A New Blog

I was having a hard time coming up with mostly running posts so I have moved my blog here.
Hope you still enjoy what I have to say about all things in our lives :)

A slow day

Yesterday was a crazy day...we went to Ashley's Mini Team practice and was asked if she could be moved up and do the Youth team as well- oh yeah and the first competition is tomorrow(HA). So she stayed at Dynasty from 9-2 for the double practice and she also has practice Monday from 12-4 and then the competition that night. I am so proud of her but my day did not go the way I thought it was going to.
This morning I got up and ran a very SLOW 6 miles by myself. I really enjoyed the quiet time and was proud that I mentally could run without talking to anyone for an hour :)
When I got home all my kids were coughing so I utilized a new feature at our church called http://woodlandlive.com. I was able to watch church while keeping my kids home and in bed how cool is that. Here is what Pastor Tim's message was about I hope you enjoy what I learned :

CREST
Connect-Reach-Equip- Service-Trust
Living on top of the mountain
Top, side, in the valley- god wants us to move toward the crest of the mountain
Reaching with good news

God Loves you and wants to be a part of your family
Everybody wants to be loved
God’s purpose has not changed
Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18-19
Luke 19:10
Poor are people without spiritual things- people that need the good news
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and that should be our purpose
1. It’s a Spirit thing.
Anointed with power from the Holy Spirit- set apart because we have the good news.
He gives us power.- stronger the presence- the stronger our witness
Help the brokenhearted. (Disappointed )
Blinded by living for the wrong things
Speak of freedom from living the roller coaster life
Peak happiness- pleasure when pleasure goes down
Peak joy find in Christ
Life is dependant on being loved and I am loved by god
He motivates us.
Acts 4:31
Pray- fill-speak (boldly)
When holy spirit fills us we automatically speak boldly the words of Christ.
We need to be filled in every aspect of our lives by the holy spirit

Prayer Spirit Speak


The more filled with spirit of god the more I speak for God.
Need to charge our batteries through prayer.
Find the things distracting us from God then let prayer attack that thing to zap it out of our lives.
Need some spiritual shocks!!!
When shocked in life you stand up and are bold with God’s message and you look like Life
He teaches us.

Don’t speak because afraid….more concerned about people’s opinions of you.
Afraid because you don’t know what to say
Matthew 10:19-20

People don’t need to hear YOU they need to hear GOD!! So don’t be afraid to share.
Our problem is putting ourselves out there- do we trust him to help us.
If spirit filled take the steps to speak anyway- through trusting in God.
Takes the excuse of the not sharing of Christ- use your story to help change people’s lives.
When we do that- that is when we reach others.

Happy Running!!

Baby it's cold outside- still

This morning I got up bring and early at 5 to go for a 5 miler of course. I put on my cold weather clothes ( really need to buy another jacket) and headed out by myself with my faithful ipod. I really am enjoying the morning. I was going to try to run with the Lakewood Ranch Running Club but my options were run from 4:30-6 a.m. or 6-7 a.m. and one was too early and the other too late for me to get home and get the kids ready. I planned on going at a slower pace and I did not disappoint myself. I really wanted to roll back over and stay in bed but I am working on the mental aspect of pushing myself when I don't really want to do things so out the door I went. I passed 2 runners on my way back in and we each did the obligatory wave. By the time I got home I had run 5.16 on the trusty Garmin and I was still cold.
I am really excited for the weekend and the reappearance of running in my shorts. Oh how I am missing my shorts!

Happy Running!!

The road to good intentions

Did I mention that I live in Florida? Did I also mention that the temperature has been consistently below 40 degrees for the last 2 weeks? Did I mention that I have been running consistently in weather under 30 because I usually run before the sun comes up to avoid the wind? This has been my crazy running life and I do not know how people up North or anywhere the temps stay cold do any long distance exercise outside. My run times have been quicker than normal because I guess I have been trying to run faster to avoid being outside. Luckily I have had my FIL here to watch my kids so I haven't had to push them in the jogger for some time. I do know however, that those days are coming to an end but I also think that the cold weather is coming to an end too. I am not quite sure exactly how many days until the Princess Half but I do know that as long as I stick to my plan and don't get hurt that I will be just fine.
Bad news is M broke her knee cap so sadly she will not be running it with me (she did break it falling while running). This just means that mentally I need to prepare to running alone. I did an early 5 miles alone this week and it went really good. I think I am also becoming a morning runner since cheerleading is taking up every evening during the week.
My plan is usually to get up around 5 a.m. and depending on the plan- running, then coming home getting my kids up and ready for school, and then being the bus driver I am the rest of the day, until cheer practice hits at 5:30 and we usually don't get home until 8ish, then bed routines with meals interspersed throughout the day. So the morning it seems is the only time that I have to be able to get my miles in and if I don't BEWARE of the cranky mom!

This weekend is mandatory cheer practice because Monday night Ash has her first CHEER competition. If you all remember from earlier, I was not too thrilled to be forced into this new role as cheer mom and I don't really think I make a good one. Well this will all be getting tested this coming Monday at the Manatee County Fair. Yes, I said the fair- you know with livestock and carney rides and weird people. Why wouldn't I want to parade by beautiful daughter decked out in her short cheer uniform in front of these strange people. Did I mention my daughter is 6? Needless to say, I have already told Ashley that I will not be letting her out of my site during the entire time that we are at the fair and that as soon as we are allowed to leave - we will be! I know, not the best attitude going in -but I am working on it.

Ryan's birthday is in about a month and we are throwing him a party at the local bounce house place. I feel that he gets the short end of the stick sometimes so we are going all out for my boy to turn 4. He really has no clue that he is having this party (it's not a surprise) but he really doesn't care about things like birthdays, presents. If you were to ask him what he wants he will probably tell me something like he wants a ball or something silly like that. I love my boy and am so sad that he is growing up.

Alexis- oh my lord the child can get into some trouble. She usually warms up to people pretty quickly BUT not my FIL. It has taken her 2 full weeks to not cry when he is in the same room. That also has contributed to my 5 a.m. running since I couldn't leave her with him crying for an hour straight. She also is now walking everywhere and she has given up on baby food for good. She shakes her head NO when trying to feed her anything with a spoon because she feels that it is baby food (even when it isn't). She gets into EVERY cabinet in the house and the nail polish I have under my vanity is her favorite thing to bang on the floor ( and she did break one when I was with Ashley at cheer and I left her with my FIL!) She is also the smiliest baby I have ever had and her little giggle cracks me up.

That is what we have been up to lately I WILL be better at updating- I WILL!!

Happy Running!!!

2010 - wow

So, I am a blog slacker- sue me (but please don't)! It seems as though as each day passes the busier that i become. Being a stay at home mom is a crazy job. Winter break is almost over (HALL-E-LU-JAH!!!) and my kids will be going back to school in 2 days. I have survived visits from every member of our immediate family and have come out of it almost unscathed. We have had people in our house for the last month and we have at least 2 more weeks of our last visitor so running has been my saving grace these last few weeks.

I have found that if people start to really bother me I can leave my kids with them and run out all of the frustration then come home and be the loving family member that I am.

Lexi started walking this last week and although I am sad about it, I am also happy that I do not have to lug her around everywhere. Ashley has her first cheer competitions this month and I still don't think that I am ready for it. Ryan is COMPLETELY potty trained- no diapers at all which is pretty impressive for me right now.

I am training for the half-marathon at Disney on March 7 and training is going extremely well. My goal for 2010 is to be more consistent in the things that I choose to do and blogging is one of those things, so keep coming back because I can guarantee that there is going to be a lot of fun going on here this next year!!

Happy Running!!!

Jingle Bell 5K

It was first and foremost a lot of fun!!
There was a lot leading up to this 5k because my parents were not able to come and watch my kids and I DO NOT leave them with people I don't know. So then M was going to watch them for me and that ended up falling through too. So there I am with a race and 3 kids. T worked it out so that I could leave Ashley with her parents and kids during the actual race and we decided that I would run pushing the baby jogger. At the time the thought of pushing the jogger wasn't too bad (although I dislike pushing the jogger under normal circumstances). Of course the circumstances became not normal when the temperature dropped to 55 instead of 85 and I started having mommy guilt over pushing my munchkins in that temperature.
I decided to just go and have fun. I went to good old Target and got hats for my kiddies brought a blanket to wrap around them and we were ready to go.
What I wasn't prepared for was the amount of people involved in this 5k. The first mile I spent trying to dodge walkers (yes I said walkers) and not hitting those who took off to quickly and felt the need to just STOP in the middle of the street. Mile 1 was fun to run but not to race and definitely not easy with the jogger. Mile 2 was along the street that was covered in Christmas lights and then went along the river. It was windy and chilly but the kids thought it was so fun. We couldn't even actually cross the finish running at Mile 3.1 because everyone had stopped and were chit chatting and I did hit the lady who just STOPPED right in front of me ( i apologized).
T and I ran the whole time and finished in 33 minutes which considering the jogger and maneuvering the masses I thought was pretty good. Did I mention that it was fun?
I would love to run it next year-minus my kids (i love them but i don't like pushing them).
Happy Running!!

Yes, I took a break :)

Mostly I just took a break from blogging because I really had nothing interesting to say. We have been in crunch mode around our house. Dave had foot surgery so instead of taking care of 3 kids I have been taking care if 4 kids- haha! I have been running and I actually went for a 10 miler tonight with T. It was so much fun for me (don't know if T thought the same). It was only supposed to be 9 but we got a little lost (really need to just buy the garmin) and ended up doing 10. We have Ashley's first cheer competition this weekend. I am so extremely nervous for her and since I honestly have no clue how she does the things she does I am also so proud. So after this weekend I am going to start blogging a little more consistently again. Dec 14 officially starts training for the half marathon but I feel like I could do one next week so I am just going to enjoy following a plan again and enjoy running with my buddies.

Thanks for being concerned about me but I am doing really good.

Happy Running!!!