Myleigh Turns 5 - Part 1

Myleigh Hope turned five! I am still trying to truly believe that she is five years old! They really do "grow up so fast"! She wanted her hair straightened for her big day, so I made her famous curls straight. It was hard for me but she was so happy!!

The cutie-pie wanted to eat at CoCo's Crepes. YUM!! We stuffed ourselves with chocolate and fruit crepes!   

Then we decided to have Grandma picture time. Here she is with her Mimi.

And here she is with her Nanna.

Cake time!! I *tried* to make a Frozen cake and failed miserably. At some point I need to put the picture on Pinstrosity. Luckily we were able to buy a Frozen cake last minute. 

She had a fun night! We aren't doing parties this year and I was worried that the kids might feel less "birthday-ed". Nope! We have had a blast keeping it low key. I mean....look at those smiles!!

Happy 5th Birthday, kiddo! 

Speaking Delanish

Delaney has her very own special language. Actually it is almost entirely one word turned into an entire vocabulary.

 Here is your guide to speaking Delanish:

Dad: da-da

Bye-bye: Die-die

Yes: da

I want that: daaaa

Peek-a-boo: Pa-ba

I love you: daa-daa (and always blows a kiss)

Hey: DA

Stop(when referring to a sibling): DAAAA

Mama: ma-ma

Mimi: Meh-meh

Paw-paw: pa-pa

She also has her own way of telling someone she is thirsty! She simply opens her mouth as wide as possible (and as long as possible) and hopes for a drink to appear!

Duck Dynasty Birthday Party

Since One year olds cannot decide on themes for a birthday party, I took the opportunity to do something that I would want to do!! AND.....since we LOVE Duck Dynasty in our house, we thought it would be fun, fun, fun to have a party - Duck Dynasty style!

irst things first, I had to send out invites. I wanted Duck Dynasty but with a verrrry girly approach. Frilly, pink Duck Dynasty. So I scoured the internet until I came across a camo/bachelorette invite. It was the perfect combo of pink/classy/camo!

Then I spent hours upon hours researching pinterest for creative ideas. I love this part. It gets my creative juices flowing and I feel like I could move mountains!! I get SO MANY ideas and get super excited about making my ideas come to life!

Finally I get to buy and decorate. It wasn't hard to find things for decorations. I think we all know that. Duck Dynasty stuff is EVERYWHERE, y'all. It was kinda hard NOT to buy stuff.

My hubby was amazing (as usual) and built us a HUGE Duck Dynasty sign (like they have on their warehouse). We put it up on our walkway up to our front door. It was massively impressive, if I do say so myself!

Here we are tacking the paper to the wood slats.

Partially done!

All done!

The hubby found some free fence slats on craigslist. Then he cut them to correct size and nailed them into a sign. We printed out the letters on paper and cut out the inside printed parts. Finally, we tacked the paper to the wood slats and spray painted! Voila!

Then it was time to collect party decorations. I don't like it when I have to piece together decorations because my theme isn't available. However, I equally don't like it when there are TONS of decorations with my theme. I have a hard time sticking to a budget and not just buying every stinking thing I see!! As every person in America knows....Duck Dynasty stuff is everywhere. I had a hard time deciding what Duck Dynasty things I would buy to make my party look very festive but not cost me a trillion dollars. One of the most important items on my list was Uncle Si cups to use/give away as party gifts. I needed 24 cups. Not a cheap purchase. I bought cups SEVERAL times and took them back each time. None of my purchases truly even resembled his famous plastic cup. And the ones that were authentic were only available online for an OUTRAGEOUS cost. However, just like all good stories, the moment I was about to give up on my idea I happened to stumble upon perfection. Uncle Si plastic cups....for (pretty) cheap!!!

Here are my cups, ready to party!

 Then I gathered as many of the cheapest decorations I could find. Walmart had wrapping paper, books, etc. I figured I could do something creative with it? I knew that I wanted the party to look "back-woods Louisiana-ish". So I found a moss tree and stole a trash bag full of moss. I went to the park and gathered as many nice branches/sticks that I could find. Green, pink, and camo tablecloths and butcher paper were next on my list. I found some old stuffed animals and luckily found a squirrel and duck!! I borrowed some boots, a barrel, and some netting from a family member. A few ACTUAL Duck Dynasty items found their way into the budget and soon I was being swallowed by bags and bags of party decor!!!

 The week before the party I creatively tried to put all of my cheap decorations together. It came out much better than I expected!

My HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY sign made from cut-out foam board

From one of the Duck Dynasty Word of Wisdom books that I found at Walmart, I cut the pages out and put them inside dollar store frames. Then I used some small sticks and hot-glued them to make a "rustic" frame.

My next creations were my "trays". I wrapped the butcher paper around cardboard. Then I used more sticks and hot-glued them to create the outside of the tray. I used these trays for my cups, bags of chips, and the marshmallows for the chocolate fountain (aka - tire mud).

Next was the cake. I really wanted to have the cake stand high on the table so I asked my hubby to make me a stand out of wood. Then I bought a chocolate cake and placed the Uncle Si bobble head on top. Then I threw some moss, some old plastic vines, and a few pinecones around the table! Easy-peasy!

 Another part of the party was my weekly pictures. Again, I wanted it to be "rustic" so I (well the hubby) hung 52 pictures from some huge branches.

The weekly pictures hanging

The take home cups

The party was so much fun!! We played "redneck" games and ate tons of food.

We played:

1. Shoot the birds (with a marshmallow shooter)

2. Throw a ball at the deer

3. Spitting seeds into a bucket

4. Washers

It was so much fun!!

Happy Happy happy Birthday to our Delaney Love!!!

Birthday girl and her daddy

Birthday girl and her mommy

Daddy-Daughter Dance

My sweet Gracie got to go to a daddy-daughter dance at Lifetime gym. For months she was excited about this event. It gave me some serious previews for what to expect during homecoming/prom/wedding time. Sigh. She is so much like me when it comes to big events like this. She is THRILLED to get very dressed up and wants every detail perfect. For weeks she fretted over what she would wear. She dreamed and imagined what the night would entail. She even irrationally worried about her dress getting messed up!! All things that I (used to) do. It is hard for me to remember that she is only seven years old sometimes. 

The big night came and we spent hours in front of the mirror. I try to incorporate the wisdom that outside appearances are not as important as inside; however, it is fun to get pretty and we did just that.....we had fun. We giggled and played in the make-up. I curled her hair. She used perfume. Except for the (very expected) meltdown about her hair not being perfect and her dress not feeling comfortable, we had the best time!!

And.....just like a true mother....I took TONS of pictures.

Her "bow" half up-do

Twirling

Twirling

And....more twirling

My beautiful princess

Can't have a daddy-daughter dance without the Daddy

He loves his Gracie!!

They came home with memories they will keep for a lifetime.  I know she will keep in her heart that her first dance was shared with her first love.....her daddy. 

My baby turned ONE!

My sweet, adorable baby turned one in November. I still cannot believe she is a year old! She has been such a blessing to our home this past year! She has taught us all so much! For the hubby, he learned that he can help out A LOT just by holding the baby. A napping baby in his arms allows me a few hours of peace and quiet! Plus he now knows he can easily tote around 4 kiddos, no problem! The girls learned how to bathe, diaper, and feed a baby! And Jakob learned how to hold a baby and help me corral the younger ones as we run errands. We all together learned that baby laughter is like medicine, baby poop can be hysterical, and when the baby doesn't sleep - no one sleeps!

Delaney Love is the SWEETEST little girl. When anyone (stranger or not) picks her up, she usually wraps her tiny arms around them and lays her head on their shoulder. It just melts you. 

She loves to love on people. AND kisses - man, that girl LOVES to give kisses! She smacks her lips ALL the time to "ask" for a kiss!! It's too cute!

She loves:

1. To draw

2. Avocados

3. Watching her brother and sisters play

4. Legos

5. Peek-a-boo

6. Her daddy!

Happy Birthday to our tiny one! We all love you!

STILL Training for Ironman

Yup. Still training. Hence, the reason there has been NO BLOGGING for several months.  People, Ironman training takes. up. all. of. my. time. 

Honestly, it goes against everything that is "normally" me.  

1. I have NEVER stuck with something for a long time. 
2. I get bored VERY quickly, even with things that really  interest me, and I usually have to move-on to a new thing. 
3.That goes for working out too. In the past I have never enjoyed doing ONE type of workout, never mind doing that ONE kind of workout for extended hours at a time!!! B-O-R-I-N-G!!
4. Usually if it takes me away from my family.....not gonna do it. 
5. If it takes up too much of my time.....it has always been "too much"!

However, I enjoy this sport. I enjoy it a lot! Maybe it's because it's THREE sports rolled into one  (helping me not get too bored), or maybe it's the fact that I am doing something that I NEVER DREAMED possible, or maybe I just finally put on my "big girl"pants and sucked it up. All I know is that I DO enjoy it. :)

And since I enjoy it, I am getting better at it. I can swim, bike, and run much faster! 

Me, getting ready to spin!

Swim: 77 laps - 48 minutes
Bike: 56 miles - 3hrs, 20 min
Run: 13.1 - 2hrs, 19 min

So....I am not the fastest person around....but I am doing great for ME! 

My training has pretty much looked like this for the past 3 months:

Monday: REST
Tuesday: bike - 1.5 hours (sometimes swim for 45 min) - interval
Wednesday: Bike 1 hour, run 30 min - interval
Thursday: Spin class - 1 hour, run 30 min -or -sometimes swim 30 min
Friday: rest,  - or run 1 hour, - or swim 1 hour, -(or both) - interval
Saturday: looooong bike ride (with small run)
Sunday: looooong run (with small bike)

COME ON MAY 17th!!!! I am ready to cross the IRONMAN finish line!!!!!

Ironman Training Weeks 13-19

WEEKS 13-19

Well, I skipped a few weeks of recording my training. I DO have a large amount of excuses though. A few of these excuses are: we started homeschool (whew!!), my baby got into the "I'm a 1 year old - I want to get into everything-but I might kill myself" stage, we remodeled the house a little bit, there was a bit of drama, I worked hard at putting a strong effort into my marriage (just because we love each other!), and more. All in all.....it has been a CRAZY few weeks. Good weeks....but super crazy!

Throughout the craziness, my training has been wonderful!! I have been enjoying my workouts and beginning to really feel "athletic". I actually ENJOY and WANT to do my workouts! I have been waiting so long to finally get to this point!!!! So what have I been doing??? Well.....

I have to begin with MY FIRST TRIATHLON!!

I completed the Memorial Herman Houston (TownLake) Triathlon on September 2, 2013. I had a GREAT time doing my first sprint triathlon! I swam great (it was my favorite part), rode pretty well (I did almost fall!), and did the best I could on the run ( I am definitely heel striking). All in all, I was proud of my accomplishment!

The hubby walking me down to the swim start to get out all of my pre-race jitters!!

Here I am coming up to the finish line!! Look at that SMILE!!!

Finished and PROUD!

After my sprint...I was PUMPED to continue training for the half-ironman (and full Ironman).  My schedule for these past few weeks pretty much looked like this:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: run 1-1.5 hours

swim 30 min - 1 hour 

Wednesday: ride/run combo )1.5 hours

Thursday: swim 1 hour

spin class 1 hour

Friday: run 1 hour

Saturday:

run or ride

(2-4 hours)

Sunday:

run or ride

(2-4 hours)

Total Hours ~ 10 hours - 15.5 hours

My swimming has gotten better!! I am getting the technique down, however; I am still not swimming as fast as I want to be! I am getting my swims down to 54-58 minutes for the half-ironman distance. That is still so darn slow!! Sigh.....I HAVE only been training for 19 weeks. :)

We finally got to go to this place to get in open water swim practice! It is a small lake dedicated to  open water swims (and scuba diving). We swam around for an hour and had a BLAST!!!!!

The biking is just ok. I have a hard time going on my long rides outside. Again, I have tons of excuses! I have to coordinate all four kiddos, birthday parties, baby-sitters, and life in general. It's so super hard!!!! The hubby and I DID finally get our 56 mile bike ride in.....and it was SO fun!!! I hurt afterwards. Boy, did I hurt. BUT it was fun!!!

My running has gotten better. I have learned that I am MENTALLY UNABLE to push myself to run fast. If I am by myself (which is 95% of the time) my runs stay around 11 min/mile. I CAN run fast. The other day I ran 3 miles and each mile was UNDER 10 MIN!!! However, my hubby ran next to me and he pushed me to run faster! I need that outside push that I just cannot do for myself!

Which leads me to my next AWESOME update:

MY HUBBY IS GOING TO STAY BY MY SIDE FOR MY FIRST 70.3!!!!!!!!

I am soooooo excited about this! He came to me one day and asked if I would like to have him by my side during my 70.3 race. I couldn't believe he wanted to do that! My hubby is SUPER competitive and to think he would give up an entire race to stay at MY pace.....well, all I can is, he loves me! (A part of me thinks it's almost cheating.....he REALLY helps me push myself to go faster than I normally would go...but I don't care!).

Our 70.3 race is The Oilman on November 3, 2013. I cannot wait to cross the line with the love of my life by my side. Knowing he will be there with me has really helped me train hard and get ready for that awesome moment!!!!