You Might Be...

You might be a little too frugal if....

....when your child notices he's the only one without a backpack on his first day of preschool (because his mom's the ONLY one who forgot to buy him one!), instead of asking you to go buy him one, he says maybe he can get one for his birthday or Christmas.

You might not have made the roles clear enough in your home (parent/child) if...

...your child puts you in time out as often as you do him.

You might steal your child's treats a little too often if....

...when he wakes up the next morning and sees that you've eaten almost the entire bag of  his Reeses Pieces he just says, "thank you mommy so much for saving me some!".

You might throw away your child's junk (aka toys) too often if...

...when your child uses all of his money to buy a Mr. Potato Head he tells you how special his new toy is to him and asks you if you will please not throw it away.

And for your viewing pleasure, here is suction-cup boy himself...

What else is a little guy suppose to do for fun since his mom won't stop throwing away all of his toys?

Dear Next-Door Neighbor,

Please do not call Child Protective Services on me. I know you were concerned for my child's welfare when you heard blood-curdling screaming for 30 minutes straight this morning with me threatening in the background and finally sitting on my child in order to get the job finished, but I can promise you that it was just another routine hair cut for my son Izak. 

And I'm sure your sense of obligation to call was heightened when you noticed that I left my baby out in the driveway in a stroller sleeping by himself for about 15 minutes.  Despite popular belief, rather than watching The Young and the Restless, I was actually cleaning, calming, and comforting my son while both his bum and stomach were exploding at the same time. 

If we could please just keep these minor incidents between you and I, I would be much obliged. Thank you for your understanding. 

Sincerely,

Kate

P.S.

I tried my hardest to not get throw-up all over your beautifully landscaped rocks while I was washing down our driveway/rocks from another one of my child's eruptions. I hope this will suffice as a peace offering.

I'm alive!

Signs that (long distance) running may not be for you:

1. You get super grumpy and mean to your husband every time right before a long distance run.

2. You have to bribe yourself to go running by eating a peanut m&m for every mile you go.

3. Instead of stretching and/or visualizing your performance right before your marathon, you put your make up on.

4. You have to buy yourself cute workout clothes to motivate yourself to go running.

5. You complain as much as your four-year-old does about going running.

6. The most exciting part about running a marathon is so you can stop running so much.

And that is why I now present to you the results of my one AND ONLY marathon....

A picture of me before I was stripped of my innocence to many pants being dropped to do their business in every bush and corner to be found along the way. (Note to self: Next time you're wondering why someone randomly ran over to a bush RIGHT NEXT TO THE STREET, don't watch to find out)

Can we just start this thing so I'm not so stinkin' cold?!

13.1 miles, half way done! (Click on this picture to see the guy next to me-he ran like that the WHOLE way (I think I heard him saying something about stuff getting all over his shoes while he was doing something behind a bush-whatever that meant!))

Unfortunately, I have no proof that I finished the marathon (Dave was so excited about me finishing-he left the camera in the car for that part!)...so, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it...and that I did the infamous ballerina jump, which I did. And you all would've been proud. It was a sweet finish. I'm sorry to disappoint some of you, but unfortunately, I couldn't quite make my goal of 5 hours. I caved to temptation and I sped up just a little bit. I hope you will all still be proud of me despite my obvious sign of weakness. 

But in all seriousness, it was great. It went as well as I could've hoped for. And thank you to everyone that was so sweet and supportive of me. I have some really amazing friends and family. You all made me feel so loved by sending and giving me cards, GU packs, good luck phone calls, a VERY SWEET good luck bag of goodies, facebook well wishes, and LONG HOURS of driving in a car from California and Utah. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. But, the greatest sign of love and support has to go to my husband. Dave was SO excited to see me run as much as possible that after he cheered me on at mile 4 he quickly got in the car, drove for about 10 minutes, jumped out, and ran to the next spot to cheer me on. He patiently waited for 15 minutes to cheer me on and didn't even get frustrated when I was nowhere in sight. And then he looked down the street and wondered why all the spectators looked familiar. He then realized he was 2 blocks down from where he had last faithfully cheered me on....thank you Dave for cheering me on every chance you got!!

5 LOOONG Hours

So I went this morning to pick up my number and timing chip.

I wasn't prepared for it.

I walked into the Phoenix Convention Center and then it hit me.

Out of nowhere I started to cry.

I just couldn't believe that I am about to accomplish a huge life goal for myself.

It was a surreal moment.

And then I was rescued.

My children saved me from public humiliation.

I mean, seriously, who cries when they pick up their number?

So, being concerned children for my welfare, they decided to distract me. 

By fighting.

And running wildly among thousands of people.

And falling head first out of the stroller.

And screaming.

And then all I cared about was finding the closest exit.

And putting my children into their 5-point straight jackets so there would be no more fighting, falling, and running.

But, I'll have 5 hours tomorrow to cry.

I had planned on only 3 hours, but have reevaluated my goal and will now be shooting for 5 hours instead.

I mean, think about it, there will be THOUSANDS of people finishing in a measly 3 hours, but only HUNDREDS finishing in 5 hours. 

That obviously can only mean one thing.

Some people can only hack it for 3 hours, while I can go on and on and on for another 2 hours.

Now THAT is real talent.

And you know what they say, if you've got it, flaunt it.

With a ballerina jump/pose while crossing the finish line.

Ready or Not, Here I Go

You know the only thing more unsmarter than someone who willing chooses to run 26.2 miles? Someone who willing chooses to PAY $100 to run 26.2 miles. Seriously. Up until a few days ago I considered myself pretty savvy and frugal when it came to money. No longer can I claim to be either one of those. I figured it out and I'm paying $1 for every 1/4 mile I run. I might as well just throw out $4 at every mile, then I bet I'd get a lot of people cheering for me. But, I'm officially in the "very unsmart" category now and will be running my first (and heaven help me-ONLY) marathon in 1 1/2 weeks. I'm starting to get progressively more and more nervous as it draws closer. Especially when I realized I almost forgot to prepare for THE most important part of the race...the FINISH. I mean, think about it, that's when the most people will be watching me, right? And pictures, oh, pictures will be taken so that I can have PROOF that I'm incredibly unsmart (I know, I know, as if I need proof for that!), therefore I have to look my best.  So as I was running the other day, I started to practice a few different finishing strategies (that's when you know you run slow-you have no problem jumping and throwing your arms randomly in the air while running). I'm sure I looked awesome. So, here's the deal. Please help me decide how I should finish this beast. I set up a poll on the side of my blog so you can vote for how I should finish the race. Whichever one has the most votes is the one I'll do...thanks for humoring me.

The "I'm so glad I'm never doing that again" pose

The "If you ran as slow as I do, you'd have this much energy left too" pose

The "My legs are so cramped, I can't straighten them" pose

The "My mom made me take ballet when I was little and this is all I learned" pose

Well, get a votin' people, you've only got 1 1/2 weeks!

Multi-Tasking at its Finest

I was cooking dinner.

Dave was keeping Landon occupied with the infamous air-somersaults.

I was quizzing Dave on muscles.

Dave was flipping the study cards over as my hands were busy/dirty....

I finished dinner.

Dave learned 20 new muscles.

We all ate. And enjoyed. 

And that is how Dave will become a doctor without our family starving.

Ho, Ho, Ho

We're back from Oregon. We had a great time visiting with our family. All 10 of us kids were there, first time in a long time. It was really great. It was so fun to see everyone! Here are a few random pictures from our trip...


Landon LOVED sledding.


Dave didn't mind it too much either


This may be animal cruelty, but I dare you to take a kitty away from an otherwise screaming child. Now THAT is cruelty.


Ever since Ariana was in a car accident, she's always done this weird squatting thing, seriously, every time you turn around this is how she's standing/crouching, I had to catch it on camera.


There's something wrong when your child makes those boots look better than you do.