Right Now: December Edition

I've been a slacker lately on my blog. December is such a busy month for us! Between preschool and Playgroup Christmas parties, celebrating Ayden and Rylee's birthday, and Christmas, there's been so much to do! So I thought I better sit down and write a (not so quick) post.

Reading: Ayden got Pete The Cat for his birthday, and it has quickly become a favorite. We are also still reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas on a frequent basis. The kids can almost recite it by memory now, and correct us if we miss a word or say something wrong. It's quite humorous actually.

Watching: Hallmark Christmas movies!

Listening: Christmas music, of course. Favorites around here are "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (of course), "Away in a Manger," "Jingle Bells," "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

Drinking: Water, but not near enough lately, and Minute Maid Light Lemonade.

Eating: I just finished a bowl of ice cream. Chocolate Brownie Thunder. Mmmmmmmm.

Wearing: My flannel softball pj pants that Tony made for me several Christmases ago. Seriously, he actually sewed them himself! With his mom's help. I'm also wearing a very worn out t-shirt that a friend brought back for me from Alaska many years ago, and a long sleeve softball shirt over that because our downstairs doesn't get any heat and I am freezing!

Loving: The kids' excitement for checking our advent calendar and finding our Elf on the Shelf, Macaroni Cheese, everyday. Ayden is especially excited about it and can hardly contain himself until he sees what the Elf may have left for him each morning. Sometimes it's just a note, and other times it might be a little treat or gift.

Anticipating: Tomorrow we are taking the kids to an overnight trip to the coast for their birthday. The hotel we are staying at has not only an indoor pool, but also a splash pad and indoor playground. Every room has an ocean view. We are looking forward to them being able to watch their first sunset at the coast. They've been noticing the different colors in the sky at sunrise, and occasionally at sunset if we are out and about, and commenting about how pretty it is. This will be our first time at the coast when the sunset will be before their bedtime!

I'm also anticipating Christmas morning. They will be so excited that Santa came. Although, I also fully anticipate them being a little pissed off at not actually SEEING Santa when he stops by our house.

Hoping: For very few meltdowns over the next few days. Ayden's been having a bit of a rough time lately, so we will see...

Following: I suppose I'm a little boring. Other than blogs (and not very well), I'm not really following anything right now.

Wondering: If I will ever finish painting our house. I haven't picked up a paintbrush since we did all the painting when we first moved in. I am unmotivated to get it all set up while the kids are in preschool, only to have just a bit more than an hour to actually paint before I have to pack it all up again before I leave to pick up the kids. Someone asked me awhile back if I could just leave it and paint when the kids are home. Uhhh, that is a big NO. Ayden and Rylee have to help with EV.ER.Y.THING. They always want to be right there, no matter what it is we are doing. I have no doubt that Rylee would insist that she is a really good painter.

Trying: To get Ayden to actually pee IN the toilet! Oh. Em. Gee. So much pee. And I am so tired of cleaning it up. He waits until he really has to go, so of course he then pees at full blast and is hitting the back of the toilet, through the seat, which then floods the floor. I'm not talking little drips here people. I'm talking about having to use half a roll of paper towels to soak it all up. This happens at least once a day, but more like 2-3. Tony says that Ayden just needs to grow a little taller. I completely don't understand this logic, since this has only been a problem for the last month or so. He didn't get any shorter than when he was able to hit IN the toilet before! Ugh. I'm so tired of cleaning up pee, and having our bathrooms smell like pee all the time.

Worrying: About Ayden's meltdowns. He has such big emotions and is so sensitive. We have no idea what has brought this recent bout of meltdowns/full on fits, but it's breaking my heart when he is so, so sad. It's also completely frustrating when it's about not wanting to share, or over something he thinks he needs to have. We took the kids shopping for each other last weekend. We went to Toys R' Us; Tony took Ayden and I took Rylee. Of course their little minds were blown over all the toys, and they just wanted to buy something for themselves, but we are trying (unsuccessfully) to teach them that Christmas isn't all about GETTING, but also giving. At one point during this little adventure, Ayden actually yelled at Tony, "you're ruining everything!" because Tony wouldn't let him pick out something for himself. This wasn't one of his major meltdowns that has us concerned (we actually thought it was a little humorous), but it is another incident of selfishness. I know some of this is normal at this age. I KNOW that. Rylee has her own 4 year old selfishness about her, too, but Ayden seems to take it to a whole other level.

Planning: To sign up for another 5K after the holidays. I have not had any time the last few weeks to get out and run, because I needed to take advantage of those few hours the kids were in school to get things done for their birthday party and Christmas. I plan to get right back to the running after the New Year though, and need sign up for another race to keep me on task with something to work toward.

Contemplating: Going to bed. Actually, I'm not really contemplating. It's exactly what I'm going to do as soon as I hit "publish" for this post. Good night!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

We have a new obsession in our house. Ayden has completely fallen in love with the story of the Grinch! I tried to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas to the kids last year, but they never really got into it. I think it was too long for them then. This year is a completely different story! They both sit and actually listen to the entire book. Ayden and Rylee both enjoy it, but Ayden is completely enthralled!

When it's his turn to pick a bedtime story, he picks the Grinch. He takes the book to bed with him every night, and he "reads" it during nap/quiet time. He falls asleep with it next to his pillow every day.

I've introduced the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie to them, the cartoon version. We have watched it on repeat. It might be my best find from the last consignment sale. It was one of my favorite Christmas specials on tv when I was a kid, so it's so fun that they are enjoying it too! When we were flipping through Netflix the other day, they saw the newer version with Jim Carrey and insisted on watching it. They even enjoyed that, despite it not being a cartoon!

Ironically, Ayden's Christmas stocking is the Grinch! My Aunt D made all of our stockings. Tony (his has reindeer) and mine (has a teddy bear) were made over 20 years ago. She made Ayden and Rylee's (her's is Hello Kitty) when they were born, so she would have had no idea how big the Grinch would become, but it's perfect. I bet we heard "my stocking is the Grinch one" a good 50 times (at least) over the weekend. It's so fun how excited he is about it!

There is nothing that compares to how amazing Christmas is through the eyes of your children. I have always loved Christmas. It by far has always been my favorite holiday, but I had no idea how much better it would get! Christmas really is magical with kids.

Microblog Monday: 5k in the Books

*Whelp, I tried to get this in for Microblog Monday, but I missed Monday by 15 minutes! haha. So it reads Tuesday at the top instead. Oh well. Here it is anyway.



I did it! I completed my first race in over 3 years. Despite not getting enough training runs in the 3 weeks before the race, I feel like I killed it and I am so proud of myself! Okay, when I say killed it, that's all relative of course. I'm not fast by any means, and I walked close to half, but when you take in my activity level (or lack of) over the last 3+ years... I killed it.

This was a small town event, about 45 minutes from our house. I might have been the only person there that was participating by myself. I didn't care though. Going into it, I was nervous about bringing up the rear of the race. I quickly discovered that wouldn't be a problem. Not that it would be a bad thing. Someone has to finish last. I just didn't want it to be me.

I used to run with timed intervals, such as running 5 minutes and walking 30 seconds. Not this time, and most likely not any time soon. Now I just set landmarks as my goal, talking to myself along the way.

Okay, I'm going to run to that light pole.

Now walk to that leaf pile.

Run to that stop sign and then walk to that car.

Run to that bump in the road.

Oh, I can go farther. Let's go to that van instead.

Walk to that tree.

And so on, and so on.

My final stats (according to my Fitbit) are:

3.22 miles, with a complete time of 43:47, at a 13'35" pace. I finished under a 14 minute pace! That was HUGE for me! All my training runs jog/walks leading up to this race, I was somewhere between a 15-16'00 minute pace, so this was a big improvement.

My fitness level is not even close to where it used to be. I mean, seriously, Not. Even. Close. I'm embarrassed of how I look and feel in my own body. But I am PROUD of myself for finally doing something to change this. Now I just need to keep it up. Time to find another race to sign up for!

It was 39℉ and drizzly the entire race, so the hot chocolate afterward was nice!

I did it!

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