So much to blog about and so little time.....

I have been putting off my blog for awhile and while the house is quiet for a minute, I decided it is time to catch up. First I will start with the incredible date that Sean and I shared with Josh and Jen. We had a great time and it is so much fun to do something a little different every once in awhile. This year it was the girl's turn to plan. We came up with a Olympics Style date. We started by giving them a little gift that they opened before they left. Inside was a t-shirt to wear on the date that said "Team Elwell" and "Team Carver" They were given $100 to go and spend at the mall. They could buy anything they wanted and usually this wouldn't be hard but they both only bought a shirt and then had money left over.(Sean has since spent the remainder of his money-go figure!)

This was the beginning letter to explain the night:

I think at this point Sean is getting a little nervous while Josh is loving the challenge!

And they are off to shop:

They had 1 hour to get what they wanted and meet us at Target where they got the envelope with event#2

It read: "I'm 2 sexy 4 your love" fashion show

Location: Target Men's department

Event details: You have 20 minutes to complete this event. Each Valentine Olympic competitor must choose the most ridiculous outfit for the other competitor to change into. Then competitors must strut their stuff on the "cat walk"(area outside the dressing room where wives will be with cameras) wearing the selected outfit while singing "I'm a model, you know what I mean, and I do my little turn on the catwalk."

Josh was fine with this but Sean was a little embarrassed. He was a good sport and fun with it anyway!

I love the business socks!

Then onto Event #3 Shake your groove thing

Location: Walmart Sporting goods

Event Details-You have 10 minutes to complete this event. Each Valentine Olympic competitor must find a hula hoop. When given the command ("go"), shake what your mama gave you and see how long you can keep your hoop going, (Loser has to sing "Hoop there it is" while the winner keeps shaking it.)

Josh won!

Event#4- Post-date Couple's "dessert"

Location: Walmart

Event Details:You have 10 minutes to complete this event. Each Valentine Olympic competitor must use one of the enclosed $10 bills to purchase something to be used for an individual couples post-date "dessert" fest (interpret this however you wish...lol). You may only spend up to $10.

I thought for sure I was getting a thong. (If you know my husband, you would understand!)

Instead, this is what I got. (ok, plug your ears mom and dad...........we put it to good use!)

Event #5

Location: McDonald's

Event details: You have 5 minutes to complete this event. As a team, or individually you must stand in line to order. After the McDonald's employee asks if they can take your order at least one of you must respond," I'd like an: "all beef patty special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun." (Then proceed with the order and pay for whatever that item is, lol!) The other person must then say, upon receiving your order, Da, da,da,da,da...I'm lovin' it!

Sean let Josh do the dirty work and the funny thing was that the employee had never heard the song. Are we really that old? We use to have a hand thingy to go along with that little tune. Oh well, it was still funny to watch.

After that it was time for Event #6 which fell through because it was at the YMCA and it was suppose to be a basketball shooting contest. The gym was being used for a practice so we canceled that one and went to the real part of our date.


We ate at the Iron Chef, which we had never been to. We loved it and the food and entertainment was really good. Sean and I both had Chicken, Shrimp and Steak and it was delish!

This guy was funny and did some cool tricks including throwing an egg into his hat.

A heart made out of fried rice. SO SWEET! He even called it "heartburn"..... Get it?

After dinner we went on to see the movie Valentines Day. It was a cute movie. We really enjoyed the night and it was great to spend it with such great friends. Thanks for a fun night, Carver's!

Sean did an awesome job on my present this year. He went with a running theme which I loved since I am in the midst of my marathon training. I loved it. Thank you so much for everything you give me. You are the best!

(Jen got an I-phone which was awesome too. We are both very lucky!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean got to be the Watch Dog Dad for the kid's school last week. I love that he does these things with the kids. It makes me so happy. He spent the day at the school walking around and participating in Kaylee, Connor and Cierra's classroom. They all enjoyed having him there. Even Kaylee who is usually "too cool" for these kind of things.

Kaylee and her good friend, Ally!

It just so happened that there was an assembly that morning and Connor was receiving an award for "Fairness". Sean doesn't usually get to go to these things so it was nice he was able to be there.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On President's Day, My sister and I took the kids to see the movie, "Tooth Fairy" It was cute and they all enjoyed it. They love to hang out with the cousins!
We also went on a bike ride and picnic to the park with the Conner's, Shakespeare's and the Drolinger's. It was a beautiful day and we played for 3 hours. It was so nice!

Science projects were also due, so we finished up those so they could be turned in! I hate science projects.

Well, if I haven't lost you and you read through this monstrous post, please comment so I know I'm not the only one that reads my blog!

Have a great week and next time I will try not to wait weeks before I post something!

And the torture has begun..........

I stole this cute little cartoon from Carrie's blog. I thought it explained the way I would be feeling soon .
I have very mixed emotions as I embark on probably the hardest thing I have ever done(well, maybe besides childbirth)and as I think about it I am looking forward to it and dreading it all at the same time. I have finally gotten to the point where I love running. It is such a stress reliever for me and I love to get out and just run. Put me on a track or a treadmill and that is a different story but if I am outside running it is very therapeutic for me. I have done 5 half marathons and I decided this is the year I would finally step it up and go for the full . At one time in my life 13.1 miles seemed like an eternity but now it is a great run for me. Not that it isn't hard, because it is still very hard, but it's easier than it was 3 years ago. I never thought I would say I will be running 26.2 miles without stopping(hopefully not) in a few short months. June 5th is the day that I will either be so overcome with the accomplishment I have obtained or I will be DEAD! Hopefully it is the first one!:)

I am so blessed to have Carrie, Anna, Tiffany and Soila running with me. I couldn't have gotten this far if I didn't have such great friends that have pushed me through. Thank you for all your wonderful support ladies!

My baby is turning 5!

Brooke is having a Birthday this month and as It gets closer, I can't believe that my little baby girl will be 5. Brooke is a complete joy in my life and I love her to pieces. She is the baby and gets anything that her little heart desires. She has her daddy wrapped around her finger and pretty much everyone else in the house. Brooke will be going to Kindergarten in September and I feel like I am hitting a new phase in my life. I am busier than ever but I enjoy it most of the time. Brooke gets pulled in many different directions as she goes from one thing to the next that our family does. Just today we had 3 basketball games and she went to all of them with a good attitude and a smiling face. Brooke has many nicknames but lately my favorite is "Snuffy" She got snoopy pajamas for Christmas and always want to wear them. She calls them her "snuffy" jamies.
Brooke has gone through a little phase of not wanting to eat and it had me quite worried for a little while. She is slowly eating more and more and has decided it is better to eat than have to drink pedisure. I am sure we are mostly to blame because we have not forced the issue but she is doing much better and has stopped losing weight.

I love this little girl more than I can say and I hope that as her birthday approaches her every wish comes true!

My friend, Kathryn was the parent helper a few weeks ago and got these pictures of Brooke doing the calendar. She takes her jobs very seriously, as you can see!

Kaylee and Connor had a violin concert at Roger's High school last week. It was fun to watch them play. This is Connor's first year and Kaylee's 2nd. Grandma and Grandpa came to watch too.

Cierra has had a thing with these ear muffs lately and has even been wearing them to bed. this was this morning before school. She loves to show off her mad bubble gum blowing skills.

Brooke got in the way of Socks and Ditto playing and got a little scratch!(and yes she still sucks her thumb. We told her she has to give it up in 23 more days when she turns 5)

Cierra had Maegan spend the night on Friday and they had a great time. They loved that they had the same pajamas.