Living in the Moment: February 2013

Monday, February 25, 2013

10 K

Last Saturday I ran my first race in 3 years. I chose a 10k because it was challenging but didn't require the time commitment of a half marathon. I really had to work hard to plan my training runs. Last time I ran I was a stay at home Mom and had lots of time during the day to plan my runs. This time around, I was working and single so I had to be really disciplined and do my runs when I had them scheduled. As with my last runs I had my faithful friend Hope to run my long runs with on the week ends.We emailed each other 8 weeks ago right around the same time with basically the same question, "are you up for training for a race together?" It was good timing for both of us. Hope is the perfect running partner she is always encouraging and never lets on if you are slowing her down (which I did:) This was her first run after her baby so it had special significance to her also. We had an amazing run on Saturday morning. I love everything about these races. From the cheesy Rocky theme that starts the race to the people cheering us along the way. We usually run a 12:00 minute mile and our pace on Saturday was 11:04. We felt great the whole time. My favorite part was right before we crossed the finish line Hope grabbed my hand and held it high. She knew how important this was to me. She knows me so well. And as we crossed the finish line with our hands held high we both felt triumphant.

Before

After

Tiny Dancer

Whenever I hear the song "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John I always think of that Friends episode where Phoebe mistakes the lyrics and sings, "Hold me closer Tony Danza!" Anywho! I am loving this work from home thing for so many reasons. On Friday I took an early lunch so I could go to Kate's school and watch her ballet lesson. I loved it. It was ballet chaos. It was more 12 little girls dancing to their own beat than refined ballet but what do you expect? It was a scream to watch. I was so proud of her. She had all eyes on her teacher with only momentary sneak peeks and smiles at me. It was so cute when she would sneak those little glances at me. My most favorite part of the class was when one of the little girls in the back row said, "Kate, your Mommy is SO proud of you!" I guess my face kind of gave it away:) Here are some videos I caught. The first one cracked me up because she turned around and gave me that little thumbs up that she always gives when she is over the top happy.

ballet 004 from Betsy Gowens on Vimeo.

ballet 005 from Betsy Gowens on Vimeo.

ballet 006 from Betsy Gowens on Vimeo.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day

I went to the store 3 days after Valentine's Day and bought these premium:) dozen roses for $7. I will definitely remember that for next year:)

Work Week End

I was driving home from work the Friday before Christmas and my boss texted me something that read like this, "I'm giving you an early Christmas present. I just got you approved to work from home starting in February." Well anyone that knows me will not be surprised when I tell you that I burst into tears. I have wanted this for , how old is Kate? oh year 5 years. :) I was overcome with emotion. This means so much for my little family. I have been at home for 2 weeks and I am loving it. I see no downside to it at all. I have been able to run at lunch, actually HAVE a lunch:), do loads of laundry and I can't even begin to explain how much more productive I am at my job. It is a blessing on all counts. I work for a big corporate company but they have been extremely good to me. :) Which leads me to this post. When I signed the contract to work from home there was a clause that said " this work arrangement should not be a substitute for dependent care." I thought to myself "Are they crazy? Who in the world would try having their kids at home while they work??" I guess some people have or they wouldn't have that clause. Well this week end I had to work and my kids were with me the whole time. It was wonderful! People told me when I got pregnant with Carson that because he would be so close in age to Kate that they would be wonderful playmates. That has FINALLY come to pass. They played all day. It was wonderful to hear. I was so proud of them and got so much done work wise. It was amazing I had this laser intense focus on work, yet my kids still got plenty of hugs and kisses and attention. And although I would never try this during my regular work hours it worked in a pinch for some good overtime. Now on to the pictures. I took most of these from my office chair. They just wanted to be beside me but they fully understood that I was working. They know the importance of my job because we discuss it all of the time. I work so that we can live in our house, have lights, have Mommy's white car, put gas in the car, etc and as Carson likes to say emphatically "so we can buy toys Mommy!" Hey, however he connects with the concept is just great!

I put up some paper so they could sticker it to their hearts content.

A serious game of Hungry Hungry Hippos

Really getting into her dollhouse

Carso's "Tee Pee"

These chairs were a great investment. They artfully arrange them everywhere.

An impromptu picnic. We broke the "no food outside the kitchen" rule just for this week end.

I was working away and Kate said "Mommy I love you!" I said "I love you to!" and then she said "I love you forever I like you for always as long as I'm living my baby you'll be." We read this book a lot and so does her teacher at school.

Some Bball action this morning.

I've told her not to do this, but it gave me a good chuckle so I took a picture:)

Their V tech games. A christmas present 3 years ago and still going strong. :) Still no Ipad and we're ok although my kids LOVED Autie Stace's Ipad

Friday, February 15, 2013

Party Prep

Kate loves to clean. Well as long as she has a Lysol Wipe in her hand she loves to clean. Last night she got all dressed up and gave my cabinets a good cleaning.

My big girl got a big girl bike. I can't believe it. You should see the helmets they both picked out. Hilarious.

I am finding that no one loves a party more than my boy. He took it upon himself to help me stuff the envelopes for Kate's Birthday invites and............

Lick the envelopes! I thought this was the cutest thing. He was so into it.

Then Kate said she wanted to write her name on every single one. Between writing them on the front and back she wrote her name over 80 times tonight:)

I got a bag of Pony beads for Kate's party and wanted to try it out to see how easily they could make a bracelet. We used a pipe cleaner to thread them on which ended up working really well. The kids loved it:)

Carson was especially serious about his jewelry making. He traded off between threading the beads and racing his 2 monster trucks.

He finally made this necklace which he was super proud of.

Kate doing a little more invite decorating. Let's just say the recipient will have no question as to whose party it is:)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

FIVE!

How in the world did my beautiful, confident Kate turn five just like that? My main goal on her birthday was to make her feel extra special. I think that goal was accomplished. She went to school in a birthday tiara, earrings , and a "5" shirt. Everyone made a fuss over her and she loved it. We brought cupcakes to share with her class. I watched from the window after I dropped her off. Watching her play with her friends, giving hugs to her two favorite girls, another Cate and Bisola. She was just brimming with confidence and poise and I was just overwhelmed with such happiness and gratitude for the girl that she is becoming. I absolutely love being with her. She is my favorite girl in the whole wide world.