Monday Musings / Weekending

We got back yesterday from our Thanksgiving vacation in Myrtle Beach. It was a lot of fun. The kids were all very good for the most part and they had a blast. The house layout couldn't have been more perfect - a room with bunk beds for the kids, three other nice-size rooms for the adult couples and four bathrooms. Farrah of course slept in her pack-n-play in our room. I'd definitely rent that place again! The view right off our deck was nice too.

The house was right on one of the campground lakes.

To keep the boys busy, there were playgrounds right on the beach, an arcade that was just like any big arcade, an indoor pool {for wintertime} and put-put. The kids loved winning tickets and trading them in for small toys. We also took them to a War Bird park where they had real life planes from wars...and we took them to see the Christmas tree lighting at the Market Commons shopping center.

 

I ran my 8K on Turkey Day! An 8K is 4.97 miles. I am glad I had MapMyRun going on my iPhone because their course was actually a tad longer and their timer read 58 minutes as I crossed the finish. But on my app, I hit 5 miles at 57 minutes. My goal was under an hour and I did it! I joked with my husband that my racing number was his first Thanksgiving {he was born in Jan 1978}.

Farrah, the poor thing, cut her first TWO teeth while we were there. {I think she was trying to cut some in time to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast!} Her nose was runny, she was spitting up a lot, drooling and running a mild fever at times, yet, she was still as sweet and happy as ever. She has been such a good baby.

We did manage to finally get some family pictures taken! I brought my DSLR camera and had my sister-in-law take them. In exchange, I took her family's. Not a bad deal to get some semi-professional looking images. Here are my faves:

So I was able to get my Christmas cards ordered yesterday!

Have a great week! December already...wow.

Linking Up With: Monday Morning Gossip // Life Of Meg // Still Being Molly // Lipgloss & Crayons // B Loved Boston // Really, Are You Serious?

 

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Myrtle Beach Bound

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We are headed out later today for Myrtle Beach and I'm running around like a mad person getting errands, packing, etc. taken care of. On top of all that, I woke up to my dog having been sick in my kids' room...so that was an extra fun way to start this day!

I'm looking forward to my Turkey Trot 8K on Thanksgiving, I'll let you know how it goes! I'm hoping to do it in under an hour, but I haven't been training much the last couple weeks with the rain and cold {if I'm going to do a 5am run, it's going to be in decent conditions, mmmkay?} ;-)

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Have a very happy Thanksgiving! It will officially be DECEMBER when I get back to posting on Monday! WOW - 2014, where did you go?

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In A Time of Thanksgiving...

We are headed to Florida tomorrow, so I likely won't be posting again until Monday, but I wanted to wish y'all a very wonderful Thanksgiving and may you realize and be thankful for all the blessings in your life.

I am thankful for so many things in my life. Life is not always easy, but I know it for sure could be a hell of a lot harder...I know I am blessed and I don't want to focus on the negative because there is truly so much positive that outweighs it.

{one}
Thankful for two precious little boys that remind me every day why life is worth living. They try my every last nerve, but at the same time tug every heart string. I try to live vicariously through their carefree attitudes, hopeful eyes, playful laughter and innocence. I couldn't imagine life without them...I pray I never have to.

{two}
Thankful for this miraculous baby growing inside me. I can't wait to meet this little person and I am so excited for the bountiful blessings and joy he/she will bring to our lives. If it's even half as wonderful as what the other two have brought, I'm in for something special {and I know it will be well more than half!}

{three}
Thankful for a loving, devoted husband who tells me I'm beautiful, even when I'm being "ugly". He loves me and all of my imperfections. I am grateful for our strong bond. And his looks ain't too shabby either.

{four}
Thankful for my family - Dad, Mom, Jared & Jeff. Though the miles be long in between us, the love I have for all of you never fades in the distance.

{five}
Thankful for my inherited {in-law} family...so wonderful, loving and giving. Our family wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't for all of you.

{six}
Thankful for true friends, and even special acquaintances...I pray our friendships only gain strength through the years and please know that you've benefitted my life and I am so grateful.

There are of course so many more things I have to be thankful for, but I'd never be able to end this post if I tried to name them all. That's how blessed I am...I feel it's endless.

~ Happy Thanksgiving ~

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Monday Musings

This weekend I was able to pretty much get my house fully cleaned! It's been hard finding the time between weekends out of town or just too many plans. Lord, I really want a maid like some of y'all have! Someday...someday.

One of the main reasons I was so house-focused was because I was putting up all of the Christmas decor. I normally decorate Thanksgiving weekend, but since we are headed to Florida this year, I knew I should get it out of the way before then. We decorated the tree on Saturday night...I always put up the main decor ornaments the day of our family decorating party - blue, silver and white balls, and then the kids, Hubby and I all have our own keepsake ornament boxes that we put up while listening to Christmas music and drinking egg nog. It's one of my favorite traditions. Here's the tree before the keepsake/kiddie ornaments:

And after the family decorating:

Had to capture the moment of Breckin lying on his stomach gazing at the tree...it was so sweet. As you can see, dog toys and my exercise ball have already found their way underneath the tree. #lifewithkidsandpets

I normally change out all of my pink and yellow stuff to match the blue and white Christmas decor scheme, but truth be told, I'm just too pregnant lazy this year. It's just a lot of work and then I've got to find places to store all of my year-round decor in the meantime. So basically, the decor is just the tree, the mantel and the entryway table.

On Sunday, I got to finally see my good friend Corey and we had a little shopping date at the Towne Centre. I even enjoyed some Starbucks Tazo Zen Green Tea - it had been a while! I don't drink caffeine throughout pregnancy {not a coffee person}, so it was nice to have that again, especially on such a cold day here in Charleston. After she headed home, I decided to make a stop on a whim to get my hair chopped off. Yep, we're talking around 8-10 inches, people. Some people may still consider this long, but it is short for me:

It's pretty plain-Jane. I didn't want to do any layering right now since I hadn't really taken much time to plan out the cut, so it's more blunt around the edges. I just knew I wanted a change. I really do like Kelly Ripa's new cut, but not sure I could handle it that short...and she has a team of stylists doing hers every day...I would have trouble getting the volume with my straight-as-straw hair.

I don't know, maybe eventually...maybe.

Speaking of Kelly Ripa, I will be in NYC in less 2 1/2 weeks and my mom and I are trying to get tickets to see Live with Kelly & Michael. I love that show, so that would be awesome. Crossing my fingers. I'm so excited about that trip. Though, as a prego, with a belly that is now protruding, I'm nervous about finding clothes that are warm enough for the December NYC weather. I made a quick online order at Motherhood Maternity for some long-sleeved items {in my other pregnancies, I was never large in the wintertime, so I only have short-sleeved tops}. And some of my regular tops still fit OK, so hopefully I can manage. I'll be wearing leggings under my maternity jeans, it's going to be so cold!

Anyway, CHEERS to this short work week; we are headed to Florida on Thanksgiving Day. We'll spend that evening in Downtown Disney, then do Animal Kingdom and Gator Land over the weekend. Should be fun trip!

Happy Monday, All!

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Turkey Day Run: Race Recap

Ok...so I have to officially say I hate the chip timing system. Hate.

I feel like my time is never logged right in the end. {Let's not forget last month's Race for the Cure when my time chip apparently didn't even log my actual!}

So let's hash this out...the race officially started at 9am. I was in the second wave which started at 9:03. So the clock had been running 3 minutes before I was able to start. When I hit the end of the race, I remember looking up at the time and seeing 34:54...then of course, due to bottlenecking, was unable to get my timer under the finish line until sometime after 35 min, apparently 35:09, because my time on the website says this:

BUT, if I go to my RunKeeper app, I show that I ran FURTHER than 3.1 miles {not by much} and know that my app had been running for at least two minutes before I actually started moving:

I suppose this chip time was close, but due to the bottlenecking at the start and at the end of the race, I'd estimate my actual time to be right at about 30:30 - 31:00 minutes. So pretty much the same as last month's Race for the Cure. My next run is the Reindeer Run, hopefully I can really push it then! I'd so love to see a time UNDER 30 minutes.

Going to trudge through with my half marathon training this week!