My goal- Running my First 5k Race!

Today I ran my very first race at the Chickamauga Chase. It was a nice cool morning perfect for running. During the week I had tried to see how far I could run but couldn't even make it a mile. I was worried how I would do this race and not walk most of it. I surprised myself and ran almost the entire 3.1 miles! The only times I walked were up a few hills but after the hills I would run again. Now my running is a slow jog...but hey it's not walking! My time was 43.28 minutes. I came in 30th out of 39 in my age group. Not great but at least I wasn't last!
Caleb and Jim came out to support me...mainly to take pictures to prove that I did this! :)

Caleb waiting on me to come running by at the start

Getting ready to start- I am at the back of this crowd of 1500 people!

Finally coming by them- Caleb got upset when I couldn't stop to see him. I did not know this till after the race. Jim said he cried like I had abandoned him. He had my attention the rest of the day!!

Almost done- I am on the far left. This was right before Caleb ran up to me which you see in the picture below.

Yay! Crossing the finish line. The girl to the right of me in the blue is a friend from church. We stayed together for most of the race.

It was a nice feeling to know that I accomplished something that I never thought I would do. I never liked running and still don't but this was fun!

Easter Activities 2010

I decided to try dying Easter eggs with Caleb this year. He loved it! He just wanted to play with them after they were dry and ended up breaking a few. I think Jim and I enjoyed it as much or even more than Caleb did. I haven't done that since I was a child. I think I added too much water which made the eggs take longer to color. Oh well. I didn't really know what I was doing but I did know to add the vinegar!

Helping him put on some stickers

Look at my egg!!

We took Caleb to the Easter egg hunt at Woodland Park Baptist again this year. It was a little cool and very windy for most of it. Caleb found a prize egg which that makes 2 years in a row he got a prize! He got a Jesus book with a music CD which was very appropriate since it was Easter.

Caleb's friend Sydney came with us this year. He is wanting her sucker!

This is Caleb attempting to get his face painted. The Child Evangelism trailer was there to face paint. He only got one green line across his forehead and he was done. haha His friend Sydney got her entire face painted and was happy but Caleb was not thrilled about it.

This was the 5th year our church has had Easter service at the Chickamauga Battlefield. It was a beautiful warm day this year to have it outside! Caleb sat really good with me for maybe 40 minutes while he ate a ton of snacks. By the time the service got started good he was ready to get up and run away from me. So before the preaching started we moved to another area where he could run and play and we wouldn't bother anyone. It's hard to make a 2 yr old sit for the entire thing especially a child who doesn't like to be still.

Part of the crowd

The stage- I didn't even know who some people were up there since we were so far away. I only knew by their voices. haha

For lunch we went to my Aunt Betty's house. My cousins Garry and Beth along with their kids were in town from FL so it was nice to spend time with them this Easter.

Hunter and Caleb hunting eggs.

Hunter, Brittany, Kellan- they make me feel old since I used to babysit them. :)

I think this was the best weather we have had for Easter in several years. It was warm and the trees were in bloom. That is how Easter should be! New life all around just like we are given new life through Jesus.

Tiki Cuts

Today Caleb got a much needed haircut and so we thought we would try a kid friendly place to get his hair cut. I had heard many great stories that kids who didn't like to get a haircut would do pretty good at this place. I mean he was able to sit in a truck chair, watch videos, and look at the cool scenery. You would think that would be enough to keep his attention for like 5 min!!
Caleb was ok with it at first while she was just wetting his hair...then he realized what was going to happen. This was maybe the first time he could care less about watching Thomas or any video. He could care less that he could sit and eat "cookies" in a cool car chair. He just wanted down!

He did end up with a nice hair cut and I didn't have to sit and hold him. I had to hold him enough for him to stay seated in the chair and hold his hands so he wouldn't grab the comb away. So, I guess it was a little better experience there than at Great Clips. At least he got to sit in his own chair and not on my lap. I was happy to not have been completely covered in hair this time!


For encouragement the lady told me she has seen a lot worse! Yea, Thanks! HAHA

I was able to get a few pictures before he realized what was going on! :)

Spring Fever!

Caleb will sit like this forever and watch his trains. Recently he has started holding his hands like this while he watches the trains

Caleb likes to sit on his new potty but he thinks he only should do this after his bath or before bedtime. He never goes to sit on it any other time. We aren't pushing him to potty train right now we are just getting him used to sitting on it and trying to learn what it is for. He doesn't get it yet that he is supposed to sit on it without pants on. :)

He says he has to "go poop" but he hasn't done anything in it so far. I am thinking about waiting till summer to really try to train him. That way he will be older and we will be home more during the week to work on it.

We have had really nice warmer weather this weekend so we took the bike outside. He loved going up and down the street with his bike. He can't reach the pedals yet but probably by summer he will. Can't wait for spring now that we are enjoying outside for a few days!!

Here is a video of Caleb riding the bike outside.

Snow-1-29-10

Here is our big snow storm in GA! We ended up with 5 inches or more! The news said it has been 10 years since we've had this much. It's about time we had a good snow!
Caleb will still not play in the snow. He likes to look at it and say "yay snow" or every morning when we leave he says"no snow, no ice". He is missing out since it doesn't come very often.

Looking out our front door

Caleb on the porch crying but yet he didn't want to go back inside either. Couldn't figure out what he wanted till we got out his car.

He is happy now!

On another note......I took a coupon workshop on Tuesdays the past 3 weeks. I learned a lot and there is lots of money to be saved!! This girl Kelly that did the class has a family of 5 and only spends around $40 a week in groceries. She has been doing it a long time and has a huge stockpile of food saved up so that is how she can do it. I don't think I can get to the level she has with it but I have been saving since the classes started. I have my coupons all organized now and I'm now one of those weird people at the store with a binder of coupons. :)

I used to spend a little over $100 a week at Walmart. I have now switched to shopping at BILO and only buy the things that are on sale (with exception of a few necessities) and try to have a coupon for those things on sale. BILO doubles coupons less than .60 every day!!

Walmart is cheaper when things aren't on sale but if it's on sale it's a better deal at the grocery stores.

I have not spent over $90 the last 3 weeks on groceries! Today I saved $32.04. Total was $116.45 but paid $84.41. That was with things on sale and only $6.65 was coupons.

My cart was full with stuff falling out!! I couldn't believe it wasn't over $100!