Thanksgiving!!

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a nice low key Thanksgiving here in Elkton.

Ben's parents were headed to Kansas to our cousins there but since we did that last year we were not ready for that 7+ hour trek again yet.

Ben wanted the opportunity to hunt, so he hunted and I cooked!

Mom and Dad went to Alabama and Mississippi from Tuesday through Saturday, so they were not around so me being the next prodominat cook in the family, I spear headed Thanksgiving.

We had it at Aunt Sharon's house and had all the traditional goodies. 

For Brunch I made Cream Brulee French Toast Casserole and Smoked Sausage and it was very yummy!

It was a mild day, I didn't actually take many pictures but we spent some time out on the deck with Aunt Sharon showing Mallory how to twirl a baton.  She wasn't too bad for a 2.5 year old!

Everything was yummy and after dinner I got everything packed up and met up with Tiffany and Katherine and we hit the early openings of Black Friday Shopping!

We devised a plan and execuited, lol.  It was actually pretty fun.  We hit up target at 8:30 pm, got in line for the store to open at 9, we all went our seperate ways, got what we wanted and then met up in line.  We were in and out in 30 minutes!

Next we killed time at Kmart waiting on Kohls and Dicks Sporting Goods to open.  That was awful!  We were just going to buy some odds and ends just to pass the time but after standing in line for like an hour we just left.  The line hardly moved.

I dropped Tiffany and Katherine off at Kohls and they got in line a littel after 11 and I headed across the street to Dick's.

Sitting on the cold concrete I actually ordred Ben's Christmas present from Dick's while sitting there.  I realized there was free shipping, the online sale had already started and I wouldn't have to pay TN taxes, score!

So I then booked back to Kohl's where I had a coupon that I'd forgotten to give Tiffany to use on what she was going to pick up for me for Mallory.  Worked out great, they were done shopping an in line, they found the doll house I wanted for M and I got to use my coupon for even more of a sale : )

After that we were pooped.  Stopped at Chick-Fil-A for some middle of the night snack and headed back to Elkton.  I was home just before 2, crawled in bed and Mallory let me sleep until 8 am!!

I did not leave the house on Friday until I went to Hot Yoga at 5:15!  Then afterwards I picked up Dairy Dip and we watched The Christmas Story 2 on Pay Per View, and you know, I actually thought it was pretty good.  Ben said it was OK but he's the one that is such a fan of the origional.  I'd watch it again in rotation with the other one.

I haven't done any running this past week.  After our 10.5 miles the other day my groin muscle has been bothering me, so I've just been letting it rest in preparation for our half marathon on December 1st, I'm sooooo excited!!!  I'm ready for it and I'm sure my groin will bug me late in the race but at this point I don't think it will bug me to the point that I can't finish.

Saturday we headed to Bowling Green with Ben to get him some new work boots.  That was about it other than getting me a new seat for my bike.  The one that came with it was seriously uncomfortable for me, my whole butt would fall asleep, this one is much cushier.

Sunday I did go for a 2 mile run just to test it out.  My groin didn't bother me while running but it did bother me a bit on Monday.  Who knows.  Then I did 2 miles on the bike just to test out my new seat and it is sooooo much better!!

Sunday night we headed to mom and dad's to eat dinner for Dad's birthday.  Just more food.  It was all good but I'm ready for normal food.  I did make a pretty killer Turkey Pot Pie with our Turkey leftovers and the rest of the ham is going in ham and beans tomorrow : )

Wish me luck in my half, I'm sure the next blog post will be totally devoted to all the details of my half marathon!!!

Turkey Trotting

Turkey Trotting

Still no deer yet.  I’ve cleaned out the deep freeze, threw away all the crap that’s been in there for
literally years and we have plenty of space for a deer, or two : )  Now I wait.

Still no luck in the deer hunting this weekend.  Seeing all kinds, so it’s not like he’s bored
out there, just no shooters.

Ben was gone all week and finally got back Friday night.  I had Bunco, so Bean spent some
fun time and ShaSha’s, aka Aunt Sharon’s, where she got to see Matt, Memaw,
Susan and Nick, so she had a good time while Mommy was enjoying some no-child time : )

Mallory, Kristy and I had signed up for a Turkey Trot in Greenvile for Saturday, a little local 5K. Cute shirts but the 5K was a loop twice around town, mainly on the sidewalks of Greenville that had STEPS in 2 different spots, for 4 times we had to deal with a few steps.  It was just odd and not very conducive for a jogging stroller!!

Kristy had a great run coming in just over 30 minutes and she probably would have been under if she hadn’t helped us two times with steps on the first loop.  Once I knew where they were it wasn’t as bad on the second, but jeeze!

I think our time was 34:52 or so.  Not one of my fastest, but still under 35 minutes.  There was this one hill, that we had to climb twice, that was awful.  I really had to walk up it while pushing Mallory.

Kristy got third in her age group and after some issues with being able to read my hand writing, I ended up getting 3^rd in my age group.  Next year we will be in the same age group…..more competition, lol.

I didn’t get a picture of me and my bling, but here’s Kristy and then us after the run.

Saturday night Ben wanted steak so we went out for a steak with the fam to Torino’s in Springfield. They make their steaks like Charlie’s did.  So since we can’t go to Charlie’s since it burned down, this is where we go!

Sunday was long run day and I was not going to do it while pushing a jogging stroller so Bean went to Mom and Dad’s while I ran with Kristy in Elkton and Ben mowed the leaves.

We did 10.5 miles in 2 hours 4 minutes, which I was thrilled with!  We can get close to a 2.5 hour half marathon!  But my groin muscle was bothering me, I think I strained it or something a week or two ago during a run so I’m going to really try to let it rest before our half.  Sunday may have to be my last long run before our race, we will see how I feel.  I don’t like being injured!!

Ben hunted and I blew leaves out of the yard that Ben had
mowed early, we made tacos and then called it a night. 

Us finishing up mile 2 with Zaylei on Sunday


Some gymnastics pictures


Mid flip!


Ben and Bean napping together!


My outfit for our chilly run on Saturdsy!


Zaylei giving Bean a big hug!!


A beautiful sunset this past week!

Opening Weekend

Opening Weekend

This past weekend was opening rifle Deer season.

A highly anticipated event for Ben!

I’ve been trying to clean out the deep freeze for 2 weeks in anticipation of him killing a deer and having fresh meat.  I haven’t gotten it done yet, but he didn’t kill one yet, so I’m safe there.

He saw a bunch on Saturday, pretty decent hunting weather that day, Sunday was crazy windy, so had less luck seeing deer on Sunday.  The neighbors killed an 8 pointer that he passed up on Saturday, but he’s waiting for something better I suppose.

Bean and I had a fairly quiet weekend.  We went and ran Saturday morning.  9.5 miles. Should have been 10 but I was struggling a bit that list 1.5 miles so I just said forget it and went 9.5.  I think 8 miles needs to be my limit when pushing her.  That’s a long ways to go while pushing a
jogging stroller.  I think I slightly pulled a groin muscle, I sat around Saturday night and Sunday night with a heating pad in my crotch, lol, but thankfully it feels fine today!

Only about 3 weeks away from my Half Marathon, which is 13.1 miles by the way.  Which I’m hoping will be a breeze because I’m not pushing the jogging stroller!

We had a running partner with us for 1 mile of our run on Saturday.  Stefanie’s daughter Zaylei
wanted to run and my runs in town go right by their house anyway so we made the pickup at the start of mile 2 and she did the down and back mile on Airport Road.  Zaylei is 5 and they have a
running club at school and you have to run a mile, so we are in training!

She did great.  We ran and walked the whole mile, no complaints!  We talked about sprinting and long distance running and why you run facing traffic, etc.  She’s ready for our next run now!

Sunday afternoon Bean and I made a trip to TJ Maxx and got a little bit of Christmas shopping done and then fixed dinner.  We like to listen to music, and dance in the kitchen while we cook : )  We made a new yummy recipe of a honey mustard baked chicken and roasted brussel sprouts, bacon
and apples.  Approved by all!

Mallory did some painting on Sunday, she seemed to get most of it on herself.  She had fun though!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I’m not really sure what I’ve been doing, but I’ve been
busy, so I’ll try to catch everyone up now on all the Halloween festivities!

Saturday night the 27^th, we had a party for the kiddos.  We planned, made fun food and
games and goodie bags.  Thanks Pinterest because that’s where pretty much every idea came from, lol.  Heaven forbid we use our own imaginations
anymore!  Either way, it was cute, everyone (including parents) dressed up!

Here’s some pictures from the festivities. Bean had a diaper change prior to most of the
pictures, so she looks more like a ballerina than abby cadabby because she didn’t
want to put it all back on! 

Halloween we planned on meeting at Stefanie’s house so a group of us could all go trick or treating. She lives in the primary subdivision in Elkton, so we would just walk from there. 

When I picked up Mallory and took her home to get ready she was CRABBY.  Not in the least interested in putting on her costume.  Ug, it was awful but finally got her in it and once she saw HOW to Trick or Treat by watching the older kids, she was all about it. 

Tiffany had worked with them earlier in the day to say “trick or treat” which came out more like “tit or tit” but you know, she tried, lol!

She had a ball and then we went to visit Memaw and Aunt Sharon and then over to Mom’s. 

Mallory had fun, but I was exhausted.  Kinda glad that’s over now!

We had our big drawing for our St Jude’s fundraiser on Nov 1^st, one of Ben’s Fraternity Brother’s wives was the awesome recipient of the $!  We’ve raised our $500 for the half marathon and now less than a month to go before we head to Memphis for the race!

The night of the 3^rd we celebrated Stefanie’s husband Matt’s birthday with a bonfire and laser tag, so we all had a good time.  It could have been a tad bit warmer outside, but overall it was fine.

Ben’s gearing up for Rifle season that will open this coming weekend, so I’ll pretty much not see him much this weekend!

Of course the election did not go how I wanted it too.  Not really looking forward to 4 more years
with Obama but I did what I could with my vote, it just wasn’t enough.   We just do what we can and chug forward and I’m glad the senate and house is split so I hope none of the rest of his crazy
bills can get through.

This was in the Owensboro paper last week....

 

I forgot, I took off on Friday the 2nd and Bean and I went to Opry Mills so I could take her to the Rainforest Cafe, she was crazy about it when we went shopping there several weeks ago and she loved it!  We got to sit right by a big aquarium and in front of some elephants that moved around.  She was so excited she was squealing!!



We also got to ride the carosel.

And she got some new bling-y shoes!



Here's a few other pictures from the past couple weeks. 

She's already going through all the toy catalogs looking at stuff!


Getting crazy at Pippi's!

Heading to gymnastics in wearing our legwarmers!






Painting her pumpkins for halloween!


Finishing up harvest by riding in the combine with daddy and Poppa.