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 :)

HALLOWEEN 2012

This year, Halloween was so much less stressful than in the past.
For some reason the idea of 'wasting' money on costumes that will be worn once, stresses me out and tends to give me a bad attitude about Halloween..
This year however, Luke wore a 'hand me down' costume, and was the most adorable Buzz Lightyear, and Kate wore a borrowed costume, that my super talented friend made a few years back.. she was the prettiest little pumpkin.
So in the end, Halloween cost us $5... $4 in candy for our trunk or treat, and $1 for Kates Halloween candy bag (yes, we're the kind of parents who tote around their adorable little 1 year old pumpkin, letting her 'beg' for candy so that when we get home we can eat it. lol)
All that said, we had a LOT OF FUN... and Lukes excitement and enthusiasm is just contagious. He's at such a fun age right now, I almost wish time would just stand still so I could enjoy it for as long as possible.
We had a delicious chili dinner at our ward event, then took the kids up the street for little 'trick or treating', and then headed back to the church for the trunk or treat.

A sweet story a friend told me after the trunk or treat tonight:
Luke and Jake were going around collecting their candy from all the cars in the parking lot, while I was handing out candy back at ours.
A friend of mine was going around with her little neighbor, a girl about Lukes age.
Luke spotted her, and for some reason decided just to take two pieces of candy out of his bucket and give them to her. We're not sure why he decided to do it (maybe a little crush? lol), but I thought it was very sweet of him to do that. I love my thoughtful little boy.

Pictures from our fun evening.

My Buzz Lightyear, and my little Pumpkin

A self portrait. lol.. the only picture I was able to get of myself with either of the kids tonight.

Kate was in on the action too (Of course mommy and daddy intend to eat most of it. *evil laugh*)

This is my FAVOURITE picture of the day. Luke just recently started saying 'cheese' for pictures... and he has the silliest, cutest little grin when he does it. I love this adorable little boy :) What a cutie.

Eating her candy :)

ADORABLE little pumpkin

Woody, Buzz and Bullseye

A bucket FULL of candy by the time we got home

He wanted to go to sleep with his glow bracelet and pumpkin lights. lol. funny boy.

What a fun time... I think I may already be excited for next Halloween :)

COLOR ME RAD 2012

This past Saturday was the much awaited 'Color Me Rad' 5k run... I registered for it about 2.5 months ago, and was pretty excited about it.
I do think the term "run" is probably a little inaccurate though. LOL.. we were having far too much fun along the way to really RUN... it was more a combination of light jogging, walking and playing. haha

It was A LOT of fun though.
My friend Rachel and I somehow ended up looking like Dumb and Dumber in practically every photo... gee...imagine that. LOL...but it was just a lot of silly fun (while raising money for a good cause)

It wasn't timed, which given our jog/walk/play routine is probably a good thing.
I have a 5K coming up on November 10th that I will take more seriously, and time myself.

Here are the pictures from our color blast day.

My official Color Me Rad Photo... well the only one I got that looks semi normal. lol

The Team pre-run

The first of our 'Dumb and Dumber' photos. haha
As someone said, "Are they lost?" LOL

Dumb and dumber again

My adorable little Kate... what a cutie

Hanging out near the finish line, waiting for mommy.

One of my cute supporters

My other handsome supporter at the finish line

No explanation for this one. haha

Headed to the finish Line

This Looks dumber that it really is... I had spotted Jake and the kids so stopped to talk to Kate...

At the Finish

The Damage. lol

Looking like a Smurf... with bad hair.