If it doesn't kill you, it will only make you stronger..

or it'll make you have jelly-legs for a couple of days. I finally used my C25k app that I bought sometime last fall. YAY me! The program is set up to alternate between walking/jogging. For the first run, I felt like I did pretty well. I did at least finish, make it back home, and am still alive. That's better off than I thought I would be.

Some interesting information I think I may have known before the run is that the span of road that I used is nearly two miles. I think that I had heard that before, but once you run/walk it you realize that two miles isn't really all that far. So a nice surprise I got out of Thursday (besides the fact that I really survived the very first run!) is that I made the entire two miles. I loved that the program ended after 30 minutes, and I was only a very short distance (less than 2 minutes) away from my starting point. It was very nice to get back in my car and drive back home after a 30 minute walk/run. It was only after I got home and sat on the couch for an hour that I realized that I may have to sleep on the couch. It was the next day (Friday) before I realized that I may not be able to move or walk at all for the next 24 hours. It was Saturday when I realized that the hurt was slowly going away, but was at that time mostly centered in my lower legs. Sunday I barely hurt, and today, NO PAIN! Which means it must be time to run again, lol

I think it's a good thing that the first week is a run 3 times program, because if they wanted me to run every day, or every other I'd be in a lot of pain!

And now for the $64,000 question: Does she run like a girl?

ABSOLUTELY! But that's okay...at least I ran!

Button, button, who has the button.....

We do! L collects all sorts of things. She has a small collection of bouncy balls, some beanie baby bears in all sorts of colors from the different states her daddy has visited, and she has a somewhat impressive collection of pajamas and nightgowns. But today, the collection of all collections invaded my house. Nana bought L.......a BUTTON BOX, complete with lots of buttons. Not too sure about this latest idea of my dear child's, but dad says the buttons go back to Nanas house, and will stay there. (and I agree...I can just imagine what sort of 'fun' H could get into with an entire box of buttons!)

It's a cool interest to have, this collecting buttons, I'll admit that much...but close to maybe 500 buttons in all sizes?!? I don't think we are quite ready for that!

Things I never thought I'd ever say....

now includes the phrase: "L! Please don't write on the dog!"

I'm so very proud of L wanting to know how to spell words and write them down. However, she just couldn't see how writing on the dog with an ink pen was a not so great idea.

Oh yes, the joy of parenting, and protecting the dog...see? I AM a multi-tasker :-)

Long Time, No Write?

Yeah, I've been sort of busy lately, I guess. More like, maybe blessedly chaotic around here. I went back and checked and my last blog was written in March...I'm such a terrible blogger. I've wondered if my life is really interesting enough to blog about, or if my writing is really worth reading. I'm still not sure about either, but blogging is fun for me, ya know, when I actually get around to doing it. I'm not sure exactly what all my family and I have been up to since the last time I took the time to blog, mainly because half the time I can't even remember what I did yesterday, but here's a small rundown.

March: Began daycare renovation (which sadly, is still in progress!) We repainted the walls a very nice light green which ended up making my daycare much brighter....which is very good, seeing as half of my lights don't work and we can't figure out how to fix them :) Also got new comfy short shag carpet, which is a H-U-G-E improvement from the super thin throw rugs glued down on top of very hard concrete.

Also in March, my best friend's baby was born...on the 24 I believe...he wasn't supposed to be born until June 3. That baby is an amazing, adorable, and FEISTY little guy! We praise God for that sweet little guy, and praise Him for the baby's safe delivery, for sustaining him, and making him the little fighter that he is.

April: Watched the "Royal Wedding" (OF COURSE!)...celebrated Easter at our church and with our families. My dad really believes in the "all-out Easter candy fully loaded down baskets" and therefore we are STILL eating chocolate eggs, Peeps, and some marshmallow treats in June.

May: Filled with T-ball...or at least would have been if we didn't have so much severe weather/tornado and rain cancellations. Because of all the reschedules, we were STILL playing T-ball in June. The princess swears she's not ever never EVER going to play T-ball again next year, and I promise that I won't sign her up!

June: VACATION, BABY! I'd been (not so) patiently awaiting vacation week since we made our plans to go in the winter. We went to Branson, MO for 6 blessedly quiet days. We met some friends there, and really had an awesome time. We got in some mini-golf time for the Princess, went and had some of the tastiest frozen custard I've ever eaten, and saw the Sight and Sound Theater's production of "NOAH". I have nothing but great things to say about that theater. They are truly amazing there. I don't have lots of experience seeing plays and all that, but NOAH is a wonderful production based on the experiences of the family from the Bible. They do it right and they do it well! My kids will probably never forget the experience, and I know I won't ever forget the look on either of my daughter's faces when the animals started coming down the aisles and up on stage to board God's Ark.

Now we're back at home and work and our normal daily lives.

That dreaded day....

Ohhh Garfield...I totally feel your pain. Enough said about today...tomorrow WILL be better, just based on the fact that it's not a MONDAY. (Hope for the future!)

Wonderful Window Sprouts

Last week we planted seeds in cups to create a "window garden". The daycare kids have been doing an excellent job watering their plants, which range from cucumbers, sunflowers, pumpkins, and green beans. The kids are so excited to take care of their plants. They're so proud of their little garden that they tell their parents of the progress every day. Even when the only thing you could see in the cup was the dirt! Today when I showed them their cups, they noticed something different....one of the cups that had been planted with sunflower seeds had SPROUTS!

They were so wired to see that their tiny little seeds had produced something. I can't wait until all the seeds start coming through the dirt...and I can't wait to see their excitement and happiness when they each in turn get to plant their loved and well-tended little plants outside in the yard.

Handmade Crafty Goodness

I'm finally getting my crochet hat making rear in gear. I have made several beanie hats, baby hats with poms, earflap hats of various sizes (newborn through adult sizes) and finally, the most adorable hat pattern I've seen thus far...the Owl Baby Hats with Braids. All various styles of hats will soon be on my blog business page. I make them in whatever colors requested, and can usually ship your hat within a week of receiving your order. Feel free to check back this evening for some handmade crafty awesomeness!

Have machine, will travel! Or sew...or, something

This is my sewing machine:

This is my pattern:

This is my fabric:

This is a picture of my cut up pattern pieces:

The outfit I planned was for my daughter's new dolly that she got for her 5th birthday. Oh, I almost forgot!

This is Kanani. (Or Anani, or Nani..She has many names, this dolly)

Princess loves her doll. Nani instantly became part of the family the second she was out of the box. Almost as soon as Nani was out of her box, Princess asked if the blue dress was the only clothes she had. Typical girl behavior, right? So worried about the clothes and accessories before she and Nani had even gotten to know each other. After she had the dress off of Nani and was trying on Bitty Baby clothes (with no luck) Princess asked if we could get more clothes for the doll. I suggested we make some.

/I won't bore you with details of my attempt at the new shirt for Nani, because that went pretty easily...however, here is the tale of the cursed first attempt of making dolly some pants :0) /

So on our next trip to Wal-Mart, Princess picked out a doll clothes pattern and some Strawberry Shortcake fabric. Luckily, I already had the purple fabric in my stash, because after we had the shirt done and Princess saw how short the shirt ended up being, she decided that we also needed to do the pants. I agreed...I mean, we obviously can't have Nani showing her undies. That just wouldn't do!

So, I set to work on the pants, which weren't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. After jabbing myself a few times with straight pins and a couple of good bloody pokes to my fingers, we had the pants pinned, cut, and re-pinned. We were set to go! Then Princess noticed that Angelina Ballerina was on TV, and she abandoned me...the little stinker! Nani's pants were underway, amazingly enough with not a drop of blood on them :0) After reading the directions through twice, I tried to sew the pants. I ripped out seams 3 times, re-read directions, thought some very bad and awful things about the people who wrote those directions, and finally cursed myself for thinking that I could make pants. The darn casing for the elastic waist started all of my problems. By the time I finally got the elastic shoved through the casing and had that sewn together, I went to check on Princess...she had fallen asleep in the middle of the living room floor. So I decided that I needed a break too. I put away the pants and went to work on them again the next night.

After work the next day, I busted out the sewing machine, straight pins (my newest enemy....seriously, I should have taken pictures of my poor arms for when I forgot the darn outfit was pinned!), and pants. I read the directions YET again, and this time, for who knows what reason, they made sense! I started sewing, ripped out ONE seam, re-sewed, and BAM! We had PANTS! I was so excited, I went and put them on Nani, and they fit...and they stayed up....and they look decent! I danced in celebration...trust me, you will be glad that there's no picture of that.

Princess hasn't seen the new pants yet, but I'll take a picture when she does, and I will post the entire mom-made outfit then.

The Location of Heaven...According to 2 Four Year Olds

Today, Princess got into a nasty argument with a daycare girl (who will be DCG4, as she's 4 years old). They were playing nicely together working on a floor puzzle (which should have been a tip-off that something big was about to go down). All of a sudden, they're arguing, because naturally, they're both right...according to them. I physically separate the girls, and ask them each what's up. The responses? WELL...

DCG4 knows that dogs go to Heaven when they die. Princess agrees on this point, because you know, Nana's dog died and went to Heaven. The difference in opinions that rocked the boat?

DCG4's mommy said that when her dog died, he went UP to live with Jesus in Heaven, UP in the clouds.

Princess says nope, that's not right. When her Nana's dog died, Nana and Poppy buried it in the ground behind their garage. SO, Nana's dog went DOWN into the ground to live with Jesus in Heaven. (By the way, she came up with this all on her own...I had totally forgotten about her Nana's dog's death, but apparently this "Heaven with Jesus in the Ground" thing has been on her mind, she's put some real thought into it! lol)

Solution: MORNING SNACK! All's great now, both girls have forgotten their disagreement, and they enjoyed crackers and milk for snack.

*Just for the fun of it, here's Princess and Sassy's dog, Sammy*

Zumba...yikes!

I wonder some days if I'm crazy. You see, last Thursday was the first Zumba get-together here in my town. It was a sight to behold. (I say this in a teasing voice, and trust me, we were all laughing) Especially the super out-of-rhythm brown haired 5 foot 1 girl in the second row to the back. (Yeah, that would be me). As the instructional video started, I just couldn't help but laugh. I had read about Zumba on-line before deciding to try it myself. Because of our "wonderful" internet service provider, I didn't get a chance to actually watch Zumba, but I did read up on it.

Turns out Zumba is Latin dancing. (This is why last Thursday I was questioning my sanity....I don't dance) The ladies on the video pretty well swear that anyone can do this, and that it's a great workout. Amazingly, it's true! Anyone CAN Zumba. I was a little doubtful about some of their "instructions", like when they suggest adding a little more "FlAVOR" to the step, and then throwing in hips and arms. As someone in the back row commented...*What if I don't know MY flavor*? But if you're like me, you look more like an uncoordinated frog stuck on spin cycle than you look like the petite, very cute ladies dancing on your screen. But that's okay...you're still working out. That part is also true. It's a great workout.

When I first walked into the school gym where they've got everything all set up, I noticed that the heat was not on. I was a little worried. However, when you jump right into the workout, as they do on the video, you stop worrying about being cold, because you're not cold anymore. By the second or third dance, you're ready to start taking off layers. This dancing to work out thing really gets you going. But I'll tell you the best part of Zumba.

When you get home and chill all evening, you know, worrying that you're not going to be able to move the next day, you'll find out that specific worry is simply unfounded. I WAS able to move the next day, and WASN'T sore anywhere at all. Which is why I think that this Zumba thing is going to work. Hey, it may even teach me a little bit about coordination.

Friends...

These are my friends Deb and Rex. I have known Deb since we were both little girls. We met in Kindergarten, and have been friends ever since. My girls call her Aunt Deb and love her so much. (They also love Rex! Especially Sassy, since he will sit and hand her food all evening if we let him!)

In September, Deb and Rex discovered that they were going to begin a fabulous journey. They will be parents in the summer of 2011. Yesterday, they found out a little bit about this new little person who will be coming to change their lives. They discovered that they will be welcoming, a SON. Congrats Deb and Rex! You guys will be amazing parents! We're so happy for you!

Things I got last week

1. A terrible cold that I just couldn't kick. In fact, Sassy still has it. It's slowly getting better, but it just keeps a lingering hold on her.

2. A new Bible. I picked it up at church last Sunday. It's one of those Read the Bible in a year type deals. I really like it so far, but I am (quite) a bit behind on it. I like the layout of it a lot, and I'm really excited to be trying to read it, hopefully in a year's time. (I've never read the Bible all the way through before.)

3. My sister will probably not appreciate this one, but I got "started" on her hat. It's supposed to be pretty darn cold this week. She asked me back in December if I would make a hat for her. Black, she said, with a GIANT orange flower. So I started it last week. The hat is finished, the flower is not. The flower isn't even on the hook yet. So, I'm very very very sorry to my dear little sister, who will be freezing her big ole ears off this week walking across campus because her very forgetful and often procrastinating big sister still does not have this fabulous hat completely finished and given.

4. I finally got Princess to let me braid her hair. She's a bear to get out of bed in the mornings, so I figured a *small* bribe may convince her that getting up is totally worth it. She likes to be a girl, complete with (pretend) make-up and perfume. So, on an odd morning last week, she got out of bed without complaint. I told her that if she would get up without the tears I would braid her hair. Amazingly, she was cool with that plan, and she just LOVES how her hair looks in two little braids. Who knew bribes would work so well? :-)