Bittersweet.

Today my heart swelled with so much pride for BJ.

It swelled so big it burst, and then tears flowed out.

Tears of sadness because he's growing up so fast.

Bitter. Sweet.

From the backseat

Sometimes when you're on a 2,600 mile (roundtrip) road trip, the natives get restless and you do crazy things like handing over your very expensive DSLR camera. And because of those sometimes you get little surprises like these.





I'm just now getting around to going through the rest of the 600+ images from our road trip to Florida. More to come.

Vacation

I've been a little MIA over here. It's not that I don't have things to share, because ohmygoshIdo. So many things. Little things, big things. Lots.

My children are amazing and beautiful, and we took them on a road trip to Florida. YES! Florida, and we drove. No, we didn't go on the typical Disney Florida vacation, we went to Miami, and it was beautiful. Amazing. I took so many beautiful pictures of my cuterthancute kids. More than I care to admit, but that's what a mom does, right?

So I'm here to share some of those pictures. And I might come back and share some of the tales from the road. Afterall, we drove almost 3,000 miles roundtrip with two kids and a bottle of vodka. Okay, I am only kidding about the vodka. Probably.

Yes, the water was really that color. SOOC.

Yes, he really is that cute. And awesome!


Not my kids, I know. But the art deco-ness of Miami was amazing. So colorful and fun.

This is how I shot most of my non-beach photos!

I want to spank her all day long for being so perfect.



This was the view from our patio. We were right on the beach. So amazing.

BJ was so excited!

Mia was amazed!

If you want a little picture preview of my 1/2 marathon in San Diego with Team in Training, you can check it out here. I went, I ROCKED it, and it changed my life.

Also, I'm a little tired of this little blog. I might change it up, or move it to Wordpress. I'm still thinking on that.

Why, hello.

It's raining here, and I don't know what it is about rain that makes me want to post here. Well, I also wanted to post because it's obviously been about 386 years since I've posted here. Gah. Details....

It's been raining for days, and it's supposed to rain until next Tuesday. Isn't that crazy? It's awesome though, because the wildflowers? They are so beautiful and wild and abundant. I love wildflowers with all of my heart.

I also love this white horsey with the pretty purple wildflowers and blue, blue sky.

I love my beautiful children and white baby lambs.

I love, love, love this expression on BJ's face when his teacher announced that he'd won first prize.....

.......for this creation.

I love that sometimes, just sometimes, my children actually act like they love each other.

And finally, I love sunset on the Frio River.

Team Shrinking Jeans

For the next 2 weeks over at the Sisterhood, we are having a Team Shrinking Jeans Bash! What is this Bash I speak of, you might be asking? It's a HUGE party with door prizes and an awesome Grand Prize of $400 cash! Yes, cash!

What is Team Shrinking Jeans anyway? Well, a group of 16 Sisters and one Brother are training to run the San Diego Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team in Training Program (TNT). Through TNT, Team Shrinking Jeans will be training for the race AND raising $48,900 for LLS. Isn't that amazing?

You can read more about our amazing team here, and find out why each of us is doing this here.

How can you join the Bash? Simple! Donate to Team Shrinking Jeans through our secure online team fundraising page. For every $5 you donate, you'll be entered to win one of over 30 fabulous door prizes. If you donate $25, not only will you get 5 chances to win door prizes, but you'll also be entered to win the granddaddy of all prizes: CASH!

Did you know?

Every 4 minutes one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer.

An estimated 139,860 people in the United States will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2009. New cases of leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma account for 9.5 percent of the 1,479,350 new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States this year*.

Overall incidence rates per 100,000 population for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are almost identical for data reported in 2008 and 2009 [(leukemia 12.2, 2009 vs.12.3, 2008); (NHL, 19.5, each year); (Hodgkin lymphoma, 2.8, each year); (myeloma, 5.6, each year)].

Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma will cause the deaths of an estimated 53,240 people in the United States this year. These blood cancers will account for nearly 9.5 percent of the deaths from cancer in 2009 based on the 562,340 total cancer-related deaths.

Every ten minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 146 people each day, or more than six people every hour. Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. In general, the likelihood of dying from most types of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma decreased from 1996 to 2005 (the most recent data available).

*Facts and statistics from Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma Facts 2009-2010, June 2009.

Those are some pretty eye-opening statistics, huh?

So head on over and join in the Bash! Check out the fabulous prizes, click on over and donate, and be sure to check in everyday for Happy Hour!

Total World Domination

Recently Brian picked up the game of Risk for BJ. Have you ever played Risk? I hadn't, and it was SO much fun. I highly recommend you give it a whirl.

The instructions were daunting, and had to be read over and over, and as we played, the instruction booklet was always nearby and well thumbed. In the end, we had an amazing time playing, and I achieved TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION. Not bad for my first time out!

Apparently the other inhabitants of Mommy World were not too happy.



Please ignore the messy refrigerator and the fact that we're all still in our pajamas. In MOMMY world, that would totally be acceptable every single day. We'd always be able to ice cream without even thinking of gaining one measly pound, and there would totally be little fairies who came along and cleaned up messes without having to be reminded 12, 487 times.

The end.

Team in Training Kickoff

Today I kicked of my training for the San Diego Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon with a 3-miler. I am a member of Team Shrinking Jeans, a team we formed at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking jeans and we are training with Team In Training while we raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Follow me on the Daily Mile to see all of my run data!

For the next 18 weeks, I will run, run, and run some more. By week 18, I'll be running more than 21 miles per week, and on June 6th, I will run 13.1 miles, all at once. As in, non-stop.

I couldn't be more excited!

For the next 18 weeks, I will also be fundraising, fundraising, and raising some more funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Won't you help me reach my fundraising goal of $2,900 dollars?

Why donate (besides helping me get to San Diego for the race!):

The need is critical: An estimated 912,938 people in the United States are living with,
or are in remission from, leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or
myeloma. Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every
10 minutes, someone dies.

Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under the age of
20. Lymphomas are the most common blood cancers and incidence increases with age.
The survival rate for myeloma is only 37.1 percent.

Another reason I really, really want to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is last year my PawPaw was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogeneous Leukemia. Without the funds raised by LLS, he would not have gotten the treatment he needed, because it wouldn't exist. He would not be in remission right now. He might not be alive. So you see, this is personal, too.

Your donation is 100% tax-deductible.

You can donate securely online with a credit card here. Or, if you aren't comfortable donating online, you can mail a check made out to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society directly to me. Email me at christy@shrinkingjeans.net for my mailing address!

And to add a little prizey incentive, for every 10 donations of $25 or more (online or via check), I will have a drawing for a $25 giftcard to Amazon, Target, or the Healthy Pantry, winner's choice!

Let's get this party started!