Happy Birthday Penny-Dog

I can hardly believe my first baby (4 legged baby that is) turned 10 years old today!!  She still acts like a puppy.  .  .but we love her anyway!!
I never knew that the boys would be so excited and sweet about celebrating her birthday today.  .  .okay I'm going to be straight up with y'all (cause that's how I roll)-in my head I knew that it was her birthday but I didn't remember until the vet emailed her a "happy birthday" message!  OOPS!

Anyway, Camden insisted that we pick up a special treat for her today so we ran out after his Cub Scout visit to the police station and picked her up a birthday surprise, they were super excited to give it to her!  The other thing that Camden did--and seriously y'all, he's becoming more and more thoughtful everyday (bear with me, this is a long story)!!  Anyway, his teacher told them today they should read a book and have their parents ask questions, for every question they get right they get 1 minute to do something.  Camden earned 11 minutes-he wanted us to all take Penny on a walk (for 11 minutes, which was plenty b/c it was COLD) since it was her birthday!  Wasn't that sweet?!

Happy 10th Birthday Old Lady!  We Love You!

We picked an opossum because we had one on our deck a few months ago that she wanted to play with!  She loves it!

A Personal Best!

I've always wanted to run a 5K by myself, just to see how well I would do if I just focused on my time. For most people 5ks are social, you pick a fun one or one that supports a cause you are serious about, rally your friends and off you go!!  Well, this time I just wanted to see.  .  .

I just want to finish under 33 minutes (this is what I said outloud, but really I wanted to finish in under 30).  I've never really paid any attention to the age groups, or top 10s, etc.  .  .but it would be pretty cool to finish in the top right??  I watched the weather and at the last minute decided to sign up for Run the Reagan, it would be a little chilly, but the race doesn't start until 11 so I figured it would warm up to almost the high of the day!  Can I just say--I'm so glad it didn't rain/snow like TWC said it would.  We are in Georgia the weather changed a million times between the time I signed up and the time we actually ran!  Fortunately Dad was able to drop me a the start line right at race time so I wasn't completely frozen by the time we started!!
Coolest thing ever.  .  .the race announcer told everyone "if you have a number over 2000 please move to the back" I looked down and I was 1208!  WOO HOO!!  Mind you, I paid for that position it's not because I'm a super awesome runner.  This race gives you an option of a timed race, and an untimed race--and yes I kept that in mind when I saw the results.  I started in the front of the pack, and I would say I finished somewhat in the front--not quite middle, but not way out in front with the dude who finished in 16 minutes (WHAT??  he was in a tank top and shorts too)!!

I ended up finishing in 29:47.  That was the time when I crossed the finish, I'm glad I booked it right there at the end.  I had the little thingie on my bib that tracks you and I really thought my time would be a little less since I didn't cross the start line right when the clock started-but oh well, it was under 30 (my secret personal goal)!!  I even waited around for the results, secretly hoping I would see my name on the leader board.  .  .yea, did I mention the guy who finished first did it in 16 minutes!!  However, when they posted results on the web I was 5th in my age group (out of 30 timed runners, Camden asked how many were in my age group)!!  YAHOO!!!  I finished 185th overall, and 51st out of 333(timed) women.  .  .ANYWAY, I know it's not as super awesome as I think it is, and if you are one of those "oh yea, I place every time" just hush--don't burst my bubble!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hope you all got a Valentine as sweet as we did this morning!!  He even chased Daddy out to the car to make sure he saw it before he left for work!

It was today. . .

It was today that I became "that mom".  .  .you know the mom from Baby Momma (is that it, with Tina Fey)--when Tina tells her she has something on her arm.  .  .this something could be pudding, or it could be poop and without missing a bit mom takes a taste.  .  .

Okay, so it wasn't anything that gross, but when I realized an hour later, once things quieted down a bit and I had some time to reflect.  .  .I thought "WOW--I did that, and didn't think twice".  .  .I'll set the scene:
Alright, it was one of those mornings where I was trying to get ready while simultaneously feed the kids.  Since I'm responsible, I relocated all of my beautifying tools to the downstairs bathroom off the kitchen so I could be sure nobody choked on their cheese quesadilla.  Of course, as usual, once I got all set up Evan and Braelyn were done eating so they were running around playing nicely while I was applying makeup and straightening my hair (yes Misty Ratchford, sometimes I do straighten ALL of my hair).  OKAY-so my cell rings and I thought "woohoo, speaker", I was so proud that I was able to figure out how to chat with my girlfriend about an upcoming shower while putting on my mascara.  Now, I know you don't all have kids, and they are all different-but when my phone rings I SWEAR everyone in my house drops what they are doing, they come to find me and make it a mission to talk to me about anything and everything I never cared about.  Braelyn wails and needs to be picked up, the dog barks.  .  .you get the picture.  ANYWAY, B & E made their way into the teeny bathroom off the kitchen and began playing with the toilet paper, talking, and playing with my hair clip.  .  .Braelyn thought it should go for a swim so "plunk" right into that toilet.  All the while Evan is screaming "Braelyn threw it in the toilet" (remember, I'm still on the phone).  .  .without missing a beat I stuck my hand in, grabbed the clip out, washed hands and clip, hustled everyone out of the bathroom, finished up my conversation.  .  .AND clipped that hair on up!!!!  UGH and that was the moment that I became "that mom".  . .don't judge-it could be you one day!

1 down. . .80hundred more to go. . .

I Jason got a project done this weekend!!  He's now threatened to block Pinterest's ip address so that I can no longer access it from our home.  .  .

Honestly, it didn't come from Pinterest--it came straight from my head!!!  I don't know how I talked him into doing it-I think he just thought "maybe if I do this one, she'll stop following me around gabbing about all of the other things she wants done. .  ."

So, I was giving the kids a bath the other day and they (Braelyn) was splashing all over the place--but where I could really see it was on the wall right outside of the bathtub.  Then it hit me (no not the water) the brilliance.  . .what if we just put tile there?  I mean, how hard could it be???  Plus, it saves the paint I'm going to put on the wall one day (remember, there are 80hundred more projects to go)!!  So, I found the tile and we went for it!  I'm kind of proud, it was all my idea.  I was kind of like a manager, I thought up the plan and delegated it to Jason!  :)

Now all I need is my towel hooks--I say 3 b/c there are 3 kids and this is their bathroom.  Jason says 4, in case we have a guest.  .  .but if we have 4 one will always be empty.  I was going to stencil their initial above their hook so they all have their OWN space (note the color coded wash cloths--again, a moment of brilliance.  .  .)

So, like I said 1 down 80hundred more to go.  . .thank you Evan for showing me I can use the number 80hundred, it's his very favorite number, I hear it every day!  Oh, and of course, thank you Jason for being so handy and getting my tile up!!  I love it!