Yes, I have lost my mind

I think I've mentioned at some point before that one of my sisters has become a runner. Starting about three years ago she began running and training for races. She ran a full marathon and more half marathons and 5K's than I can keep track of. So when she was talking about signing up for another half marathon with a friend of hers my other sister (who's run in one with her before and that's it) said she wanted to sign up too. Somehow, someway I ended up signing up too. Maybe I felt pressured, maybe I wanted to prove something, maybe I wanted to "bond" with my sisters.....or maybe I just lost my mind. Having paid the money for this thing and bought all the running gear (new shoes, new watch, running belt water bottle holder thingy) I am committed. Or maybe I should be committed? Did I mention that this race is at the end of March. As in less than two months away? Needless to say, training is not going as well as I'd hoped. I started off strong with my short runs. Then I got strep throat which cost me a day. I got going again though only to start having major calf cramps. The kind that still hurt on your day off and basically all the time. I'm eating more bananas and stretching really well. I just can't seem to run for more than about 2 miles at a time. Until this weekend that is. The sister that started this whole mess told me to bring all my running gear when I visited my parents this past weekend. She made me run. (I use the term run loosely. We alternate running with walking and I do much more walking.) She made me run four miles. I didn't die. Even if I felt like I might. I usually have to do this by myself and usually on a treadmill. Even though I wanted to kill her it was still better to do it outside and with someone.
Here we are after we finished.

Don't let the smiles fool you. I hurt. This was yesterday and I still hurt today. I wasn't sure I could move this morning but I'm much better now. My next big run is 6 miles. I can't even think about it.

Firefighter in the family

My father-in-law was a firefighter for many years. Unfortunately he passed away before the boys joined the family so they never got to know their second Grandpa. Chris and I have mentioned him to the boys before but we don't have alot of pictures to show. After the firefighter party yesterday I told the boys once again about Grandpa and did they know he was a fireman? When I told them that we had one of Grandpa's firefighter coats Zachary got super excited and wanted to try it on.

What do you think? Are they ready to follow in Grandpa's footsteps?

Firefighter party

Our good friend turned five this week and today was his birthday party. It was the coolest party ever! We started at their neighborhood pool pavilion but walked over (about a block) to the nearby fire station. The firefighters pulled out the big firetruck and let the kids climb all over it. They answered tons of questions and were so super nice.






Then one of the men in our group got to put on the full firefighter gear. The firemen thought that if the kids saw someone they knew in the gear (mask, oxygen & all) that it would help them to not be afraid. That air tank does make some noise and he sounded a bit like Darth Vader so I could imagine some kids being scared to see a firefighter coming to get them in an emergency situation.

After he was done with the clothes then of course the kids wanted a turn. The birthday boy was the only one to try on the coat and pants but many of them tried on the gloves and helmet.



The birthday bunch!
Zachary came home and got out all his fire trucks and made sure to wear his pajamas with fire trucks and fire hydrants on it. He is ready to become a firefighter. I think we'll have to plan a visit to our local fire station one day.

A surprise from Daddy

Chris heard about an offer from the USO to have soldiers record a video of themselves reading a book to their children and took them up on it (without telling us). On Monday the boys got a mystery package from Daddy that contained a book and a DVD. It was the neatest thing to get to watch Daddy read the book that the kids were holding. Alex & Zachary were super excited! The only downfall was that Alex thought he could talk to Daddy and that he could talk back just like we do on Skype and got a little sad when I told him that it was just a "movie" of Dad. We still loved it!




Yes, Zachary is dressed as Ironman. I'm telling you, that box of super hero costumes was the best money I ever spent!

Christmas part two - at Mimi & Papa's

Christmas at my parents was split into two parts. One of my sisters lives nearby with her two teenage sons but the other lives far away. We weren't sure if the teenagers would be around to open gifts when the rest of the family was there (and they couldn't wait anyway) so just the four boys (her two big ones and my two little ones) opened gifts on Christmas Eve night after church.




Then when my other sister came with her family the day after Christmas we opened gifts again. Whew!



And played a little Mario Kart. Everybody really wants to beat Owen (3 years old) but he is good!


Some good friends came to visit with their two girls while we were all there. The four girls are close despite always living far apart. It didn't take much to get my boys to play dress up with them. They were all dressed up for the wedding of Zachary and Shelby (Last time he married Shelby's sister Abbie!).


Now that the holidays are all done I'm tired! So glad the boys started back to school today!

Christmas part one - at home

I know it's late for a Christmas post but I was out of town so bare with me. Chris really wanted to see the boys open the "big" gifts that we gave them so we Skyped with him one day (before Christmas) so he could watch. The boys were very excited but I was not once I opened the box to the castle and realized there were 190 pieces for me to assemble - no joke.

Then Santa visited our house early anyway because we were going out of town for over a week to stay at my parents. Alex & Zachary both got big boy bicycles this year from Santa. I'm sure glad Santa didn't deliver these to my parents house. I would never have had room for them in my car. *wink*




After we checked out all that Santa had brought Chris happened to call. So we jumped on Skype and opened the rest of the wrapped gifts for him to see which was mostly from grandma. (Excuse Chris on the computer. He was eating dinner at the time.)



We only got to play with the new things for one day and then we headed to Mimi and Papa's house.

......to be continued