Bluebonnets 2010

Not any better than 2009, but they have to be taken when you live in Texas. It's a law.

And they did turn out kind of cute. ;)

Past Statements Rescinded

So back when Kenn and I were newlyweds, living in a tiny basement apartment 2 blocks south of BYU campus, we decided that we would get up early during the week, before classes and work, and go running to keep ourselves in shape.

We did pretty well the first few days, getting up and dressing warmly, feeling the cold winter air rushing through our lungs, reminding us we're alive.

And then one morning as our alarm went off, I rolled over and nudged Kenn and said "Come on, it's time to go running."

He sat up in bed, looked at me, and said, "We're just not runners!"


That was the first day we quit running. :)


But TODAY, or more accurately LAST SATURDAY, that statement became null and void. Because, my loyal bunch...

I RAN IN A REAL 5K RACE!!!

Team A.C.T. (me and Candace and Tiffanie) ran in the Texas Roundup 5K, and it was hard, and exhausting, and spectacular. :)

My time was 33 minutes and 27 seconds, which is the fastest I have run to date. Candace and Tiffanie both rocked the house, beating me by 8 seconds (I just didn't have anything left to catch them at the end!).

But I did it, we met our goal, and here is the proof.

me BEFORE I ran over 3 miles

Go Team! This is minutes after we finished. See that guy in blue, still running? We beat him. :)
This is the one where most of Candace's face is NOT blocked by Tiffanie's shadow.

And our menfolk and all the kiddies came with us to show their support. Ignore the pink coat on Beckett, he was cold and it was the only warm thing anyone had.

(And yes, I know my outfit didn't match, but those are my favorite running pants and my favorite running shirt, and I wanted to be comfortable, not stylish. And I LOVE my sweatband, it saves me from having burning eyeballs. :)

Dirty Ears

So yah, I'm deathly behind on my blogging (is this really anything new?), but I had to post the mishaps that Beckett has been experiencing lately. Kid just can't seem to keep himself out of trouble. :)

Let us begin with last Friday, the 24th.

Pro: Beckett attempted to go down the slide by himself for the first time! Yay Beckett!

Con: The 2nd time down, he apparently went head first, and wound up eating lots and lots of dirt.

Yum.
But not.


Jump to yesterday, where he and Caleb were playing pretty nicely together on the landing between the 2 flights of stairs in our house.

Pro: Brotherly love had them both occupied and happy, which in turn allowed mama to be occupied and happy.

Con: Beckett did something, I still don't know what, that made him smack his ear on something else, which led to much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and the glorious-ness you see here.
I didn't know an ear could swell up like that, especially that quickly.


But it can.
Promise.
And it looks MUCH worse today. I should've gotten, but didn't get, a picture. We'll see if it's still nasty tomorrow.

Yum.
But not.

dino dig, dig for dinos, dino dig, dig for dinos

Oy. I am so behind on blogging I had to get someone else to do it for me (bah dum pum). Let's start with a couple months ago. :)

We took a Joy School field trip to the Dino Dig Pit at Zilker Park. Good times were had by all, I think. Oddly enough, this was the same day that psycho-guy flew his plane into the building at 183 and Mopac that housed the local IRS unit. We drove by the building mere minutes after said idiocy occurred. Crazy.

Anyways, onto the pictures!

Caleb and Bryn, gettin' their snack on

The gang. A rowdy bunch, no?

Beckett's AMAZING sneeze. Of COURSE I took a picture before I wiped it!
(click it to make it larger, it's even better!)

l-r Bryleigh, Caleb, Garrett, Bryn, Kloey, & Bryce getting to work

Caleb workin' hard

I think Garrett found a dinosaur bone!

Kloey looking for treasure

Bryn. TOTALLY posed when I told her to look. :)

Beckett is either eating more snack, or he's eating something
he's not supposed to.

Carlie, close-up

The artsy shot for the day, Carlie fell asleep in Candace's arms just on the walk back to the car. So cute, right?? :)

Just Another Day in the Life-- Guest Post by Candace!

(Amy's note-- This has been in the making for a while, probably since the 'twin week' that Candace and I had. I'm pretty sure I said I'd blog the twin-ness if she did a guest post. So here it is! Enjoy!)

Amy handles it so well you wouldn't even know it, but allergies are really hard. Harder than you think.

When I first met Amy and learned about Caleb's allergies, I thought it was kind of novel. A hardship, sure, but also an excuse to try new food and cooking techniques. However, when I had to cut out dairy, eggs, soy, and wheat while breastfeeding my baby, I realized that cooking different foods for entertainment is very different from cooking different foods out of necessity.

My favorite Caleb-allergy experience happened a couple months ago. We took a Joy School field trip to HEB, the local grocery store. They do field trips all the time and regularly sample the same foods to each group, so our group leader told the store. No dairy, eggs, or beef. They were perfectly fine with that.
"We'll give him orange juice instead of chocolate milk", they said. "No sweat."

It started out well enough.

First stop, dairy department. The kids all had their little cup of chocolate milk and Caleb was happy with his little cup of orange juice.

Next stop, the cereal aisle. The women hand out baggies of Fruit Loops. As everyone is opening their little bag, Amy double checks the package and it's ok for Caleb to eat. A little concerning that the employees didn't ask before handing them out, but not a big deal.

Next, the deli aisle where they have cute little crackers with meat and cheese. As the employee is handing them out, Amy stops them.

"He can't have that, he can't have the cheese."
"Oh ok" the worker says, as she pulls the cheese off to give the now contaminated meat and cracker to Caleb.
"No, it touched the cheese! He can't have any of that!"
"Oh. Well how about the crackers out of the box?"

Amy checks the box and finds out the crackers have dairy. The employee settles this by asking the deli for a package of plain ham and Caleb tears into the large sandwich slices of meat with enthusiasm.
(amy-note---I wish I wish I WISH I had gotten a picture of Caleb and his ham; those were MANLY-sized portions he was tearing into. ;)

Next stop: the freshly store-made (and oh so delicious) tortillas. This time they remember to ask first and the tortillas are not Caleb-safe.

Meanwhile, four of Caleb's best friends are devouring these soft, white delights.

Poor Caleb. He'd been a trooper. Didn't even mind that his snacks were all slightly different from his friends. But when it looked like there were no tortillas for him, he started crying. The employees asked Amy if there was any brand they could give him and she knew just the one.

It's funny to see the progression here. They heard dairy, eggs, and beef and thought about the dairy, eggs, and beef they would offer the kids. Dairy = milk, so no milk. And they don't offer egg samples or beef samples, so no problem. But they didn't see the whole picture - the one that included dairy, egg, and beef ingredients. After a couple of close calls and one bitterly disappointed 3-year-old, they began to appreciate the scope of the allergies.

Our final stop was in the produce section. The woman hesitantly pulled out a bag of carrots.

"Are baby carrots ok for him to eat?" she asks.

LOL! Now they've taken it too far and they are officially afraid to give any food to Caleb.

Bonus points to Amy for not saying, "Are there dairy, eggs, or beef in those carrots?"

amy-note--

He lived, though, and at least learning to scan things in the check-out was Caleb safe. :)

The BIG one...for now...

I'm about to 'out' my husband. No, not in THAT way (gosh, some people's minds...), but in the age-category.

He's 30! It's true!

He never wants any kind of a party or anything, so I wasn't going to plan one, but then in honor of his ripe, old age, his friend Vu thought it would be awesome to go to Luby's for dinner, and then go play bingo. You know, birthday celebrations 'old-school' style. :)
So we did. We had a friend already lined up to watch the kids, but Beckett was just getting over being pretty sick, so we took him with us instead.

Luby's was kind of weird. If you've never been, and you didn't click the handy link I created, then let me tell you, it's cafeteria-style dining out. The food wasn't too bad, amazingly enough, but it was pretty pricey considering what we got.

Beckett didn't complain, though, especially once we gave him Kenn's cranberry sauce. :)

Kenn and Michael enjoying the food and conversation

Martin, Vu, and Rima

And (this part is sad, brace yourselves), we couldn't go play bingo. :( The place we were going to apparently serves alcohol, and we had a kid with us, so we got stopped by a rent-a-cop outside before we even got near the door.

Still fun, though.

Happy Birthday, Tootsers.

I'm certainly grateful you were born. :)