MY GREATEST BLESSINGS

Today is Thanksgiving.
As is tradition, we spent the day eating far to much delicious food, and pie, and lazing around with friends. A great day really but, Thanksgiving isn't about the food, or the lazy day.
Its an opportunity to reflect on our many blessings, and the things we have to be thankful for.
Although I love the spirit of gratitude that comes with this holiday, I think it's so important to try and recognize our blessings daily, and not just once a year.

I have so much to be grateful for. I honestly feel like its recognizing these things...even the little ones, that allows me to feel the great joy I feel for the life I lead. When we can recognize and be thankful for the things we do have, then we don't so much dwell on the things we don't have...and from experience, I have learned that usually, what we 'DO' have is enough.

Although my list of 'blessings' is long, I have spent much of today thinking about my 3 greatest blessings... Jake, Luke and Kate.
If I had nothing else but those 3 individuals in my life, I would still be 'Rich'.
Nothing can replace the love and joy of a family.
And to me, my little family is perfect...

Luke was very willing to stand by us for a picture... as long as he didn't have to smile. LOL

Good looking couple or what? haha

These are just a few more pictures that I thought were too cute not to share.
They're from Jakes birthday last month. I love these 3 angels!

ROBIN RUN 5K... FIRST PR

Yesterday, I ran my 2nd official 5K (Color me Rad doesn't count. lol)
Back in May, I ran my first 5K...I posted about that one back then..
Since then I had a goal to beat my time (I finished it in 28:07)
Summer in NC stinks (hot, humid and too many gnats), so I didn't get out as much as I'd have liked, but I started running more often again when the weather started cooling down, to train a bit for the 5K I did yesterday. My goal - finish in under 27 minutes

The morning was PERFECT weather... 50's, blue skies, sunny, light breeze... couldn't really ask for better weather for a run.
The race was pretty old school.. no chip timing, just a clock at the finish line, so I used my RunKeeper app to time myself, and it correlated perfectly with the clock, so I guess that worked out well despite the lack of chip timing.
I didn't know the area that we ran in, so I wasn't sure what to expect.. I just followed the signs.
The course wasn't the greatest... LOTS of corners, and about 4 decent size hills. Those were a killer.
My first mile (1.6km) went pretty well... 7:30 minutes (I've never run a mile that fast before... I'm just not a fast runner)... when my runkeeper told me that, I got my hopes up for an even better time than my goal... and then I hit the first hill...
I slowed down after the first mile again, and wasn't able to get back to that pace. The hills were killing me. Bleh.. oh well.
I ended up finishing in 26:42 (8:28 average pace/mile) (5:16 minutes/Km)
01:25 improvement from May... not much, but a PR (personal record) is a PR right?
I'm thrilled that I met my goal, but that first mile had me 'dreaming' of an AWESOME time...maybe next time, with a flatter course.
The next 5K I'm shooting for is February...so I have a few months to train (between LOTS of holiday eating, and a vacation trip. lol)

 

WHEN THINGS GET TOO QUIET...

Today I set a cup of yoghurt down and forgot about it (I had planned on feeding it to Kate but got distracted because we had friends over for a play date)
Things got quiet, and then suddenly Luke came running into the living room, waving his finger at me, and said, "Oh no..mommy... it's yoghurt"
I knew right away what was going on. LOL.
Miss Kate had found the yoghurt and 'fed herself'

She was so proud of herself. Little stinker. haha
What a mess!!!
We love this little mischievous girl :)