How does she do it?

Sleep Positions

Tonight after putting the kids to bed, James and I were just watching TV downstairs. James went to go up stairs to get something and almost stepped on Sariah. She had come down and fallen asleep like this on the stairs.

Disneyland quote

One of my favorite moments at Disneyland was when Cinderella asked Sariah what her name was.

Cinderella: What's your name sweetie?
Sariah: Cinderella.
Cinderella: Oh that's my name too. And who is this (pointing to Ben)?
Sariah: He's my Gus Gus.

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Waiting

Waiting in line at Disneyland to see the princesses.

Surrey carts

Here's Ben trying to drive the surrey cart from the front. Shhh don't tell him that steering wheel is the one that doesn't work.

Oh Grandma

Grandma Ransom showing Sariah how to be a true tree hugger. (in Santa Barbara)

Driving

James and Sariah enjoyed "driving" while we are waiting for our lunch in Santa Barbara.

Pictures for previous post

The plane ride

So the real pictures from the nice camera won't come until I'm home but since I've been requested to post trip updates here are the phone pictures. 

The plane ride was pretty good. It was a plane full of kids!!  I think 8-9 families with kids got on with us. And surprisingly it wasn't a crazy crying flight. 

Some firsts include- my first time changing a diaper in the airplane closet. I mean bathroom. And I got the privilege of doing it twice- for Sariah and Ben. Yeah that was horrible. 

The kids did pretty well. The people in front of us were nice about getting their sits kicked and bumped often. The last 10 or so minutes were spent sitting still waiting for our gate to be open. And at that point the kids were done and completely ready to get off the plane. I just kept praying please let us move! And finally we did and managed to get all our luggage without a cart! :) 

Got our rental car and then took about 6 hours to make our 2 hour drive to Liz's. Between stopping for dinner, stopping for water, stopping for diapers and rush hour traffic- it was a LONG drive. But we made it on Friday and slept pretty well that night. Until both my kids got me up at 5 am the next morning. 

Picture 1: Here is Sariah before take off. 

Picture 2:
Meg And Ben trying to watch Toy Story 3 together. 

Picture 3: 

Sariah enjoyed the little tray to put all her dollies on. Come to think of it I believe some stickers were left on that tray. Hmmm. 

Picture 4:

Meg had the magical touch and finally got Ben to take a nap. He slept a lot of the flight.

 

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Cake

Here is a partial video of Ben having his birthday cake last night. He was too cute!!

dresser

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/fuo/2041073797.html

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Sleepy Cinderella

Frootloops

Ben found the box of Frootloops this morning and helped himself.

Found Daddy's Legos

Sleeping baby

I realized that it has been awhile since I've posted a sleeping baby picture of Ben. So here you go...

I like Olive Garden

Ben can now "Give Fives"

New moves

So Ben's got a new move these days. Okay really he only did it once yesterday but still he did it! And he did it when I had the camera in hand no less. He pulled himself all the way to standing...

And what was so tempting to cause him to do this new move.... well sissy was downstairs and her glorious princess dolls where out on the table...

Apparently Belle tastes really yummy!

Daddy Comparison

At James' parents a few weeks ago I saw a picture of him at little over a year. It seems that more and more people have been telling me that Ben looks just like James. So here is a little comparison for you to see...

Benjamin---
James (Daddy)----

Benjamin---
James (Daddy)----

Sweet Angel

Ben just fell asleep like this. Makes my heart sigh.....

Bed

Sariah made her own bed this morning. She decided to take off the bears and put on a pillow. She smoothed the blanket out all by herself.

In her words, "I make my bed soooo pretty."

6

Ben got one more tooth last night. Now he has 6. Two on top and four on bottom.

I have a feeling he isn't done though as he is still chewing on his fingers. I think the top teeth want to even the score.

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Pretending to sleep

18

I almost died but I ran 18 miles today. I'm now lying in bed super sore and very sunburned. But I did it. That is what matters.

I ran out of water/gatoraid with about 5 miles to go. Partially because I got this new water bottle belt. And didn't realize that a few of the bottles were leaking. So I lost some fluid on the way. Seriously thought I would have to call James to come get me. It was probably close to noon. Sun beating down. Dying of thirst on the back road of Cookingham. I spotted a little church and just prayed they would have an outside water spout for a hose. I saw an old one and tried it but no water came out. You know the kind where the handle lifts up. I was heartbroken. I went around the building and finally saw a hose hookup. Hallelluia!! (don't think I spelled that right). I filled up two bottles and let's just say by the end of the run I would have drank more if I had more. But man I might just have to go to that church. It was an amazing blessing today.

As for the sunburn. That is mostly my own fault. Last week I was careful to fully lather up on sunscreen. I didn't even get any color at all. So this week I was lazy and thought I could get away with my face and the tops of my shoulders. Umm no. Totally red splotchy where I was sloppy with the sunscreen. Upper arms. Front chest. Upper back. Upper front thighs. A little on my cheeks (face :)). It is a nightmare.

Here's hoping I get some sleep.

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Apppreciation

Lately I've tried really hard to say thank you and I appreciate you more to my hubby and kids. There is so much going on around us- lots of sadness and busyness. It has made me realize that I haven't been being very appreciative of them. At least I wasn't vocalizing it. So I've been trying to remember to say thank you to Sariah when she's being good or obedient. And I love you to my hubs and let him know how happy I am that he supports me being at home both emotionally and financially.

And today I realized that in return I've felt more appreciated. Sariah says thanks more often and James is always so supportive.

Definitely a happy case of what goes around comes around.

Sam's iPhone

Crawling

Yep. Ben began crawling a few weeks ago. I'm a slacker mom and keep forgetting to post. I will try to get a good video tomorrow. He's getting so big!!

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Did it!

I finished my 16 miles. I've NEVER run that far!! 3 hours 22 minutes.

I hurt everywhere. I'm super crazy thinking I can do 26.2.

Well next week is 18 miles so here we go!

Apprehensive

I'm not ready to go to bed because I'm not ready for tomorrow. See I've reach the point in my marathon training where I'm now going to run further than I've ever run before. 16 miles is scheduled for tomorrow morning to be exact. And honestly I'm scared. I know silly. Especially considering in a little over a month I've paid the entrance fee to run a lot farther than that. But well it is still very intimidating. I've never really done more than a half marathon (13.1 miles) in my life. So I decided tonight to cool some of my anxiety I would write out some of my motivation for doing the marathon.

1) It has always been a dream of mine to be able to say I've run a marathon.

2) With that it has been on my bucket list since my first half marathon that I ran before Sariah was born.

3) I want my children to know that if they want to do something bad enough they can.

4) I want my children and family to be proud of me.

5) I want to know that I can push myself further.

6) I am running with the thoughts and memory of those in my life who can't run.

7) I do actually enjoy running just to run. It honestly relaxes me.

8) I am thankful to have a healthy body.

9) This is the best time in my life to do this. This is my "marathon season"

10) I want to get my body into amazing physical shape.

So those aren't in any real order. But hopefully tomorrow when the run gets tough some of these thoughts will help push me through.

Off to bed now. :)

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Yucky goober face

Right now both kids are sick. Ben particularly is a yucky goober face with crazy congestion. They both have coughs that make you feel like you are a horrible mother because they sound soooo bad and miserable.

I finally decided to take Sariah and Ben in to the doctor today. Sariah's been sick since Sunday and Ben since Monday. Last night she was coughing so bad she was gasping for air afterwards. And yep just a cold. Not in their chests or ears. But they thought Sariah would respond to antibiotics. So at least that was something.

So on with life with sick kids. Getting up in the middle of the night. Dosing out the meds. Trying to keep the house totally quiet for naps so they will both get the rest they need. Hoping to fit a nap in for myself. And yeah letting the house get disastrously dirty. Ugh!!

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Ben's moving right along

Quick little milestone update for Ben....

He now has 5 teeth.

Last night he received his 3rd haircut. He is so squirmy that all I can handle is a buzz cut pretty much. I left it longer on top but couldn't get the front to be as long as I wanted.

He has started pushing himself from on his stomach up to sitting up.

He has started pushing up to all fours and rocking.

He has also started army crawling for things he wants.

Yes....trouble!!!

All night

He doesn't understand why I can't hold him like this all night...

Our cute kids

Sariah and Ben were so cute today at the store. This was their first time riding together like this.

That kinda day

In trying to get the groceries out of the car, on of the bags ripped. It fell in the garage... On the concrete... Busting 2 jars of spaghetti.

Thankfully the other 4 in that bag survived.

But yeah it's been that kinda day.

Slow poke

Sometimes I can be so slow with my projects. I had this great idea for artwork in Ben's room. Well I actually finished them probably 3 months ago, but umm yeah they were still sitting on my desk waiting to be hung.

So this week it finally happened. I got out the hammer and just put them up. I think they turned out pretty cute and go perfect with his bedding.

Hmm

Wearing these makes it a little hard to type.

While I'm up

I'm up with Ben and thought I might as well blog something.

Let's go with Sariah's current obsession....hot dogs running.

Since we went to the Royal's baseball game about a month ago, she's been obsessed. I mean asks for it multiple times a day obsessed.

For those of you unfamiliar with the hot dog derby a quick explanation. They have 3 people dressed in hot dog suits-ketchup, mustard, and relish. They race on the field.

You can YouTube it. Which we have. And we watch multiple times a day.

In case you're wondering, mustard wins just ask Sariah.

It cracks me up. That this tiny moment from the game has so strongly impacted her. She's so funny.

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Journal

Lately I've been sad since it is summer people slack on their blogs. I include myself in that. But I still like to read them even when I'm not writing. So I get bummed when there is nothing new posted.

So while I can't change how often others write, I can write more often in mine.

So tonight a little journalling. It was a nice Sunday. We only went to part of church because James needed to leave early. He drove down to scout camp tonight because his brother is receiving something big down there. But church was really nice. I felt the Spirit and just had reconfirmed to me that God knows and loves me. We sat behind my parents and part way through Sariah said I want to go sit with papa (my dad). Seeing her go climb up next to him just brought tears to my eyes. She has such a love for him and asks to see him all the time. I'm trying to capture as much as I can on video or photos but mostly I just try to live and really be in that moment. Really appreciating this precious time we have with my dad. I have felt so blessed to have him for so much longer than we expected. One of the hardest things for me was knowing that my kids wouldn't "know" him. But I have been blessed. I do not know how much Sariah will remember but I know that right now she KNOWS her Papa. And she loves him greatly. In this way my prayers have been answered.

Napping

I just laid Ben down for his nap and came out to find these two:

A new doll

So I got this pattern off Martha Stewart. I wanted to try to make Sariah a little doll. I thought it was a cute pattern. I promise she looks cuter in person.

Signed up

Well I bit the bullet and signed up for the FULL MARATHON in OCTOBER. Yikes!

I knew that I could do it but I also know that if I don't commit it is too easy to slack on my training schedule. So here goes nothing.

Part of me is truly excited. I really want to accomplish this and so I'm going to do it. I know that it will be hard time. It is already hard to find time for the training and getting all the runs in. Also with it so hot outside I've been confined to the treadmill. Long runs are SUPER hard on the treadmill for me.

But.... one thing I keep realizing in my life is that life is too short to not do things. If you want to do something then do it. Be happy with the life you are living.

As a disclaimer, I'm pretty sure this will be a one time only event! It is on the bucket list and on it only once! :)

The moment....

That makes getting up early so amazing.

So sweet

Kinda don't want to even lay him down. He just is so sweet to hold.

Marathon

Everyone has their bucket list right. You know things you want to do sometime in your lifetime. Well one of mine is to run a marathon. I mean a FULL MARATHON. Yep 26.2 miles. I have now completed two half marathons (one before kids and one after 2 kids) and while that feels amazing there is still something inside me that wants to be able to say I've run a full marathon.

I figured that since I just came off my training for a half marathon, I'm not pregnant, I'm not nursing, and don't plan to be pregnant anytime soon that now is my best shot. Plus I still have some post baby weight that I would really like to shed.

Well...here's the hard part. Time. I went online and found the details for the race in October here in KC. I found a training schedule. But ugh! It calls for 4 runs a week. The smallest of which is 4 miles. I'm a distance runner and love that but I'm SLOW SLOW SLOW. I usually average about 11-12 minute miles. So four miles takes me a minimum of 44 minutes without warm up or cool down and a shower after because I'm so drenched in sweat.

So everyone says run in the morning. I've faced the facts and that just isn't me. I'm not a morning person in any way. Even the thought of getting up before the kids makes me groan! And Ben is still waking up about once a night so that discourages me even further. But finding time during the day to do it is almost impossible as well.

So hmmm. I'm trying to motivate myself. Trying to just do it since I know that I want to have the end result. I tried the schedule 2 weeks ago and got 3 of the 4 runs in. Last week I lost all motivation and hurt my back so I didn't run at all. This week I started again.

I ran my 4 miles today. It was interrupted by Ben waking up from his nap and needing to use the bathroom at about 3.75 miles. But I got back on each time and finished it.

I'm going to try to blog about it hoping that will keep me focused and give a little more accountability. We'll see. Don't judge me if I give up! :) But I will try!

Bathtime together

The kids have been taking baths together for a while. But normally I
clean them both and take Ben right out. Tonight I decided to let them
play for a while together.

Ben got his second hair cut tonight. It was way harder than the first.
He has more hair now and is so much more squirmy. I used the clippers
instead of scissors. Not sure that I got it all even. I may need to
touch it up tomorrow when James is home to help. But for tonight it
had to be good enough because he wasn't having it anymore.

Here's some fun pictures of them in the bath together. I LOVE my kids!!!

Crafty or handy

I want to be crafty. I feel like just goofing off and makin fun things
today. However James comes back in town tomorrow so I need to get
stuff done around the house instead. :(

First off being handy. We broke the handle on our downstairs toilet so
here comes Mrs.Fix It!