Another 5K

I have been training pretty well with the running this week. I set my goal for myself to run the race in 26:30 or less. I have been consistently doing 26:30 this week on the treadmill.....but that doesn't factor in inclines, weather, accuracy.
So I ran the race this morning with my sister. She also set her goal to be in the 26's and this was her first race in a long time.

So I was really happy with my time today of.......23:50. I really exceeded my goal and was super shocked. I forgot to set my watch so I was uncertain of the time the whole race. They also had no mile markers so I wasn't even sure of how far I had gone. This landed me a 1st Place in my age group and a 6th place overall. So it was definitely a Personal Best. Yay. I am pretty proud of myself today. I even got a medal......

I have another race next weekend. I don't really know what my goal should be. I am thinking it may be a fluke for this week's time...so I don't want to shoot for a much lower time because I might disappoint myself. So I guess I will try for around the same time and see what happens.

Ashley met her goal also and ran a 26:03 and got 2nd for her age group. She plans on running next weekend too.

So here are my stats to date:

Race 1- 5k-  28:41 (Nov. 20)
Race 2- 5k-  27:41 (Dec. 3)
Race 3- 5k-  23:50 (Dec. 10)

One More Time...

If I catch one more stinkin cold this season.....I might just roll over and die. I am so sick of runny noses and coughs that I could scream. I swear I get one kids nose all dried up and the next one gets it.  It always ends with me.....Boo. I swear preschool is the germiest place on earth and if there is a germ in there my kids will pick it up and bring it home.

Hopefully their immune systems get strong so this will be  a short lived process. God forbid if we get the stomach bug....I might just never send them to school again.

Sorry for the rant.....

Any tips or remedies for the colds? They take a daily multi-vitamin and probiotics daily.

Thankful

A Little late....but we had a fabulous Thanksgiving with family in Ohio. Kids behaved perfect on the plane ride and we made it with no delays or issues....Amen!!!

It was great to see everyone and the kids had the best time. They were so disappointed to leave.

 Danner showing off her turkey dress.

 The best attempt at all three.....

 This guy was really glad to see us.....haha

 The kids had the most fun playing with their older cousins.

 And wrestling....they slept good that night.

 Sadie the dog sleeping with Mickey toy.

 Family

 More family

 "Uncle" -Danner and Sawyer gave up on calling him Uncle Joe and just stuck to UNCLE. They had fun with him playing with boxes.

 sweet Porter

Grammy and Papa and the kids.

5K #2

Saturday was my second 5k. My first I ran before Thanksgiving at a time of 28:41 with no training.
So my goal for this race was to beat that time. I have been training for almost 2 weeks now so I felt confident that I could beat that time. And I did. I ran the second race in 27:41. So I was happy that I did better. It was a blistering 34 degrees and I thought I would die of freezing but I survived. My 3rd race is Saturday. I am hoping for a better time and warmer temps.

So here is a recap of the races:
1st- November 20th- 28:41/  7th place in age group
2nd- December 3rd-27:41/ 4th place in age group

Santa Slut..

My son....Porter. He is a full force Santa Slut. I took him to the mall yesterday to kill a few minutes before time to pick up the twins from school. We walked past Santa's station and no one was in line. I didn't want to unpack him from the stroller and let him over to see the big guy yet. I wanted to wait until I had all 3 so I could pay the small fortune for the picture at one time. Anyway.....I told Porter to wave to Santa. He waved the biggest, cutest pageant style wave. And Santa started heading over to talk to him (there was no one in line) so I caved and let Porter out of the stroller. He hopped out and took off sprint-style to Santa. He gave him the biggest hug EVER and went and sat on his lap. He smiled and cuddled and fondled the beard (Porter-not Santa). He was in love with the jolly old dude. It was so cute and priceless. I did NOT get a picture of course. He told Santa he wanted t-rex for Christmas and mumbled some other things that I didn't catch and sat on his lap for like 5 minutes before I had to drag him off. Luckily Santa had candy and that helped steer him away.

We waved bye and went on our merry little way. We did have to pass Santa again on the way out. That, my friends, was a nightmare. He waved and cried for Santa to help him and come save him from his evil mother. I tried to remind him that we had already seen Santa and maybe we could come back another day. But my little Santa Slut had a major meltdown and had to be drug out of the mall into the car......

He is in love with the guy. I have never seen a small kid happier to see anyone in his life. The twins were total opposite last year ....so this came as a surprise to me. I thought he would cry and kick and scream at the sight of the guy, but nope. Pretty sure Porter has his bags packed and ready to move to the North Pole with Santa.

My new obsession

Pinterest. That's right. I love it. I have brushed it aside for a while now when I get invites or hear people talking about it, but no more folks. I am OBSESSED.

My favorite is looking thru recipes....in fact I am trying out a few this week.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, you need to go check it out. Loads of fun, hours of entertain....

Click HERE to check it out for yourself.

I added my Pinterest button on the side bar. Follow me there.

Best Sweet Potato Casserole EVER

I wanted to write this recipe on here so I can find it in a few days when we are in Ohio. I plan on making this for Thanksgiving...yum. My grandmother always makes it and it is quite possibly the best side dish on the table.....so here ya go.

Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes (you can use canned)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1//2 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter (melted)

-Mix all above ingredients until well blended. Pour into buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with topping (see below). Bake 350 for 30 minutes.

Topping
1/2 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup self rising flour
1 cup chopped pecans

-Melt butter and stir in brown sugar. Add flour, then pecans. Mix all ingredients together until crumbly for sprinkling on sweet potatoes.

Yummy......your welcome!!! :)

Turkey.

Danner and Sawyer had their "Thanksgiving Feast" at school yesterday. It was so cute. They wore little pilgrim hats......

 And Pilgrimettes??? haha

 And ate some food. Nothing says Thanksgiving like some yummy pumpkin pudding and chicken nuggets, right??

 I love how much fun they are having at school. It is so cute to see them interact with other kids and adults.

 I made these super cute turkey cookies out of oreos and peanut butter cups. 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We are catching a flight to Ohio tomorrow. Pray for me people!!! No seriously....3 kids....2 adults....bad weather......ugh. Did I mention I hate flying......

Amazing Race

Friday, (while the kids were in school) I ventured to the mall to return something. I happen to run across this poster that said there was an open casting call for Amazing Race the next day. I was super excited because I love Amazing Race and I am always telling Jesse that we should try out for it. So I ran to my car and called Jesse to see if he would go with me. He laughed and said he would, but i opted to take my sister instead. I figure if by some small miracle we got chosen to go someone would have to work to pay bills (him) and stay with the kids (so they don't think we abandoned them).

Anyway, Ashley and I showed up Saturday morning for the casting call. Some people had camped out all night. We got there at 10 (the time it opened) and were out of there by 2. So it took 4 hours of sitting on the floor waiting around. We filmed a 1 minute video and went home. I am about 200% sure we won't be picked but we had fun and it was worth a shot.

I honestly like the show Survivor better but I can't live in the woods, pee in the ground, and not shower for 40 days....so Amazing Race it was.

Running

Today I decided to run in my first 5K. Well, technically not my first. I used to run 5k's ALOT when I was in high school. I was quite the competitor back then. So I guess this was my fist 5K in many years. It was a last minute decision....like yesterday......I made up my mind to do it.

Last week I started going back to the gym. I haven't been in a while...mainly because Porter didn't love it. He would cry in the gym nursery...which made me feel awful. But last week we tried again. And he did great. So Monday we went while the kids were in school. I ran a mile on the treadmill. Just one....because I didn't want to leave Porter for too long. Wednesday we went back and I ran 2 miles on the treadmill. And Friday I ran 3 miles. So I must be ready for 3.1 right?? So I realize I need more training before just jumping back into road races, but I figure I should run this one just to have a baseline time. I wasn't trying to compete with the other racers. But when I stepped up to the starting line I had that competitive urge back. I wanted to win.....I knew it wouldn't happen. I am no shape to compete against serious runners. But I plan to compete with myself for now.  ( and the winning runner had like a 20 something time)

So I headed out there today, with my mom in tow....because it was football day and Jesse couldn't come. MEN!! I didn't want to go by myself just in case I died in the middle of the race. My goal was to do it in less than 30 minutes. Which I did.....barely!

28:41 was my time for my first run....Seaside Shuffle at Wrightsville Beach. It was a nice flat easy course. This week I plan on hitting the gym again...and then next week. I have picked out my next 5K for the first weekend in December. My goal is to beat my first time. I am pretty confident with more training I will do that.


So I am back into the running thing. I told Jesse this will be my weekend hobby. Wish me luck