Just a quick note for our family and friends out of state. We are safe and were not close to the horrible tornado that went through Moore, OK.
Thank you to those of you who have called to check on us. We appreciate your love and concern for us.
Many are in dire need of help and have lost everything to this tornado. If you have the desire to help, here is a list of organizations you can donate too or you can donate a little extra to the humanitarian aid category on your tithing slip.
I know I already post pictures of Matthew getting crazy messy with his birthday cake, but with the help of my awesome friend, Shanna, we took some “studio” cake smashing pictures that are SOOOO cute. How could they not be? What’s not cute about 1) my son and 2) a kid eating messily.
I did some scrapbook pages using the pictures too. The kits I used won’t be for sale until June 1, but I didn’t want to wait that long to post the wonderful pictures. If you are interested in digi scrapping, let me know I’ll tell you where to go get the kits.
Aren’t they SO cute? I think the red cloth diaper just makes them so much more cute. Even if I don’t use the cloth diapers anymore, I keep them for just such occasions. Cloth diapers are SO much cuter in pictures than paper ones.
Wow, it’s happened. My baby turned one. This year has been SO fast and so crazy, but wonderfully blessed since we have this little guy in our family.
I will do his “official” one year post when I get his portraits done. They are in the works for the weekend, I can’t wait to share those with you too. But for now, here are some great ones from his birthday. I didn’t take too many of the present opening. I like to participate too. 🙂 He loved his “cell phone” and his “remote control.”
The best part of our evening though was probably the cake. Matthew LOVED his cake. He probably ate about a 3rd of the cake. It is a mini cake, but it was layered. Who knows how he found room for all of it I’ll never know, but it was sure fun to watch.
Did I mention Matthew loves to share and was rather insistent that Daddy try his cake? Such a fun day.
I felt like it was kind of obligatory that I write something about my half-marathon race last Sunday. I did pretty well in that I essentially met my goal pace, 10:00 min/mile. I finished at a 9:57 min/mile pace with a time of 2 hours 10 minutes 4 seconds, 56 seconds faster than my target time. On the one hand, it’s kind of cool that I could be so consistent to know my capabilities. On the other hand, I had it in the back of my mind, based on my training paces, that I was going to be faster than my base goal. My phone GPS even indicated that I was going faster, but I didn’t take into account all the extra distance added by course-swerving over the entire length.
Overall, I am pleased. It got a little taxing around mile 11, but it wasn’t overwhelming. Probably the biggest obstacle was a Clif bar that I ate around mile 9. I had trained eating Clif bars, but my mouth was so dry that I couldn’t swallow it. Then, once it went down, my stomach wanted to send it right back up. It made it difficult to want to drink water which could have started a bad cycle. Luckily, I was near the end, but if it had been a full marathon, I probably would have been in trouble.
Speaking of marathons, I’m looking into finding a nearby fall marathon to train for. I’ve caught the bug, and I don’t think half-marathons are going to scratch that itch. It was a good experience, but it just didn’t feel like enough of a challenge to go through all that fuss. It almost felt false to have all those people cheering us (me) on, saying things like “you can do it!” and “you are awesome!” when really, 13 miles is not that big a deal. Perhaps they were talking to the marathoners. I know 13 miles is a big deal to some (most?) people, but it just isn’t to me anymore.
I guess I just really want to experience the pushing of the envelope. I want to feel like I’ve reached the real edge of my body’s limits. Yes, if I haven’t been training for a half-marathon, it is beyond my limit, but I am talking about the absolute limits of my body. I can only train so much. My pace is such that running past 20 miles hits that magical mark where the leg muscles actually start to endure real trauma and damage. I’ve read that it is somewhere around 3 1/2 hours. As a result, I’ll never even get close to running that full 26.2 miles until race day which will be a nice frontier exploring experience.
My ultimate goal is to one day run an ultra-marathon. An ultra-marathon is defined as anything longer than a marathon, and they typically run in 50K (around 31 miles), 50 miles and 100K. I’m thinking a 50K would be a good life goal to achieve, and I really believe I can do it. The training time required might mean that it won’t be until kids are a little older, but I’ll get there. I have faith in my legs, and I love the way running makes me feel.
In looking back at the calendar, April seems like it has been a pretty slow month, but I have been crazy busy all month.
We started off the month with a lovely conference weekend. On Saturday the 6th, we got Spencer a bike in between the day sessions. And spent part of the afternoon session putting it together (while listening to Conference) and the other part of it telling Spencer he has to wait to ride his bike until it’s over. Not the smartest move on our part, but it all worked out in the end.
Spencer LOVES his bike. He asks to ride it all the time. He’s actually getting pretty good at it. He remind of me of my brother, Alan, when he was a kid. We have to constantly remind him to LOOK WHERE YOUR GOING! He would rather watch his feet pedaling. It’s so interesting how the gears work. He is very interested in how things work.
That Sunday, I decided I was going to train for and race in a Triathlon in July. So, I’ve spent a good portion of the month fixing up a bike, getting swim gear, finding a pool and getting started with training. As of the 30th, I’m officially registered for the race, 3 months from now.
The boys and I got to take a trip to the Science Museum this month. And we had a fun little surprise while we were there. On the way, my Dad ended up behind me on his way to do a job with work. He finished early and he came and joined us. Spencer loved showing Grandpa some of his favorite places at SMO. And we got some really cute pictures while we were there.
Matthew was getting way more mobile, but hadn’t quite started walking (on the 8th) when we were at the Science Museum, but by the 10th he took his first unsupported steps. The last full week of April, Matthew got REALLY brave and started walking. As of the 30th, he is toddling all over the house and LOVES “running” away from his mom when she’s coming to get him.
On the 13th, Spencer earned a trip to Krispy Kreme. Here’s a scrapbook page I did about our trip there.
The journaling says: Spencer was promised a trip to Krispy Kreme if had a great week at school. According to his teachers, he not only had a great week, but he even had a couple of double thumbs up days. Hooray! As a result, we all go to enjoy the fruits of Spencer’s hard work. Matthew especially enjoyed the hat he got to wear and the couple of tastes of donut he go as well.
We’ve been able to have a couple game nights with our friends and do a lot of awesome things, but the best thing that we’ve been able to do this month is support Adam in running his half-marathon on April 28th. I’ll let him write about that, but here is what happened for us:
I woke the boys up at 6:45. Got them fed and dressed and out of the house by 7:15. We headed downtown and found a pretty good place to park, even if it was expensive. We made it to the race sidelines by 7:45(ish) and waited. I texted Adam, told him about where we were so he knew we were there. I made a sign for him the night before so he wouldn’t miss us. I kept track of him on Runkeeper so I knew when he would pass us. Spencer had been holding his sign for a couple minutes when Adam ran by us on the wrong side of the road and TOTALLY missed us. I think he was particularly focused on the finish at that point. It was pretty close.
After the race, we exchanged a few texts to find one another. Ultimately, my sign was helpful in reuniting with one another after the race. We took Adam to his car from our awesome spot and had a great rest of the day together as a family. We (as in the boys and I) are so proud of you daddy! Congratulations on your accomplishment!
April has been full of little successes (and big ones like Adam’s half and Matthew’s mobility) for us. We’ve been very blessed and very busy this month.
We had a wonderful Easter Holiday at our house. It’s the past 3 years it had been a little crazy and last minute when we were planning on egg dying and all the fun stuff with Spencer. We did have enough fore thought to ask the Easter Bunny to come visit our house on the Saturday before Easter so we can focus more on the Savior on Easter Sunday.
We dyed Easter eggs on the Thursday before Easter so they would have enough time to dry before they got hidden around our house. Spencer has gotten really good with his hand eye coordination and was able to dye the eggs with little to no help from us.
We had a great time when the Easter Bunny came on Saturday too. Of course Mommy’s camera wasn’t set quite right and the pictures came out dark of the Easter basket opening, but the Egg Hunt pictures are great fun. 🙂 Both boys had the best time.
Later that evening, we shifted our focus from Bunnies, eggs and candy to Christ. We made Resurrection rolls. A lot of people have done these before, but we thought it would be a nice illustration for Spenc. I didn’t take pictures, I was busy participating. 🙂 I’ll tell you about them though.
We took crescent roll dough and spread a triangle out on the table. The roll represents the tomb Christ was buried in. Then we took a big marshmallow, which represents Christ, rolled it in butter and cinnamon sugar, which represent the spices used to prepare his body for burial. Then we placed the marshmallow in middle of the crescent triangle and folded it up around the marshmallow and sealed the edges (the best we could).
We baked the rolls as directed (10 minutes at 350), which represented the 3 days he laid in the tomb. Then we took them out and opened the rolls (after letting them sit for a couple minutes the marshmallows make those things HOT). The marshmallow was gone when we opened them up, which represents the Resurrection. Spencer totally loved it and understood the point. We were so glad he did. And the rolls are quite tasty, so it makes an excellent lesson for Easter.
We had a great Easter and are so grateful Spencer is willing and anxious to learn about our Savior. It was an awesome, low key holiday for us.
Just as a side note for remembering, today (4/10/13) Matthew took his first two unsupported steps. He was hanging on to the coffee table when I came into the living room from the office. He looked at me and smiled that precious baby smile of his, I held out my hands to him, and he stepped away from the coffee table toward his momma.
Spencer and I had a great time celebrating with him after that, but we couldn’t really get him to repeat his steps. He had turned it into a falling into momma’s arms game that was much more entertaining at that point than walking.
We’re runners.
I haven’t actually posted about Adam and my latest habit, running. I’ve mentioned in my Chiari 2 year review post, but that’s about it. 🙂
Starting about 6 weeks before Matthew was born, Adam decided he needed to lose some weight and get healthy. As part of the changes he made, he took up running and started couch to 5K. He’s been going strong and getting faster ever since.
In September, my post baby weight-loss was slowing down a little bit and I wasn’t thrilled about that so I started walking to help boast my calorie expenditure each day. I worked into running more slowly than Adam did, but I also started couch to 5K, and ran my very first 5K (not race, just distance) on my 29th birthday.
Feeling pretty awesome about that, I saw there was a 5K race on January 1, 2013 and I wanted to do it. I asked Adam if he would do it with me, and we ran our very first race together and ever on January 1, 2013 in 29 degree weather with freezing Oklahoma wind.
TIME: 35:57
Not long after that I wanted to run another race and both Adam and I signed up to run the Creek Classic 10K race. Adam was already at a place where he could go out and do that, but I had to train for it. And train I did. I developed trocanteric bursitis (basically a continually sore hip joint that got better with rest, but flared back up after a run), and we went on a cruise. Even on our cruise, we ran on both sea days at least 3 miles.
When race day came, it was the first time I had ever run the 6.2 miles that is a 10K. And I met my goal. I wanted to finish in under 70 minutes. I had a great pace for me. My best pace yet for such a distance. Adam made great time. Here are his results:
TIME: 57:05
OVERALL: 41st of 113
MALE: 30 of 54
AGE: 4 of 5 (M30-34)
TIME: 1:07:09
OVERALL: 86th of 113
FEMALE: 40 of 59
AGE GROUP: 10 of 10 (F25-29)
After the 10K, I was put on a week of rest along with an ibuprofen regimen to help the swelling in my hip go down. I’ve since gotten sick and had to take another week of rest after only 4 runs back from my rest. I’m back on it next week though.
Not long after signing up for the Creek Classic, Adam signed up to run a half Marathon at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on April 28th. He’s been training hard, and he got sick too. It really didn’t help either of us. I’m excited to go to the race to support him. He’s gonna do great!
As for my next race, I am currently toying with the idea of training for a sprint Triathlon in September. Who would have thought. Certainly not me. 🙂
So, I kinda skipped Matthew’s nine month and ten month mark. We’ve been CRAZY busy for while and I don’t think we are going to be slowing down, ever again… Now that I have sort of a minute to talk about him, he’s almost 11 months old! It has good so quickly. He’s growing like crazy. I’ve still neglected to do his portraits recently, so here is a picture of him at the end of January.
At 10.5 months, Matthew:
-LOVES to eat.
–is giving up totally gave up baby food in favor of table food.
-would rather eat what is on Mom or Dad’s plate than his own
-was not quite crawling at the beginning of 10, but he sure is now. WOW.
-is a great belly wormer/army crawler, but has totally giving it up for crawling
-preferred mode of transportation is walking while holding onto fingers
-prefers Spencer’s toys over his own
-has a strange fetish for remote controls and cell phones
-sleeps like a PRO, about 12 hours a night
-still takes 2 naps of at least 1 hour each.
-loves it when his brother comes home from school
-is Spencer’s biggest fan
-laughs the very best and most for Spencer
-seems to be the happiest, most chill guy ever (until it’s time to eat)
-makes the most hilarious sounds when he wants to eat more
-when he gets frustrated, he says, “mamamamama” (we’re not sure if it’s because he wants me or he’s chastising me. Maybe a little of bother)
And some pictures of him over the last months
I haven’t written one of these for a while, but I have an excuse! Really! On Monday morning, 1/28, we decided to go on a cruise. Three hours later, we booked it for Saturday, 2/2. Most of these entries are from the cruise. The rest of the time we were packing and unpacking.
2013.8 – Escape: The Curse of the Temple – 1/24/2013
We got a chance to get away from the kids for an evening and spent some time with our friends, Brian and Shanna. We brought out Escape: The Curse of the Temple and played a couple of quick rounds. In this cooperative game, you are exploring a cursed temple that threatens to fall down around you. You move about revealing tiles, trying to find precious gems that will allow you to escape. The exit tile is somewhere at bottom of the tile stack, so you have to keep moving. Sounds easy, right? Well, you accomplish all this through some custom dice. Any action requires a certain combination of dice rolls, and guess what? Your dice can be locked, causing you to be delayed at the most inconvenient moments. Not too bad, but wait, there’s more! You only have ten minutes to get through the entire temple! The game has an actual 10 minute soundtrack, and if you can’t escape by the time it’s over, you lose. Oh, and don’t forget that twice during that ten minutes, a gong will sound, requiring everyone to return back to the middle of the temple. This game is a real-time game, meaning that no one takes turns. Each person has their own set of dice and controls their own explorer, but you have to work together if you have any hope of success.
Continue reading A Year in Board Gaming – 2013.8-18; A Bunch of Games
The Splendiferous Zeppelin Escapades of the Jeppys 