Teagan's First official Tea Party!

Our first official tea!

Bubble gum tea, came with bubble gum that she quickly ate!

Here she is chewing it ;-)

At our tea, chocolate brown and pink, our favorite combo ;-)

Her tiered plates of mini sandwiches, scone, and pastries! So yummy!

Teagan did so well for her first official tea! She was quite shy and impressed with the whole event. We had tea with my friend Rebecca and her daugher Jo Ann, who is just so adorable and is not shy at all ;-) Jo Ann has a few food anaphylaxis, a lot like Aislinn, so she wasn't able to eat the food, but she did get to enjoy her bubblegum tea! Teagan was not a fan of the cucumber cream cheese sandwiches, but love the PB and J's, not a fan of scones, but loved her brownies! Hmmm wonder where she gets that from?

We bought bubblegum tea for home and had a tea party with the boys, along with a scone mix I picked up from there, the very next day! That was fun until I poured Teagan a second cup of tea and forgetting to remind her how hot it was, she spilled it in her lap :( Oh the horror of me realize why she was in hysterics, she burned her lap!! We immediately iced it, thank God she let me! It was only a first degree burn and after a few hours the redness was gone. 

She had said she never wanted to do that again. I don't blame her! I did get her back on the horse so to speak though and when she came back to the table, I handed her a very cooled cup of tea which she at first was afraid to drink, but soon realized it wasn't hot and enjoyed it again.

My poor baby! I felt so bad! She did so well though considering it could have been so much worse. Kind of reminded me of the lady who sued Mc Donald's for spilling hot coffee in her lap.. How she was able to sue them for holding it between her legs in the first place is still beyond me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CADEN!

He turned SIX yesterday!! He was so adorable all day long and we had the best day showering him with love and affection!

He had his bowling party at Brunswick and all of his friends from football and some from the past 3 years came and helped him celebrate.

We then hit the arcade after the party and that was fun too!

Uncle John, Aunt Amy, and Maddy came over after and we hung out, opened presents and watched the Daddy's play Caden's playstation game we got him for his birthday ;-) Madden Football, pretty cool!

I can not believe he is six!

He amazes me everyday with his insight on how the world works, his sensitivity to others, his joy to make others happy including his siblings, his desire to please Mike and I, and I love the rambucous little boy in him, the wild side of him even if in the moment I may not!

He has refound his love of school and since late September, is so happy to go. YAY! I was so worried for him!

He still hasn't lost any teeth, boy have we been waiting, but one of them is finally making it's way. It's really loose and he told us the tooth fairy brings toys, ha ha ha!

Maybe it will come out for Christmas!!

He is resigned for another season of football with his friends and is ready for the new season to begin! He has come such a long way with swim lessons! After 9 long and very hard months, he now also jumps in without tears, along with swimming with his head in the water and arms overhead, and the backstroke! I'm so glad we found the right instructors for him that worked with his fears, but pushed him to the next level.

We love you so much Caden, our first Prince! You are such a sweet boy, you are so helpful with everything at home and thank you so much for all your daily compromises with being the big brother. 

HOW could I forget?

This biggest accomplishment of my LIFE!

I can touch my right hand to my left hand with one over the shoulder and one back!

Seriously I have never EVER been able to do that and today was the first day!!

How I have forgotten that?! Well I do have momnesia!

Big numbers!

I had yet another assessment today with Joe!

I am thrilled to report I had huge number loses! (Unlike the market not liking their lose ;-)

I'm over the 6 week so it's more like 8 or 9 weeks HOWEVER

1 inch off arms

1 inch off neck

1 inch off hips

2 1/2 inches off waist!

2 1/2 inches off abs!   

Thighs stayed the same, but that's all muscle pretty much ;-) I'm thinking I won't ever see a lose there as I gain muscle from running. I'll just have to imagine fat loss tee hee hee.

I'm in the 90th percentile for VO2 Max for my age group! When I started back in Feb I was in the 30th!

All my strength tests increased, but my bench pressing stayed the same, something to challenge me ;-)

In this time period I lost about 10 pounds as well.

So even though it's getting tougher weight-wise, the inches speak volumes to me! I'm used to seeing 1/2 to maybe an 1 inch lose, and this is the first time ever my arms lost anything!

My shin is still not healed so no running today and I will do a big cardio session to keep up my endurance for my 1/2 marathon in January.

My weekend!

I got to go home, to Atlanta, BY MYSELF this past weekend!

I flew out at 5:55 Friday morning and landed last night at 9:30.

It was for my baby sister's baby shower that our friend Angela hosted at her house.

It was such a great trip, but so quick and I find myself today trying to stay awake!

I stayed with Jen and thank you so much for such a nice nice stay! Garrett gave up his bed for me and slept in his baby's room on an air mattress.

I got to go to GA Grille finally Friday night and with both my sisters! What a treat!

We had such a great time catching up, bonding, and relaxing. I used Gold's Gym to keep on my workout schedule. I have to say the one in Cartersville was pretty nice, but the one in Acworth was not. It was so run down, and pretty grimy really. I won't go back to that one for sure. Plus I'm not used to meatheads gawking at you, it was quite uncomfortable and weird. 

Saturday was her shower and I have to post pictures on how beautifully Ang did the tables in Jen's colors, brown and blue linens, it was all so elegant and the food that all the moms/friends made was just so darn yummy! I ate not so well on both Friday night and Saturday at the shower, which I will touch on in a moment ;-)

Saturday night we went to mom's, all the sister's and family and had Fellini's pizza and salad. Another must have when I go home.  Sunday morning after working out, Dad and I drove back up to Cartersville but not before checking out our old neighborhood where we lived for a short 4 1/2 months, and I was amazed at all the things built since January! Right where we had lived is a Mexican, Italian and Sushi restaurant, and a dry cleaners, ice cream and Anytime Fitness! I bet they are really liking that, and I don't even remember what else, there were a few more places.

Umm okay, Aislinn just threw away trash! She is such a big girl!

After the nice drive with Dad, I packed up and Jen, Garret, and I went back to Mom and Dad's to hang out, then we went to Susan's and hung out more till 4:30 to go to the airport.

By the way,  rented movies on my Ipod and watched them on the plane and it was pretty darn cool! I will do that again for sure! I watched "What Happens in Vegas" on the way to Atlanta, and "Ironman" on the way back. I highly recommend both! Ironman is such a gadgety movie, so right up my alley! And Mr. Downey, Jr is aging quite nicely I have to say ;-)

So the past couple of weeks I haven't posted anything about my progress, but I do have some! I am now 8 lbs away from my goal and then the 5 bonus after that ;-) I can't believe it! It is getting a lot harder to come off and I decided to alter my diet even more. I completely cut out all unnecessary sugar/desserts/cookies/brownies/muffins/you name it on December 4th, for 30 days. On our MOM's Night Out Holiday party at that! Well, I'm  happy to report that it has gotten a lot easier, the cravings that is! I'm on day 12! It's very easy to say no now. So I am losing more weight, but after eating more than I'm used to this past weekend, I wonder how this week will go and hopefully won't set me back too much. 

I'm having major shin issues from running the Iron Girl and I won't ever do that run again. The concrete murdered my shins and I still can't run without pain. Finally though, my limping is gone and I think in a few more days I can run. It's been so hard to not run! 9 days! Yikes, but I have been doing a lot of cardio to keep up my endurance.

Caden's birthday party is this weekend, a bowling party with his friends from Football and a few 'old' friends ;-) We went and ordered his cake today, Red Sox/Baseball. He is going to be SIX! Unreal! My first baby!

But before that I have book club, I hope, Thursday night. We read "Grace" and YOU HAVE TO READ IT! I read it on the plane ride home too, quick quick read. Then Saturday I get to go to Arcadia Farms with my Bootcamp girls and celebrate 2 months of training and some yummy food. (greattttt) I will bring my dessert home to the kiddos though. You know, it's just not worth it, I'm want the rest of my body in shape without surgery ;-) if I can help it! My body just want let go of this layer of fat around my hips and belly......

So a busy week really, Caden's birthday party celebration at school with another classmate on Wednesday, Thursday he has Frosty's Run at the beginning of school a 1.5 mile run that I pray I can do with him, oh and Wednesday is Riordan's school party and Thursday is cookie exchange for Caden as well. 

I can do this. I can do this. 

Teagan's Holiday Performance

It was last Wednesday and she was so cute! The girls learned a new song to "My two front teeth" by Alvin and the Chipmunks and if you know my children, they are infatuated with the Chipmunks and Christmas songs combined!

Mike and his parents weren't able to stay for the performance which threw her off at first, but she finally started doing what she normally does and that is have fun. But you can be sure she called her daddy and left him a heartbreaking message ;-)

I'm so glad she is having such a great time in dance, her teacher is great and I can't wait to see what she will do for her recital in the Spring!

And speaking of Mike's parents, we had the best best time with Grammy and Papa and the children are all so heartbroken to see them go. Grammy is out of control with laundry, dishes, making beds, cleaning up, and spoiling ;-) We so can't wait for another visit and home it comes sooner than later!! We love and miss you so much! The week flew by too fast!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIORDAN!!

We can't believe you are four today!

You had a great day today at school!

You didn't want to take your cupcakes in, but you did take your TMNT cups in to drink your water and you brought one for everyone ;-)

Tonite we will probably go to 'fire, fire' aka Hon Machi for dinner!

We love  you Prince, so blessed you are our son!

Riordan's Birthday Party

This is Teagan in very rare form!

And Aislinn in not so rare form ;-)

Our gift to Riordan, he has wanted it for a very long time

Bouncing with Andrew and Teagan

His cake he picked out himself

Doing Happy Birthday and enjoying it!

Eating his frosting, really his favorite, he doesn't eat the cake

Getting the candy after the pinata, Megan pulled 'the string'

Opening his gifts, he loved them all!

It's was the best party yet for Riordan! He was totally into his party! He had such a great time and was so happy his school friends were here to celebrate!

It was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme with bouncy, pinata, pizza, and cake party.

He was so good when we sang to him. Usually he screams at all of us, but for the first time he covered his ears and smiled the whole time!

I didn't realize the candles I had bought were the kind that relit! That worked out for everyone though, because then we let everyone blow out a candle.

It was really such a good time, Riordan got some wonderful toys, his friends seemed to have fun as well, and so did his family.

Uncle John, Aunt Amy, and Maddy were here, along with Grammy and Papa and Riordan's friends John, Megan, and Cameron and our neighbor Andrew came to help out too!

Love you Riordan, I can't believe you will officially be four tomorrow! Mommy and Daddy are so so soooo proud of you!

More Pics!

Santa visit!

We had a very magical night last night visiting Santa Claus at Santan Village!

The line wasn't very long, I think we waited 20 mins tops and at 6:30 on a Friday nite! The boys were so thrilled, Teagan not so thrilled, and Aislinn had no clue what was about to happen, ha ha!

Riordan, Caden, and Santa had a nice long chat of what they wanted for Christmas and if they were being good boys. I am SO impressed with Riordan and him sitting there with Santa very comfortably!! Caden was a rock star as always ;-) 

While we waited it snowed. Well it really was bubbles and if you've ever been to Disney during Christmas it was the same thing. It was great! They were overjoyed by it all and really it was a fun time. Even though Aislinn and Teagan hated getting their picture taken with a big red man.

Iron Girl!

I ran my first Iron Girl today, 10 miles and right now I'm icing shins, knees, and exhausted. It was mostly concrete running which is the worst thing for my body, especially my sensitive shins! BUT

It was great, great, great!! First, my friend Kathleen, crossed at 1 hour 31 mins, and came back out to run with me the rest of my way in! There was a horrible head wind working against me coming in on the last mile and I struggled most of the run here. I really pushed it and when Kathleen found me I seriously almost started to cry out of relief because she somehow! knew I needed that support to finish running and not quit and walk! And the whole way she was supporting me I was arguing with her! She told me where to start sprinting for the finish line and I said I can't do it! I really didn't think I could.

But I did! I hit her mark of where to sprint and something turned on, it was amazing and I sprinted! I finished at 1 hour and 43 mins and 28 seconds. My goal was to hit it under 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Kathleen, I know I told you, but I have to make sure this goes down as you carried me through the last bit when I was giving up on myself! 

Things I have learned:

I will never ever ever run at the front of a race again. I was passed the entire time. I think I passed a couple of people but they passed me again at the end. It was hard on my ego ;-).

It was my best run ever though!

 The first three miles I was pacing at 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 minute miles. Huge stitch in my shoulder brought me down to almost 11 min mile and then I held steady the rest of the way at a 10 min mile, unless I was on a hill, and there were a lot of hills, that would bring me to a 12 min mile. Have I mentioned HOW much I love my Garmin? That, too, kept me on pace, as did my Ipod.

Something happened to my body for four hours after, and not to get too detailed, it sucked. I think it was either the gatorade or the gel. Not sure which. Both were new to me on the run, but if I had to bet, it was the gatorade. I lost a lot of steam at my 5 miles and gelled up, and then instead of water did gatorade. Hmmmm immediately when I stopped running I began to have discomfort. 

So for PF Chang's, only water and see where that gets me and find something that's going to give me more energy cause I really needed at mile 5, 7, and 9.

Now, I am so impressed and proud of my girls Steph, Michelle, Liz, and Kathleen! They all rocked and we had such an incredible time bonding together on this run! Lots of great memories and talks that will be tucked away forever! We have so many rune we want to do together, and really I'm so lucky they have taken me in and have me run with them! Thank you girls, I love you! This is what friendship is all about! Supporting and motivating one another and unconditional love!

And I'm so thankful to my family for coming and supporting my run! It was so great for them to all! Mike, Caden, Riordan, Teagan, Aislinn, Grammy, and Papa to be cheering me on and for them to see that all the time I have missed with them was to get me where I am today! Thank you my loves, for your undying support, understanding, and love. 

Mike and Grammy thank you so much for taking umpteen pictures of my girls and I and helping us have touchable memories to look back on.

Pictures from Peoria Malloy Visit

Checking out Maddy's new toys!

Maddy is the best sharer!

Playing peek a boo with Maddy's clothes

Teagie adores her Maddy

Walker girl so proud!

Loving with Aunt Amy

Silly goose!

Trying to not look at me!

Daddy's girl

My girl!

We had such a great time spending the entire day with Amy, John, Maddy, and Papi! Everyone did so well and we can't wait to do another day like it!

I can't believe it's Tuesday already! AGAIN!

Yellow Label, only the best for friends! ;-)

The before shirt ;-)

Freshened faces and my after shirt! Love how the girl did my makeup!

What a great Saturday I had!

I got together with a friend from High School, Rebecca, for lunch at the Valley Ho. Well we had such a great time that we decided to have champagne at the bar! Then we were going to her house to meet her daughter, when she got a text her hubs wasn't going out, so we said, "Let's go out!" 

But she perfectly told me that I couldn't go out in the shirt I was in ;-) So I said let's hit Nordstrom!

And we did! Found a shirt and then we went to the MAC Counter to get freshened up and bought a few items I have been needing. Lunch, champagne, shopping?! How could it get any better!

Well we went across the street to Olive and Ivy. I've so been wanting to go there forever and I was very pleased! It was a great crowd, people our age and older! No feeling old among the babies in the crowds. We ran into a couple of her friends and hung out, snacked on calamari and had such a great time!

We even made it to see my girl Kiki at Geisha A Go Go for a bit and talked to a bunch of husbands and let them brag about their wives! They were so cute! I hope all our husbands are like that when they are out! ;-)

Needless to say, we totally enjoyed catching up 17 years and didn't want the night to end. I can't wait to hang out again! And I want her to meet my girls down here! She's up in Scottsdale, which is where we like to go anyway.

Caden had his last day of flag football for the season on Saturday. It was a playoffs day and they did not win to continue on, but they really did so well! That night Caden was invited over for end of the season/movie night with boys. He got to watch 'Kung Fu Panda' and my friend Heather was so good to Mike and brought him home! I wasn't sure when I'd be back so she knew that I may or may not be around, and I thank her! We are going to do another movie night and since the boys are getting 'Wall-E' for Christmas I think that would be a great one for us to host! ;-)

Sunday was a complete rest day. Thank you Mike. I'm just not built the way I used to be, plus I seriously hardly ever drink, so it's a complete shock to my system. Thankfully too I recovered well, thank you to In and Out burger!! Love love love that place!

I'm off of bootcamp this week, so I am doing my cardio/running training and training with Joe 4 times this week. Yeah still sounds like a lot huh? Well add 3 days in with Andrea and it definitely does!

Last night I was at Kristi's house for our 3rd annual Christmas Card addressing party. Well I had nothing to address so I stuffed and sealed for her. Before that Mike and I had dinner at Red, White, and Brew and it was delicious! I left Mike there and Kristi's hubby, Chris, met him out for a boys night. They had a great time! 

I ran my first ever 7 miles today in training for the P.F. Chang's! It was not my best run at all in fact I was pretty disappointed with it. But it's about maintaining distance and not killing myself and I achieved that for sure. Next week is 8 miles and then the following week is my Iron Girl which is 10 miles! It's still so odd to say how excited I am about it!

We have Mike's parents coming to stay next week for a week! We are so excited! It will be a busy week with all the kids activities and all my training, MOPS and MOMS Club activities, but it will be fun! The children AND Mike and I are just thrilled to be seeing them! They will be here for Riordan's birthday party! 

Aislinn is about to cut her first molar, just days away now, and she is getting the classic molar diaper rash, just like Teagan did. I hope to be proactive, so it won't be as painful. I would just cringe every time we changed Teagan for the pain and the look of it all.

Riordan loves school more and more everyday and even writes every one's name when he comes home! So adorable! Sometimes he asks for help, but he gets their first and last letter without help. Amazing that one. It is so intriguing the differences between Caden and him. Riordan loves 'rules' like coloring in the lines, writing letters in the lines, and such. Where Caden was all over the page. Riordan pays attention to what everyone else is doing, and Caden was sensitive to what everyone else was doing! 

Teagan has dance tomorrow and thankfully this week she has been begging to go again. In two weeks she has her Holiday performance and hopefully Grammy and Papa can stick around to see her in action before they head out to Peoria. ;-) Doubt I will have to beg on that one.

I am making a Turkey feast for Thursday's festivities. It's just the SIX of us ;-) I'm so looking forward to being in the kitchen. It's been so long that I have gotten to really cook up a meal due to time.

Tonite I'm off to see Twilight with the girls! I finally finished the last book yesterday. Took me 2 weeks to read all four. A record for sure! 

Caden and Riordan both have Turkey day festivities tomorrow. Teagan and I will be racing back to school for Riordan and then Caden at 2. I will take pictures! They both have songs to sing!!

Weigh in day!

And not bad, not bad! After the flu and 6lb weight lose, and then gaining it back after last weeks weigh in, I am only up. .4 lbs. Less than 1/2!

And I am down .8 from two weeks ago. Very happy and I can still fit into my next size down, might be a bit snug now due to bloating, but they aren't severly uncomfortable!

I made it to my Book Club through MOPS last night and was so glad to have finally made it. I think it's been over a year since I last went? Ridiculous! I met a fabulous new friend who is just full of such positive energy and is quite funny! Catching up with all the girls was so nice and was sad and happy at the same time because it won't be till January that I will be able to see them. December is going to be way to busy to get away.

You think I was busy the past 48 hours, well nothing is going to touch December. *sighhhhhhhh

Caden and Riordan are going to have a tough day I bet. Caden woke up at 5, hungry, and Riordan just came around the corner. They are watching 'Imagination Movers' on Disney, so at least they are zoned out and not trying to play.

Off to pick up Tracy in a bit for Bootcamp. This is our last day before our week break and then we do a 3 week stint the week after.

Oh and

Teagan is doing better at dance class! I still have to go in, but she doesn't cry anymore.

Riordan passed out his birthday invitations on Monday and was upset he didn't have one, so Mike raced home to get him one so he would go to school. He ask everyday when his party is! He is beyond excited!

Booked Caden's party for the bowling lanes! That will be fun!

And Aislinn, is a true walker this week. She prefers it over crawling! Stands in the middle of the floor without holding on to a thing! She is cracking us up! She is getting more hair, yeah well filling in at least and is working on her molars. She is cranky pants for the past two days!

Mike is busy at work, calling on anyone and everyone. The market is really freaking us out.

I have gained back all my water weight from the flu, so I will have a gain tomorrow, but it's not as bad as I expected for the end of the week. Tomorrow will be the final tally. BUT it's still down from two weeks ago so I'm still on good track ;-)

I bought our turkey yesterday on our grocery trip. Turns out it was a huge misunderstanding on my turkey thaw 3 years ago. Never heard my mom say she thaws in the sink, but had put it in the fridge two days before. It was still frozen, which is why it didn't cook and tasted like dog poo. This Thanksgiving will be the best, even though AJ's was so key last year for turkeys, but they wished me luck today instead of being sad I wasn't placing an order.

Coming up for air!

Wow it has been such an incredibly busy week! I am getting a small break while Mike takes Caden and Aislinn to Caden's swim class. So here I sit instead of taking a wee nap, because Teagan is freaking out cuz she wanted to go too. 

We have Kate back in our lives through Christmas! It's so nice to have extra time during the day to devote to my insane workout schedule, and find myself missing my children greatly. Tuesday I went to Tumbleweed and worked on the elliptical for 45 mins and then sat in the car and finished the 3rd book to the Twilight series. I'm almost halfway done with the 4th now!

I'm tired from thinking about what I have done in the past 48 hours! So here it goes and I may break out in a song and dance at the end ;-)

After working out Tuesday, came home to pick up and then go get Caden at school where we stayed till 4:30! and played on the playground with is friends John, Dominic, and Logan. Everyone had such a great time, an impromptu playdate! They got out the hula hoops and the zoo went crazy over them. FINALLY I have an idea for gifts from mommy and daddy! I hear they have light up ones at my fav spot, Wal-mart!  

Oh and let me back up a bit to Monday where we I did Bootcamp, attended playgroup, picked up Caden, dropped of a meal to a friend to rush home to look somewhat decent for date nite with Mike.

 Mike and I spent half of our date night at Walmart picking up Ship to Site items and returning some and getting price adjustments on other items that we purchased in store two weeks ago. A long process but it saved us 30 bucks! Every penny counts! We then headed to Kona for dinner, and it was divine as usual. Hit a couple of stores for a few more Christmas gifts and then home to crash, because I have gotten up at 5 am everyday this week for BootCamp or training with Joe. Well today I got to sleep in til 6 ;-)

So the rest of Tuesday night was elliptical and spending time with the zoo, doing my mountain of laundry, and reading my insane addiction to Twilight Series. 

Wednesday, holy moly, what didn't I do?! Bootcamp, driving for school, Teagan dance, grocery store, pick up for Riordan, unload grocery's, conference call, play with zoo cuz Aislinn decided not to nap that day, pick up Caden, work out on elliptical, football practice and then bookclub. I came home at 10 and crashed hard. I think there was snoring involved.

Today, sigh, Joe training and we did some hardcore leg workout, shower fast and race out the door to Target to pick up toys for boxes for Operation Christmas box at MOPS. Yeah kept forgetting about getting them! Running late and ya'll know I don't like to run late, ate a quick breakfast and got to hear our friend Jeff speak on being thankful for our blessings we take for granted. Reconfirmed that our prayers including thankful section was doing a lot more work than I believed. So glad I didn't miss it, because I was going to skip MOPS entirely because

I had another meal for another friend to deliver. Thankfully I do it real easy and AJ's is my best friend which is a treat for anyone I bring a meal to ;-) Drop the meal off to race home to feed the zoo lunch and then have Kate come over so I can go to the gym to run 3 miles.

I can't do it. At almost two miles my foot got a severe screaming pain, probably because I was trying to compensate for my aching shins. So I switched to the elliptical to finish it out. Then so hanging abs, I love those things! Crazy I know! 

You tired yet? I have been catching up on my 200+ emails since then and now going to keep reading my 4th book before I go to my other Book Club meeting at the Mall at 7. 

Thank you Mike for my break and stepping in and still letting me be absent again tonite!

Tomorrow we are headed to Kates for a girl date while the boys are at school, and Micah will be showered with attention ;-)

Nothing planned for the night, but only to start another busy Saturday with training, Caden's football, R and T's swim class and I get to have lunch with a long lost High School friend up in Scottsdale at Valley Ho! What a day! 

Then Caden has a date with his guy friends to watch Kung Fu Panda at a friend's house! Nice nice!

Sunday is church and train 7 miles... wish me luck! Icing shins now too!

Pics of Sunday

top pic: Steph, Me, Liz, and Michelle

middle pic: Steph and Liz

bottom: Michelle and I

Such a fun morning! Everyone rocked!

I did it!

I did my 9k! Although it wasn't a true 9k after all. 9k = 5.59 miles and our mileage was 4.86! Thanks to my GPS watch I was able to have accurate mileage.

However we, Steph, Michelle, Liz, Susie, and Debbie, all did it in wonderful time and had such a great morning together! The weather couldn't have been any more accommodating too! It was cool enough to not be so hot while we got our sweat on.

I did the run in 50.17 minutes! A 10.32 min mile! I was so proud of myself, because I was certain that I was going to do an 11 minute mile! The first two miles are so hard for me, my brain is telling me to quit, but I have learned I have to push through it and then it's like I become numb and I can literally run forever as long as I have sips of water. I even used Gu for the first time. Not bad, not bad! It wasn't great in texture, I have a horrible gag reflex, but it tasted yummy, strawberry banana. I ran the entire time and even controlled a stitch. It was a graded run too, through Kiwanas Park in Tempe. A lot of concrete running though, so I tried to run the grass as much as possible or pavement if we came up to it. My shins are a bit sore, but I have been icing them. I'm off of legs this week for strength training and running, but I can do bike and elliptical.

Seriously I LOVE running! I can't wait for the next race! It is such an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and again only I am in my way! It was just as rewarding, if not more considering I had the flu this week and was sure it wasn't going to be a good one, as the my first 5k race in October. I am still sooo hooked! Next month we are doing 10 miles, the Iron Girl! It looks like it will be a beautiful run along Tempe Towne Lake. Can't wait!

What I should really be doing!

Is the mountain of dishes piling over the sink, moving the laundry over, and getting the girls dressed for Caden's football game. 

I don't have training this morning due to rest day before the 9k tomorrow, so it's a relaxed morning for the Malloy Zoo. Mike and Caden have already left, but we will meet them for his game at 9. 

My official weigh in, after gaining back water weight from the flu is 1.4 pounds! 26.6 total! 13.4 to go. Not bad considering there wasn't a lot of exercise in this week and mostly focusing on balanced food eating. Honestly to eat a baked good didn't sound good to me until yesterday after weighing ;-) So I at the top of a cinnamon roll and actually was happy with it!

I have been having major dizzy spells this week and fatigue. I think it's because I hit the ground running after the flu and by the afternoon comes around I am toast. I had to cancel on Amy's birthday dinner and was so sad to miss it. It seemed like a very good time! Last night Mike went to poker, and stayed in a long time! I know because I stayed up til 11:30 waiting on him ;-)

I got to catch up on Grey's and a few ER's while doing loads of laundry and addressing my baby sister's shower invites and Riordan's birthday invites.

Today we have Caden's friend from football and school, Dominic, birthday party to attend. Heather was so sweet and said the whole family was invited so we are going to go! We haven't done anything together as family for a couple of weeks, so it will be nice! Then we will come home and lay low. Mike has a friend in town from back home so he will meet him out. Oh how my bed is already calling my name! I haven't stayed up that late in so long and I'm so tired!

Tomorrow is the 9k, so wish me luck! See you after!

And because of the flu

I have moved into my next size down in clothing! Last month my two tester pants didn't even fit over my hips! Much less button and zip with ease!

Tomorrow is the official weigh in day, but I just can't believe it!

I tried to run 3 miles today but this flu definitely kicked my cardiovascular butt! I could only do 1.6 miles! I'm low on food and water for sure. How the heck am I going to run almost 6 miles on Sunday?! My game plan is lots of fuel and water of course. Probably won't fit into my new size again, but soon I will again LOL! Michelle, Steph, Liz, and I are carpooling. Should be a good time! Plus Susie and Debbie will be there as well! A great support team for each of us!

Today I am teaching Caden's Art Masterpiece Program for his class. First time and not too nervous about, although I found myself thinking about it a lot in the middle of the night. Oh yeah I didn't sleep well at all either, chalk that up to a bad run. Riordan and Teagan were in the bed and I was beaten up all night until 4 when I woke Mike up and asked him to move them. Riordan hit me in the face I can't tell you how many times. He was laughing about it this morning. Yeah funny little prince, very funny!

Pics from Uncle Tim's visit (long overdue!)

We miss you Uncle Tim!! We had such a great time with you and hope we see you Aunt Kelly, Son and Diva very very very soon!! Love you!

Pics from our first Wine night! (finally ;-)

Slumber Party!

Okay What was so funny here? I don't recall! And it wasn't the wine!

Our first wine party! 

8 bottles of Pinot Noir from all regions

Cheers! Sla'inte! Salud! Bottoms Up ;-)

More Pics Here!

I did it

I am now apart of the vanity plate club.

See back home in GA it is a very rare site to see one's license plate tag personalized. When we moved here, they were everywhere and it ended up being a fun game of trying to decipher each ones personal message.

After countless tries I came up with one AND it wasn't LA PLACA ESTA USANDO. Which cracks me up that I would get a Spanish message when using the English application. Thankfully my many years of Level 2 Spanish let me read that one too.

Can you decipher this?

ZOOOF4

I figured those close to us, it will be easy. 

I almost did MalloyZoo, but a) it wouldn't fit and b) i don't want strangers off the street knowing our name...

Which brings me to the cool stencils of stick families you can put on the back of your car. 

I love them and want them, but would never advertise the family's name (which you can leave off)... it feels so exposing to me to be driving down the street and letting everyone know your family's name including your dog, cat, fish, toad, and iguana. 

But is it any different than my blog? My rationale is in my blog, you can be miles away reading, where in my car you are right next to me. But then again I could be just paranoid ;-)

By the way, can you tell I feel 98% better today? Still a bit sore in the ribs and chest from countless visits to the lavatory, but my energy seems to be back, no headache, and muscles no longer ache from the fever! YAY! It's a good day ;-) Off to bootcamp I go!

And now

I have the flu. It's better today but, yesterday I went down at 3 pm. 

I haven't been that sick since being pregnant with Aislinn.

I lost 6 lbs in 12 hours! It's wild how much water your body carries!

I'm very weak, sore, and achy today. 

Mike came home with a fever yesterday, so I had to trade with him when I started throwing up.

He never came down with the flu part, but that doesn't mean he won't either.

OH yeah

And against my will, I read Twilight this weekend. Yeah, it was good, yeah it was suspenseful, and yeah I'm hooked. Getting the next one tomorrow from Kristi!

I tried to avoid it LOL, but both of my book clubs have read it. Once a few months ago and my other it's our reading this month.

Now I'm so intrigued to see the movie. Oh my days of my Anne Rice addiction have surfaced fully!

It's flu season for sure!

Right at bedtime Teagan started to throw up, oh poor little girl. Then almost 2o mins later Caden woke from sleep getting sick! They took turns about 4 times and Teagan fell asleep at 11 pm.

Caden was up every 1/2 to full hour all night till 5 am. Oh I felt so bad for him!

He and I slept together and everytime I would here him in his sleep I would yell, "Caden run to the bathroom" I can't pick him up due to my back. He would roll off the bed and run! 

Now he and Teagan have the famous fevers that accompanied Riordan and Aislinn all day Saturday.

Now for the VERY VERY sad part on top of it all. Caden just stopped crying. 

Today is his schools Veteran's Day Celebration. We took extra time and got pictures of Papa J, Papa T, and Uncle Johnny and made special stars. They are doing a celebrations at 1 with refreshments for Veteran's and each grade is presenting a song, poem, etc to the Veterans.

There is no way we can go. :(

Riordan is even missing school today because I can't carry C and T in the car with fevers. They need to rest. Plus I think if I even tried, Riordan would have a bad day. 

Please pray this doesn't get Mike and I. It is a very fast flu, thankfully. But we don't need anymore set backs and Mike is slammed this week with work.

I had to cancel this morning's bootcamp due to the lack of sleep and just not wanting to be a carrier. 

Yesterday we attended a friend from school's birthday party at Bounce Jungle. While we were there a dust storm came through with HAIL! This storm last a long time, hours! I was supposed to run 5 miles after the party. Uh yeah.

So I went to the gym after dropping off Caden at home and did 2 1/2 miles on the treadmill. My new shoes are not working for me. They make my feet fall asleep, too tight on top, which is odd because they are mens shoes. So I did another 2 miles on the elliptical so I couldn't fall. Almost make it to my 5 miles, but my feet were not doing so well. Also, I'm doing my 9k on Sunday so I really didn't need to do that many miles. Gotta save it up ;-)

I'm off to get the house ready for our girls. Boy does it need a good cleaning now, and thankfully they use gloves! Pray for them too! We scoured the bathrooms so hopefully the virus is dead in there.

It's Friday! AND Sunday ;-)

And my new official weigh in day!

Today I am down another 2 pounds so I have 15 to go with a bonus 5 ;-) To reach my final goal! It's so incredible and finally feeling really within reach to me!! Oh this journey has been so long! I hope to make it by New Years.

It has been a good week with bootcamp, back to running yesterday!, and training with Joe yesterday as well. Even eating has been really good considering all the candy in the house from last Friday. I have had sushi twice this week and then last night went to Pita Jungle with Michelle, Kristi, and Steph,  where all the food was so yummy. The company was even better!

Teagan had a really hard time at dance again Wednesday, so bad that she wouldn't do anything while I was in there, so after 30 mins of trying to get her in there and then sitting in the lobby we left. 

(cont'd post on Sunday the 9th)

So I started this posting with very blurry eyes and they had been burning like mad and watering excessively. This is the third time since having my lasik I have had it occur. So after attending bootcamp on Friday and asking 3 or 4 times if it was foggy out, I decided it would be best to call the doctor's office. They definitely wanted me to come in.

After dropping Riordan at school, the girls and I headed to Scottsdale. I was confident that I could do this appointment with them. When I pulled into the parking lot there was Mike waiting for us! Sweet! So he sat with them while I went in.

The doctor goes, after looking at my eyes, you have a very rare chronic condition called Meibomianitis. 

I start to laugh! 

He explains that it was triggered by my surgery and did I mind if he showed his colleagues because they were just talking about it the night before and how rare it was! 

But of course right?! 

While he's showing me off, he says it's a direct result of my rosacea. 

I go, I don't have rosacea. 

He just smiles like, sure honey whatever you want to believe. 

So we discuss that rosacea doesn't have to be always present redness of the skin, and can flare up when working out, heat exposure and such, which I do get excessively red and the backs of my arms are always red. So I find out I also have rosacea. I laugh even more.

Thankfully it is non-life altering and with a new antibiotic on the market it should help keep my eyes from pooling up with clogged oil from the night before. Which is why I would have hazy eyesight and excessive burning right when I woke up and small styes on my eyelids.

After that I ran to AJ's to get last minute food for our first ever wine tasting party with Jen, Susie, and Kathleen here at our house! What a great time that was! We started at 5:30 so all the children could play and we could get a decent amount of wine tasting and adult time together. Oh my gosh the food we all made was amazing and I can't stop thinking about it! I made my famous bruschetta, along with having cheeses, hummus, nuts, and a pizza for kiddos, Susie made home made crabcakes and a brie ( I polished off the brie yesterday ;-), Kathleen made home made meatballs and brought yummy sausages and cookies for the kiddos, and Jen made the most amazing chocolate cheesecake with raspberry coulis and whole berries and Ghirardelli brownies for the kiddos, that I had to make sure were good enough for them to eat ;-)! They were all amazing, can you see why I'm still thinking about the food? We had 8 wines covered in the Pinot Noir family that we tried. It was really neat to see which ones we liked most and it was the ones that weren't but 10 bucks if I remember! My favorite one was Irony, which I by chance had purchased because I loved the story behind the vineyard.

In the middle of that night, Riordan woke up vomiting. He was sick all night long till 8 am. I had a 2 hour training session with Joe, and there was no way Mike could take Caden to football, so I called my friend Heather to see if she could pick up Caden and I would meet them at the game. Thankfully she gets up before the crack of dawn so calling her at 6:30 wasn't too early. Caden was thrilled to ride with his pal Dominic! I had even texted Barb, who was willing as well to pick him up! I'm so thankful for both of them!

As I'm driving to Caden's game, Heather calls me to let me know Caden just scored a touchdown. He didn't get an opportunity to run the ball last week, so Coach Rob promised Caden would get it first at the game. He did and he kept running! She was so sweet and told me all about it, yet I was feeling like a heel for not being there. She said he was really proud of himself. I call Mike to let him know. I literally ran from the parking lot to the football field and thank goodness I did, I arrived just in time to see him run again and score ANOTHER touchdown! I would have done cartwheels if I could ;-) He gave me two big thumbs up!

And since he reward him with cash for touchdowns and such I realize I'm going to be broke if he kept it up LOL. The entire team had a great game. The team we played was definitely 4 year olds. The age range for their level is 4-6. It was good for our players who never get a chance to excel, but it was hard to watch at the same time as the little guys tried to keep up, and they only had 5 players and it's played with 5, so no rest time for them. But they did great and our team backed off near the end and let them have some fun as well.

Caden and I went to Toys R Us after the game and he picked out a toy instead of getting cash and we got birthday gifts for two party's he's attending. One for his friend Julian from class today at 2, and the other is for Dominic next weekend.

When I got home I found out that Aislinn had thrown up in her bed sometime in the night and then again after drinking her bottle that morning. So I cancelled all my plans of attending a boutique that day and shopping with a friend later to help relieve Mike. Well I got dizzy and not feeling well so he sent me to bed. I took a small nap and felt a lot better when I woke up.

I did go to the Apple store around bedtime. The battery on my laptop WARPED this week! It was so odd! They were shocked as well and made sure that I wasn't hurt by any batter acid. They exchanged it! Then I hit Wal-mart for milk, t-shirt for Caden for a class project, and other things for the kitchen ;-) Love that place, it's so inexpensive and I love my self check out! I'm a gadget girl so it's fun for me.

I watched 'Juno' last night and it was such a great movie! I loved it and completely went differently than I assumed. I stayed up late, 11 pm and that is late for me ;-) The nap helped me get through it. 

Mike is at church doing our post and then after attending he's hitting DD's for the children to get their donut fix. I will have to sew my mouth shut...

How can I forget this?!

Ever since this past Tuesday Aislinn is FINALLY sleeping through the night! Getting her down to one nap seems to be the missing link for her! And having her cry it out Tuesday night all night long. I consider it sleeping through the night since I never got her ;-) But every night since it has been incredible! Wednesday and Thursday one peep about 5 am, but she would go back to sleep! Friday-today not a mumble from her!

Finally finally! She get's a good 12 hours too! I never remember when I go down to one nap, but she was definitely ready since she would get so mad when we put her down at 9 am for her first of two. She's a very good girl :-)

Last night I went to sushi with Michelle and Kira who lives in CA. We had such yummy food again and the talks were just so great! Michelle and Kira have been together since Freshman in HS so it was really cool to listen to some very fun stories of the growing up. 

Today is a busy day! Bootcamp this morning, then rush home to get Caden to get a filling on a molar! Sigh.. he has my teeth. Take him to school late, hopefully Mike can take Riordan, then rush home to take the girls to PG at the park. 

Tonite Mike and I have date night. Since we couldn't do a marriage class we so wanted to do, we decided to keep our Monday nights for us alone. So we either will go to the driving range, running up at the nature park, or just eat ;-) I'm sure we will find something to do!

PS

Looked it up and it was 10 weeks and a day from her 7th to 8th tooth! Over 2 months! 

Happy Late Halloween!

We had a such a busy but great day on Friday!!

But to back up a bit, Aislinn finally cut her 8th tooth on Wednesday! I need to go and lookup the difference on how long it took from her 7th to 8th. It seems like at least 2 months which is just funny, because past history the pairs have always been days apart. Also, she is walking all over the place now. She will still crawl, but walks on her own with no prompting from us and will walk to a toy, door, chair etc and laugh the whole way. At church today she kept walking all over the lobby. Now to get her some slippers for her bare feet!

We got our carpet for our family room and it is just Heaven! It is really going to hide everything and gives it a very cozy feeling. Everyone has been enjoying rolling all over it ;-) 

I finished my first week at Bootcamp and I really enjoyed it. Andrea is great and pushes us just far enough to not hate it. I think I will sign up again for December. I'm dealing with shin splints, that aren't as painful as the were on Thursday night. Boy did they hurt. So I'm cross training 5 miles today at the gym for my distance on the elliptical. I also went to Run AZ and finally! got fitted for the right running shoe. After all my issues, are you surprised?, we finally found a guys shoe that was narrow enough and gave me the support on my arches, because I have none, and this should help prevent shin splints and the tendinitis I have been experiencing on the inside of my ankles. I also got a PRE Christmas present. A Garmin GPS watch. Oh it's just so cool being that I'm a Gadget Girl to begin with! I can't wait to run again! Heal shins Heal!

Riordan had his school party on Wednesday where they sang songs. Well Riordan did not, in fact he was ready to go when I got there and didn't want to participate, so I held his hand as he somewhat stood next to his classmates and they sang three very cute songs and then we had treats and did candy for each other in treat bags. When we got home I told him I couldn't remember the songs and he sang them for me! But I couldn't look at him or he would stop ;-) Whatever it takes! I believed you Angela that he does it when I'm not around, going to drop off a video camera to set up! LOL

Friday I took the girls to our annual trip to the retirement home to trick or treat with the seniors. Teagan FINALLY let me put a costume on her and she chose Tinkerbell first and then Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I will post pics soon! She was so shy getting candy but soon got into the groove but still not a peep out of her, just a lot of nodding. 

That afternoon we went to Caden's school to watch the whole K classes do a Nursery Rhyme Parade around the courtyard and it was adorable. Apparently Caden couldn't find his props so his teacher lent him some she did! So awesome of her. And then when he got home he found them in his backpack. Seems he has my disease of looking right at it but not seeing it.

We come home to take a break, have dinner, and then get dressed for Trick or Treating! We are all so excited! It's our first time doing it in our neighborhood! I tell the boys to go get the Ninja Turtle costumes and 10 minutes later they come out with DIFFERENT costumes from the past years!! I am NOT buying new ones next year! So Riordan was Dash from Incredibles and Caden was Peter Pan, again like last year! Both so adorable ;-) Teagan was cranky and didn't want to put on her costume and told her she couldn't go if she didn't put it on. She finally did, but was truly a princess and stayed either in her wagon or in the stroller getting candy and made either me get her candy or the giver come to her! Turns out she had a fever the poor girl! I don't know how long she had it but it was gone the next morning and still hasn't returned. 

Aislinn was a flower and didn't like to wear the hat to go with it. So she was mistaken once as a watermelon! Funny! We hit only the house on our block and the short road to our local park and then came back home where our neighbor had an incredible Haunted House in his backyard and garage.  Teagan and Aislinn wanted no part in it, so I went in the house with them, which is when I realized Teagan had a fever. Riordan was so brave and loved going through it after about 5 times of watching him, Caden went through it. Thankfully they did nothing scary to the boys so it was a light show with creepy music. I didn't want to do it either so I didn't ;-).

We all were so tired. The boys and Teagan were asleep by 8, Aislinn 7:30 and Mike 9 pm. I stayed up and caught up on shows, still have so much to go, till 10. 

I did the most fun training with Joe on Saturday morning at a local high school. We ran bleachers for 10 mins! I was pretty impressed with myself at how well I did! Last time I did them between the girls, I hated them. I did not hate them at all this time! Then we did a forward run and then a backwards run! Totally so cool! Okay I'm showing my 80's side, but there really is no other way to describe it.

We had a double date to Blue Wasabi with our friends Jennifer and Brandon. We had such a great time, the food was amazing. Last time I went I wasn't so impressed with the food, but they totally redeemed themselves. There was never a moment silent and we didn't want the night to end. They had a friend watching their boys so they had to skedaddle and Mike and I decided to go to Fleming's for Chocolate Lava Cake! Okay That's it! I totally ate crap since Wednesday and that was literally the icing on the cake ;-) But it was SOOOO worth it, as is every time.  Today is a clean slate and back to healthy eating along with my insane work outs. 

I had to let the zoo know that Santa said that each child will each only get 3 gifts from him. So with us having two December birthdays, we have officially started a christmas list. They know that they may not be able to get everything and that we could choose one of them as birthday presents or we can pass the suggestion on to the grandparents ;-). Teagan and Aislinn of course don't really get this part, but it is really working for the boys! Plus we put a monetary max on each of them and explained that Santa can only spend so much of each of them so he can spend the same for other boys and girls. They really do get it because Riordan picked out 'Kota' by Playskool and that sucker is 399! Yeah right! Great taste R! He and I talked about it being too much and he was not upset at all! He even crossed it off his list! These guys are being so great about it, so far !! Fingers crossed!