FEBRUARY ROUND-UP

Josh turned 29! Yeah, Yeah, he is a young pup and I am a dinosaur. We celebrated with red velvet cupcakes, family and friends.

Valentine's Day was spent at T-Rex. So romantic with birds noises and dinosaurs roaring every 20 minutes. Best part, they take reservations, so we arrived and instead of cruising the store area and telling Easton "No, you can't have that", we checked in and went straight to our table. 

 

Easton received a bag full of goodies from us, a new piggy bank, a new movie (THANK GOD! If I have to watch Lion King one more time, I will go freaking crazy), toy cars, some candy, and lots of hugs and kisses

Of course no trip to T-Rex is complete without a trip into the sand pit.

Tickets to Zac Brown Band = Date night, Josh's Birthday present, and our Valentine's Day gifts. Yep, we are to the age we start lumping holidays together. Sad, but true.



We grabbed dinner and drinks at Margaritas. 

We are back at being freaking handy man and woman. Which really means not only are we spending way too much time at Home Depot, but also way too much money. So we have a partially finished bathroom in basement. Finally, 4 years after moving in we are going to finish what the previous homeowner started. Cheers to freaking homeownership! 

Once it's completed I will post before and after pictures. 

 

So basically that sums up February. It went by freaking quick and I look forward to what March brings. Hopefully, nicer weather!

Parents Night at Dance Class

I am pretty sure that there isn't anything more cuter than a group of 2 year olds in their tights and leotards shaking their little bootys . I seriously just wanted to eat them up. FREAKING cute!

Two weeks ago was parents night at Bryd's Dance Studio, so Josh and I were able to sit in the back of the room and watch Easton do her thang. I wasn't sure how Easton would do. Would she run around like a crazy girl? Would she just want to sit on my lap? Would she even do her routine? All very legit questions, given the fact we had never been in the studio while she danced. So with concerns of her not listening to her instructors because Mommy and Daddy was there, I talked and talked and talked about how we would be in the room, but she still need to listen to Ms. Hannah and Ms. Ashley. All my talking must have sunk in or she really didn't give two shits that we were there, because Bug did awesome! She came up to us once in between songs to hug Josh. She listened very well to the teachers. She did her routine. She was a Rockstar! We were so proud of her!

Life Happenings, Easton Happenings!

BIG things have been happening around our house! HUGE!

See this little tooter right here…

 Well she isn’t little anymore.

 She can freaking write her name! Shesh! When did this happen?! To be honest, Josh and I have never worked with her on this, until recently. Never even thought to! Daycare has been working with her for the past 2 months on writing her name. Now every day, several times a day, she practices writing her name. We have been very lucky to have daycares in our lives that truly love and care for Easton.

Big britches is now in a BIG bed! This past Sunday, Josh and I took the plunge! Eeek! I always joked that she would be in a crib until she was out of high school, but the truth is she was ready. She had been making comments that babies sleep in a crib and she was a big girl. Then when she came home and showed us how she writes her name, welp that was it. After a quick talk about not getting in out of bed, laying down when it was nap time or bedtime, blah blah blah, Josh and her were off to convert the crib into a toddler bed. We had friends and family over that evening for Josh’s birthday so I am sure the oooohhh and awwww’s helped make it a big deal.  

Side note: As I am turning to walk out of Easton’s room, I hear her say “Now I can get in and out!”. The words out of my mouth “Oh, shit!”.

Out cold. I snuck in and snatched a photo. All while praying she wouldn't wake up!

And yes, she still tells me she is tired in the morning and doesn't want to get up.

It's only been three nights, but they haven't been that bad at all! In fact the last two nights, I didn't hear a peep out of Easton after I tucked her in. Fingers are crossed for more successful nights! 

Her is my little baker helping me make Daddy's birthday cupcakes!

Making Valentine Day cards for Dance class and Daycare. I just grabbed some stickers and cut up some construction paper and let her have at it!


Easton really can talk and put sentences together. Her little mind has really grown and she says the rawest, craziest, and silliest things.

The other night when I was rocking her, I told her to never get too big to be rocked and always stay my baby. Her comment back " No Momma, I wanna to be big for gum." (we keep telling her when she gets bigger she can have gum).

Recently while talking about what Daddy does for work, I told Easton he drives big truck. Her response "No Daddy don't do that. He does dishes... not bath".

Easton's famous line "If it's important to you, just do it!"

Ok, on to potty training. Hmmm... Easton went through a incredibly irritating period of peeing in her undies every evening (talk about doing laundry all the time). After speaking with the daycare lady, we decided Easton would be put into time out if she peed in her undies at daycare. If she did it at home we would spank her. Now, before everyone cringes and thinks Josh and I are the worst parents ever, hear me out. Easton knows when she needs to potty. That has been established for a while now. However, Easton does not always take the time to potty or get ALL her potties out. Easton is also began testing her limits/boundaries with us. So after letting her pee her pants every night for a week, we had had enough. We sat her down and told her that if she pees in her undies we will spank her. If she does it at daycare, then she will be put in time out. Since that talk we have had only 1 incident. Of course it was with me and I was the one that had to follow through with our words, crap! I felt absolutely awful. I swatted her behind and quickly grabbed her up to comfort her. It was one of the most heart breaking spanks I have ever given Easton. I didn't want to, but I had to.  I can honestly say that this method worked. She now tells us when she needs to potty and is taking the time to go.

Ok, so with all this big girl stuff comes new problems. Like the fact my daughter must be deaf! Seriously, the kid is a non-listening monster. I know we are approaching 3, but it's like a switch went off in her head and turned off her ears. We know ask her fifty million times to do one simple task. Many times she says no and takes off down the hall to her room, grabs the chair and swings her and the chair around. God, help us! Not only has her listening skills checked out, but we know blessed with crazy crying and whine.

True story... The other morning I listened to crocodile tear crying and whining all the way to daycare over a dog treat. Yes, a dog treat. I had asked Easton if she wanted to give Harlie her treat. She smiled and said no. I feed Harlie the treat myself. The water works and massive fit began. Ugh... It's a freaking dog treat! So I then had to explain to Easton the importance of decision making.

Ta-Dah...

 (Insert Gospel Choir singing "Amen")

We purchased a new freaking fridge. We had a side by side. H.A.T.E.D. it! We would shove stuff in there. Nothing ever fit. Including a freaking pizza box. But this new beauty is amazing and roomy. I seriously may love my fridge more than the Hubby! Just kidding... a little.... maybe not.

Of course the first thing Easton did was grab a hold of the bar on the freezer and hung on it. My comment "I don't think so! This fridge cost us more than it did to have you!"

And in even bigger news... Josh and I officially paid off our last credit card! Booyah! Now on to student loans.

Magic Pants

Most people get caught up in the hype of the importance of having the right running shoes. While I do agree that being fitted for correct running shoes is important, running pants are just as important. Especially for us ladies!

Oh, the forgotten running pant. They are the ones that yield the ass jiggle, compress the baby pooch, and keep thigh chafing a thing of the past.

Last year, while training for our half marathon, Vern and I stumbled upon the Magic Pants, also known as Xersion Reflective Running Capris. (JCP $20). They are freaking awesome! The magic pants compress in all the right areas. In fact, while walking back to our car after a race last spring, a couple of fellow runners complimented us on our pants! Bet you thought I was going to type 'ass'.

Over the holidays I picked up the legging version and once again, I was not disappointed in their performance.  They just keep holding my shit in while I log the miles! What more could you ask for in your running attire!

Now, I received Nike running leggings for Christmas, while they are good, they just do not compare to the Xersion leggings (JCP $25). Vern and I, hands down, LOVE these pants for running.

Onto 13.1 training:

So while little Ms. is shaking her booty in dance class...

 Momma is trying to shrink hers with a 4 mile run. 

Running under that bridge was freaky!

  The worst part about training for a half during winter months?! Treadmill runs!



See, we were just so happy our 3 miles was completed!



 But then there are days it is freaking amazing out and I can't wait to run!

 Back to freezing our asses off! I mentally can not run more than 3 miles on a treadmill. I would much rather suck it up and run outside in the cold then try to stride out 5 miles on the treadmill.

 Lexie is wearing the leggings I talked about early... see they are amazing!

 The longest run we have done to date is 5 miles! We just finished up week 3.

So this go around has been so much harder. Not physically or mentally, but time wise. With Josh taking classes two days of week and having fire department meetings twice a month and the random study groups for class, scheduling runs in has been freaking hard. But I am lucky and my parents are 99% of the time to watch Easton will I get a quick run in after work. Oh, and my house looks like shit. Don't mind the quarter inch thick dust on all still surfaces. Just building up my daughter's immune system!