Gingerbread Houses

Our family tradition is to make gingerbread graham cracker houses every year.  

We use graham crackers and regular ole' icing as the 'glue', 

then decorate using a variety of sugary goodness.

The kids have a blast with this.  

And their architecture is very interesting sometimes, to say the least.

And when the houses aren't structurally sound and collapse, 

the kids get broken-hearted.

So then you recruit Daddy, and it makes it all better.

After the structure of the houses are finalized, 

you then decorate to your hearts content.

After the decorations prove to be too heavy for (almost) any of the structures built, 

enjoy the chaos and rubble.

Then enjoy the last house standing....and the beautiful architect who built it.

The journey to a marathon...

...began with a simple goal....average a mile a day in 2011.

If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you'll notice that each month I do a review of my running, and break down my runs for the month, my monthly mileage, my average mile per day for that month, yearly mileage and cumulative average mile per day.  And for some time, I have also kept track of my deficiency.

Hey, lets just be realistic...a goal is something to shoot for, right?  You don't always reach them, and even something that SEEMS simple (averaging a mile a day??) might not end up being simple.

So somewhere along the way, toward the latter part of the summer, a friend starting a thought in my head that maybe, just maybe, I should think about running the first BCS Marathon they were having in December.

Maybe.

So the thought entered my mind.

A marathon?  Me?

The girl who couldn't pass the 1.5 mile run in the allotted time in KINE 121 and ended up with a "B" in the class (and was THRILLED beyond belief with that "B")?

(Yes, this is despite the fact that I was a certified personal trainer and aerobics instructor.  I couldn't run 1.5 miles in the allotted time.  Period.  Couldn't do it.  I tried.  Multiple times.  I rock(ed) at agility.  I nailed the sprints.  I couldn't do the long distance.  And yes, I consider 1.5 to be "long distance".)

The same girl that set a goal for herself to average a mile a day and hadn't achieved that goal any month yet...that same girl?  Run a marathon?

Had I lost my mind?

Could I actually do this?

I mean, I had run a half marathon, without training properly (which is something I DO NOT recommend), and messed my knee up for a while.  But I still did it.  So I started thinking...what might happen if I actually trained?  And trained correctly?

Hmmmm.....

What if??

So I confided in the friend that planted the thought in my head and point-blank asked her if she thought I could do it.  She's honest and I knew she would answer me honestly (I super-duper love friends like that, I might add).  She knew the realistic demands on my time.  She knew the amount of time I had to train - or NOT to train.  I couldn't devote 5-6 days a week or hours at a time to running.  That just wasn't realistic with my schedule, the kids schedule, with Matts schedule....that just wasn't going to happen.  But, 2-3 days during the week and a long run on the weekend was probably feasible.  She also knew how stubborn I can be. (Quit laughing.)

She assured me that I could do it.

After much contemplation, discussion with Matt, second-guessing myself, and even more contemplation, I decided to go for it.

Me.....run a marathon.

So I started working even more on my consistency, got a training routine from this very same friend, and joined the College Station Running Club for accountability for my long runs on the weekends.

I was off and running.  Literally.

My training started off well.  Long runs on the weekends were good, save for the time crunch of running and trying to get done in time for the various kiddo activities that were inevitably scheduled for mid-mornings on Saturdays.

I made it through training, coaching Tatum's cheer team, and being a support mom for Kellen's football season.  Then it started...my knee problems.

*Sigh*

I self-diagnosed my issues to be IT band problems, and tried to continue running for a few weeks.  They simply got worse. (duh, Rebecca)

After heading out for what should have been my 17 mile run, I knew there was a problem. I had to cut it short at 8 miles.  By cut it short, I literally mean cut it short.  I stopped the route by running to the house, leaving my vehicle parked at the clubs starting point.  As I walked into the house, I couldn't hold back the tears.... both of pain and frustration.  I *needed* to get this long run in....but each and every step was excruciating and despite the ibuprofen I had taken prior to the start, I just couldn't push myself any further.  The pain of the injury and the frustration of being just.so.close was just overwhelming.

So I laid off .....I found a foam roller, started rehabbing my knee, and took a break from running to try and heal up.

About two weeks before the race, I started feeling poorly, and was dealing with both girls being sick as well.  Jacey started her illness on Thanksgiving, Tatum started hers the following Friday (diagnoses: ear infection and croup, respectively).  I was feeling progressively worse as well, but the Saturday in the week prior to the race I decided to go for a medium-length run both to test out the knee and for my mental health, considering I hadn't run in a month I *needed* to get a run in just to remind myself that I was actually capable of running.

The 8 mile run went great.  It felt wonderful, despite having to stop and cough and having a hard time breathing.  My knee bothered me some, but it wasn't all that bad.  It was manageable.  After 5 or so miles I even went back to the house to grab Kellen and we jogged some on his school track, which made it fun, too.

I went in to the doctor the Tuesday before the race for my official diagnosis of a sinus infection and bronchitis, got two antibiotic shots and walked out with scripts for four additional meds.  And I also left the office with even more determination to still run that race.

More on the actual race later, so....to be continued....

Rudolf the red nose reindeer....

...had a very shiny nose.

But the reindeer I made didn't.  They are just regular ole' reindeer.

And they are adorable.

Don't you agree?

Especially considering that the reindeer are thumbprints from my very own wildlife.....

Materials:
Glass ornaments (from Hobby Lobby, sets of 12 for 50% of off 7.99)
Brown finger paint (already had)
Brown paint pen (from Hobby Lobby, 2.99)
Black paint pen (from Hobby Lobby, 3.47 - used for the Grinch ornaments as well)

Instructions:
Paint the thumb of one child, then apply to glass ornament.

Let dry.

Repeat with subsequent children.

Use your creativity and artistic ability (although very little is needed for this project) to draw antlers on your reindeer.

Let dry.

Now gather more creativity and artistic ability (do you believe me now that you don't need much for this??) and draw faces on your reindeer.

Write your precious "dear" names on the back, along with the year and you have an amazing memento.

Now, my one word of caution is to not let one of your precious deer get you sidetracked while you're writing names on the back of the ornament so that you end up starting the same name twice.  Because it's difficult to try to make a "K" turn into a "J" ....Not that I had any experience with that during this project or anything...

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch

A friend of mine posted an adorable picture on facebook of Grinch ornaments that she had made.  They were precious.  Another friend of mine had made glitter ornaments with her son.  They were precious as well.

I decided to go for it....and Kellen and I made Grinch ornaments.

I underestimated how much glitter would be needed for the ornaments, so I was actually really happy that Kellen just wanted to give them to his teachers at school.  Of course, I wanted to keep one for us, so we ended up with just the right amount of glitter for the slightly more than a half-dozen ornaments we made.

Materials
Glass ornaments (from Hobby Lobby, bought a set of 12 for 50% off of 7.99)
Glitter (from Hobby Lobby, 1.47)
Mop n glo (already had)
White paint pen (from Hobby Lobby, 3.47)
Black paint pen (from Hobby Lobby, 3.47)
(Now, most crafty folks may already have paint pens and this wouldn't be an expense for them.  Me, I do not have these things, so I had to factor them in to this cost. Obviously, they are still good and can be used for other projects....)

Instructions
Remove the "topper" from the ornament, pour a small amount of Mop n glo inside, plug hole with thumb or finger and swirl until inside is fully coated.  Pour into container (I used something that I could easily pour from to reuse).

Pour a generous amount of glitter into the coated ornament.  Shake vigorously until all surfaces are covered and coated.

Recruit an adorable a handsome helper and continue to add glitter and shake as needed.

Reinsert "topper" on the ornament.

Decorate the Grinch face to the best of your decorating abilities.  Start with the whites of the eyes, then add the other features and the pupils of the eyes after the whites have dried.

Enjoy your oh-so-cute ornament!


And in case you need a trip down memory lane......

You're a mean one Mr Grinch
You really are a heel
You’re as cuddly as a cactus
You're as charming as an eel
Mr. Grinch
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel

You're a monster Mr. Grinch
Your Hearts an empty hole
Your brain is full of spiders
You’ve got garlic in your soul Mr. Grinch
I wouldn’t touch you with a
39 and a half Foot pole

You’re a vile one Mr. Grinch
You have termites in your smile
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile
Mr. Grinch
Given the choice between the two of you
I’d take the a seasick crocodile

You’re a foul one Mr. Grinch
You’re a nasty wasty skunk
Your heart is full of unwashed socks,
Your soul is full of gunk
Mr. Grinch

The 3 words that best describe you, are as follows, and I quote
Stink, Stank, Stonk

You’re a rotter Mr. Grinch
You’re the king of sinful sots
Your hearts a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots
Mr. Grinch

Your sole is an appalling dump heap
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish
Imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch
With a nauseous super naus
You’re a crooked jerky jockey and,
you drive a crooked horse
Mr. Grinch

You’re a 3 Decker sour kraut and toad stool sandwich
With arsenic sauce!

Making snowmen

Without snow....or even without it being too terribly cold.

In Texas.

Yup.  It's possible.

Here is what they look like.

Aren't they precious?

Because I made turkeys with Kellen, I had already told Tatum that she and I would make snowmen, so after I ran the marathon on Sunday (more on that later), and the boys were at Awanas, she and I made snowmen cookies while dinner was cooking.

Don't be alarmed.  They were super easy...and they HAD to be, considering that at that point in time I was lucky to be standing upright.

Ingredients:

Nutter Butter cookies
White chocolate almond bark
Assorted decorating gel

Arrange your cookies onto your cookie sheet

Recruit an absolutely precious assistant.

Melt your almond bark (per the package directions)

Experiment with the best method of cookie-coverage (we used a flip method that seemed to work well) and then place the chocolate-covered cookies onto the cookie sheet

Repeat until all cookies are undecorated snowmen

Let sit until the chocolate has cooled and hardened

Gather your assorted decorating gel and design your own version of your snowmen!

Tatum had a blast doing this...some of her snowmen had yellow arms, some had red, some had things that didn't resemble arms at all.  But I resisted my perfectionistic ways and told her she could decorate them ANY WAY SHE WANTED.

And I stuck to it.

She had a blast.

And she was thrilled that I gave her the independence to do it however she wanted.  And she thanked me over and over for making snowmen with her.

And THAT was all that mattered.

Review of Running - November

5 - 13 miles (2:36:36 - 12:02 min/mile pace) Knee problems....
7 - 3 miles (33:03 - 11:01 min/mile pace)
12 - 8 miles (1:31 - 11:22 min/mile pace) Knee problems were as bad on mile 6 as they were on mile 10 the week previously...only I *had* started the day with meds in my system. Uh oh. I literally cut my run short by stopping at my house...and left my car at the starting point.  We had to load up all the kids in Matt's vehicle and 'rescue' my car.  This can't be good.  Most running-related friends are thinking IT band issues.

Knee problems did a number for my running goals for the month of November.  Yikes!

November miles = 24 miles

Miles per day =  0.8 miles/day

2011 mileage total = 310.98 miles
2011 Miles per day (334 days) =  0.93 miles/day
Started November with deficiency of 17.02 miles, Ended November with deficiency of 23.02 miles

Making turkeys for my turkeys

One of the ladies in my office brought the cutest little snack craft idea over on Wednesday before we left for the day.....'turkey' snack cookies.

We picked up the supplies after work on Wednesday night and started on these before we went to dinner.

Supplies:

Double stuffed Oreos
Candy corn
Mini Reeses Cups
Whoppers
Almond bark (or some other meltable chocolate to be used for 'glue')
Yellow & Red icing (and in our case, Black in place of the yellow)

We started by giving the oreos their "feathers" and learned quickly not to put the candy corn too far down into the double 'stuff'.  We also took the white tips off of some of the candy corn to use for the beak.

We then cut a sliver off of the reeses cup ....

...and 'glued' it with the melted almond bark for the body (positioned with the straight edge toward the bottom of the cookie).

We then 'glued' the Whopper next to the reeses cup where a turkey head would be located.

Then we went on to the more artistic side of things with the actual decorating.

We started with attaching the beak.  We used a dot of gel frosting as glue for the white tip of the candy corn, and then added a red swoosh next to and under the beak.  When we ran out of the white tips we simply used a dot of the yellow gel frosting, but it actually came out more clear than we had anticipated.

We had intended to use that same yellow gel frosting for the legs, but because it ended up being so clear, so we switched gears and just went with black for both the legs and eyes and drew those in as the finishing touches.

Enjoy!

Scripture Memory - Verse 22

We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive.  They are not busy; they are busybodies.

2 Thessalonians 3:11 (NIV)

Here is the Verse 22 post on the LPM blog.

Scripture Memory - Verse 21

All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training and righteousness.

2 Timothy 3:16

Here is the link to the V21 LPM blog.

Review of Running - October

1 - 10 miles (1:43:44 - 10:22 min/mile pace)
3 - 1.25 miles (at a conference in Denver, so I should get extra points for the high altitude, right?)
4 - 2.25 miles (more high altitude points, right?)
11 - 3.6 miles (39 minutes)
16 - 8.09 miles (1:27:57 - 10:52 min/mile pace)
17 - 4 miles (46 minutes)
22 - 11 miles (10 miles at 1:54:40 - 11:24 min/mile; then another mile at 11:15 min)
24 - 3.5 miles (41:46 minutes)
25 - 4.01 miles (42:59 minutes - 10:43 min/mile pace)
29 - 15 miles (2:52 minutes; 11:28 min/mile pace)

62.7 Miles in October
Miles per day =  2.02 miles/day
2011 mileage total = 286.98 miles
2011 Miles per day (304 days) =  0.944 miles/day
Started October with deficiency of 48.72 miles
Ended October with deficiency of 17.02 miles

Scripture Memory - Verse 20

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (King James)

Here is the link to the LPM blog for Verse 20

The cutest 4 year old cheerleader I know....

And that's tough, since she asked me to coach a group of 6 absolutely adorable 4 year olds....but perhaps I'm a tad biased.

This one might just be the cutest one around.

This picture was taken during her second weekend of cheering. 

These next few were taken last weekend....it was also picture weekend for her squad, and wouldn't you know it, it happened to be windy?  Funny how that works out.

After her turn to cheer for her assigned game, we were watching Kellen play.  There weren't any cheerleaders cheering for that particular game, so she decided that she wanted to cheer.  Considering that cheering for her brother was what got her wanting to participate in Upward cheer in the first place, she did a great job as a solo cheerleader and cheered her heart out for her brother and his team!

Isn't she just precious?

And she was just precious doing it!

Happy visit for Kellen

Since our move (less than a mile down the road), which resulted in a change in elementary schools, Kellen's back-to-school adjustment has been, well, an adjustment.

It's been a challenge this year.

Not that the things that he's been working on have been bad......just challenging.

It's been little things.  Spending over his 'allotted' time in the library looking for a particular book.  Not listening to directions.  Talking.  Going too fast on his math homework or papers and thinking he knew what he was supposed to be doing - but not really and getting grades below what he's capable of earning.  Lining up with his hands next to his side rather than together behind his back (ok, ok...even I have to question that one, but whatever)....

So after almost two weeks straight of 'pulling tags' and getting yellow warning marks, he really turned it around.

And he got a Happy Visit as a result.

He was thrilled.  Over the moon.  And apparently when you get a Happy Visit, your picture goes up on a wall and stays there.  For the entire.year.

He was so proud.

And so were are we.

Scripture Memory - Verse 19

For we are all God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Review of Running - September

1 - 2 miles
2 - 2.5 miles (1 mile sprints X 2, .5 mile cool down walk)
3 - 6 miles (5 miles in 1:01:30; 6th mile in 12:32)
4 - 2 miles (walked)
5 - 3 miles (11:54, 11:15, 10:42 -supposed to be 3 miles 'easy')
6 - 3 miles (9:57, 10:55, 10:15 - 1 miles sprints X 3)
7 - 4 miles (11:31, 11:46, 11:11, 11:08)
10 - 7 miles (1:17:8 - yes...an 11 minute pace!!  Whoo hoo!!)
15 - 4.5 miles (4 miles (average pace 11:23 minute/mile) with .5 mile cool down)
16 - 3 miles (11:25 average pace/mile)
17 - 8 miles (no good, very bad run, average of slightly less than 13 mile pace)
19 - 5 miles (54:59 total time, 10:59 minutes/mile pace)
20 - 2.5 miles (.5 mile warm-up; 2 1/4 mi sprints; 2 1/2 mi sprints (one was 4:15!!!); .5 mile cool down) The GPS feature on my app on my phone was messing up, so my overall stats were goofy...
27 - 2 miles (23:28....after being sick for 2.5 days, I'm ok with that time!!)
29 - 2.5 miles (2 miles at 10:21 pace, .5 mile cool down)


September mileage total =56 miles

Miles per day = 1.866 miles/day
2011 mileage total = 224.28 miles
2011 Miles per day (273 days) = 0.82 miles/day
Started September with deficiency of 74.72 miles
Ended September with deficiency of  48.72 miles - Whoo hoo!!

Bathtime fun.  

Isn't she just the cutest??

(picture taken when Jacey was 14 months, 2 days)

Thinking ahead

So I came across this post today that pretty much sums up great ideas about not getting caught off guard for Christmas when it comes to presents....

Check it out.

Scripture Memory - Verse 18

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:14 (NIV)

Here is the link to the LPM Blog for V18.

Scripture Memory - Verse 17

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.

Psalm 18:6a (NIV)

Here is the link to the LPM blog for the Scripture memory V17.

Review of Running - August

7 - 3 miles
8 - 2 miles (at noon, which should either give me bonus points for determination or take away points for crazy)
18 - 3 miles
25 - 2 miles
26 - 1 mile
27 - 5 miles (1:00:00 (12:00 min/mile pace) as part of the CS Running Club)
28 - 3 miles (1 mi sprint repeats w/ 3 min rest)
29 - 3 miles
30 - 2 miles (.5 miles warm up; 1/4 mi sprint X 2; 1/2 mi sprint X 2)

August mileage total = 24 miles
Miles per day = 0.774 miles/day
2011 mileage total = 168.28 miles
2011 Miles per day  (243 days) = 0.6925 miles/day
Started August with deficiency of 67.72 miles
Ended August with deficiency of 74.72 miles