The Color Run 3.0

Heads up, this is a picture HEAVY post.

On Saturday, I did The Color Run (CR) for the third time.

It was a blast!

I wasn't able to run it though, my ankle hasn't healed yet.

I think it's safe to say that when my Dr. told me I would have been better off breaking it she was telling the truth.

This CR was particularly awesome because I was able to do it with my mom.

I did it with my two besties, Jennifer and Clara, for the third time as well :)
All three of us had our moms there and Clara had one of her sisters there as well.

It was a fun time hanging out with the ladies!

My mom and I at the hotel before the run.

We had a blast!

Since we had our moms {and sister!} we decided to go all out this year.

Tiaras, tutus with rainbow colors and fun socks.

Jennifer, me and Clara, pre-race at the event.

Notice the tiaras?

They match our tutus.

I had to curtsy, it's impossible to not feel like a princess with a pink tiara and pink & white tutu on.

This pic cracks me up, notice the port-a-potties in the background!!!

Here's me in all of my pre-race color.

We only did the color on the back so it was mostly white.

At this point we had made it through orange and yellow as well as some spray green and purple.

We posed in the exact same spot when we did our first CR in KC {the second was in Lawrence}.

Notice the photobomber??? In a previous pic he could be seen jumping behind us.

The CR really is a blast.

It is so fun and happy, people are there to have a good time.

It really brings out the kid in everyone.

This pic was post-CR and four color tosses.

When you pick up your race packets the day before they give you a packet of color.

When you get to the end of the race there is a stage with a dj playing music.

They count down and everyone throws their color in the air.

It is such a fun experience!

We were filthy!

At the yellow station someone had thrown yellow right into my ear, my scalp was {and still is green}.

My mom told me that I looked like I belonged in the movie Avatar.

Post-race and post-shower.

After some scrubbing, okay, a lot of scrubbing I was pretty clean.

Like I said, still some green on my scalp, no matter how long I wash my hair it always seems to take a while to get it all out.

This Color Run really was fun, I can't wait to do it in KC next year!

A surprise date with homegirl

My sweet girl, my brown-eyed {or purple so she says} has been in need of some one on one time with her mama.

Life has been busy lately and I feel like she's been struggling with it the most.

She's my littlest, my sweet and sassy and all things goofy girl.

She's still adjusting to having B over again.

It's been a bit hard on her not being the youngest because I can't always carry her when she wants to be carried and sometimes B needs attention when she wants it.

Yes, she has to share my time and affection with her sisters but she's the youngest in our crazy circus and not being the youngest during the work day has at times been difficult for her.

 

Today an opportunity came up for us to have a Mommy-Daughter date.

Adison was going over to a friend's house to play after school.

While driving there I got a call from B's mom saying that she got off work early and was coming to get B.

When I dropped off Adison Ainsley was also invited to stay and play.

This is the beauty of the girls being best friends with siblings and me being best friends with the mom.

My dear friend knew that I was needing some time and she so sweetly provided it.

Poor Babs was sad about not being with Ainsley so I decided to take her to go get cupcakes.

Yay!

I bought Abby a little thing of frosting as they were making some more cupcakes.

We then played some games, she chose Candy Land, Jenga, Shoots and Ladders and we played with the Scrabble letters.

We ate our cupcakes and then headed home for some pizza with K.

It was a wonderful afternoon.

To have some time with my youngest, just the two of us.

She told me how much she had and how she can't wait to go on another date again.

I loved it, soaking up the time with her, to do whatever she wanted and to talk with her without interruption.

It was delightful.

Tonight when Lee got home, Abby shouted "Ains-lay!!!" 

The girls shared a massive hug and it was so neat seeing them together.

A big thank you to my friend, Jennifer.

Thank you for the gift of a surprise afternoon with my baby.

Our elf arrived

Last year for Christmas my mom gave me an Elf of the Shelf.

Yes, I asked for it for Christmas.

I love their vintage look and the sneaky facial expression.

Plus, I love the idea of passing the buck to the Elf for keeping track of the kids behavior.

I'm not above it.

Last year the girls decided that our elf was a girl {of course} and her name is Harper.

Harper stayed with us for a few days last year and then had to head back up to the North Pole to spend the next 11 months hanging our with Santa.

This morning she showed up, sitting so mischievously at the top of our Christmas tree.

The girls all but flipped out when they spotted her.

Ainsley swore that she saw Harper blink and that she was watching her every move.

Yay, nice move Harper, nice move.

The girls are on alert, good behavior is to be had.

{pretty please!}

Halloween 2012

How was your Halloween lovelies?
Ours went very well!

We started off our Halloween morning with a parade and a party at Adison's school.

The little girls love looking for Adison and shouting out what the other costumes are.

It's crazy to think that next year I will have two kiddos in school, eek.

After the parade/party we headed back to the van, which you can barely see in this picture.

I thought that this picture of Lee was so sweet, I played around with it a bit on my phone.

We had lunch, rested/napped, had dinner then went over to my Dad and step-mom, aka Morning according to Abby, house.

It was their first trick-or-treating of the day.

I even got some candy, score!

My dad {who shouldn't be doing yard work!} just can't help himself when the girls are over, he had to rake up some leaves so they could jump in them.

He's quite the kid himself, I think it's what makes him such a fun Papa.

This child, she slays me with her beauty, spunk and goofiness.

It was a gorgeous night out, I think I took five or six pictures of the sky alone.

We went out ToT-ing with some friends/small group members.

The girls were so excited because they each had a buddy to run house to house with and scream like terrified banshees.

K, who is such a kid himself, dressed up like a Jedi.

You should have heard the kids commenting on his costume/light saber when it got dark out.

Hysterical.

K and Kip had a light saber battle, luckily no limbs were lost in this epic match.

But then Abby took K on with her glow in the dark fairy wand and I think it's safe to say that she won.

Fair and square.

Trust me, you do not want to duel with a fairy princess.

Speaking of Babs, she was a riot.

Homegirl would raise up both of her arms and come running to us saying, "I GOT CANDY!"

Abby the fairy princess, Adison the NCIS agent and Ainsley the Barbie princess.

Have I mentioned Abby's princess song?

If not, this is what she repeatedly sings while dressed as a princess.

It's awesome.

Trying to break the cranky

When: Sunday afternoon.

Where: local park and rose garden

Who: K, Adison, Ainsley, Abigail and yours truly

Why: Super cranky, feisty kids needed a break in atmosphere and physical exercise 

Every once in a while a bad mood, cabin fever mood runs through our house.

It appears to be contagious.

When such an event occurs the usual prescription is a change in scenery.

Every Autumn and Spring I get a bit twitchy.

I know that our frolics in the sun and the cool wind on our faces will come to an end.

Why you ask?

Because we have the pure joy of experiencing the extremes of the desert and the tundra.

{Note: some sarcasm and over-exaggeration being used}

The reality though is that we have some pretty wicked Summers and Winters.

It's just a fact of living in the Midwest.

It comes with the territory.

We have very few weeks of mild, outdoorsy weather and when they show up we try to embrace it.

Sunday afternoon.

Beautiful day outside, a storm inside.

K and I knew what had to be done.

Get outside IMMEDIATELY.

This need was so necessary that we even had Abby skip her nap.

Skipping a nap for a two-year old is some pretty serious business.

It was a blast.

The kids ran around, playing hide-and-go-seek in the rose garden.

Balance beamed around the koi pond.

Ainsley even managed to score some bread off of a nice couple there to feed the ducks and some fish.

{She even shared some with Abby, Adison was too busy running around.}

Then we got home, ate some food and shuffled the children off to bed.

Sigh.

It was a good day.

Just keep swimming...

and in our case: swimming and swimming and swimming.

Hey-o!

This is me after day two of marathon swimming {soon to be three and then hopefully four!} yay sunscreen.

Today {like yesterday} the girls had swimming lessons {see the picture below}.

We then have a few hours for errands, lazying around, lunch and nap time for the Babster.

We then meet up with my besties {Clara and Jennifer} to work out.

It has been fabulous, I Never Never Never would have thought that I would actually enjoy working out, but I do.

Then, we get the kids ready and skedaddle out to the pool where we spend the remainder of the day.

The older two girls are taking swim lessons this week and next week.

The super fun part is that we scheduled it so that we go with my besties and our kids are all best friends too!
{I don't know if I have mentioned before, but Jennifer and Clara are sisters-in-law, so I guess I should have said the kids are all best friends/cousins.}

Next year Abby will get to take swimming lessons as well, say what!

This sweet girl is LOVING the pool.

and the snacks

and the friends

and the jumping

and the splashing

and the, well, pretty much everything

Argh!

Abby this morning watching the pirate Backyardigans episode

She's a pirate.

At least she thinks she is and that's what we're going with.

It's become commonplace to hear "argh!" "ahoy matey!" and "walk the plank" all spoken with a gruff two-year old voice.

That with her arm crooked at just the right angle, her back slightly hunched over.

Sometimes she even includes a shuffling gallop is you aren't within arms reach.

It's become a family show.

K and I, obviously cannot resist her charm and spunk.

Playing right along with "walk the plank!" and "shiver me timbers" thrown in to make her giggle.

One of the sweetest things about this stage that Abby is in is seeing her sisters play along.

Lee pretends she has a hook for a hand using her finger.

Adison gets down on her knees and "arghs" at Abby, pretending to chase her and occasionally taking part in a mock sword battle. Often done using spatulas, which adds to the hilarity of the scene.

I love that everyone is playing along with the youngest member of our family.

Indulging and encouraging her make-believe wonderland without complaint but rather joy.

A band of pirates are we, argh!

Run Adison Run!

Adison had her Spring Fun Run for school on Monday.

She was really looking forward to it and I was really looking forward to cheering her on!

Oh the excitement I felt when she came into view.

Running running running

She finished fourth among the girls and was pleased as punch.

You could see how excited she was to get close to the finish line, to hear the whooping, the hollering, her name being yelled.

It's kinda fuzzy, but can you see that big grin on her face?

I saw it and felt it spread to my face as well.

That girl is pure sunshine.

After they had the race there was a carnival.

Abby wanted to be held the entire time and I would have loved to have been able to do it, but my arms were getting sore.

I eventually asked K is he thought she could fit between me and the backpack {diaper bag}.

She did and couldn't have been happier.

I could feel her little body relax into mine, I love having her close to me.

Ainsley was thrilled at all the bouncy houses they had.

This one had a mini-obstacle course and a big slide.

Her little best friend Kaylin went on it with her several times.

There is something about watching to little girls run hand-in-hand, with excited giggles that makes everything feel okay in the world.

She then went over to an actual bouncy house where she bounced around like a loon.

Then, without any indication, she ran headfirst into a big blow up column and went flying backwards.

It was a riot.

This is Adison and her bff, Emmy.

They were gladiators.

Teeny tiny little gladiators.

It was epic.

We had such a fun night.
Catching up with friends.

Children playing and having fun.

Can't wait for next year!

We had a busy, fun, lovely, interesting weekend.

1. We celebrated my brother's birthday this weekend. My mom came in town and we all went out for lunch. Happy Birthday Joe! Miss you already Mom!

2. We picked up Miss Adison on Saturday morning. I was beyond ready to see her face, I missed her. Tremendously. I love getting that first, giant, squeezy hug from her.

3. Ainsley and I went out shopping with my mom for most of Saturday afternoon. She bought me PW's new cookbook. I made her beef and bean burritos last night for dinner. So. incredibly. good. I then used some of the leftovers and made myself a delicious lunch.

4. Sunday an older gentleman hit our parked car. While we were in it. The poor old man worries me you guys, some people for their own safety and the safety of others should not be allowed to drive. 

5. Afterwards, we took the kids to the lake and went for a 2 1/2 mile walk, bike ride, scooter ride, being carried. You know, depending on who you were. I will give you a clue, I was not the one that was carried. That sure would be nice though.

6. I then came home and mowed the front yard. Then K and I rearranged some furniture.

7. Due to the previously mentioned busyness I was asleep around 9:30 last night and slept until 7:15 this morning. *yawn* I desperately needed it.

8. This morning was the first day back at school for the girls. Ainsley was ready before the bus came. Adison, well, she got to school late today. Sigh. Tomorrow will be better.

9. This morning, while baby B napped and Lee was at school, Abby helped me wash the front porch. It was DI-R-TY! We then pulled some weeds and played out front until a large dog ran into our yard. I don't think I have even moved so fast as when I grabbed Abby and dashed into the house. I'm sure it was quite the sight.

10. Ainsley has ballet later this afternoon, I think I may be as excited as she is!

How was your weekend? 

Branson~ How I adore thee

Okay, so, yesterday I mentioned that we went to our yearly stomping grounds of Branson, MO.

I have been going with K's family since before we were married and they have been going even longer than that.

It's something that we all look forward to.

We have our must-visit places and we made sure to visit them.

The Track.

Every year we head to ride go-karts.

{Well, I think every year, weather permitting.}

Poor Abby, we thought she would be big enough to maybe ride something, anything.

Nope.

She was big enough to ride the quarter machines, despite a few smiles, she was ANGRY.

Like, screaming on and off for about 2+ hours angry.

Adison, she loved every. single. second. of it.

She was big enough that she could ride on everything and was even able to drive a go-kart by herself.

She rocked at the bumper boats.

Ainsley was a rock star at shooting the water guns on the bumper boats.

She wasn't big enough to drive so Grandma took her.

{Thanks Grandma!}

They had a mini go-kart track for the littles like Lee to drive.

She surprised me with how well she did.

 

We managed to squeeze in some shopping, I got some new running shoes.

Thanks Nike outlet store!

As I mentioned yesterday, we checked out the Disney store.

The littles freaked out in the best way possible.

Squealing, dashing from place to place and "Oh! Look at this!" abounded.

 

Poor Babs, despite our attempts to get her to bed on time and whatnot, homegirl was exhausted.

She actually slept in the car for a decent nap.

Okay, so I'm going to embarrass myself for a moment.

On the way home we stopped by the Osceola Cheese Factory.

It's another of our must-stop locations.

Normally we stop on the way to Branson and the way home.

It is so incredibly delicious, yum.

Ainsley needed new flip flops, girl's feet had a major growth spurt.

While at the Walmarts she and I both saw these gems and knew that we had to have them.

So stinkin' cute!

 

I mentioned yesterday the tornado that struck Branson a few weeks back.

This was one of the first effected buildings that we saw and let me tell you, it was shocking.

It was so sad to see how bad some of the buildings were hit yet such a sense of relief that it wasn't worse.

I'll share some more pics tomorrow!

Data entry and spring cleaning

Today, while Abby slept I worked on some data entry.

Did I tell you that I am on a subcommittee for the PTO?
Well, for that committee I am on another subcommittee, awesome sauce.

For the second subcommittee we are working on a study topic trying to find out about communication among other things between schools and parents.

We were expecting to get maybe a couple hundred responses and were thrilled to get close to 900.

Such a great number!

We have a couple hundred paper copies of the survey that need to be entered so we can tally results and whatnot.

So that has been my mission, get my portion of the written surveys entered.

You know what I've discovered?
I really enjoy data entry.

Yep, that's right.


This morning around 11 o'clock I got a call from Adison's school, she puked.
I was worried about her, my poor baby.
But then, I get there, she's laying down on the cot/bed thing and she says, Mommy, I feel fine.
Oh, okay.
 We are 99% sure it was from her donuts, sugar overload.
Now she's home for two days, score!
We of course had to stop by Sonic to pick up a Sprite for her and treat her sisters to Sprites too.

Abby has been galloping around the house singing
Bate bate, chocolate

She's a big Dora fan.

Spring Cleaning.

The kids DE-MOL-ISH-ED the house on Saturday.
I had been putting off doing a big cleaning but K took one look at it and declared it time.
For a while the house was even messier but then, at long last, it was clean.
Less than 24 hours later it was trashed again.
But at least it was a clean trashed???

Ainsley starts ballet tonight.
She is beyond excited and told me earlier that she wanted to go right then and wait outside there until is started.
Too bad it was like 5 hours before then.

I minimized the toys and clutter.
I was seriously feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff in our house.

We celebrated my Dad's birthday this weekend.
It was a lot of fun, good food, wonderful company.
Such a nice celebration!

How was your day/weekend?