Who's Hungry????

Is anyone else super excited to see The Hunger Games????   I can't wait.  I read all three books in just under a week.  Who doesn't just love Peeta?!?!?!?!?

I have a feeling I'm going to have to be a total nerd and go see it by myself......me and the billion teenage girls that'll be there.  I don't actually remember the last movie I went to that wasn't a kids' movie.  How sad is that?!?!?!?  There's no way I'll be able to talk Jake into going with me.

New Job and a knee pop!!!!!

So, first things first.  I got a new job........way back in August!!!!  I don't think I've ever adequately put into words how much I HATED my old job.  They were just horrible to work for.  Horrible, I tell ya!!!  I love my new job...well, for the most part.  I did have to take a pay cut, but it's soooo worth it.  My day is usually done by 11:30a.  That's right, that little "a" is for A.M.  Totally awesome!!!  I do have over time each week, but no biggie.  I also get to keep Drew home with me.  No more daycare.  It totally more than makes up for the pay cut.  My work day is already half over before I wake Shea up to get ready for school in the morning.

Drew found some long-lost mustaches my mom gave him a while back!!


So, I got back into running again last year.  I love it.  It's a total stress reliever, energizer, make me feel young again kind of thing.  I'm training for the Drake Relay 8k run in April.  But then something horrible happened last night, my knee popped as I was bending down, and I'm in horrible pain every time I bend my knee the slightest, like even going up and down my stairs.  No, I wasn't getting ready to run or playing with the kids, or jamming out to Just Dance3, I was just kneeling down to pet Ruger.  How in the world does that happen!?!?!?!?!?  I'm thinking I might have to go get an X-ray if it doesn't get any better.  I'll give it a few days.

The kids stretching with me before the Des Moines race.

I am sooo wanting to run a half marathon.  There are a few here in Des Moines, but I'm wanting to do one in Minneapolis that they have in August.  I'll never be a full marathoner.  Something is just not right about willingly running 26.2 miles.  Something's not right about doing a half marathon either, but I do want to do it at least once.  The Disneyworld race would be totally awesome!!  You run through all four theme parks with a lot of fun stuff to do.  It's a whole weekend event with different distance races.  How fun would that be?!?!?!?!?

The kids and I at the Des Moines marathon.

Hope everyone's having a fantastic weekend wth no silly knee injuries!

Dam to Dam and a blog you just have to read

You all need to go to this blog Kelle Hampton...well, everyone except Betsy.  Betsy, you are absolutely not allowed to read this blog until AFTER you have your baby.  Deal????  When you pull up her blog, go down to the very bottom.  There's a heading called popular posts.  Start reading the first post that says Nella Cordelia: A Birth Story.  I've been following her for a while and have read this particular post many a time.  She has an awesome way with words.  She's a photographer and her pictures are awesome.  She must take a bazillion pictures a day.  Maybe some of you are already following her.  If you all aren't crying by the end of the post, well, then you're all just dead inside....dead!!!

If you're not dead, then you'll thank me for sending you over to her blog.  Maybe I'm overhyping it, but I just happen to like her blog a lot.

Anyways..........I ran the Dam to Dam earlier this month.  I only ran the 5K, and believe me, that was plenty.  Maybe I'll actually keep running and do the 20k next year.  That's a big maybe.  I have a feeling I'll be running the 5k again.  It was super fun and SUPER crowded.  It was a zoo.  I finished 20 seconds under my goal time.  No, I won't tell you what it was.  Let's just say that I'm certain I could have done a ton better if I would have trained more than once every two weeks....pathetic, I tell ya.

They have a kids' run where they break the kids up according to their age.  I ran with Drew in the 100 meter.  He had a lot of fun.  I can't believe Jake didn't get a picture of him running.  He didn't get a picture of me either.  He said he was right at the finish line but didn't see me cross.  I totally believe him.  With 11,000 people running, it was super crazy.

Shea did awesome in her run.  If you know Shea, you know that she lives to run.  She totally kicked butt in her 200 meter and WON her race.  She was so stinkin' fast.  There were about 50-60 kids in her race.  Drew and I got her to the start line and then hussled to the midway point to watch her.  Drew was such a good little cheerleader.  Jake caught a  pic of her crossing the finish line.  According to Jake, the boy behind her was way behind her but was trying to make a last ditch effort.......good try little guy but not against my girl.  She's dying to do another race now.

This next one is only about a tenth of the people getting ready to run the 5k.

 
I hope you all had a great weekend celebrating Father's Day!!

I-Cubs baseball

Jake and I took the kids to go see the I-Cubs play against the Tucson Padres this past weekend.  What fun!!!!  The kids had an absolute blast.  Truth be told, I don't think they watched any of the game.  They were just there for the atmosphere.  Shea and I got on the big screen.  Shea thought that was the coolest thing ever!!

The I-Cubs mascot Cubbie made his way over to us.  The kids loved him.  This is a HUGE deal that Shea is giving him a hug.  She has always been freaked out by people in big costumes.  That's why we don't have a single picture of her with Santa or the Easter Bunny.  Now that she's cool with it, I think we need to finally visit Disneyland.  It was never an option to us before.

So, here I am waiting to caption the postgame show for the Sharks and Canucks game.  It's in double overtime right now.  I should have started an hour and a half ago.  It's almost midnight.  I'm tired!!  Poor me.

Hope you all are having a great week!!

The Royal Wedding

Yes, I got up early to watch the Royal Wedding.  Why?  I have no idea.  I'm not into the royals.  I'm definitely not a fluff chick.  I've never dreamed about marrying a prince.  I've never been super girly, but I totally wanted to watch the wedding.  Shea wanted to watch it too, so I got her up as Kate was getting ready to walk into Westminster Abbey.

How awesome was her dress???  Wow!!!  She looked great.

Shea and I got a kick out of some of the hats.  What in the world was up with some of those hats...YIKES!!!  Did any of you see Princess Eugenie and Beatrice's hats?  They were a little frightening.  Shea did her best to stay up, but I guess 4:30a is just too much to ask.  She asked me to wake her back up when they were ready to kiss.

If I were a really good mom I would have made scones and tea, but sliced apples and peanut butter just had to do.

I'm now off to the Puppy Dog Relays at Shea's school.  The kids have tons of fun. I'm so glad it's a beautiful day!!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Holy Homemade Marshmallows!!!!

I've been wanting a Kitchenaid mixer for a long time...like forever!!!!  I finally got one.  It only took me selling my steno machine.  Jake just couldn't believe that I wasn't ever going to use it again.  No freakin' way!!!!  I didn't even have the urge to try it out before I packaged it all up.  Take a look at this beauty though.

The kids and I made these super awesome peppermint marshamallows with it.  They are totally delicious.

YUM!!!!!  I combined these recipes from Our Best Bites and Martha Stewart.

Drew and Shea are turning into quite the sous chefs.  It's great until they end up fighting over who gets to do what.  It can get pretty ugly.  Shea has marked almost every page in her kids' cookbook for things that she wants to make.  She's been getting into writing out menus and taking our orders.  Her b-day is coming up in a couple weeks, so I'm thinking I'm going to get her a couple waitress pads so that she can really take orders.  Fun, right?!?!?!?!?!?!

Speaking of b-days, can you even believe Shea's going to be seven?!?!?!?!?!  For crying out loud, where have the past seven years gone????  It's mind-boggling that she's going to be seven.  I don't like it one bit!!  What I do like is that my parents will be coming up from Arizona for her b-day.  I love it when they visit.  They can stay forever as far as I'm concerned!!

Anyone keeping up with the NCAA basketball tournament??  All I have to say is U of A....U of A...U of A(University of Arizona).  Beat Duke!!!!  Go Wildcats!!!

Have a great rest of the week!!

Stacey New Year - Year of the ??????

Okay, so here goes.....I've had the crappiest couple of months, totally due to work, so I'm starting the year over.  How can I absolutely LOVE my job but not like my employer?  Someone, please tell me.  I'll spare you all the pity party.  Some of you haven't been spared and have already had to listen to me....THANKS!!!!!!

Anyway, I'm at the point where I can't take it anymore and something's got to give.  So with that in mind, I'm starting the year over now and am going to go after some serious changes.  Just getting this out is already taking a load off of me....WA HOO!!!!  Why should the Chinese have all the fun and have an animal every year.  I want one.  What should it be?  Nothing creepy like a rat...crazy Chinese!!!

Luckily, I'm the only one going insane at my house.  The kids and hubby are wonderful. 

Here's my little sweetie helping roll out pizza dough.



Shea will be seven next month.  Yeah, you read that right, seven!!!  How in the world did that happen?!?!?!?  My parents are coming up for her birthday....totally cool.  Now, where to have her party??  We usually have it at our house, but I think we'll have it somewhere this year.  The obvious places are Incredible Pizza or Pump It Up.  I'm totally leaning towards Pump It Up, but then I thought that Metro Ice for an ice skating party would be fun.  Yes?  No?  There's also Monkey Joe's, which is like Pump It Up.  I better decide pretty darn quick.

Drew is still just the best little guy E.V.E.R.!!!  He wants to do everything that Shea does.  He talks up a storm and still loves to snuggle with me.  I'll take it while I can.  I think we're going to start tackling that whole crazy potty training thing with him this weekend.  I should say I'M going to start tackling it. First thing in the morning I think I'll have a delivery truck drop off a load of Clorox wipes and M&Ms.  You know, Clorox wipes for the clean up that I'm sure will be needed until Drew gets his aim down and M&Ms for the rewards...for me not going crazy for having to teach a boy how to go potty. 

Jake is working on our mud room.  I loved our mud room before, but now it's going to be even more awesome.  The whole thing is gutted and a complete mess.  So, what did Jake do yesterday instead of work on the mud room???  Right, he went fishing!!  I can see how that's more important.  Can't say I blame him.  If I EVER had a whole day to do anything I wanted, it sure wouldn't be working on the house.  I wasn't mad at him...promise!!!

Is anyone else as excited as I am about Ralph Macchio being on the new season of Dancing With the Stars??  Oh, yeah!!!!!