End of 2010

What a year. A lot happened but I also felt like my head was in the sand. Looking back, I accomplished a lot. I ran my first 1/2 and full marathon. L started kindergarten and Jeff is almost done with his master's.

I didn't feel like I accomplished much on my 2010 goals, so I am keeping them the same for 2011. I also slacked off a lot on my blog. I resolve to try and update it more often.

For the past two years, I've picked a word for the year. 2010 was patience.

** My 2011 word is BALANCE**

I do a lot. I'm a wife, mother, physician assistant, pet keeper, cleaner, cooker, scrap booker, reader....the list goes on. I want to find time for all things, but not feel stretched. I want to appreciate L more and spend quality time with her. So I'll keep you updated on my progress. I'll be working on updating the blog tonight and tomorrow (which means my book list will go...write the title down if you want to read it).

Take care and Happy New Year!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

1 Day til Christmas...

The presents are all under the tree. The stockings are filled and a little girl is sleeping snug in her bed, visioning lots of presents from Santa. The rest of the family is asleep, except Jeff and I, who are finishing up a couple things.

Have a good night and a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2 Days Til Christmas

It's almost here...and I am so ready. Today is our traditional day of the girls going out for pedicures. L's nails look the best-she got snowmen and reindeer on her fingers. My mom and I had a great chat. We finished a couple errands then settled in at home for the afternoon. Mom and dad took us out to PF Chang's for supper. Delicious! L is in the mode of I can't wait until Christmas.

I think all the errands have been run. Going to do some baking tomorrow.

4 and 3 Days Til Christmas

This daily blog thing is difficult. I don't know how people do it.

4 Days Til Christmas: my Friday. Work went by fairly quickly. We went to the Shocker game last night and they beat Tulsa by 3! Great game! Everyone had a great time.

Today: we went shopping. Victoria's Secret, Scrapfunattic, butcher to get the ham. That was a sample of what we did. It was fun, but I'm glad we are home. I am pooped! Tonight is low keyed. Homemade ziti and some time chilling at home. Looking forward to it.

5 Days Til Christmas

Today was a work day. I got somewhat caught up on my work. I got home tonight and my mom and dad ARE HERE!!!! My mom looks great. I'll post a picture soon. We have had fun playing and visiting tonight. Gotta run!

6 Days Til Christmas

My dad kindly reminded me I didn't post yesterday. My defense is yesterday was my catch up day. I woke up early and started wrapping. Reggie tried to help me....she almost got wrapped! L woke up awhile later and was feeling good. We wrapped presents for a bit and had a quiet breakfast. She had a birthday party in the afternoon and I got busy and cleaned house. A quick early supper with friends at Jose Pepper's and then we were back home to wrap.

We finished up the night going to Heartspring Lights on the Lake. It was very pretty. Our friend,Dan, was Santa for the night. L had a great time telling her wishes and Kam was freaked out!

7 Days Til Christmas

Today brings a much healthier me and L is sleeping the day away. Her vomiting has ceased but she feels yucky. She needs to be better by tomorrow so she can go to her boyfriend's birthday party.

I was very productive. I bought out Target. Except someone beat me to fresh cranberries. How do you run out of cranberries before Christmas? Any way, I took a little break and then finished up my Christmas shopping. YippEEE!! Now I need to have a marathon wrapping session.

Only 2 days until my parents will be in town (mom,dad I know you're reading this. I expect you to be on your way tomorrow). I should have time to clean house and wrap. For now, I will relax by the fire and watch KSU basketball.

8 Days Til Christmas...

HALT!!!! I have things planned, but unfortunately, I got food poisoning (or a 24 hour bug). I vomited so much Friday morning that I called in sick. As the day went on, I felt better and my co workers really wanted me to come to the Christmas party, so I went. We had a good time...for 90 minutes. Then I got sick, at the restaurant!!! AHHHH. Jeff says it's ok because the owner treats us like best friends. I am still a little embarrassed.

So we came home to find that L had just vomited. Ick. So I sent Jeff out to do a little Christmas shopping and L and I hung out together. It was a long night, hence the lateness in my blog post.

9 Days Til Christmas...

What a busy day! Work went by quickly. Everyone is in the Christmas spirit. The kids all tell me they are good enough for Santa to visit. Tonight, we went Christmas shopping. I did a little clothes shopping at Kohl's as well. L was wonderful!! Apparently she's got the good bug in her. I'm making headway. Next on the list? Come up with a grocery list for the next 10 days. Even better news??? My parents will be here in 4 days instead of 6!!!

10 Days Til Christmas

So I know this is a few hours late. My excuse is TSO played until almost 11 pm. We watched them at Intrust last night and it was awesome!!! I have picture and will post soon. The lights and effects that go with their show is great! What a great way to spend the 10th day til Christmas.

11 Days Til Christmas...

Today was a busy day at work. Nothing super exciting, just lots of patients. The kids are getting excited about Christmas break. Tonight we went to the library to take back and check out new books. Not Christmas stuff, but it was nice to have a quiet evening. It will be the last quiet evening for a week. Should have gotten more done...no worries, it will still be there tomorrow. I finished a great book called "My Name is Memory". If you like Time Traveler's Wife, you'll like this book. It's about a man who is reincarnated several times and remembers all of his past lives and he has a favorite girl from his first life that he keeps meeting.

Tomorrow....TSO in concert! Yea!

12 Days Til Christmas

It's 12 days till Christmas and I'm going to do a 12 part series (that's a challenge in itself-can I blog that often). So stay with me and see if I get it done!

The house is decorated, the tree is up. There aren't any lights on outside (poor Jeff spent the weekend grading and finishing his master's classes). The gift list has been made and a few gifts have been bought. I'm planning my strategy for the upcoming days. Today, not much will be done, we have a WSU basketball game to attend. I've given up on the thought my Christmas cards will be out early...I'm thinking somewhere between Christmas and New Year's will work.. And it's all good. In 10 days my parents will arrive-that's my real present.

Isn't she freakin adorable?

Las Vegas marathon

Last weekend, I went with 12 other people to Sin City to run my first marathon. We had a great time! Here's the view from our window. We were on the 30th floor. You can see the mountains in the background.
The first day we were in Las Vegas, we went to the expo. Unfortunately, we walked a lot to get there (4 miles). But we got to see several sites on the strip. It is so beautiful on the strip. I could spend a whole day just taking pictures of the strip.
Treasure Island. It was across the street from the expo.
The night before the race, we went to the hotel's pasta party. We took several table pictures. Shirley was running partner for training. She didn't run in the marathon, just cheered us on with her husband (they celebrated his retirement from Cessna).
The group. From the bottom left: Michelle, Shirley, Judy, Carla. Second row (l-r): Sherrie, Kathryn, Christie, Cathy and Ken (at top).
I don't have any pictures of the marathon. They will come later. So I'll narrate for you. The first half was beautiful. We ran down the strip and back. Just watching all the people, the crowd and the beautiful buildings, made 13 miles fly by. The second half: was grueling. I did well until mile 16, had to walk a little more than planned, got back in the groove and crapped out at mile 19. I didn't hurt more than normal, but my head kept messing with me. A non -runner would say, 19 miles...you only have 7 to go. But in my mind, I'm thinking, 7 effing miles!! I'm never going to get done. But after a few tears, I got back into the swing of things. I got frustrated once more at mile 22, but then I ran the last 3 miles without problem. I was so happy to be done at 26.2! My official time was 5:26:04. I'm happy with that time (a PR for me!). And after taking a week off, I'll be back to running Sunday mornings. Just not as long :).

Decorating the Tree

Apparently it's been so long since I've blogged with multiple pictures that I forgot Blogger puts my pictures in opposite order. Thanksgiving weekend we decorated the tree. L was very helpful in putting up the tree, stringing lights and putting on ornaments. We had a great time and it seemed like the fastest the tree has been put up!

Sneak Peek

Squeekles and Carrot. More on the boys later..

I'm Back (I Hope)

Hi folks! I know...it's been so long since I've blogged. It's really bad when you are talking to your mother and she says, "it's been so long since a post!" And then she hears Jill is at my house and she says, "tell her hi and she needs to blog".

Life gets so busy sometimes and it's hard to find time for everything. But I'm trying to make the most of my time and get on the computer sometimes. So here's the latest scoop:

Kat: I'm currently training to run my 1st marathon on Dec. 5. It's in Vegas. I'm going with several other people who I run with on a weekly basis. I've really enjoyed the training and running with others on Sunday morning, but I will be a little glad when all I have to run is 8-10 miles instead of 15-20. Work is busy as usual. Still love my job.

Jeff: Teaching is going well. He's taken a new responsibility, AVID. It's a class of 28 freshmen who will stay with him for four years. They are smart, but at risk for not going to college when they graduate from HS. They are a little selfish, so he's had several discussions about being good team players. He is in his last year of school to get his Masters in Education. I think he'll be glad when that's done.

L: in kindergarten and LOVING IT!!! She is doing so well (not to brag). she is reading really well. We went to a school function last night and heard three teachers (besides her own) tell us how much they enjoy L. Made my day. She is such a good girl.

Reggie: fat, lazy and sweet. Loves begin the big animal in the house.

Squeekles and Carrot: who you say? Oh yes, we bought two baby guinea pigs a couple months ago. They will be featured in an upcoming post. They are adorable and we all (including Reggie) love them. Although, I was not happy to find they pulled the water plug out of their jar, spilling water everywhere. Turkeys.

That's all for now. I think maybe I just wrote my Christmas letter out too. Woo hoo! One more thing done.

Jeff's New Do

Jeff's been trying to grow his hair out for a while. Today, he let Brooke (his stylist) do some magic. She cut his hair and highlighted it. He looks HANDSOME!! I think he finally got the look he's been wanting for a long time.

First Day of Kindergarten!

Ahhh....we are finally here. L is a kindergartener. She was so excited when she got up this morning. She was up and dressed by 7:20 and had breakfast by 8:00. And the bus doesn't come until 8:30. So....we sat outside for awhile. Good thing it was nice.
L on her bus. The driver seems very nice. She rides a little bus, complete with seat belts.
Here she is running from the bus into school. She looks so little compared to the older kids.
And then we get to the room. All the fun is gone. She is very sad and cried when it was time for me to leave. But I think she did okay after a few minutes. She came home very excited and told me how much fun school was. (her teacher is the man in the green shirt).

Splish Splash

We bought L a slip and slide this summer. Again, we weren't sure she'd like it (she HATES water spraying in her face). But we were fooled. She loved it! She and Jeff played on the slip and slide for an hour. There's a kick board to help you slide further and faster.
Jeff decided to toss her on the slide. She loved that too.
You go girl!

Best Friends

L had a sleepover last month with her friend, A. The girls had a great time. We made pizzas, played on the trampoline and giggled.
The next morning, they played out in the front. They took turns driving the Jeep while they were going through the drive thru at McDonald's. These girls crack us up!

First Lost Tooth!

The culprit: Apples
One bite of apple brought a surprised and scared look on L's face as she realized her tooth fell out. She spit it out on the table. Her heart was beating so fast, but when she realized there wasn't too much blood, she was okay.
The tooth....
Then she was soooo excited! She kept saying, "I can't believe I lost my tooth! I am so big now!". And then the tooth fairy came during the night and left her TEN dollars (geez, TF, you are an overachiever). L was even more excited. She bought a Barbie with her money and smiled for hours so we could see her window!
She lost her tooth the night we got back from Pittsburgh so her great grandparents got to witness this monumental event. The funny part? I lost my first tooth when I was five eating an apple. I cried too.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

We spent the second half of our day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It was only 1 hour from Canton. It was really neat and a little overwhelming because there was so much stuff. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures.
This is Johnny Cash's tour bus. We got to take a look inside. It was really interesting. There were 4 tv's in such a little space. There was a decent kitchen, a bedroom in the back and a stereo.

NFL Hall of Fame

Jeff really wanted to go check out the NFL Hall of Fame. So he and I drove to Canton for the day, while L entertained the older folks at home. I must admit, the HOF was very interesting. I learned a lot about teams, players, etc.


One of the places I really liked was the statue Hall of Fame. There was a huge room full of heads of the inductees by year. And they looked life like. Very cool.

The Pirates!

Dad got us tickets to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates play the White Sox. Although the Pirates lost, we had a great time. The weather was absolutely perfect. We snacked all night long. Jeff and I had our favorite hot dogs. L got a little Pirate Parrot to take home.
The skyline in Pittsburgh

Before the game, the Parrot was on his motorcycle saying hi to the fans. He was gracious and let L take a picture with him.

Picking Strawberries

One day, we went to a local farm. They have a grocery store, petting zoo and strawberry fields. It was misting that day so just Jeff, L and I went to the fields to pick strawberries. We picked a ton. L had so much fun!
She really got into the process of finding strawberries that hadn't been eaten but were ripe enough to eat.
We filled up this bucket by the time we left. We all agreed it was a lot of fun!

On the road again....

In June, we drove 16 hours from our house to my parents home in Pittsburgh, PA. This time we took my grandparents along for the ride. My parents have been in PA for 6 years, but my grandparents haven't been out there so we thought it would be fun for everyone to go together. We had a great time. We listened to tunes, talked about Mabel (the GPS lady), drank and ate sunflower seeds. The car was trashed by the time we got there!
L had a good time. She always gets a little antsy on the last day driving home. She colored, read books, watched movies, and slept.

Dance Recital

We couldn't take pictures during the recital, so here is L's costume. She was freaking adorable!! She's in a 4-5 year old ballet/tap class. They did two routines. During the tap dance, she was so cute and knew all of her steps. I laughed the entire time!

Finally, she swims!

After many years of trying to get L to swim, she's finally getting the hang of it. Her first swim lesson at age 4 was traumatic. In July, I signed her up for lessons at the Y and she loves it!! So when we went to a friend's house that has a pool, I wasn't sure she'd get it. But she did and she swam with a noodle all over the pool for two hours! She had so much fun!

L on her big wheel

Back to Blogging

June was a crazy month! Gone on vacation a week, then Jeff was gone for a week. That month flew by. I can't explain July. It was too hot and I got into a funk. BUT....it's August and now I'm back into life.

Here's a cute picture of L on her last day of preschool (last Friday). She got some colored hair extensions and thinks she's the bomb! Stay tuned for more!

Field Trip!

I kicked off my 5 day weekend by going with L and her preschool group to the zoo. We had so much fun. The weather held out until we got back to school. Lexi and L loved the gorillas, so we spent quite a bit of time there. The gorillas did a good job of checking us out also.
The tiger exhibit was extraordinary! We watched this tiger swim and eat a snack. I got some up close pictures of him.
After a couple hours, we took a lunch break. The kids chatted and the moms hung out together.
Lexi and L are best friends. They checked out all the exhibits together and were kind enough to let us take a couple pictures.
The lions....were beautiful. They seemed a little hot though.
Cool iguana, huh?

80 Days of Summer

Today is June 1st. Starting today, it's a countdown....L has 80 days until she starts kindergarten. Wow. I'm going to be a mom of a kindergartener. Geez.

So I decided to give myself a summer challenge. My goal is to do 80 workouts in 80 days. All that I will require is a workout will consist of at least 20 minutes. Each workout counts so if I run in the morning and do strength training in the evening, that counts as two workouts. This way I can take an occasional break.

Here I go!

Camp Council Grove

This year, we found a new place to camp. Partly because we lost our spot at Fall River, partly we wanted someplace new. After scouring the website, we picked Council Grove. It's a little less than 2 hours from Doodah and it was a very pretty drive. We got to CG around 3:30 Friday afternoon, set up our tents and got out the food and set out to enjoy the weekend. Our campsite wasn't far from the water. We had beautiful sunsets (I'm sure the sunrises were nice...I was sleeping then). The first night we walked to the shore and the kids threw in rocks. L had a great time tossing in rocks.
We lit a fire to hang out in the dark and fix smores (a necessity when camping). The kids love to roast marshmellows.
Kam stole L's goggles.
The second night, we had smores with Reeses PB cups, which IMO, are the best way to have smores. Dan made it better by adding a banana to make an Elvis smore. Yummmmyy!
Our tent which was hidden under a tree and in view of the water.
L got this HUGE moth! She walks up to me and says, "look what I found". She shocked both Jeff and I. And to my surprise, she let it go without a fight.
On Sunday, the dads and kids went fishing. L caught a 6 inch walleye (sorry, I wasn't there to catch a picture). She petted it a couple times and tossed it back.
And after all that playing, sometimes you get really tired.
L HATES watermelon. Until she tried it....and now she LIKES it! Go figure!
What a weekend. And no one got sunburns. It was beautiful to hang out with friends in such a pretty place.