Hayden's "Po Po" party

Our sweet little Hayden turned 2 this past Wednesday!!! I know it's probably over said, but it really does seem like yesterday that we were rushing to make it to the hospital for him to be born.  The days are long, but the years are SO short! Can I get an amen?  Well I should preface this post by saying, I completely bombed at taking photos for the party! I feel terrible about that-- I need to be more intentional about pulling out the camera, but it's just difficult to be in the moment, or be facilitating the moments, and then also be the camera person.  I'll just say, I was enjoying myself!

So let's start with his invite-- we purchased the invite from Etsy, and had them printed through Shutterfly.  We requested the words be changed a bit, (along with some coloring) because we personally didn't care for the original words, but the seller was very accommodating and quick with our changes and we were/are very pleased with how they turned out. 

** Our address covered for privacy reasons of course.

Then of course he needed a police birthday shirt from our favorite shirt maker on Etsy, Ooe & Auti.  Daniel and I debate about the birthday shirts.  They started with Leeland when he was turning 1, and we haven't stopped since, but I guess eventually they'll outgrow having shirts with their names and ages on them.... And I will be sad. Haha! (Her shop is on vacation mode for now, but she will open again in march.) 

Can't sing enough praises about Ooe & Auti! We've been very pleased every year!

Now where I failed, is that I didn't get any photos of the food.... And we had some serious grub... I mean brunch.  I even had laid out a black table cloth with a strip of blue table cloth in the middle to make a "thin blue line" on the food table.  The menu looked a little something like this:

- Fresh strawberries and blueberries

- Turkey Sausage and Cheese Quiche

- The Pioneer Woman's "Cowboy Quiche"

- Ham and Cheese Hawaiin Rolls

- Banana and Walnut Baked Oatmeal

- and donuts! ....

You can't have a "po po party" without donuts, right?  Daniel was slightly offended by this, but at the end of the day, he loves donuts and can't deny it.  Since we were doing brunch, we opted to do donuts instead of cake.  I know! I know! You're probably in shock that the cake lady didn't make a cake, but it just made since this way.  We picked up donuts from our favorite donut shop, "Donut World", and stacked them into a pyramid on a serving platter and put a #2 candle on top. Hayden LOVES donuts, so it was pretty perfect!

Lastly we put out some blue and silver balloons, and I whipped up this thin blue line burlap wreath yesterday afternoon to hang on the wall.  (And I love it so much, that it's going to permanently be on the wall for a little while.)

And the kid really racked up on gifts.  He was in heaven! Two is the perfect age to understand birthdays and presents.  (... And Leeland was in heaven too, because ultimately he gets to play with all the cool stuff too.) 

And because it's birthday tradition, another one of those things that started when Leeland turned 1, I also made candies/chocolates to send home with guests as party favors.  Chocolate police badges for the "po po party."

Happy Birthday Hayden!!! We love you more than words can express! 

Chicks!!!!

We get asked all the time about if and when we will expand our family.  Usually people mean expanding in the form of baby humans.... But, we decided we'd expand in feather form! Ha! We brought home 6 new baby chicks last night.  I have wanted chickens FOREVER! That was one of the first things I asked Daniel for when we bought our house. (It only took a year of convincing.) Last month when my birthday rolled around, Daniel surprised me and said that I was getting a chicken coop for my birthday, which of course meant baby chicks in the spring.  Well... The weather hasn't been very cooperative for our coop building, but when the feed store had the breed I was looking for this week, I just had to bring them home.  So I guess we have about 6-10 weeks to finish the coop, so our girls have a place to live. 

Here's our little babies! They were sold to us as sexed females, which from what I've read online is usually 90% accurate.  I pray they're all females, because at this point I'm just not interested in taking on a rooster.  And I don't know anyone who needs one.... And I don't think I could kill it and eat it myself.  I'm already growing quite attached to these little ladies.  We had some outdoor time this afternoon and the little girls were just hopping into my lap.  Sweet little girls! 

We ended up getting 6 total, and 3 different breeds-- 2 Buff Orpingon, 2 Barred Rocks, and 2 Silver Wyandotte.  The barred rocks are the ones I was dying to get-- I just think they're SO beautiful! 

Hope our Instagram and Facebook followers are ready for the flood of baby chick photos in the coming weeks.  I just can't take my eyes off of them.  Snapping lots of photos because they're adorable, but on top of that, I just feel like a paranoid first time mother.  I've researched for this for over a year, but I just can't stop checking on them, and reading about them. 

Half Training Week 4

To say that the winter weather has been frustrating is understatement of the year.  It wouldn't be so bad if it was simply just cold.  But in typical North Carolina fashion, we have days of 50's and 60's and days of 20's and 30's with snow all in the same week.  All those little 50 and 60 degree weather days are little teasers, and are driving me nuts! I love those days and crave those days along with weekly long runs.  Alas this week brought 6-10 inches of snow.... So naturally, it was to be a whole lot of snowed in indoor work outs.

Here's the breakdown:

Monday February 10- Rest

Tuesday February 11- Turbo Fire Low HIIT 20 and Burn Circuit (Burn Circuit is actually a 30 minute sampler of Chalene Extreme, and is a total body weight lifting workout.)

Wednesday February 12- P90x Legs & Back

Thursday February 13- Rest

Friday February 14- Missed

Saturday February 15- Turbo Fire HIIT 15 class and Stretch 10

Sunday February 16- Ran 6 miles (Yay for some sunshine and dry/snow scraped roads!)

This week was quite emotional for me.  The weather has been up and down a lot, and it makes it so hard to get motivated to work out weeks like this.  I have really really been enjoying this running journey, and I can't run when that much snow is on the ground.  I just can't. I don't think I realized how much I love those runs though until this week when those opportunities were taken away from me.  The long runs especially have become not only a way for me to get my "me time," but I also, spend that time worshipping God.  I get a whole lot of thinking, and praying, and praising and sometimes even dancing in during those runs.  

On top of the disappointment that I didn't think I'd be able to run at all this week, I also had my first missed work out this week. One of the biggest struggles I've had on this fitness journey is giving myself grace when those misses arise.  (If I'm really honest, I struggle to give myself grace in more areas than just working out.) I really tend to beat myself up when those misses come!  Without even knowing how much I was beating myself up at the end of this week, my beach body coach Ashley posted this in our challenge group this week, and it really struck a cord with me.... "...No matter what you choose to do today, remember that it IS just one day. You can get back on track tomorrow if needed. The problems start when we keep saying it's just one more day and never jumping back on.  If you realize that one day out of the week or a couple days out of the month don't 'doom' you, then I think you've started thinking of being healthy as a LIFESTYLE instead of a diet! No matter what, you haven't failed unless you never jump back in!" Amen!? 

So who knew you could learn so much about yourself on a fitness journey?  All glory to God, he is really breaking me and shaping me! 

Happy Valentines Day!

I love celebrating holidays! All of them, they are all my favorites.  I don't know if I've always been a holiday fanatic or if it's just since having kiddos to share these glorious days with and the sweet looks of excitement they get with each and every holiday.  There's just something fun and exciting about seeing each holiday through a child's eyes. 

Earlier in the week me and the boys made some Valentines cookies for Daniel and his squad mates.  For once they have a holiday off work, so I had to get them done early. 

Chocolate cookies with valentine M&M's and chocolate chips.  They were quite scrumptious! 

And then our Valentine's celebrating as a family began on Friday with some delicious Valentine inspired pancakes! 

... And the boys were greeted with valentine hearts hanging for them in the doorway of the living room.

Hayden's says, "Hayden I love.... Your laugh, your cuddles, your wild hair, your excitement, I love you! 2014". And Leeland's says, "Leeland, I love... Your smile, your energy, your hugs, your curiosity, I love you! 2014."  We made them at MoPS a few weeks ago, and it was a pretty brilliant idea that I definitely could carry on to other years. 

.... And yummy treats on the table. 

Praise God I was thinking ahead when I did our regular grocery shopping a couple weeks ago and picked these things up.  We're snowed in here in NC, and there's no way I'd be going out to pick anything up.  The little animal boxes have cinnamon animal cookies in them, and then strawberry pocky sticks for fun. 

The afternoon was filled with lots of lounging and relaxing, and I had the great pleasure of watching Leeland and Daniel play outside in the snow. 

And then we spent our evening having delicious lasagna with our friends and god daughter followed by a yummy "indoor s'mores" dessert. (Thanks Pinterest!)

For anyone curious, to make the indoor s'mores, you get a cast iron skillet, place a layer of chocolate chips, and pile some marshmallows on top, then you bake in the oven at 450 degrees for 7-10 minutes or or until the marshmallows are nice and toasty. (I used pink and white heart shaped marshmallows since they were so festive at the store.) And then you take graham crackers and eat it like you would chips and dip. 

A most excellent valentines day surrounded by the ones that I love most.  Feeling so blessed by God to have these wonderful people in my life. 

Half Training Week 3

I've always heard that it takes 21 days to build a habit... So, hello end of week 3, day 21! This has been a really fun routine as a train, I have two rest days of course, which me and my body need, but also I've given myself lots of flexibility in picking my work outs each day based off weather, mood, and schedule/time.  And there's so many options between the Beach Body programs we own (Turbo Fire and P90x), running around the neighborhood or at the park, or hitting the gym some days too. 

So here's a breakdown of week 3--

Monday February 3- Turbo Fire, Fire 40 class and Stretch 10 (Fun fact, this is my favorite Turbo Fire class out of all of them!)

Tuesday February 4- 2 mile run with the boys in the jogger, Turbo Fire Low HIIT 20 and Stretch 10

Wednesday February 5- Turbo Fire, Fire 30 class, Abs 10 and Stretch 10

Thursday February 6- Rest

Friday February 7- Ran 5.84 miles (I was shooting for 5 and really amazed myself today!)

Saturday February 8- Turbo Fire, Fire 40 class and Stretch 10

Sunday February 9- Rest

Picture from my run with the boys on Tuesday

Half Training Week 2

Week 2 of half training! Here's the break down.... 

Monday January 26- Ran 3 miles, Turbo Fire abs 10 and stretch 10

Tuesday January 27- P90x plyometrics class

Wednesday January 28- Turbo Fire, Fire 45 class and stretch 10

Thursday January 30- Rest

Friday January 31- Ran 3.8 miles

Saturday February 1- Ran 4.3 miles

Sunday February 2- Rest

Trucking right along-- the increase in mileage goes quickly with the training schedule I'm following, so far I've been doing well, but I fear I will hit a wall soon.  Praise God for gorgeous weather to be able to run outside 3 days this week! (And because NC is crazy, the other days there was snow on the ground.) I'm really loving my 5 day a week schedule I have going-- I found that I got burned out quickly doing 6 days a week before. Looking forward to rest tomorrow and beginning week 3 Monday!! :)