Ups and Downs

What a week! Just like my bathroom scale, this week had many ups and downs.

On Monday we did our standard routine, and I kept things pretty chill after the eventful weekend we had just had. I ran my standard 3 miles in the morning with the kids, we went swimming with Rick after that, and finally I am excited to report that I ran an additional 8 miles in the evening. That is my farthest post-marathon run. My friend Katie has re-joined her running club and last week she was telling me that they were going for a 10 mile run on Saturday. I was unexpectedly 100% genuinely jealous. I wanted to go for a long run. I had only completed a solo 6 mile run since the marathon, and the thought of running 10 miles seemed exciting. I haven't felt that long-run-runner's high in ages! I kept thinking about how I am never going to be able to do that again anytime soon. Now that I am not training for the marathon, I feel selfish asking peeps to watch the kids so I can go spend a couple of hours running. It seemed sad. But then I remembered that every-other Monday night I don't have Bible study, and every-other Monday night, instead of taking a class at the YMCA, I usually do independent exercises at the gym. So instead of doing my usual routine, I had the brilliant idea to hop on a treadmill and just see how long I could run. The childcare only lasts for 90 minutes now, and by the time you actually drop off your kids and pick them up, I really only have about 1 hour and 20 minutes of exercise time. But in that time, I was able to punch out just over 8 miles! It felt AMAZING! Just like "the old days" the first couple of miles were a bear to get through, but once I reached that groove I felt so strong. I definitely could have gone farther. And that was a good feeling to have! :0)

But Tuesday, my body was surely telling me that I hadn't done a long run in long time. My hips were bugging a bit, and my knees were chatting with me too. It was all very manageable, and it only lasted the one day, but I still found it interesting. I went back to the gym on Tuesday morning, and after the gym we were supposed to go visit my friend 2-B at her campsite in Jamul. But the roads were blocked off for a Border Patrol Agent's funeral. The kids were so bummed. :0( So instead, Rick and I took the littles to Chuck-E-Cheese. It was a great time, and God's plan was way better than the one I had! :0) Later that night a friend watched the kiddos, and I met up with my "Happy Hour" crew. My "Happy Hour" group consists of my mom and her 2 friends...and then the daughters of those 3 women. There are 3 older moms, and then 7 of us daughters. But unfortunately, 3 of the "daughters" live out of town, and rarely get to make it to "Happy Hour" gatherings. Prior to the daughters having kids of our own, we used to gather about every-other-month...but with every child we seemed to have, our gatherings came fewer and farther between. Now we get together about twice a year. :0( Anyhow, we had a great time on Tuesday night. My mom decided to put on a cooking class for us. She showed us how to make beautiful and TASTY bruchetta...





We learned how to make homemade Ricotta Cheese...



And then we built delicious salads for dinner...



Just the "Moms"...



Just the "daughters"...



Tuesday was a great day. :0)

Wednesday was another story. This was the day my daughter made me cry, lol. We played things very low key this day, and hung out at the house for the most part. But my Beatrice was just awful. She threw fit after fit after fit. I remained calm the entire day, and I followed up on discipline with each and every tantrum. But you know, it still gets to you. By the end of the evening I went in to the room where my husband was and I just burst into to tears. My daughter had defeated me. My husband was very sweet, and attempted to lift my spirits. I packed the kids up and then we headed to the gym. I have spin class on Wednesdays, and I had arrived at the gym a half hour early. I needed the break from my daughter. I put the kids in childcare and then I hopped on the exercise bike and gave minimal effort to fitness while I read my Bible. After 30 minutes of that, I went down to my spin class and ROCKED IT! I honestly don't think I have EVER sweat so much in my life. Seriously. I felt like a new woman. I picked the kids up from the childcare and we all had much better attitudes...just in time for bed time, LOL! :0)

On Thursday, I had to get started on my baking orders I had for Friday. And after that, we went to visit 2-B at her campsite. This time, our adventure was a success! They stay at Pio Pico campground, and it is SOOO much fun! They have all kinds of games to play...shuffle board, ping pong, basketball, horseshoes, volleyball, miniature golf, etc. They also have a couple of swimming pools, arcade/play room, organized craft sessions for the kids, and random boardgames, puzzles, and books you can checkout while you stay there. It's amazing. You can tent camp, RV camp, or you can even stay in one of their cabins. Very neat. I'm a huge fan...in case you couldn't tell. :0) After we spent a couple of hours there, we went over to my moms for a playdate with my sister and her littles. My sister had been given a bunch of cupcakes from a bakery, and she had requested that we get together to try them all. We sampled the cupcakes...







And the kids tested out Grammy's new slip-n-slide...





2 besties in a tub...





3 boys with bats, what could possibly go wrong!?...



On Friday, I finished up my baking orders. I had one order of lady bug cake pops for a 3 year old's birthday party...





And an order of 2 dozen cookies for a "tween's" birthday party...







After the baking was done...ironically, we jetted off to the dentist. :0) The kids and I had standard check-ups and it was Beatrice's first experience.









No cavities for this family! :0)

Miss Louisiana

Saturday was the night of our Beauty Pageant Murder Mystery Party. It was an incredibly good time! The game worked that we were all Beauty Pageant contestants (and a few of us were judges) fighting for the Miss America crown. In the story of the game, the actual Miss America competition would take place the next day, but we were all invited to a pre-pageant-dinner. At this dinner one of us would be the victim of murder, and one of us would be the murder. We got our roles well in advance, but no one was told who was going to be the victim or the criminal (including the victim and the criminal) until the crime took place. We had certain topics of conversation that we had to discuss with other pageant contestants, and we had (fake) money to bribe/blackmail others with. Some of the girls were fantastic actresses, and it was super neat to see everything unravel.

In the weeks leading up to the event I had borrowed a few dresses from friends for this occasion. I had put off trying the dresses on for a few days. But one morning I was feeling especially slim, and so I took the plunge and tried on all of the dresses. One friend loaned me two dresses...and they both fit great. However, when I went to take off the 2nd dress the zipper would NOT come undone! It was 6 o'clock in the morning and my husband would not be home for 2-1/2 more hours!!! I tried and tried and tried to take it off myself, but to no avail. My only other option was Wyatt. Yeah, that was pointless. :0( I began to panic. I mean REALLY panic. I was sweating, I was breathing funky, I just needed to get out of this dress! I finally gave in, and called who else, but my MOM! Mom to the rescue! That is the joy of having your mom live only 10 minutes away. She came right over and helped a sister (ahem, a daughter) out! She too tried everything...EV-RY-THING! We put Vaseline on the zipper, and KY on the zipper (LOL), but nothing would budge this zipper! Eventually I told her that we just needed to find a way to pull it up over my head. And as any girl would know, dresses that have a zipper in the back, are not supposed to be pulled up over your head! Luckily the dress wasn't tight on me, so there was a TAD bit of wiggle room. I was able to completely smoosh my lady parts and have my mom yank that dress up and over my body....FREEEEEEEDOM! I felt like Mel Gibson in the final moments of "Braveheart."

That incident had narrowed my options down to 3 viable dresses. However, of those 3, 1 of them was too small and I couldn't get it zipped up. I was NOT going to force it! Sigh. But I considered it a viable option becuase it was my very favorite, and I saw the potential that it maybe could fit in the near future if I stayed focused in the gym and on my diet. Except that didn't really happen. I worked out as usual, but this party was coming on the heals of "fun mommy" week...and "fun mommy" ate some fun treats.

But on the morning of the party, I decided to take a chance, and I had my husband help me into the dress, and much to my surprise, IT ZIPPED UP! It was TIGHT, but it zipped! This is one of those situations that I totally don't understand how, but in this case it worked in my favor, so I was just going to say "Thank you Lord" instead of questioning how I was able to get into it.

Because the dress was tight, and becuase I had a lot of things to do that day so I was not going to have time to exercise, I knew that I was going to have to be a real beauty pageant contestant for the rest of the day...a.k.a. starve myself, LOL! Up until the party all I had was a generic Target brand Slim Fast shake and a few carrot sticks. My efforts paid off and the dress still fit by the end of the day. :0)

Here are the girls all decked out...



Miss Louisiana in the house...



Miss Alaska, Miss California, and Miss Louisiana...



My sister Jenni had hosted a murder mystery party for us all a couple of years ago, and she was kind enough to provide all of the food, drinks, and everything else that went in to this event. This year however, she still put on an AMAZING party, but the food was more of a potluck style.

The appetizers were incredible. Someone brought fresh fruit with a delicious dip, Miss New Mexico brought an out-of-this-world corn/avocado/bean salsa with some pita chips, Miss New York had brought bite size pieces of rye bread with fresh ranch dip to dunk the bread into, and Miss Alaska had brought a yummy sea food salad to spread on crackers. Everything was SOOOO good! (Especially since all I had eaten all day was a Slim Fast shake and a few carrots, LOL)



Dinner was a mish-mash of all kinds of food! Miss Texas had brought some delicious BBQ ribs, Miss California had brought some pizzas, Miss Kentucky had brought some scalloped potatoes, Miss Louisiana had brought some chicken enchiladas and spanish rice, Miss Mississippi had brought an amazing brocoli salad, and there was even so much MORE! This picture does nothing for our eats, but none-the-less its the only photo I have...



Dessert was incredible! One of the judges had brought pink champagne cupcakes, Miss Idaho had brought an evil chocolate peanut butter brownie cake, and another judge had brought some mini eclairs and cream puffs...my fave!







And at the after, AFTER party when only 6 former beauty queens remained, Katie took a trip to the "famous" Peterson's donut shop, and brought back their huge donuts!





Fortunately for my scale, I was able to resist those!

Fun Mommy

After the MOPS leadership retreat, I felt like I owed my kiddos a fun summer week! In the previous couple of weeks, I had felt like I was buried in MOPS work, or just carting the kids around to all of the events/playdates/activities that were on our schedule already.

Before we finished school in May, I had BIG plans to go to the beach every week. I also had BIG plans to go to Soak City every-other week. And much to my dissapointment, our summer break is over at the end of July, and we hadn't gone to either of those places ALL SUMMER! :0(

I was determined to abandon all things "boring" (not really, but hopefully you know what I mean), and be "Fun Mommy" all week!

On Monday, I had planned to go to the beach, but instead we went to Soak City. On our way to Soak City, I had called my friend "2-B" to invite her to go to the beach with us on Tuesday, but wouldn't you know it, while we were on the phone I found out she was on her way to Soak City with her kiddos too! We got to spend the day with our friends at Soak City! I took zero pictures of our 1st day of "Fun Mommy", but we truly had a BLAST! I hadn't been to a water park since I was in High School (over 10 years ago) and it was really neat to experience the fun through the eyes of my little ones. The most interesting part to me is that Wyatt is SOOO afraid to ride anything that resembles a roller coaster at an amusement park...but when it came to the water park he was DYING to go on even the tallest and twistiest of water slides...unfortunately he was way too short to meet the riding requirements. :0(

On Tuesday, we went to the BEACH! Woohooo! Finally! We met Katie and her kiddos there. My kids and I arrived about an hour before Katie did, and I scoped out the BEST spot! Someone had dug this AMAZINGLY HUGE hole in the sand, and I knew that would make for some great beach fun!



My pretty beach baby...





Usually when Katie and I venture to the beach, we let the kiddos play and we lay in the sun chit chatting. But antics like that don't happen on "Fun Mommy's" watch! Before Katie had arrived, my kids and I were sprucing up the big hole with a perimeter of sandcastles around it. Katie had shown up with her kids, and we all went to work together adding flare to our domain.

After sand fun, we went in the water and splashed in the waves. I took the kids out "deep" and they thought that was super cool. Katie then watched the kids playing in the shallow water, and I got to hit the waves solo (I know, not very "Fun Mommy" of me).

Katie brought me a boogie board, and I brought my "A-Game!" My boogie boarding skills were on FIRE! I was catching every wave I wanted to catch! The surf was incredible! I could have rode those waves for hours! I don't know what it is about boogie boarding, but I love it! I thought I was hot stuff, the kids and Katie thought I was hot stuff, and even some strangers came up to me and said how good I looked out there! (HUGE SMILE!)

On Wednesday, we hosted a pool party at our pool for all of our MOPS friends. We had a huge turnout, and the kids had a blast! In the late afternoon I took Beatrice to her modeling debut...no worries, I'm sure this will be a solo modeling experience. :0) One of the ladies in our MOPS group is a professional photographer, and she had asked if she could use Beatrice as her model for her Summer Portfolio and marketing material. This was not a paid gig, but in return we will be receiving the edited photos on a disk. Beatrice did really well. She made it through 4 of the 6 wardrobe changes. But towards the end of the 4th cycle, she kept messing around with her accessories, and was no longer wanting to cooperate with poses, etc. We called it a day. I have received 1 teaser image from the session...



I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!!! :0)

On Thursday, we went to Sea World with my sister Jenni and her crew. We got to see the new Turtle Reef exhibit...



We rode on the tall Sky Tower...



And we saw the newest Shamu Show...



I usually pack our lunch, and make our adventures to Sea World a cost-free event...but "Fun Mommy" is kinda spendy...not only did we get frozen lemonade, and 2 buckets of popcorn, but the kids also got Shamu Shaped Ice Cream Treats!



On Friday, we pretty much chilled at home. I had 2 baking orders to complete. "Fun Mommy" had bought the kids "activity packs" on a whim at the grocery store earlier in the week, and Wyatt had a bunch of Scooby Doo work to do, and Beatrice had a bunch of Care Bears work to do. I had also baked extra cookies and cake pops from my orders for the kids to decorate themselves, but they never got around to do them.

Here are the Baseball Cake Pops I did...





And here are the Bumble Bee Cookies I did...





So that's it for "Fun Mommy!" I am glad that super hero made an appearance this summer, but boy was it exhausting, LOL! In all honesty, I'm not sure the kids really cared that we did all of these things. I think I was just feeling bad that I hadn't taken them to the beach and stuff, but they hadn't even been asking to go to the beach, LOL! The kids seemed to have as much fun this week as they had had when we were doing all of the other things we have done this summer. But again, even if this week was just for me, that is enough reason. As moms (or maybe I'm just the only mom???) we carry guilt around...are we doing enough?...are we doing too much?...yada, yada, yada...and for 5 days I was guilt-free! And that is just, well, Priceless.

MOPS Retreat

In the days after the 4th of July, my mindset was all about the MOPS Leadership Retreat that following weekend.

For those of you that are unaware, "MOPS" stands for "Mothers of Pre-Schoolers." I am in my 4th year of being a part of this group. My first year I just attended the meetings like a "normal" person...my 2nd year I served on the leadership team as the Creative Activities Coordinator...and in my 3rd (and now 4th) year, I am the Coordinator of the entire group.

The weeks before the retreat is crazy-stress-crunch-time. Not only am I planning a full day of meals and "retreat" for 12 ladies, but I am also planning our entire MOPS year, that way, when we are at the retreat, we can discuss everything I have planned, and every speaker I have scheduled. In the heat of the moment, I told my family that I am NOT serving in this position next year! But apparently I had told them that last year at this time as well. I completely don't remember saying that...but I am not surprised.

I am not surprised becuase after the retreat had started, I was having an AMAZING time! The food I had prepared was incredible, all of the games and recreation stuff we did in our free time was such great fun, and all of our meaty discussion of our upcoming MOPS year was highly productive! I am so blessed to have this amazing (partly new) leadership team serving with me! It had made all of the work and preparation completely worth it!

I am not sure if it's becuase this was the 2nd retreat I had put on (so I am a bit more seasoned), or if it was the energy in this new group, but I had a fabulous time! Last year I felt like I was stuck (or had stuck myself) in the kitchen for most of the retreat cooking for the ladies. But this year, I was doing everything I could to stay out of the kitchen for as long as possible so I could play just one more round of ping-pong, or one more game of badminton.

I didn't take any pictures, but luckily one of the other gals had her camera out for the first part of the day.

We started out the morning with heart-shaped Belgium Waffles with strawberries and fresh whipped cream. We also had bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit.



Here are most of the ladies enjoying their breakfast...









For lunch I had made California Burgers complete with Swiss Cheese, and an Avocado Relish. We also had french fries, vegetables, fruit, and Vanilla Coconut Milkshakes...





For dinner I had made chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, and a delicious salad complete with olives, corn, black beans, and a jalapeno ranch dressing. To drink I had blended us up some virgin margaritas to go with our Fiesta! :0) Unfortunately there are no pictures of our dinner.

For dessert one of our Mentor Moms provided some incredible "lemon bites" from Costco, and then I brought my Strawberry Cupcakes, my Chocolate Mint Cupcakes, and in the days prior to the retreat, I had been working on something really fun for the ladies...Ice Cream Cone Sugar cookies!



After dessert was finished, the ladies were free to go home (not that they were ever chained to the house to begin with, lol), and so a couple of gals did go home to their families, but much to my surprise, most of the ladies gathered in the living room and asked, "What game shall we play next!?"

I can't say it enough...it was such a fun day...and night! :0)