An evening at home

Tonight Carlos helped put together one of Alex's Christmas' presents. I realize it has been about a month and a half since the holidays, but the first attempt at putting the bike together did not turn out so well. The on/off button was messed up and so while you were in the middle of a game it just turned off. So the Smart Cycle is now together and operating! Alex is still not great at pedaling, but he really likes the idea of the game.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the living room was Marisa reading a book for shcool. Not much to say about that really. She is a great reader and more importantly she really loves reading. Not sure how long that will last, but for the time being it is great to see her so excited about it.

Gretel up and about. She won't stay still for a picture.

Alex and Gretel. Just wanted to point out in this picture something that humors us, meaning myself, Carlos and my mom. Alex is sitting with his feet crossed. The boy has done this since he was an infant. It was cute then and we would always comment "Oh how cute he has his legs crossed!" He has always crossed them right at the ankles..not sure why we have thought it was so cute, but now it's just funny that he still does it. His feet are so cute!! He calls them his "donkey feet."

Not pictured, but we also made sugar cookies tonight and decorated them for Valentine's Day! While Alex was really just interested in eating the cookie dough, we were able to get a few decorated. Marisa really enjoyed it!!! She is very creative and is my little artist and loves cooking....so decorating cookies is right up her alley.

I also should mention that Marisa has decided to do the kid's Country Music Marathon this year! I am so excited for her. The way it works is that she will complete 25.2 miles on her own prior to the marathon. The night before the marathon, the kids will acually run the last mile of the marathon and get to run into LP Field stadium and cross the finish line where Jeff Fisher congratulates the kids. Tonight, Marisa and myself went to the park and ran her first mile. She ran the entire mile talking to me the entire time. It seemed so natural to her. We finished in 11:52...not too bad. I know many adults who could not run a mile in that time. I told her she needed to keep a running log of all her runs and times, which she has already recorded today's run. Who knows maybe she will be a runner too?!

Jump Zone!

Last week, Alex was invited to a party at Jump Zone for his friend Grayson's 3rd Birthday. It was "open play" as well so siblings could come play (for a small fee, of course). So Marisa joined in on the fun. I was able to get in a few pictures of them as they were running around going from inflatable to inflatable. I could not get this kid to stand still for half of a second for a photo op!!

Marisa and I were proud of ourselves for getting this picture. This was actually our second attempt of getting her going down the slide. The first time, she was out of the shot by the time my camera actually snapped the photo.

Alex jumping!!!!

Marisa climbing!!!

They both had a great time. And lucky for us, we get to return to Jump Zone this Saturday for yet another fun birthday party. We will help Alex's buddy Max turn 3 at this party. So while the events are a bit redundant for me, if it were up to Alex he would go to "Gym" a.k.a. Jump Zone every day!!

I'm doing it again!

Some of you already know that I have decided to run the Country Music Marathon once again. For those of you who didn't know, now you do.

I am still in the begining of my long runs...so far I have gotten up to 10 miles. I forgot just how time consuming the training can be. Last week, I took the week off due to a slight foot injury. Actually, I am not sure what I did, but the bottom of my left foot felt like there was a huge bruise. It was really sore. I am hoping to get another 10 mile run in this week.

As far as I know, Carlos has once again agreed to meet me at mile 20 and run the last 6 with me. Last year, he was fantastic!! I remember doing so great and feeling pretty good by that point. I knew I was ahead of my 20 mile training run by 5 minutes and was thinking I was going to beat my predicted time. Little did I know that at about mile 22 my body felt as if it were falling apart. My knees and back were screaming at me!!! Carlos got me some tylenol and encouraged me on. I have heard that you can break the marathon up into 2 parts: 1) the first 20 miles and 2) the last 6 miles. I now know what they mean by that. I also remember how AMAZING it felt when I was running the last .2 miles into the stadium to the finish line. The picture above is me at that point. It's true, adrenaline just takes over. I felt like I was floating and all the pain I had been feeling for the previous hour was gone. I was so happy and almost in tears of amazement that I was doing it...I was going to FINISH my first marathon!!!!! Honestly, I think I am just waiting for that feeling again come April 25th =0)

My goals for this marathon inclue:

1. Make it to the START line without any further injury

2. Beat my time from last year.

3. Become a better runner/athlete

4. Have fun on the course!!!

Weekend Wrap Up

I was really looking forward to this past weekend, that is until Friday night when Carlos discovered the water heater leaking water!!! So luckily my Dad was able to help us out, but that took up the entire day on Saturday. So Sunday we started off in hopes of a better day.

Alex has been asking since last Thursday night for a chocolate donut...so Sunday morning we went to Krispy Kreme and treated him to a chocolate donut which he devoured in about 2 minutes. I had also ordered a dozen football shaped donuts for Superbowl Sunday...they were very cute and extremely tasty! We were fortunate to have beautiful weather on Sunday. We went over to my Mom's house to let Alex run around and play on the swing set and enjoy being outside. He had a blast!! Actually it ended up being myself, Carlos, Alex, my brother and his dog as well as Gretel. I should address that my Mom and Marisa were not present because they were on there way home from Georgia visiting my sister, Beth. Her birthday was Friday...Happy Birthday Beth!!!

I kept trying to get him to smile for the picure without any luck. I forgot how much I enjoy swinging too!

Tucker and Gretel playing. Tucker is about 10 times her size but she loves rolling around and playing with him. In fact, the majority of the time she initiates the playing.

And one more of Gretel!!