Wordless Wednesday

Kid's Marathon Recap

Amara still has 2.5 miles to make up in order to have officially completed the distance ( 26.2 miles).

She was very nervous!! She even took about 3 bathroom breaks in the 30 minutes before the race! She is a true athlete! I tried to explain to her the jitters and nervous excitement and that it was in fact, a good thing! I am not sure she believed me. She was very worried about not meeting her goal. I never asked her what it was, I thought that might make her feel even more pressured.

The Grand Rapids Kids Marathon was very organized. The kids were to start in waves...depending on your last name you were assigned an animal. Amara was a cheetah and in wave 2. She had on my Garmin of course! I did not notice any other kids with fancy GPS gadgets on..whatever.

We were off and running and she did really great! She seemed a lot more relaxed and dare i say focused?!?! She ran the whole way- I found out at the end of the race that that was her goal all along-not to walk! Her time was 13:36 ish. She was flying! The cool thing is that the kids started and ran on and finished at the same start/finish of the real marathon that took place on Sunday.

The kids were treated to water, yogurt, ice cream and apples after the race. The YMCA also had a harvest fest party that we went to after the race. There was lots of stuff going on-face and nail painting, pony rides, coloring cider and donuts and lots more.

I wished I had more action shots, but it would have been kind of hard running with a huge camera! Amara had gym today and you better believe that she is wearing her marathon medal around her neck!

Still here....

I think fall is officially here--maybe! It was in the upper 70's and I enjoyed every minute of it. Amara is doing well with her running. She ran three days in a row getting in at least 1.5 miles each time! She needs 5 more before the big race this Saturday. She opted to take the day off today ( I don't blame her) and wants to shoot for 2 miles tomorrow!

picture from last fall-oct. 11, 2009!

Miles turned 3 and all of a sudden he is getting into his naughty stage. He is really well behaved, so when he does normal toddler shenanigan's it is sometimes hard to take! The good news is he is still dry and doing his business on the potty like a champ. I have been getting him up at around 11 pm every night to use the bathroom and that seems to be working well ( except for a weird 4 days in a row that he was still soaking wet, sheets and all!).

I want to get some good fall pics of the kids before the leaves all fall off.....maybe tomorrow.

Happy Birthday boys!

Today Matt turns 32 and Miles turns 3.

Lots of junk today! For Miles anyway!

He started his day with oatmeal and grapes and topped off that breakfast with half of a large chocolate chip cookie! He was pretty happy about that!

When we arrived at the gym ( had to work), he was greeted with a bad of rice crispy treats; but handed those over to me when he was presented with a plate of fruit from the front desk staff! They were laughing so hard- who gives up sweets for fruit?!?! Miles does, that's who!

After I taught he was handed 2 super mini cinnamon rolls. I ate one and he got the other one after his lunch of deli turkey and cheese on wheat, grapes, wheat crackers and hummus. He also decided to take a nap today.

For dinner we headed on over to Buffalo Wild Wings where he had fries, 1/4 of a cheese quesadilla, a Dum-Dum sucker and a brownie, and ice cream ( shared w/ Matt). When we got home he had a small piece of birthday cake that i made. Whew. He is pretty much on a sugar -high right now. He is not used to this much crap in his system. I gotta go- he just kicked his Monster Truck!

Crock Pot Saturday!

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ Recipe ( click for recipe!)

This is the second time making this deliciousness! It's a hit. Lots of leftovers for the next day and the next! Put on some whole wheat buns and you are all set.

We had a side of Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli too. Amara's choice! I was not too sure about this, but I really like it. She loves the burst of lemon flavor she gets in every other bite. ( click for recipe). I have made this about 3 times now, once without the lemon, but I think it's best with the lemon. I love lemon.

Saturday's are usually reserved for some junk food for lunch and sometimes even dinner. Today we did have take out pizza for lunch, but we were being mindful of getting in a good healthy dinner.

Just stuff....

We are in the full swing of things with school now. I think we are establishing a routine here any minute. I am getting used to Amara being gone all day now. I am getting used to entertaining Miles all by myself now! Amara was really good at that.

I am trying to teach more classes too. Not that I want to, but it's easy money so why not!?!?

Miles has been without a nap for 5 days in a row now! I am not too happy about that, mainly because he is crabby. If he could go without a nap and still be normal, I would not mind as much. I am wondering and kind of hoping he will crash and burn this weekend and then start napping again. If not, then I can probably get more hours to work at the YMCA. I try to be done working in time for Miles to take a good nap, but this week--no so much! I tried everyday to lay him down and he was up causing trouble. He is lucky he is so dang cute.......

Amara is on mile 13 of her kids marathon! We did not run 1 time this week either. She (we) still have 12 more to get in by the 16th in order to make it. I think we will cut it way to close, but it will get done. She's a tough kid and she wants to earn a medal!

She has been asking to buy hot lunch at school. Yuck. I took a look at the menu and was appalled at most of the choices. I don't even think she would like most of the items. I think I will let her buy hot lunch once a month starting this month. We get the menu for the whole month so we will go over it this weekend and choose a day. It's making me think about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution that was on TV last summer. Her school serves breakfast pizza too. It's just regular pizza, served in the morning. What a concept. She understands it's only a treat to get lunch once a month. I hope so. Maybe I will make her pay for it...........