Brrr.... it was a cold one!!!

It seems that I don't get around to posting until after the weekend is over. That seems to happen lately b/c our weekends become very relaxed and whatever, so I don't have time. This weekend was a little different. I was anticipating the race coming up! The running part I wasn't too worried about. Endurance and physically, I was good! It was the 20 degree weather. I love me some cold weather, but WHY oh WHY did it have to be so cold for the race. Here is what I learned and gathered from my race:

* saw TONS of familiar faces (that is such a good feeling)

* I rode the bus with the "Homewood crowd". How nice to not have to park or worry about it

* Jeremy and CK never miss a race, so sweet. (well he missed one in Tampa b/c I told him not to worry). CK gets so excited to watch me cross a finish line. Love it!!!

* I ran my best time yet. Time is always the least of my worry until I realize I am doing good and when I saw the 7 minute milers I stepped it up. I should have done better. Jacki would have been so proud, even though she still leaves me in the dust, LOL. You have to come do this race Jacki since you have always wanted to!!!

* Best record.... how is that possible? It was 23 degrees, windy, I was on major meds, 4 hours of sleep, etc.... Somehow lulu lemon and Alabama outdoors provided me with awesome (and still cute) running gear to get through the run. I never ONCE got cold! The meds I guess have made me feel like a new person so running was so much easier, the coffee at the end, and who knows what else, but I made it!!! It was a fast one too!

* At mile 3 I smelled homemade baked bread baking, that was brutal. Then at mile 10 there really was coffee!!! I didn't stop. I never stop, makes it harder to get going again. By then I was ready to kick it anyways.

* oh yeah.... nothing like watching for ICE b/c the water that spilled at the running stations was turning straight to ice!!! I didn't fall though, LOL. I just fall on random sidewalks or when some random man scares me, not on ice.

* Not too sure about the man in cut off khakis, no shirt, and running boots. Seriously, it does get a little warm when your blood is pumping, but not that warm! He wasn't the classy of all classy, LOL. There is ALWAYS one at any race you go to!

* So.... this was one of the best halfs I must say! I have done 6 official, and too many "unofficial to count" but it was a good one!

So the race was over.... on top of that, I have battled what turned into a sinus infection for 7 days. It was on and off and on and off and then Thursday I realized, I needed something. I went to the doctor Friday and got a steroid shot, an antibiotic shot, and a round of steroid and antibiotic pills. WOW!!! I haven't taken pills for sickness (just surgery) or had shots since way before CK was born. I loved that shot!!! I felt like a new person in hours! Thank goodness I did that before the race. On top of it all though, our heat quit on Friday night and can't be fixed until Monday morning. That happened on the weekend that the weather never left 30 degrees. Luckily a big fire and some really nice portable heaters, kept the place nice and cozy.

So... in a nutshell, that was our weekend! Believe it or not, good rest, a good race, some yummy baking for all my friends, CK's teachers, etc... for Valentines Day, and ready for a new week. Oh not to mention, the old phone died! It was time, so we are officially all APPLE now. Why we took so long for the 4s not sure. I love the voice activation on the "s"! We have been an ALL APPLE family for 6 years now! I think this has been our only thing we needed to catch up on, but I have never been a die hard technology person so I never cared until recently when we got all the new Apple stuff. Jeremy is though and boy he has my phone set up to the max, the otter box, then "my idea of a nice cover" (I need 2 right), and anything else it could possibly do! Now.... Ready for some good homemade soup tonight for the cold weather.

THis was one of the coolest medals I have, LOL. The mercedes symbol

Ck was all bundled up at the race not to get cold. I wanted her ride!!!

It was a "piggy tail type of week" I guess!

Nothing like the Present

It seems like I am always saying something sort of like this....

* tomorrow I will do "this"
* tonight I will do "this"

* this weekend I will do "this"
* when is the weekend coming so we can......
* next month lets do "this"
* in a few months we will do "this"
* I need to do "this"
* in 5 years I will do "this"
* in 10 years we will do "this"

and the list goes on! Oh and all of these things are on "lists" to check off when I am done, because that is the OCD in me!!! Believe me, it all usually gets done too because if I can't check it off, that would drive me crazy! That is how I stay ahead, organized, on schedule, keep sane, be a mommy, be a wife, be a teacher, house cleaned, trips taken, everything organized, CK's stuff ahead of the game, birthday stuff ahead of the game, and the list goes on there too! Soooo.... where does the "present time come into play"??? Always looking to what is next or what needs to be done next or a better way of saying what HAS to be done next.

That is part of my New Years SIMPLE plan to try my best to live in the present. My little girl just isn't little anymore and it kills me to see the time flying by. So many nights, Jeremy and I sit and laugh at all the things she does or things she is accomplishing. We just love this little girl. As we discuss our big trip plans for Spring Break, Jeremy mentioned taking her. We can't wait for her to go to these big cities and experience all the fun that we have, but then I thought.... oh she will love staying with her Gammy! LOL. As all parents say, they grow up too fast, even though each stage is special and each stage is fun. Anyways, time is so precious, but there is no time like the Present. That is all God has given me right now and I will always plan ahead (because I am a planner and because I am OCD), but... I think that is okay as long as I can truly enjoy the present!

Now.... how many more days until the weekend, LOL!

Enjoy some pictures I took over the last few days. Jeremy's mom was here staying with us while she had a doctor's appointment. Charlee Kate enjoyed having her Nana here and loves to listen to her read her books after books. She takes it all in!!!

Believe it or not, the front of her hair is growing! Yay, just doesn't quite stay in the bow, but we are getting there. Here is little Miss Sassy! She has been in such a sweet mood and a busy body!

Time to just relax!

Our Saturday was relaxed, just me and CK heading out to do a couple of things. I didn't feel real great, but we needed to get out of the house! Our Saturdays a lot of time are "cleaning up TJ Maxx's floor". LOL. Literally, we walk through and she looks for "pieces" on the floor. The pieces are the little round things that go on hangers to tell the size of a clothing item. She LOVES to find the pieces and I can check out the Runway collection (b/c its the only one in Bama that has it) and so that makes for two happy people. However, we made this a quick trip! After cleaning the floor we headed to SAKS to check out a few things, then home. She was in rare form and sporting her "Nick Chick" shirt that I just love. Jeremy was in Atlanta for a show, but came home later that afternoon.

We have lots of girly afternoons and days. I love to change my purse all the time. I always have, but now it is like every other day. Then painting nails and toenails, that changes with the outfits. CK loves to watch me and wants hers painted too! She is definitely becoming my mini me! Jeremy keeps laughing b/c the changing of the purses, the changing of the nail colors, and all my "baking" and new "dinner recipes" is all going triple time! I definitely love being at home more and somehow manage it all with working.... think of all I could accomplish if I was home all the time, if I do this and work, LOL!!!!

Now for Super Bowl Sunday. I am pulling for the Patriots. My good friend "brother" Matt is a Patriots fan and I have to pull for his team for him!!!

I got creative for Valentines Day this year. I had fun with it. I love our Valentines Tree and here is one of the cute Valentines I made for CK to hand out. It is a shovel that says "I dig you" with M&M's in it. She also has purses for the girls that has fish in them that say "Will you "O-fish-ially be mine". They were cute! I enjoyed making them for her little class and friends.

Boy she was not happy with her mommy here. I guess I did something that did not sit just right with her. Very opinionated these days! Good thing is, she does snap out of it quick.

Weekends

Kind of a random post, but a good start to the weekend....

This weekend actually rolled around fast. The week flew and I like when that happens! It was a good week and as you saw from the post yesterday, CK's surgery was fabulous! She has continued to be her sweet, happy, very wild self. I think this surgery has already showed improvements! She did eat 8 pieces of her round toast after surgery! She loves it but her Nana's homemade strawberry jelly has to be on it! That jelly is her favorite (mine too!) Thanks for always making it for us Barbara!!! She got to hang out with her Gammy today which has also made her one happy little girl! The picture above is from last weekend when we were shopping through Publix. She was having the time of her life.

Look at this fabulous coke machine we had in the break room at Children's! Sad thing is, I never got to get my own fountain drink! Too busy! It sure was nice to know it was there though, LOL

I hope to have lots of good pics from the weekend as we get to see lots of family and hang out!

Surgery day and the week!

Rain, Rain, Rain.... boy have we seen a lot of it lately! We make it though, but we get lots of wear out of rain boots. Good thing CK loves them! Her Hunters are still too big! I love these Dylan's though. Not sure why pics are blurry, but I loved this outfit with rainboots!!! Scroll down for updates and what has been going on...

Here are a few catch up pics. Yes this one is of 2 books!!! We read these 2 books every night and we have been reading them everynight for over a month now. I am going crazy b/c I can read these books backwards and forwards, but EVERY night, Charlee Kate gets the biggest smile on her face like we have never read them before. It is worth it, but every night I try to persuade her to read any of the other 200 books we own! She does swap it every now and then for her 2 children's books about NYC. I am already on that! LOL
Finally the day came for tubes! Jeremy and I made the decision to go to the ENT a few weeks ago. Our baby girl NEVER had sick visits in Florida and we were not used to a sick baby! Once we got to Bama, we were dealing with sickness and antibiotics and we didn't like it and knew we were seeing too much of it. I was blaming "Birmingham" and blaming "allergies". Turns out, the fluid in her ears may be the cause of it ALL!!! I think we would have cried if they said they would NOT do tubes! We just were not used to a sick baby and we knew something had to be wrong. Jeremy and I are NOT worry worts either so we could not figure out. Turns out she had tons of fluid build up that was causing all the congestion, ear infections, coughs, yucky feelings, drainage, etc.... It was even messing with her hearing some. So tube surgery it was!!!

We had the surgery this morning and I was more anxious about her waking up and not being able to have food or drink. She woke up so happy, was excited to go somewhere in her jammies, and then once we got there she was bouncing off the walls! Having a blast! She was so good and I mean SO GOOD up until 5 minutes before they took her back. It was 8:30... we woke her up at 6:30, and she was hungry! They took her back and said she was wonderful. She helped with her mask and didn't even cry. 15 minutes later, they brought her back to my lap, she cuddled with me and we were in the car by 9:00 heading home. Everything went great. The doctor said she had tons of fluid and mucus and she should hear better and we will be amazed at how she feels. I really really hope so! So glad it all went so good. We went through a 30 minute "patch" of her coming out of anthesia, but she has been back to normal. Her Gammy is coming today and keeping her home tomorrow. She already has plans for "ice cream and shopping" with her Gammy!!!!
Playing and running everywhere in the waiting room before we got our room

She liked her jammies better than the gown, but did fine with it

Riding the wagon through the hospital while waiting to go back. The baba was in the wagon, don't think it didn't go STRAIGHT to the washer when we came home!!!!

This is the best invention! It does help that Jeremy is all about technology and knows everything about it and has everything for it, but she loves it! She watch her shows in the wagon while waiting.

Off to a good day.... we hope!!!

Plain and Simple

A few quick pictures from the weekend. A VERY SIMPLE weekend I might add! That is what we needed. Simple is my new motto anyways, doesn't work for everything (outfits, clothes, etc...), but it does for most. There just isn't time to focus on all the "fluff" or randomness. Charlee Kate was so excited when Jeremy came home on Saturday. She missed her daddy a lot! She has been so sweet getting back in the groove and being back at school. I thought it might be hard since she had a fun week with her Gammy and Ella, but she has bounced right back in her routine with no problem! Looking forward to several more weekends of SIMPLE and nothing major to do. Just hoping after surgery Thursday, that we have a simple weekend and all goes okay!!!

She's back!

Oh when I picked up Charlee Kate yesterday I got the BIGGEST sweetest hug from her! She had so much fun with her Gammy and Ella, but she sure missed her mommy too. Jeremy was out of town last night, but all night and all day today she has been the sweetest little girl. I could just "eat her up". This morning she slept in late for me, then we went to Publix, Hobby Lobby, and the mall. She would just stop and talk to everyone, talk to me, never whined, just so much fun! When I told her we were going to the mall, she said "Mommy I love mall!!!". I thought to myself "this is my girl!!!" LOL. Time off is definitely needed for anyone, but I am so glad to have her back and be "mommy" again! Looking forward to a weekend with NOTHING to do. We have needed this for a long time!

I had to take a picture of these shoes! For anyone who knows me, I love shoes, especially for Charlee Kate, but these Stuart Weitzman's were my favorite. She had them at 1 year old and I found them for her now. I was sooooo excited!!! I have an obsession with clothes and shoes for her, but that has grown to coats and tights too. I love them all!