Grateful

I feel extremely blessed. I have a wonderful, amazing, hardworking, handsome, fun, and talented husband who I love with all my heart. I have four beautiful, healthy, happy, energetic children that I absolutely adore. I have wonderful parents, siblings, in-laws, and friends. I have a home to live in, food on my table, and clothes on my back. Most importantly I have a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers my prayers, a Savior who atoned for my sins, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. My life is not perfect, but I'm happy and thankful for all that I have. Today is a great day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The 8K

I am terrible at setting goals and accomplishing them. Really, I avoid setting goals. I just don't like it (which is very opposite of my husband and I'm sure kinda frustrates him). But I did it. I set a goal and actually accomplished it this past Saturday.

Once Claire turned 6 weeks the 3 littlest ones and I have been to the YMCA just about every weekday (I love this place by the way). I have never been one to exercise or run. I haven't ever really enjoyed it or had an opportunity to do it consistently (well I didn't ever make it a priority). But I have really started to love working out and running these past 6 weeks (I never thought I would say this). It feels good to run and lift weights and the hour break from my kids during the day is like the icing on the cake!

A friend sent me an email about a month ago asking if I'd like to do the 8k in Nov. I sent her an immediate yes, signed up, and paid my money. That was it. I was committed and had a goal set and knew I wasn't going to give up this time.

I ran the 8k this past weekend and I had the absolute best time preparing for it and running the race! That's 5 miles (well 4.96) - not much for most of you, but for me it's unheard of. I was a mediocre sprinter in high school and never, ever have been a true runner and I'm not yet, but would like to be someday. When I started running six weeks ago I was running a 15 minute mile - terribly slow and completely out of shape. But I worked really hard and the week before the race I was running a 10 minute mile which I was very proud of.

I loved the whole experience of the race. The crowds, weaving around people to get ahead, the music in the streets, the feeling of crossing the finish line knowing I had accomplished my goal. Even better was that I finished in 46 minutes and 3 seconds (a 9:21 mile)!!! I'm looking forward to the 10k in March and hopefully many more to come.

Now, here are more pictures than anyone cares to see except maybe my mom:

The race started at 7am.

(Getting hydrated, but I drank way to much for having only a 3 month postpartum bladder if you know what I mean. The port-a-potties during the race looked very tempting.)

(Just about to start the race. I had planned to start with two other friends from church but I never was able to find them. They were late and started at the end of the pack. I'm actually glad I didn't find them because it was so much easier to run by myself and I ended up doing better than them - I can say that because they don't know I have a blog :)

(Early in the race. We had had terrible rain for the 3 days prior, but we only got a drizzle during the race and it was about 48 degrees. Cool to start with, but perfect throughout the race.)

(Just about to cross the finish line!! I couldn't have been happier- I felt great!)

I loved having Cole there to watch and cheer me on. A friend was babysitting the kids at home so he didn't have to drag them around in the cold. Cole hadn't seen me run since I was a sophomore in high school and we were both on the track team. He said it was really fun for him to watch me and I hope that the next race we can do it together!

3 months

This smiley butterball is now 3 months old. She's discovered her hands - sucks on them and looks at them, likes to stand up, is giggling a lot, very smiley and chatty, has slept 11+ hours for me on several occasions and is such a fun one to have around. We have no idea who she looks like and trying to tame her crazy hair is pointless. We love this girl!!

Flag Football Season

(The Team = 8 Residents and 1 Assistant)

Cole was determined to play flag football this season despite knowing few who actually play football. He was able to talk all of his fellow Ortho residents into playing in the VCU flag football league. I think only Cole and two of the other 8 guys actually had ever played on a organized football team before. Honestly there really wasn't much hope for a winning season, but just to get out and have fun.

Well the first game came and watching them warm up I was even skepitcal that they could pull off a win, but they did. They were all very excited and surprised that they were actually able to win a game.

The games were at night this year so unfortunately the kids and I were only able to go to some of them which was very strange. I think this is the first time in 7 years of marriage and watching Cole play football that I haven't been able to go to every game. We would go to all the 8pm games which got us back home at 9:30pm (the kids usually go to bed at 7:30pm). The kids were always very good, finding ways to keep themselves entertained since they didn't have a million cousins to play with this year and they really loved going.

(These two spent the game jumping in puddles)

Week after week the Intruders kept on winning their games. Cole would walk in the door after a game and I would ask how it went. He'd give me this sly smile and say, "We actually won again." Really it was quite unbelievable. Cole said that the guys are smart and not one of them was a hot-head so they just did what they were told and clearly it worked.

Even more amazing is the fact that they WON the entire school football Championship!!! There was 3 leagues and they won it all. Keep in mind that our team was made up of a bunch of almost 30 year olds and most all of the other teams were probably 10 years younger. It was a great season and I couldn't be more excited for them!!

Congratulations Intruders!

He Kicked the Ball!!

It happened. Dominic actually kicked the ball in his soccer game and he scored 3 goals (2 for his own team and 1 for the opponent)!!!!

(I had the video camera . . . of course the battery was dead. ugh.)

Last week was nothing but frustration and disappointment. He sulked, pouted, and cried the entire game last week. When he did make it on the field he stood in the same spot the whole time with his arms crossed and head down pouting. He was sent to his bedroom after we got home and he was not allowed to watch cartoons or anything the rest of the day.

Yesturday was such a fun game to watch. We were excited, he was excited and there were a lot of thumbs-up exchanged. Dominic ran to his coach giving him a rockstar hand signal (Cole taught him) and the coach looked so confused and didn't know what to do so he just put up one finger back at Doms.

It was so nice to see that Dominic might indeed have some athletic genes in his body. He did very well dribbling and kicking the ball in the goal. He ran fast and actually tried to get the ball away from other kids. One time he even pulled on the hood of a girl who was kicking the ball. It was really funny.

Immediately after the game we took a family trip to the pet store to look around. It's one of his favorite things to do. Dominic had a very happy Saturday. If we wanted another brownie he got one, if he wanted to eat his pizza on the living room floor and watch multiple episodes of Scooby-Doo his wish was granted . . . all in the name of a little effort on the soccer field! Hallelujah! Only one game left.

All I Want For Christmas . . .

is my TWO FRONT TEETH!

I know you've seen way too many pictures of Macie's toothless mouth but I couldn't resist this adorable new look of hers.

Halloween

Here's the pictures from our Halloween. Sadly Cole and I didn't dress up this year, not even pulling out any old costumes, but the kids looked great and had fun.

We did trick or treating here at our complex which was convenient and exciting. We had a few scary moments for the kids - I was walking ahead of Cole with the older two kids not paying attention and all of the sudden there was loud screaming - it was my kids and the two older boys who had jumped out from behind a car with masks on scaring them. I was mad and told them to not scare my kids. Cole said he's glad he wasn't up there because he might have punched them.

At one of the doors there was this nice older woman who opened the door so sweetly , but ever so slowly only for us to see her husband who was dressed as a scary wolf who she had on a leash. Immediately Tessa was cowering into my chest, Dominic dropped his bag of candy and started to turn around. I quickly turned him back around and told him how cool it all was. He gave me one of those sideways glances where his eyes rolled over slowly and he said in a quiet deadpan voice "See, I told you this was going to be great." It was so funny!