Saturday Night Boredom

We had a very relaxing weekend. We actually got a little bored Saturday night! I realized I didn't have many pictures of Ben, so I tried to set up a little photoshoot. Ben is such a good sport when it comes to the camera. I asked him to make a happy face, silly face, sad face, scary face, etc. The following pictures just crack me up.....Enjoy!

Have a great week, everyone!

This is his "mad" face....how sweet!

scary face :)

sad face

sleepy face

happy face!

handsome!

enjoying a lemonade popsicle face!

Ben loves helping me in the kitchen. Last night he helped me snap and wash fresh green beans. What a cutie!

Twin Boys!

My friend Meredith is having twin boys and her baby shower was today. She got some really adorable gifts from her family and friends. I can't wait to meet these sweet boys! I found these adorable knitted beanies on Etsy and couldn't wait to give them to her today. She loved them and said she was going to bring them home in them! I also got her some onesies and swaddling blankets. I told Jeremy that I was having a hard time remembering Ben being that small. Does that mean it's time for another?

Aren't these just precious?! Congrats Meredith & Michael! We can't wait to meet your bundles of joy!

Puzzles, Balloon Hats, and Beauty & the Beast!

We've had an interesting week. Ben's cold got worse over the weekend so we started an antibiotic Sunday night. Jeremy stayed home with him Tuesday just to give him an extra day of rest before he went back to Joyce's around the other kids. Semester exams were also this week, so it just seemed a little crazy at school. Our new principal called an assembly and explained his expectations to the students. He is basically just enforcing the Code of Conduct and some students are acting like babies about it. It really made for an interesting week at work, ha!

Baseball try-outs were this week, so Jeremy is gone until about 6:30 each night. Ben and I have sure missed him. We get used to him being home by 4:30 so the extra two hours seem like alot. Ben loves going to the field and helping his daddy on the tractor. They are so cute riding around together. I've taken pictures on my phone, but can't find the cord that lets you upload them to the computer. I'll have to take my Nikon down and get a picture to post here.

We took Ben and Miss Ashton to Chili's Friday night and did a little shopping at the mall. Miss Ashton is going to be babysitting Ben while Jeremy and I go to the Hall of Fame Banquet in February. I am such a nut...I asked her to come hang out with us so Ben could get used to her before the banquet. He's never stayed with anyone other than Neal, Cindy, Cassie or Aunt Joyce. I know he will be fine, but I just worry. After dropping Ashton off, we asked Ben if he liked her and he said, "Yeah, Miss Ashton is so sweet." Precious!

Ben loves playing with these Melissa & Doug spelling puzzles. He is getting so good at letter and sound recognition. We bought a few tracing books, but he's just not that into writing letters yet.

Miss Ashton, me and Ben after Chili's. Ben had the "balloon man" make him an alligator hat.

Ben wanted to take a picture of me and Miss Ashton

more Ben photography......

Beauty and the Beast 3D!

January randoms...

I have been slacking with my camera this month. Time is already flying by. I've posted a few random pictures of some things we've been doing this month.It's funny how we're in shorts in some pictures and bundled up in the next! This Florida weather has been crazy.

We all settled back into our work routine fairly well. Ben has been fighting a cold for about a week now. Lots of nasal congestion and now a nasty little cough. He hasn't had a fever, so we've been trying to let him fight it off. I'll probably call Dr. Larue tomorrow just to see what he thinks. I dread going to his office and waiting 5 hours, ha! Have a good week, everyone!

My sweet Aunt Lisa came down to visit us one afternoon towards the end of December. We exchanged Christmas gifts and Ben had fun showing off his new bike skills. We love her so much and can't wait until we see her again!

1st run of the new year...all bundled up! Shorts one day, pants and hoodies the next!

Ben's sweet friend, Marlee, got him this cool gift for Christmas. We had a wooden train, fire truck, and jet to build, then we got to paint them! It gave us something really fun to do one evening when it was too cold to play outside. Thank you Marlee and Mrs. Laci! We love you!

We were playing Candy Land one evening and Ben wanted to wear my glasses. He was being so silly, I just had to take a picture. We have really been enjoying the Candy Land game Grandma and Grandpa Byrd got Ben. It's been too cold to play outside in the evenings, so this has been a good indoor game :)

29

I had a great time celebrating my 29th birthday today! Jeremy and Ben sang the birthday song to me before work. Our principal announces student and staff birthdays on the morning announcements, so I had tons of sweet students telling me happy birthday all day. We had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Palace Pizza. I had spaghetti and meatballs and a marble cake with buttercream icing for dessert. We came home and got in our jammies and enjoyed a few rounds of Candy Land before bed. It was a wonderful day!

29...I am looking forward to seeing what you have in store for me this year! Peace out 28!

Make it count

One of the things I am most proud of when I look back at 2011 is running. Running has become so important to my sanity and health. One of my favorite books of 2011 is Kristen Armstrong's Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run. She is one of those writers that always leaves me begging for more, so I was so happy to stumble upon her blog on Runner's World. I read her posts and sometimes feel like she is reading my mind or has tapped into some of my worst fears. I read this post of hers this morning and just had to share it. My mother used to work at a nursing home and it was definitely the most depressing place I've ever visited. I've never thought to be grateful for those visits, but once again, Kristen has totally transformed how I feel about them. Here is what she wrote:

Make it count

The time between Christmas and New Years is kind of a strange lull, don't you think? Some people have lingering relatives eating them out of house and sanity. Some people have the stamina to return to the mall and battle the crowds for post holiday bargains. Some people eat leftovers, wear sweatpants, and stare outside at the cold. Some people travel to warm and exotic places. Some people head for snow. Some people's children are driving them crazy. Some people miss their children. Some people have to go back to the office for a few days. Some people just want to.
One of my favorite rituals is to make the pilgrimage to visit my grandparents the day after Christmas. They, at almost 98 and 94, live in assisted living in Arizona. I love seeing them, and they are happy to have a room full of family. Grandma is in her wheelchair and Grandpa can barely see or hear but we manage to have some laughs in their tiny, cramped space which is usually heated up like a sauna. I bent down and asked my Grandma how she was. "Well," she paused, and said in her soft Minnesota accent, "Not great." "Well, that's better than shitty, " I said. And somehow even Grandpa heard me and we all cracked up. You gotta break the ice, I say.
But it's hard to go there. Hard with all the weird smells and lonely people staring at TV's from wheelchairs in their rooms. I always worry what if nobody ever visits them. It seems like everyone is waiting. It always makes me feel vaguely sad. I think they need to combine old folks homes, orphanages, and animal shelters. It would liven things up, balance things out, and give everyone someone to love.
I have a hard time sleeping there, so I'm always up early, brewing bad coffee with powdered dust cream in my hotel room, and watching the sky for the first sign of dawn so I can go run. I see a slight shift in the light and I scoot out the door. It's always freezing in the desert on a winter morning, colder than you would think. I am always under-dressed so I run faster than normal. The area where they live may qualify for the worst running place ever. Maybe Runner's World should do a new thing, an alternative to Rave Runs, where readers can write in and send a photo and a story about the worst route ever. Maybe call it Rogue Run, Rough Run, or Raunchy Run, or something.
This run I did may be a good starting point for that new feature. This part of Arizona must have a no-sprinkler ban or be an agricultural test area for NASA, because there is not one single green thing. It's all cement, asphalt, and arranged rock beds in varying colors. Any turn I took from the main drag took me into dismal neighborhoods that looked (and sounded) like the main entertainment may be dog fighting. There were lots of barbed wire yards and discarded cars. Several times I saw scary men wearing hoodies getting into trucks. This was decent interval training however, because I would turn tail and haul ass in the opposite direction faster than any effort I ever put out on the track. In the end, the only prudent option was to stay safely in the light of the fast food establishments. It was pretty depressing. I only saw one other runner, and we waved as we crossed paths. Oh, thank God, I thought, one of my people. You have no idea how good it is to see you, man. Please be fast if you hear me scream.
It's weird to think of people living like that…alternating between Carl's Jr, Long John Silvers, Burger King and Mc Donalds. There were literally no other options. The irony of running back and forth past them was not lost on me. It made me feel sad – for people who don't know about other choices for nutrition, for people who never get to see any grass or trees, and for my grandparents who probably don't even notice where they live because they mostly stay inside, rolling between their room and the dining hall.
The run, rogue as it was, was good for me. I got to hit the reset button on my gratitude meter, and think of all the ways that running has led me on a different path. It doesn't matter what our surroundings and circumstances are, runners can always move through them and get to a better place. I got to refresh myself before going back to see my grandparents, and think about the awesome fact that my grandmother will be 100 in two years. The fact that she cannot run or walk is all the more reason to be grateful and run and see as many things as possible while my legs and eyes still can. I am glad to leave the place, but I hate leaving them. I hug them tight, kiss their cheeks, squeeze their warm and spotted hands, and tell them loudly and often that I love them. No regrets.
And now, days before the wheel clicks and we enter a new year, I am thinking about how I want to spend the next rotation around the sun. You think about it too, and we will meet up again, same time same place, and discuss. Our reset run awaits. We're going to make it count.
There are three days left until we get a blank page. Tie up any loose ends. Say I love you, I forgive you, and I'm sorry if you have left anything unsaid. The clock is ticking. Look backwards one more time and evaluate. Make your pile of things to let go. It's almost time. Because then we are facing forward and moving on.

Yes, I stole the title of her blog post, but I just loved it! One of my favorite quotes (and the one I have taped down on my desk) is:

"When our starting point is a place of gratitude, we have already won before we begin."

This is my resolution for 2012: say one thing I am grateful for every day of the year (even if they repeat!)

Happy New Year, ya'll!