The rest of Thanksgiving weekend

BlacK FridaY shopping ~ woot! This year I got Matt to come with me (my brother Cody slept overnight at our house) and I'm not sure what he thought of the madness!! He was embarrassed that I was taking pictures, but hey, do you have anything better to do while waiting in lines in the middle of the night??!

WalMart, waiting in line for checkout at 12:00am
Waiting outside Kohls
Boy was up in the middle of the night, thought he was starving.
Freezing my arse off on the coldest night of the year so far! Temps were below 30 degrees, we sat out there for 2.5 HOURS!!!!!
LoVe this picture!!! I'm all exhilarated, he's all exhausted! LOL!
I cannot remember the last time I/we've stayed up for 24 hours straight!!! I'm too old to do that. But I can't resist the thrill of shopping Black Friday!! Once again, we got everything we had on our list from WalMart, Kohls and Target. Becky came to my rescue and I fired the road across town in record time to pick up an item that was swiped off the shelf right before my very eyes.

Saturday morning, we took the kids (minus Preston) to see Tangled. SO, so cute!!! The whole family loved it and Brooklyn asked if we could buy that movie right when we left the theater! Disney did good with this one!We met up with Becky and Lexi at the theater. :)That night, we headed back to the movies to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I.I had been quickly rereading the 7th book so I could actually remember something that happened in the book because it had been so long since I originally read it. I just finished the book THAT afternoon, so after having my expectations set high, I was disappointed in the movie. The book was covered well, but I felt like there wasn't enough development, just skipping from one thing to the next. Also it seemed really quiet and slow moving. I'm excited to see Part II next year. I'm hoping they do the ending justice!

So does this officially make me a runner?

This story actually starts WAAAAAAAY back about the end of September. I had hit the breaking point with my weight and decided it was time to do something about it. There is a girl in the ward who runs in the neighborhood in the mornings so I asked if I could join her. I was a little apprehensive because she has run half marathons in the recent past and I haven't run consistently since I was in college!!! Plus I'm way out of shape....... how am I supposed to keep up??

I put on my Nikes and started running. Did 3 miles the first day AND the second day. Felt great and completely surprised myself! I was sure I would collapse after one mile. Well, by the weekend, I was in horrendous pain. I could barely WALK, let alone keep running. My knees hurt SO bad. I alternated heat/ice and took Advil as frequently as directed. I didn't run the next week, then we were off to Utah for October break. When we got back, I went to a specialty running store where they watch you walk and run, then fit you with shoes according to your gait. I ended up with these beauts, the Pearl iZumi.Started back up with running 4 days a week. Took it real slow in the beginning, kept the mileage to a minimum so I could work myself back up. Since I did it RIGHT this time, I've been able to run just fine, with an occasional teensy bit of pain in my left knee. My big plan is to run a 10K at the end of January, but I saw a banner advertising a Turkey Waddle on Thanksgiving day, so I checked out the website and signed myself up for my very first race, a 5K (3.1 miles)! Monday and Tuesday I ran 3 miles so I knew that was totally doable and I was so excited!!!

When it came time to line up, I got a little bit nervous. There were a lot of people! I had a few fears- what if I got lost? (impossible) what if I came in dead last? (probably wouldn't happen) what if I tripped and fell on my face? (could happen) I strapped on my iPod and hit the road running. At first, lots of people passed me, but I just got my pace set and kept it steady. Then I started passing people. ;) Thankfully all of my fears were completely for naught; I finished in 32 minutes and NOT in last place!!! I ran the whole time and didn't die. I was really, REALLY proud of myself and look forward to my next race!

Almost to the finish line.... you can see the kids with the sign they made for me!!!Mission accomplished!

Me & my turkeys

I can't say I love running --- yet. It's way cold and way dark at 5:15 in the morning. It's hard to get out of my warm bed and sometimes my legs just don't want to get moving. But I never regret getting up and going running. It feels real good to move my body. And I love the way I feel the rest of the day!

Holy Catch-up!

I hate when I do this! Sooooo far behind in keeping up with what's going on around here! Here's a rough sketch of the past month.....

1. We were a bit slower to get the winter garden in this year because it seems like we have had a million things going on every weekend! Matt tried doing starter seeds then transplanting and we agreed that we'll skip that next year and go back to planting plants.

We tried a few off season things and have had some surprise appearances as well!!! This strawberry plant cropped up from seeds we planted during the spring, then a cantaloupe plant magically grew before our eyes as well!!! I hope this strawberry plant survives the winter and we get some hearty berries next summer!We have cucumbers, tomatoes (3 plants), bell peppers left over from spring that are getting to be gigantic now that they are uninhibited by the tomatoes!!! Broccoli, lettuce galore, green beans, snap peas, carrots and green onions!

Left side~ cucumbers, strawberry, cucumbers, lettuceMiddle~ tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli (behind peppers), lettuceHUGE green bell pepper plant with dozens of peppers!!!!Broccoli close-up; looks like some buggas have gone to town on the leaves!Right side~ green beans, tiny pea shoots, cantaloupe, carrots and green onions in front, not visible yet

2. Mesa Veteran's Day parade ~ We go to this every year and the kids absolutely love it. Met up with my mom & Joshua, Becky and her two squirts. Preston was mesmerized by all there was to see!

Hey! Look who it is!!! Jen, Emily and Adam!! They walked/rode with the family group, we decided to spectate this year. ;)Yay for the Mtn. View marching band! They were by far the biggest of the high school bands!

3. Preston has had a few incidents in the last little while that involve shoving things up his nose, particularly food items during lunch. First was a small piece of cheddar cheese, which I was able to remove pretty easily. The most recent was a piece of CELERY that ended up requiring us to take a trip to the pediatrician for extraction. I regret not taking a picture of it post-extraction, just for posterity's sake. Let's just say that was the most expensive celery I have ever purchased!!!!
4. Both Matt and I love going to see plays and since we're not quite ready to fork over the big bucks to take the kids to see the major productions, it's especially convenient that two of my brothers are part of their school drama clubs. This year, we were able to go see Cody (14 yrs old) perform in his Jr. high Fall play, "Locomotion, Commotion, Dr. Gorilla and Me!" Cody played the role of the Mysterious Man. Too bad the best picture I was able to take while he was on stage was with Cody "dead" on the floor with a {fake} knife sticking out of his back!!! LOL!
5. We were getting all settled for a Friday night movie night with the kids, I was about to start mixing up cookie dough for pizzookies when out of the corner of my eye, I see Gavin hit the corner of the island counter and fall back hard onto the floor. I instantly ran to him and assessed the damage, and seeing a gash under his chin, I immediately called for Matt to come take over. I don't do well with blood. I was convinced that he would need stitches, Matt was certain it was fine. So Dr. Dad ran to the corner Walgreens while I held Gavin's chin together, got some liquid bandage, steri-strips and fixed him right up! Gavin was a trooper!

6. Preston is pretty much obsessed with airplanes, "helicockers," and motorcycles. This shirt had Preston's name ALL over it!! When I laid it out for him to see, he sat on it, saying, "Presty, ride!" hahahaha

He can be found toting these Matchbox vehicles around everywhere we go!

DaTe NiGhT!!

It's been TOO long since Matt and I have been out on an official date. A bit ago, I had mentioned to Matt that I would like to learn to use the gift I bought him for his 30th birthday. I think he just about fainted because I've been pretty resistant to shooting any of his guns, even a piddly .22!! It's not that I'm afraid of guns. I don't mind that Matt owns guns, it's just not my idea of "fun" to go out and shoot guns. I figured that I should probably learn how to use the pistol, just in case. ;)

So that's how we started out our date tonight, at the shooting range! I was nervous and excited all at the same time. Matt showed me how to load the gun then let me go! As it turns out, I'm a pretty good shot.

Matt actually admitted that I did better than him! teehee I am woman, hear me ROAR!!!!

I did incur one *minor* injury. I wasn't sure how to position my hands around the handle so I wrapped my left on top of my right with my thumbs crossing behind the gun. The top part of the gun slides back to bring up the next bullet and that hit my thumb and cut it a bit. I survived!

Hot stuff, huh? ;)

We finished off the night with dinner at Texas Roadhouse then a little shopping at Kohls. I love spending time with my honey!

Season's Over

Today was the last of the soccer games for Fall. We survived three kids in one sport and I think we can safely say we'll be doing it again next year! Soccer was a new sport for all of us, but it was really fun to be involved in! I wish we could continue on with Winter season to keep the momentum going, but Mommy needs a break! We're lucky that soccer practice and games didn't conflict with any other extra-curriculars we had going on (dance two days a week and karate) but it definitely kept us busy!

Gavin didn't really get in on the action, he just trotted around the field with the other kids, happy as can be! See Exhibit A:He never once complained or threw a fit about practicing or playing and I love that he'd wave to me from the field all the time! ♥

I'm so proud of Gavin for finishing his first ever season of sports!! Love you, Bean!Brooklyn has declared that she LOVES soccer! I saw her confidence grow during the season. She really enjoyed having four other girls on the team since she was the only girl on her baseball team earlier this year.Soccer was a good energy-output for Blake. He always wanted to be right there in the thick of things, whatever position he was playing. I think it's safe to say that Blake really liked playing soccer too!

Here are the "dynamic duo" with their coach, Craig Avery. He was so good and patient with the kids!And just one more thing ---- BEST.Umbrella.EVER for surviving soccer season in the hot, harsh AZ sun!!

I is for....

I taught preschool again this week! When I first saw that I had the letter I, I was instantly bummed because I didn't think there was much to be done with that. I was wrong and we had a great time! Plus, we got to have a cousin over to join our group!

Tuesday was all about ICE CREAM!!! I read the book Curious George Goes to the Ice Cream Parlor. I put a bit of a math spin on the activities-- we did gigantic paper ice cream cones where they glued the numbers on and had to line them up in numerical order.

Preston, Gavin, Carson Carrasco, Spencer, Kate Oitzman, Madelynn Candland, Hannah Connelly

For our snack, I decided that we'd make our very OWN ice cream in ziplock bags! The kids had fun shaka-shaka-shakin' the mix together until it turned into soft serve. We added a few toppings and they all loved it!

After snack, we transitioned to InChWoRmS. I read Inch by Inch, then we talked about how things are bigger, smaller, shorter and longer. They cut out and lined up inchworms shortest to longest on a posterboard strip.

Thursday, our theme for the day was INDIANS!!! I know, not very PC these days. Anyway. I was able to tie in our monthly theme of Thanksgiving & Gratitude with this one pretty easily! I read a book about the first Thanksgiving, then we moved right to the table for craft time. Each kid FINGERpainted their own paper bag Indian vest. Crazy idea!! Some kids went all out with their paintings (Kate), others didn't care for their fingers being dirty (Gavin). I constructed Indian headbands with feathers they each chose, then we made colored noodle necklaces. For snack, we made a Harvest Blessing mix with each child being able to add something symbolic to Thanksgiving.

I tried to quickly have the kids tell me what they were thankful for so we could construct these darling foam gratitude trees, but by that time, they just wanted to play. I also had cute Thanksgiving sticker pages from OTC that we didn't get time to do so I sent them home to finish later.

It was a bit crazy both days because I tried to squeeze waaaaaaaaaaaay too many fun ideas/projects/activities into too little time. Next time, I need to remember to SIMPLIFY. Less is more, right???