Pumpkin Patch

We met some friends at the pumpkin patch on Tuesday. While it was fun, I realized just how out of control my kids are. They act like they are kept cooped up and when they are 'released' they go nuts. I mean, running constantly, jumping like bunnies and just being insane. You can add not listening to that. Conner does better than Parker but it's hard on me. I have decided that I'm buying an umbrella stroller (and not a cheap-y one but not a 150+ one either) and I'm going to start using it to confine them when they don't listen. The new baby will need to like one too so it's a win, win. Anyway, I did snap a few photos and one of the friends we met is another photographer and snapped some too.

She's FAB and if you're in Atlanta and don't like my work, check out her website. You won't regret it! Here are the few she took. For the image of just me, she called me a princess. haha!

Here are my crazy boys. I didn't even bother editing all of them :) It was fun and everyone was happy and stayed that way.

Weekend

Yes, it's Sunday and I'm going to post about our weekend. Friday night we headed out to the rodeo (brought the camera but they weren't allowed) with some friends and their kids. I didn't think any of the kids would actually sit and watch but they still liked it. They liked running from us and having us chase them, they liked eating dinner with no table and drinking Sprite. They liked watching the barrel races and they liked visiting all of the quarter horses. Those horses are beautiful! The horse owners were very nice and didn't mind that we pet them. It wound up being a very late night but everyone was happy; isn't that all that matters? Yesterday started with soccer meet and greet. We would be the lucky ones to get the team with no coach. After the coordinator tried to convince me to coach (good joke dude, I'll be bringing 2 kids alone most weeks and I want to take photos not coach), two other dads stepped up. The kids were all very cute and it should be a fun season. We might even make some new friends. Once our soccer meeting was over we headed over to IHop for breakfast with the in-laws and then we went to their house to play.

Parker asked my mil if he could see the horsies so off they went. She has 3 horses (and I don't know anything about horses so I'll call 2 of them regular and Gizmo a pony). I know that Gizmo is a pony. My kids always pet/ride Giz. He's super friendly and very, very docile. He just stands there and lets the kids pet him, he loves treats and doesn't mind being saddled up.  **sorry that these have my photography logo on them....the full size files were taking too long to upload; I used my resizing program and it includes a logo***

School Days

**discliamer**there are no photos in this post. if you don't like words come back tomorrow for 'first day of school' photos.

Tomorrow the boys start school. Am I excited, YES. Very. Conner is also very excited to go back to school and play w/his friends. Parent orientation was last week; Josh stayed here to keep the kids and off I went. alone. heaven. Parker lucked out and got Conner's teachers from last year. They are nurturing and wonderful. I'm very happy he will be with them this year. He has 6 little kids in his class; 3 boys, 3 girls. Perfect. He's going to LOVE it. Conner's teacher...O.M.G. amazing! Seriously. She holds a degree in Anthropology; LOVES science, all things bugs and nature and loves to blow things up (age appropriately of course). As soon as she started talking, I loved her and am SO SO excited for him this year. The other moms in his class are equally wonderful and he has a few friends from last year joining him. I'm thrilled. While I was at parent orientation, I signed up to be a sub. Let's face it, teaching is part of me and I really miss the classroom. I don't miss it enough to put my kids in daycare and go back but I do miss it.

The boys had meet and greet yesterday and (bad mom me) I forgot the camera. Oh well I guess. We spent an hour in each of their classrooms with the teachers and some of their peers. Parker is sooooo sweet. He listened to his teachers and played nicely with the other kids. There was one time when he and another child both wanted the same toy and he was distracted very easily. When Josh asked him questions about what he did last night, little dude remembered some stuff. Smart little boy. Conner's classroom is SO fun. There's a campfire (not a real one), a huge pirate ship, lots of dinosaurs; it's like a little boy's paradise! He also played very nicely with the other kids that were there. He was SO precious talking to one of his teachers. When he's really thinking about something, he cocks his head to the side and kind of squints...I caught him doing that when they were having a conversation. I don't know what the were talking about; I was talking to another mom about where she got her cardigan.

The best part, Conner is going three days every single week (M,T,W). That means I will have 2 mornings where I will be all alone in our house (for now). I can clean, go back to bed, eat on the couch, eat cake and not share...basically do whatever I want. On Tuesdays, it will just be Parker and I. It will be nice because there will be no screaming out of Parker. No sibling fighting. I know I will miss them but 6 quiet hours a week will definitely be nice. I will admit that I'm a little worried about how Parker will do when he realized I'm not there and neither is Conner. He's very used to his brother being by his side and this will be a new thing for Park. Even yesterday, Conner was there with him. I know he'll adjust but I nope it's not a hard adjustment for him.
I promise that I will take some photos tomorrow morning before we head out and maybe even once they get there but probably not. The school kind of frowns upon any parent loitering. Some of the kids get pretty upset. Stay tuned for some first day of school photos. I have to go fill out some paperwork and figure out what they are going to wear!

Park Fun

Yesterday, we met some friends at a local park to let the boys burn off some energy and for me to get my baby fix by seeing precious little E! I love that baby. omg. The boys were having a great time and ran for almost 2 hours. Sweet success. Parker even took a 2.5 hour nap. YES! Score one for mama! We had a few mishaps with sand and had some tears but it was cured w/some apple juice and fruit snacks. All was well again and they were off to play (after some time out, a few 'I'm sorry' and some tears). It was a great time. We need to do that more often!

I did it!!!

Sunday was THE day. The half marathon. In one word....Painful. Seriously...it was pretty hilly. It was SO fun though. SO fun. My sister came in from Baton Rouge and brought my MOM! what a great surprise. Kim came down from TN to run it too but she's a real bad ass and smoked me and my dehydrated self (I'll get to that). First, I want to talk about mother nature. She's a real piece of work. Thursday and Friday it was amazing here...lows in the 50s...Sunday...um it was like 40 degrees when we started. Holy cold! We got over ourselves and ran. Katie stuck with me b/c Kim hauled bootie. It's ok, Kim, I sill love ya and am super proud of you! Kaite and I set a great pace keeping the miles around 11.5 min. We didn't stop at all until almost 8 miles. This is huge for me. I haven't blogged about it but my kids were sick, then I was sick and then I was just plain tired so...guess who didn't run for THREE weeks before this race...yea, me. stupid. really. Anyway, around mile 9, I started to get all crampy so I ate my jelly beans, drank my water and felt a little better. At the next hydration station (there were 7), I got 2 cups of powerade, Katie got 3 cups of water and I drank and drank. It did help. We ran/walked/ran/walked until mile 12 when I had to walk. I bummed a gatorade off of a spectator on the side of the road. He said that he brings them to races "just in case someone needs one". Thank God for that man. I really think without that gatorade I wouldn't have been able to run the last 200 yards over the finish line. I finished in 2:53:33. I wasn't thrilled with my time but  I finished! that's what matters!!! I could barely walk Sunday afternoon and I'm still sore but it was totally worth it. I had a wonderful time and I can't wait to do another one.

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A turtle's pace

Yesterday was a busy day for us. We had a birthday party to go to for the most adorable 2 year old little girl in the world. My boy loves her and they are great friends. Good thing I like her mama too, right?! After the fun there, we wound up at my in-laws so the kids could play for a while. It was gorgeous and we didn't want to miss the chance to be outside. Conner played in the sandbox. Parker napped. Conner played on his tractor, Parker napped. See the trend? After Parker woke up, he did play a little though. We went to the grocery store, Parker napped. Once we got home, the kids played outside for a while and I begged Josh to let me go run alone. He came up with every excuse he could think of and all sorts of things he "needed" to do w/o the kids around. Whatever...I changed and grabbed the stroller. I have not ran in over a week and I could tell. I didn't know my pace or the actual mileage prior to yesterday. Now, I know, thanks to my Garmin. I'm slow. Seriously, your grandma could run faster than I. I ran 2.89 miles in 36 minutes. That's a 12:27 mile. The tortiose at the zoo is faster than I am. The good news is that I didn't walk at all and that hill that I hate, yea, I defeated it. Go me! and the kids....See for yourself.



We went out to dinner last night at the Japanese steakhouse. Josh didn't want to cook and he didn't want me to have to clean up (what a guy). Parker was in heaven with all of that food. He ate the eggs out of the fried rice, some rice and some of my salmon. He loves that salmon. Conner, well, he just ate sherbert and soup. I hate his eating habits. We brought the cranky kids home and after p went to bed, I did too. Good thing because he woke up at 6:30.

>I'm slacking...

>We went to the park with Victoria and her precious, beautiful daughter this morning. She has ALREADY blogged about it so I'm behind. (As a side note, I have tons to blog about and hope I find some time to do it soon.)Anyway, back to the topic at hand...we had a great time with them and are looking forward to many more park/play dates. Parker was great; he slept in the shade most of the time. He got hot and he let us know all about it. Once I took off his romper, he was a happy little guy. Conner had a great time playing. Thank you Victoria for the pictures (and for letting me snap away with your camera)...I forgot my camera.



Look how cute these two are!!


Sleepyhead


Conner and I sliding


I've gotta run, the big one is getting into the dog's food/water.

I'm slacking...

We went to the park with Victoria and her precious, beautiful daughter this morning. She has ALREADY blogged about it so I'm behind. (As a side note, I have tons to blog about and hope I find some time to do it soon.)Anyway, back to the topic at hand...we had a great time with them and are looking forward to many more park/play dates. Parker was great; he slept in the shade most of the time. He got hot and he let us know all about it. Once I took off his romper, he was a happy little guy. Conner had a great time playing. Thank you Victoria for the pictures (and for letting me snap away with your camera)...I forgot my camera.



Look how cute these two are!!


Sleepyhead


Conner and I sliding


I've gotta run, the big one is getting into the dog's food/water.