Lounging at LIVESTRONG

Last week Aurora had Monday off from school. Instead of taking a day off from work, she had a sleepover with Presley and the girls came to LIVESTRONG HQ at about 3pm to drop her off with me. I lead them on a tour which included a little bit of this...

... and some of this. Yes, the girls explored every box, chair, and lounging area they could find. The hammock is always a favorite stop on the grand tour.

I'm not sure they saw the blue couch in the HR lounge, but I'm including this picture because I've been working on the staff photo wall for a long time and was finally able to put it up just a a few days ago. I think it turned out pretty cool. Can you enlarge it enough to find me?

This week has been filled with fundraising events, finales, parties, dinners, merchandise sales, bike rides and more. I went to a really cool work function Friday night and after the serious business concluded, we danced to an 80's cover band for hours. The next morning Aurora and I headed back to work to volunteer, handing out t-shirts to ride participants.

A couple of her best LIVESTRONG friends were volunteering, too, which means that in addition to volunteering there was plenty of squealing, running, playing, and more lounging. Maybe you can't call it lounging when all three girls are a blur...

These big bean bag chairs have been in our office for years but these days they're rarely used. I was told I should just go ahead and bring one home, so we are now the proud owners of a HUGE red bean bag - which is why you finally get pictures of CLARKIE!

The sweet boy hardly knows what he's been missing. I've tried to limit my after hours work involvement to his nap/sleep times, but he has been wearing his LIVESTRONG shirt! Who knew lounging around could be so fun?

Certificates

This has been a very exciting week! Our Wednesday night doughnuts were in celebration of a few things. First, Wednesday was our Parent Teacher Conference and Ms. Zaroba had only great things to say about our girl. She said that Aurora finished Kindergarten reading a full grade level ahead and is currently so advanced that the only thing she works on with her is comprehension. Aurora is one of the only kids in class who can read silently to herself. She loves writing and drawing and is excelling in math. She's a sweet, loving friend who works hard and enjoys school. In fact, she's such a good friend that today she was honored at the weekly assembly with an award for CARING. The award says that they recently had a new student join the class and Aurora made that student feel welcomed. Ms. Zaroba told me that within hours of her first day Aurora was already saying that Ella was her new BFF.

I was awarded a certificate of my own this week when I graduated from a yearlong program called SOS Leadership Great Women Leaders. I've been focusing on goal setting, better communication and more confident leadership. If it wasn't for this program I probably wouldn't be training for that half marathon...

I'm so proud of both of our accomplishments but perhaps the most exciting thing was that we got our certificates in the same week! How cool is that?

Doughnuts

Tonight I took the littles to Family Night at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Apparently every Wednesday night Krispy Kreme sets up a station for kids to decorate their own doughnuts. Who knew this was a thing!?

Along with free doughnuts and hats, they got little art projects AND the Ghost Busters were on hand with a game of throw the doughnut in the ghost's mouth. Aurora won a pack of vintage Ghost Buster trading cards. The cards are seriously from the '80's!

We don't usually venture out on weeknights but tonight we braved the traffic and stayed out late for three reasons. First, because we just learned about this crazy Family Night and had to check it out. Second, well, doughnuts. And third because we were celebrating! Stay tuned for Friday's blog to find out why...

Belle

A few months back Aurora asked me to play a song from Beauty and the Beast and I ended up showing her a video from the Broadway musical. She LOVED it and watched nearly the whole performance on my phone. I told her that if the show ever came to Austin I'd buy us tickets to see it in real life. In my mind I envisioned that happening in a few years when she's 9 or 10 years old. Later that night I looked it up and found that the musical was on its way to Austin. True to my word I bought tickets, and today was the day!

Aurora was nowhere near the youngest and she definitely wasn't the only princess in attendance. We saw several other Belle's, a Princess Aurora and Snow White. She was a little fidgety but considering it was a 3-hour performance, she did a great job paying attention and clapped enthusiastically after each song. It was a very special mommy-daughter date. Who knows - maybe in a few years we'll do it again!

On The Run

A few posts back I mentioned I was starting a new training program to prepare for the 2015 Austin Half Marathon. Well, I've joined a group called Moms on the Run, which so far is more hand weights and leg lifts than anything else, but it's good to mix a bit of strength training into my endurance work. Yesterday was our second meeting and both times I followed the 1-hour session with a 2-3 mile jog around the neighborhood. It's been a long time since I was serious about working out and I'm really getting into it. Suddenly I can't focus on reading anymore! After all those great recommendations y'all gave me, the only books I seem to be able to get into these days are about running. I'm reading articles, watching youtube videos, and probably spending more time thinking about my training plan than I actually spend running. But, if I'm going to do it I want to do it right.

Moms on the Run is an 8-week program and I'm sure we'll take a group photo that I can post eventually. After yesterday's workout I took Aurora to a Home Depot workshop, then we met Bailey and Kim for lunch (Bailey's in town for ACL). It was a great morning.

We hung out with my parents afterwards and WOW did I ever feel like I could use a nap!!! I think one reason I can't concentrate on reading anymore is because once I lay down to relax I just fall right asleep. Don't worry, I'm incorporating plenty of rest days into my (so far not very intense) training schedule. If only Clark wanted to nap as much as I do...

Food & Fun

This week I did my best to run and stick with my training plan - and I did a pretty good job, but I had to contend with a LOT of cake, cupcakes, and chocolate. Not only did everybody bake and buy me sweets for my birthday, but Friday we had a neighborhood chocolate tasting party. Aurora and I dipped strawberries, bananas, pretzels and bacon in chocolate. It was awesome.

The kid's probably ate healthier than we did, but by the end of the night chocolate was oozing down Clark's shirt. The next day we had Grandma and Grandpa over for a make-your-own-pizza party!

It's a good thing I've been working out or I surely would've gained 10 lbs this week alone! As if all that food wasn't fun enough, we spent the afternoon doing Mad Libs. Aurora's old enough to read, write, and understand nouns, verbs, etc. so it was hilarious.

Today we got up bright and early for a DAY OUT WITH THOMAS! I try to stick with one theme for each blog and considered breaking this up into two, but how could I wait to post all this cuteness? Clarkie loved the choo choo trains and we got to spend some time with our buddy, Austin.

There's more going on this weekend, but I've had about all the food & fun I can handle...

Happy Birthdays

For months I've been telling people that the Marathon Relay was going to be my birthday party (and they were all invited!). At some point I forgot about the birthday and started focusing on fundraising and training. I actually got a few sweet gifts from my family and teammates on event, then yesterday Chuck and Aurora did the food shopping for me and came home with beautiful roses, a balloon and chocolate pie. Dinner was birthday girl's choice and I decided on Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. I'd been telling Aurora how they cook the food right in front of you on a flaming grill and she was pretty excited to experience it. Grandpa came along too, but we all know that Clark and Grandma don't know how to behave at restaurants so they spent a quiet evening together at home.

It was a seriously fun and tasty birthday treat... not just for me, but for at least one person at every table! Aurora said it was the best birthday dinner (of mine) EVER. Our family celebrated another special birthday this week when my nephew Preston turned 18.

I do remember that day 18 years ago, just a few days shy of my 20th birthday, when I went to tell my family that Chuck and I were engaged and nobody seemed to care :) In retrospect, Preston was much bigger news. He was the cutest baby I'd ever seen and he sure has grown into a handsome and impressive young man. Happy Birthday Preston!

Marathon Relay

Today was my second time participating in the car2go Marathon Relay with Team LIVESTRONG. Once again I was team captain and once again I gathered 5 awesome women to run with me. A few highlights included having the sole of my shoe come halfway off just before my leg of the race and using yellow duct tape to keep it together; having our 5th runner show up about 3 minutes before her start time (serious excitement!); bringing Aurora and letting her color and play with the other kids and families while we all ran (she had a great time); and best of all was coming up on mile 4, so close to the finish line, and seeing my team, our girls, and my PARENTS cheering me on in the crowd!!! I did not expect them to come and it was awesome. Maybe the BEST part was handing off the baton when my 1/6 of the marathon was up.

My goal was to raise more money, train better and run faster than last year. We definitely raised more money, winning an award and lots of great incentives for being a top fundraising team. I feel like my training went better (though I didn't really start training until a few weeks ago) and my final time ended up being almost exactly the same as last year. A couple weeks ago I decided that I want to keep training even after this event is over, so next week I'm starting up a new training plan (more to come on that) and my next goal is to run in the Austin Half Marathon in February. WHAT!?

Gone with the Wind

During my sabbatical I stopped playing games on my phone and started reading books. Real books, Kindle books, lots of books. My favorite genre used to be young adult fiction but these days I'm more into historical romance, so I decided to read Gone with the Wind. I put it on hold at the library not realizing it was 1472 pages - definitely one of the thickest books I've read! If it were published today I'm sure it would be a trilogy. Regardless, I loved it and finished it in just over a week. Afterwards I found out that a local museum was going to have a Gone with the Wind exhibit to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the film. When I heard, I had a conversation with Aurora that went like this:

Me: Aurora, remember that book I told you I was reading?
A: You mean the one about the Civil War?
Me: Yes! Well, they made a movie about it, and a museum nearby is going to have an exhibit with pictures and storyboards and letters and dresses from the movie!
A: Well mommy, I would be interested to go to that with you.

So, today we went! My mom and dad have been gone in Florida for the last month or so, but they came back this week and were more than happy to come along.

I think the exhibit would be awesome no matter who you are, but it was especially cool after just reading the book and watching the movie. This has been a hard act to follow so if you have any book recommendations, please leave them in the comments. And if you happen to be in the Austin area, stop by the Harry Ransom Center and check it out!

Better late than never...

Clark's been 2-years old for 5 weeks now and today I finally took him in for his 2-year well child check up. If it was up to him, we would've skipped it entirely. He didn't like the change in his morning routine, he didn't like the sun in his eyes during the drive, he did not like getting weighed or measured or having the doctor look in his eyes, ears, or mouth. In fact, he kept getting down, opening the door and leaving! Thank goodness he didn't need any shots. He did cheer up a bit when I put him in the little hospital gown...

Our little guy weighs just 23 lbs, putting him under the 25th percentile for weight (maybe closer to 5th). He's 34" tall, putting him just over the 25th percentile for height. He's behind where Aurora was at this point with speech, but he's right where he's supposed to be - and his motor skills are above where Aurora's were, meaning he may not be able to say as many recognizable words but he's never once had a face plant the way she always did. The doctor pointed this out to me after asking a few simple questions and she said that's very common. I think it's amazing that there are such obvious differences between boys and girls!

I also remember Aurora wanting to do things independently, but she usually wanted to do the right thing. Clark just wants to do what Clark wants to do, and that usually doesn't include doing what he's told. Oh well, he may be a little more "terrible" at two than she was, but we sure love him anyway.

Achievement

This weekend was completely packed with outings, parties and awards. I'm sure many people think it's silly how we reward kids for every little thing these days, but I love it. I love that Aurora got a "Certificate of Achievement" for making a birdhouse at the Home Depot kid's workshop. I love that Girl Scouts has started back up and she gets a badge every month for learning something new. This month they made a chore chart - what's not to love? I love that she got a prize for volunteering 5 hours over the summer at the Little Helping Hands end of summer picnic, and she loved telling people that her favorite volunteer activity was Meals on Wheels.

As for me, my greatest achievement was getting the family to all these events and a birthday party with very few meltdowns. While he's not in many pictures, Clark came along whenever he could and had a great time. He even got to hit the piñata!