The one all about my son

This week has been quite busy, there's been something going on almost every night. One common theme here with these pictures..... Cooper is a mess.

 

Tuesday night. We had some neighbors over for dinner, Tim always brags about my cooking to his buddies, and this time it was the buffalo chicken stuffed shells. So, he wanted to invite them over to have dinner and they brought the dessert..... Chocolate cake. Now you can see what my almost 3 year old does with chocolate cake!

Thursday night, we needed to go to the mall, shopping for a new lawn mower. I told Tim while we were there, I wanted to eat dinner at the food court. NOT a good idea if I was watching what I was eating, but that day, and many days lately, I haven't been. Anyway, they have a children's play area in the food court and for a while, Cooper didn't even see it. We contemplated for a few minutes whether to show him, or to just go home. (Bad parents, right?) Anyway, my want and need for that boy to be TIRED that night won over and we let him play. He made some new friends and had fun.

This was after he finished playing. See? MESS, hot, sweaty and yup, tired.

I wish that had stopped him from staying up until 10pm singing in his bed, but no. He stayed in his bed like a good boy and sang his heart out until 10 on Thursday night. Oh well, at least he finally went to sleep when I was going to bed, cause I was exhausted that day.

Then there was last night.... Cooper had a successful potty session (poop) and when he does that (which is very infrequently) he gets an ice cream cone. We're definitely going to have to change this when he starts using potty for #2ing more frequently, that crap gets expensive..... Anywho, Cooper chose a chocolate ice cream cone and became this mess last night. At least he was happy!

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm off to visit some family and celebrate my neice's birthday!

 

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Tell me about.... YOU!

TGIF!  Is this week over?  It has been a crazy busy week, and I’m so glad it’s winding down, to yet another crazy busy weekend!!  Cooper and I are heading out of town tomorrow and coming back Sunday evening.  We have a birthday party to attend for my niece, Larissa who is 10!  I cannot believe I am old enough to have a 10 year old niece!  Anyway, moving on.

I was reading Caroline’s blog this week and she did this awesome question thing to get to know her readers.  I LOVE THAT!  I’ve had several new followers in the last few weeks, and I would really like to get to know you better! 

One thing that I’ve noticed, is that many of you do not have an email address linked to your profile, so when I get a comment from you, I cannot email you back.  Let me tell you, I love to email back, start new conversations with new people and make new friends!  Fun!  Please follow THESE instructions to fix this, and answer the questions below so that I can get to know YOU better!

Who are you?  

Do you blog, too? Leave me your link!  I want to follow you!

Do you remember how you found my blog? A link-up? Another blog?

How long have you been reading?

What keeps you coming back to my blog?

What would you like to see me blog about more?

What is something we have in common?

Tell me a fun fact about yourself!

If you don't feel like answering all of them, don't.  But be sure to tell me something about you!  I love making new blog friends! J 

Have a fantastic weekend!

Our Infertility Journey (so far)

This is something that I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about on my blog, but today, I’m going to open up.  For a couple of reasons.  1) This blog is to document my life and my family’s lives and that’s what I want to document,  and 2) I think that by getting this information out to my friends in the blog world, they’ll be able to pray for us and more prayers are always helpful!  There is not a single image in this post, so if you want pictures, you'll want to go elsewhere today!

For a few of you, this story is familiar, in some ways to your own journey, for some this is all brand new, and I thank you for sticking around to read.

Tim and I got married in March 2008.  We knew that we wanted to have a couple of children, but we didn’t want to start trying immediately, we wanted to enjoy at least the first year of our marriage without babies.  So, around the end of 2008, we decided it would be a good time to start trying.  I stopped taking the pill in late November and by the end of January 2009, I was pregnant.  Only one cycle into trying and boom! 

We were blessed with Cooper in October 2009 and have had the most wonderful time with that little boy.  I always wanted my kids to be about 2 years apart in age, I don’t really know why, but that sounded like a good age difference to me, so Tim and I thought we should start trying again when Coop was 15-18 months old (starting January 2011).  We tried for the almost the next year to get pregnant and then when I stopped getting my monthly friend (August 2011), we finally went to a doctor (fertility specialist).  I wasn’t pregnant, there was something else going on.  I was diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cistic ovarian syndrome). 

I guess I’ve had this forever, but turns out, I had let myself get so fat, that all of the symptoms of this disease came to a head.  When I was thinner, none of the symptoms had any effect on me.  And the doctor told me that if I lost some weight, that I’d probably go back to being normal.  But we also found out….. (when I was diagnosed with PCOS)  That due to some health issues  for Tim, there was no way that I could have gotten pregnant even when I was normal (All but August – December 2011).  He was having some hormone therapy that basically zeroed our chances. 

So we had to start over.  Starting January 2012, I did just that.  I lost 35 lbs in about 4-5 months and all of the symptoms went away.   Tim went on some different medication and he was back to normal too.  So we tried on our own for a few months then in July we decided to go back to the fertility specialist.

 I started clomid and I took an HCG shot that gave us the opportunity for timed intercourse.  Due to a couple of issues I was having with clomid, we only tried that route for 2 months.  In September, I took a different medication that does basically the same thing as clomid, letrozole.  And also in September we tried IUI.  We don’t yet know the results of the IUI as it hasn’t been long enough for me to take a test yet.  I am trying my hardest to not get my hopes up, because IUI doesn’t increase the odds that much, and I know God’s timing is perfect, and it’ll happen when and if God wants it to happen.

We are not going to do IVF, so if a few months of IUI do not work, we’ll essentially be finished with the fertility specialist.  Tim and I do not want to go as far as IVF, for many reasons.  I know IVF has a 50/50 chance which is really good, but we have just decided we are not going to go that far.

This journey has been rough, it has been painful and it has also been enlightening and wonderful.  During this road, I have been jealous of others who have been blessed with pregnancy, I have been excited for those who’ve gotten pregnant, I’ve been overwhelmingly disappointed when the tests come back negative, I’ve been depressed and overjoyed. 

This journey has brought me closer to the Lord.  I have a renewed spirit and I know now that His plan for our family is the best plan.  I have let go of the jealousy I used to feel towards others when they get pregnant and I don’t.  I know and believe that Jeremiah 29:11 is true.  “For I know the plans I have for you,”  declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  I no longer have depression about my situation.  There is still disappointment for a negative test, but I do not let it get me down for long.  I am truly at peace with my life.  If we aren’t blessed with another child, I will be OK. 

I have a smart, well rounded, Jesus loving child, who means the world to me.  I have a God fearing, gentle, caring and loving husband for whom my love grows deeper every day.  I am so blessed and appreciative for what I have been given.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!

Pinspiration: A Picture Wall

Do you pin things on Pinterest and think "I'm going to do that in my home one day"??  I know I do.  And I often just move on, forget about it, and rarely do I go back to try to recreate anything I've seen. (recipes are a different story)  Until now. 

I saw this picture wall back in June and I knew I had to have it, or something similar.  I loved the frames, I loved the entire concept!  So, I did some major investigating, stalked Tatertots & Jello's website, found where she got her "LIVE LOVE LAUGH and be HAPPY" sign, loved her "H" and the frames.  Turns out???  All too expensive for my budget.  DARN.

Source: tatertotsandjello.com via Emily on Pinterest

I didn't give up though.  I decided to take a trip.  A trip to IKEA as a matter of fact.  My BFF Erica, Cooper and I journeyed to the Cincinnati area one Sunday afternoon in June after church to see what they had in their picture frames department.  I purchased several picture frames from the RIBBA collection.

June 19: Once I had the frames purchased, I decided to send an email off to Chelsea to see if she had time to make me a "live love laugh and be happy sign".  This was an awesome move on my part ladies, Chelsea makes nice signs for a great price! 

It would be a couple of months before she could fit me into her schedule, but that worked out okay - because we didn't have family pictures scheduled at this time, so I was in no hurry. 

I measured the wall, to help me know how I could arrange the frames.  I kept this picture on my phone so that I could keep in mind how the arrangement could be at all times. 

I kept laying out the frames though, trying to decide on the best layout.  I did this oh, several hundred times probably...  on the floor, on the couch, in my head, and in excel.  (I'm a nerd I tell you....)  These are just a few of my ideas before I came up with the final layout.

Fast foward to July 27th.  My mom came up for the night and she helped me figure out what would be the final layout and final arrangement of the frames.  I decided where the sign would go, where the canvas with the "J" would go, but there were still a couple of questionable areas where I would put some other miscellaenous art work.  That wasn't determined until last week, September 19th actually.

So, I was just waiting patiently at this point, It was still late July/August.  I finally got the family pictures scheduled, September 16th.  We had a layout for the frames. 

Sometime in August I thought it would be a good idea to take some paper and trace the frames and put the papers up on the wall to see how I liked the arrangement.  (I got this idea from Tatertots & Jello)  You'll see a bit later that I did change things up just a bit in the final arrangement.

Chelsea was making the sign and I picked it up on September 9th. 

I found a place that would print the weird sizes of the pictures that I needed to fit in these crazy IKEA picture frames.  (if you aren't aware, IKEA measures things in the metric system, so standard sized prints don't often fit in their frames)  Things were finally coming together after months of thought!

Early last week, I asked hubby to help me start hanging the picture frames on the wall.  We got some of them hung, but we were still in limbo about the final arrangement, and like I said above, I did change a couple things at the last minute.  Sorry about the mess, we were also in the middle of painting our kitchen so the kitchen table lived in our living room.  (I often have several projects going on at the same time...)

September 16: We had our photo session with the entire family, I got the CD of pictures back on the 20th and sent them into the printer picked them up on the 21st and started arranging the wall.

The big white plain thing at the top is a canvas, that will eventually have our "J" on it, but late on Friday night, this is what I accomplished.  I broke the glass from the big picture frame too, so I was pretty upset with myself.  Especially since it was one of the weird IKEA metric measurements.  I was sure I wasn't going to be able to find glass to fit, and it would be way too expensive.... Alas, my BFF (Erica) came through for me and purchased a really cheap 16x20 frame at Old Time Pottery and guess what?  The glass fit!  Amazing!

I started working on the canvas on Saturday.  The fabric to cover it was purchased, the J was purchased and still needed paint.  So, three coats of paint later, a staple gun and fabric later, I hung the monogrammed canvas.

The wall would sit this way until Sunday evening, when Tim helped me hang the final picture frames on the wall.  That still wouldn't be the end, but we were getting super close!

Then.... yesterday in the mail I received the final piece, to go in that blank spot at the bottom between Steph's family and Cooper.  I hadn't expected it to arrive so soon, as I didn't order it until late Thursday night, but woo hoo, I love Etsy!  It arrived!  I added the final touch last night.

So there you have it.  Our new picture wall, inspired by a Pinterest find!  Thanks to my awesome husband who had to deal with me and my craziness when it came to designing this wall, to my mom for helping me figure out the "almost" final arrangement, to Tatertots & Jello for the inspriation, to Kerri Sparks Photography for putting up with my crazy family during the photo session, and to Chelsea for making this excellent sign!

I am in love with my new photo wall, now if I can only keep the pictures level during all of the craziness that happens at my house, you can see that they already look a bit disshelved.  OH WELL!  :)

Happy Tuesday!

Meal Plan Monday

 I’ve not been great keeping these posts alive on Mondays, but I wanted to make sure I actually documented that we actually have a meal plan this week!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic around my house, and the next couple will be no exception.  I’ve said this before, but I’m really not sure how people who have more than one child do everything.  Cooper is not even in school yet so he has zero extracurricular activities.  I guess when those things come we will figure them out and fit them in, but WHEN?!?  I just hope that our house renovations will be complete by that time, and then maybe we won’t suck so much of our time on that stuff.  We’ve had a few projects going on and I’ll post about those soon.

Back to the meal plan.

Monday night: 2x4 (a soup)

Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells

Wednesday: Salmon (& whatever else Tim makes – I have bible study)

Thursday: Teriyaki Chicken Noodle Bowls

Friday: Going out

That’s it, simple and fantastic! Have a great week!

Fall 2012 Television

Today, I’m linking up with Shelli today for her Fall TV Premiere Link Party!  Like I said yesterday, I love linky parties!

So, I made a little chart to help me schedule my DVR for my (our) TV shows for this upcoming season, I thought I’d share that with you instead of trying to list everything out.  So here is our schedule for this year:

And here is the legend that tells you what the colors mean!

 

Speaking of television….. I am uber disappointed in the results of last night’s big brother winner.  Boo!!!  

What’s on your DVR list for Fall 2012 television?  Link up and share!

So What! Wednesday

Today, I'm linking up with Shannon for So What! Wednesday, this is my first time linking up for SWW.  I love linky parties, so I was excited to find this one.


SO WHAT if....

• It really makes me want to puke that Kourtney Kardashian pulled out her own child on television.
• I am so sick of politics that I just want the election to be over so that I don't have to hear about it anymore.
• I cannot wait for the new television season to start!  I watch entirely too much TV, but it's oh so good...
• I have bible study tonight and I haven't done a bit of the work for it yet.  Oops.
• I love The Young and the Restless; I grew up watching it and I still watch it to this day.
• I sell my old purses on eBay so that I can buy stuff for my house.  The money has to come from somehwere, right?
• Cooper is obessed with Dora the Explorer.  There could be worse things, right?!?  RIGHT? She is so stinkin annoying! 
• I have the Netflix app on my phone so that if Cooper is ever acting up somewhere all I have to do is shove my phone in his hads with Dora on and he becomes a precious child again.
• Tim and I skipped out on painting our kitchen ceiling last night.  That just means we'll have to do it tonight.

That was pretty fun!  Now it's your turn, link up and tell us what you're saying So What to this week.

Have a great Hump Day!



Happy Birthday Steph!

Today is this lady's 23rd birthday!  This picture was taken a couple of years ago, but honestly, this is the picture that reminds me of Stephanie the most.

Funny, crazy, sweet, goofy girl! 

Steph, I cannot tell you how much I treasure you or our friendship.  You're a remarkable person and I love you.

I hope YOUR day is wonderful!

Out My Window

Warning:  What you're about to read is a bunch of whining about something that isn't really all that important.

At work, on any given day lately, I hear construction.  LOTS of construction.  My window cube used to be lovely, I had a pretty good view, there was a courtyard where people often visited, a nice tree to look out and see, and well, also the side of a building, but overall a nice view.  Until the construction started.

They ripped down the tree (my tree!!), they took out the courtyard..... 

This is the view I now see (and hear) on a daily basis..... 

Bulldozers.....

Torn up courtyard....

Lots of dirt and torn up concrete:

More of the same, except I now can see the lake because they took the tree out, so I guess that's a plus!

I guess my view won't be too bad, except for that highway in the distance.

From my chair, my normal view.  Not too terrible. 

From what I understand, they are putting in additional power supplies/generators for our data center.  I guess we didn't have enough.  I hope it's not too much of an eyesore when they are finished.  Either way, unless I stand up, my view from my char will still be the last picture.  I miss my tree, but I guess I'll survive.....

Weekend Rewind

Most people usually write these posts on Mondays, but since I do meal planning on Mondays, I usually refrain from posting our weekend, but this past weekend was rather eventful and really busy and I don’t want to forget it.

Friday:  I left work a couple of hours early and picked Cooper up to head south to visit my Dad.  We got to his house a little before 5, and visited with him for a bit, then headed out to dinner at Cracker Barrel.  After that, we went to visit my grandpa and grandma.  It was a great night.  When we went to drop dad back off at his house, Gwen was home,  Cooper got to see his Grandma Gwen for a few minutes before we headed to my Mom and Shawn’s to stay the night.

Saturday: That morning, Cooper slept until nearly 8, and that was wonderful.  He only woke up once in the middle of the night so I actually got a pretty good nights' rest.  (That normally doesn’t happen away from home.)  We ate breakfast then headed out for a bit of shopping.  We picked up lunch and brought it to my grandma’s house, Shawn met us there and we all ate.  Cooper played with my grandma’s dog, and he had such a good time!  It is so good to see Cooper with his Great Grandparents.  I’m so glad he gets to experience them, they are the BEST.  We came home late Saturday evening, then I proceeded to clean some of the house and work on laundry.

A couple of pictures:  Cooper with Mom and Shawn:

An old picture that I found at my grandma's house  when we were there eating lunch: 
Back row from left to right:  My uncle Steve, my aunt Brenda, my mom (doesn't she look different?!?), my aunt Sheila
Front row: My grandpa (passed away in 1999, man, I miss him!) and my grandma.

Sunday:  I worked at church at the hospitality desk for the first service, one of the kids Sunday school rooms during the second service and then I got to go to church for the third service.  After church, I had lunch with Aly.  When I walked into my house after lunch, I noticed Cooper’s hair was wet.  Tim was upstairs in his room cleaning parts of his floor.  I learned that during naptime, Cooper had pooped in his pull-up, proceeded to pull it off, and tried to wipe his own rear.  He had gone into the bathroom to get a roll of toilet paper, he used 3 additional pull-ups and some of his socks and made a terrible mess.  We washed all of his sheets and anything else that was laying around on his floor/bed.  My kid is such a mess!  I ran a few more errands, came home, made dinner, put clothes away and watched big brother.

Cooper while we were running those errands this weekend:

A lovely little sign for an upcoming project in our home.  Chelsea made it for me, and I LOVE it!  Thanks Chelsea!!!

What a weekend huh?  It was crazy busy, but it was good, it was fun, and it was lots of time with family!  Love those!  Just wish I would take more pictures!

Have a great Wednesday!

The Grind

Today, I'm linking up with my good friend Holly for "A Day in the Life" - I'll tell you all how boring my life truly is on a daily basis!!  Aren't you excited?  I know I am! LOL.

Ok, One thing to note, my schedule varies a bit, and I'll notate the changes with this lovely blue. The changes in the schedule are because some days I actually haul myself out of bed in the morning and go for a run.  The timing for running mornings will be in blue.

6:00-7:30 (5:45-8:00) - Alarm goes off, (get dressed, go run), get in shower,  (the next several things are excluded on running days) blow dry hair, dress, fold clothes, get other laundry ready for washer, pick up bedroom, wake Cooper, take him potty, get him dressed and ready (teeth brushed, hair combed, etc) - Go downstairs and make Cooper breakfast, get lunches started --- Enter Tim who helps finish lunches and getting Cooper's eye drop in his eye - we then head out the door, finally!

7:30 - 8:15 (8:00 - 8:45) Drive to work (hubby and I work at same place so carpool most days), drop Cooper off at babysitter (which includes forcing him to go potty before we leave), head into work

8:15 - 12:00 (8:45 - 4:30) Work (meetings, spreadsheets, more spreadsheets, etc)

12:00 - 12:45 or 1:00 - lunch (On running days, I eat lunch at my desk while I work, on non-running days, I still usually eat lunch at my desk while browsing blogs, people.com, or I sometimes run errands)

12:45 - 4:30 - Work (more meetings, more spreadsheets and whatever else)

4:30 - 5:30 - Leave work, Pick Cooper up and drive home

5:30 - 6:30 - Dinner (prep, cooking, eating and clean-up) One of us will cook and one of us plays with Cooper.  Depending on the meal these responsiblities are switched, and cleanup is mostly for the person who didn't cook, but not aways.

6:30 - 7:30 or 8:00 - Playtime with Cooper - mostly baseball, but sometimes riding bikes, taking a walk, trampoline time, basketball, playing in a band, blocks, cars, really whatever he wants to play at the moment.

7:30 - 8:00 (OR 8:00 - 8:30 depending on how tired Cooper is) - bedtime prep, potty, teeth brush, bathtime, reading books, singing songs, prayers

8:00 or 8:30 - 10:00 Free time???  Sometimes.... Usually not.  We pick up the house, Cooper's toys, clean up anything from the kitchen necessary, etc.  Then - I will TRY to get a snack and catch up on some DVR'd shows and read some blogs, maybe do a bit of blogging myself.  I like to do my posts the night before, but that doesn't always happen (like today!)

10:00 - bedtime for me - I will usually read some sort of book or USA Today on my iPad until I fall asleep

So - like I said.  Pretty boring - but that is our general routine.  Time goes so fast and it seems like we don't have as much with Cooper as we'd like, so we *try* to spend every moment (at least one of us) playing with him in the evenings.  This doesn't always happen, like last night, I had to get some cleaning done while Tim was mowing the grass.  But after that, Cooper and I had some great trampoline time and snuggled while reading books. 

One more thing I forgot - I should have thrown in about 5-6 instances of full on RUSHING Cooper to the potty each and every night as well as at least one in the morning.  That kid is crazy and thinks he has to pee all of the time. Laundry is never done at my house, toys are everywhere all of the time, and our rooms are never clean, no matter how much I want them to be.  We try, we really do.  Life just gets in the way.  And.... I would rather my house be a mess and me spend quality time with those who matter rather than spending that time cleaning. 

I hope you'll take a few moments and link up with Holly - she's great!  Have a FAB day!

   

Meal Plan Monday

It’s another week, another Meal Plan Monday post ready for you.   This is gonna be short and sweet, my computer is acting up on me.

This week we only need 4 meals because I have bible study on Wednesday night and Tim has a dinner that night as well.  Cooper will of course eat, but we won’t make a big meal for him, he can just eat something we have left.
Monday night:  We’ll grill some salmon, have a salad and some other kind of veggie, broccoli probably.
Tuesday: One of those freezer meals that I posted about.
Wednesday: see above.
Thursday: Grilled Chicken, baked beans, salad and some veggies, maybe couscous.
Friday: Stir fry with either pork or chicken.
That’s a wrap!  Have a great week!

Consignment Sales: IKC Sale

Do you shop consignment shops?  Consignment sales?  Well, I for one, do!  I LOVE consignment sales.  I am lucky I am from Indianapolis too, because Indy has a few great consignment sales every year.  These are consignment sales that I have purchased 99% of all of Cooper’s clothes for every season of his nearly 3 years.  This sale is called the Indy Kids Consignment Sale. 

 

You see, I have a rule.  Five dollars per outfit or less.  I do not want to spend more than $5 on any outfit.  At this sale, I get majorly cheap clothes.  Like MAJORLY cheap.  And the better thing?  They are all almost brand new.  So many of the items I have purchased have had the original tags on them still. 

 

Check out these pictures:  (courtesy of the IKC Sale website)

 

These are pictures of what kinds of things you’ll find at the sale.  Rows and rows of clothes, gear and TOYS.  They have everything you need for kids of nearly every age.  I have bought Cooper shoes, coats, swim trunks, a bath tub, toys, his jumperoo, and so much more from these seasonal sales. 

If you don’t live near Indy to take part in the Indy Kids Consignment Sale, I hope you’ll look into these types of sales in your area, because they offer so many like new items for very reasonable prices!

Thanks Indy Kids Consignment Sale!

Baseball

Have I told you lately how my son is obsessed with baseball?  Have I told you how super, majorly, crazily obsessed with baseball he is?!?  I'm telling you, from the time he gets up in the morning, until the time he goes to bed, all we hear about is baseball.  He has been like this for over a year now.  If you look here, along with other posts, you'll notice Cooper wearing micellaneous baseball attire like batting gloves, baseball hats, shirts, etc.  And, yes, they do make batting gloves little enough for an almost 3 year old, he's had them all summer and loves them!

He's really into it. I think it runs in his blood.  Tim's entire family really loves baseball, and Tim's dad umpired a lot of his life, Tim also umpires, and Andrew played baseball until mid high school.  I know as soon as Cooper is eligible to sign up for little league, our summer evenings will be spent at the ball park.  I look forward to it!

So, last night, since it was the last home game for our local AAA team, the Indianapolis Indians, Tim decided we should take Cooper.  He was super excited to go! 

This is him in the car on the way there, notice the baseball glove?

Once we got there, I couldn't get him to smile for anything, at least we had good seats, where I could get his picture with a good part of the stadium.  Then it was time for food!  During the playoffs, they have dollar night, which means, hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn and cracker jack are all $1.  So, we had everything except the cracker jack.

And then Cooper wanted pizza too.......

I mean, since when are going to baseball games actually about the game?  I always thought it was about getting the good ballpark food!!!  BAHAHAHA!

Before we left, I tried to get a picture of the boys with the field behind them, but the lights were so bright.  Oh well, I think you can still tell we were there.  Of course, Cooper was still not cooperative.

And whilst walking back to the parking garage (anyone call these parking decks? my husband does and I think it's strange, anyway....) we saw ELMO!  Cooper used to and still does like Elmo quite a bit, so Tim took him to get his picture taken, and Cooper nearly freaked out.  He was so darn afraid of that monster up close, I thought he was going to pee his pants!  Tim stood next to Elmo cause Cooper wasn't going to have anything to do with him.

The last baseball game of the year, does that mean summer is really over?  In some ways I am so excited for Fall, I cannot wait to break out sweaters and have bonfires and go camping, yet, I hate the thought that the pool is done for and there will be snow coming in a few short months.  Oh well!  Life goes on.  We have a busy weekend ahead, and I hope you all have a great weekend as well!  TGIF, right?!?

Running in the Dark

I've been rather afraid of it. 

Not because I'm scared of my neighborhood, but because just the thought of going out and running when I have nothing to look at nothing to keep me going scares me. 

Until yesterday. 

My neighbor went running and was finished by the time I had hauled myself out of bed.  I asked her about it and she told me that heck yeah, she's runs in the dark.  I said, OK.  I can do this too.  You see, the entire time I've been running outside it has been summertime, and at 5:45 it was almost light out when I'd head out.  Since it's been getting light much later now, I've been LAZY.  I mean I still work out a few times a week, but not 5-6 like I had been.  I've been doing Jillian, or treadmill workouts, but that just doesn't satisfy me like a morning run.  So, when my neighbor bit the bullet, I decided I would too.

So this morning, I woke up, looked at the clock and it was 5:48.  I decided to go for it.  A slllllllooooooooowwwwww 2.4 miles and 30 minutes later, I was back in my driveway and it was still dark outside.  And guess what?  I made it, AND it wasn't bad at all.  I actually liked it.  Our neighborhood has lots of street lights, and many people leave their coach lights and patio lights on at night, which makes it even lighter out than I could have imagined. 

I hope I can keep this motivation that my neighbor has given me, she started doing the couch to 5k just after I finished it, and she's doing a great job!  I took almost 3 weeks off from a serious (for me) run, and I've got some catching back up to do.  It's crazy how much endurance you can lose in such a short period of time.  Just makes me realize how much I need to keep going and not let myself stop anymore!

So, that's my running in the dark story.  Nothing major, but still an accomplishment that I'm glad I achieved.

Now, can someone tell me why short work weeks feel so dreadfully LONG?

Have a GREAT DAY!

Freezer Cooking

This past Sunday, my friend Shannon and I got together to do some freezer cooking.  We’d been planning this for over a month and were super excited to do it!  I packed up my entire house three huge bags of food, pots, pans and measuring cups and lugged it to Shannon’s.  Three and a half hours later, I had this:

That’s 12, count them TWELVE meals!  I cannot explain how excited this makes me. 

• 2 – 9x13 pans full of lasagna roll-ups
• 1 – 9x13 pan of Chicken Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake
• 1 – 9x13 pan of Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers
• 1 gallon ziplock bag of spaghetti sauce
• 1 – gallon ziplock bag with mini meatloaves
• 1 – gallon ziplock bag with red wine herbed dump chicken
• 1 – gallon ziplock bag with lemon garlic dump chicken
• 1 – gallon ziplock bag of taco meat
• 2 – broccoli beef pies
• 1 – gallon ziplock bag of ready made chicken nuggets (not shown)

I think that these 3.5 hours of work on a Sunday saved me at least 10 hours of cooking in the future.  I’m not really sure how some women do freezer cooking for an entire month at a time, but it felt really good to get 12 meals in the freezer and ready for consumption.  I think I’ll get a few more in there in another couple of weeks including:

Chicken Stroganoff
Baked Spaghetti or Baked Ziti
Spaghetti Pie
Pancakes/French Toast Sticks
Breakfast Sandwiches
Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells
Taco Soup

In the meantime, give it a try, get a friend and spend a few hours to save you lots more!

Happy Hump Day!

Fall is in the air

1. Tell us what you are looking forward to this fall?
New Old Jeans!  I’ve recently lost some weight, so I’m pretty excited that I can fit into my old jeans again, and I cannot wait to start wearing them once the fall weather finally shows up!
2. Show us your fall style.
This is pretty close to my fall style.  I love jeans and long sleeve t-shirts.  LOVE!

3. Tell us your favorite things to do in the fall. If you have children, activities to do with the kids?
Carving pumpkins for Halloween, Hayrides, playing in the leaves, picking apples, drinking apple cider, anything with family and friends!
4. Show us your favorite fall beverage.
Apple Cider!

5. Tell us, how you will be participating in Halloween this year. Plans? Costume ideas?
I have no idea about costumes, but I know we’ll dress Cooper up as something!  We’ll take him around our street and to a local Trunk or Treat or to the local high school when they do the trick or treat in the halls.  Something like that.  Hmmm…. now I’m thinking I need to start thinking about costumes for Mr. Cooper. 
Here are a few flashbacks.
Cooper’s first Halloween, he was not even a month old and we had a wedding that evening:

This was Cooper’s second Halloween, he had just turned 1.  He’s such a monkey!

This is Cooper last year, he didn’t feel well, so we stayed home and handed out candy.

What a great linkup!  Thanks Becky!  Happy Labor Day everyone!