Quick Recap

Ashley's birthday party was a success. I took her and some of her friends to see the Ramona and Beezus movie on Saturday. Great movie for girls (Ray was utterly bored with it) but warning, it has some sad parts in it. Audrey was sobbing at one point over something that happened and Ray had to take her out of the theater for a few minutes.

Her present from us and the Grandparents was a new bed. I found one I liked on Ikea's website, and it was even available to order online (or so I thought). The closest 2 stores to us are in Charlotte, NC or Woodbridge, VA (both 3 hours or more away). So I went to order it Sunday and I could add the bed to my cart, but then when I went to pay, it said the bed was not available online. Nor was it available at either close store.

Next option - a discount furniture warehouse place nearby. I found the perfect bed, and the price was $399, but it said "any reasonable offers accepted". So I offered $299 and got it. Ray was pissed as he of course thought I could have talked them down to $250, but I am just not good at that stuff. New bedding from ebay has been ordered, and now she just needs to pick a room color, and her new-ish room makeover for her birthday will be complete.

I did get a run in Saturday morning with Ann again on the Tobacco Trail. We only did 6 this time, and it went by fast. It made me realize that training for the Austin Marathon in December and January by myself is going to SUCK A$$. I might have to pay people to run with me.

The Heat is Going to Kill Me

Last night I met up with my friend Wendy to run 4 miles at a new trail (new to me anyway) in a neighboring town.

When we started at 8:00pm, it was 95 degrees outside. When we finished about 45 minutes later, it was still 91 degrees out.

I was soaked. We made it 2 miles (and up 2 hills) before I needed a quick walk break. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath.

I am not normally a wimp in the heat, but running in it sucks. Twice on the trail we had runners fly by us. So I guess it is just me who sucks running in the heat.

Yesterday

Ashley turned 7 yesterday. I know! Seven!

And I didn't write my usual post dedicated to her and this past year. I just couldn't bring myself to it. Every time I started writing, I started crying. I know every parent says this, but I really can't believe she's seven.

See? I am crying just typing that little bit. So Happy Birthday Ashley. From your pathetically emotionally Mother. I am pretty sure on your wedding day you may as well set up an entire barricade of tissues around me. That or sedate me, either one.

So for her birthday, we let her pick her dinner place. I was thinking she would pick Red Robin which is the only restaurant Ray truly hates. Worst case I thought she would pick McDonalds.

She chose The Pit, you know, the downtown Raleigh restaurant that has been featured on the Food Network a few times. Yea, that place.

She loves their mac and cheese. And you can only imagine how good the mac and cheese is there. To.die.for. Yummy stuff.

Our friend's daughter's birthday is today, so they joined us for dinner too. We successfully stuffed ourselves, and then ordered dessert.

This was after I took Ashley cupcakes at school for lunch. And the celebration continues this week. Ray is taking Ashley golfing after school this afternoon. Tomorrow night we have a pool party to attend (not one for Ashley, but playing in the pool with free food and drinks will be fun). And then Saturday is her birthday party. We are taking her and 8 of her friends to see the new Ramona and Beezus movie and then back to our house for dinner and cake.

The other good news is that Ray doesn't have to work his open houses this weekend, so Sunday we actually get to go to the pool as a family, instead of me taking the girls by myself. And considering we are on target to hit a record number of days in a row in the 90s (seriously, last night driving home from the restaurant at 8:00pm is was still 91 degrees out...), the pool is a must on the weekends here.

The Pool

I am going to say my streak is still alive considering I carried Audrey up the steps to the top of the slide at our pool once on Sunday. Which that is an accomplishment as I seem to have caught some sort of stomach thing where my stomach is pretty pissed at me. As soon as Ray got home from working his open house last night, I raised my white flag and went to bed.

So the pool. Audrey loves the pool now. She wears her life vest and will go down the slide, jump in the deep end, go off the diving board, have fun in the lazy river (yes, our pools in our neighborhood ROCK).

But yesterday she decided to fight her sister over a sea noodle Ashley picked up out of lost and found, despite the fact that she didn't need it to keep her afloat. So at break time, she threw a fit which included her hitting me. So we left (and lucky for Ashley, her friend was at the pool and her family said she could stay with them so I could take Satan child home). I carried a screaming Audrey out of the pool and to the van. At that point, she realized what was up, and completely calmed down and said, "I am ready to go back to the pool now. I calmed down."

I told her hitting and having a temper-tantrum (my friend who has a 4.5 year old right now is going through the same temper-tantrum stuff with her son)(I still say and this is proof that the halves are worse than the wholes) was not acceptable and we could go back to the pool another day. Which of course this brought on more crying until we got home. To which she decided as we got out of the van that she was going to walk back to the pool (about 3/4 of a mile, or more, I forget). I go inside and watch her through the front door. She stands there, acts like she is going to walk down the steps, then she peers back into the front door. And then comes in, saying sorry.

She was tired and hungry. We both got changed, and she hung out with me on the couch. She may be small, but no one is ever going to mess with this kid. She can throw one heck of a tantrum....

I am not flexible

Last night I did the P90X Yoga DVD. Well, okay, I didn't do the whole hour and 32 minutes of it. I had children that decided 8:00pm was not a good bedtime and continually called me to their rooms. I think I did about 45 minutes.

And I am sore today in my upper body - my back, weird spots on my arms, core. And really, I am so not flexible. I know that and accept that. I will never be able to bend over and touch my toes.

I was going to get up and do the Ab Ripper DVD prior to work, but I slept all night on about a 2 inch patch of my bed due to the fact the sleepless children decided that the only way they were going to sleep last night was in our bed. So it was me, Ray, Ashley, Audrey, and Tootles. Audrey is the type of sleeper that you scoot over to get away from her, she just scoots closer. So I continually lost prime bed real estate all night long. And really, I should of just gotten up and gone in the guest room, but that would have been too much effort. And then about 5:59am (right before my alarm was going to go off), Tootles fell off the bed. She was fine, but it was funny. Poor dog.

So tonight, ab DVD to keep my 30 day challenge to myself alive. Then running in the morning with my blogging friend Ann at the Tobacco Trail tomorrow morning. She has 12 on her schedule, I am going to try and hang on for 8 miles. I haven't done anything over 5.5 miles in over a month. I really need to build back my endurance for the long runs. I am about a month out from starting my half marathon training for OBX.

Let's Go Hokies!!

Day 2 and 3 and a winner

Last night at her swim meet, Ashley finally won a heat! She took first in her heat for backstroke. She was ecstatic. And she came very, very close in breast stroke as well (and she is in a much higher heat in breast stroke).

But the swim meet went long, so by the time we got home and cleaned up and the kids in bed, it was almost 10:00pm. I did do the Ab Ripper video, and yes, my abs are sore today. Not as sore as I thought they would be, but sore. And then this morning I ran 5 miles in the heat and humidity. I will not share my time because it was really pathetic, but I did it.

So three days down in the 30 day challenge...

Day One

I ran last night with my friend Wendy. And yes, I am on the East Coast and the humidity stinks, but going out at 8:00pm helped some. That and we were sprinkled on a few times.

4.25 miles done.

No running today, Ashley has a swim meet tonight. I plan on doing the P90X Ab Ripper video and some leg exercises when I get home from that.

New Challenge

Now that school is back and we are back to a somewhat normal schedule and I have to get back into half marathon training again in the middle of August, I have decided to give myself a new challenge for the next 30 days - do freaking something exercise worthy everyday. And it is starting today. Luckily, I have the P90X Ab Ripper and Yoga DVDs, so on days I don't run or go to the gym, I plan on doing those. I will keep track of this here, just to make myself accountable.

I haven't run in a week. Last week was vacation and running around and then this weekend I was hit with a head cold. So I took the wimpy way out and didn't run. But I have conned my friend Wendy to run with me tonight.

We finally had a weekend where we had nothing planned. Well, Ashley did have a friend spend the night Friday night and she had swim team practice on Saturday, but that was it. I pretended I was Betty Crocker and actually made dinner ahead for tonight, made a crapton of pancakes and froze them, and did grocery shopping. I also made Ashley's birthday party invitations and got those out the door (made them with the computer and scrapbooking supplies I had on hand - free invitations rock)(I am taking Ashley and 9 of her friends to see the new Ramona and Beezus movie for her birthday). We hit the pool yesterday with friends and just relaxed. I think it was the weekend we all needed. Especially me. I had a not so good week last week for multiple reasons, so this weekend helped some.

Ashley had a great first day of school and loves her teacher. She has two weeks of swim team left and then she will have a few weeks break from activities until cheerleading starts mid August. Then dance starts in September for both girls, and Ray just signed Audrey up for soccer this morning. Which I think starts next month too. Add in Girl Scouts and piano lessons and Y Princesses, trips for both Ray and I in October and our 35th birthdays (which I am seriously having issues with even though I realize it isn't a big one like 4-0), I think our fall is all booked out. Oh, and a trip to Disney World in September when Ashley is tracked out of school. And a half marathon race in November. GAH! Typing that all out just made my head spin around....

First Day of School

Yesterday, I took Ashley and a few of her friends to get their nails "done".
Because today is the first day of school. Meet my new second-grader who didn't even want me to walk her to the bus stop (although I did).

Almost back to our regular schedule

I took most of this week off since Ashley's goes back to school on Friday and I wanted her to have a little bit of a break from 3 weeks of camps before she started school. And no, I have no idea why they are starting on Friday. So back to school for her on Friday and back to work for me on Friday.

We had a really great 4th of July holiday. We headed back to the beach where we enjoyed full days on the sand (Monday we were on the beach from 8:00am until 4:00pm). Both of the girls unfortunately complained of headaches and sore throats throughout the weekend and today I decided to take Ashley to the doctor. She just has a sinus infection which I thought was going to be the diagnosis. And no, I have no pictures of the weekend...I forgot my camera. I also forgot Ashley's 4th of July shirt we bought at Walmart for her to wear, so of course I won Mommy of the Year for that mistake.

Tomorrow we have meet the teacher since we were finally assigned a teacher and we are remaining on track 1. Yippee!

Today I took Ashley and a friend to the mall, and Holy Hell, I got a glimpse of what the teenage years are going to look like. Ashley and this particular friend really, really like shopping. Ashley is going to need to get a job to support this habit when she is old enough. Thankfully for both of them, all the stores were having ridiculous sales on summer stuff, so I got Ashley an entire outfit for the first day of school for $10 at Gap Kids. I know, I really scored big time. It's not even a store I normally go in for myself or the kids. Tomorrow I am taking the two of them to get their nails done.

So Friday - back to our regular routine for 9 weeks until Ashley tracks back out in September. We have 2 more weeks of swim team, and then we will have a few weeks of no activities until the fall stuff gears back up.

That and Ashley turns 7 on the 21st of this month. I am so not prepared to be the parent of a 7 year old.

Finally an update

Crazy week. Why does everything happen at once?

I ran Monday night at 9:00pm and it was still 90 degrees out (and no Mom, I did not run alone). It was just a big sweat-fest. And I haven't run since even though the weather is actually cooler these past few days (and by cooler I mean 80). But I plan on running at the beach this weekend, my absolute favorite place to run.

Ashley had a swim meet Tuesday night which was rained out and rescheduled for last night. Both nights I couldn't stay to watch; Tuesday night we had friends from Virginia stopping by on their way back from Florida for the night and last night I saw Eclipse.

OMIGOD I want to see it again it was that good. I am still Team Edward.

Ashley is in her final week of camp and according to the school, we will find out her second grade teacher Monday (she starts school next Friday, July 9th) (and no, I have no idea why the hell they are starting school on a Friday). Audrey is in her new Pre-K classroom and loves it. No transition issues or anything. Her teacher actually taught Ashley as well and commented how different Audrey is then Ashley. As in Audrey is so much more quieter than Ashley was.

Ashley is in a Girl Scouts camp this week, and on the way to drop her off this morning, she was singing one of her camp songs which I now have stuck in my head.

I said a Boom Chicka Boom....

Now hopefully I have passed that onto you.