Signing Up

I have found a half marathon on a Saturday in November in Galveston and a marathon on a Saturday in January in Kingwood. Anyone interested in signing up with me? I'm also thinking about doing a training program this time around with Woodlands Fit that starts in a few weeks. If you live in this area, let me know if you want more details!

Lucky

The Lucky streak continues.

Matt and I went to see a musical production of Jane Eyre a few weeks ago with some friends. During intermission, there was an opportunity to put your name in a drawing to win 4 tickets to the next musical production, Rent. As they got ready to read out the name of the winner, I turned to Matt and was about to say, "Wouldn't it be funny if they called out your name?" but I never got the chance before they announced Matt as the winner of the tickets. They just arrived in the mail, and Matt is going to sell them very cheaply to a co-worker.
The other day, Matt won 4 golf passes from a radio station to a course close by. With his long drive to work each way, he sometimes uses the time to call into radio stations and try to win fun prizes. He had his name in a drawing of 5 people the other Friday for a weekend getaway package, but that one didn't pan out. It would have been perfect timing for our anniversary.

Matt and I celebrated 4 years of marriage earlier this month. The longer I'm married to him, the more I realize just how lucky I am to be his wife. I'm lucky that he is such a positive and upbeat person. It really brings a wonderful atmosphere to our home; he is such a pleasant person to be around. It takes a lot to make Matt upset because he just chooses not to let things get to him.

I'm lucky that he is so patient both with me and the kids. When my patience has long worn thin when dealing with the kids, he still has an incredible amount of love and patience to give.

I'm lucky that he is such a hard worker. He works really hard at his job and around the house. He is more than willing to jump in and help with any household chore I ask him to do (even mop the kitchen floor on hands and knees which he thinks is silly).

I'm lucky that he has such "worldly" knowledge when it comes to fixing things around the house, fixing cars, building things, buying a house, etc.

I'm lucky to be married to someone that has so many similar interests as I do. We love playing sports together and playing games together. We are both really competitive so we have had to learn how to lose graciously over the years.

I'm lucky to be married to someone who supports me in my other interests that we don't share namely music. He is willing to go see musicals with me even though it wouldn't be his preferred activity for the evening.

I'm lucky he is such a people-person. It has helped us out in more than one occasion. He loves talking and getting to know new friends.

I'm lucky that Matt honors his priesthood and is so service-oriented. He would do anything to help people, and he does it because he loves it so much! The downside to this though is that he has a tendency to overbook himself sometimes and can't keep all the promises he's made to people! It leaves me husband-less at times too, but I'm glad that he is so charitable. (We like to joke that it makes up for my lack of charity!) We balance each other well, and I'm so grateful for all he does for our family.

I'm so lucky to be married to my best friend! I love having him by my side in all that we do. He makes me want to be a better person.

To celebrate our anniversary, we kept it really simple this year as we'll probably do something bigger for our 5th year. Matt came home early from work with a dozen roses, and we had a steak dinner at home followed by some tennis.

We Love You Daddy!

Love, Caleb and Carter

Caleb and Carter woke up early with me to help me make some muffins for Matt (early as in 6:15 am as we have early church). Caleb made the card at preschool using his thumb print. Matt is a terrific father and his boys love him so much!

Life Goes On

I've heard friends from church talk about blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, and peach picking in this area, but we've never gone and taken advantage of this fun and yummy opportunity. This past weekend we decided to brave the heat with two kids in tow and go blueberry picking. We had so much fun! We were all sweaty and tired by the end, but Caleb was a great helper. He would add a blueberry into the bucket, while simultaneously pulling two out of the bucket to eat. He ate a ton of blueberries and really enjoyed the experience. I just barely had fresh blueberries for the first time in my life a few months ago and quite liked them. I've enjoyed experimenting with some new blueberry recipes. The only one I've tried so far is a blueberry cobbler, but I was surprised with how yummy it was. I've also enjoyed fresh blueberries in my fruit smoothies in the morning. I can't wait to try blueberry pancakes (never had them), blueberry coffee cake, and homemade blueberry muffins. We're definitely going to be better about taking advantage of more fresh fruit picking in the future.



I've also started up running again. Since we don't have a double stroller yet (no point since Carter can't sit up), I've had to start running at night. I enjoy running best on an empty stomach, so it's definitely not what I'm used to. If I'm feeling overly full from dinner then I'll end up rollerblading instead. My sister has a double running stroller, so when she's available to run, I'm able to run in the mornings with her (we have our two toddler boys in the double which is 60 pounds of boys plus stroller and Carter in my walking stroller). I started running again 5 weeks after Carter was born, and it was not fun starting up again from scratch. I undertstand now why people say they hate running. It definitely felt like a chore. I've run 3 miles consistently every other day, but I have struggled to push myself to run further or faster. I finally pushed through and ran 4 miles this last Saturday, and tonight I did a two-mile "sprint" as it was getting dark and was able to average 8.5 minute miles. It felt great, so hopefully I'm at a break-through point and will be able to start adding on the miles and get to the point where I enjoy going out and running again. Even with starting up running again, I have not been able to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have just under 10 pounds that refuse to come off. I hope it doesn't continue to get harder with each child.


Since January, my sister, a friend, and I have been doing a rotating preschool with our boys. It's my month to teach, so I've been busy with that and learning the delicate balance of teaching 3 toddlers with a 2 1/2-month-old baby. The theme I chose for the month is nursery rhymes/fairy tales, and we've been having a blast reading fun books and doing fun crafts.



And finally, here's my chunky monkey sporting his Alaska onesie that my parents bought him on their vacation to Alaska. He's growing bigger before our eyes (maybe fatter is the more appropriate word), but we love having him in our family. As of tonight, he weighed 16.5 lbs. and he's 2 1/2 months old. He sleeps better at night than my almost 3-year old. Carter goes to bed at 8 pm and is only waking up once a night now usually around 5:30 am. This is definitely manageable, and I'm a better and happier mom when I have some consecutive hours of sleep! Because he's such a good baby, I'm worried that he's going to spoil it for the rest of my babies. My expectations are high now! We're able to get out and do fun things during the day for Caleb now too like we used to before Carter came along. We'll go rollerblading as a family once or twice a week...Matt pushing Caleb and me pushing Carter. We're loving being a family of 4!

The Chunky Monkey

Carter had his 2 month check-up today. He weighed 15 lbs. (98th percentile) and was 24" long (85th percentile). The nurse didn't write down his head count for some reason, but that was in the 80s percentile as well. He is definitely one chunky baby! Caleb weighed 13 lbs. 7 oz. at this age.

Carter has just started babbling and smiling. He responds to my voice so well and always rewards me with smiles and cooing. He is only waking up once a night now, usually somewhere between 4 am and 5:30 am. I'm loving that!

Here are some smiles I caught on camera.

Thunder thighs, double chin, extra rolls where there aren't creases...I love it! He's one healthy baby!