LSD...and no, NOT the drug

Long, slow distance...

Ok...so my training is going just AWFUL, and I haven't been consistent (it's difficult with Matt's schedule to hit the pavement since I can only run when he's home to watch the kids)...but...Maw Maw and Paw Paw are here to celebrate new years and watched the kids while I went for a run...

Wait for it....




6 miles
1 hr, 13 min, 49 seconds.

YAY!!!

This is the longest I have E-V-E-R run...and I ran it continuously, stopping only at red lights, to tie my shoes, and to take off my long sleeve shirt when I got hot.

I just HAD to share my news!! (Yes, I know I'm behind in blog-world and will post on the Christmas activities soon...bear with me...for the moment, just celebrate with me, ok?)

This gives me hope that I'll at least be able to finish the half in 3 weeks (YIKES!!!)

Things to work on:
1. Lip balm for my lips
2. Something for my hands because my knuckles got chapped by the weather/wind
3. A quicker method for taking off my long sleeve shirt and attaching it to me while I'm running
4. A methods for assuring my shoes don't come untied

Any suggestions on the above (or things I'm not thinking of) from the more experienced runners?

Night in Bethlehem

Last night we took the kids to A Night in Bethlehem, an event that the preschool ministry of our church put on for the kiddos. There were TONS of crafts and activities for the kids, a few animals outside for petting, and the inside of the church was transformed into Bethlehem. There were various booths with activities that corresponded (loosely) to some of the activities that might have taken place in the olden days...kneading dough, pottery, etc. Then some of the crafts were just for fun...painting nativity scene ornaments and stickery nativity scenes.

Both the kids really got into it...we let Tatum do all of the activities that she wanted except for painting the clay pot...we figured that might be a bit much...They BOTH thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and Matt and I actually ran into quite a few folks we hadn't seen in ages!

One of Kellen's comments that really cracked me up took place shortly after this picture was taken. He understood the concept of Mary and Joseph and waiting on Baby Jesus to be born in the stables...So a little while later, after he finished one of his craft projects, he asked if we could go back and see Mary and Joseph and check to see if Baby Jesus had been born yet.

We walked back to the manger area, he looked in and observed the empty manger, and simply stated, 'Nope, not yet. I guess it still isn't Christmas.'

He thoroughly cracks me up...and I have NO idea where he gets this stuff from (w-e-l-l...I guess that's not entirely true...I have a slight idea of where he gets it from...)

I guess I should have gotten some pictures of the many people dressed in the garb of the time...they did a wonderful job! Kellen was working the well pretty hard here. He had a great time with this, and they guys tricked him into thinking that he was fishing...so he kept putting the bucket back down and rolling it back up, telling me that he was trying to get some fish.

Silly boy.

I finally had to tell him that they were teasing him and that there weren't any fish in the well...Then I think the guys felt bad that he took them so seriously!

I'm so glad that the church put this on, and I really think they had a GREAT turnout. I don't know how many they were expecting, but it was packed the entire time that we were there...and considering that it ran from 6-8 and we were there from about 6:30 - 7:30, I would call that a success!

I'm so thankful that we go to a church that puts on events such as these for the kids! I'm really working this Christmas on instilling the true meaning of Christmas to Kellen, and these types of events and programs help tremendously in doing just that...

Finished product

Well, imagine my amazement when I realized that I DID actually stay up last night to finish the painting of the darker color clothespins. It's great how you get better with something the further along you get into a project. LOL I found a method for painting the clothespins that worked really well, in my opinion, that took much less time than how I had done the light green ones. So, I did actually finish all of the painting last night, despite my reservations about accomplishing that particular task.

After naps, Kellen and I strung the clothespins and beads together to create the final product. Here it is without the bow.

And here it is with the bow, hanging up. It actually looks better with a few Christmas cards on it, but I wanted to take a picture of the finished product all by itself, just because.

We then rushed out of the house (we all had nice naps at the house this afternoon...what a blessing!) and headed to the church. My Sunday school class went caroling to the individuals within the church that are shut-in while Awana's was taking place.

Let me just say, my family went caroling to the elderly families in our church growing up, and I have very fond memories of those times. We would sing songs, then sometimes go inside and visit for a while and spend time with them. We may not have enjoyed it then, but I do cherish those memories now (see Mom and Dad, it really DID stick!).

At any rate, the looks on those ladies faces were priceless...you would have thought we were the Publishers Clearinghouse coming to tell them they had won some money with how excited they were. One stop had cookies and pumpkin bread of some kind waiting for us, another had some other friends there to share in the moment, and the last was probably the best one of all. Despite the efforts of the group organizer, she didn't know we were coming, so when we arrived, she was as thrilled as could be. I think she actually cried during some of the songs and then shared how much she had been through this past year.

I'm so glad that we were able to bring some joy to these ladies during this time! I think next year if we do this again, I might pull the kids, at least Kellen, and have him come with me to begin experiencing that.

Full, fun day

I actually made it back out for a run this morning...it was a horrible run by my standards, but a run none the less. It's been a w-h-i-l-e since my last run, so taking that and my sore foot into consideration, I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I just have to start getting out there a LOT more. Mid-January is going to be here before I know it and is going to kick me in the tail.


Less than positive run or not, it felt REALLY good afterwards (I mean, not immediately afterwards), but a little while later.


Then Kellen had his belt test today for Taekwondo. (Which we found out about on Wednesday, but I'll leave that alone).


I wasn't sure what all he was actually getting tested on, but considering everything they were having the white belts do, I was concerned about him actually earning his orange belt.


They ran them all through the routines (I'm sure there is a different word for that...), and then had them do the board break. The students were lined up in height order, so Kellen was the last one to go. There were actually several in front of him that had to hit the board a few times to get it to break, but I'll let you take a look at the video to see how well Kellen did.






I think the other observers were concerned about him because he was the smallest, but he sure showed them! He did so great!

Like I mentioned, they ran them through a variety of things, but it was mentioned that not everyone was actually getting tested on everything they were doing, so I just wasn't sure...But he did it!

He got his orange belt! We're so proud of him and he's just thrilled!




I made a run to Hobby Lobby for the supplies for a craft project that I've worked on off and on all day. In case you're wondering, it takes a L-O-N-G time to paint clothespins. 48 clothespins, to be exact. I do have a better system now, though, so it's going quicker, thank goodness! I'm painting half each two different shades of green to make a wreath suitable for holding Christmas cards, and I'm hopeful that I'll at least finish the painting portion of that project today. I'm about 3/4 of the way done, so we'll see. But it's 10:30, so it doesn't look promising.



I also have another wreath that I'm wanting to make from the cut portions of our Christmas tree. I fear if I don't finish with that project before Matt gets back from his next shift, that those cut portions will end up in the trash. *grin*



Then tonight we did some other decorating and finally got the rest of the Christmas tree decorated. We've done this in stages this year because of Matt's schedule and Tatum's bedtime...I really wanted us all to enjoy the decoration aspect.

So last Friday night we got the tree, earlier in the week we put the lights on it, then tonight we finished with the ornaments and the angel topper. Tatum understood the concept somewhat...she enjoyed trying to put the ornaments on the tree, she just also thoroughly enjoyed taking them OFF of the tree as well. Repeatedly.




And of course, we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas while we were decorating...I'm so glad that Kellen loves that one just as much as I do! It makes it much easier to justify watching it while we're getting in the holiday spirit!



And here is our finished product. Matt and I realized that we could have easily gone another two feet with the height of our tree this year, but oh well. We all like it, and for this year, it suits us just fine!

Snow!

Well, it snowed yesterday here. Yup. You read that correctly. It snowed. And not just the little flurries that make you "think" snow...SNOW.

Snow that stuck.

Snow that meant after 2 hours, I had to use my windshield wipers to be able to see out of my windows.

Snow that allowed us to make snowballs.

Snow that was deep enough for snow angels.

Snow that stuck enough to make a snowman.

Snow.

Really.

In Texas....and since my kids will probably be able to count the number of times on one hand that this happens in their life, I allowed them to P-L-A-Y in it after we got home. At least as much as they wanted.

Can you tell from the pictures who wanted to play and who didn't?

First we'll start out with some general, untouched, snow pictures...this is what we found when we opened the back door yesterday after work.


And like I said, it was deep enough for a snow angel, even right there on the deck. And how is it that someone...a little someone who has never really experienced snow can automatically know how to make a snow angel?

Interesting.

And Tatum....w--e--l--l, she didn't really know what to make of all of this. She walked around with an odd look on her face, then when the snowflakes hit her face and eyes, she was NOT liking life. I just couldn't get her into playing with it, even to have the snowflakes land on her hands. I had a pretty funny video of her asking to go back inside.

Kellen, on the other hand, immediately got into making snowballs. And then proceeded to throw them at me. How fun! He didn't throw any at Tatum, if you're wondering, so that wasn't a reason for her displeasure with the adventure.


And then I just had to get a random shot of part of the back yard and all of the snow. Amazing! Look at the snowflakes in the picture...it was so beautiful (and I'm not even a good photographer!)

And then try as I might, I couldn't get a "good" shot of the two kids next to a snow covered something. Let me once again reiterate how DONE Tatum was with the snow and being outside in the snow. Of all of the ones that I took, this is probably the best, so don't be surprised if this ends up on a Christmas card or some other photo-related gift. *grin*

So then Kellen was not-so-patient while I put Tatum to bed, and then he and I went back outside to finish playing in the snow. He started out by helping with the snowman, but ended up tricking me by making more snowballs to throw at me.

Mischevious stinker.

I wonder where he gets that from?

Then we went to work on the snowman. It had been AGES since I had made one, and I had forgotten how long it took for the initial "ball" to stick and form. After I got that started, it snowballed from there (sorry...I just couldn't help it).

It wasn't quite as big as I thought we would end up with, but my fingers got too frozen to continue trying to make one any larger than this. If you're wondering what he's made of, his eyes and "buttons" are raisins, and Kellen found wonderful sticks for his arms and nose. We didn't have a carrot one in the house.

And then Kellen took great pleasure in knocking the snow off of the branches of the various bushes in our yard. He loved seeing the snow fall off of the branches and had quite a bit of fun with this...

All in all, the second time around I think we played outside for about 45 minutes. My hands could feel it, too...I think my gloves ended up frozen since I did the lions share of the snowman, but Kellen never uttered a word of complaint.

It was a wonderful night, and I truly hope that they remember this! Days like this don't come often in Texas!

Phone call....and other milestones

Normally phone calls from daycare in the middle of the day to me at work are a bad thing.

However, I received one today on my cell while I was in a meeting and had a message waiting for me when I got finished...Tatum was fine, they were calling to tell me that as of then (between 2:45 - 3 PM), she was DRY and had gone on the potty probably at least 4 times. Really!

I was then told that her cheeks and mouth area were red, but we've already pretty much figured out that's from her intense sucking on her pacifier. *sigh*

I got to daycare to pick her up after work, was about to walk out of the classroom, and she tells me that she has to go potty. I listened. And she did.

Fast forward to home...before bathtime, she tells me again. Success. After bath before getting ready for bed. Success again.

I guess I really should pull out the existing cloth training pants we might have and get to shopping for some new ones for her, huh? 'Cause we're talking about success on both numbers here, if you get my drift.

I'm not really ready for all of these milestones....(Although I love each and every one of them.)

'Cause did I mention that Kellen is now 39.4 pounds, according to MawMaw and PawPaw's scale, anyway? That may not mean anything to anyone, so let me explain the relevance of that statement. Our carseat is only good as a forward facing, 5-pt harness carseat up to 40 pounds. Once they hit the 40 pound mark, it's supposed to be converted into a booster. I have barely a half a pound left before that oh-so-huge milestone.

Goodbye

My Pap passed away on Friday, after suffering a lengthy illness. My parents called me at 3 PM Friday afternoon, I returned their phone call an hour later (not realizing that they had called - I was awaiting this phone call, and thought I was checking my phone more frequently than that for this particular call...). They made flight arrangements and left early Saturday morning, and the family viewing and calling hours were held yesterday, and the funeral is today.

I'm glad that he's no longer in pain, but wish so desperately that his final hours, even his final years, could have been like he wanted. He NEVER wanted to live his life like he did in these last few years...in and out of the hospital, repeatedly cut on (he had both legs amputated in different places), reduced to a portion of what, and who, he once was. But that's what happened. He didn't even get to die pain-free...his last hours were misery and suffering.

I don't understand that.

I don't understand why he couldn't have had a heart attack while out fishing and died in his boat, doing one of the things that brought him so much joy. Or even in his workshop with his tools. Why? Why wasn't that the end chosen for him? Why was he allowed to go through so much pain?
I just don't understand. And probably never will, until one day when it won't matter anymore.

Please pray for our family, as this situation is oh-so-much-more complicated than just my grandfather passing away. They are going to have to make some very important decisions in the next few days. Pray for the Lord's guidance and peace as they discuss and decide.

I'll post some other time about all of the things that I've inherited, learned and have come to appreciate from my Pap...