my {thanksgiving} weekend in photos

we played at daddy’s work on wednesday night while he was working to kick off our long weekend. the ice slide may be my favorite thing ever.

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thanksgiving day was full of playing, cooking, and eating. daddy fried the turkey and i made the sides, including homemade mashed potatoes and stuffing. crosby didn’t have one bite of thanksgiving dinner and greg and i ate leftovers all weekend.

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the kids went to their first movie on friday! we saw the good dinosaur which was cute.

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we took a couple bike rides this weekend and went to the park a few times. we are hoping for cooler weather soon!

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saturday night, i headed over to cocoa with some other moms to stay the night before the race this morning. we hit up the expo and carb loaded before heading to the hotel for the night.

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4:15am came very early, but it turned out to be my day. i had an amazing race and was beyond thrilled with my 2:14:09 finishing time. i will write up a full race recap this week because i definitely want to remember this one.

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we decorated the house this weekend, so we are ready for christmas! wyatt and kennedy came to play this afternoon, so we had to do a photo in front of the tree!

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we had a great thanksgiving and long weekend, but it sure went by quickly. how was your holiday weekend?

25 Months

I cannot believe it has been a month since C man turned two. These months are just flying by. Crosby still says that he “be three” when you ask him how old he is, but he sure is acting like a two year old. It was like a flip of a switch when he turned two how it was so apparent that he is, in fact, two years old. He has been very vocal about what he wants and when he wants it. There was about a week or so that he just flat out refused to nap at school and would tell his teachers “no”. He was napping and sleeping great at home, so my only explanation to them about his behavior was “he’s two”. Thankfully, that has passed and they changed up a few things at school that apparently did the trick.

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He is quite the talking machine right now. I know I have said that before, but his doctor was really impressed at his vocabulary during his two year check up. To think there was a time I was concerned that he wasn’t talking is pretty funny now. He is repeating everything and LOVES to do what Kenley is doing and saying. She is really big into trying to sound out words now, so I am convinced she is going to teach him all of his letter sounds, just by him repeating what she is doing. He can recognize a good number of his letters and a few of his numbers. His alphabet is getting better and more clear and he can count to 10 (and sometimes to 12).

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The biggest change this month has been the big switch to the toddler bed. There have been a couple of times where I had to go into his room to make sure he wasn’t climbing out of his crib and our doctor thought it was a good time to do it because of his height and he saw him climbing on anything and everything in his appointment. To be honest, with the number of things he climbs and scales in our house, Greg and I are both shocked that he never climbed out of his crib. We figured that with him napping so horribly at school it may just be a good time to make the transition. We decided on last weekend since this was a short week at school and then a long weekend at home. Crosby got Kenley’s toddler bed while Kenley got a new bed too. We converted the crib into a full bed, which seems ginormous in her room. Six days in, the transition has been okay, and for fear of jinxing anything, that is all I will say. I will have a full report for you next month.

25 Months

25 months notes:
Weight – Right around 30 pounds I’m guessing
Hair – Light brown
Teeth – 16, but working on his two year molars
Eyes – Brown
Clothes – 2T clothes, some 3T pajamas, and size 7 shoes
Diapers – Size 5 disposables
Likes – He is obsessed with his train table and his choo choos and will play them for hours; construction vehicles and naming them when we see them in the car; reading books – Frosty the Snowman is the current favorite; his new bed; playing with cars and trucks; getting into things he shouldn’t be getting into; climbing everything; going into the pantry and coming out with the crackers container (no matter where we hide it); Jake and the Neverland Pirates; Mickey Mouse; running; doing whatever Kenley does; the park and playground; stickers.
Dislikes – Laying on the changing table, getting into trouble, not getting his way, Thanksgiving dinner, smiling for a picture, wearing a jacket.

Legoland 2015

Last weekend, we headed down to Legoland to play at the park and stay at the hotel. We hadn’t been back to the park since last December when we went with my parents, which means our annual pass was about to expire and we wanted to get down there one more time before it did. Florida residents get a deal at the hotel Sunday through Thursday, so Greg and I took Monday off so we could visit the park two days. We didn’t end up telling the kids we were going until the day before, so really just Greg and I had been looking forward to this little trip and a night away for a while.

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We arrived at the hotel around 1pm on Sunday and couldn’t get into our room, so we left our luggage and went straight into the park. We headed to the Duplo area first to ride a few rides since Crosby could ride all of them in that area. We were pretty surprised to find the wait times around 5 minutes at each ride.

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The first time we were at Legoland, Kenley couldn’t ride the horses because you had to be four years old, so we told her that we would go again when she was four so she could ride them. She didn’t let us forget about it either. For the last year, she has brought up the “horses at Legoland” and how she can ride them when she turns four. While we were at Disney the weekend before, she reminded us about them again not knowing that she would be riding them soon. I think they lived up to the hype.

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We did most of the park on Sunday since it was pretty empty. The longest we waited for a ride was around 15 minutes. We also knew that we didn’t need to do it all, so we headed back to explore the hotel (and get beers) around 5pm.

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There was a giant castle in the lobby (next to the bar) where the kids could play and legos and building plates at every corner. Crosby liked to run around, but Kenley sat and played with legos several times while we were there.

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We chose the pirate themed room, since that’s our thing right now and it did not disappoint. There were also a couple little things about the room that really stood out to me, like the Honest Company toiletries, the stool in the bathroom so the kids could reach the sink, the Duplo legos in the room, and the Lego Movie playing continuously on its own channel.

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We didn’t do any swimming while we were there, but we walked around the property and down to Lake Eloise around sunset. It was really pretty.

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Kenley slept on the top bunk (which was very exciting for her) and we had hopes for Crosby to sleep on the trundle bed, but we ended up in the pack ‘n play about 5 minutes after bedtime started. He wasn’t happy about it, but slept soundly once he was finally asleep.

The next morning, we had breakfast and played legos until the park opened.

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We saw several lego characters, but the kids were satisfied with just waving to them from a distance.

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The park opened at 9:30am on Monday for hotel guests so we literally had the place to ourselves. Once it opened to the public at 10am, it wasn’t bad either. Mondays are their slow days and you could tell. We walked on to almost every single ride, sometimes doing them twice since there was no one waiting when we were done.

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Kenley was quite the little thrill seeker and went on every roller coaster at least twice. She stood tall and was able to sneak onto the coasters that were 42″ or taller. She and Greg’s favorite was the dragon roller coaster and my favorite was the dinosaur roller coaster.

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Before having lunch and heading home, we walked through the historic part of Legoland which is the Cypress Gardens botanical gardens.

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The Banyan tree was planted from a seed in 1939 and now looks like this. The pictures do not do it justice. It is ginormous.

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We had such a great time at Legoland and quite a different experience from our first trip. We were surprised how empty the park was on both days, but were very excited that we got to do pretty much every ride in the park. The hotel was also so much fun. Greg and I kept talking about how much fun we were having and it was just so nice to be able to get away for the night, just the four of us. We are already looking forward to doing it again.

my weekend in photos

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the kids had a thanksgiving feast on friday at school. greg and i both had work commitments, so we couldn’t make it, but we are so thankful for the other parents who send us pictures.

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toy time!

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greg worked late on friday night, but i got up early for 9 miles on saturday.

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afterwards, kenley and i headed to the mall to meet her friends at build-a-bear for a belated birthday celebration. kenley has really taken to the book ‘how the grinch stole christmas’ so as soon as she saw the grinch, she made her decision.

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we made a family trip to target to get the necessities for our thanksgiving feast this week, as well as some other items for the big bed switch this weekend. crosby got kenley’s toddler bed and kenley got her crib back, but converted into a full bed.

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comfy clothes on a rainy day and game time with the pilgram.

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on the coldest night we’ve had in a very long time, we hit up our new dairy queen for some blizzards!

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we had a great weekend with very little commitments. today was rainy and gloomy which seemed like the perfect day to get started on our christmas decorations. we are looking forward to a short, holiday week.

how as your weekend?

Choo Choos and Tutus

Last month, we celebrated Kenley’s 4th birthday and Crosby’s 2nd birthday with a joint party. I really wanted to do a “Choo Choo I’m 2” theme for Crosby. He is obsessed with all things trains so the theme would have been absolutely perfect, but I wasn’t sure how I would make that a boy/girl birthday party. Thankfully, Pinterest had me covered. I quickly found a Choo Choo and Tutu theme party invitation and I was sold.

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I did a horrible job of taking pictures before (or even during) the party, so I will list the sources of inspiration and where I got the items, even if they are not pictured.

I ordered the invitation and printable party pack from swankypress on Etsy and printed everything myself. We opted for Publix cupcakes this year since they are half the price of Sweet and just as delicious. They did not disappoint!

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I just love paper straws and I got the most perfect set in navy, pink, and gold from MoreSprinkledJoy on Etsy. The menu included fruit, veggies, meatball, peanut butter and jelly sandwich halves, buffalo chicken dip, juice pouches, water, and beer.

The party favors were pink tutus and conductor hats. Crosby was rocking a pink tutu by the end of the night and looked pretty darn cute in it. I got Kenley’s pettiskirt for free with the purchase of the tutus, which was awesome! Their birthday shirts were from Old Navy (here and here).

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The plates and cutlery were Cheeky from Target since the colors matched up great and it was one less stop I had to make. I love their stuff!

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We did an open house style so guests could come and go as they please. There were a lot of kids running around at one point (hence why the pictures are scarce), but it was such a great day. The kids had an awesome time and loved having their friends over.

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Happy birthday to our sweet nuggets!

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my {long} weekend in photos

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friday night was the opening night of light up ucf, so we pretended like it was 80 degrees outside and tried to get into the christmas spirit. 

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plus, we had dinner and visited with daddy since he had to stay and work all night.

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saturday morning, we took advantage of the cooler temps and went for a morning run. kenley said it was “freezing like frozen” when it was probably 65 degrees. ha!

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after some errands, we played at the park!

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sunday, we headed down to legoland!

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life size duplos!

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after playing at the park, we headed to the hotel for the night. 

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lego building.

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we went back to the park on monday morning. mommy and daddy had such a great time too!

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we had such a nice long weekend and it was nice to get away for a night. i will share more about our legoland experience soon, it was such a great time. 

how was your weekend?

Pinterest Christmas 2015

The Pinterest Christmas blog series (in its fifth year!) started as a motivation to actually do some of the DIY projects we pinned on Pinterest & a way to share them with friends & family. Over the years other bloggers have joined & we have spent the month of December DIYing & sharing our Christmas projects. Sometimes the posts are tutorials with step-by-step instructions & other times it is simply sharing a completed project! You can check out past Pinterest Christmas projects here!

Pinterest Christmas

This year we’d love you to join in on the fun of Pinterest Christmas! Misha {from Emerald City Diaries} & I will be hosting a Linky Party set up for the entire month of December where you can share your own Pinterest-inspired projects & discover what bloggers are sharing too. And, we’d love to see the Pinterest Christmas graphic included in your posts!

Here is what you can do now to get started:

(1) Get on Pinterest & pin those holiday projects! (See our Pinterest Christmas board here)
(2) Get your craft on! If you want to do a tutorial, make sure to take pictures during each step.
(3) Write up your Pinterest Christmas blog post.
(4) Join in on our Linky Party! Click on the blue button below to add your blog link beginning December 1st! Feel free to add as many links as you’d like.
(5) Come back and see what other bloggers are creating.

Friday I’m in Love

Happy Friday!

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The Finding Dory trailer premiered this week! I am not sure I can wait until June until the movie comes out.

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It was recently National Redhead Day and unfortunately I didn’t celebrate as I should have, but my mom did send me 9 fun facts about red hair, which I did enjoy!

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We started watching Scream Queens this week, you know, in all of our free time. I have to say, it’s pretty funny, but also very weird. We’re going to keep watching for sure. You should too.

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Kenley loves to go to the car wash, which works out well since I love having my car clean. This week, both Greg and I got our cars washed, so Kenley was a happy camper. It’s the little things.

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Friday I'm in Love Linky Party

Here are the instructions if you are a new to linky-party:
Click on the blue “Add Your Link” button at the bottom of this post – it has a blue frog head on it
Add a link to your Friday I’m in Love blog post in the URL field (please do not link to your home page but the specific post page).
For “name” write a short descriptive name for your post.
If you would like to put the Friday I’m in Love button on the bottom of your post, we would love to see it there!
If you’d rather just link over to your post in the comment section, feel free to do that!

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

We went to Animal Kingdom this past weekend with my mom. My parents were staying at Disney because my dad was attending a conference and Greg was working on Saturday, so we made a day of it. The kids and I got up on Saturday and headed down to the Grand Floridian to pick up Meemaw and we made our way to the park.

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We had reserved our fast pass for the African Safari through the My Disney Experience app (which I highly recommended), but the wait was only 20 minutes when we arrived, so we got in line. I would say it was probably a little over 20 minutes by the time we got on the ride, but the kids were pretty good in line. We’ve been having a heat wave, so it felt like it was 90 degrees out and about 100% humidity, so we were dripping after about ten minutes in the park. The safari is the best ride at Disney, in my opinion, and probably the longest ride. We saw so many cool animals!

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After the safari, it was already time for lunch! We walked through other areas of the park, including DinoLand where we rode some kid rides, and Asia. I had a fast pass for Everest, so hopped right on and rode it quickly by myself.

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It was then time to see Mickey and Minnie! The kids were all about it, but I know they didn’t know what to expect. Once we got in there and saw how big they were, they were not as excited. Kenley reluctantly gave Minnie a high five after the picture was over and Crosby wanted nothing to do with them. Of course, afterwards, they kept talking about seeing Mickey and Minnie again. I am sure next time will be much better.

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We hit up The Lion King show back in Africa which gave us a chance to sit down in the cooler temperatures. Crosby took a 15 minute snooze in the Ergo and that was all the napping that either of them did that day. The show was absolutely amazing and was Kenley’s favorite part of the day. Side note: she will tell you that her least favorite part was the It’s Tough To Be A Bug show which was a 3-D show with special effects (thrill level: loud, dark, and scary). In hindsight, we probably should have passed on it, but oh well!

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We ran into Tarzan on the way out and Kenley was excited about getting her picture with him. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know who he is, but that’s okay.

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At the end of the day, we got a couple much-needed drinks and walked through the shops before heading back to the Grand Floridian to meet up with Grandpa and have some dinner. The kids loved hanging out at the hotel and by the time we hit the highway, they were both passed out in the car.

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It was such a fun day!

October Race Recaps

On top of all the craziness of October, I also ran three races. I have already shared about the Key West SoMo 10K, but I also ran the U Can Finish 5 Mile and 2 Mile Distance Dare and the 2nd annual Lake Nona 13.1.

We returned from Key West on Thursday and the U Can Finish race was on Sunday, October 18th at UCF. I ran this race three years ago when I was training for my first half marathon, but missed it the last two years. Two years ago I was about to give birth and last year it landed right on Kenley’s birthday so I opted out. The course was much better this year and we got to run through the football stadium for both the 2 mile and the 5 mile races. We also ran through the baseball field during the 5 mile run.

Heather and I came out for the 2 mile run all speedy and ended up running it under 20 minutes (19:14 to be exact with a 9:20 pace). We got a short break after the 2 mile race to go to the potty and came back out ready for the 5 mile race. We decided to go out for the 5 mile run without running intervals to see how we felt. We ended up running it in 52:15 with a 10:10 pace.

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Overall, it was a great race and it was so fun to run through campus, especially parts that I don’t get to see everyday. Orlando Track Shack does a great job with their races and this one was no exception. It worked out nicely that we ran 7 miles for this race since our half marathon was the next weekend. We ran a couple times during the week and were ready to tackle Lake Nona 13.1 the following Sunday.

I ran the inaugural Lake Nona 13.1 race last year with Kayla and it was a really great race. I had high hopes for the race this year and had a goal to go out and beat my Tomoka Half Marathon time and get a PR. We were hoping to stay with the 2:15 pacer, but we planned on running intervals, so we knew it probably wasn’t feasible to stay with her the whole time. Ideally, we wanted to see her towards the end of the race. The race started at 6am which made for a very dark race, but it ended up being hot that day, so the earlier start was much better.

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We started out the race faster than we probably should have but I was feeling good at the start. It didn’t last long though. The course changed slightly from last year, and not for the better. It wasn’t exciting last year, but we turned around at mile 8 so there was a good chunk of the race where we were passing other runners on the other side. This year, there was no turnaround point and we were taken through residential neighborhoods which made for SUCH a boring course. We ended up walking a good chunk of mile 7, going into mile 8. When we were coming out of the residential portion of the neighborhood, we were expecting to go left  to head back to the finish line, but instead we took a right…. AWAY from the finish line. What a total buzzkill. At this point though, we started to see some other runners coming back from the turnaround, which made it a little bit more exciting. We passed Heather’s husband and several other moms from the running group. The rest of the race was a lot of complaining and chugging along to the finish. They had ice cold, wet towels for us around mile 10 or so (I think), which was amazing considering it was way too hot for the end of October.

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Our final time was 2:24:29, which was about five minutes slower than my PR time of 2:20:13 and the time I was hoping to break. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen very early on in the race. I just wasn’t feeling it and there was very little “race atmosphere”. But, my disappointment was short lived. This wasn’t my worst race and I finished my seventh half marathon, which is something to be proud of. The highlights of the race were all the mamas that were running and the fact that the proceeds of this race go to charity, and I’m all about a good cause. The weather really does play such a huge factor in races for me, so I am hoping my next races are a little cooler!

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Thanks to the Lake Nona Running Club for putting on this race! Next up, Space Coast!