Big Girl Bed.... NOT!

On April 9, her 20 month birthday, Evie greeted us that morning waiting at her bedroom door jiggling the doorknob. Yes, she climbed out of her crib and was anxiously trying to escape her room! I wasn't sure how to handle that. Later that day, she unsuccessfully tried to climb out of her crib during naptime. With all this happening, Judd and I wondered if she was ready for a toddler bed. To hold things over, we bought a gate to place at the top of the stairs. We also removed the bumper from her crib. She hasn't been able to climb out since.

A week or two later....
For some reason, Evie had been fighting bed time for about a month. One evening she feel asleep on the floor with Judd laying right next to her crib. Judd and I decided that maybe she was protesting because she didn't like her crib. The following day, Judd removed the front rail of her crib and set up the toddler bed. That night she went to bed within 30 minutes. But about 2 hours later around 10:30, she woke up crying and bolted to her door, blankie in hand. To make a long story short, we couldn't get her to go back to sleep. At midnight we ended up setting up the pack n play in her room. She cried it out until 1:30. Needless to say, she was not ready for a bed. Mommy and daddy were not ready to put in the time and sleepness nights to transition to a toddler be. The next day, the crib rails were back up! It turned out, she was fighting bedtime because she just didn't want to go to bed. She wanted to PLAY! Duh!

So excited to see her big girl bed!

Funny Face!

Tucked in tight.

Saturday

trying on mom's platforms

nutella with dad

playing with chase

(our turn to babysit)

A Quilt

Several weeks ago, I spent the weekend at my church's women's retreat. Jamie Zumwalt was the speaker. The best way to describe her is "Christian hippie" minus drugs. free love, and eastern philosophy. She and her husband are former missionaries who lived in Taiwan. Her husband actually grew up there. They now live in Oklahoma City training people with Heart of God ministries to become missionaries  in foreign countries. They both yearned for the adventure of living abroad, but knew that their calling was to train people to "go out". In addition to their training program, they opened a coffee house called Joe's Addiction in the worst neighborhood of OK City. With a convenient store and a men's club as their neighbors, they have found a way to minister to the people who work and live in that area. Joe's Addiction acts as a church on Sundays. Jamie shared so many stories of repentance and forgiveness. AMAZING.

                                       



During our break time, one of the lady's organized some craft projects to ship to an orphanage in Zambia that is linked with Wiphan, a Christian organization that aids widows and orphans. We had a large assembly line of women putting together pieces of brightly colored quilt squares. At the end of the day, much work had been accomplished, but the quilts weren't finished. I volunteered to take one home to finish knowing that I could probably sew together the strips. It's not perfect, but it's the heart that counts.

Spring has Sprung

Last Sunday was warm enough for Evie to wear a sundress to church! Oh, I love her in little dresses...
Notice that she's wearing the same dress in both pictures. (19 months and 9 months)



Rehearsing with Daddy

Saturdays prior to playing with the church band on Sunday, Judd always takes time to run through the music one more time. Evie loves watching him rehearse, and she always has to get her hands on guitar strings or his phone.

10 Miles

This is a longwinded post about me. I warned you!

Yesterday marked a great achievement for me, I ran 10 miles for the first time. Here's a little background on why I decided to tackle this.

Growing up I was very goal oriented and self motivated. I wanted the best grades, to graduate in the top 10 of my class, to be in all the honor clubs, and to be in the top chairs in orchestra. (I did accomplish all of those things.) In college, I needed good grades again and graduated with straight A's. Never once did I consider myself an athlete or interested in sports. I did go to the gym to fit into my wedding dress, though. I was more of a geeky bookworm, just ask Judd!!

At the end of this school year I will have completed my eighth year of teaching and a couple months later celebrate my 9 year wedding anniversary! As I look back over the years, so many great things have happened to Judd and I. We bought our first house at quite a young age, we moved to Texas (for an adventure), we have good jobs, we have the best of friends, we have a great church family, and BEST of all we have beautiful EVIE! Even with all these great things I would say that in the past two years I have become lost in the daily routine of being a mother and a wife, doing chores, and working (without any family around- but some good friends to lend a hand). After a rough start to this school year, I decided to work towards a personal goal. For some reason I picked running. Maybe I picked it because it was uncharted territory in my life. I needed something new to accomplish. Since making that decision in September, I haven't stopped running.  After meeting my goals of 3 miles and 6 miles, I decided to tackle the ultimate: a half marathon! That leads up to yesterday...

Friday night I psyched myself to run 10 miles the next morning. I ate a carbo-liscious meal of beef and rice noodles. I drank lots of water. I mapped my route on MapMyRun. I set my alarm clock for 5:40am. I laid out my clothes and shoes. I packed my running belt with water and a snack. Everything was ready to go! When my alarm went off at 5:40am I rolled out of bed, ate a Power Bar, stretched, and got dressed. I set out for my run at 6:15. It was a great morning with cool air and a slight breeze. During my two hours of running I passed MANY runners and saw many places in my town (like the Duck Pond park) that I have never noticed before. It was a version of very slow motion sightseeing. At six miles I took a break at Andy Brown Park where I went to the bathroom, refilled my water bottles, and ate a snack -this weird energy gel/ goo. With only four miles ahead (45 minutes), I knew I could make it. With about a half mile left Judd texted me a picture of Evie eating breakfast- waffles topped with Nutella. That was the perfect motivation to finish the last 5 minutes. Within in 2 hours, 1 hour 58 minutes, burning 884 calories, I ran my first 10 miler! With a couple weeks left, I will be ready for 13.1 miles on May 1!

Random Fun

Helping with laundry...

Pretending to be a baby and then playing with baby,



Fun with a balloon on a hot day.