November 29, 2010

that's how we do it...

and this is what happens when you ask our family to say "CHEESE"...

and this is also why i did not start going into convulsions and sweating over making our annual holiday card this year. obviously i did not go this route, since i already posted a preview of what our cards are going to look like, but i just wanted to give you an idea what it's like to have my family pose for pictures...

"Friendsgiving"...

this was the first year that we were "home alone" for Thanksgiving, but when i say alone, i mean we had no family come in town and we chose to stay at our own home for the holiday, but by no means were we alone. we have, what i like to call, a very extended family (of friends), some of which we've known for almost 20 years and some for only a couple of years, but we've all become a family of sorts.

i opted to host "Friendsgiving" at our house, and i was dreading it the moment the offer came out of my mouth. i have a lot of anxiety over the appearance of my house and having 15 people in there to look at it...on top of preparing the house, i had to prepare food?! i will say that i was lucky enough to have my very own personal chef preparing most of the feast (see K is for Kitchen). i pretty much had it easy as far as food was concerned, sweet potatoes, ham, bread, beer, and some cute ass cupcakes for the kids.

just a recap of how much food we had: 2 turkeys and a ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, 2 kinds of stuffing, Brussels spouts, jalapeno corn casserole, gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, devilled eggs, and pumpkin bread pudding...did you get all that? my belly sure did! all in all, it was a fabulous time (even with 15 people)! did i mention that those 15 people were only 3 families? yes, everyone we know has 3 kids, so anytime we get together it's always a party. just imagine what it's like when ALL of us get together...
(cheers to the "chefs")

(the table...)

(ahhh...cheers again...a lot of wine was consumed in the making of this event)
(the kids like to play Apples to Apples and this was the card that C picked)

after an all day eating affair, what a better way to burn off the calories than with an all day shopping event. and by all day i mean literally all day! we were gone for 10 1/2 hours!! i came home with two feet full of blisters. what was i thinking? next year the cute shoes are out and the tennis shoes are on! still not sure what i was thinking, because i totally forgot that i had signed up for a 5k the next day. so, i took my blistered feet and ran the heck out of that 5k. proudly i finished 3rd in my age group (which is pretty damn competitive) which also happened to be yet another PR for me 24:49 is by far the fastest i've ever run anything..."run like you stole it!" luckily i did not run alone, but was joined by my other running family. so excited that my little buddy JD also got third in his age division (he's definitely a very fast 7yo!).


to cap off the very busy week, we decided to go hunt down a Christmas Tree. not sure we could fit any more into our crazy schedule...
(more pictures to follow once we get the darn thing "put together")


November 27, 2010

sneak peek...

Holiday Window Christmas Card
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November 16, 2010

marathon weekend...

i would like to say we ended our sports season with a bang! literally there was a bang at one point, but i'll get back that in a moment. first let me start off with C's big hoe-down performance at school, which he was so excited for that he changed his outfit a couple times just to make sure he had it just right. i'm pretty sure he was trying to impress the cute little girl he was suppose to be square dancing with, and he was all smiles the entire show.
on Friday night "The Savage" (hubby's new name, since everyone thinks he resembles Fred Savage) had me pick him up at the tire place, and while we were gone NoNo had managed to bust himself up pretty good. luckily my mom was in town to hold down the fort. C was at football practice, The Savage was picking C up, P-Donculous had a friend over, and i was still in the process of cooking dinner, but in a matter of minutes we were out the door on our way to the ER. we were in and out in 45 minutes! unfortunately the meat loaf was not so happy about our quick departure (note to self...turn off the oven if heading out for staples in the skull of a toddler), but we were starved and ate it anyway. NoNo was such a trooper about the whole ordeal. i'll warn you now, you should know by now i'm not afraid to post pictures that are a little graphically detailed when it comes to open wounds, but this is what little man had to have stapled shut...
(keep in mind that there is also a cotton ball shoved in the hole)
and now to start off the rest of the weekend...Saturday was the final day for fall sports, which means no more soccer, no more football, and no more running. P-donculous had his last soccer game (which they won 14-0), C had his last football game (which just happened to be the Superbowl and they ended up getting second, and i missed the game), and my mom and i drove down to San Antonio for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. because of all the driving we missed the Superbowl and the trophy ceremony, but thanks to some awesome parents we have picture proof...
                                                           
now, on to the actual marathon part of the weekend...the grand finale of my running season was the 1/2 marathon on Sunday. mom and i were all smiles before the race even started:
i even stopped to pose for photo ops along the way (which, in the long run cost me a few minutes off my record pace time...damn it!). i ended up finishing with a personal record of 2:02:55 (6 minutes faster than my first half marathon).now let's crunch some numbers...i finished 4,402th out of 20,432 people, that's the top 21%...HOLLA! i'm no Kenyan, but for me that's pretty damn impressive... 
(waving from the Alamo at mile 3)


November 3, 2010

goblins...

it's the beginning of one of the worst seasons for anyone trying to stick to any type of diet. from now until the New Year there is nothing but an over abundance of tasty goodness shoved in your face. Halloween starts off with the damn candy! curse that candy and lip smacking greatness! i have to hide it from myself, but i always manage to find it again (maybe i should put my car keys and cell phone in the candy bag). once Halloween is over and we've devoured 15 pounds of cavity creations, it's on to my most favorite holiday of all, Thanksgiving. it's an all day eating contest that lasts for almost 4 days! and of course, the entire month after the turkey celebration, is one big hot chocolate peppermint drinking fest. it's no wonder that our gym just sent out a notice saying they are extending their operating hours to accommodate the holiday season.

anyway...back to the goblins...my kids. each year they are allowed to decide for themselves what they want to dress as for Halloween. easy enough for me (and my wallet) the oldest just wanted to be the same thing he was last year. P-donculous changed his mind about 5 times before settling on the football player, and NoNo liked the muscles on good ol' Spider Man. they had a blast running through the neighborhood like a bunch of hoodlums demanding candy from strangers. and now i know who to blame for the added 5 pounds (damn stranger neighbors)...