Daddy-Daughter Dance

Our church does a fabulous thing each year.

They provide an opportunity for the daddies to take their daughters on a date.  To model for their little girls just how a guy is supposed to treat them.

And my man did it up this year.

He asked Tatum to go on a special date with him.  Then he arranged to get dressed, snuck out of the house, and knocked on the door to 'ask if she was ready' for their date on Friday night. 

He brought flowers (by way of a wrist corsage) for her as well. 

And jewelry.  That he put on her himself.  {If I wasn't already in love with that man I would have been after seeing the effort he went through to make that precious 5 year old feel oh-so-special!!}

And he took her out to eat to the restaurant of her choosing.  I think it ended up being Chick-fil-A.  And she couldn't play on the playground because 'fancy girls all dressed up can't play on the playground and get all messy'.

At the dance, a friend of ours took some wonderful pictures of them dancing...

The church family life center was decorated beautifully (so I'm told) and there were craft activities for the girls to do and lots of candy and an ice cream bar.  I was also told that Tatum went for four bowls of ice cream...or rather bowls of toppings with a smattering of ice cream at the bottom.  Take a look at the picture below and you be the judge??

They had a remarkable time.  I'm not sure how Daddy managed to make it through dancing with his princess after some of the daddy-daughter songs he told me they played, but he did.

I had a work banquet to attend this same night as well, and when I got home Tatum wasn't asleep yet, so she gave me the quick highlights of her night.  I could tell by those highlights that this will be one of those nights that just sticks with her. 

Watch out, boys.  We're going to teach this little girl just how a princess is supposed to be treated!

Happy Easter!

From our family to yours!

How much activity can you cram into one day?

And still have some semblance of relaxation?  Because today consisted of an Easter egg hunt at Kroger,

then playing on the playground while Daddy did the lawn,

then a quick trip to finalize a birthday present for the birthday party we attended, the birthday party itself at Spoons (where I - not sure about the kids - had never been before),

then home for (some) naps while Matt continued to work in the yard and I did (some) house work and (some) outside work and (lots of) some solar therapy while the kids napped.  Matt even made a garden area for Tatum because she's been asking about planting things...she was SO EXCITED about this later in the day when she woke up from her nap!! 

We had LOTS of outside playing time, we experimented with dyeing Easter eggs with Kool-aid (making over 2 dozen eggs!!),

ate a scrumptious dinner (courtesy of the meal swap), went outside and played a little more.  Kellen was really sweet to help Tatum with her soccer practice.

Then the kids got baths/showers and we then made Resurrection cookies (pardon the mess in the background...we actually live in our kitchen and hadn't finished picking up from dinner yet and were still dyeing some eggs as well).

It was another FABULOUS family fun day!


And while the only things originally on the agenda where the Easter egg hunt and the birthday party, it felt like we didn't stop moving all day.  But it was LOADS of fun.

Fun Family Day

It was a fun family day...and we totally needed it!  It was a nice and relaxing day...one without much of a schedule.  We don't get those that often!

So we headed to Independence in search of bluebonnets, then headed to Brenham to the park for a late lunch/early dinner and to play at the park.  We headed back to town a different path, stopping along the way  back for a nice milkshake treat (which was interestingly the only out-of-pocket expense of the day).

We had a blast.  And we have the pictures to prove it (some are better than others, but hey...the memories are priceless!).  Here are some of the better ones from today.

I'm glad I took the day off today.  Happy Good Friday. 

Remember...the cross is for you. No matter who you are!  Thank God that the cross was for me!

Ladies Craft Night

So our Sunday school ladies got together last week to make wreaths. The pictures of the wreaths they sent to get our creative juices flowing were way cute....

So with these ideas, I went in search of my perfect wreath to begin my backdrop.  Then I carefully selected my colors.  I then spent entirely too long trying to find just the right sprig to make it all come together. Then I did the same thing for the materials for the spring wreath I was making for my mother in law.

I was overjoyed to realized that my procrastination had payed off when I found out the wreaths were 50% off on the day I purchased them. SCORE one for procrastination!

Craft night came. I fiddled around with making the flowers, tossing aside the template because it seemed too complicated (and I'm a simple girl and like easy things).

And my flowers turned out something like this.

I only got through with a few of them and it seemed like I looked up and it was time for me to leave.  I was in no way, shape or form ready to be finished with the night.

But I went back home and let my fabulous in-laws go home (thank you!).  Then I proceeded to continue with my crafty streak.

And I finished with a wreath that looked like this.

So there you have it....my spring wreath for my door.  The very next night, I made another one for my mother in law....and although in this picture it appears crooked, imagine it hanging correctly...and her spring wreath turned out like this.

It has felt very good to be crafty!  I have realized how much I miss that aspect of my life.  I do have creative juices and apparently they do sometimes like to flow.  And I guess it's good to sometimes remember that!

My front door is thanking me.

Happy birthday, Matt!!

Happy birthday, Honey!! 

We didn't put the appropriate number of candles on your cake,

but you still manage to light up a room!

We love you!!

Godsend

Let me go on the record and say it. My in-laws are a Godsend. Completely and totally.

They totally saved me this weekend.

I am sick. With what, I'm not sure, but I'm sick.  I am congested, have a runny nose, am sneezing, and am coughing. A lot. And it hurts. (I'm guessing bronchitis and a sinus infection, but haven't gotten that confirmed).

But my ailments didn't stop the weekend from coming.

For some, the weekend might be a good thing.  For me, for this particular weekend, it wasn't a nice and relaxing weekend.  Matt was at an event I place a high priority on him attending - a men's retreat with our Sunday school guys. Tatum had her first soccer game scheduled. It was Parents Weekend in Aggieland and consequently, I had a work luncheon, and Kellen had his opening ceremonies for Little League.

It was gearing up to be a FULL weekend.  Even more so than usual for us.

Matt was going to come back and forth so he wouldn't miss Tatum's first soccer game, but the recent rain caused the opening weekend games to be canceled.  She was devastated.  Mommy and daddy were less than devastated.

Maw Maw and Paw Paw managed to make it over so that I could get to my luncheon, and played with the kids and did spring-time activities all day so that even when I got home, I was able to take a much-needed nap.  I say much-needed because unfortunately by that point in time, I had also managed to acquire a migraine on top of everything else.

After my nap was over, my migraine had, despite my 'good' medicine, taken full root.  So we took the kids to the new Chick-fil-A to get a quick dinner and some caffeine in me to help kick the meds in even more (one can dream) before the opening ceremonies.

While we were there, we realized that Jacey really likes ice cream.  Even asked for it after she saw the other two kids turn in their kids meal treat for it.

With me not being completely (or at all) on my game, we managed to leave the house without her lovey or a sippy cup.  These were not good things for us to be without.

We managed.  And the caffeine helped the medicine to kick in some and I was able to tolerate the opening ceremonies.

I liked the way they did them this year....we were able to actually see the teams since they came around the front of the stadium. 

And afterwards, Maw Maw and Paw Paw assisted with the bedtime routine put the kids to bed so that I didn't have to do it all myself.

Godsend.

I would not have made it through the weekend without them.  Well, I might have, but I wouldn't have included such fond memories as ice cream pictures and sweet boys enjoying their opening ceremonies. 

Absolute Godsend.

March Running Review

15 - 3 miles, 47:15 min (first walk/jog since hurting my back/shoulder doing who knows what and getting back into the chiropractor with Jacey in a non jogging stroller for some of the laps)
16 - 3.2 miles, 58:57 min (walk/jog with Jacey in a non jogging stroller for some of the laps)
25 - 2.1 miles, 19:39 min (8:33 mile; 10:06 mile)
26 - 2.1 miles, 19:31 min (9:15 mile; 9:13 mile)
27 - 2 miles, 20:47 min (10:16 mile; 10:13 mile)

March mileage total = 12.4 miles (0.4 miles/day)
Yearly mileage total = 52.9 miles (0.58 miles/day)

Ug. March was not a good month overall. My back has been giving me fits and I have seen quite a bit of my chiropractor this month....self-care has been more of a theme this month than consistent running. So I guess I'll take that.

When I *did* run, I was amazed to see that I am actually running faster than ever. I don't seem to be able to keep the pace up for very long, but my mile paces are amazing (to me, anyway). So I will continue to celebrate the small victory of speed, while lamenting the continued need for continuity and consistency. But I'm working on it.

And I will say that I'm craving my runs. I want to be out there running.  Period.  I can't say that has always been the case...and I have been frustrated on the days that I have really wanted (even woke up to my alarm!) to get up and run but have been stopped by the rain (that we need!).  So my motivation and drive are there, I just need to allow my body to heal and recover so I can work on the consistency aspect.

2012 Recap:
January total = 31.24 (31 days) [MET GOAL]
February total = 9.26 (29 days)
March total = 12.4 (31 days)