My First Half Marathon

For months I have been asking myself just what exactly I let my sister talk me into. For the past 10 weeks I have been training for the Woodland Half Marathon. There were days I felt like I couldn't even run a mile and then days when running long distances did not seem so bad. Through my training I found that I am a much better runner first thing in the morning, and seem to do better when it is cold. I have been fretting about this day ever since I signed up for it in November because after running my first 10K and thinking I would never make it, I did not know how the heck I would ever run 13.1 miles. My two goals were to:
                                1. Run the whole race
                                2. Attempt to finish it in 2 hours and 15 minutes

So Melissa and I arrived in the Woodlands yesterday evening and went to the Health Expo where we picked up our packets for race day and then went and ate some pasta at Bucca di Beppo. We then scouted out where we needed to park the next morning so as not to stress about it in the morning. We headed back to our hotel where we showered and then rested up for the race.

My race bib

We woke up this morning, got ready and headed to the race. Of course our biggest dilemma was what the heck to wear. The weather for today was cold, starting the race around 38 degrees and supposedly finishing at 46 degrees. You of course don't want to freeze while racing, but you don't want to be steaming hot either since you are running such a long distance. We both decided on leggings and a shirt with a pullover on top and of course gloves. We got there in plenty of time and headed to our corral. Promptly at 7:00 am the race began.

 

Ready for the race

It started out cold, but by mile 3 we took off our gloves. Around mile 10 1/2 we had rain that happened off and on for several miles. During our very last mile, we were passed by 3 marathoners - that completely amazes me how those people can run a whole marathon in less time than it takes me to run a half! However, I am proud to say I finished the race in 02:16:23. According to the stats, overall I was 1,818th out of 3,067, 828th out of 1,681 women and 144th out of 295 females ages 40-44. Had it not been for stopping with Melissa in order for her to make a pit stop in the port-o-potty, I would have finished with-in my goal time. I did indeed run the whole race and honestly, felt pretty good after the race. It truly was a sense of accomplishment and I must say I am glad I did it.

 

 

Go Texan Day

As they do every year, our school celebrated the rodeo with Go Texan Day today. Of course we have no boots, but that does not keep us from dressing up!

The Alarm Clock

For Camden's birthday, one of the main things he wanted was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle alarm clock. Why you may ask? Because he wanted to be able to get up in the morning and get dressed and ready for school on his own. Well I was thrilled to say the least, because I hear these stories from parents who struggle to get their children out of bed and I do not want that to be me.

Well, I finally put batteries in his alarm clock and set it to wake him up and lo and behold, who do you think came sashing down the stairs this morning, fully dressed, teeth brushed with shoes in hand in a very pleasant voice saying "Good morning Momma!"? None other than my awesome five year old. I pray this is the beginning of a very good habit!

 

Alabama Baseball - Roll Tide!

Due to Camden being conceived in Alabama, he has been to many Alabama sporting events (in utero of course). Several years ago, we took him to an Alabama softball game at Texas A&M. But up until today, Casen had never been to a University of Alabama event. Alabama was playing the University of Houston in baseball this weekend and the boys were so excited to go!



Headed to the game!

It was free cookie day and they were AWESOME!

 

 


























My tuckered out baseball fans!

We stayed the whole game, the boys loved it and Alabama won!!! Through out the game you would hear Casen say 'Alabama Baseball - Roll Tide!' I guess that boy is brain washed!

Do It For Grace

One of the students at my school, who happens to be one of my sister's families dear friends, was diagnosed with leukemia on January 15th. Her name is Grace and she is a beautiful girl. As soon as we found out, I knew the school needed to do something to show their support for Grace and her family. With the help of a wonderful lady name Kelli from the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, I organized a blood drive in honor of Grace.

 

The amazing support from our community was awesome. A local Bahama Bucks contacted me so that they could give me free coupons to hand out to those who donated, or attempted to donate. About 4 years ago (prior to my working there), the school I work at had a blood drive due to another one of our students having leukemia. They had 33 donors that day. When I saw that number, I felt it was a little low, knowing how big of a volunteer base we have. However, the blood center only had that number to go on. We set up a schedule so that people could go and schedule an appointment and within two days our schedule was full. So they opened up the schedule even more to 50 slots (I think). Well, we ended up with 63 donors and a total of 76 blood products (due to those who gave double red blood cells! That is a total of 228 lives saved! What an awesome turn out and an awesome day.

Shawn even donated!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day, and of course my little guys (along with my big guy) have my heart!

The boys had a Valentine's party at school yesterday and exchanged Valentine's with their friends.

Their Valentines for their friends

The boys with their Valentines from school

Gifts from Mommy and Daddy

Let's Party!

Today we celebrated Camden's fifth birthday by having his party at Monkey Bizness. Monkey Bizness is a fun place where we have gone to several birthday parties, and Camden decided it was where he wanted his. The theme he chose this year was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 Luckily, as in years past, mom came and made his cake. I took off yesterday and stayed home with her so I could supervise the cake decorating (ha ha) and get the party favors together.

A month or so ago, I asked Camden what he wanted his cake to look like. He was very descriptive in knowing exactly what he wanted - he told me he wanted a pizza, with a city and the ninja turtles looking like they were coming out of a sewer. Well, there are cakes out there exactly like what he described, however, we are not "The Cake Boss' so we looked on the internet and got some ideas and came up with our cake. I must say, my favorite part is the pizza!!! Once again, mom did an awesome job and Camden loved his cake, which that really is what it is all about!

I had fun making his party favors - pizza boxes filled with all sorts of Ninja Turtle stuff for the boys, and My Little Pony stuff for the girls.

He had a great time celebrating with his friends and family!

Casen had a great time

Fun playing air hockey 

Grandma and Grandpa Key enjoyed watching the boys

We had pizza, as any good TMNT would, as well as cake and ice cream.

After the party, we headed back to the house and Camden opened all of his presents. He had an awesome time with all of his friends and family.

Happy 5th Birthday Camden

It is hard to believe that my first born is 5 today. He just turned four yesterday, didn't he???? How do we slow down time? Yesterday on our way to school the following conversation took place:

     Me: Hey Camden, you know what today is?
     Camden: What?
     Me: Today is the last day you are 4.
     Camden: Good!!! I am tired of being 4! (sounding exasperated)

And then he goes on to remind me that it won't be long before he graduates from Pre-K and starts Kindergarten.

Camden took cupcakes to school to celebrate his birthday with his friends. When I pulled the cupcakes out this morning, it was the first time Shane had seen them, and he immediately questioned me, "Green icing???" (since Camden always wants blue EVERYTHING). But, since the theme of his birthday party this year is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Camden requested white cupcakes with green icing and a TMNT ring on top. Camden reassured his dad that the cupcakes were just what he wanted.

 For supper he wanted Chinese - fried rice that has peas and carrots in it. So he had Chinese for supper.

As you may recall, the past several years I have asked Camden a set of questions so that I can see how his answers change as he matures. This year was no different:

 1. What is your favorite color?  Blue
 2. What is your favorite toys? Ninja Turtles
 3. What is your favorite fruit? Grapes and pineapple
 4. What is your favorite TV show? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Green beans, chicken nuggets and apples
 6. What is your favorite outfit? Green Nike shirt and blue/red/white shorts
 7. What is your favorite game? Wipeout (X-Box)
 8. What is your favorite snack? Popcorn
 9. What is your favorite animal? Stuffy
10. What is your favorite song? Uptown Funk and Roll Tide Roll
11. What is your favorite book? Brown Bear, Brown Bear
12. Who is your best friend? Nina
13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play soccer
15. What is your favorite drink? Cherry Limeade
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween, Easter and Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you all night? Stuffy and Hamster
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Donuts (red with sprinkles) and donut holes
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Chinese food
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Police officer and a tooth doctor and a real doctor that helps people when they are sick. Then he said "That is three jobs I know, but I will see when I grow up." Then he started laughing.

I was surprised he did not answer peanut butter and jelly for his favorite lunch, because he can hardly wait to go to kindergarten so he can start taking peanut butter and jelly for lunch, but the chicken nuggets, green beans and apples is his favorite school lunch and he generally eats seconds of it. I think the reason Brown Bear, Brown Bear is his favorite book is because he has it memorized (as he has for several years) and he thinks he knows how to read it since he knows all the words. : )  And as for #18, Friday is our special day where we stop at Shipleys, which of course is conveniently located right by daycare, and he always gets one donut that has red icing with sprinkles, Casen gets a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles and then he and Casen share donut holes.

I must say I am thrilled to see that his ambitions have improved from last year for what he wants to be when he grows up - last year he wanted to be 'a worker that works on the road'. What is even better is that the reason he choose the professions he did is because he wants to do something to help people. Now that warms a momma's heart!

He wore his birthday crown all day!