A promise is a promise

So, I said I'd blog every day for 30 days. It's 10pm and we have friends over and are starting a fire so I don't see a chance to get anything posted.

Girls had a birthday party today. They were exhausted afterward!

And I ran and my knee feels like crap. Yuck.

More tomorrow...

Sunny Days Are Here Again!

Finally! We get a nice weather day with temperatures above 60, no rain and no 40 mph wind gusts! The landscape crew was out at Timber Run, which always makes it feel like Spring.

The girls both had a field trip today to the "Firefighters Station." I took both girls with their own classes while dad took the other on a date. They both got new shoes, new dresses and a present for Finnley's birthday party tomorrow. Honestly, I'd never been to a fire station so I learned a few new things too. For instance, the fire fighters have microphones in their air masks so you can hear them in the midst of a fire. Pretty obvious now that I think about it, but new nonetheless.  And, they stay there 24 hours, which I knew, but their beds look really nice and they have great La-Z-Boys for watching TV after 5PM. I'm thinking of becoming a firefighter so that I can sleep in a comfy bed and watch TV shows. Maybe they need someone to man the station when they're all off on calls?

As an aside to the family aspect of the day, I did hear a few rumblings about the Primary Election for Mayor that is coming up along with comments of budget cuts and not being fully staffed. I didn't catch wind of who was for which candidate but it did seem like a somewhat heated issue. I'm sure when your job depends on an election, you pay close attention.

OK - back to the 3 & 4 year olds. They had a great time. They kept reassuring each other that they were not scared. I think they build it up in the class ahead of time. It's a great trip for the kids because if there ever were an emergency, the fire fighters do look pretty scary in all of their gear. This helps the kids learn it's OK to go with them to safety.

Here are some photos.

Tessa's in Purple - Alison is next to her

Mrs. Vahle, Helen, Jocelyn, Kaitlyn & Tessa

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Tessa's Class

Josie in the big truck

Josie's Class

A very good souvenir

Growing Pains - For Mom

Well, so far so good. I decided to try to put Jack down tonight without his trusty swaddle blanket that he's used since he was born. It's infant sized and truly does NOT fit him anymore but it was so easy to get him to sleep. Lately, when he gets up in the middle of the night, I put him back down unswaddled and he's been doing fine. So, I decided to try tonight. With very little crying, it worked. I tucked him in with his blankets and stood there until he got very drowsy and slowly walked out. I think this may be it.

He lasted the longest of the kids in the swaddle. He's almost 10 months old. I'd say this is my biggest parenting tip - swaddle your babies. It works and they love it. At this point though, he's just getting difficult to maneuver in that thing.

Here's a pic of the whole family swaddled...

And then a pic of him when he was just a little thing...

A Photo Walk Around Greenfield

Tom went out and took some photos of Greenfield today for our new Timber Run web site. He caught some neat shots and was lucky to get it done in between clouds. Now, it's storming again with crazy wind gusts. It's really hard to believe it was so pretty this morning!

The Libary

Riley House Museum

Downtown

Bradley United Methodist

Ricks Theater

Red Ribbon Antiques

Creative Arts & Event Center

No Caption Needed :)

Hancock County Veterans Memorial

Fire Station

Courthouse

 Water Tower

Beckenholdt Family Park

Lark Ranch

Hancock Regional Hospital

Call it a day!

So, some days are filled with kids, some days are filled with laundry, some days are filled with accounting, some days are filled with junk, some aren't filled at all and some days are just filled to the brim. Today was filled with real estate business (and to the brim at that).

Here's a glimpse into my day:

6:30AM - Tessa joins us in bed
7:30AM - Jack starts talking - Tessa goes to visit - Mom gets 5 more minutes of sleep
7:45AM - Josie gets up and goes into Jack's room - we hear lots of nonsense over the monitor
8:00AM - Oh crap - it's 8AM - time to get up - feed Jack - dress kids - etc. etc. - Today was a little easier because it was PJ day at school for Tessa - her favorite. Although, she had to wear tights under her nightgown which was pretty cute.
8:40AM - We managed to get everyone out on time. Tom agreed to take Jack to the sitters so I could get ready alone. Instead of doing that, I chatted with a client about a some properties (as an agent, not a builder). Double bonus - with a little hair spray, my hair looked great with no hair dryer or straightener. Before you get too jealous, it looked like crap by 3PM.
10:00AM - Head to the office. Yeah, I know, late start. Benefits of the self-employed. Get a little, and I mean very little, work done.
10:40AM - Pick up girls from preschool and take to the sitter and get lunch
11:15AM - Lunch Break - Chat with Tom about some upcoming opportunities - fun stuff and I really wish we'd had more time here.
12:45PM - Show three properties to a customer. I love seeing homes in the area and seeing other people see those same homes. I still struggle a little with not imparting my "wisdom" on clients. I am realizing that not everyone thinks alike and maybe I don't always have the best ideas. :) That's why I like selling homes - not every home is for every person.
3:30PM - Back at the office to do a little research on the properties I showed but didn't get far - see 3:35.
3:35PM - Customer "stops by" from our building under construction - we begin looking at Special Features and pricing things out - I'm meeting with them on Saturday too (makes up for my late arrival today, right?) but we handled a lot tonight.
6:30PM - Head home - Make two calls about another property
6:45PM - Help with bath time and wrangling Jack
7:00PM - Another call about the properties shown today
7:30PM - Fun with the kids - man, they were cute tonight!
8:00PM - Bedtime (for the kids, not me) - Frozen pizzas in the oven and glass of red wine on the table.

And, then, here I am. No running as I'm resting my knee. Watching Americal Idol, Facebooking and blogging. Tomorrow promises to be just as busy of a day. Missing Rotary because of another customer special feature appointment. Don't get me wrong - LOVE those! Means we're selling homes! I was just looking forward to this week because I didn't have any night meetings/appointments planned. I guess 6:30 isn't too late, but with a 7-7:30 bedtime for the kids, it seems late.

While the pizza was cooking, I flipped through a little of INC magazine today. I'm only three issues behind and got another Forbes in the mail, which I'm only six issues behind. Both magazines are great, but in 5 minute bursts. Someday I'll catch up. Or not...

Stabbing Knee Pain Can't Be Good

So, I was running sprints tonight on the treadmill and feeling great honestly. I basically did reverse ladders (or that's what I call them anyway) starting with a longer distance at a slower speed and decreasing the distance and increasing the speed. So, I was up to tenth of a mile spurts at a 9.0 on the treadmill and felt fine. When I slowed down to a walk, my left knee felt HORRIBLE! Sharp, stabbing pains on the side of my knee were so bad I had to slow the treadmill down to almost nothing and I was still wincing out loud from the pain. I stopped and came inside, literally dragged my leg up the stairs and got out the Bio Freeze. Once I settled down a little, I googled knee pain and came up with this - Iliotibial Band Syndrome. Basically, it's caused by overuse and increasing mileage too quickly and my symptoms match exactly. I did a little quick math and realized I did 17 miles this week already (since Saturday) and usually only do about 15-20 in an entire week. Dumb. So, rest is in order for the next two days, along with ice and ibuprofen. But, now as I type, it really feels just fine. I'm hoping it will be fine and I can still get in one more long run before next Saturday.

This brings up a good point. I'm trying to stick to an 1100 calorie diet plus anything I burn in exercise. I'm finding this nearly impossible to do without exercise. So much of my diet is convenience based - granola bars, fast food, snack stuff that's around - and obviously, these things don't give you much bang for your buck in terms of calories vs. satiation. I think I'll totally rest tomorrow (and be over on calories) and then walk for a while on Thursday and try running about 3 miles on Friday at an easy pace. I can always lose the extra few pounds later, right?

Fun Surprise

We came home tonight to a dumped trash can. Josie said she put Trigger in his cage this morning before we left. When I asked her about it when we got home, she said "I guess maybe I forgot to lock it." Yep Josie. I guess so.   We should have made her clean it up to teach her a lesson...

Baby Ducks Are Here!

The baby ducks were born at Timber Run! They look pretty cute I would say. Now, to just keep those darned geese from laying eggs!

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Happy Easter!

What a weekend! We started with a great trip to Eric and Sarah Baker's house to spend the night and let the kids play together. The girls had a great time and were so excited to sleep at Oliver's house. Sometimes I think the anticipation is more exciting than the actual event! After some great Creno's pizza and breadsticks, we settled in for a not-so-relaxing night's sleep. Jack was up a few times with a cough - poor baby.

Saturday morning, we headed back to Newark and went to Tom's parents (not before grabbing City BBQ for our lunch) and the girls colored eggs. I was actually quite surprised that they did as well as they did. Thanks to Nana for the very short notice on boiling eggs and getting dye ready. And, thanks to Nana and Papa, Tom and I were able to meet my mom and dad to do our 9 mile run to prepare for the Indy Mini. There is something about running with other people that really helps the time go faster. We ran along the Granville bike path, which was actually really nice. We were lucky enough to avoid the storms and only had rain for the last mile or so. Tom and I actually ran about 9.4 miles and walked another 0.4. I cannot even begin to describe how sore my body is today - two days later. Here is a link to the app I used to track our run. (We did 9.4 even though it only states 8.9).

Had a nice dinner with my parents and an Easter egg hunt as well. Jack loved finding eggs and mom had planned certain eggs just for him. He was pretty proud of himself.

Finally, Sunday was the big day - Easter! We spent the morning resting around the house, after Easter baskets of course. (Not the best photos, but you get the idea!)

We went to the late Newark Naz service and loved seeing our friends and what a great service! Every time I go, it's somewhat bittersweet. I absolutely love the worship and no one will ever beat Wes' sermons. But, it's a reminder that we need to keep searching for that type of environment here in Greenfield.

We had a lovely lunch with the Joyner's, my parents, the Fenton's, Grammy, Grandpa Anderson and Grandma Ellie. It was great having everyone together. Another Easter egg hunt ensued, the kids got hyped up on candy, the parent's got full on ham and then it was time for the three hour trip home. Great trip back to Ohio, but also glad to be home, which is probably a good thing...

Welcome and Introduction

OK - well, I'm here. I decided it's probably time to start a blog. Honestly, I've started one before, but just couldn't get into it. I'm going to challenge myself to post once a day for 30 days. My thought is to have a "stream-of-consciousness" blog and just get thoughts down on paper in order to document the every day aspects of my life. We have a very busy life and the days do seem to run together so I'm hoping to capture some of our finer moments as a family.

As a bit of an introduction, I'm a 31 year old mother of three  -

(Josie - 5, Tessa - 4 and Jack - 10 months). 

My husband, Tom, and I have been married for 11 years. 

Tom and I own a residential construction company and build condominium homes in Greenfield, Indiana. We are currently on a fitness expedition to lose weight and become more fit. It all started with P90X, then Insanity and now we're training for the Indy Mini - a 13.1 mile race on May 7th. We're also very involved with the Rotary Club of Greenfield and enjoy our Thursday lunch meetings at Ponderosa along with all of the community service opportunities it provides. Finally, and most importantly, we are Christians and try to live our lives in accordance with God's will, as hard as it is to discern at times.

So, while I realize this may not become a successful blog, I hope to entertain you all with the craziness that is our everyday lives. Plus, I promise to post lots of pictures of our adorable kids. See - I knew that would draw you in...