Saturday, September 1, 2012

Birthdays, Running, and Weddings

I have a feeling that the longer times between posts is going to last for awhile...at least until after I get settled into the new school routine. A few things to catch you guys up on today and hopefully by the next time I post I will be able to tell you about one of my other life 'improving' ventures.

On Sunday, the day after the Crim, we FINALLY had Nathan's pirate themed birthday party! Not as many kids showed up as I was hoping but those that came had fun with the treasure hunt I set up. I had made a four piece map (that had to be ripped to make five) of our property that took the kids to 4 different checkpoints before finding the treasure...a treasure box shaped pinata. I started them off with one piece of the map and they followed the path to the checkpoint where they found a skull and crossbones marker with the number of the checkpoint on it so they knew they were at the right one, and they would find the next piece of the map somewhere near the marker. Some of the other adults made fun of me (the men) for making the map path weave in and out of trees and under our hammock instead of just going for a straight shot from one checkpoint to the next, but I wanted to make a little more interesting and fun for the kids. They are 4-5 years old so I just ended up leading them to each checkpoint, but they had fun looking at the map...especially Jacob...who goes on Google Maps all the time and plots directions from all sorts of different places that he knows! He's such a smart kid! ; ) After breaking the pinata and having cupcakes and ice cream the kids got in their swim suits to play with the water "balloon" sponges I made for them. I usually make a TON (about a 1,000 or so last year) of water balloons for Nathan's birthday since its pretty much always hot on his birthday...but it really does a number on my fingers trying to tie all of those balloons with wet, pruny skin...OUCH! So I saw a pin on Pinterest for these water "balloon" sponges awhile back and I decided to try them out for the party. They looked cool and did work out well...but in hindsight...I'd save these for older kids because these little ones were crying and complaining that it hurt when they were hit with one.

His cupcake cake. V.G.'s is usually AWESOME with their cakes...but they have disappointed me the last two times. They used the wrong kind of frosting this time. I asked for whipped...you can even see is written on the receipt...but they used butter cream! Seems to me like they could have sprayed the black on for the hat too...that was a LOT of black frosting. Nathan's poop stained his butt for two days! lol Sorry TMI.

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On Tuesday evening our Crim group got together one last time for the Crim training program's victory party. It was set up as a huge tailgate party at a local football stadium in Flint. After eating we all headed onto the football field for prize drawings and music. I didn't win anything...I was hoping to win one of the vouchers for free training next year, but no such luck...but if I can save up to buy a third row seat ticket to a concert I can save up the money for the training program by next May. : )

I was planning to go on my first run in over a week Tuesday night, but I thought I would get home to late to do it. I did get home after dark, but I REALLY wanted to go running and the moon was almost full and SUPER bright. So I went ahead and did my first workout for C25K's week 8 training...which by the way is NOT the last week of the program. I have been thinking all this time that it was an eight week training program and its nine! Oh well, I was actually relieved to only have to increase my running time by three minutes instead of five! I was feeling so good that I was going pretty fast (for me) for awhile but when I lost steam I slowed WAY down. My time was good though and I went farther than I have before while training. I really enjoyed running by the light of the moon too!

I was going between a 12:20 and 13:00 min/mile pace for the first 10 minutes of running. Then I dropped to between a 14:30 and 16:00 min/mile pace! I started off too fast!
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On Wednesday we took the boys to their school open houses. Jacob got to show Nathan his new school, classroom, and teacher. I also got some information on the PTC group...like the PTA. I really want to actively be involved in my children's school experiences! I'm excited about school too! : ) After going to Jacob's school we took Nathan to the preschool, which he has been in before because of Jacob going there last year. I was bummed to see that Jacob's teacher left the school! I really liked her, so did Jacob, and I had been telling Nathan all summer that he was going to be in the same school, room, and have the same teacher that Jacob did and he was really excited about being in Ms. Amy's class! I'm sure the new teacher will be just as good, but its still kind of a bummer.

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I went out running again on Thursday night. I really DIDN'T want to run! lol I knew I would be fine once I got out the door though...or so I thought. Honestly, I am glad that I ran...I'm always glad that I ran...but this run SUCKED!!! It was the WORSE run for me to date! I was SUPER slow and the only reason I can think of is because I only took one day off in between runs, which I normally don't do. I was running on dead legs for most of the time and I couldn't keep my breathing steady...but I finished! I went after dark again and this time the moon was full! It was awesome!

YUCK...YUCK...YUCK!!!
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Last night David and I went to my cousin's wedding. She was gorgeous, as were all of my other cousins...her FOUR sisters who were all bridesmaids (and matron of honor)...my cousin Steven was handsome as well (the bride's brother, who was an usher)...I can't forget him. : ) The reception was beautiful and the food was AWESOME! One cool thing that I personally have never seen at a wedding reception was the photo 'booth' area that was set up for guests to dress up in funny hats and accessories and take goofy pictures that the bride and groom with get copies of! It was so cool! I dragged my husband over along with my brother and his girlfriend and we took a few photos. I was pleasantly surprised when they printed them out for us right there! : )


Yeah, he's a lightweight!

Well, that catches you up. I was planning to go running again tonight...but it was cloudy and I didn't want to go after dark and I got into an episode of Sons of Anarchy from last season (trying to catch up before the new season starts on the 11th!) that ended up being an hour and a half long instead of the usual hour! So it was dark by the time it was over so I just decided to wait until tomorrow evening.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend. I'm not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow...but I do know that I still need to finish up some school shopping so maybe I'll get that done tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. I really like the photo booth idea. I've seen it in more and more weddings this year; I think it's really trendy right now:) You're doing great Erin, keep it up!

    Fawn

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