New Year's Resolutions

I'm a little late posting these, but I have had a hard time deciding what I want them to be... Still not 100% on all of them.

• Start and maintain a Project 366 blog. Click here for link.
• Run three half marathons in 2012
• Run a 10K race in 2012.
• Run two or more 5K races in 2012.
• Run more than 500 total miles in 2012.
• Swim more.
• Bike more.
• Try not to eat as much fast food.
• Read! I don't do this at all! I read two books all last year that's it!
• Get rid of some of the girls' toys, it's time. Even the playhouse is full!

Kaitlynn's Science Project

So it seems like every school year the students are asked to complete a project on space for their science class. Kaitlynn made a solar system a few years ago and since then has opted to do a report or something other than the solar system, until now. This year the students were not given options. Everyone had to make a solar system model. The project was due today. Kaitlynn started her project last Friday when she was home sick with pneumonia. Due to being sick she was stuck inside the house for five days. She really put some work into this project and I think it turned out very nice!

Their model had to include the sun, the eight planets (including Earth's moon), and an asteroid, comet, meteor, or constellation. They also had to label each item and list how many miles it was from the sun. Kaitlynn's planets are painted styrofoam balls. She chose to add "The Big Dipper" for her constellation. She had her mind set on that very early on and she knew exactly how she wanted to make it. "The Big Dipper" is made out of Christmas lights that she poked through the back of the board. There was no changing her mind, she knew what she wanted. I'm glad she stuck to her guns on that one and didn't let her parents change her mind because I think her project turned out great! I'm very proud of her.

Cheerleading!

Kendall and Kylee cheered for the first basketball game of the season this past Saturday. Actually, this was Kylee's first game to cheer for ever!

 Kendall was a pro!

 Kylee also did great! She wasn't the least bit nervous!

 The newest little cheerleader in our family. :)

I love the new uniforms this year too! Red and black... My second favorite college football colors. :)

Cake Pops!

view full image

Pneumonia!

     As if having mono this past fall wasn't enough! Kaitlynn was diagnosed with pneumonia on Thursday. She has been coughing on and off for almost a month. There were times where it seemed like she was getting better then the cough would get bad again. She took mucinex for a week and we thought that was the end of it. Nope! On Wednesday night, after basketball and church, Kaitlynn started coughing up some nasty stuff. I told her that's it you are going to the doctor tomorrow. The next morning she was done and ready to see the doctor herself. I called the office as soon as they opened and they said bring her right in. First patient of the day. She had a fever and a rattle in her chest. They gave her a breathing treatment and then checked her chest again. Her right lung was pretty bad. The doctor said she didn't think it was related to the mono but the mono had weakened her immune system. She went into cold a flu season with a weak immune system so in a way the mono did cause the pneumonia. She got some medicine and will be spending five days in the house without leaving. The doctor said she could go back to school on Tuesday and by Wednesday she should be at about 75%. She has two ballgames next Thursday and she may or may not get to play in those. She wrote her out of sports for a week but it is hard to predict exactly when she will play again. This kid is too tough, way too tough... To think she has been playing basketball with pneumonia and she played over half of her soccer season with mono before we discovered she had it... Ughh, it makes me want to scream. I really, really hope we can get her immune system back to normal and she can make it through the rest of the year without coming down with something else.

Girly Girl!

No doubt about it... Kendall is our girly girl. She got some press on nails from Nana and Papaw for Christmas, but we've had some trouble keeping them on.

 Until today when I purchased some nail glue from Walgreens. Perfect!

 Kendall loved showing off her nails at tap and ballet class this afternoon.

Osborne Lights 1/7/12

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Just the two of us!

Trey and I spent the weekend in Disney World all by ourselves. Of course we did not get there until Friday evening and we left Sunday morning. Oh well, we got up at 3am Saturday morning for the race so we had a very long day. No naps on this trip.

 After the race I took a quick shower then we spent the rest of the day at Hollywood Studios.

 We rode Rock n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours... Watched Lights, Motor, Action. We were surprised to see that Lightning McQueen had been added to that show. We had a nice lunch at Mama Melrose, followed by a snack, and dinner at the Backlot Express. I was hungry! We watched the American Idol Experience twice, including the finale. So cool, I highly recommend this.

 I anxiously awaited dusk so that we could see the The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. The lights were the main reason I chose this park to spend the day in. Saturday night was the last night of the season that the lights would be on. So glad we were there.

 Disney does right! It magically snowed on us while we were there. :)

 Love this picture of Mickey and Santa.

I will be uploading a few short videos of the lights. Look closely and you will also see snow.

I Made it Monday

Breakfast Casserole

Spread a Crescent Roll Seamless Dough Sheet into a well greased 9x13 baking dish.

Brown one pound of sausage and drain.

Mix sausage into a bowl with six well beaten eggs.

Pour sausage and eggs into baking dish.

Place dish in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven sprinkle shredded cheese on top and then place the casserole back into the oven for 5-10 minutes.

Walt Disney World Half Marathon

I ran my third half-marathon on Saturday and it went great! Below is a picture of me before I headed to the start line. There was a little stress that morning because of traffic, but it turned out okay. We woke up at 3am so that we could catch a bus from our resort before 4am. I think we actually got on the bus around 3:45. We then spent the next hour sitting on that bus waiting to get to the Epcot parking lot. This should have just been a five minute ride. My wave started at 5:41 and I made it to the start line with only six minutes to spare. From the point where you leave your family to the start line is about a 20 minute walk. It's crazy!

 Since the course was the exact same as the Disney Princess Half Marathon Trey already knew where he was going to be during the race so that he could see me. I also knew where to look for him. Unfortunately, he got stuck on a monorail that went down and that kept him from cheering me on at the 4.1 mile mark. Luckily, the monorail froze in just the right area. He still saw me! From the sky and through glass. You can see me in the white hat (click to enlarge). You can also see the reflection of Trey's hand in the glass. :)

 Trey was able to catch up with me around the 7.5 mile mark. He took the two pictures of me below from there. I didn't see him here because I wasn't looking. Spectator viewing was suppose to be at mile 8.1 but for some reason it was changed last minute. It was also still dark at that point and he was wearing gray.

Oh, and here is a picture of my body glide. I'll write more about that below.

Coming up on the finish line. These two pictures were taken at mile 13.

 I was able to see Trey here because it was light outside and he was almost in the exact same spot that he was in at the Princess Half.

 Me and my medal right after I crossed the finish line.

 Me and my medal and the official race shirt after a shower.

Here are some details from the race.

The weather was awesome! I heard a few runners complain about how cold it was. To me it was perfect running weather. At the 5K marker I looked down at my watch and it was at 29 minutes. I've never ran a 29 5K split during a half marathon before. I was a little excited but at the same time I still had 10 miles left. When I crossed the 10K marker I looked down at my Garmin again and it was at 59 minutes. Wow, that's also a first. Could I maintain that? I wasn't even at the halfway point yet. Then before I knew it I was at the 15K marker. I looked down again and my watch read 1:28. I was shocked! I made it to the mile 10 marker and decided to take a break. The chaffing under my arm from my last training run was really starting to bother me. It had not healed before the race like I had hoped. I lubed myself up with body glide before the race but that one area needed some more. I pulled the body glide out of my belt and began applying it. I heard a man behind me laugh. I seriously think he thought I was putting deodorant on. :) Ha! By this point the sun had came up so I pulled my sunglasses out of the bag and put them on too! Now because this was the same course that I had ran before I knew the hills were about to hit. I decided it was time to crank the volume up on my iPod to keep me focused. After all of that I started running again. I only had a 5K separating me and the finish line. The next couple of miles were tough, but I knew they would be. It really helped that I was prepared for them. At mile 12 I looked down at my watch and I knew I was going to PR. I couldn't mess this up. It just wasn't possible. I could have walked the last 1.1 miles and still finished with my best time ever! I maintained my comfortable pace until I saw Trey at mile 13. Then I kicked it up a little for the last 1/10 of a mile. I was so happy and proud of myself when I crossed that finish line. I never thought I would cut so much time. I have ran two half marathons before this one and I finished those in 2:12 and 2:13. I had made my playlist on my iPod 2 hours and 12 minutes long. I just wanted to finish before I ran out of music. I did better than I ever expected and finished in 2:05!!!

Below are my official time results:

Walt Disney World Half Marathon

January 7, 2012

5K 00:29:29 Pace 9:30

10K 00:59:05 Pace 9:31

15K 1:28:46 Pace 9:32

Finish 2:05:44 Pace 9:36

Overall Place 4226/22421

Gender Place 1304/12322

Division Place 238/1877

I'm posting my time results from the other two half marathons that I have ran below just for comparison.

Disney Princess Half-Marathon February 27, 2011

5K 00:30:54 Pace 9:56

10K 1:02:22 Pace 10:02

15K 1:32:54 Pace 9:58

Finish 2:12:03 Pace 10:04

Disney Wine & Dine Half-Marathon October 1, 2011

5K 00:30:03 Pace 9:41

10K 1:00:56 Pace 9:49

15K 1:33:11 Pace 10:00

Finish 2:13:49 Pace 10:13

December Total

109.87 miles logged in December.

1,002.31 miles logged in 2011!!!

One race completed in December which you can read about by clicking here.

No biking or swimming in December.

Also, I did not read the bible all the way through like I set out to do last January. I tried, but it's just hard for me to sit down and read. It's sad that I do not make the time to read like I should. Maybe just maybe I'll try again this year.

I really enjoy setting goals for myself and trying to reach them throughout the year. Expect a new post of resolutions for 2012 in the near future. :)

Kaitlynn's Blog

Kaitlynn finally sat down today and finished her recap from her two week trip to Europe. Click here for the link to her blog.

I Made it Monday

Green Bean Casserole

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Dash ground black pepper

2 cans (14 1/2 ounces) green beans (I use french style)

1 1/3 cups French's® French Fried Onions

• Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole.
• Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling.  Stir the bean mixture.  Sprinkle with the remaining onions.
• Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

Training

So, I am back to training for a half-marathon... I went out yesterday for a 10 mile run. I originally set out on a 7 mile run but it was so nice out that I kept going. 60+ degree weather on January 1st is just awesome! So awesome that I wore a tank top and shorts to run in. How warm is 60+ degrees? Warm enough to make you sweat that's for sure. My sports bra left me this little red line of chaffed skin!

 I'm still trying to figure out what caused this! That's my arm and like I said above I wasn't wearing sleeves. All I can figure is the cord from headphones rubbed me while I ran. Really though, that's just a guess.

Anyways I have body glide that I should have put on but seriously I did not think it was warm enough out that I needed it. Apparently I was wrong! Ouch!

Happy New Year!

As most of you have figured out our family stays home on new year's eve and we have a small new year/birthday party.

 Half of us celebrate in our pajamas.

 Staying up late is normally not hard especially when the girls know they are going to get cake at midnight!

 Me and my baby Kaitlynn.

 Oh good grief, when did this happen?!

  By the way neither of us were wearing shoes... Like that really matters though because even my 4 inch heels can no longer hide the fact that she is so much taller than me now.

 Kaitlynn and Trey.

 Tinkerbell and Kendall. Tink was so ready for bed and could not figure out why we were all still up.

 Kendall - "Is it almost time for cake?"

 Looks like Buzz was ready for bed too!

 Me and Trey.

Kendall ready to party. Tink relaxing on the couch.

 Trey and Kendall.

 Oh yeah, Buzz was definitely tired.

Where are the pictures of Woody? He called it a night early and hid out in his dog crate. We left the door open for him but he didn't come out much.

Happy Birthday Trey!

Trey's birthday is today and as always we kicked his birthday off with birthday cake at midnight!

Love this tradition!