Thankful

I am thankful for a PR in my 5K race this morning (race report as soon as official results are posted)...

I am thankful for a six year old who is just like me...

I am thankful for a three year old who thinks clothing is optional...

I am thankful for a husband that works hard so that I can go shopping at midnight tonight...

I am thankful for family and food while we celebrate Thanksgiving in Myrtle Beach...

And I am pretty sure I will be thankful for the strawberry pie my sister-in-law is about to make....

Have a Great Thanksgiving everyone!

Backup

For the past few months, my head has been wrapped up in running, birthdays, girls weekends, cheerleading, more running. Oh, and "acting like a 16 year old" (Ray's words, not mine) and counting down the days until New Moon (which was much nicer to watch last night without the screaming, thank you very much!).

There are two really big events, okay three if you count Thanksgiving, but since I am not cooking, I am not really counting it, that round out the end of the year. Yes, Christmas which for the first time in about 10 years I haven't purchased not.one.single.gift yet. Am I starting to stress about this fact? Just slightly. More so on the fact that Ray and I did away with credit cards last year, and in years past I have literally gone online order crazy, and I can't really do that this year. I need to think about the purchases I make, and not buy some mundane thing just because I got that one marketing email that said this would be my kids' favorite gift. Yes, me = sucker. (Those emails and the free shipping! emails always get me....) And I am stressing because I have no idea what to get the kids. They don't know what they want, I don't know what to get them, it is one big guess at this point. I have a few ideas, but really? No clue.

The other big event? We leave for Disney World on December 5th. Yup, our annual Disney trip, thanks to our Disney timeshare we so smartly purchased pre-kids. And no, for those that don't know, we don't have to take Ashley out of school for this - she is in year round and tomorrow is her last day of school this year. She won't go back until January 4th, 2010.

In all other years, I have already made multiple lists and changed my spreadsheet a hundred times by now. This year? I guess I have had just too much going on before this to even remotely think about it. I do have my spreadsheet done with park hours and such, but I haven't even attempted to start stalking the weather websites or checking the Disney sites I often go to.

We are all excited to go - a week in the happiest place on Earth right before Christmas? Should be just what we all need.

Lack of sleep is becoming the norm

Let's start with Thursday night. So on my list of things to do before I die was to see the midnight premiere of a movie. And what an awesome freaking movie to go see at midnight last Thursday night/Friday morning.

New Moon was so freaking good. So good in fact, I am seeing it again tonight. Hopefully tonight I won't have the 50 or so screaming high school girls in the theater with me or the staff at the movie theaters dressed up as vampires. And hopefully I won't have to be in my seat an hour and half early so that I can get a decent seat.

I got about 3 hours of sleep on Thursday night before I had to go to work on Friday. I am not complaining, it was my choice.

Then Friday night I was booked for a massage. My friend gave me a gift card for my birthday to see her massage therapist. He was a former personal trainer and an athlete, and could work out all my kinks and stuff from the half marathon I ran. He was really, really good and even checked out my left knee that still hurts two weeks after the race before even starting my massage. I will say this though, it was in no way a relaxing massage. At points, he had his elbow and full body weight on my muscles trying to work them out. I got home around 9:30pm and crashed that night.

Saturday morning was the Raleigh Christmas parade, and then I finally dragged my butt to the Urgent Care after being told by Ray I would have to go stay in a hotel if I didn't go. I have had a pretty decent cough since before the half marathon two weeks ago. In fact, I went to the doctor's office the week before the race and did 5 days of Zithromax, which obviously did nothing. The doctor at the Urgent Care diagnosed me with walking pneumonia and gave me an inhaler, steroids, stronger antibiotics, and some crazy cough medicine with codeine. Good fun.

Saturday night, my friend's two kids spent the night at our house. Her daughter is Ashley's age and a good friend, and her son is Audrey's age and goes to the same preschool. So they are perfect playmates. Everyone did well, but Ashley and her friend were up at 5:30am for good.

Then last night was the Miley Cyrus concert in Greensboro which is about about an hour and a half from Raleigh. I was serious when I said I haven't gotten much sleep in the past few days! The girls loved the concert, but I will say this. Miley needs to embrace the fact that her audience is younger than she wants them to be. I mean, all I saw were elementary aged kids, and some of the moves and outfits were probably a little bit too much for that age group. And Metro Station, the opening act, was AWFUL. I had no idea that was her brother who sang for them, but really, they were horrible.

We were home around 11:15pm last night, and thankfully, Ashley fell asleep on the way home. She was still dragging this morning. I am still dragging and counting down the minutes until lunch when I can run out and get a diet coke. Audrey is on her way to Myrtle Beach with my Mom and Stepdad (she had absolutely no qualms about leaving me for the first time, I even think she was laughing at me, the little stinker) and we will join them on Wednesday after Ashley gets out of school.

I am really looking forward to a few days off...

Friday Pictures

I have a good friend who does photography on the side, and she has taken our family shots a few times. Back in September when Ray was out of town, I attempted to get shots of the three of us, in hopes of getting him a really cool birthday present. Then we swore off birthday presents, and now I just get to order pictures just because. Oh, and some of the family may be getting a few of these as well...

The three of us, and yes, my hair is naturally that black. And no, the girls obviously did not get their hair color from me. Although my Mom keeps telling me that my hair was like that when I was little, but I don't believe her. (Ashley's Grandma Diane bought her those boots, and she would wear them everyday if I let her.)

Oh man, we are in so much trouble with this one...

And I have no words for this one. She completely hammed it up the entire photo shoot, and all the photos were amazing. This picture, I thought, depicts Ashley the best - caring, outgoing, and just plain happy.

If you live in the Raleigh area, check out her site - Patricia Meszler Photography.

The Year

This just might be the year Ashley stops believing in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny.

And I TOTALLY blame Borders and all the other retailers that have the Elf on a Shelf blatantly displayed for all to see.

Last Wednesday, I took Ashley to a book store to buy a new book. She is finally enjoying reading and wanted some more chapter books to read. We were making our way to the front to make our purchases when there it was, a huge display of Elf on s Shelf. I tried to block her view, and I thought I was successful, until one night this week when we were reading books. I brought out a new Christmas book I had hidden away for them and read it to the girls at bedtime. This prompted a discussion about Christmas, and I innocently asked the girls if they were excited to see the Elf again.

At which Ashley responded very matter of factly that I bought the Elf, and he wasn't sent from Santa. She saw them in boxes at the bookstore.

Hmm. Well, okay. So yes, I told her, I bought the Elf, but he moves! All by himself! Every night!

Not sure she bought that.

Let's just hope Audrey believes for a few more years.

More on the Running Front

Last Thursday, I decided to go to a local running store and purchase some real running shoes. I happily threw my $35 shoes from Kohl's away. I got a pair of Brooks after trying on various pairs of shoes at the store.

And then this past Tuesday, I decided it was finally time to actually try the shoes out. You know, like actually exercise, something I hadn't done in over a week. So off to the gym I went in hopes of running on the treadmill for at least three miles.

Yea, that didn't happen. I made it two miles with some moderate to severe pain in my left knee. Not good. The shoes were great, but my knees are failing me.

I decided to turn to the internet to see what the heck was wrong. And shockingly enough, I have runner's knee. I know, so original. I probably did it running down the bridge at the half marathon (remember the pain I had right after that?) and it is probably exasperated by the fact my quad muscles are weaker than they should be. Good times. I am going to try to find a patella band to wear around my knee and attempt to run again this weekend.

And I am on day three of a fabulous head cold, plus I am on WEEK FOUR of a fabulous cough that I am going to assume I will have for the rest of my life at this point. I actually fell asleep last night before Audrey did (which doesn't say much considering the kid stays awake until 9:30/10:00pm on days she has a nap, that is a story for another post). I normally work from home on Wednesdays and I would have loved to stay at home in my pj's, instead I am teaching a class at work today. Even more fun.

Do you think they look like sisters?

Welcome to the world of competition cheerleading

Saturday was a long day. Really, really long. And the end to a cheerleading season that I wasn't sure was ever going to end. Ashley's team is in the middle right, to the right of the squad in red and white. And no, Ashley's team isn't that big, it is actually three squads from our town, one for each age group. Ashley is a mini-mite, the youngest.

We had to be there at 8am, and the competition was supposed to start at 10am. It was more like 10:15/10:20 before they got around to starting. In fact, they didn't finish with the first division, Ashley's division, until after 11:00am. It was after 2:00pm when we finally got to see the award ceremony and left to grab lunch because none of us had eaten.

I will say this - it was pretty cool to be in that gymnasium with all the cheerleaders cheering and all the parents/spectators getting into it. I was actually nervous right before Ashley's squad went on. Those girls worked so freaking hard all season, and out of the four teams in her division, I thought they would get third. One squad really stood out (their lifts had movement for goodness sakes), so I knew they would probably take first.

This is Ashley at the top, the lack of spotting behind her made me just a little nervous....

And when the awards were announced? They took fourth. Last place. And yes, Ashley knew they were last. Everyone got a trophy and a pin. The other two squads from our town? Took first place. The oldest girls in fact took first overall. That kind of made our last place sting even more.

I saw a neighbor that evening that actually coached last year, and she was telling me that you can get deductions on the score sheets for crazy things. I know in Ashley's routine, one of the girls lost her shoe, and my neighbor said that it would have been a deduction in points for that. So the girls probably got some deductions for things that were semi out of their control. Am I being a slightly-crazy cheer Mom? Maybe. I just felt so bad for the girls and the coaches, but yes, I know, someone has to come in last.

And yes, despite the long day, Ashley wants to do this again next year. She really enjoys it, and really enjoyed the fact that one of her friends did it with her this year. Hopefully she will do it again next year too!