Getting Ready For Back To School!

Like the new shoes?! Yesterday we went back to school shopping. School shoes and school supplies! The girls wanted little Hello Kitty shoes that really had no support and were poorly made. Thankfully, Target also had these eye catching running shoes that made the second choice easy!! 

Today, the girls got letter from their teachers! Layne has Mrs. Gallien (the teacher that Hayden had last year!) and Hayden has Ms. Foster. We are excited to see how things go in school this year. Hayden will be in Program Challenge!! I am sure that Layne will not be far behind with that :) Here's Layne working on her first "homework" assignment as a kindergartner!! 

Zoo Tickets

Playing at the library!! 

The girls and I went to the library last week and watched a DVD about the history of the library so that we could get a free family pass!! Wynnie even enjoyed it! 

Nervous Shopper!

I am very nervous about this marathon. It's like I was telling Lisa the other day....the only frame of reference when it comes to running is a half marathon. I just can't wrap my mind around doubling that! It makes me scared. But at the same time before I started training for a half I am sure that I felt the same way about the thought of running 13.1 miles. Now, it is totally doable since I have trained for and completed a bunch. I just have to have faith in the plan and know that if I complete the training I will be able to complete the marathon....God willing! 

This is a foam roller. It is supposedly a MUST HAVE for runners. It massages the muscles before and after runs. I will be honest....it's painful, but it works! 

My new fuel belt! It really is a MUST HAVE for long runs. It holds your energy-water, energy drink. fuels.....

The back view. Love it! 

Normally, for a half I take one gel at about 7 miles in and that's it other than the water/sports drink stations along the way. Since I am training for a full I have to figure out what works for my body and that distance. So, it's time to experiment on the long runs once a week. You'd think that since I take one gel during a half I would just take 2 gels during a full. Doesn't work that way though! 

Logging Miles!

I am in training for lots of races that are planned through the end of the year. That means I am running like crazy. This month I really wanted to break 100 miles....and I did. I ended the month at 108 miles! I guess that number will only go up each month since I am officially training for the marathon now! 

The Zoo!!

On Monday the girls and I were able to go to Zoo Atlanta for FREE!! 

Here we are on the little train that took us around the kids area. You know how much Layne LOVES trains!! She was in heaven. 

They is a new thing at the zoo! A little water fountain thing. Thankfully, we brought their bathing suites so they were prepared. 

The only meltdown from any of them! Not bad at all. It only lasted about 30 seconds too. 

This was probably their favorite thing! 

We got to go into a netted area FILLED with birds. This was only one tree in the exhibit. Right after I took this picture they decided to take flight and come right at me in order to get to another tree. It was NUTS! 

We started the morning out at Ria's Bluebird Cafe. A friend of mine told me about it and said we just had to go. I guess it was featured on Food Network! It was GREAT, everything about it was great....the atmosphere, the service, the people, the food.....

Road Test: Running Bands!

I have been looking for a quality running headband that actually works for years. My problem is that I was looking in the wrong place! I would get my at the grocery store. Every single one would just slip right out about a quarter of a mile into my run. So, I gave up for a while. 

Last week I decided to pick the search back up. I threw the question out to my facebook friends. There were three brands that people swore by, so I decided that it was time to do a road test to figure out which really does work! 

This was the THIRD one that I tested....Sweaty Bands. They are priced at $15 a piece! No, you don't have to get the "bling" style. They have TONS of different styles. This is the thin one. They make thicker ones. For this test I ran 6 miles in the afternoon. It was raining for about 3 to 4 of those miles and it was SUPER humid. The band stayed in place for all 6 miles, so two thumbs up! 

This was the SECOND one that I tested.....$6 Bands. They are priced between $6-$8 a piece. Once again, they have a lot of different styles, patterns, and sizes! I guess that I just gravitate towards the glitter! For this one I went on a 4 mile run and it stayed in place the entire time. This one was Jeremy's favorite, if that means anything. The thing that I like about this one is that the back is a shoulder bra strap like strap, so you can adjust it. That was pretty cool. I also like the price! Two thumbs up! 

This was the FIRST one that I tested.....Brady Bands. They are priced at $6 a band. And yet again, they have lots of different styles, patterns, and sizes (not as many as the others). I was honestly surprised when these orders arrived and they were all glittery!! I did not remember ordering so much glitter! For those one I ran 11 miles and it did not budge!! The other thing that I LOVE about this one is that a portion of the money goes towards finding a cure for childhood cancer! Can't beat that! Two thumbs up. 

So, I would say that given the fact that they all performed the same I would go with Brady Bands! The price is right and money goes to curing cancer!! 

Layne's Birthday and Wynnie's 1 Year Appointment

Layne had a great birthday week! On Monday Grammie took Layne out to get her nails done, eat yogurt, and buy 2 new dresses. On Tuesday Great Grandma came over for a birthday visit and brought her a new dress. And on Thursday Miss America and Miss Gabby took Layne out for nails, yogurt, and a new dress! That girl ended up with 2 manicures, 2 pedicures, and 4 dresses that week! Here's a picture of the nails that she had painted for her second mani/pedi of the week! 

And of course she had to model one of the dresses. 

These silly sisters.....do they not know that there is another side to the table?! 

We came home from Florida to find these blooming like crazy! 

I just love rainbows. This rainbow caught my eye though since it was surrounded by the storm. Just a great reminder that God is ALWAYS present even when we're surrounded by the storms of life. 

Wynnie had her 1 year check up today! She got a finger prick to test two things (can't remember what). She didn't even cry for that! And she got 2 shots....she cried HARD for those! 

Here are her stats.....

weight:18 pounds 13 ounces (10-25th percentile) 

head circumference: (95th percentile) 

height:28 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Wynnie's First Birthday!

Ice Cream Shoppe Party here we come!! 

Melody bought the glass ice cream dishes for the party. They were the perfect touch! She also bough adorable cupcake plates and serving plates! Love them!!

Wynnie's cake topper! 

Wynnie's 1 year scrapbook. I just printed all of the weekly pictures, simple as that! I learned my lesson when I was still working on Layne's 1 year scrapbook the week before WYNNIE was born!! 

Her cake......simple, elegant, fun Wynnie! 

Her smash cake....

We had to have some cute balloons! 

The table scape.....

Make your own ice cream sundaes....

The favors served up in ice cream containers. 

Trying out the cake

Oreo ball ice cream cones! 

My sister reminded me that THIS is where it all began! This was the first (well, second since I made a butterfly practice cake before this one) cake that I created. I made this for Hayden's first birthday over 6 years ago. That's when I discovered my love for cake decorating! 

Running!

I have fallen back in love with running again! Lots of factors have helped this....after Wynnie was born I signed up for 6 half marathons (all which will be completed by November of this year). One of those 6 has turned into a FULL marathon. I still have no idea what I was thinking when I did that! So far I have completed 2 of the 5 half marathons. Another huge motivator has been the Nike+ app on my phone. I have been using one form of this or another for about 6 years now. It has come such a long way though! The newest app can play music, track runs with GPS, track your friends runs (great competition!), set goals for yourself, set run reminders, log your miles for the month and week (and your friends) and I am sure that it does even more than that! So, on the mornings that I don't feel like waking up at 6am so that I can get my run in before Jeremy leaves for work I think, "I bet that Kiki and Brad are going to run this morning so I better get my butt out there!"

I love the things that I get to see on my runs. The picture above was from 2 weekends ago. There was a race called Color Me Rad going on at the Horse Park. At every kilometer the runners would get showered with a different colored powder! There are lots of runs like it around. I have never actually done one (Sep and Morgan did one in Florida!) but I have heard that they are lots of fun. Every time a group goes to do one in Atlanta I have something that weekend or I am pregnant so I have missed out that last two times. 

Here's a reason why I LOVE running with my phone....on my long runs I will call Jeremy while I am at the bottom of the street ready to pass out and I'll ask him to send one of the girls down with water, chocolate milk, coconut milk, or sports water (whichever I am feeling like). 9 times out of 10 Layne will come walking down with a huge smile on her face. It's such a great sight and I love the drink that she brings me too! 

I still am having some minor hip flexor pain but I am stretching and it's at about 90% so I am just going to continue running through it. Other than that I am feeling great and I LOVE getting out there when the temps are too bad. I love getting home early in the morning and I still have the entire day ahead of me and my exercise is out of the way.  

Since I am training during the summer there are dehydration issues that I deal with. Most of the time I get a terrible head ache after my long runs on Saturday, so I have been trying to figure that out since I don't like to run with fluids.....which is going to change. Coconut water is supposed to really help. I have tried it before, but it's just SO NASTY that I can't stomach it. Coconut water popsicles though!? I didn't actually get them, but someone said that they were good. 

This is good coconut water! Zico Chocolate flavored. Tastes like watered down chocolate milk (or chocolate milk made with skim milk...or skin milk as the girls call it). I had one on Friday night and then one on Saturday after my 10 mile run and NO head ache. Now, it could have also been the fact that I called Jeremy about 4 miles into my run and asked him to bring me my hydration belt because I knew that I was sweating profusely and would most likely get dehydrated. He brought it to me with about 3 miles left so I was able to hydrate during the last three miles.

I took this picture this morning, it was actually a lot darker and the moon was a lot more pronounced. It was beautiful!