MUDRUN

MOMTOURAGE!
victoria, chrissy, laura h, hummer, jessica, tida, laura r, vanessa and janet

me, getting muddy!

all of our group doing the second to last obstacle

My neighborhood playgroup FORCED me into signing up for the original MUDRUN here in Fort. Worth. It is a 10K run with about 28 military style obstacles through out the run, I literally almost backed out the morning of. I nurse Ever and he hasnt taken a bottle since he was 8weeks old, that was my excuse for almost letting down my girlfriends. I am so glad and proud to say that we all completed the race! and in one piece! My fellow MoFo Laura (hummer) Mancuso and I cant swim and nearly drowned in the Trinity River! Our good friend Chrissy came back to take pics and SAVED us both! THANK YOU CHRISSY! Craig, my mom, my sis and my kids came out to see me and I was so happy to see them cheering us on! They were able to see the last two obstacles and Irina thought it was silly that we were crawling around in the mud. Crew was thrilled to see me and nursed for almost an hour in the parking lot. Of course Hummer made us all matching "MOMTOURAGE" shirts, they had all of our names also. We all had a blast getting gutsy and dirty, MUDRUN 2012 here we come!

She's Crafty!

easter baskets

family plaque

Turns out I'm crafty with my playgroup! Lots of the mom's in my playgroup are super crafty and really good at it, we have been getting together lately to make all kinds of fun stuff! I LOVE IT!

Busy Lady

Every day Craig and I have "couch time", this is something we've been doing for about 2yrs or so and love what it does for our family. When he gets home from work, he greets me and the kids and then we head to the couch to catch up on each of our days. The kids stay in the living room with some toys on the floor but do not join us on the couch or in our conversation. The daily exercise helps our kids take note of the importance of marriage and communication. Craig and I get to talk uninterrupted for a few mins, the other day he stopped me mid sentence and said "what play date did you have today"? and I said, "ugh! aren't you listening,..MOPS"! The next day he asked the same question and I replied with the same tone "...my HAND meeting"!, the day after that I said "...TCBN meeting". After a couple of these talks, I realized he was confused because I have SO MANY things that I take part in. I mean, I am really busy and usually booked for the week with all kinds of play dates, meetings, church events, and the list just go on.

Here is the the official list of the things the kids and I do:
Playgroup- neighborhood playgroup meets every Monday at someones house or off site places also
MOPS- ( Mothers Of Pre-schoolers) we meet at our awesome church on the 1st & 3rd Wed of the month, I'm a member and no longer on the steering committee
HAND- (Home birth Association of North Dallas) we meet in Fort Worth the 1st Mon of the month,
MoFo- (MOthers FOrever) we meet randomly but usually weekly at night when our kids are asleep at each others homes to eat"naughty" food such as pizza and ice cream
Real Healthy Housewives of Tarrant County- we share healthy recipe ideas
Praying Wives- we meet weekly on Tues mornings to pray for our husbands
DFW Moms Around Town- random meetings with moms to talk about breast feeding, EC, baby wearing and home birthing
Holistic Moms Network- we meet monthly to talk about holistic health and green living
GEMS- (Godly Encouragement for Mothers)- meetings are once every 3mths I think, great meetings on parenting and marriage

I do attend these groups on a regular basis, I cant believe I was getting annoyed that Craig "wasn't listening" to me. The poor guy was just confused! Seeing it all on here, I can totally see why, I'm exhausted just typing it out! whew!

Childrens Museum

everything sounds good

nursing a baby

walking on the balance beam

healthy baby weight

organic fruit is so pricey

Liam & Irina

Irina the civil engineer

getting the tools and supplies

grocery shopping

doctor odom

TONS OF PICS!

We took a trip to the newly opened childrens museum last week, it was super fun! Irina and I had a blast together!! They have a mini grocery store section with the works, grocery carts, pretend food, cash register and a little conveyor belt too. They also feature a mini ER, hands on construction site, toddler site, a small area with balance beams. All the kids had lots of fun things to explore and play with, we will definitely go back soon.

Halloween

Irina & Liam the Monkies, Bella the witch and Luke the Dinosaur!
Funkey Monkey Faces!
Irina & Liam

Here are a few pics from Halloween, I realize I'm a bit late on posting these.

Jeanine came over with Seth and Liam so we could go trick or treating in our neighborhood. We were some of the first ones out on the streets. We ran into lots of play group buddies and had a great time. We did not stay out long, I didnt want Irina to see all the scary faces and costumes that were out there. We are not big Halloween people but I thought it would be fun for short while. Irina got the hang of it after a couple of houses and was on a roll, a tootsie roll that is ;)

Arcadia Park w/ Playgroup

Monday we visited Arcadia Park in the Park Glen area. As I was driving there I remembered why we almost bought our house there, the trees are beautiful! The kids had a great time playing, running, riding their bikes and picking flowers. We round up all the kids and sat under a tree for a picnic lunch, yumm!

Bedford Splash

This week we went to Bedford Splash with our DFW MOMMAS group. All the kiddos and mommas have a blast. The water park has safe toddler areas, lazy river sections and too much to mention. Irina LOVES the water, some of the stuff she learned in swim class came in quite handy. She got a bit darker despite the 2 coats of SPF 70, but what else is expected? She has skin than bronzes easily. She had so much fun going on the slides!! I have to admit I had fun too!

Irina's 1st movie...well second

When Irina was still a newborn some friends and I went to watch "Baby Momma", it was 3 moms with 3 newborn babies. We watched the entire movie and the kids did pretty well for the most part, Irina nursed and slept through the whole thing-what else does a newborn do? This past Thursday we had an impromptu movie playdate with Chrissy and Maria, they both brought their girls and I brought mine. Now that I think about it, it was a girls movie afternoon-except I brought Craig since we already had planned a family movie day that week. Anyway, it turns out that Fossil Creek shows free kids movies on certain days so we decided to take a gamble with our 1 1/2yr olds; the movie of the day was Curious George. Elliott did a great job and the rest of the girls-Irina, Claire and Berkley did the best they could too. We brought the girls booster seats and I think that helped, Irina ate her popcorn and fruit snacks next to her Daddy for a whole 30mins. We all sat at the very top next to some stairs and an exit so we wouldn't be a bother to the other movie goers. They all got distracted around the same time and headed for the stairs. Claire was ready for a nap so they left a bit early. Berkley was super sweet and shared a "dum-dum" with Irina that kept her preoccupied for about 45mins longer. Overall I think the girls did a great job!!

They all got distracted around the same time and headed for the stairs.

Berkley Mae, Evelyn Irina and Claire-Bear

Irina with her "Datty",..she sits still for him (i surprised craig with the flash..hehe)Mommy and Irina, she's actually watching the movie!!

Sharing

Earlier this week at playgroup I was talking to some friends about my jogger stroller and how it jiggles too much for Irina's comfort while running in the mornings. My stroller is mainly meant to be used as a bike trailer so I really need to get one intended for runs. Our friend Chrissy generously offered to let us borrow her jogging stroller that was taking up space in her garage, she has a double jogger that she uses with her little girls and doesn't use the single anymore. Later that week I took a walk with Irina strapped to my back with my beco baby carrier (love it!) and we headed to Chrissy's house. Chrissy and I were chatting about cloth diapers while Elliott, Berkley and Irina gobbled up some orange push pops. On the way home we sported the stroller fully equipped with a toy steering wheel and cool sound effects; Irina loved it. In fact, we got home and she refused to get out! I took advantage of the whole situation; parked her in front of the tv with her sippy cup and she watched Baby Einstein for about 45 minutes! I was able to clean up the kitchen and have an uninterrupted bathroom break. It is a daily, if not hourly ritual that we talk to our kids about sharing their toys and other belongings, it was so great to see that quality in my friend. Thank Chrissy, E and B for sharing!

National Cowgirl Museum

A couple of weeks ago our playgroup gathered at the Cowgirl Museum, I'm just now posting this...I have a daughter full of SO much energy...I can only do so much! Unfortunately I forgot my camera and have no photos of the event. On the plus side, the museum has a "bronc riding exhibit" that captures a short clip of kids pretending to ride a mechanical horse. Irina had fun watching the older kids ride this horse and seemed up for the challenge. She saddled up and did not hate it...here is the super short video clip of her several seconds of fame.