love him. madly.

family of four.

{for a night...}
ha, made you look!

thursday night, joanna was receiving a lifetime pta member award {she'd never tell you that on her blog, so i'm telling you that on mine} and we had the privelage of watching her sweet little boy, pierce! the boys had a blast together! we were meeting a group form our bible fellowship class at jason's deli, so we got a taste of what it's like to be a family of four!

{not really though, because pierce and b. are close enough in age that they're doing pretty much the same things... so it's not really real to life, right? they were sharing food and making each other giggle...}

this awful-quality pic was jeff trying to carry them both out to the car at the same time.

love it.

mr. wrangler.

i have absolutely no idea where jeff and brady came up with this name,

but it's my pleasure to introduce you to:

mr. wrangler.
our snowman.

making funny faces with daddy.

big yawn.

mr. wrangler's girlfriend, tiki.
{our next door neighbor's snowman - oh, snowwoman}

the art of throwing a snowball.

happy valentine's day.

my gym.

brady loves the ball pit. for the time we were at the gym, he was in this thing for 45 of the 55 minutes. not exaggerating. he kept yelling, "ball! ball!! baaa-aaaalllll!!!!!"

holice and b. watching 'big boy' hudson climb the ladder and jump into the pit..... hud's mommy wasn't too sure... :)

after hudson's big jump.

love this picture of holice jumping on the trampoline. b. didn't quite get the trampoline yet, but holice was trying his best to show him!

it's official

As of 8 a.m. this morning, I'm officially registered for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.

March 14th here we come.....

we're 6 inches under. {and counting}.

freedom {aka 'disciple now'}

This past weekend, we hosted a Freedom house. {Disciple Now for those of you who don't know what Freedom is}.

Our girls were awe-some. Kaytie and I couldn't have asked for a sweeter, more low-key bunch of girls. They are juniors in high school - from all different schools. A few PCA-ers, FBA, Plano West, some Home Schoolers, Allen and Aledo. Loved how well they all got along... caddiness was nowhere to be found.


On Saturday, Kaytie and I made up a little scavenger hunt at IKEA for our rec time.
Oh - so much fun.


Needless to say, we got about 5 hours of sleep both nights. {I guess, it could have been worse}. Saturday night, I think we could have stayed up all night with them talking about random things... just like we did in high school, but we couldn't even keep our eyes open. Love it. These girls are sooo solid, I wish I had their perspective when I was in high school. It was such a privilege to get to know each of them and share in this weekend together.

double digits

Running Tip #1: It's MUCH better to run first thing Saturday morning.

Running Tip #2: It's MUCH better to run with friends. {Not because you necessarily talk, but just because it keeps you from walking when you get tired... or bored}.

So... what happens when #1 can't happen? You make #2 happen.

Last week, after our 9 mile run when I got injured, I told my running buds that I couldn't run on Saturday morning - so one of them - I didn't care which one - was going to have to wait until Sunday to run with me. And wouldn't you know it, they all sacrificed the #1 rule of training so that we could all run together. Aren't they just the best?????

Needless to say, I had to record this run because we ran for 2 hours straight. {We took a water break after mile 5, but it was for 3 minutes - I looked at my watch - so we don't really count that}. AND I had to record this run because we're now in the double digits. Can you believe I ran 10 miles on Sunday? I mean, I can't believe it... but we did it.

It's totally mind over body.

This is the first run that was absolutely miserable for me, from the get - go.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep from the two previous days.

Maybe it was that I hadn't eaten like I would normally have eaten the day before.

Maybe it was just that it was plain hard.

I don't know - but I do know that Monday, I was literally in tears because I was in so much pain.

But by Tuesday I felt tons better.

Thank goodness.

you've got to be kidding.

i broke my sewing machine today.

"broke? you must be exaggerating!" you say.

"nope, BRO-OOOKE!" i say.

"how?" you ask?

well, after all of the wonderful comments, suggestions, emails and texts i received on my previous post, i got into the sewing mode. i looked up all sorts of random ideas on sewing blogs. i spent hours on etsy trying to find cute things to 'copy'. i was sooooo inspired.

so today, i swung by hobby lobby, as i have a gift certificate there, and picked up two 'calico prints'. one pink, one blue. and then i picked up two 'minky' fabrics. one pink, one blue. {see where this is going?} i decided i would try my hand at making some baby blankets, loveies, burp cloths, whatever i could think of and simply practice.

{side note: my girlfriend who suggested i get a sewing machine just found out she's having a girl - so i know that she would more than welcome being my guinea pig... hence the pink fabrics}.

so, i got home, put brady down for a nap and got started. i pulled out a few 'scrap' fabrics i had left over from his nursery and cut them to size for a 'lovey', pinned them, threaded my bobbin and was ready to start.

no one {i repeat no one} told me that i'm not really supposed to be sewing on thick fabric. or let's just say, there's probably a special way to sew on thick fabric that i didn't know about {p.s. how was i supposed to know about that?!?}

so, needless to say, an hour later i was on the phone with a sewing place in plano walking through how i threaded my bobbin. every time i'd pull the needle down to pick up the thread, it would hit some sort of metal.

"were you sewing on a thick fabric before this happened? did you have to sort of tug it through, ma'am?" the elderly woman asked me.

"uh... yes, that's exactly what i was doing. why?"

apparently, i 'threw my machine out of time'. WHAT??? i didn't even know it was possible to break a sewing machine, short of breaking a needle, that is.

so.... it will cost me no less than $80 to get a brand new sewing machine fixed.

my dreams of being a sewing goddess were whisked away as soon as they arrived.

bye bye, bobbin. bye bye, needle. bye bye, cute baby blankets. i will see you soon.

injured

Last weekend, my running friends {joanna, julie, janet} and i were supposed to run 8 miles. We knew it was supposed to be cold, but we wanted to get it over with. We were upping our mileage by two miles, and we were all anxious to see if we could actually run the whole thing.

Needless to say, we were determined to run first thing on Saturday morning. What was the weather like? Oh - of course - it was freezing {literally}. The wind chill was in the teens and there were definite snow flurries in the course of the morning.

The Hubbs definitely pointed out to me before we started that 8 miles is "a lot of miles" {to quote him directly.}

no kidding.

so we got started at 8 a.m. it took us a little over 1 1/2 hours to finish. BUT, not without injury.

I had run through ice, water, sleet and snow. I had stepped up curbs, over pot holes and who knows what else. Had no problem. But somehow, when we had .48 miles left, I tripped. Over what? I have no idea.

My sweet friends stopped and looked around, "Becky - there isn't any ice or cracks or sticks on the sidewalk... your shoes are tied... what did you trip on?" In their grand attempt to make me 'feel' better, they sweetly pointed out, "Beck - you're a clutz, you tripped over your own two feet!" {My words, not theirs - although I'm sure they were thinking it!}

Anyway - I'm LUCKY I didn't not seriously hurt myself. My ankle has been sore almost all week but I know it's just the muscle, not the bone, and finally yesterday, it started feeling a bit better.

Here's to the 10 miles we'll be running on Sunday.... and if you think about it, wish me 'no injuries'!

brady day.

last friday, {yes a week ago}, we decided that it was going to be 'brady day' at our house. it was rainy and cold outside and we had a busy week for whatever reason so we decided to stay in all day and play together.

we started off with cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk {a regular friday morning occurence at our house now}.

we watched gabba as many times as b. asked {i think it ended up being like thirty times. ha.}

basically, i let the bug direct ALL play for the day. i let him pick out what he wanted for lunch. we played with puzzles, pot & pans, we threw the ball, we had a block race and we wrestled.

he was tired for his nap.

when he finally woke up, i put him in our bed with me. we watched cartoons, ate snacks and read books. he didn't move for an hour and a half. {the hubbs told me he looked 'sick' when i sent him this picture, but he wasn't. he was just chillin'}.


we had a great time, but we had a mad dash when daddy called and said he was on his way home. {i didn't want him to walk into the chaos that was our home from not picking up all day long!}

i love you, little bug. i had so much fun staying 'in' with you all day!