Thankful Thursday

My favorite post every week, and I've missed it a few times the last few month(s)...but not today!  

Things I'm Thankful For Today; 

-Pre School - and the time it gives me to get stuff done!  I know I say this over and over but I had no idea how much I was doing/getting done, and it feels good to be productive!  

-My Jamberry business!  It's doing exactly what I hoped it would, and now I'm starting to see a way to make it even more than I thought it could be.  I had no idea how much I missed having a non-mommy side of life.  It feels good to know I haven't lost my ability to learn, grow, earn some $$, and work with an amazing team/group of people. 

 

-Sky's feeling better today!  Yesterday was no fun with her being sick all day.  Seems to have just been a 24hr tummy bug. 

-It's sunny today, beautiful out, and not too cool.  Another afternoon in the sun at the park.  Gotta get our vitamin D while we can! 

-Another awesome Birchbox full of samples I love!

-That Bishop (our dog) is so very tolerant...Sky pushes his limits I'm sure.

-That I will soon (ish) be growing my own herbs!  I'm so excited!  I go through a silly amount of fresh herbs every week and it will be so nice to just step outside and clip what I need for dinner every day! 

 -That drumming on a garbage can is highly entertaining and keeps her busy for ages!  Which means I should probably do something more productive than blogging while she is content on her own!  

-That Thursday is a Football Night!  

---------------------------

What are you thankful for today?

Just Keep Moving!

If you can't run walk!  A good rule of thumb in a race and life in general.

Rather than get frustrated that I didn't feel good enough to run I hit Michelle up for a walk instead. I'm not going to lie I was a bit pessimistic about it.  It's hard to know what the weather is going to do from hour to hour the last few days, and while I don't mind running in wind and rain, I hate walking in it.  When I saw dark clouds on the horizon I almost messaged her to cancel.  But, I'm glad I didn't.

I would have missed out on this beautiful sunset, and on good conversation with my friend!  It amazing how much easier it is to have a full conversation when walking rather than running!  We got a few drops of rain, but nothing too bad, and totally worth it for the view!

On the upside of not running...I'm really working on cross training and drinking tons of water. Trying to get good habits in place so that when running does start back up I'll be well rounded and not just running all the time!

-----------------------------------------

Sky and I started our day with coffee (for me) and chocolate almond milk (for her), it's one of her favorite things!  I love sitting and eating breakfast with her...the conversation is the best and she is full of hugs and cuddles.

     But that curly hair though!

I just had to share this one.  Sometimes the outtakes are so funny, and yes I'm fully aware that some day she will hate me for some of the pics on this blog! 

I delete more pics than I save/share for sure!  It takes a lot to get a few ok to good ones.

I should totally do an outtakes only post and share the goofy/funny/embarrassing pics!  That could be entertaining.  

--------------------------
What is your favorite non running activity?

Fun Filled/Football Filled Weekend

Good Monday Morning to you!  With Sky starting school, and swimming lessons changing our schedule the only week morning we have to snuggle and relax our way into the day is Monday, so now it's totally my new favorite day of the week!  

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Have you ever noticed that if you start the weekend with Friday night plans it makes the weekend seem so much longer?!  By the end of the day yesterday I totally thought Mark had been off work for 3 or 4 days!  Of course I had drinks out Thursday night, and being a stay at homer sort of changes the definition of "work week" for me so that doesn't help.

Friday night we had a birthday to celebrate and Sky spent the night at Grammy and Grampy's, so we put on our dancing shoes and hit the town.  Ok, for the record those are not dancing shoes, in fact they are hardly even wear for 10 min shoes.  I love them to pieces, but Saturday morning my feet, hip, and bad knee hurt so much I was cursing those sexy red shoes!  I'm seriously thinking about giving all the heels away and sticking with cute flats.  

I didn't take a single pic with the phone, so have no proof we went out, and had an amazing date night dinner before catching up with the birthday party.  But we did!  The cocktails, the yummy bison steak, the country music, fun with friends it all happened you'll just have to take my word for it.   Sometimes you just need to put the phone down and enjoy the moment.

We had birthday fun with another friend Sunday but again no pics.  We were enjoying the company and food too much.  :)

Even though it was a later night out, and Sky wasn't home to wake us up I still woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep.  I don't mind though because the sunrise was so pretty.  Oddly enough it changed to dark and stormy pretty quick and we even had an emergency tornado alert in our area, which never happens.  I actually thought my phone had my location wrong again or something.  But, turns out it was legit...there was a funnel cloud that touched down just a few miles down the hwy from us.  It didn't turn into anything more than that and we were all just fine.  Still sort of unsettling though.

We spent most of Saturday getting things done (me baking chocolate chip scones, and Mark and Sky working on projects around the house) before the Mississippi State game started.  For those that don't know Mark and his Dad both went to Mississippi State and we follow the football season pretty closely.  This year they are tearing it up and after Saturdays win are #1!!!!!!  It was fun watching the game with Gentry, and Sky was loving all the jumping, screaming, and cheering going on.  #HAILSTATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank goodness there is a football team we can be excited about because the Steelers are very disappointing so far.  :(

  Loves helping her Daddy and really loves power tools! 

The baby gate brackets are now gone...the gate has been gone for some time now.  It's almost like there was never a baby in the house at all.  It's all big girl stuff now.  

Sort of sad...mostly not...totally get why people have more...really like it being the 3 of us...sort of think 2 would be cool...house isn't big enough for another...we could cram them into the same room. 

That circular way of thinking is all for not though...we are not pursuing adding another, just to be clear.  Not only can we not afford to adopt again, but we got so lucky!  Sky was a very easy baby, and even though she has her moments is a really easy tot.  We were/are totally spoiled parents and don't want to push our luck.  :)   

One last Sky pic....

Two things she is sort of obsessed with...Her piggy bank that Grandma painted her and the old globe that used to be Gentry's.  She carried that piggy bank around and cuddles it all the time, and she can now point out North America, Asia, and the old U.S.S.R. on the globe.  

No running this weekend, but I'm sticking to my plank and squat challenge, and doing my homework to settle on the new and "better for me" training plan I will follow once the running does start back up!  

In the meantime I'm patiently waiting for two things: Dad to be here and work on my neck and hip, and for the new winter line release from Athleta!  The sneak peaks they are sharing on social media are making me impatient! 

--------------------

Tell me something fun you did this weekend!  

Sky's First Field Trip!!!

I missed my usual Thankful Thursday post yesterday because I was enjoying Sky's first field trip with her, and the morning of fun meant we had all the not fun stuff to do (grocery shopping etc) the rest of the day.  It was none stop all day long I tell ya!

There are a ton of things I'm thankful for, but fore now I'm the most thankful that I get to see my Dad in a little over a week, and we are going to get this girl back to running!!!!  My hip always feels so much batter after he works on it!

Enough about that and onto field trip fun!  Each kid was required to have an adult transport them and attend with them, and I'm so glad we were included because I had a blast.  A bunch of 3 year old's running around a pumpkin patch/farm is just really too much cuteness to handle!

A big Thank You to the school and Schilter Family Farm for making sure we had a great time!

Sky was initially pretty upset she was not going to her classroom...she was not feeling the pumpkin patch at all! 

I was amazed they all stood there for as long as they did...I mean it took a while for every parent to get the picture they wanted!

 Finally found the right one!  It took her a long time. 

 I really think we may end up with a cow living in our yard.

 I am not even kidding she examined every pumpkin you see in the pic and discarded every single one.  She was getting frustrated, and kept saying "it's just not right".  Girl knows what she wants!

 Ask her what her favorite part was and she will tell you it's the tractor...she loved it!

Hay maze.  Blurry pic...it was dark!

We had so much fun, and so many things make so much more sense now.  I got to see first hand some of the songs and tricks used to keep the kiddos on track and now some of Sky's phrases and habits totally click.  It was so much fun and I'm thankful I got to be part of it!  

Now it's on to the weekend!  Sky has a sleep over tonight which means Mark and I get to go out, like adults!  

I'm so excited!  

Have a great weekend!

Nothing But Blue Sky's

Seriously I have no idea what is going on with the weather around here, but I'm loving it.  75 yesterday...in October...in the PNW...crazy awesome is what it is!

We had a play date with Reagan yesterday and Jodi actually had to put the sun umbrella up because we were overdressed and got too hot sitting in the sun while the girls played.

I love that I can open all the doors to the house still and let Sky and Bishop run in and out while I'm cooking, doing laundry etc.  As long as I can hear her outside then I can get a few things done while she's playing.  Bonus...I love a freshly aired out house.  Soon it will be too cold and rainy to open everything up so am taking full advantage of this glorious extended summer we're having!

 Sharing a snack together...I love how kiddos will just plop down wherever they want!

 Scooter time!

Blue, blue sky's...loving it!  

I wonder what they were saying to each other.  I could hear them, but couldn't understand what they were saying. 

Even if we were having typical PNW Fall weather I would still love living here.  When I see that CA is having a triple digit heat wave in Oct...just makes me thankful I'm here.  I love the sunny days but not the blazing heat!

------------------------

Favorite Season?  

Is it Fall in your area, or is summer still hanging on?

Run Tracking - Maybe I Shouldn't While Injured

Happy Monday!  It's another beautiful sunny day in the PNW, and Sky and I are loving it!  The morning's and evening are a bit chilly since Fall is in the air, so I'm spending the morning getting caught up on emails and business until it warms up enough to play outside with Sky.  

Part of that business was updating my running spreadsheet.  And...now I'm totally bummed out.  I feel like I've done a good job letting my body rest and recover, but seeing 3 to 5 miles a week for two months straight does not make me happy, not even a little bit.  

I feel like I'm stuck right now.  I'm feeling better, a lot better, but not 100% back to normal.  My current care plan is keeping me from sliding backwards, but I also feel like it's gotten me as far as it's going to.  I don't know if more time off will help, or if going ahead and slowly adding miles/days running will set me back.  

I'm really not color blind!  I felt the need to be bright for last weeks stroller group run.  Really I just wanted my compression tights to help the hip/TFL situation I have going on.  The extra support makes a big difference.

I just don't know!  I think I'm going to start adding in one or two, slow, flat 3 milers a week and see what happens.  I really miss running, and I'm really missing running in the amazing sunny Fall weather we are having.  Slow easy miles are the perfect opportunity to focus on form, breathing, foot landing etc, and getting all of that nailed down will help my body! 

With all the down time from running I sure have been enjoying spending that time playing with Sky, drinking wine, and finding little adventures on the weekends!  

This last weekend was the Apple Squeeze in Steilacoom.  The last several years we have been camping and missed it, but this year we were home and could enjoy it!  

There was tons of fun kiddo stuff for Sky, and while you can indeed squeeze your own apple cider we opted to skip that long line (we would not use a gallon of apple cider anyway) and Sky and I enjoyed apple fritters and cold cider instead.  

She's telling me she wants to throw the ball.

After that it was time to kick back and enjoy some football!  While Sky likes it in small dosses she gets a bit bored with it, and ends up asking if she can watch movies on her Nabi.  She has a pretty nice little set up!  

Backing up to Saturday we were north of Seattle all day and ended up on a funny little back road on the way home.  We didn't mean to take the "long" way home, but it was such a pretty drive we didn't mind...and we saw hot air balloons in the field right next to the road!  

Not something you see every day!  I am fascinated by them yet terrified of them at the same time!  I mean how do they steer them in the right direction?! 

We closed out the drive home with views of a truly amazing sunset.  It's hard to get good phone pics of sunsets, let alone when shooting through the windshield...just imagine how much more vibrant and beautiful it was in person! 

---------------------------

Anyone been in a hot air balloon?  Scary or cool?