First 5K (in a while)!

This morning, Jon and I successfully completed our first 5K road race in Columbia's beautiful Vista district. I say "first" loosely because we HAVE run 5Ks in the past but it's been over two years for Jon (see this photo... I walked that one since I was preggers with Ethan) and six years for me. My last actual RUNNING race was in West Virginia in 2005. So, long story short, we were due.

I have been "training" (again, mentioned loosely) with the help of the Couch to 5K Droid app. It is wonderful and perfect IF you follow it. However, I have learned that if you try to cram 9 weeks of running into 7 weeks, as I did, then you get to the 5K and the hills kick your butt. But, alas, procrastination is kind of the story of my life and it usually works out well for me.

My objective was to enjoy myself today, which I did (except for those blasted hills up Lady and Gervais Streets). My goal was to run the whole time, and I did not meet this. I walked up those hills. Still, I finished with a time of 39:16 and Jon's time was around 30:00.

As the photos will suggest, I could still stand to lose about 20 pounds. If my diet resembled my running AT ALL, I would be at least 10 lbs lighter today. [sigh] That will come. One thing at a time.

So, the mantra is this: Train. FOR REAL. No excuses. Hills, shmills. I have definitely been bitten by the running bug (again), as has Jon, and we are getting serious about this NOW. Here are some more photos of the day.

Grandmas Diana and Cathy wrangled the boys during the run. Cathy also served as unofficial "race photographer."

Jon's in a yellow shirt and mine is light green. Here we are right before the starting gun.

GO!

This was after a massive hill. I had not walked yet at this point and was struggling a little, BUT the sight of the fam gave me the energy I needed to get up the rest of the hill.

Go Jon, GO!

Our fb friends were there for mucho support, as well:

During the race, the grandmas walked the kids over to the gorgeous "9/11 First Responders" memorial.

Jon ROCKED. Here he is crossing the finish line.

I was pretty far behind him. But, here I am, finally crossing the line.

After the race, the boys had an impromptu yelling fest. Just for fun. Good times.

And then there was gargling practice.

When we continue running and lose a few more pounds, it will all get easier. We plan to keep this up!

Second Birthday BASH (in more ways than one...)

Ethan's second birthday was one of the most fun bashes that I can remember around these parts. Here are a few more photos from the day, starting with a sweet boy in his crib that morning. He was so happy and loved his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake!

Andrew really enjoyed playing with his friend Nick all afternoon.

Grandma Diana got Ethan this super cool trampoline. Both of our boys love it!

Auntie Christina sent these amazing skates to BOTH boys. This was a really thoughtful and totally appropriate gift for their Austin roller-derby Auntie to send! I will post photos of the skates in action really soon.

Publix cake with butter cream icing and chocolate pudding filling. YUMMMMMM.

Here are the birthday buds, minus a few that were out of the photo.

And, now for the very fun (although slightly disturbing) segment of the birthday post: pinata bashing time. Once this was underway (sadly, not before), we adults realized the creepiness of beating the daylights out of lovable characters like Elmo and Sponge Bob. Next time we do a pinata (if ever...we may have had our lifetime fill with this go 'round), we will be sure it is some generic shape with no character attachment.

That having been said, Glen THOROUGHLY enjoyed his turn with Elmo and ended up decapitating him. As you can see, Ella is proud of her dad and Nick is aghast. I hear Elmo's head is now a permanent desk decoration at Blythewood High. These men and their trophies. [sigh]

Jon got to hold the pinata. Lucky him. We feared there might be an "America's Funniest Home Videos" moment, but it didn't happen, much to Jon's relief.

Beware of any two-year-old with a long stick. Take higher ground.

I love these three boys.

All 42 of the birthday photos are here on facebook. I leave you with another rousing rendition of the birthday song. This one is not as in-tune as some birthdays past, but it definitely has the most spirit of any I have heard recently.

Happy 2nd to our Bogbear!

Our Ethan turned two today. Here's the sweetness I saw first thing this morning. How time has flown!

We celebrated at our house today with family and friends. He wasn't too into blowing out the candle,

but he LOVED eating the cake and ice cream!

We took a lot more photos, which I will post a little later. Happy birthday Bogbear!

Football Mania, but mostly GRANDMA CATHY'S MOVE!

We are very excited about the start of college football around here! Friday at school was "school colors" day and everyone in our family was decked out in their Mountaineer best. And Grandma Cathy moved today! Here she is on her brand new front porch, pointing out a lizard to her grandsons.

Here the guys are at her old apartment.

They LOVED the moving truck.

Finally, here is Grandma and her grandsons at her brand new South Carolina home. We are all so happy for her!

Grandma Cathy is a SC Homeowner!

She did close yesterday! Photos will come this weekend after the big move. Yay!

Not-as-planned Wednesday

As typical life would have it, many things yesterday did not go according to plan. First, my school day was a little nutty. Let's just leave it at that.

Second, both boys' beginning-of-the-year-crud-coughs were finally out of control, so we whipped out the albuterol. We are so thankful that we own a nebulizer; it really helped them and today they were tons better. Ethan was not a fan. So pitiful. But, again, it really helped him sleep and breathe better today. And, let's be real here, if you cry, you inhale the albuterol even harder and it helps you all the more. I'm just sayin'.
Also, Jon's mom (aka Grandma Cathy) relocated here in mid-May. After months of searching, she found an amazing townhome just a few minutes from us that she was supposed to close on yesterday. All homeowners know that closings rarely go as planned. So, she didn't close yet. Although she definitely had HER ducks in a row, someone somewhere didn't and we are waiting anxiously to see if she was able to close today. There will be many pics coming soon, but for now, here's the outside of her almost new home: Cathy's moving date is this weekend and everyone in our family is really looking forward to the long weekend for some settling-in and some MUCH needed R&R with the boys.