A Crawfish Boil

A very dear friend of mine was in town visiting from Little Rock this past weekend. Her fiance is a pro at putting together a crawfish boil and my family was invited to partake. Aaron and I had never been to one before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I learned that a crawfish boil is less about the eating and more about the visiting. It had already been a very long day so we didn't get to stay but about 4 hours =) And I only got pictures of Evan because he's the only kid that got into it. The others opted for hotdogs...

The food

His first crawfish

And now it's a finger puppet

At one point he had 2 on each hand

Poor crawfish. They have no idea they're about to get boiled...

The biggest in the bunch. Evan called it the Grandaddy.

St Louis

Back in April Aaron and I took the kids to St. Louis for a few days. We had so much fun! There was a lot of swimming, a trip to the zoo and of course the Arch. Walks in the park and eating out and the making of great memories. Enjoy the pictures!!

Our hotel is the red one.

We got to feed the sting rays!!

Me and my girl

They Call Me Mom

Birthday Girl

My sweet baby girl turned 7 last week. It's hard to believe it's been that long. She had, what my mom-in-law calls, a 'festivas'. That's where you REALLY celebrate. To start things off I took Katie to get her first real pedicure. A very special friend met us and we had so much fun! We went next door to a beauty supply place and tried on awesome wigs and had a little fashion show.

My in-laws came by that evening to take Katie birthday shopping. She didn't get home until almost 10:00 =)And, needless to say, her Grandad was a little indulgent.

Saturday was super busy. The big boys had a soccer game at 11:00 and then I was taking Katie to meet her girl cousins and a few friends at a local pottery painting place, Purple Glaze. Again...the girls were so fun to watch as new friends were being made. And then a trip for ice cream. Katie and I got home about 4:00. The kids then had to have dinner and get ready for Parents Night Out at our church. It's from 6-9. So Katie was on the go from 10:30am to 9:15pm.

And Sunday was Mother's Day. Even though it was a holiday for mom's(yes, I was loved on) we had Katie's birthday cake this day. 3 days of Happy Birthday =) She's so worth it.

Glitch

Had a glitch with the privacy settings on Aaron's video. Should be all good now but let me know if you still can't view it.

Brag time =)

Our church does a Chili cook off and Talent Show. Last time Aaron played a church song. This year he played You Don't Know Me. Thought I'd share =) He is so hot!!

St. Paddy 5k...#4

This is the 4th year I've run the Tulsa St. Paddy 5k with my brother, Andy. The first year we ran I had 2 goals. 1) I wanted to RUN the entire thing, no walking. 2) I wanted to finish in under 30 minutes. I met both goals and finished in 27.54. I was very proud of my self. Andy and I don't count the next year because I had to take a pee break. And last year I did OK. Which brings us to this year, but first a little background...

Last fall the big boys and I started running with a club one day a week. The running coach is Ethan Sunday school teacher but has had all my kids at some point during worship service. Needless to say he knows who we are =) So, Levi and I ran our local Zoo Run last Oct. Levi did great and finished in 28.30. And after that I got an e-mail about another run at the same location. This one was called the OWL RUN. Proceeds went to help burn survivors. How could I not participate?? Dang! It started early! I had to be there at 7:30. And we all went. Aaron got some pics but I can't find them =/ Anyway, my finish time for that run was 26.39. Still not sure how I did that but I did. And because running is something Andy and I both enjoy I shared my news.

He thought that if I trained for it I could finish my next run, the St. Paddy, in 25 minutes. Just thinking about it made me so nervous. But I was determined. I bought my in-laws treadmill last year so I started running on that. It's a good thing I had it because with us schooling in the mornings and Aaron working at night I didn't really feel like I had any other options. When I did run outdoors I felt sluggish and very heavy. Even if my times didn't reflect it.

So the morning of the run I was still nervous. I thought all my hard work was going to be for nothing because I hadn't run with elements to deal with(wind, terrain). I did my best and felt like my lungs were going to explode. BUT...I finished in 25.09!!! Andy tried to make me believe I wasn't going to make my time so I would run faster. He just wanted to see if I could finish in under 25 minutes. He wasn't very nice at all until after we crossed that finish line. Then he was all kinds of proud =)

Here are my stats...out of 959 females I finished #51. And out of 163 in my age group I finished #10. I've got some other runs through out the year. Next up is the Warrior dash in May. After that I'll find some races for Levi to run with me. It's all about having fun now =)