Holy Crap What Did I Just Do?!?!??!!?

I think I just had a minute of insanity or someone else just took over my body.

I just registered for the Disney Princess Half Marathon on February 23, 2014.  Yes, I know registering is only half of the battle but hey that is more than I would have done if I was sane today.

Those of you who know me know I am not a runner.  Why do this?  Two year ago I saw gals who were running this race and staying at our resort.  While there - Mallory and Cale were just about 18 months and I was jealous of these gals who did this run, I thought why can't I do that?  I was super jealous of the gals walking around Disney wearing the medals proudly.  I mentally made a commitment to myself to one day do this and to just finish the race, say I did it, hit some accomplishments for me that is my goal.

Well 2013 has come and gone - I did not do the half marathon so guess what - I am in for 2014 which maybe our last February Florida vacation anyways!  And I would have never done this without my friend Carmen committing to run this race as well.  It starts at 5:30 AM so I am back and in the pool for the rest of the day with the family, nothing better than that.

I may die trying but I will not let my girls down, they are going to be so excited for mommy to run the Princess run in a tutu.  My goal = to finish!  My motivation = my kids, my hubby and doing something for myself - yes a half marathon is on my bucket list for some crazy reason, not just any run the Princess Run!

Oh my what did I get myself into?  How in the world will this gal, who is not a runner, do this?  I don't know but I have 236 days to figure it out!

Happy Friday and Happy Running!

Happy 3rd Birthday Cale-Man Buddy!

Cale Joseph,

HAPPY 3^RD BIRTHDAY BUSTER!   I love you so much and I am so excited that we are celebrating your 3^rd birthday.  You are such an exciting part of our lives, I cannot imagine our lives without you and the way you live life there was no way that you were not going to join us in this world.  You may have not had a heartbeat that we could see for 7 weeks or so but you are 110% into life now and we know that you are a blessing. 

You do not stop; everything you do is with all of your heart, soul and energy.  We often find you asleep on the couch as we finally got you to slow down long enough to sit down, usually with the iPad in your hands. (Yes you have already cost us one new screen but now you are careful when using it)  You are always busy with cars, trains, monster trucks and have recently added the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles to your favorite things.  We cannot go anywhere without two monkeys and a blanket.  You LOVE Spiderman and are working hard on potty training so you can get your Superman prize.  I have to admit, mommy has been lazy on potty training you (you are #4) and Ms. Michelle gets all of the credit for pushing us and you to do this because you were ready!

You always want to play with Caden, you two do not always share well but you truly enjoy each other’s company.  You are mischievous with Maggie, you two scare me quite frankly and I worry about the trouble you may cause one day!  You love Mal-Mal and you two pal around all the time.  You are my snuggle bug, you are our puppy – you love being a puppy. 

Coca-Cola and Starbursts are two of your favorite things, you LOVE pizza and hot dogs!  You will eat some healthy things but for the most part are a creature of habit in what you eat and can sit and eat 100 suckers at a time if you can hide them from mommy :).

You can ride a bike better than most kids your age and probably better than your older sister Maggie, but we won’t tell her that right now.  You just go all out in all you do and on Friday we found you and Caden playing baseball in the backyard.  You so badly wanted to play on his team this year and enjoyed running the bases after every game. 

Your birthday weekend was full of celebration and joy!  Friday kicked off with ice cream and dinner with Papaw Casey, LaRosas of course.  Followed by fun in the yard and hanging out.  Saturday you were so excited to go see Mike Wazowski in Monsters U. and it was your first big outing in big boy underwear, you did GREAT!   Sunday you played hard at the park, so hard in fact you slept through the first two hours of your party.  We found you sitting in the chair with the iPad!   Monday led us to donuts for breakfast, you love the iced ones with sprinkles and we will finish off with a gift from us and some more singing of Happy Birthday. 

Buddy, we never know what we will get with you but I know that we love you more and more each day.  Your little curly head with a silly grin can brighten any one's day.  Your giggle is contagious and gets you out of trouble quiet a bit.  You laugh hard when daddy jiggles your belly as you lay on the floor, just as his grandpa Milton did with him.   You are a blessing we did not expect but I cannot imagine our lives without you in them. 

I love you Cale Joseph more than you will ever know, thank you for the opportunity to make our family full and complete!  I am proud to be your momma and hope that you know how much I love you.

Happy Birthday Buster, we love you!



Silly face boy enjoying his donut and chocolate milk

  

Excited to see the movie with Caden!



Happy 3rd Birthday Mal-Mal!

Mallory Lynne,

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!    I love you to pieces and I am so glad that you have enjoyed this birthday.  You have been so excited to celebrate your birthday and to be with your friends.  You have wanted nothing but fun and for your friends to sing happy birthday to you and that is exactly what you have done.  It seems like so long ago that you came into the world but in fact it was only 3 short years ago. 

For your birthday weekend we kicked if off with ice cream on Friday night followed by dinner with Papaw Screwball and fun in the backyard. Saturday brought on your first movie - Monsters U. - you made it until 10 minutes to go and then fell asleep in my lap.  Sunday brought on the Brookbank family reunion followed by a gathering at our house for Minnie cake and some ice cream, you played in the water until you were shivering and had a wonderful time!  Monday was donuts for breakfast and cupcakes with your friends at school.  We will end this evening with cupcakes and presents from Caden and Maggie.

You are full of life, you love your baby dolls and Minnie Mouse, you are mommy's shadow and are a big helper when we are cleaning up.  You eat just about anything that we put in front of you, including vegetables and fruit.  You are potty trained and are very proud that you are a big girl!  You sing many songs, you are always singing when you are playing with your babies.  You are super excited about your Minnie Mouse scooter and I hope you have many great days riding it.

You are a lot like your big brother Caden in more than looks but you definitely look up to Maggie and will play dress up or put on shows for us with her.  You have curly hair, YES someone finally has my hair!  Your hair has really grown a lot and you are beautiful.  You and Cale play nicely together for the most part.  I think the two of you are more chatty and sneaky at night than Caden and Maggie ever were.

Mallory, you add so much joy to our lives.  I love you more than you will ever know.  I hope you have had the happiest of birthdays and I hope that we have many more to celebrate.  You definitely bring a smile to my face and happiness to my heart!

Momma loves you baby girl, I know you will do great things in this world and I am so proud to be your mommy.

Happy Birthday Pickles!  We love you!



Your first movie in the theater!



Donuts for breakfast and your big brother being silly!



Conversations with two, two year olds

This note goes back to mid - April.  I jotted this down after a morning car ride with Cale and Mallory to daycare.  I realized the other day I have a lot of notes written about what they have said along their journey of learning to talk in sentences but had not yet taken the time to put them out here.  I am very grateful that during a Bengals game tailgate a long time ago, someone told me to write down these conversations with my kids, they make me chuckle and bring me back to the reality and what is important many times.

So here it goes a conversation with two stubborn 2 year olds on the way to school at about 6:45 AM

Mallory, "I don’t like you Cale"  for no good reason other than maybe her baby brother (by two minutes) was picking on her about something.  Unfortunately the exact nature of what I cannot remember.

My response, "Not true Mallory you love him, he is your brother"

Mallory, “I don’t want him to be my brother”

Trying to be the good mom I respond, "That isn’t very nice – you are his sister and he loves you"

She then adamantly responds, "I am not his brother" well no sweetie you are not his brother but you are his sister and we do not get to pick our family is what I am thinking.

Cale jumps in and replies, "I am not a brother, I am your Buster" (Buster because Maggie and I often call him our Buster)

Mallory then replies, "No you Calebert"

Cale then argues, "I not Calebert Mal, you are" I love how he calls his sister, "Mal"

Her response, "No I am not, I am Pickles" which is what we call her thanks to her daddy.

Cale then says, "Oh that is disgusting.  Pickles are disgusting"  which just made me laugh because I had never heard him say disgusting before and it seemed like such a large word for him but was used correctly so yes I was proud.

Mallory getting mad and defensive at this point says, "No mommy tell him, I am pickles and he is not a buster" 

And then we arrive at school and change directions of our conversation!

Just an early morning argument on whether or not we are brother and sister, who has what nicknames and whether or not pickles are disgusting! 

Oh I love these kids and our early morning conversations.  I am grateful for the 5 minutes of time today to get this out here because in just 5 short days I will not be able to say, "conversations with a two year old" sniff they will be 3!

My Doodle is Growing Up!

I have really seen Maggie growing up and becoming a little lady lately. 

She is using her manners like never before, she will help out without being asked, she is paying attention to her brothers and sister more and just overall being a really sweet girl.  I am not sure what is happening but I love what I see and she is just turning into this outgoing little lady right before our eyes.

Last night, I was picking up the house and putting away laundry when I walked into her room she was making her bed, I have never made her make her bed like that - GASP I know yes she has never made her bed - but she had it all nicely folded down and her bear in her bed just waiting for her to climb in. 

This morning, I hear a noise as I was getting the little kids rounded up out of bed so I go to check on Maggie and find she is awake, once again making her bed, getting dressed putting a bow in her hair and brushing her teeth.  She said to Matt, "Daddy, I got up, I made my own bed and I am not grumpy!"  Just ask Matt or Ms. Lauren about Monday Morning Maggie - she is GRUMPY!

Tonight I was out for a walk and came home to an extremely quiet house.  Matt comes down stairs and says we just hit a home run.   Maggie said to him, "Daddy, the babies are bothering me and I am tired, I am going to bed."  She put on her pajamas, climbed in bed and was out!  Oh if they all were so easy, as I write this the little two are getting a lecture from Daddy for not sleeping yet and continuing to get out of their beds. 

Sleeping peacefully

Her imagination and creativity amaze me on a daily basis.  She is a crafty little thing and is always drawing, coloring, playing something that only she can see or hear and she is learning to spell!
The other day this was in her folder when I picked her up from school.  On first look I had no idea what it was.  I did not open it or ask her what it was, it was common throw it all on a pile and deal with it later night.

The following morning I took Maggie into school where Ms. Lauren asked me if I had seen the computers Maggie made out of some envelopes I had taken for them to use at school (thank you Aunt Betty, the paper and envelopes have been a HUGE hit).  It then dawned on me that is what I had picked up with something hanging off of it!  Ms. Lauren said she did this all by herself and was cranking out a bunch that day for all of her friends.  Sure enough in her cubby were pieces for 4 other computers she was working on and said she would finish during centers.  AMAZING - I had no idea what a computer was at her age and here she is using what is around her to make on out of paper! 

I love my miny me so much.  She makes me proud to be her momma and she fills each day with new and exciting things.  She lives life to the fullest and is always dancing her way into people's lives. 

I love you Maggie Doodle, keep doing what you are doing and you will go far in this world!