Week 1 of Training

I've completed a weeks worth of running & it wasn't as bad as I thought. Yes I was incredibly sore for most of the week, but I did it. Today was the worst. I hate running in the cold. My throat ends up hurting so bad. So needless to say when I saw the weather was 36 degrees I was not looking forward to it. This leads me to my outfit. Somehow I ended up looking like a ninja when I walked out of my house this morning. I only have long black pants & I just happened to grab my black fleece. Then Lane suggested I wear his head thingy because it covers your nose. I knew that would make it easier on me, so I did. And there you have it. I was out on the streets looking like I was up to no good. And it didn't help that I was running...possibly away from a crime. I'm sure people thought that anyway.

Play Dates Are Fun

...especially for mommy! E was extra lucky this week because she got to play with 2 friends! And so did mommy! The weather was beautiful on Monday so we took advantage & went to the park with Katie & Kira.

As you can see Elliot got to try out the swings. She loved them! I forgot how big the seats are. Next time I'm going to bring a blanket to put behind her to take up some of that excess space! But she was content hanging over the front end. Every time she would swing towards me, she'd start to laugh. Kind of reminds me of that McDonald's commercial where the baby is in it's swing & on the upswing he sees the golden arches & smiles. But on the downswing he starts to cry.

Here's the 2 kiddos enjoying the sun. I have to say I enjoy getting out of the house with Elliot. I don't feel the need to always be going places, but every once in a while it's nice. And I get to have adult conversation with is even better!

Today we had our second playdate with Averi. We went over to her place, but this picture was taken at our house. I meant to get one of the girls together, but E didn't stick to her typical napping schedule today so when she was sleeping, Averi was awake & vice versa. They did get some face time at the very beginning though!

Dusting Off the Running Shoes

I was inspired after reading my cousin's (Allison) blog to sign up for my 1st race! At first I was going to sign up for the 10k, but then remembered that I haven't attempted running since I was 4 months pregnant with Elliot & even before then it was limited. And it's only a month away, so I don't have time to get into that good of shape. So instead I opted for the 5k. Yes, I'll probably be running with mostly kids, but that's alright. I figured baby steps was the best way to go for me. Plus my goal is to run the entire 3 miles, and since at the moment I can't run .25 miles without stopping, I'm going to have to work for it. So for all you veteran runners (Marianne), please feel free to give me any tips on training, clothing, etc. And if anyone else wants to join me, I would love it! If this race goes well, next time I'll do the 10k.

Gun Show

You may be thinking, 'what's up with these people? They go to the most random things.' And we do. Last weekend it was the boat show & today it was the gun show. I think it's about time for me to be nominated for the "coolest wife award" for my efforts. I didn't particularly want to go to either one of these, but Lane did & off we went. It was quite the experience seeing so many different kinds of people walking around with guns. There were lots of cops on hand which made me feel a little better. There was a brief moment when I felt like a horrible mom for bringing Elliot with us. What was I thinking? Oh well we all made it out alive. We were this close (picture my fingers about an inch apart) to buying a little hand gun for me, but we decided to wait. I really need to get my CHL before I get one. Otherwise it will just sit in my drawer unused. Lane didn't go away empty handed though. He bought a holster that he can wear under his shirt. So now he can actually wear his gun. If anyone needs a body guard, give him a call :)

Park Novice

Today was the first day in forever that the weather has not been rainy & cold. So I took advantage of this luck & we went to the park. This was Elliot's first time. We saw tons of ducks. They even came right up to us. Elliot didn't know what to think about them. I thought she would at least squeal or something, but she didn't make a peep. I think she was just taking it all in. We also saw lots of little kids which she liked. She smiled at everyone.

This was also the first time I sat her in her stroller versus keeping her in the carseat & snapping it into the stroller. I figured she wouldn't be able to see anything that way, so I switched it up & she did great. First trip to the park...check. Next time hopefully Lane can join us so we can be in the pictures with her & not get a bunch of stroller shots.

Oreo Truffles

I can in no way take credit for these delicious little treats, however I do want everyone else to know about them! Lauren made them for us the other day & we just loved them. So now I will pass the recipe along to you. There are only 3 ingredients. It's super easy, but messy! Maybe that's because I used a mini Cuisinart & had to keep transferring cookie crumbs back and forth. A full sized one would really have come in handy. I wish I would have taken a picture of them, but I ate them all...sorry! Click here for the recipe.

Texas Chili

Brian & Christina had us over for dinner last night & we had some good ol Texas Chili. Making it was definitely an all day process. He had to smoke the meat & then chop it all up along with onions, jalapenos, habaneros, spices, etc. It definitely made me sweat! But that didn't stop me from eating 2 huge bowls of it! You did good Brian!

5 months

Guess who's 5 months? She is so much fun right now. She's tried rice cereal & applesauce & prefers the latter much more. She has trouble with the whole spoon concept, so I think I'm going to hold off for a bit & try again later. I started strictly pumping & feeding her bottles because I didn't think she was getting enough food. I was right because it caused me to have to supplement her with 2 formula bottles a day. She doesn't seem to mind the change. And I can already tell that she's getting bigger (and heavier)! She's at the stage where she likes to hear herself squawk. Yep, if you were in another room you would think that she's mad, but she's not. That's just her way of talking. She's getting the hang of sitting up on her own, although she still hasn't mastered it. And she gets the biggest kick out of me pretending to eat her hand. Sounds a little cannibalistic, but she just laughs & laughs. Her hand is always outstretched towards my mouth just waiting for it. That's what's new with her for the time being. I know there's more to come!

Boat Show

Yesterday Lane & I went to the boat show. Why you ask? I have no idea. We were bored. It was however pretty cool. They of course had tons of boats of all types. We got to look inside of all of them. I really want a pontoon boat. You can fit a lot of people on them & they have some pretty nice ones. Don't really know how the temperpedic beds made it into the show, but they did. Here's Lane trying them out. I think we'll get one when we have money:)

Venting

Some people find the city exciting, and it does have it's perks. You're close to everything & something is always going on. I on the other hand would trade it in for the burbs anytime. I much prefer the more spread out, peaceful atmosphere it offers. I have no problem driving at least 10 minutes to my destination. Target...10 minutes. Grocery store...10 minutes. Target...10 minutes. Going into the city would be a treat. But this place, ugh! I am at my wits end with this place. It is so noisy! Maybe I'm more irritated because one of our neighbors has decided it's a great idea to blast ghetto music all day everyday. I'm not kidding. It starts at 9am & goes into the night. I can't figure out which neighbor it is. I've even gone outside & walked around to investigate. Maybe I'm more bothered by the noise because I have Elliot. I'm more aware of it. But seriously, if it's not one thing it's the next. Today while I was trying to take a nap I heard constant car doors shutting, cars speeding down the street, ambulance sirens, people talking...I could go on. I dream of the day when I move!

Crack Head

I had just left the house when I got a phone call from Lane telling me to come back home. When I walked through the door, I see blood all over his shirt & a huge gash in his head. He had slipped & fell back on a door knob. Luckily he was ok. I took a look at it & we decided to it was probably a good idea to get stitches. But he called one of his med friends to come over & check it out just to be sure. She agreed that he could get stitches if he wanted to, but would probably be ok if he didn't go in. We were thinking about letting her stitch him up, but we didn't have any local anesthetic. It ended up being a clean cut & not jagged so that should help the healing process. The cut is about an inch long & a couple of milimeters deep. It still makes me cringe to look at this picture!

By Popular Request

I've had a few people ask for the flauta recipe, so here you go (I didn't have to call my mom this time)! Sorry there's not a picture. Use your imagination.

Ingredients:
2 large cans shredded chicken
1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese (I probably add more)
1 small can green chilis
1 tsp Cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste
flour tortillas
Vegetable Oil

Directions:
Mix everything in a bowl. Scoop a spoonful of the mixture onto your tortilla & spread out evenly. Roll up the tortilla & secure with a toothpick. Place in a pan of heated oil & cook until both sides are browned. Take out & place on a paper towel covered plate.

Family Night

Yesterday, we had ourselves a little family night. You would think every night is family night since we're always together, but last night was more official since I gave it a name & had a plan in place. We invited our friends Christian & Lauren over to join us. We had a delicious dinner made by yours truly. I can brag about it because it's probably one of the only things I cook, flautas. And every time I make them I call my mom to get the ingredients, even though there's only 4. But I was very proud of myself for not getting Lane's help once during the whole process. I'm sure he was glad too. After dinner we enjoyed cookie monsters & then played The Newlywed Game. I printed off a bunch of questions that we all had to answer. I love these type of games because you get to learn new things about your spouse & it's usually pretty funny. For instance, Lane FINALLY knows that my favorite flower is a Tiger Lily. Now I have told him that on several occasions but for some reason it never stuck. Lauren helped out a lot by bring me Tiger Lilies when she came over (thank you by the way). I then waved them in front of Lane's face so there would be no confusion. Luckily when that question came up in the game, he got it right :)

Rice Cereal

Elliot got her first taste of Rice cereal. She wasn't sure what to do with the spoon, but she'll soon get the hang of it. She looks happy here, but I think it's because of what I said & not that it tasted good.

More please!

Good Luck All Year

Today my mom made her annual New Year's day dinner. It consists of meatloaf, turnip greens, corn bread & black eyed peas. I actually don't like any of it but the cornbread, but that's besides the point.

I just make sure I eat a few black eyed peas so I can have good luck this year. I don't know if that's a Texas thing or just a southern thing, but we've been doing it since I was little.

Good luck on a fork!

E with her Poppi

My parents with all the grand kids.

New Year's Eve

This New Year's was the best one I've had in a long time. For the past few years we never really celebrated. But this year we all went to Regina's & had ourselves a little party. First, I'm impressed with myself for even staying awake til midnight. Normally you can find me fast asleep in my bed by 9:30. But this year I was awake & coherent.

We all brought appetizers & definitely over ate. Everything was so delicious!

After we stuffed ourselves & caught up, we broke out the games. We started off with a friendly game of Taboo, which the girls won! Then things started to get ugly with Trivial Pursuit. We had some sore losers in the house, but I won't mention names...Luckily the game was stopped due to the ball dropping!

Me, part of Lane, Andrew & Amy
Toast to the New Year!
I don't know why I'm making this face.

Jaymie & Justin
Cheers!

Mike & Regina
Hostess with the mostest!