getting ready....

I leave for MN today for 8 long days! I miss the boys and David already! I'm going to spend the next few hours getting stuff ready for my trip and I'm trying to squeeze Ry in for a hair cut that he so terribly needs! I don't think I will do much posting while I am there, I will try... but don't want to promise anything. I will miss you all... ta ta! xoxo

A day at the park

Every Saturday morning the boys go to breakfast with David, Uncle Jeremy (Gunko G), Uncle Matt and the cousins. These pictures were taken this past Saturday at a park they went to play at after breakfast. Sure looks like thy were having fun!

Halloween Happenings

Ry waited all day to gt into his Halloween costume. At first he was dead set on being a monkey. Then of course on Thursday while we were at the store he decided he HAD to be a pumpkin. We met up with all the cousins for some trick or treating, Jackson was a trooper even though he really didn't know what was going on! Here are some pictures from our day.

We should start a band

Here we are singing Happy birthday to Davey... listen to how Jackson chimes in too!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

For Davey's Birthday Davids parents gave him a tree. I thought, what a fabulous idea! Those of you that have been to our home know that we don't have much of anything going on in our back yard. In fact when we moved here we didn't even have grass! It may look like grass but all it's just bunches of weeds!





Now over the years we have added sod, trees, plants and flowers. In fact I wish I had a camera right now to take a picture of how beautiful the front of our house looks. We put in a patio and some small bushes and flowers in the back but we have not yet started on the actual yard. When Davids mom called asking if we would like a tree we were all over it! So yesterday during the birthday party, David, Jeremy and Ryder planted our first tree.



Ryder loves spending time with his Daddy and "Gunko G" the smile on his face shows just how much fun he was having!

Happy Birthday Davey!

Today is David's Birthday.... he's turning 31! Tonight we are having the family over to celebrate. Hopefully our new camera will come today that was I can actually post "real" pictures! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVEY, xo!

Gracie's special day

Gracie is my cousin Lori's little girl. She is so sweet and I think she looks just like her mama! Since I don't have a baby girl, I take great delight in the fact that she has one... Lori, since I'm done, I may just want to borrow her every now and then. Would that be OK? :)

We were not able to make it to the actual Baptism service because I was teaching Sunday School myself, but we were able to make it to her party to help her celebrate. I was told that she was so good during church and didn't even cry.

Jackson was pretty fond of Gracie himself. Being the baby in our family, it isn't often that he is around someone smaller then him. I think he liked being the older one.... just look at how he looks and cuddles with her!




Here are Ry and Jac holding Gracie together. I can't believe how gentle they both were!



God's blessings Gracie, we love you! xo

This is going to e fun, thanks Nina!

Yes I have been slacking again. My apologies! I still have to write about our trip to the apple orchard and all sorts of stuff. I've just been so busy with trying to get stuff ready for me going back to work, seriously the days have been NONSTOP! So I saw this on my fabulous friend Nina's blog and I figured it would get me back in the game....



It is called "Fourth of Fourth"... I pick the 4th picture in my 4th picture folder, write about it, and then tag 4 people.

4th folder - √
4th picture - √
Write about it - √
Tag 4 people - √

Here we go...

4th folder - 10-17-07. Pumpkin painting party!

4th picture - Me helping Ryder paint his pumpkin. Well it is actually probably when I first gave him the pumpkin to paint. We invited all our cousins over to decorate pumpkins for Halloween. They are all still a little to young to carve a pumpkin so painting them was ideal. We had a blast, everyone did such a great job and managed to stay pretty clean. There were all sorts of pumpkins... my favorite was Cole's, who decided to paint his pumpkin orange. All orange because it was his favorite color - how funny! Ry was 2 at the time, just look how young he looks! When we were done, we cleaned up our mess and enjoyed some homemade brownies that I had made prior to the gathering. It sure was a great afternoon!

Tag 4 people- House of Rose, Financial Dad, Team Cogski & Addie and Mommie's Bloggy


Thanks Nina for some inspiration this morning!

Helping or trying to cause trouble?

Ryder has taken the role of being a big brother very seriously. He has been helping Jackson with all sorts of things lately. On his particular day Ryder was enjoying yogurt as his afternoon snack, I guess he wanted to see if Jackson wanted some. Ry was spoon feeding Jackson the yogurt so nicely that I just let them do it. I turned my back for one second to find that Ryder had decided it was a good idea to start painting Jackson with the yogurt. He had it in his hair, his ears, all over his face... you name it, there was yogurt. So I am wondering if Ryder was really wanting to help Jac or if his ultimate plan was to paint Jac. Hmmm.... I guess whatever Ryder's plan was, Jackson didn't seem to mind!

Ryder helping Jackson



Jackson after I got him cleaned off a bit.



Uh oh got to run! The boys new thing is opening the refrigerator door and seeing what they can take out. I'm not even kidding when I say that little Jackson just ran up to me just with an open bottle of Tabasco holding his tongue. Ouchies... but I'm willing to bet he won't do it again!

Dance, dance, dance!

We love to dance, the whole family does and many nights we spend with the boys showing us their latest moves. Here we just happened to catch the Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds Concert on the Disney Channel. The boys bopped along while David & I watched. For some reason Jackson kept falling down, but he would get right back up and join in again!

Ta Da!

OK here it is! It looks way different then before. I do not have everything up yet, still need to work on windows, the tops of the cabinets and the walls but I want to find something I really like before I get to work on it.

I'm slacking....

Yes, yes I know... I'm a slacking blogger. Does that even make sense? I guess I've been pretty busy over here. Starting tomorrow I will be much better. The kitchen is completed but I don't have any pictures yet because I need to put everything back where it goes. That is my goal for today!

As for the going back to work... I'm going to do it! I accepted the job late yesterday afternoon. The GM seems very excited to have me on board and said that he truly believes that with the rate that Lifetime is growing that if I just continue to be me and put myself out in front of the right people that I can have my own club one day. I thought at first it was fluff but then he said that when I'm in at Corporate in MN (8 days!) that he wants me to make sure that I meet and introduce myself to the higher ups, that he thinks the CEO would love me and that Lifetime does not care how long you have been with them, just how great you are at doing what you are doing. So lets all hope I get in there and prove myself worthy of all these compliments! I'm excited to start and really excited for all the new work clothes!

The painter is coming!

I told you he would surprise me at the last minute! He called last night saying he would be here tomorrow. Of course we didn't know this until around 7pm. Right to work we went. We had to clear out the kitchen and find places to hide everything so the boys could not get into it. Then we had to decide on a color. Many of you know I was hoping to convince Davey to go with a nice chocolate brown. He told me no over and over. Then this morning he decided he hated the color I picked out and gave the OK for the chocolate brown. Wooohosies!!!! I decided on Wenge by Benjamin Moore. I'll take ics so you guys can see how it turns out! Have a great day everyone :)
OH and I think I'm going back to work - full time! I'll tell more about that later, ta ta for now, off to the gym we go!

Candy Time

One thing Ryder loves sharing most with Daddy is a special treat. When we were at the grocery store yesterday Ryder found a special treat that he wanted to bring home to share with Daddy. David doesn't mind, because Ryder just so happened to pick out his favorite Reese's Whipped candy bar. Believe me they are delicious. Last night Jackson got in on the action and joined them for a "special treat" every time he got to take a bite he would smile up so big at Daddy.

Here are my 3 boys enjoying their treat.



Can you believe that I didn't even get one bite!

Too funny not to share

I did it guys.... I won the whole thing! I ended up surprising everyone including Lidiya Grigoryeva who came in SECOND with a time of 2:27:17. She thought she had it, but boy did I surprise her!

Chuggin along at mile 23... really tired!

Ryder cheering on the runners while waiting for me at mile 16

Some pics from yesterday

Here are some pictures from yesterday. Hopefully I can figure out how to upload videos later. I will have more pictures from Marathonfoto tomorrow.

P.S. I feel good today. My joints are sore, but not as bad as I thought. I can move and am actually headed to the gym!

Oh!

And I will have pictures later!

All done

I am done. I have yet to eat and I feel like I've been run over by 5 semi trucks. At 11 am Chicago hit 85 degrees and it was awful since the course is mainly in the sun. Isn't it supposed to be cool in October? At the water stations they kept dumping water on our heads to help keep us cool. Made me think back to high school at Pom camp where they would not let us leave the building without a wet head. Thank goodness for all the volunteer's that supplied up with water and Gatorade.

Seriously it was rough, it's such a strange feeling. One minute I felt awful the next great. I've managed to throw in a load of laundry and pick up the kitchen a little bit since I've been home, but after I eat I am shutting down.

Around mile 16 I decided to play cheerleader. I knew how I was feeling and couldn't imagine the people around me were feeling that much better. I made it a point to ask them if they were doing OK, if they needed anything. Seeing them smile the run that much easier for me.... I hope it did the trick for them too.

People were right when they told me at mile 20 it was all mental. My body was moving, but my head wanted me to stop. Miles 21-22 were the worst. Everyone around me was silent and there were barley any spectators. You could hear footsteps all around you and you were just hoping to see someone or here some other noise. I guess everyone was doing what I was doing and just trying to stay focused and save energy.

Around mile 23 I would have these moments where I would seriously think I was forgetting how to breath.... it felt like I was suffocating. My heart rate was low so I knew I was OK, but I had to tell myself, open your mouth, inhale, exhale and repeat.

Mile 24, you know you are so close and the last thing you want to do at this point is walk. Tears kept welding up in my eyes and believe it or not I didn't cry. Believe me, that is a shock because those of you that know me know I cry easily. Everyone kept screaming 2 more turns and you are done.

Then there it was.... the finish line. The feeling was amazing! Suddenly all my energy was back and I finished strong.

Thanks to everyone for their support! I love you all... and yes I think I'm doing it again :)

xo.

3:55...

is the time I woke up this morning. I actually slept last night, I really didn't think that I would, but I was out around 10:30. I did wake up once and I was thinking uh oh, I won't be able to fall back asleep, but I did!

So after getting up I jump in the shower. Why do I shower before I am going to run? Well to help loosen up my muscle and joints. I make the water as hot as I can take it and I let it do it's work. After I shower I put my hair in some pig tails on top of my head & throw on a little waterproof mascara just so I don't look horrible :)

Now I'm dressed and ready to go. Oh I forget, you have to put this stuff called body glide all over your body. It looks like a stick of deoderant. You put it everywhere and anywhere you have skin or clothing that may rub together. It helps with chaffing. I've been fine thus far, but you never know what the day may bring.

My Michael Phelps diet has been in full swing for the last week. Todays breakfast consists of 2 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I'm on my second one as we speak. Delicious I might add! I've got 8 oz of water down and still have 16 to go before the run actually starts. My brother-in-law Jeremy (Gunko G) is nice enough to have stayed at our house last night and is driving me downtown.

I plan on getting to the city around 6:15 this morning. The race doesn't start until 8, but you need time to warm up, check your gear, drink water, work out nerves, etc. Right around 7 is when they have you start walking to your corral. This is where I here things get exciting. There are 40,000 people all waiting to start this thing. They have music blaring and I hear it's just really awesome. But the thing is, it's really east to get so excited that when you start to run you take off way to fast and wear yourself down way to early. So, I need to remember - nice & slow! I can always speed up at the end.

So here goes nothing.... months of training are going to pay off today. I'm not really scared anymore, just ready for it to be here and done. Todays mental approach is 6 miles and then a 20 mile training run. That and I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to be for Halloween and I guess I will have plenty of time to think about it today!

I have David & the boys coming down, Jeremy, my Mom & Dad, people from the gym and any my fabulous cousin Beth coming down to cheer me on. Beth is actually going to meet me at mile 21.5 in China Town and is going to run the last leg of the race with me for mental support. Seriously isn't she the best. I can count of her for anything, she the sister I never had! Awwww :)

Me & Beth at Lori's Bachelorette Party.



OK, OK I'm done. I've got to body glide my feet and put my shoes on. Oh wait you should see my shoes.



I have so many tags on them right now. Here you see my black timing chip, my safety tag and the Nike pod that communicates with my ipod. It's really neat, Davey got it for me. It tells me my pace, my time and my distance, occasionally Lance Armstrong will come on and congratulate me - I love it! I really am a technical runner, along with the Nike pod, & my ipod I have on my heart rate monitor so I know what zone I am in and how much harder I can push myself. I'll explain all that another day. But it helps.

OK FOR REAL now, I am done. I'm ready and excited. I'll be in touch later and let you all know how I am doing. Don't make fun of me if the bus takes me for a ride!

THANK YOU!!!

I got flowers yesterday from my best friend Mandy and her family, J & P! They are so pretty and the mean so much to me. Thank you so much for caring so much. You guys just made me a little less worried about tomorrow :)

2 days!

So tonight is my most important night of rest. They say that the night before you will not sleep so to make the most out of Friday night. The only question I have is, if I couldn't sleep last night because I was all worked up about this thing, then how on earth am I going to sleep tonight!?!

Someone tell me to relax already! :)

What a treat

Everyday while we are leaving the gym the boys always stop in Miss. Christine's office to get a treat. Usually it's suckers, sometimes cookies. Today I let Jackson have a sucker of his own, I usually just trick him and let him play with my water bottle, he was in heaven.

Jackson enjoying his sucker.... can you guess what color it was?



Jackson when he realized it was all gone.

Thanksgiving?

In order to keep myself busy last night I thought it would be a good idea to cook a nice dinner. I invited Uncle Jer (Gunko G) and made a turkey. Well, a turkey breast because a whole turkey would be a lot for 3 adults and 2 kids. Here is how it turned out... it was delicious and made me get really excited for the real Thanksgiving!

I know, the bowl I served the potatoes in was much to big for the amount of potatoes, but the one I wanted to use was in the dish washer!



My plate... delicious!

13 marathons? Wow, I've got a lot of catching up to do!

Today I met a man at the gym, my runner friend Mia had pointed me out to him so he came over to talk to me. Turns out that this will be his 13th marathon. He asked how I was feeling and I told him how worried I was about everything including my hip. He told me that come Sunday morning all my fears will be gone, I won't feel any pain and all I will want to do is run. He said there is so much excitement that morning, the music will be playing and everything will be OK. He gave me advice about the course, where to have people meet me, where the route gets hard, etc. After a 20 minute conversation I asked him what his name was & introduced myself. Little does Joe know what inspiration he gave to me this morning, thanks Joe!

Dream

So last night I had this dream... OK I should rephrase that. Last night I had this nightmare. If any of you have ever ran a Marathon or a race for that matter they have this bus. The bus stays behind the last runners and if you don't cross certain check points by a certain time they put you on it and haul your slow butt to the finish line. That's it, no second chance, no "try and hurry up already" nothing. You are done. So in my dream of course I'm running and out of nowhere I here over an intercom. "Excuse me Mrs. Butterfield, you are moving to slow and we are going to have to ask you to stop". I woke up before they actually got me on the bus. See what this is doing to me, it's all I can think of. Me and the boys are going to have to do something fun today to keep my mind off it. That and I'll make a good dinner, Jer interested in coming over?

Uh oh....

"I like running because it's a challenge. If you run hard, there's the pain - and you've got to work your way through the pain. You know, lately it seems all you hear is? Don't overdo it' and? Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond." - Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager, NHL Hall of Fame

I'm going to keep telling myself this because after my short run today my hip is killing me again! I'm so annoyed and sad at the same time. RICE - rest, ice, what's the c stand for?, and elevate. So that's what I'm going to do, starting as soon as the boys are down for naps. I'm also going to keep reading and rereading this quote to help keep me positive!

20 miles & a 10K

"The marathon's about being in contention over the last 10K. That's when it's about what you have in your core. You have run all the strength, all the superficial fitness out of yourself, and it really comes down to what's left inside you. To be able to draw deep and pull something out of yourself is one of the most tremendous things about the marathon." -Rob de Castella

I can already tell that for the next few days I'm going to be writing a lot about the marathon, it's just about here & I'm trying to self motivate! 5 days to go until I put my body into total shock. Am I excited... YES! But so scared at the same time. I've been training for months and know that I am ready, but the farthest distance I have gone is 20 miles. On Sunday I will be doing that same 20 and then slapping on another 10K. Yikes - I'm just hoping to finish, I have no goal time in mind. Next year I will be more time oriented about it, but for now finishing is what I want to accomplish. I'm just worried that my hip will give and I will have to slow down. Through all my training I've been great, but after the 20 miler my hip was feeling the wear and tear of it all.

The Chicago Marathon has a great service set up and you can receive text or e-mail alerts to where I am on the course. They will send you a message when I hit 10 miles, half way point (13.1), 30K and the finish line. So please track my progress and see how I am doing, it may help me to move a little faster knowing that people are tracking me!

My new skirt

So many of you know how much I love the day my new In Style magazine arrives at my house. I crawl into bed around 8 that night and read the entire thing cover to cover, making sure to fold down the corners to all my favorite items. Then I continue to look through the magazine for the rest of the month until the next one arrives. It's one magazine that I don't throw away... I have stacks and stacks of them. Now I know I could just tear out the page and out it in a binder like I do for recipes, but there is just something about the magazine that I can't part with.

Well you can only imagine my excitement when my Runners World magazine arrived and the issue was all about running skirts. I went for awhile thinking, no... I can't do that, I would feel so silly! But in the back on my head, I kept thinking, man they are so cute. :) So today at the gym I was talking with a fellow runner that was wearing one herself. She raved about how comfortable it was to run in. I have to say she looked so dang cute in it that every negative thought I once had was gone. I got in my car and immediately started calling all the local running/sports stores. No luck. Lot's of them didn't carry them and the ones that did, didn't have it available in an XS. So I hopped on my computer as soon as I finished giving the boys lunch and found one at Nike.com. It will be here in just a few days and I am so excited to wear it, I hope it's here before the Marathon on Sunday! Running long distances kinda makes you feel pretty gross so maybe, just maybe if I am sporting my cute new running skirt it will help me feel pretty when I cross the finish line!



Make fun of me if you wish, but I love it - 26.2 here I come!

We match!

I had to take a picture of the boys this morning just to show everyone their newest matching outfits. I try and match them as often as possible and I probably will do so until they yell at me and tell me to stop. In fact, I dress the whole family alike for holidays, church, family functions, you name it! Not that we all have on the exact same outfit, but I do stick with a theme. Makes pictures look better :) I can't believe that David goes along with it half the time, but he's a pretty good sport about it!



And while I'm at it, here is a picture of Ryder showing off his "big boy" belt. He got it from his daddy when he turned 3. He is so proud and feels so important because of it... he feels like daddy!

My Little Bubble Heads

One of the boys favorite things to do is bath time. We fill up our big jacuzzi bath tub, throw in some bubbles and put the boys in. They love it, their new thing to do is to make bubble hats.



They play so nice together while they are in there and it's a chance for me to get the bathroom cleaned. What a way to kill 2 birds with one stone :)

I hope everyone is having a good weekend! We are having a nice low key one!

Gluten-free brownies

So a friend of mine is allergic to gluten. Being allergic to gluten means no normal foods made with regular flour so I thought it would be nice to make a gluten free treat. I brought them to the gym and wowsies, everyone has been asking me for the recipe! So if you know anyone that is allergic to gluten or you just want to try something different, give these a try. They are fabulous! Davey liked them too and he hates when I mess with a good thing!

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (or as dark as you can stand it)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour

Preparing. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Chop the chocolate into small slivers. Slice the butter into one-inch pieces. Combine the two flours together.

Melting the chocolate. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, and then turn it down to a simmer. Place a large metal bowl over the top of the saucepan. Put the chocolate and butter into the metal bowl and stir, occasionally, as they both begin to melt. As they come to a full melt, stir and stir, vigorously, until you have a cohesive mixture.

Making the brownies. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the sugar and eggs, whisking vigorously until they are creamed together, with a silky consistency. Add the vanilla extract and salt and stir well. Add in the gluten-free flours and stir. Finally, pour in the melted chocolate-butter mixture and stir, carefully, with a rubber spatula, until the mixture has become smooth.

Baking the brownies. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Smooth the top with the spatula. Slide the baking pan into the oven and set the timer for 25 minutes.

Finishing the brownies. As the brownies are baking, fill the sink with ice cubes and 1 inch of water. When the brownies are finished baking, remove the pan from the oven and place it immediately into the ice-water bath. (Don't let any water splash up onto the brownies!) Let the brownies stay there until they have cooled completely.

These brownies taste best the next day, after an entire night of refrigeration. That makes the top crunchy, the insides decadently chewy. However, I'm sure no one would suffer if you ate the brownies immediately, either.

And they're off!

We had my niece and nephew over this afternoon for a short while. While they were here we decided to have a scooter race... well I guess an airplane, tractor, fire engine race. Cole pretty much won every time. Jackson just ran back and forth to get in all the action!





We finished up the afternoon with a snack and some chocolate milk, how fun!

Brrrr!

40 degrees in Chicagoland right now.... it's sooooo cold!!!! But I love it :) I just finished eating my oatmeal and am enjoying my morning Cup of Joe. The boys just finished up their breakfast & are dressed in some of their new fall clothes. We don't have that much planned for the day except for hitting the gym and then helping my sis-in-law out for about a hour while she runs her little girl to the doctor (nothing serious!) Ryder is already talking about his cousins coming over. I'm sure I'll have more to post while the day goes on but for now have a great day and stay warm!

I tried taking pics of the boys this morning in their new fall clothes, but they wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a good one, I'll try again later!

Isn't this a commercial....

This afternoon we ran out of the store to get some things for dinner. While we were there I saw that Kix were on sale. I have never bought them, heck I don't think I have ever tried them, but since they were on sale and I'm always trying to find something that my kids will actually eat I thought I would give them a try. I'm unloading the car and come back inside and this is what I see... now yes I know when I leave my children alone for a few seconds I usually return to find them into something. I guess the Kix were a good purchase! Ry sure liked them!

I forgot!

And do not think I am neglecting Lipstick jungle because I love that one too!

My Guilty Pleasures

Seriously, how old am I? Is there anything wrong with the fact that I love watching shows that my 14 year old niece would enjoy watching? Of course I'm still a huge fan of Grey's and I'm wondering what is going on at Dunder Mifflin but lately I've been hooked on shows like Gossip Girl, The Hills and the new 90210! It's almost as good as Christmas morning when I look at my DVR recordings and see unwatched episodes. Maybe it's my way of regressing... who knows! But I have to say I am definitely hooked! Anyone else out there agree with me? I have got to remember to set my DVR to record One Tree Hill too, I hear it's a good one. :)

Silly Jackson

I'm going to apologize right now ladies and gents because our camera is broke! I'm taking it in this week to get repaired. I'm not sure what exactly happened to it, I just know that when I turn it on a message comes on the screen telling me to try again. Maybe some little hands got a hold of it, wouldn't surprise me!

So with the shortage of a camera I have to say I'm glad I have my camera phone. I probably have it with me more often then I carry our regular camera so this may be a good thing.

I've mentioned before that Jackson can be a little bit of a comedian sometimes. He used to just hang out but the older he has got he knows that sometimes he may have to compete for some attention. I think I have also mentioned that he loves to put things on his head. He walks around so proud... it's actually really cute. Here is Jac with one of his favorite new toys. A Lego bucket... yes, he does love the Legos too. Always carries 2 around with him, but now he is finding that the bucket helps him get some serious attention.





Of course I don't have a picture of him walking around with the bucket, but that's what he does - he will parade around the downstairs laughing with it on his head. Silly Jackson!