifts until we got home so that Allen could be a part of everything and the kids could play longer.

And while we are on the subject of Allen... he happened to hurt his pinkie finger by getting the cake out of the fridge. Something was on top of the fridge and when he opened it, the object began to fall. He tried to catch it and hurt his finger. So he couldn't move it at all. He called a doctor friend and he said to go to the ER. So the end result was that they thought he popped a tendon and he needed to see a specialist on Monday. So he just told me they said a ligament was torn and blocking the joint. So no surgery and a splint for two weeks. Best prognosis ever! So we are super thankful!

Kaylen's Graduation and more!

2011-05-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that my titles are vague lately. I have had too many events going on too close together. Also I am too lazy to make too many individual posts. Kaylen graduated Pre-K with flying colors. :) It was a really cute program. They had lots of memory verses they recited and they sang such sweet praise songs. I am so thankful for those teachers and that program.

She is looking so grown up to me lately. I can't believe we are already at kindergarten!

The following few pictures are from Matt and Rachel's wedding. Kaylen was the flower girl. The wedding was so nice and flawless. They did a great job planning everything.

Dr. Ben Fauld's

2011-05-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

Some of you have asked me about my recent weight loss and I keep saying I will tell you what I have been doing and so I wanted to go ahead and pass on all that has been working for me to whoever might be interested.

I was at my chiropractor getting some adjustments and happened to be talking to his nurse (who is a friend from church) and I told her I was wanting to lose a little weight before my sister's wedding. She told me about their weight loss program. So first of all, I want to recommend you going to them. Since you also get a chiropractic adjustment, insurance covers the visit and I only pay a copay. It is worth checking with them to see what your insurance would cover. Okay so here is what happens:

You go twice a week for 3 weeks and visits consist of an adjustment and then acupuncture. They put these stickers on your ears that have a really tiny spring with the smallest pokey end on it inside the bandage. They switch the ear they are in at each visit. They also stick needles in the areas you are wanting to lose weight from. So I started in my lower stomach and I am now working on my thighs and dairyaire. :) I must say that you have to reveal any area that you plan to reduce. And people are always asking me if it hurts. Not really. Most of the time I can't even feel the needles going in and I can never feel them once they are in there. Occasionally I might feel a little sting that is similar to a sweat bee sting. It doesn't hurt that bad and is completely manageable.

Now for the food side (because I really think this is a large contributor to my actual weight loss). They give you some supplements to take that are mostly ground up vegetables. They give you a shake supplement that should replace one meal (breakfast is the easiest because the rest of what you can eat doesn't sound good for breakfast). Anyway, you just mix this powder with frozen fruit and water and viola - breakfast! Then for all other meals, I can eat grilled chicken, grilled fish, fruit and vegetables. I honestly do have a cup of coffee every morning and there are times that I cheat a little. Like if I really just need something sweet, I will eat a banana babies dark chocolate covered banana. YUM. Also, I steer clear of flour and sugar as much as possible. Sometimes it is just impossible but usually I can do it. The trick is to tell yourself if you mess up make sure it is only one thing in a day. I go days without any mistakes but I try to always limit my mistakes to one a day. I also include wine in that one mistake a day category and if I want wine with dinner, I consider it my one caveat.

As for exercise... I usually make sure I workout on the week days. On my running days I run either a 5k or 4 miles depending on my time and energy level. :) And I do body pump twice a week. I usually do a little ab work after my running and occasionally other weights.

My sucess: in 7 weeks I have lost 11 pounds. I haven't weighed this little since before I met Allen. I have gone from a size 8 or 10 to in-between a 4 and a 6. I feel so much better than I have felt in years. I have energy (except not today oddly enough) and I feel stronger than I used to. I haven't been sick since I started doing all of this. I have less headaches. And the diet has become easier because when I falter it makes me feel so yucky that I don't even want to eat anything off my diet.

So there it is. I am not done with the program yet either. It is a 14 week program and I plan to make this change a lifestyle change. I don't want to go back to feeling like I used to. I know it feels impossible to give up bread and sweets but it isn't. I had cravings and it was hard for the first month but I am past that now and the cravings are gone. I hope I have encouraged you to give it a try. If you do, let me know and we can help keep each other accountable!

I have a busy weekend full of celebrating my babies. Kaylen is graduating Pre-kindergarten tonight and Tripp is turning 2 on Saturday! I have been baking all week... nothing I plan to actually eat, of course! I am told that it all tastes yummy though! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Destin

2011-05-06T10:17:00.001-07:00

Well, on Thursday of the storms we joined the majority of our town and got out of dodge for a little bit. The Foxes said they were going to the beach so after some coaxing on my part to Allen, we loaded up the kids and the in-laws and joined them. It ended up being a great long weekend at the beach. Everything was relaxed and fun - we all had the best time!

I will warn you, this post is FULL of pictures!

Here we are on Friday morning. We made it to Montgomery on Thursday night and went the rest of the way that morning. Kaylen started off sooo excited to get to the beach.

As long as we had "Pete" on (a.k.a. Mickey's Clubhouse), Tripp was fine.

This is the. only. picture. Allen and I took together. UGH! In fact, you will only see me one other time in this whole thing of pictures. None at all of me and the kids. Guess you can tell who is taking all of these shots! :)
Both of the kids were sacked for the last hour or so of our trip... PERFECT! They were both in great moods when we got there because they were nice and rested!
Here was K. Poor thing. I can't believe her neck didn't hurt!

It didn't take 5 minutes for these smiles to come out. These two were the best of playmates the whole time. So much fun to watch. :) P.S. I told K to take those floaties off about a million times on the trip. She was adamant that she have them on at all times. Even when playing in the sand. I guess you never know when a rouge wave will come up on the beach.
The water was beautiful the first day.
Emily helped me get a picture of both kids with their names in the sand.

The kids were so good that they took naps on the beach under an umbrella. I was so proud of them. If you look closely you will see two little boys both sacked out. It was great. This was the only time we could really sit that still without taking turns.

Okay this is the only picture I have that I am in besides the one in the car. Em told me I better not put it on facebook. So I didn't! And... Em, check out your tan... you doubt me... but I know how to use Photoshop!
The girls wanted to make a sand castle so Allen started out helping.
They decided they could handle it. I love watching them work together.
How much fun! Sweet girls.
And if you know Kaylen and Rylie at all, you will know that they are decided that they are marrying each others brother so they can be real sisters. Em and I call the girls cougars. That is why I think it is so funny that Ry has her arm around T like that. Another funny story is that the girls were pretending to be mommies and I caught Ry trying to "feed" T as if he were her baby. She had him down in the sand and was trying to feed him. Hilarious!

Kaylen is such a great big sister. She really is good with him. He wanted to run out into the middle of the ocean. If it were up to him, he would have no one near him and would just keep going straight forever. We kept having to grab him out of the water. He is insane and has absolutely no fear! Not sure how he didn't lose that hat!
Love the hair all in their faces.

Tripp was stellar at sleeping where ever he got tired. We were having lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise at this picture.
Here are the girls sharing a meal. They shared all their meals and it was perfect. Actually all three kids would share one kids meal and all of them had their fill. Why do they make those meals so big? No idea but it was nice for the multiple kids.
We stayed in B-ham on Sunday night because we still didn't have power. Ours came back on in the middle of the night. So I had to get a few pictures of what these three do almost every morning. We only use our TV in our bedroom in the morning. The kids watch PBS while we sleep in or get ready. This is what I usually see...
But this is what it usually looks like. K beside her daddy and T sitting right on top of him.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Update: I went through my mom's pictures and she had some good ones so I thought I would add them. This is K and me taking a break from Easter egg hunting.

This is definitely the cutest of all the kids Easter Pictures.
This was at Amber's shower at my house. Sweet little boy.
This is Amber's shower at the church. My darling girl.
This was just a cute picture of my wild little man that I thought I would add.

I am not sure why I didn't have my camera out more for all of the weekend festivities. We had a nice shower for my sister and I spent forever getting everything decorated and looking great and never took the first picture! I am crazy! Anyway, the shower was relaxing and fun. We had great weather and it was nice to relax and talk to all the ladies!

Sunday was Easter and it was also a great day! We had Amber, Micah and his dad (Mr. Kerry), My parents, Allen's parents and Allen's Aunt and Uncle over after church. We ate and then dyed and hunted Easter eggs. It was really relaxing. We played a little corn hole and threw the football. When everyone left Amber, Micah, Allen, the kids, Harvey and Muggsley (the boston terrier cousins) and me all went to the dog park. The dogs had a blast! Muggs looooves to swim and he is so brave it sort of scares me but he always does just fine. Harvey tried to swim for the first time and I will say he was pretty brave for a newbie. At one point he just dove in and then flopped and fumbled his way back in. I have no idea why Muggs can swim like he can but I think he is part seal. He can swim and his hair is so short and water resistant that he is basically dry when he gets out. Harvey has longer hair and it is wavy.

Well, the photographer of the group decided to take pictures that caused horrible shadows all over our faces. Love how that degree is working out for me. Sometimes I swear I am getting dumber with age... Moms out there, you feel me? Anyway, here are a few pictures of the kids. They were sooo cute! I may update this post with a few bad pictures of the rest of us later! :)

Easter Program

2011-04-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

At our kids school they have them dress up like their parents for the program. So I took a few pictures of them before we left. They were both so stinking cute! Kaylen wanted to be called Dawn and she kept acting like me and prancing around. Hilarious!

Wreath Project

2011-04-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have been in a wreath mood lately and I saw a cute tutorial online. http://natsprat.blogspot.com/2011/03/blow-away-less-spring-wreath.html
So I decided to make my own last night. I made two and put them on my back doors. I think they are nice and spring-y. Allen... not so thrilled with them. :)

kaylen and tripp

2011-04-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

It is so rare that I have a picture where they are both happy and together and looking at me that I had to post it on here. They play together constantly now. I love it!

A Great Weekend!

2011-04-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Kaylen decided this weekend that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We were at Bridge Street so we headed over to get them done. I have asked her before and she always said definitely not. She just decided out of the blue that she wanted to get them done. She was so brave - she didn't shed a tear! I can't tell you how proud of her I am! Now we just have to take good care of them. :)

We had a great weekend. Allen and I went and saw Soul Surfer on Friday... go see it! It was great! Then we went camping with Kaylen in the backyard on Saturday night. It was a blast again. The kids and I went to Bridge Street with the Fox kids and had so much fun. Here are a few pictures of the day:

Dance, Fire Station and a new Craft

2011-03-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Kaylen had friend day at dance class. I rarely have a picture of Kaylen without Rylie these days. That is because these two are inseparable. It is seriously easier to have Rylie over than Kaylen alone. They entertain each other so well! Here they are at dance class doing the chicken dance in ballet.

Check out how close they are standing. They are sharing a dot on the floor instead of going to their own. So stinking sweet!
Kaylen and Rylie have recently decided that they are marrying each others brothers. That way they can be sisters for real. So Kaylen talks about Cohen being her husband all the time. I can't wait to tease them about this in about 7 years. Cohen was standing at the door and so Kaylen decided to tell her teacher how that was going to be her husband. Can we say Future Cougar? ;) I am sure her teacher was trying hard not to laugh at them.
Here are some pictures of the kids at the fire station. Caleb had a birthday party. My kids had a blast! I thought it was really cool too. The first picture the kids are with the Carter kids. Sara and Kaylen played so well together!

I made a little baby's blanket for a friend's baby shower I went to recently. It ended up being a fun little project. I was thinking of selling personalized baby blankets on my etsy shop... If I did, any suggestions on a price range? I am just not sure. Feel free to comment what you would pay... below are some pictures so you can get the idea of what they look like.

Kids and a New Shop

2011-03-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't put any pictures of my babies on here lately so I thought I would today. This was on the way to church on Sunday. I feel like all of my pictures are of my kids in the car but it is the easiest way to capture them since they are strapped in and all! Tripp is talking really well lately. Some of his favorite things to say are Daddy gone or Mommy Gone (Depending on whoever it is he doesn't see). He tends to say this on repeat... over and over and over again. He calls Kaylen Kay and says it with a bit of a southern drawl. All drinks are juice. And he likes to say: no, no, no. He loves shoes. Diapers are shew shews. He can tell you what his hair, eyes, ears, nose, teeth and knees are. Of course he can point out much more but those are the ones he likes to say himself. He is a hugger and belly laughs all the time. It is rare that he isn't easy going and happy. In fact, I can't remember a time that he has been in a bad mood. He has a temper but gets over it quickly.

Kaylen is a sweet big sister and the two of them get along so well. She has gotten good at cleaning up her own stuff. I am so glad to have the help! She wont eat anything! I am not sure how she is alive because she thinks all food is disgusting if it isn't steak or hot wings or chips and salsa. I am adament that she eats what is for dinner or nothing. She is stubborn enough to choose nothing... boy is she ever my child! She has a big heart and she loves encouragement! She strives to make you proud of her. She still has a love for reading and her imagination continues to grow and she loves to make up her own stories. I can't wait for Kindergarten next year. I know she is going to do great!

And since this is my own blog I will make a plug for my new ETSY store! Emily and I have officially started a shop on Etsy. Right now we are making hairbows but we have plans to do much more! So please check us out! Our store name is She Sells Details.

So go to www.shesellsdetails.etsy.com for more info! Below is a sample of my pink selection but there are many more colors... :)

Sewing project

2011-03-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

Okay so Emily and I have been making some outfits for the girls. We plan to put rosettes and initials on the front of the shirts and make coordinating hairbows but here is the basic outfits! I think they are cute! :)

End of Basketball

2011-02-21T12:16:00.001-08:00

Well, another sport has come to an end. We had our end of the season party on Saturday. Kaylen always just begins to grasp what she is supposed to be doing during the last few games. I hope that next year we can pick up where we left off with both soccer and basketball. Allen was out of town for this party and I happened to run into my neighbor at the game. She helped me out at the party so it went much smoother. My two can be a handful by myself! So here is my big 5 year old with trophy number 2! She is collecting them! :) I love how much they excite her right now. It is really sweet.

During Soccer she happened to be the first person called to get her trophy. She was really surprised because she didn't even know she was getting one. This time she happened to be the last. Look at the boredom on her face! Also the little boy standing is her running bff. They go up on the track after each game and chase each other. So cute. Oh, and he beats her by a landslide but he can just about beat me!
If this isn't a little trouble-maker! He has such a personality! I love how he has to get comfortable wherever he is. He will cross his legs and lay back all relaxed like. His talking has really increased lately. He is still a great eater. He will really eat anything you give him. And messy! He always has tons of whatever he is eating in his hair and all over his face and hands.
Their team was called the Blue Waves and they had the cutest cake for their party.
Kaylen is the best big sister. I know it might not always be that way but for now, I am going to enjoy how helpful she is with him. I let him walk to the car and Kaylen held his hand the entire way and made sure he stayed away from the road. And he looks up to her so much. He will mimic her and he also runs up and hugs and kisses her all the time. He just held her hand and they walked all the way to the car together. These two may be a lot to handle at times but I am so proud of them and thankful that I get to be their mom!

Basketball

2011-02-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

We put Kaylen in the 5 and under basketball this year and it has been interesting. It wasn't quite as intutive as soccer but we have had a good time. Allen has been against it from day one but I have loved it. Kaylen is fun for me to watch playing any sport. But my momma side is coming out.

I guess she is stretching. :)

She decided to pose for me before her game.

She is about to get to dribble down the court! The video's later will show you how they play the game at this young age. It isn't quite as intense as a real game.

She is getting some air! No idea whether this one actually went in or not but she looks great!

Is that excitement or what?! She danced all over the court!

I am including some videos of the season. These two videos are from her last game. She was the high scorer on her team that night and I am so glad I got both shots!

Amber and Micah Engagement Pictures

2011-01-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

So we went out to shoot a few pictures on the coldest day ever! My sister was a rock star in her summery dress! I have more than these but I still need to do some editing. So here is a preview:

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Kaylen's birthday and more!

2011-01-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

Here is my big girl giving me a fake grin because she didn't really want her picture taken. She wanted to go and play. Alas, I did at least get better pictures later. I did forget to get any pictures of her with her parents this year. oops! These two girls are so much fun. I really am so thankful for the friendship these two share. I know I say it all the time but it means more to me than anything! Great friends are hard to come by and her mom means so much to me so that makes me so glad that the girls love each other too!
Tripp had more fun at this party than anyone I do believe. He is my little daredevil. Nothing is too high or too fast for him. I love that about him!
Pictures like this are hard to come by these days... a real smile! She is usually too busy for this or just gives me a fake smile.
Well with Tangled just coming out she wanted a Repunzel cake. I tried to make it myself the day before in the FACS room at school. This didn't work out at all. The cake stuck to the pan when I tried to get it out. So I called Peggy Ann's and she whipped this beauty right out! And it tasted wonderful! And honestly, her cost was way less than I spent in supplies to make my own! Talk about frustrating! I wish I would have used her to begin with!

We had tons of friends and family at the party. We are so loved and we appreciate everyone for coming out. I know Kaylen felt so special. Pump It Up is a great place to have a big party!
Here is my big 5 year old opening her presents.

Here is Allen after K's birthday party. He played every bit as hard as the kids did. He has been working so hard lately with his new drug that has come out and all his school work. He also leads 2 small groups and has a group of college kids that he sees when they are in town. On top of basketball games and dates with me. He is always doing something! It was good to see him finally rest on this day. We really enjoyed our snow days while we had them. Tripp is at a great age! He is in to everything and keeps me on my toes but he is also so sweet. His teachers always tell me what a great personality he has and honestly, to know him is to love him. He is so funny and sweet.
He was posing with me and wanted his picture taken for this one. So cute. He kept saying cheese.
I love this little mischievous look. He is such a stinker but so cute he gets away with too much!
Kaylen is playing basketball this year. Allen thinks it is way too early and complains religiously - it seriously drives me crazy. But I love to watch her. It is fun for her to have an activity that everyone comes to that is just for her. She isn't awesome or anything but I love to see her out there learning how to work as a team and having fun. Doesn't she look so big in this picture?!?!
Here she is going after a pass. It really is mass chaos and her favorite part is to go and run laps on the track after the game.
On to other news... Allen had a good year of hunting. He snagged a 9 point buck. I know this is sad and gross to some of you but we were excited. Kaylen watched him skin it and she just rubbed her tummy and said yum! So she is excited for the meat.

Our First Spend-The-Night Guest

2011-01-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas break Kaylen spent the night with Rylie. These two girls have been dying to have spend the night parties. So on Kaylen's birthday yesterday we went to Chuckie Cheese and then Rylie spent the night. I will tell you one thing... these two are going to be very tired at school today! I heard them still in there giggling around 11:30. They had the best time together and Rylie never got sad or scared for a moment. She was a rock star! It really warms my heart that these two are the best of friends. They play so well together and Kaylen absolutely loves Rylie! I feel blessed to have such great friends as the Foxes.

I have a few pictures of the two playing in the bed. We read books, said our prayers, had a late night snack of peanut butter sandwiches in the bed, and laughed like crazy!

This morning was a completely different story. They were sound asleep on the same pillow. So sweet. They are both such beautiful babies!

Gatlinburg, Christmas and New Years

2011-01-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

I am long overdue for a post on my blog! We have been really busy lately. Let me first say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling Kaylen. She is 5 today. The jump from 4 to 5 has seemed huge to me. She isn't a baby anymore. :( I will have pictures from the events later on. Her party is on Saturday and tonight we are going to Chuckie Cheese - her choice, of course!

So here are my babies at Gatlinburg. We had such a good time there. We stayed in a 3 story cabin with a movie room and a game room. The kids loved it! We saw snow and Kaylen went ice skating for the first time.

Kaylen was so excited when she first put her shoes on. She soon got frustrated when she realized she couldn't skate like the disney princesses on ice could.
We did a lot of skating while holding her up but we did all have a blast.

CHRISTMAS
We had a great time at Christmas this year. We always throw a big birthday party for our Lord and Savior. We always read Luke 2 together, bake cookies for Santa and write him a letter. We also track Santa on the computer. This year was funny because K realized that he was getting close (South America) and so she ran upstairs to go to bed and we always say prayers together. So like every night I asked her if she wanted to go first or last. She said last (like she always does) and then said, "wait! I want to go first because Santa is so close. And, Mom, could you just pray for me in your room? He might miss us if you don't." The next day she told us she had a hard time falling asleep. These are the good years. I love that!

Here is what Santa's gifts looked like before the kids found them.
Here we are about to go to bed at a reasonable time this year! I beg Allen to wear Christmas PJ's with me every year on Christmas Eve so that we can all look cute on Christmas morning. So I had to document that he actually wore the outfit I got him. He did it unwillingly but they are on and that is all that matters! :)
Here is my sweet little girl finding out what Santa got her...
Of course the first thing she picks up is one of Tripp's toys!
Then she got into her stash. She loved the puppets!
She knew exactly what to do and set to it. This girl has quite the imagination!
She asked Santa for a learning system. The IXL is really cool. It does tons of different things and it has a read along program. Very cool!
My boy got sick on Christmas morning. He is in his third outfit of the day in this picture. The look on his face says it all. :(This is the first Christmas I can remember waking up in the morning to a beautiful blanket of snow. It really was magical!

We all spent a lot of time playing in the snow. We went sledding, had snowball fights, made snow angels and built a huge snowman! Kaylen was overwhelmed by gifts this year. We really need to curtail the gift-giving. She asked if she could stop getting clothes because she already had too many. UGH! She didn't have too many clothes... there is no such thing! ;) Now toys... that is an entirely different story!
Here is our awesome snowman. He is a little dirty from all the leaves and dead grass. We also didn't have a carrot for a nose so we used an orange. He has a corncob grill.

Here is my sweet little man sacked out. He was sick for days.
NEWYEARS

Well, my sister and I ended up going to different New Year's parties but we had dinner together before we split up. We went to Bonefish and ran into lots of other friends of ours. So it was good to see everyone!

And I am glad to have a picture of Allen and I from that night. I feel like we never take that many pictures of us together. Kids are always the subject matter! They are cuter. And my picture of us in PJ's doesn't count! :)

Christmas Program

2010-12-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

So the kids christmas program was a while ago but I have been really busy at work. I had a great view on both of my kiddos this year. It isn't obvious from the videos but Kaylen is a donkey. You can pretty much tell that Tripp is an angel. I really thought that Tripp would scream and cry like he did at the Halloween program but he did great... the trick? Smarties!

Here is a sample:

My little donkey... her hat was so big, this was what we saw most of the program.
My sweet angel! How deceptive this picture really is! The teachers say he is really good at school... I think he was still in school mode for this picture because his teacher took the photo.
These two are seriously precious together. They are having their first spend the night party together this week. They are both soooo excited about it!
AFTER THE SHOW:

My kids were in the absolute best mood after the show. Well, Tripp was. Kaylen got a little sad that we decided to get our Taziki's to go instead of going in to eat. I have a funny video and sweet pictures from our car ride. A very impromptu moment.

I have to say, I never thought my kids would get along as well as they do. That may not always be the case but when they disappear, I plan to come back to these days and remember how great it was. Of course, my prayer is that it never changes. :)
This is an interview with Kaylen and just a taste of Tripp in a good mood and all hopped up on sugar! :)

Mrs. Micah St. John!!!

2010-12-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

My sister is engaged! She is planning on getting married over Memorial day weekend! I am so happy for the both of them. The wedding planning has begun! We don't have a ton of time and everywhere is booked! So that is making this a bit of a challenge but we can do it! Micah did a great job surprising her with the engagement. It was really fun.

He took her up to Chicago to meet his extended family. They stayed with his grandparents and went into the city and did fun stuff all week. On Saturday they went to the aquarium and then they went to Navy Pier. I will continue my story after a few shots of them! :)

Micah proposed on the top of that ferris wheel. They were overlooking all of Chicago and it started snowing when they got on. They also stopped when they were at the top. That wasn't planned but it happened right after he asked her. So perfect! So here they are in front of Navy Pier to commemorate the goings on there earlier in the day! :)
Here is a picture of the ring. He did such a good job and got a beautiful ring.
Here we all are at dinner. Amber, Micah, his uncle and aunt, his grandmother, his dad, Allen and me. She was so surprised that we were at dinner that she didn't notice us. I had to say something to her for her to recognize me! It was really fun to surprise her like that.
They were bot so excited and they smiled all night!
Allen and I had a good time hiding out in Chicago as well. We went ice skating at Millennium Park. And we saw Handel's Messiah Rocks. It was a show where they put Handel's Messiah to rewritten (rocked-out) music. It was actually really good. I wasn't so sure if it would be but I was amazed!
Here we are ice skating.

This was the weather. A really wet thick snow. It was beautiful! Such a great weekend to visit!

Leaf days of November

2010-11-18T11:59:00.000-08:00

We are both blessed and cursed with many trees in our yard. On one hand I like that our yard feels like it has been there for a long time and has shade and character. On the other, I absolutely hate fighting with the leaves every year. Well this particular Sunday after church we decided to have some of the college kids over to "help" us. They played with the kids so that Allen and I could get it done but that works too! Anyway, one of them got my camera and made it her mission to capture the day. I am really glad she did because I feel like these shots are what childhood is all about. Playing outside and enjoying nature.

Kaylen was asleep when we started working. She came outside looking like she does in that picture. She is becoming a real Punky Bruster with her own style.

Tripp was all about the lawnmower. That really makes me nervous but as long as Allen was there, I felt okay with it. He was never happier than when he was pushing along with Allen.

Well, he also liked the leaves. Pretty much this kid is always happy. He has a big temper but he also has tons of fun. I cant imagine life without him. I think we would all take ourselves too seriously without him reminding us to have some fun.
His looks crack me up. If he knows you are taking his picture, this is what you get.
When daddy wouldn't let him push along with him, he got his own lawnmower out.
Kaylen loves this bike. She has a little bit bigger one but I think it scares her. This is just her size.
I really want to print and frame this shot. So stinking cute!
See the look in his eye? He really doesn't put up with much from anybody these days. He is TROUBLE! :)
Sweet darlings trying to help out with the yard work.
I know this shot is very candid but it depicts the essence of childhood to me. Running carefree having a blast on a nice fall day in the front yard. I know I will miss these moments.
I also love moments like these. Playing with my kids. Tripp loves to be tackled. And Kaylen loves to tickle! Fun times.
Tripp rolling on the ground playing with a ball. Such a boy!
I think it is good to enjoy yourself even in the small tasks. Being a family and working/playing together is what it is all about. We need more days like this. I hope you all remember to capture the ordinary days of life.

Actual Halloween and a drawing...

2010-11-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Kaylen has really gotten in to drawing these days and I dont want to forget them. I know the actual drawing will be lost among all the other things I wish I would have saved. That is why I am putting it here. I am hoping I will be able to come back and look at things from over the years here.

Now, Halloween is loooooong past but times have been crazy lately. Here are a few shots from the day. Kaylen's hair was so hard to fix and it really looked great this time. I had to get the kids dressed up 3 times this year. Once for their program at school. A second time for the church event on Saturday and then once again on Sunday night for trick-or-treating. This was actually on Saturday. Here we all are and it is the only shot that we are almost all smiling.
Kaylen was such a poser. I have countless pictures where she is striking some sort of pose. So super cute!
Here she is man-handling Tripp, as always. But they are both smiling and enjoying themselves so it is fine with me!
We had a blast on all three occasions but this was a jam-packed Halloween and I hope the days are more consolidated next year to fewer dress ups!

So many events, so little time to blog about them!

2010-10-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

LAST SOCCER GAME!

We had one more soccer game after awards day. This was a great end to the season. Kaylen really wanted to make a goal. That didn't happen but she did awesome. She got in there and played! I have some pretty good shots of her really concentrating and playing her heart out. That is what it is all about!

Bye soccer season! See ya next year! Now we are doing swim lessons and next will be basketball!

And just in case you wondered where Tripp was during these games... EVERYWHERE! I can't contain him. Here he is under the bleachers playing with an extra ball. He is really, really full of life. Sigh.

TATE FARM FIELD TRIP

We went to Tate Farms last week with her school. Of course it was the day of the horrible weather and school closed early. Thankfully we had great weather while we were there. It was just extremely windy! Here we are with the perfect pumpkin. Trust me, we checked out every single one in that field!

Here K is posing again. Notice the clouds above. Bad weather was definitely on it's way.
Of course the corn pits are always the favorite part. Actually they are my favorite part too.

She wouldn't smile for me so Ms. Shelly got her to laugh.

Here is her entire class. Well, Alexis wasn't there and she was greatly missed by Kaylen!
Here is Kaylen and Rylie sporting their cute shirts that Emily and I made together. I love to see the two of them together. Such sweet friends!

SCHOOL HALLOWEEN PROGRAM

Well, this will be a sneak peak to my kids Halloween costumes this year. Kaylen picked this out and it turned out so cute. Tripp is the sheep and Kaylen is Little Bo Peep.

Aren't they so cute together?! At least I think so. A mother is always biased. Well, the program was not a success for Tripp. He was the one kid whaling during the program. I got him and he was fine after that. So the program wasn't totally ruined because of him! :) There is always next year. This is making me wonder how Santa pictures will go this year. Kaylen, on the other hand, sang so well! She finally had a good program. (there was a brief stint of nose picking again.)

Well, I will be back next week with an update from actual Halloween. Have a great weekend everyone!

Soccer Awards

2010-10-20T10:15:00.001-07:00

We had our end of the season party for soccer this week. I didn't tell Kaylen anything about it for some reason. I guess it just never came up. Anyway, we had pizza and cake after the game. When the kids were done eating they had them all gather around. They didn't say why and the coach just started talking. He began by describing this first player as someone who was new to soccer this year. They started the year off a little timid but by the end of the season they were in there kicking the ball and playing with the boys. So Kaylen Wilson, this is for you. She was so stunned that he was talking about her and she had no clue what she was supposed to do. She was really surprised that she was getting to keep something and this was the first time she had ever gotten a trophy. It was a priceless moment. She shock and excitement on her face was awesome. And let me tell you, that girl wanted to tell everyone she had a trophy. She had to take it with her in the bathroom for her shower and then wanted to sleep with it. We compromised by putting it by her lamp on her dresser so she could look at it all night. She is dying for show and tell at school so she can take it and show all her friends. That moment was worth every practice and game we have been to. Having kids and watching them get so excited about the smallest things in life is such a reward. I am so glad to be a mom to both of my sweet babies!

This one was her own posing. She was so excited!!!

She didn't like this picture as much because you couldn't see all of the trophy.
So that led to the following:

Then she decided that she really wanted a picture with her brother. That didn't go over too well with him...

But no worries, that is nothing a little man-handling can't eventually fix. Notice she is looking at me and holding her trophy up to be photographed while making sure her brother is in the shot.
These two are really very sweet to each other. He does hit her and she does try to control him but they also love each other and every night she is the only person he will hug and give kisses to no matter what his mood. I love that. Both of my kids are getting so big. I have really noticed changes in Kaylen lately. Something about the way she acts and looks just doesn't seem small anymore. These are good days and I am soaking them in.

Chaganooga

2010-10-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post about a recent trip to "Chaganooga" as my daughter calls it. We had a great time getting out in nature and seeing the sites of the city. If you have small ones, this is a great place to get away to for a long weekend. I hope to go back way more often.

We went with the Bolton's and the Foxes. So six adults and six kids! I can't believe how good everyone was. Here mine are on the way to our first excursion: The aquarium!

The freshwater sting rays were so cool. This was the very first thing we saw and I didn't think the girls were going to move on!
This stroller came in handy on this trip.
Here are our oldest three hanging out together. I think this is still at the freshwater sting ray exhibit.

Okay, so this picture really is cool. When we were in the butterfly exhibit, a large butterfly landed on Allen and let Kaylen "pet" it and Tripp held her hand while she touched it. So sweet! Tripp loved the penguins. Mostly the plastic ones.

He also loved their freezing cold water that you could feel. Granted penguins weren't actually in the water he was touching. That wouldn't have been nearly as sanitary. Kaylen and Tripp both checking out a huge fish tank filled with tons of ocean life.
Joseph is the cutest kid. He wasn't feeling like his overly joyful self on this trip but he was still really good. Seriously, look at that face! She is going to be in trouble in about 13 years!

Rylie being a little momma to Tripp while Kalyen does her "duty" and sits there for the picture. One of the few shots of our entire gang. (well, minus Cohen but he was on the other side of the camera with his momma)

Sweet smiles from the girls. They really do play so well together.
I love this picture of Tripp because this is so his personality. And I think it is so cool how his left eye is more brown than his right one these days. Not sure how they will end up but they are really unique right now. He loves to clap these days. His absolute favorite thing to say is down. He just wants to run. ALL DAY LONG!

Me and the kids in the little tube that goes in the fish tank. After all there was to see at the aquarium my two were sacked. I love seeing them snuggle and nap together. It warms my heart to watch them interact.

We stayed at a cabin that was out in the middle of no where. LITERALLY. But they had horses and a creek. It was really fun to walk around and explore with the little ones. Here are a few of the horses:

This is the one the kids liked. The pony. Of course he was the meaner one and they couldn't really pet him that much.

One morning we went for a hike and found the creek. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water.
We didn't even brush the girls hair, we just went and had fun.

The older three kids did ride horses around in the yard. They each rode with a parent and were all scared but brave and proud of themselves for doing it.
Here is Andrew about to ride and Kaylen and Rylie are excitedly awaiting their turn. They all loved just seeing the horses. The next day we went to the Children's Discovery Museum. Kaylen called it the Museum of Fun. They had an awesome water feature that entertained Tripp for a really long time.

This sand pit was an area for them to discover dinosaur bones. It was also a huge hit.
It was fun to watch them playing and exploring. Kaylen found a baby and took her to "school". This floor was an area for kids to gain understanding of what it would be like to be disabled. (That has nothing to do with the baby in the picture - not sure what that was up there for) Anyway, they put on blinders and used a walking stick, they pushed themselves around in a wheelchair and other things of that nature. I thought it was a good experience but Stewart thought it was creepy to see the kids in wheelchairs. I sort of agree with that too.
This picture of Andrew cracks me up. He kept asking me to take a picture of him and he would pose. This was my favorite. He is such a little character! I think he may end up with Jeremy's sense of humor... HILARIOUS!

Kaylen's first TN game

2010-09-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

We decided that Kaylen was old enough to experience a Tennessee game. We wanted to go to one that we thought we could win so we chose the UAB game. It ended up being a great game with us winning in double overtime. It was exciting to watch but I wish we would have been a strong enough team to beat them easily. Alas... another year. Moving on...

We were nervous about Kaylen being uncomfortable. having to sit still for that long. getting bored. getting rained on. the list could go on and on but the conditions were perfect. We ended up with great seats right under an over hang (so we had constant shade and no rain if it would have rained). We were near the end zone which was great. There was a cool breeze and we had coloring sheets. Those were a life saver. She loved smokey and the cheerleaders. The band played Rocky Top a million times (as always) and she loved singing along. Our markers dropped a few times and we had to get some help getting them back but other than that, we had loads of fun. No tears, no complaints, just enjoyment. Did she get in to the football? Of course not but what girl ever truly does? There are a few of us out there but not many.

Here K is pre-game. She was ready! We were waiting on the Vol walk.
Would have been such a sweet family pic at our first game but K wasn't feeling the smiles all that much.

Closer to a smile but the sun was in her eyes and we just got a silly expression. She was getting impatient while we waited.

Sweetest smile of the day. :)

They made it! Here they come! She loved the majorettes. She watched in amazement. Look at those girls twirling their sticks!!!
We are finally at the game and more fun! The band was really fun for her to watch.
Their famous T in all of it's orange glory!

And of course she konked out for the end of the game and totally missed the double overtime. She slept through the loudest part of the game!
Everyone around us thought she was so cute and we had a great time at dinner after the game as well. We did a little shopping and headed back home. At about 9 pm we were 17 miles from S. Pittsburg and traffic came to a screeching halt. Their had been a wreck between two tractor trailers and their cargo had flown everywhere. So we sat completely still for 3 hours awaiting the clean up and reopening of the road. We ended up getting home around 1:30 am. Kaylen was a trooper and it was an unforgettable first for us!

Frantic Frog

2010-09-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't mentioned on here anything about the races I have been involved in lately on here. Mostly because my point and shoot died and I didn't want to lug around a big camera. And even if I did, who would take the pictures? Well, at the Frantic Frog, Jeremy so graciously took pictures for us.

Just to mention the other races I have done, the Wet Dog was in July. I didn't have a very good race that day for some reason. You know how sometimes you just have an off day? That was me for that race. Oh, and I ran the Cotton Row back in May, I think. My time for that one was 26:57. I felt like I could have done better that day too but it gave me a good time to beat. I did the Frantic Frog two weeks ago and it was a 400 meter swim, 14.5 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. My time was 1:33 and some change that I have forgotten. This is the only one of my races that Allen did with me this year. So I am chronicling this for both of us. Anyway, I also did the Care Center 5K this past Saturday. I finished in 26:20 (which at least beat my earlier run). I am hoping to get my time down even more and might do the Liz Hurley race in October.

Here we are pre-race and you can tell that it isn't quite daylight yet. This is the happiest you will see Allen the entire event!

Here we are in the bike corral getting set up and ready to go. Allen needed help putting those pesky numbers on his shirt. The rest of us seemed to manage fine on our own... but safety pins can get confusing! :)
By this point we are really gearing up. We have gotten down to our swimwear and I don't do that until I absolutely have to. I sincerely think that these races are a lot of people in too much spandex.
I liked how this race had us jump off the dock to start. That's much better than awkwardly running through the water and flopping in. They started us two at a time. Allen and Amy started way before me. I ended up swimming the wrong direction at the end. I swam along the side of the pier and we were supposed to veer right near where the picture is being taken from. Oh well. :)
Here Allen is getting out of the water and on to his bike for his most dreaded leg of the tri.
And here he is finishing the run. He was hating life right about then.

But then again, so was I. I came in after him because I started so much behind him. It is not any fun to know that everyone in your group is already finished and sippin' on some tasty agua while munchin' on orange slices.
Amy and I trained for the race together and she has become a great workout partner. I do so much better when I am held accountable! And we are right there on the same level so we really seem to work well together.

Here are all the girls chatting afterward while we await the results posting. Of course miss fitness blew us all out of the water. Hollie is what I consider the mere definition of discipline. She works hard and it shows. We all seemed
I am not going to brag too much about the outcome of this race... I will let this picture tell you who the winner was between our competitive duo. I will say that I trained WAY harder than he did.

Field Trip to the Botanical Gardens

2010-09-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

***Disclaimer*** If you plan to go to the Botanical Gardens and see the scarecrows, I would skip this post or nothing will be a surprise. I am pretty sure Kaylen HAD to have her picture taken with every scarecrow there!

Here they all are at the start of the day looking and feeling fresh and excited!
This is Alexis and Kaylen. They have been the closest of school friends!

And now we get in to the parade of the scarecrows and Kaylen. First up, Captain Jack Sparrow.
Next we have Ariel... we couldn't tell that was her but the sign swears that it is. Kaylen said she must be getting married or something.
Next... not sure what he is. I am going to call him the headless businessman of Sleepy Hollow.
Closest thing to a traditional scarecrow we saw (minus the green pumpkin head).
Pinocchio! He looks a little scary but he was loved for being so short and easy to look at by the little ankle biters.
Can you believe they have a play area with balls in it? I thought those were banned for being so dangerously dirty. But I guess I was wrong... Of course I let my precious baby play in them!
Buzz Lightyear getting a big ole hug from my little one.
Princess Fiona (or so the sign said), Kaylen and Amelia.
A scare-ghost and Kaylen.
They had a star wars theme and this was a "treewok" village. Cute, huh?
A big spider and some class friends. Hayes, Lacy, Kaylen, Georgie, Seth, ???, and Nikki. Hey, 6 out of 7 isn't bad!
Rushton and Kaylen give Woody a big hug!
Kaylen as Goldielocks.
They said not to touch the butterflies but they never said anything about not letting them touch you!
These 4 girls are such good friends. Georgie, Katie Rose, Rushton and Kaylen.
Here is my little guy. He has been getting in to EVERYTHING these days. I am so worn out and am just trying to keep both him and I alive with nothing around us broken!
Here is how he feels about Kaylen being the boss of him these days. And she is getting frustrated with him some too. On wed. Sept 15, 2010 Kaylen told her brother that she hated him for the very first time. It broke my heart and she tried to take it back right away. I know that is just the beginning of many more years of sibling fighting.

first soccer game

2010-09-17T11:23:00.001-07:00

This game was so fun to watch. I had a blast cheering from the sidelines. You know how competitive I am so I have to let you all know that Kaylen's team is really good. They won handily. We scored goals for both teams even! I don't think we are going to have much trouble winning games this season. The coach is really good with kids and very knowledgeable. Kaylen is learning a lot and I am thankful for this program!

So throughout the evening she did listen some to her coach when they huddled up.
There were times that she was in the game running hard and chasing after the ball.
There were times that she stood around with her shirt up and no idea what was going on around her.
Times that she danced for the crowd.
Times that she cheered for her teammates from the sidelines.

And here is my picture story of her practicing making a goal before the game. (you might need to click on the image to really see it well)
Of course there was attitude for days! Sassy little thing!

She got all hot and red-faced.

She was completely surprised that her Aunt Nikki came to the game and she welcomed her with a big hug.

And I am pretty sure that the best part of the game for her and her two gal teammates was the snacks and hang time afterward. Such a fun season ahead of us!

Fast Trip to Arkansas

2010-09-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Over our Labor Day weekend we took a quick trip to Arkansas to visit family. This was our view on the way down Friday evening. It was amazing!

We got to Memphis (where my aunt lives and so graciously lets us all stay) and realized that I forgot Tripp's pack-n-play. BIG MISTAKE! He has to have that to sleep! So we all had a restless night. Needless to say, we got up early Saturday morning and headed off to Arkansas to visit my Papaw. We were following my aunt who was using her GPS that took us through some pretty interesting sights. So things got a little crazy with the photo journalism. I wish like crazy I would have gotten the inner city Memphis we went through. I am very sure that we were not invited to frequent those parts and needed to leave as fast as we came. Anway, we took a picture of the only white person we saw within a 10 mile radius of that place:

So since that was so momentous we decided to replicate that and show the other white person I had seen but forgotten about:

We had to go through Mississippi to get there so we drove through Tunica. We learned all sorts of things here!

Like, Michael Bolton is still alive and well and preforming in Mississippi! Be sure to check him out because if you are anything like me you have been asking yourself, "How am I supposed to live without you" any time you think of him. Anyway, there were many other people that we found...
like Kenny G! I thought this guy had been arrested for lulling drivers to sleep and causing an outbreak of car accidents in the late 80's. Guess he made bail and is back at it in Tunica. Hey, did anyone else know that he holds the Guiness World Book record for longest note held on a sax? 45 minutes! Enjoy, everyone, enjoy!
We also saw cars that were missing back windshields. Yes, you can see this anywhere but on this trip, it made the list.
This is one of my favs. Only in Tunica will you see both Tractors and Tour buses on the same 4 lane highway! Really?!?!?
We had a good time in the car as well. Here are my two being so sweet.
Amber and Kaylen posing. We sang, danced, videoed such activities without the knowledge of the singer and dancer... Good times!
My babies playing together. I love that they can entertain each other!
We did have some tears with this little guy. He was a trooper but some things were just more than he could handle. He was so ready to be out of his seat!
We saw lots and lots of cotton!
And now we are reaching our destination!!! Arkansas!

There really isn't much there. It is so much like the place that time forgot. I honestly love that about the area though. It is as if you are going back in time. Things have just aged and stayed the same. Take this house, for example. It looks like it was really nice many years ago. Now it is run down. What a fun restoration project, huh!?
And then you have stores that look like this. It probably used to be a mom and pop convenient store that the native-to-Arkansas-Wal-Mart put out of business. I am just speculating.
And there are scenes like this that are sad. A home destroyed and left there. It makes me want to go and help clean it up and restore it.
Now we are on my Grandpa's road. Notice the lack of pavement. I am telling you... a totally different world! Very relaxing and quiet.
How beautiful is the farming community? I love all of the barns and fields. It is a shame that we are losing this laid back way of life.
We made it to my Papaw's! He has lived here as long as I can remember and it is a great place to visit. The weather was absolutely perfect this day!
His neighbor has a pet deer. It is a 10 point buck and so sweet. He ate flowers from us for the longest time!
Even Tripp got in on the feeding.
He is getting old but he is so gentle and sweet.
Of course we all had to get in on the photo opt with the deer.
Mamaw, A. Christy and Tripp enjoying the beautiful afternoon.
Okay, this is always my favorite activity at my Papaw's. I borrowed some knock around clothes from Mamaw so I didn't get too dusty and took the kids for a ride.

Tripp and Kaylen both just went around the house with us and then back off to play in the yard. Sydney (my cousin) and I had a lot of fun riding all over the place on that thing. All of the fields are in a checkerboard pattern and you can go around there for days. It really is a blast! Mom, Papaw (her dad), A. Christy, Kaylen and Sydney
A. Christy, Mamaw, Mom, Kaylen
Okay, these shots get a little silly... Amber I put these on here for you, my dear. Remember that picture of me that you stole? :)
Amber, get in that tree and smile like you are having your senior pictures made!
Amber and I.
Hey, I know, hang in that tree and smile like you are just standing around acting normal. What? It actually hurts your legs to hang like that? Well, you never showed the pain on you sweet smiling face!
Now you fit in the inner city Memphis area we drove through earlier! Way to throw those gang signs, Whitey McWhite.
Wait, what'd ya say? I am sorry, I couldn't quite hear ya. Nevermind... lookin' good!
Now we are in Forrest City. This time it is an entire downtown that time forgot. So strange to see.
But then again, these are the cars you might see driving through this area. And yes, I was afraid of being shot for taking the picture. I tried to be sly but was told that I so wasn't.
God Bless America.
This is my Mawmaw's house. She past away many year ago and my Aunt bought it. She then past away and the house left the family for a while. My uncle has recently purchased it and is slowly trying to update things. It was nice to all be there again. Odd how different places evoke such memory for you.
After dinner there we decided to go ahead and go back home on Saturday night. This was due to Amber not feeling great and us not having a pack-n-play for Tripp. This is how we all felt at this point:
But Kaylen was acting more like this:
It was a quick trip but was really nice to race down memory lane. We ended the weekend with a game of hide-n-seek on the golf course, a cookout with Allen's high school guys and some family hang time. All in all, it was a great Labor Day!

August

2010-08-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well, August has been interesting because my camera died at the very beginning so most of the month passed without pictures. But we did capture a few things towards the end of the month and the kids had school pictures taken. I didn't know they were going to get a shot of the two kids together so I was very glad I happened to match the kids! They did a good job of getting them both to look at the camera and then to get smiles!!! Get out of town! Anyway, in uploading, I put them in reverse order... so if you are one of those chronological people, scroll down and go up! :)

Tripp's 1 year old Mother's Day Out Picture

Kaylen and Tripp together - the only year they will be in MMO together.

Kaylen's 4 year old/Pre-K MMO Picture
Kaylen and Tripp are playing together well these days. It is fun to watch them entertain each other. They are starting to make each other mad as well. It's fun to just sit back and watch.

These next two are of Tripp on the phone. He cracks me up when he gets a phone. He carries on serious conversations. I have no idea what he is saying but he is going after it. I know it is hard to see but he does have my phone and is chatting up a storm on it.

This is always his mood. I love this guy!

Kaylen is so good with Tripp. I love to watch her with him. They have the best time together and no one makes Tripp laugh like she does.

Tripp is a paci kid if I have ever seen one. He absolutely loves it and has to have it at all times. If you can find a paci and give it to him, all will be well with him.

Have you noticed that both of my little ones have a sunburn? I feel so bad that I didn't keep them screened up. I guess it was bound to happen at some point. It really wasn't that bad and they didn't even act like they noticed. It just bothered me.

Allen took both kids out for a swim. They had a blast. I wouldn't go out there because I couldn't see the ground I was stepping on. I am not okay with that!

Kaylen had a blast playing with the sand. This is the best "floatie" that she has on. If your kid is learning to swim, I highly recommend it. It holds them up, their arms are free and you can take out parts of the flotation out slowly to get them more accustomed to keeping themselves up slowly.

Tripp loved the sand.

Daddy got Tripp in the water with a regular diaper on. It was gigantic after he got out. Too funny!

Daddy and Tripp. He loves his daddy so much! It is fun to see that bond they have.

And this one is from a while ago but it is too cute to pass up. :) Look how much smaller he is!

New Car

2010-08-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

For some reason I keep forgetting to say anything about our new car. But since I dont really have a good way to take pictures and havent taken any in a while, I thought I would show you guys a picture of our new car. Our neighbors are calling it the Swagger Waggon and it is a Buick so I guess I will be turning 52 on my next birthday. All that said, (and this is really going to make me sound old) it is a really comfortable ride and has room enough for all of my friends and family (8 passenger). So if you would like to go somewhere with me, just let me know! :)

Soccer Practice

2010-08-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Kaylen started soccer this year. She looks so cute out there! This is her first try at an organized sport. I think she is really going to like it when she starts having games. The practices are really cute. It has been so hot lately so she has complained about that. The girl loves putting her shin guards and cleats on. She is having a blast out there and I think I look forward to practice as much as she does!

Kaylen's first day of Pre-K

2010-08-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

Kaylen was so excited to start her first day of Pre-K. She seems to really like Ms. Shelly and knows almost all of her class from the last two years of school. Alexis is back this year and that is her best friend in her room. Rylie has joined her school this year and they see each other on the playground sometimes. Tripp started the one year old class this year so he is there Monday-Wednesday-Friday. We are looking forward to another wonderful year!

Stay Tuned...

2010-08-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

I do have new material coming very soon. I forgot to bring the camera in today but I have some first day of school and soccer practice shots coming.

Kaylen is doing amazing. Some key things she is up to these days are:
- counting to 100 by tens and twenty by ones
- reading really well. Has now begun to sound out words. She also uses context clues to guess at words she isn't sure of.
- makes up songs all the time. The words to the songs are hilarious.
- completely self sufficient to play on computer. Has even bought an I tunes song. We had to stop that.
- Her writing has gotten much better. She is now writing her name and can write notes like Mommy, I love you. Kaylen
- She is shy in crowds and is usually quiet. At home is a different story.
- She is really good to watch out for her brother at school. She spent an entire recess waving at him on the little kid's playground from her own. Neither of them played, they just waved at each other.
- She loves to tickle people and she is so animated with her eyes.
- She is quick-witted... sometimes to a fault.
- Her prayers are so sweet and she is really thoughtful when it comes to her friends.
- She still gets excited to show us her poopies but she has been sufficiently potty-trained for about a year.
- She loves to help clean and cook.
- She plays well by herself in her room or anywhere for that matter.

Tripp is up to no good these days. Some things noteworthy from him are:
- He is serious about food.
- He has a temper when you aren't giving him a bite of what you are eating.
- He is now saying juice whenever he wants something to drink.
- He is attached to his paci.
- He is extremely mobile and you will find him getting in to something that you never would have thought he could find or reach.
- He can open the back door and go outside if you don't deadbolt it shut.
- His 2 favorite places to play downstairs are the dog food bowl and the toilet/plunger.
- He very much enjoys life and wants to play all the time.
- When he is sleepy he wants to be put in his bed and left alone.
- He would rather be put down and running around getting into something than being held.
- He likes throwing things like balls, food, anything he can pick up...
- He thinks that it is funny to hit and be rough. (Not sure how that will affect spankings effectiveness!)
- When he gets upset he falls out on the floor and cries alligator tears.
- When he does something wrong and you say no sternly and have an upset look on your face he falls apart. Slap his hand and he laughs. Go figure.
- Life is a big game these days and he enjoys each day to the fullest. He keeps this momma hopping while he is awake!

A video of T walking

2010-06-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to put this video up for a few weeks now. Sorry it took so long. :)

June

2010-06-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

June was a blur and a blast. Here are the kids playing together in the back yard. Kaylen is becoming such a great big sister. I can already tell that she might be a little on the bossy side but she is also very loving.

One of my favorite things with the kids these days is morning time. I love the time when Tripp wakes up and plays in the bed with us until he decides he is starving and starts screaming. It is usually a good 30 minutes of sweet kisses and cuddles. Definitely moments I will treasure.

Here the kids are playing on the bed in the hotel on our way down to the gulf.

We were all having fun wrestling and taking pictures.

Once we were there we got to the beach as soon as we could because we were afraid of the oil hitting shore. It never did while we were there but we also didn't go back to the beach except for a sunset and sunrise walk.
Here is Kaylen in the hotel waiting to go to the beach.

Once we got there of course Tripp was ready for a nap but we gave him some goldfish (which he quickly dumped out and covered in sand) and he was content.

He is still eating... that is all this kid does!

Here he is sitting near Kaylen and Allen. They were building a mote and filling it with water. He was just eating sand.

You can sort of see the sand in his hair in this shot. I was miserable because I felt like I couldn't keep the sand out of his mouth. It really grossed me out. I have no idea how people do babies on the beach.

Here they both are playing in the sand. It looks like Tripp is already trying to pass a little of the sand he was eating.

Kaylen had such a good time collecting the water and filling up her mote.

Allen was being such a great dad playing in the sand with the kids. I was their photographer because I didn't want to get anymore sand on me.

Tripp got in on the digging action every now and then.

I got Allen to take a picture of me with the kids just to prove that I was really there. :) You moms out there know what I mean. We are always behind the camera!

This was a fun day out at Baytown Warf. They have really upped their game since the last time I was there. They had all kinds of fun things to do there.

Kaylen was Tripp's driver for most of the trip. She drove a little crooked most of the time but that made Tripp like it all the more.

Here Kaylen is doing the bungee jump. She really liked it.

Kaylen and her Daddy. She is starting to really become more of a Daddy's girl. I love these pictures of the two of them.

She was posing it up this day. We have the cutest videos of her dancing while we were at lunch. Little ham.

Allen with both the babies. Sweetness. And amazing that all three are looking and fairly pleasant. :)

Sweet Tripp taking a nap. He rarely does this outside of his crib. He is a little man that likes his own bed.

The rest of these beach pictures are a hair-brained idea I got when walking along the beach the last night of our trip. We weren't dressed or ready for pictures that night so I decided we would all get up around sunrise and go out and take them. We were staying in an awesome hotel that was right on the beach. So I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I didn't take in to account the fact that my family does not rise early and furthermore, gets really irritable if you make them! Mostly my daughter. She is like a teenager! She will sleep until 10 am if I let her. Anyway, it was mostly a disaster in lieu of meltdowns and totally distraught kids but we did get a few good pictures.

These last three are from a boat trip on lake Guntersville. It was good to get out on the water. I hope we can do this a few more times this season.

Tripp was loving the front of the boat. He is an adventure seeker these days.

This is the sunset we saw on our way back from dinner at Top of the River.

1 year documentary photo

2010-05-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Every month this past year I have been taking a picture of Tripp on his month birthday. I wanted to give you a little behind the scenes this month.

This is typically the end result:

Or something like this where he is smiling but not looking:

But we always have a little of this in the out takes:

And in true boy fashion, a little of this:

So it isn't always easy but it is attainable! Have a great week everyone!

Tripp is ONE!!!

2010-05-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Tripp's party was a huge success! We didn't even have any meltdowns! Here he is in his gift from us.

My sister and Micah were there celebrating with us!

Me and the kids. I love my sweet babies!

Tripp cracked me up with this gift because the box was bigger than him and he kept leaning over the box to look inside. So sweet!

Here he is "reading" his card that Jonah Carlisle made him. This was at the beginning of opening gifts... he didn't last the whole time but we had great help and they enjoyed opening everything! I still remember having to open all of K's gifts on her first birthday all by myself. Not nearly as fun as having lots of helpers!

He completely devoured the cake. He dug right in. Squeezed the cake with his hand. It was everywhere. We had to strip him down and change his clothes outside. So much fun!

This is before he lost the hat. He was so much fun to watch. Great memories!

Here he is with Kate Turnbull. They are really close to the same age. So fun to see them side by side. She is walking up a storm and has been for a while. Tripp is close. Any day now!

Here he is at the beginning of the party. So cute!

The kids played at fishing for duckies game. It ended up being a wading pool. They had a good time and that is what it was there for! Check out Will's foot.

Another sweet picture of Rylie and Kaylen. They are such good friends!

My outdoor decor. I made the banner and found the lanterns on sale at HBLB! It ended up so cute and easy to do! Love summer birthdays!

Close up of my duckie cupcakes. These were fun to make.

The snacks table!

A great book!

2010-05-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine gave me a book to read that I had been wanting to read for a while. I opened it up and haven't been able to put it down! It's called Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It is soooo good! I can't tell you how deeply it has gripped me. My students are working on finishing up a project today so I opened it up during school. Totally cried in class! Couldn't help it. It is so heart moving. I highly recommend it.

Without giving anything away, it is about a homeless guy and an international art dealer and how their lives become forged together and the impact they had on each other. It is a great read.

sample video from new camera

2010-05-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Amazing Mother's Day Weekend!

2010-05-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

I had a really fun weekend with my kids. My Mother's Day present came in on Saturday so I played with it all weekend. I got a new point and shoot camera! I love it! Kaylen and I went to a classmate's birthday party on Saturday and then Amber came over for a while. We hung out and played with my camera for a bit and then she left around 4:30 to take a nap and my kids wanted to do the same. So I put K and T down for a nap. Only K woke up that night. Tripp slept until 8 the next morning. He missed dinner and everything! This kid is absolutely ridiculous with his excessive sleeping. So I used the free time to get my house in order and work on a banner I am making for Tripp's birthday. Allen spent 5 hours working in the yard. He did an amazing job and suffered two horrendous blisters to boot.

Sunday started off so nice with breakfast in bed and some really sweet cards. We had Aunt Liz, Uncle Bob, Aunt Christy, Uncle Wayne, Mamaw, Papaw, Amber, Allen, the kids and me at the house. We had a nice lunch and homemade ice cream for dessert. We played corn hole (Amber beat me badly), basketball and went for a walk. It was so nice outside. I enjoyed every bit of the day and my kids were so adorable and both behaved wonderfully. It was good to be me yesterday. I am blessed.

Amber took these beginning ones of Tripp that turned out so great. In this first one he was dancing from side to side. Such a sweetie!

This one is obviously so funny but if you click on it and view it larger, you can totally see my sister using my new orange camera in his eyes! Too cool!

These last three were from Saturday. We enjoyed the mild yet beautiful weather all weekend.

Camp Out in the Backyard!

2010-05-03T08:32:00.001-07:00

Kaylen has been asking us if we could go on a real camp out for quite some time now. She goes on pretend ones in the play room when she spends the night with her grandparents. So we finally had a really free weekend and decided to give it a try. We went and got a tent (we are such avid campers that we didn't even own one!) and I quickly learned that my husband didn't have that much practice with putting one of these up. Thankfully my dad always made me help out when we put tents up growing up as a kid. So between the two of us, we made it happen. Notice the big smile on Allen's face. This was a pretty funny endeavor.

Here it is all up and it was worth it because we had one excited little girl.

She is just like her daddy and she wants things to be a certain way. She had snacks that she went and got from the pantry. She had a baby for each of us. She had an agenda. We were to tell stories, have a pillow fight, wrestle and roast marshmallows. It was really fun. She even said that she prayed and asked God to keep it from raining on them. Her prayers were heard. The rain held off! She did forget to ask Him to keep the wind at bay but that made it an adventure!

This is a picture of our ominous sky. I was worried.

We had fun in the tent playing steam roller and telling stories. (not ghost stories just stories)

Tripp was inside asleep and that is why I let Kaylen and Daddy spend the night without me. I stayed out there until about 11:30. We did have a tee-tee accident but most nights she gets up in the middle of the night and goes to the bathroom. A combination of staying up until midnight and being outside threw her off. Oh well.

Here is a sample of our play dough people.

Here is my new camera!!! Happy Mother's Day to me!!!!! I am so excited about it. My current point and shoot is on its last leg, as you can tell from the blurry images above. We also got it in orange. I can't wait for it to come in!

Country Music Half Marathon 2010

2010-04-27T08:51:00.001-07:00

I have finished my second Country Music 1/2 Marathon. This was my third half because I also did the Mini-Indy. Each time has gotten better. The Mini-Indy was bad because I had meant to train but didn't quite get around to it. Nothing on Earth has ever hurt worse than that!

After I had Kaylen I decided to train for a half to lose the baby weight. It was pretty effective and I had a great race. The weather was awesome and it felt good. The blisters from not having great socks on KILLED! Other than that, it was a wonderful experience.

This time around I trained with Jessica South (my friend in the picture). She is a rock star! This is her third CMHM in a row. For all of our long runs she was the driving force for us to move faster and faster. I absolutely loved training with her (even though I wasn't that nice while we were going through it). She pushed me and I love that! We are about to start training for the wet dog. I always love training for the triathlon's so much more than the half marathons. I get tired of running so much.

Anyway, I had some IT band issues this year and it was on the painful side. At one time I really thought that was going to keep me from my goal of beating my 2007 time of 2:00. But it did not. I ended up finishing in 1:57. The rain held off just long enough for me to run and get back to my car and to my hotel. Thankfully I never had the first raindrop. It was humid but cloudy - so no bright sun beating down. My goal was to lose the baby weight from Tripp and I lost a pound per mile. So 13 lbs! I love running!

I did accidentally throw my gum in what I thought was a trash can but it was a vat of Cytomax that they were giving all the runners. oops. The winner of the marathon (26 miles) did it in 2:15. That is so amazing. I am in awe!