15k = 9.3 miles

Here I am crossing the finish line. I was so glad to see Pete and my girls there cheering me on. It was a great run. I am excited to be running long distance again. But I think I may wait until all my girls are in school before I do another long race. I want to be able to run outside more often but I just don't get many opportunities for it these days. I trained on the treadmill and only had a chance to do two short runs outside. I love to run outside, but my body has become accustomed to running on a soft surface. My knees definitely prefer my cushiony treadmill. I also would like to have a running partner. It is so funny how every time I move away, a friend of mine that did not run or work out while I was living there starts running and working out! I swear it has happened every place I have lived!

.                  

WHY???

A few situations came up last week that just made me want to shout out WHY!

Situation #1

I am walking into the store with my three girls trying to get them situated in the shopping cart. And an older man walks right up to us with wide eyes and says, "What I want to know is if they are all yours?!"

SERIOUSLY!! HOW RUDE IS THAT!?!? WHY WOULD ANYONE SAY THAT TO ME IN FRONT OF MY GIRLS?

Situation #2

Katie has finally started taking a 2 hour nap!!! She use to sleep an hour or just a bit over an hour. Ever since Tori learned to nap, she has been my good 2 hour napper.....until last week!

WHY DID TORI STOP TAKING A NAP THE SAME WEEK KATIE STARTED SLEEPING TWO HOURS? COULDN'T I HAVE GOTTEN ONE WEEK OF THEM BOTH NAPPING TWO HOURS?!

Situation #3

Pimples AND gray hair...........enough said.

WHY I AM STILL DEALING WITH MONTHLY BREAKOUTS WHEN I HAVE HAIRS THAT ARE TURNING GRAY? THIS IS JUST NOT FAIR!

Situation #4

Sibling rivalry. At home, I am a mother, wife, maid, chef, dog walker, AND referee!!!

WHY DO MY GIRLS FIGHT SO MUCH??? IF THEY ARE FIGHTING ALL THE TIME NOW, WHAT IS IT GOING TO BE LIKE WHEN THEY ARE TEENAGERS??

 

 

On top of all these situations, Pete was out of town from Monday until Friday. So I did ask myself WHY? a few times last week. But in the end, it was a good week all because of Alli's prayer. It came at just the right time. It was on Thursday night. This was a significant night because it was the last night of Pete's eight weeks of traveling. (Thank goodness my mom was here for half of it!) So as Alli was praying, she was thanking God and said, "Thank you Lord for all the time I get to spend with my mommy and some of the time with my daddy." This is EXACTLY what I needed to hear. It was one of those little reminders that I am doing EXACTLY what I should be doing. Staying home with three young girls is not easy, especially when I am still getting use to life in NJ. But hearing Alli's prayer was all I needed to make my week that was full of frustrations turn into a good week. I just love these moments! And, in that my moment, I felt so blessed that I just praised God for my job as a SAHM. And the fact that I am the one that Alli gets to spend most of her time with. After this summer, she will be in school full time and yeah, it will be easier, but 7 hours of our daily time together will be taken away. Who knew that I would be praising God for half day kinder? And besides, that rude man at the store, well he probably just thought I looked too young to have three kids! LOL!! Oh- and it is back to blonde highlights for me! It is already taken care. I took a much needed trip to the salon. It was great! And too funny that when I got home from sitting and being pampered for a couple of hours, my butt hurt!! That's right! My butt is not use to being sat on for more than like 10 minutes at a time!

Celebrating The Man I Love

Today is Pete's 35th birthday!!! And I am so glad that he is actually home so we can celebrate with him. Throughout our almost 10 years of marriage, I think we have spent at least half of our birthdays away from each other.

I have known Pete longer than I haven't known him........does that make sense? I met Pete when I was just 15 years old. We were both students at Taft High School. I was a Freshman and he was a Junior. We started dating the following year thanks to my good friend Sarah Kavakich. I remember telling Sarah that I thought Pete was HOT! (or was it FINE!) Well, my good friend made it known to him and just days latter he passed me a note in the hallway!! Thank you Sarah!

Happy Birthday Honey! I Love You!

35 Things That Make You The Super Cool Guy I Think You Are

1.  You are great at doing the laundry. Pete will sort, wash, dry and fold laundry. And he puts is own laundry away right after he folds it.

2.  You don't hold a grudge.

3.  You watch Grey's Anatomy with me.

4.  You like to cuddle at night.

5.  You think I am a good cook.

6.  When you set your mind on something- you do it and you do it well. Examples- playing golf, swimming, bike riding, playing the guitar, selling, managing, ect. Pete will read books, take notes and practice at whatever it is he is trying to accomplish.

7.  You taught yourself how to play the bass guitar and the acoustic guitar. I do think that is super cool! Pete not only taught himself how to play, but played in a band while in the Army and at our church in San Antonio.

8.  You love God and brought me closer to Him.

9.  You play with our girls.

10. You clean the kitchen.

11. You workout and have a desire to be healthy.

12. You do yoga with me.

13.  You can drive in NYC. Even though I have been very scared while riding in the car with you through Times Square, you sure can keep up with those New Yorkers!

14. You want to move back to Texas.

15. You never leave the toilet seat up.

16. You motivate me to get out of bed when the alarm goes off at 5:35am so I can workout before the girls wake-up.

17. You have great taste. I always love anything Pete buys me. He seems to know what is in style more than I do.....an advantage of being out in the workforce.

18.You do all the technical stuff for me like put music on my iPod.....which is probably not very technical at all, but he still does it for me anyways.

19. You love my family. From the very beginning, Pete has taken in my family as his own.

20. You don't care if we eat sandwiches for dinner.

21. You go to sleep at the same time I do. Pete and I have gone to bed at the same time almost every single night. And when one of us wakes up, we wake up the other. We are not big on letting the other sleep in, only because that is just not that important to us. It is really great to go to bed at the same time and wake up together. On occasion I need to sleep in and he lets me.

22. You are a great friend to all your friends.

23. You make me want to be a better person.

24. When it is one of those days and I really need some ice cream, you will run out and get it for me, even when it is freezing out.

25. You always tell me you love me when we hang up the phone.

26. You have your priorities straight. God, family and then work .

27. You are great with our finances.

28. You are a giver.

29. You are a great father. I love that my girls have a great dad! One who loves them unconditionally, disciplines them and one who is genuinely interested in them.

30. You are not ashamed of The Gospel and often share your faith with your friends.

31. You encourage me to get out of the house all by myself.

32. You bring the girls (and me some times) a surprise when you have been out of town for a few days even if it means stopping in a Walmart at 10 at night.

33. You take me out on dates. A movie can turn into an $80 "hot date" when you have three young girls at home with a babysitter. 

34. You will play Scrabble with me even though you really don't like the game.

35. You are my best friend and all that I ever wanted in a husband and more!!

 

And here is that super cool dude I "LOVED" in high school.

There was a lot of hair between the two of us!                                                                   

The Things They Say

The other day for homework, Alli had to copy and read these sentences. Then she was to answer the question.

I have wings.

I can fly.

What am I?



Alli's answer- The Tooth Fairy!!!

We were out and about last weekend and had lunch at a local diner. Alli left one of her Littlest Pet Shop things. I told her we would swing by on the way home to pick it up.

Tori says, "Swing By! We are not monkeys!"

Tori loves to put her babies to bed in Katie's crib.

I told Tori that it was almost time to put Katie to bed so she would have to get her baby out.

Tori- But she is sleeping!

Me- Well, Tori, you will have to make another crib for her because Katie needs her crib.

Tori- I can't just make another crib! I don't have magic!

The Birthday Party

Alli's birthday party went really well. It was not even crazy! Build A Bear Workshop did a wonderful job! I was very impressed! I am so glad everything turned out well. Alli had a wonderful time with her new friends.

  

Afterwards, we went to dinner at a Texas Longhorn type of restaurant. But it was not quite as good as the Texas Roadhouse.

  With his birthday girl and wearing our home state with pride!

And then we came home to open up gifts. She got a lot of great gifts. Everyone seem to know that she was a big Hannah Montana fan.

Happy Birthday Alli

Alli came into this world six years ago today at 7:47 in the morning. She brought more joy into my life than I ever thought possible. I loved being a new mommy. I have such precious memories of taking care of my first baby girl.
Today has been the most beautiful day of the year. I can not believe how warm it is outside! I actually had to use the AC in the truck! What a wonderful day to celebrate Alli's birthday. Our first stop today was to Dunkin Donuts......no Krispy Kremes around here! The one we went to shares a space with Baskin and Robbins. Alli actually opted for ice cream instead of the donut......hard to believe. But I bought her one to have for dessert tonight. The girls and I were able to go into Alli's classroom to wish her a Happy Birthday at school. And after school we took advantage of this beautiful weather and went to the park.

6 Facts about Alli

1. Alli was born in Oklahoma while Pete was in the Army.
2. We wanted to give our first born child a family name. Alli's full name is Alexandra Jewell. She is named after my grandpa- Alejandro and Pete's nana- Jewell. I love her name! At the time, Pete and I watched a lot of Ally McBeal. Remember that show? We decided we would give her the nickname Alli.
3. I was in labor with Alli for 56 hours........no kidding!
4. Alli is our only child that shared our bed. She slept with us for almost two years.......Pete was deployed a lot during that time.
5. Alli shares a birthday with my mom. She was born 8 days after her due date so I never thought she would be born on my mom's birthday. Pete's dad's birthday is April 3rd. We thought possibly she would be born on his birthday.
6. Alli has lived in 8 different homes during her six years of life. This is including all the temporary homes because of deployments and one time when we were building our home in San Antonio.

6 Things Alli learned this year

1. Back in October she learned to ride her bike without training wheels.
2. In the last few months she learned to tie a bow.
3. The Easter Bunny left her a jump rope and she quickly learned to jump rope.
4. During kindergarten she has learned to read and write simple words, write the numbers one through one hundred and to add and subtract small numbers.
5. She continues to excel in gymnastics and is now doing perfect cartwheels, handstands and round-offs.
6. And most recently, she learned to make her own pony tail.

6 Things that I love about Alli

1. Her innocence.
2. Her desire to be better.
3. Her ability to make her sisters laugh.
4. The fact that she loves to cuddle.
5. Her singing.
6. How she always refers to herself as a "Fashion Girl".

I love you Alli! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
I spent some time this weekend going through some old photos. What fun! I could spend a day looking at pictures from the past. So I just picked of few of my favorites of Alli from the last 6 years.

The Ears Are Pierced

We went today to do the deed. It was bitter sweet for me for sure. And now I think I want to change the age to 12......I don't know how that will go over with the other two. But she just looks so much older. I know tons of little girls who have had pierced ears forever. But it is different to see your daughter with earrings in her ears. She is already growing up so fast.

She loves them. She has been looking at herself in the mirror all day. And she did a great job while getting them pierced. She was nervous and there were tears for about one minute and then she was fine. She smiled the whole way home.  

High Maintenance???

I THINK NOT!

Pete and I have had this discussion once or twice in our almost ten years of marriage. He says I am high maintenance. I say I am low maintenance.

So the subject came up tonight. Pete says I am high maintenance because I freaked out when I heard a mouse stirring under the oven. And then sent him to go buy a mouse trap. HELLOOOO!! What wife on this planet would not send her husband to go get a mouse trap?!?! It is 10 at night, but there is A FREAKEN MOUSE IN MY HOUSE!!! It needs to be gone like NOW!!! So, you with me? I am not high maintenance! You would have done the same thing, right?

 

 

***Ok- I must clarify for Pete's Sake! Now that we have discussed this issue a little further, it wasn't so much me sending him to the store that makes me high maintenance. It is how bad I freaked out. And because one mouse trap wasn't enough. We actually already had one mouse trap. I just wanted like ten more! I am really grossed out by little rodents and I really wanted to get the little sucker! Oh- and by the way, all of the mouse traps were empty. I feel sick to my stomach!

We're Still Alive!

Yes, we four girls and one lucky guy are still alive! We have been a little busy with....umm, life, nothing out of the ordinary. And there is not a lot of exciting stuff to blog about. But I will fill you in anyways.

I have put Tori on a gluten-free diet. She has had eczema since she was a baby and has had belly issues since she was old enough to tell me her belly hurts. Her doctor does not think this will do a thing, but all the information on the Internet supports my decision. Who needs an MD when you have the Internet, right? I do like her doctor and I do listen to doctors. But after reading all of this gluten-free stuff and talking to gluten-free people, I have to try this out. And I can't bear to think that something I am giving her is making her belly hurt. So, we are giving this a try. It does require a lot of planning. I really have to plan for all meals and snacks. We are going on week number three so we still have a few weeks to see if this is going to help.

Pete has been traveling a lot.....a whole lot! And I just CAN.NOT.WAIT until this is over!

Alli is busy counting down the days until her birthday on Thursday. She is super excited and so am I! I love celebrating my girls' birthdays. She chose to have her birthday at Build A Bear Workshop. It should be pretty crazy....I am preparing myself now for craziness. I have never been in a Build A Bear on a Saturday that wasn't a mad house.

Katie is a handful! That is all I can say about her right now....a HANDFUL!! The girl makes me crazy! But she is so darn cute!

I have finally made a decision in choosing a preschool for Tori. It took me several weeks to decide and, of course, I ended up choosing the very first preschool I looked at. Schools make me so homesick! I can't explain it. It is just different here. But I do think I chose the right one. And I know Tori will love going to school.

Back in February, I started training for my second half marathon. Well, as my training has progressed, my lovely varicose veins that I acquired during all of my pregnancies have popped out. These things are horrible! They are not only UGLY, but they hurt! So, I will definitely be having some sort of vein surgery in the very near future.....like very very near future! As soon as Pete is done traveling I am going in for surgery.......I just need to find a doctor!

The high for tomorrow is 47 degrees! Come on Spring! I can't wait to get my feet in a pair of flip flops!

So that is about it for now! I will be posting about Alli's birthday on Thursday. Turning six in this household means you get to have your ears pierced!! Pete and I have gone back and forth about what is a good age to do this. I had my ears pierced when I was like 6 weeks old! She wants to do it the day before her birthday because she "does not want to do any screaming or crying on her birthday". So it looks like the girls and I will be making a trip to Claire's on Wednesday.

The girls before church this morning.