This little piggie...

We went to a Halloween party on Friday night and I got a few pictures of our little "piggie." It was the only costume I could find for him and was definitely a little tight. Ryley wore it when she was 2 months old and Kirye is 6 months old. Maybe I should go find something that fits him for Halloween.
We are taking Ryley out this year since we figure she is old enough to bask in the candy holiday. We will probably go about a block or so and come back home and drink some hot apple cider. I think it is only supposed to be about 40 degrees. I can just hear my Arizona and California friends snickering right now. I bet they've never had a Halloween where they had to wear a coat. I remember growing up in Montana; it would be sooo cold on Halloween, and most of the time there was snow. It didn't seem to bother us though...candy was definitely more important than getting frost bite.

Man it's cold!!

So, this morning I decided to take my normal inside treadmill run to the outdoors (thanks to a friendly reminder of how great running outside is from Patti). It helped that I had decided to do it the night before, so I had my alarm set and my clothes placed on the stairs so I wouldn't wake up Scott. I got up bright and early, about 5:45. This was definitely not by choice; I was planning on getting up at 6:30. Remember when I said Ryley could get out of her crib now? Well, she was up at 5:45 and thought it was time to wake up. After I put her back in her crib, I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't, so I just decided to start my day. Okay, so I didn't realize how freakin' cold it is that early in the morning! It was probably about 30 degrees out. Yikes. Once I got running though, it was okay. My hands got a little cold, but I couldn't find my gloves before I left.
ANYWAY, it was such a marvelous, wonderful, fantastic experience. Now, I have been an "outdoor" runner all through high school and college. But when I got married and had kids, I just did whatever was the most convenient, and what would let me sleep in the longest...and that meant I had to move to the treadmill. I don't necessarily love the treadmill, but I don't hate it and I can definitely tolerate it. So this morning when I was able to run outside it brought back all of these wonderful memories and I remembered why I love to run outside. I took the bike trail by my house that leads around the lake. It was so pristine and peaceful and the lake was so beautiful. There were even ducks floating about, and I couldn't help but wonder how they weren't freezing their butts off in that water. As I rounded the lake there was another jogger on the trail who said, "Looks like we're just missing the snow." I laughed like it was the funniest thing I had ever heard. Maybe I was just happy to be outside where it was so peaceful and I didn't have a 2 year old at my feet trying to "work out" with mommy.
On the way home I even saw a deer, who, no kidding, looked both ways before he crossed the street. It was so weird because he was in the middle of a residential area. When I got home my face was red and cold, and my muscles felt a little tight, but I loved it. I loved every minute of it. So, I am going to try to get off the treadmill at least twice a week and hit the bike trail outside. That might mean I will have to wake up a little earlier, but I think it will be so great for my mind, body and spirit to have that time to myself.

Obstacles

Here are a few obstacles that I have been dealing with lately:

* Ryley learned how to climb out of her crib, even on the lowest setting. So, what that means is I won't be able to sleep in EVER AGAIN! We converted her crib in to a bed last night and she was up for almost 2 hours getting in and out of bed, and then finally fell asleep in front of her door on the floor. Then this morning she was up at 6:30 and she normally doesn't get up until around 8!

* Since I thought Ryley was potty trained why not have her wear panties to gymnastics. Why? I'll tell you why. Because the minute you think they are potty trained, they aren't, and they poop in their leotard! What a mess.

* Working out. I try to work out. In fact, I have been doing really good and getting back up to almost an hour of cardio a day. But with a 2 year old it is not easy and it is so frustrating when she won't let me get in "me" time. I just need my exercise. It gives me energy, it helps me feel better about myself, and I just NEED it. So, when I don't get it, I get cranky.

* Money. I have none, therefore I cannot shop and that makes me sad.

* I took both my kids to the dr this week and Kirye is in the 95th percentile for height and Ryley is off the charts. So, by the third grade my kids will outgrow me, and once again I will be the short one in the group. I guess this isn't really an obstacle, but it reminds me that I am short and that I will always be short and there is nothing I will ever be able to do to change that.

Here are a few positives going on in my life:

* Ryley is pretty much potty trained, which means less money I have to spend on diapers.

* I can fit in to the smallest pair of jeans I have. I said I can fit in to them, I didn't say they looked great on! I still have a few baby weight pounds to lose, but overall I feel okay.

* Kirye is sleeping through the night, about 12 hours straight. We did sleep training a few weeks ago, and by the third night he was sleeping without waking up. We got rid of the pacifier. He will never be able to use it again for sleeping. It was just too much of a crutch and whenever he woke up and it wasn't there he would start crying. According to Ferber, it is as if you woke up and your pillow wasn't there. Well, what if you were handicapped and couldn't get it yourself. You would have to call for help right? That was what Kirye was doing.

* It's autumn time...one of my favorite times of the year. I love the crisp morning air and the beautiful colors of the changing leaves. I also love "fall" food like soup and pumpkin recipes. I have been making lots of soup lately and homemade all bran rolls. Sooo good!

I have put up all of my fall decorations and they are so cute and make me happy whenever I look at them. Here are a few pictures of them:

That's all really. If you have anything you want to complain about or something that is going good for you right now feel free to let me know. This blog is a good way for me to complain without Scott getting on me for being so "negative." I'm not negative, I'm just a realist!

AW SNAP!!

This is SOOO GROSS!! I am almost throwing up thinking about it. Okay, so I got out my Diet Cranberry Raspberry Snapple tonight , opened it up, and almost puked!! What might you ask did I find?? Here is a snippet of what I wrote to the Snapple company tonight:

I found something in my Diet Cranberry Raspberry Snapple tonight. I am not quite sure what it was, but it looked disgusting and at first I thought it was a condom. I took many pictures of it and dumped the contents of the bottle in to a plastic container. The more I looked at it and poked at it, I think it may have been a round piece of cardboard paper that sometimes sits at the top of lids. However, this type of Snapple does not have the cardboard paper on the top of the lids, so I don't really know where it came from.
I would really like to send you the pictures of this. Please get back to me as soon as possible. Oh, it also looked moldy and was pretty nauseating I might add.


I SWEAR to you, it was so gross looking (don't worry, I will post some lovely pictures for you to see). I made Scott poke it with a fork. I also made sure our hands were both washed for fear of mold spores infesting our house and our bodies!!

So, do you think Snapple will send me a year supply for free?