Christmas card crunch time

I looked at my calendar today and realized that November? It'll be here in a few days. Which means Christmas? Less than 2 months away. And as much as this is my most favorite time of the year, I'm not ready yet. It's kinda snuck up on me this year.

I have planned for Kyle to take the kid's fall pictures next weekend (note to self: inform him about this plan) and we'll have to rush to get them edited so that they'll be done in time to order our Christmas cards and the traditional grandparents gift - a photo calendar.

For the past few years I have used Shutterfly for our Christmas cards and calendars and have been more than delighted with the results. There are so many choices that I usually get a few different card designs because I can't make up my mind! I mean - just look:



OR



OR (and I'm lovin' this one - saves me from writing the letter I'm sure no one reads!)



There are pages of holiday cards, Christmas photo cards, even Thanksgiving cards (really? Thanksgiving cards?).

I even found this awesome birthday invitation that would be perfect for my *almost* Christmas birthday boy Noah.

Seriously. Go check out the website. Great designs. Great prices. One less thing you have to add to your to-do list.

*Although I do love Shutterfly and use them many times a year, this post has been written as part of Shutterfly's 50 free holiday cards for bloggers promo. If you have your own blog, go check out the info here!

milestone

Yesterday was a running milestone. I ran a 5K. Not an official 5K race, but a 5K distance nonetheless.

And I ran it in 35 minutes. Which isn't stellar - I understand that. However, had you seen me a few weeks ago trying to complete the "official" 5K you would see that I have come huge leaps from where I was.
I was proud of myself for fighting my quitting instincts and pushing through and even more proud that I could still breathe and walk when I was done.

Here is where I won't mention that this milestone was done on an indoor track and doing the same thing outside will probably not give me the same desirable effects. 

Oh, I love a rainy day ....

It's a rainy, stormy, dreary Monday here. School is done. Lunch has been eaten. Chores are almost done.

Leaving much of the afternoon open for playing in this:

This started as a tent and is now "Chubby's" dog house. Chubby is Ellie's dog name. Don't ask.

learning

What I've learned today:

• You can find anything on youtube.
• Because of this I can cut my own bangs.
• When your 5 year old tells you she fell and knocked her tooth out, she probably didn't. However, you should still check it so that 30 minutes later your floor isn't covered with blood.
• The self checkout line at Walmart will always, always result in the machine breaking down when I am checking out.
• When company is coming I have an overwhelming need to make all varieties of snack foods.
• It takes 4 kids and 1 mom approximately 2.5 minutes to inhale an entire bowl of Monkey Munch.
• When the grocery budget is gone for the month I can be very, very creative with mealtimes.
• Laundry, unfortunately, will not clean itself no matter how long it sits there.
• Never give a 7 year old boy a bottle of cleaner and tell him to clean the bathroom. 
• He will use the entire bottle of cleaner and most of it will be on his clothes.
• I am blessed.

running in circles

Training for my Thanksgiving race continues.

Friday evening Kyle and I took a quick trip to get myself some fancy new shoes. Even though it wasn't pleasant to hand over that much money for shoes to do something I really don't enjoy, it was a necessity if I wanted to run more than 5 minutes without my feet and knees feeling like they were being tortured.

I walked out with Brooks Women's Ghost 3 Running Shoe. They weighed at least 10 pounds less than my other ones and I was positive that my "long run" the next morning would be like running on air.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. Since Mimi was staying with us, Kyle and I took the opportunity to run outside. We stepped out into a cool, 45 degrees for our long run. (And by long I mean 2.5 miles. A marathoner I am not.)

About 5 minutes into our run I realized that running in circles on an indoor track is probably not the best way to train for an outdoor race. I have since started calling our neighborhood Mt. Olympus. The mountains hills - oh how they hurt! I was not the best running partner that morning as every part of me was screaming STOP! As Kyle was running along the lake singing to the fish, I was struggling to breathe.

At the end of the run I sat on the front steps wondering what I have gotten myself into. My fingers were frozen, my lungs were burning, and my muscles felt like jelly.  But the good news - my feet and knees felt as good as ever. The new shoes are amazing!

Today I run 2.5 miles again. This time on the indoor track since I have no one to watch the kids, and they love annoying the college students who are there to actually work out. Flat, indoor tracks may not be good practice for the race, but I bet I leave with a smile and my lungs in tact.

One day I'll conquer those hills. One day I'll run while singing to the fish in the lake. One day I'll stop complaining about running.

I just hope that one day happens in the next 5 1/2 weeks.

beauty school dropout

Ellie is currently obsessed with fixing hair. Washing, brushing, drying, braiding, cutting (unfortunately)....  

And as you see, no one is safe from her new fascination.

Aid Sudan Radio Station Project

A friend of mine from high school/college spent a few years in Sudan as a

missionary. Peter and his family are now back in the states and he is the Executive Director

of Aid Sudan.

Aid Sudan is an "interdominational, non-profit organization serving

the southern Sudanese in several targeted locations in Sudan and through US offices

in Dallas and Houston". Their vision is to aid in growing strong southern Sudanese communities

committed to serving Jesus Christ.

Please watch the video to find out about an incredible opportunity to help share the gospel

with the Sudanese people.

run, Forrest, run!

For most of my life I've never had to worry about what I eat or how much I exercise. Blame it on genetics or a hatred for butter, but I just haven't.

Then I turned 30. At that exact moment I gained 10 pounds - or at least it seemed that way. And it wouldn't go away. Not that I tried too hard, but those 10 pounds were there to stay.

Now I'm a few years past 30 and a few pounds past those extra 10. My love affair with all things carbs doesn't help. Neither does the fact that I'm not a big fan of exercise. Playing with my children outside? Yes. Hiking in the mountains? Yes. Riding a bike? Yes. But putting in an exercise DVD or taking an aerobics class or - dare I say it - running? Not so much. Since the fact that we don't live in the mountains and I don't own a bike sort of put a dimmer on those type of activities, I'm forced to find something else.

And that something else is running. I have never been a runner. I am not a fan of running. It hurts and it's hard and I just plain don't like it. But to continue my love of bread and to get myself feeling strong and fit, I have started to run.

I completed my first 5K last weekend. And by completing I mean running slowly the first half and zooming like lightening the rest of the way. Okay, so I was barely able to walk the second half, but in my mind I was Eric Liddell (I totally just googled him by typing "guy from chariots of fire"). Or at least Forrest Gump.

So it didn't go as I had hoped. I was ready to give it up, but my ever-encouraging husband has come alongside me and pushed me until I threw up gently guided me to go further in my running this week.

We have committed to run an 8K on Thanksgiving morning in Knoxville while we're at my grandmother's. I'm determined to finish strong this time. I still don't like running. My poor husband listens to my complaints throughout the entire run. I have to admit, though, 30 minutes after I'm done it feels great.

Eric Liddell I will never be. But that's okay. I'd look funny as a man anyway.

mmmmm....

Every year, at the first hint of fall, I have an urgent desire to buy as many cans of pumpkin as possible.  I can't explain it. Maybe it's a Pavlovian response. All I know is I gather pumpkin like a squirrel gathering nuts for winter.

I. love. pumpkin. But only in cool seasons. Pumpkin in the summer just doesn't feel right.  By the time November spring arrives, my family never wants to eat pumpkin again.

I made my first pumpkin dish of the season for our church small group last night. Pumpkin Bread. It's absolutely divine. I'm sharing the recipe with you. Feel free to spread the pumpkin joy.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

This probably shouldn't even count as a "post" but I have to write these things down so when I'm 84 (or next year) and I can't even remember my kid's names, I'll have this to look back on.

Jacob just came in to talk to me about marketing.

He said "Have you seen Publix's logo?" I told him that Publix was my very favorite place so of course I had.

He said, "What about CVS?"  Yes, indeed I have.

"Well," he said, "those are just plain CVS letters on there."

"Yes, they are. That's the store's name. What else would you have them put up there?" I asked.

"Like Walgreens. That's a great one. It's in cursive. So people want to go in there because they think they have fancier things because the name is in cursive."

Wanted: ability to focus

I posted this last year, but this is a perfect picture of my day today. Except for the part about changing a diaper.  Strike that part. Already served my time doing diaper duty.


If You Give A Mom A Muffin
Original Author Unknown
If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are...
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

home again, home again

We're back from our mini-vacation to Charleston.  It was a great few days and more on that later.

We came home last night to find one of our largest fish - Manny - had been pretty badly beaten up by another fish - Dempsey. It was then that I discovered how completely opposite my view of the fish is from my kids'. While he was still 1/2 alive - I was ready to just bury him in the backyard. (He's too big to flush I think).  The kids were devastated and after Jacob's tears and screams of "DADDY DON'T LET HIM DIE. SAVE HIM. HE'S SOOOO SPECIAL" I decided burying him may not be such a good idea.

Kyle separated the two fish and all is well again in the aquarium.

Today it's back to reality. And  by reality I mean still being in pajamas at 10:05 am and probably not having a shower today due to all the housework/errands/homeschooling/grocery shopping I have to do.

It's a glamorous life, but someone has to do it.