26.2 - Never Again

26.2 is a long way to run. In fact, I would consider it torture. I know some people are “addicted to running”. However, I am just not one of those people.

This past weekend, Mark and I ran the Louisville, KY marathon. We signed up last October, using Christmas money for the race fee and considered the weekend our anniversary present to one another.
What were we thinking? Who would ever think that running 26.2 miles was a good Christmas present and way to spend an anniversary weekend? Crazy people, that’s who!

I had 26.2 miles and 4:05:32 to “think”. And lucky for you, I decided to write it all down. 

• Men have a complete advantage when running. I cannot tell you how many times I saw men disappear behind a building or tree to pee. Not that woman can’t do that, but you have to admit, we are at a disadvantage. 

• Runners are messy. There were cups, gel packets, orange peals, and articles of clothing all throughout the course. Not that I didn't join in the messiness, but why do runners have an excuse to litter?

• Despite the extra energy wasted, I like to dance while running. I am sure I looked a little crazy, but it kept me going. 

• I am an emotional runner. I teared up when Mark left me in his dust at mile 2, when I passed the Christian radio station, when I went through large crowds, and when certain songs came on my iPod.

• Why would anyone ever run 26.2 miles? Seriously, I thought my legs were going to fall off from about mile 22 to 26. It was some intense pain. I just don’t get the appeal. 

• Prayer works! I knew of several people who were praying for me during the race and it got me through some of those rough spots. I also wrote Bible verses on my arms and read through them when I needed a little encouragement. 

• 4 hours is a long time to go without talking to ANYONE. So after the race, I talked Mark’s ear off. Considering he was about to puke, I don’t think he appreciated it. 

• Beer sounded much better than it tasted. Our race bibs had a free beer coupon for after the race. I like beer and I thought it would be a good reward after 26.2 miles. Nope, it was not. 

• I am OLD. After the race, we slept all afternoon, got up, looked around downtown for about 2 hours and then needed another nap.

This first picture was meant to look alot cooler than it actually does. If you look close enough, you can see the verses written on my arms. 

I know I sort of complained alot in this post, but I did get a weekend away with my honey which is better than nothing. And after our second nap on Saturday, we went to a nice dinner and piano bar. So it was not all sweat and tears.

Aunt X 2!

Praising the Lord for our two new nieces both born this past weekend!

Mark's brother and his wife had their second baby, Hazel Mae early on Saturday morning (which I found out about on FB...not cool Chad and Jennie, not cool :)). They live in Ohio, so it will be about one month until we get to meet her.

My brother and his wife also had a little girl this weekend early Sunday morning. Anna Grace was born at only 31 weeks gestation, weighing 2lbs 5oz. My sister-in-law had preeclampsia which caused several complications, resulting in baby Anna being born premature.

Anna has a long road ahead of her, but she is breathing on her own, has minimal oxygen, and got her first little bit of mommy's milk this afternoon. She is a little "firecracker" according to her nurses :)

I was able to go meet her this afternoon and she is a perfect little blessing.

Locks of Love

Taylor has never had a haircut (unless you count the her baby mullet, which I chopped off when she was about 3 months).

We have been wanting to cut her hair for a while, but decided to wait until she had enough to donate to Locks of Love. We showed her the website and talked about what she was going to do. I think she understood it about as much as any three year old could.

And today was the day. We made an appointment, I dropped Noah off at the neighbors, and we headed to the salon.
She looked so big sitting in the chair. I may or may not have teared up. 


When she saw her ponytail of hair, she looked a little shocked, but that quickly wore off. Of course I chocked up a little, but that is to be expected.



I can only imagine what is going through her little head as we hand her hair to her and say "hold this and smile". She probably thought we were a nuts.


Before and After.


Pure cuteness.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

I hope you are having a wonderful Easter celebrating our risen Savior...and maybe Easter egg hunting like these two  :)!

feeling crunchy

It’s rainy, my kids are not napping, and we have run out of things to do. Oh, and our car is in the shop, so we are sort of stranded.

I found this AWESOME website that has a homemade recipe for about everything, so I figure why not try a few?

I decided to attempt the “Man-Smell Killer Deodorant”, and the “tooth scrub”.  These appealed to me because they seemed easy and I already had most of the ingredients. 

Also, I can be stinky. I have tried all kinds of natural deodorants, but they just don't get the job done. At one point, I was even using man’s deodorant! What? It works better than woman’s. 

I found both of these recipes on Mommypotus. The pictures are also from her website. I figure why mess with a good thing?

So, here ya go. 

Man-Smell Killer Deodorant

1. equal parts aluminum free baking soda and either arrowroot powder or GMO-free cornstarch (I use about ½ cup baking soda and 1/2 cup arrowroot)
2. mix with coconut oil until moist and then store in a jar
3. seriously. that’s it.

Quick Tips: Rub a SMALL amount in using your fingertips until it’s invisible. It works that well! (plus if you cake it on it can leave oil stains on your clothes). Store in an a reused glass jar. You get the benefits of a resealable container AND the certainty that no toxins will leech into your skin via container (plastic containers leech over time).

HomemadeTooth Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon Dr. Bronner’s Baby Mild
• 4 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon water
• 20-40 drops essential oil (cinnamon, peppermint, spearmint, anise, fennel – or whatever you like. Number of drops varies based on the strength of the essential oil)
• 1 -1½ tablespoons raw honey or a few drops stevia extract

Note: If you us honey some will settle at the bottom. Just stir a bit with the dropper before using.

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, mix water, 1 tablespoon honey and olive oil until well blended.
2. Add remaining ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Add remaining ½ tablespoon (½ teaspoon) honey if needed.
3. Pour mixture into a vial with dropper or soap dispenser (be sure to label it!) and use!

Next, I am going to try and tackle the shampoo bar. I will let you how that goes!

And since this post was a little boring, I will leave you with this. Hilarious!

Weekend funsies with the Gparents!

We only see Mark’s parents a handful a times each year. So we always jam pack our weekends when they are here. We went to an Easter market, the zoo, out to eat a couple of times, and spent plenty of time outside.

Oh, and unless you are a relative, you might think this post is a little heavy on the pictures. Consider yourself warned.

We went to an Easter market put on by our old church. We LOVED it! They made eggs to tell the kids the Easter story. And the kids got candy at each egg which was obviously an added bonus!

The zoo was rockin, as always! 

Dinotrek was some kind of awesome. Noah “roared” at all the dinos and Tay clenched on to Mark as if her life depended on it.

Mark's dad got a sticker at this exhibit. It said "I got a treat from a Lorikeet". Can you guess what his treat was?

Yee haw!

Who needs a manly tractor, when you can ride this? And check out that muscle shirt ladies, that's just how Noah rolls.