Wednesday, December 20, 2006

More picture torture!

Well, I gave it one last shot! I've been trying to get a Christmas picture of the kids for the last two years & so far I've got nothin'!! This past Sunday I dressed them all in coordinating outfits and we went out to Union Station/Crown Center to try ONE LAST TIME to get a Christmas card picture. The kids were in pretty good moods, so I was feeling very optimistic at the start.



This is what we walked away with........



Maya....yooohooo....over here!
Aww... Maya finally LOOKS at the camera! Oh...McKenna...look at mommy!! Quick, Jon...get out of the picture!
McKENNA!!!!!!!! Take the picture.....take the picture!
Chandler....get back here!!! McKenna sweetie.....

Well, at least I was looking at the camera.
I keep trying!


I'm gonna give it one last shot! Maya.....LOOK at daddy!!!

















There's always next year I guess!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Guess what I did this weekend?

Despite my vow to "be healthy" this season, I just couldn't possibly pass up my opportunity to bake Christmas cookies this year. It's something I look forward to all year long. SOOOO.... nobody tell my coach what I spent my weekend doing! I promise I'll give most of them away-LOL!

Peanut Blossoms.


Orange Drop Cookies.


Sugar Cookies (still have more of those to decorate...)

Chocolate Mint Cookies.




White Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods.


Cocoa Rum Balls.


Nana's Famous Chocolate Fudge!

So, who wants to help me clean my kitchen? There's free cookies in it for anyone who wants to scrub my floors-LOL!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Just For Laughs!

Yesterday I realized that I never posted pictures of the kids at Halloween. So....here you go. More than a little late, but that's the story of my life!
Sometimes they let me see their sweet side :-)

Batman and the Pumpkin! Looks likes Batman needs to go back to the bat cave for a nappy-poo!
This is what happens when you set the butter for pancakes on the breakfast table too soon.

Maya was so pleased that she could help herself to a big fistful of pure butter. What a goof!





The White Family Christmas picture 2006.

*Is it any wonder why I NEVER try to do Christmas cards!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Christmas Time Is Here!

And, I REALLY AM doing something besides training for this marathon-LOL! I've neglected sharing the "Holiday Spirit", so I thought I'd share a few cute pictures of the kids. Enjoy!
*************************************************************************************

Chandler and McKenna helping decorate the tree.


McKenna got to put the star on top of the tree this year!


(*Yes, she is in fact wearing a gymnastics suit....because that's the ONLY thing I can get her to wear when we are at home. It's so much fun to be five!).



Chandler carefully choosing which ornament he will break next-LOL!


McKenna admiring her "perfect placement" of the red snowflake.

*************************************************************************************

Just some fun pictures of ornaments



I just like this shot. Nothing really special about this particular ornament.


Can you see me in this picture? Look very carefully :-)


This is a rolling pin ornament from my friend JoEllen. She gave everyone this gift at a cookie exchange a few years ago.

I have to miss the annual cookie exchange this year, but I'll have my fun little ornament to remind me of my "girls night out" friends.


When I was a little girl my mom had a few ornaments just like this one & I always loved to look at them. I thought it was supposed to be a replica of Santa's house or something like that. I loved to daydream about how much fun it would be to go to a cute little cottage in the woods just like this one.

Because of that fun little memory this was one of the first ornaments I bought when I got married (before I even had kids!).









Hope you are enjoying this Christmas Season too!

I SURVIVED!!

Yep, I'm still alive after my 22 mile training run this past Saturday!! Actually, I'm doing great! I'm hardly even sore today & my knees are.....well, there about as good as they are going to get-LOL! I've decided that I can't get through this whole marathon experience without any knee pain, so I'll take what "relief" I can get. Overall, I'm feeling much more confident in my ability to actually pull this whole marathon thing off now (I wasn't so sure a few weeks ago).
*************************************************************************************
Saturday morning was far from ideal in terms of good running conditions, but I knew that in advance, so I just went with the flow. It was about 25 degrees when we started running, but my three "dri-fit" layers were keeping me warm enough. There was still some ice and snow on the trails, so a good part of the run was stop-n-go as we worked our way around the icy patches and over frozen bridges. At times it was comical as we clung to the sides of bridges to keep from falling on our butts.

Somewhere around mile 3 I decided that I wanted to shed one of my insulating jacket layers because I was getting a little warm already. THAT was a big mistake as I would learn just a mile or two later. Once we hit our uphill stretch on Nall up to 135th the wind was so strong that it was ripping right through my little fleece & I remembered why I loved that "wind-stopper" jacket so much. I think that is the coldest I have been on any of my runs & running INTO the wind only made the situation worse! Thankfully the uphill-running-into-the-wind stretch wasn't that long & I was reunited with my jacket around mile 9 (I had left it in someones car at a water stop). Lesson learned...tie my jacket around my waist next time (just in case).

There really isn't much more "drama" to share about this weekends run. This was by far one of my best long training runs yet, and I'm not even too sore today. So, there you go-LOL! Less drama, less pain....I think this might be as close as I'm going to get to being a "real runner"-LOL! I won't tell you how long it took me to run those 22 miles, because I don't think that's as important as the fact that I actually FINISHED them! That's the real success story in my book-LOL!

I said I would have pictures of this training run...but sadly I do not. Once again I brought my camera with me & forgot to go back to my car to get it when we were done. It's always so dark when we start running that I tell myself "I'll take pictures once the sun comes up" and then I totally forget to do that! Maybe it's just my subconscious avoiding having to post pictures of what I really look like at 5:30 am! I assure you, it's not a lovely picture!

*Oh, and I also want to thank my mentor Jodi for sticking by my side the whole way & talking me through those 22 miles. It's so much nicer to have someone to run with :-)

Here are the answers to everyone's favorite questions:
-"How do you keep your face warm...do your feet ever get cold?" *VASELINE! you put it all over your feet, face, and even your hands if you want. It really helps keep your feet warm and protected. And, "yes" your feet, hands, and face DO get cold sometimes, but it's not as bad as you would think.

-"So, how long is your marathon" *MY marathon is the same distance as everyone else's...26.2 miles. (this is by far the funniest question I get).

-"How long is it going to take you to run those 26.2 miles"
*Good question! I'll let you know after January 7th!

-"Do you think you will ever do another marathon?"
*I'd LOVE to, but I'm not so sure Jonathan would love it if I told him I was going to do another one!

-"How many miles do you run every week?"
*You might be surprised to hear that our training schedule is very light during the week. We typically only run between 6-9 miles during the week. You cross train on your non-running days. Then, Saturday's are the longer training runs. Cross training actually takes more time & effort then the actually running during the week.

**I just want everyone to know that if you've ever wanted to do something like this, it's very do-able. Even with three little kids and a very busy schedule! I hope that by the end of this whole "journey" I can inspire one other person to do this as well. It's been a very rewarding experience, and even very healing in some ways. I would love it if I got to do this again some day with one of my friends (wink, wink).

Monday, December 04, 2006

Happy 5th Birthday McKenna!


My "baby" turned five last week! I can hardly believe I have a five year old now. In some ways it seems like McKenna is much older than five, because A LOT has happened in our family in her short lifetime. However, I can still remember the day I gave birth to her like it was yesterday. It just doesn't seem like five years have passed since I was holding my first perfect little newborn. She was my first "love" (I call my kids 'love' or 'lovey') & I was the most proud mama on the face of the earth! Even though I had a ton of experience with kids and babies NOTHING compared to MY first baby.

I remember crying over her beauty and "perfect-ness" that first night in the hospital. It was all I could do to utter a short prayer of thanks to God for giving me such a beautiful little blessing. I was in complete awe of her. I loved everything about her...her sweet little head, dark fuzzy hair (there was A LOT of it), chubby little cheeks, rosebud lips, long lean fingers, round little belly, and of course those tiny little baby toes! It was so much fun finally having a baby of my own!

Today it's still fun to be McKenna's mommy. She has grown to become quite the entertainer. She loves to put on "shows" for me while she dances around in her "fairy" costumes & leotards. She is VERY creative too! She is always "pretending" while she plays with her stuffed animals or her little brother and sister. She is also the most friendly little kid you'll ever meet. EVERYWHERE we go she asks me if she can go talk to other little children so that she can ask them if they want to be her friend. She knows no stranger that's for sure!
I also think she is going to be quite "artsy" (unlike her mommy) later on in life, as she already shows quite a bit of interest in painting, drawing, and music. Wherever you find McKenna you are sure to find a trail of paper, pens, crayons, and markers!

If she doesn't grow up to be a greeting card designer (all of her pictures end up being 'cards' for someone), then my second guess would be something along the lines of "retail design analyst". "What's that?"... you might ask. Let me explain. Whenever we go out McKenna has a sharp eye for things that are "out of place". Taking her to Bath and Body Works is a nightmare because she cannot stand to see things not in their rightful spot...heaven forbid if the "Sweetpea" lotion should end up in the "Raspberry-Vanilla" section on the shelf!! She also insists that certain things belong somewhere else & it really upsets her when she can't rearrange things the way she would have it. Oh, and whatever you do...DO NOT venture into the makeup section at any store (WAY too many things to be tempted to "fix" there!). I secretly fear for her husband-to-be one day, because I'm pretty sure she will have him color coordinating his underwear drawer-or else! LOL!



I love that I have such a creative, organizationally-minded, fun, and energetic little girl. There is really no one like my girly....she's a "one of a kind"!



*Her birthday was on the 27th of November & we took her to the new "T-REX" restaurant. For those of you that don't already know, McKenna has a major obsession with dinosaurs. This restaurant was her dream come true! The look on her face when she saw the front of the T-REX was unforgettable-it took her breath away!




OHHHH, AHHHHH! Seeing the front of the T-REX for the first time.


She got to take her two favorite cousins with her to help celebrate. They all had SO MUCH fun!

McKenna doing one of her big cheesy smiles :-)

Inside the restaurant gift shop they had a special "Build-A-Dino" workshop where you get to build your own dinosaur. So guess what McKenna got to do as her gift from Mommy and Daddy? This was the big highlight of her whole evening!


McKenna and "Ellie the Dinosaur" on the car ride home. What a fun 5th birthday!

Sometimes I don't get dressed for the day until 5:00...pm, and on the weekend I let my kids eat cookies for breakfast. I drank coffee (and sometimes diet coke) when I was pregnant. I use under eye concealer to cover up my zits & I bake when I'm stressed. If you can deal with all that....then welcome to our family blog!