Color Me Rad

We did it again!  Another Color 5k! We couldn't help ourselves, really. They are so much fun & when we originally signed up back in the summer for the The Color Run we did in Richmond in September, it was the closest one to us. 

THEN, Color Me Rad 5k opened up a race in Raleigh! Local, cheaper than the first one, AND a lot of fun!? It's a no brainer! Plus, this time, our local friends could join in if they wished! (And did i mention that it benefited Special Olympics?! Win- Win!)

 We got started bright & early... clean as a whistle...

Got our tattoos on...

And hit the pavement!! 

I have to say that of the two 5ks this was the better of the two in terms of the amount of color we got all over us during the race. It was brighter & twice they actually squirted liquid color on us instead of just tossing the powder!

Color Bomb!!

 Woo hoo!!

 

And after all was said & done, it was only 10 am & we still had a full day ahead of us! What a great way to start the weekend! It was so fun running this with you all!! And we've decided that we are going to sign the kids up next year because they would have an absolute BLAST!

Birthday Boy!

Our house now has a 6 year old! Eli had a birthday last month & now he thinks he is big man on campus. 

Of course, when didn't he think that?

 I wasn't even sure I was going to have a party this year. I wanted to keep it simple. But then he ramdomly said 2 weeks before his big day, that he wanted a Spiderman party. 

WHAT?! We own no spiderman movies or toys. Where did this come from?! 

But, being the mama that I am. I obliged. 

I got to work downloading a Spiderman font so that I could make some tags & such & stumbled onto some spiderman stuff in Michael's clearance section. Score! I guess it was meant to be.  So then I freezer paper stenciled a spiderman shirt for both him & Jackson for the party. Done.

But, really, this was the lowest of the low key possible. We literally had popcorn & cupcakes at the park. Period. No games, no activities. Just ate & played. But he was surrounded by his cousins to play with so all was good!

  I really can't believe how fast my kids grow up. I know that I say it with every passing year & that it is so cliche to say. But it is true. Life is so fast!

 

 Eli is playing soccer again this fall & I have to say that maybe 6 is the magic year for that! He is SERIOUS about his "game" this year. All business out on the field!

And he has scored several goals each game.  Here he is WAY ahead of everyone, kicking the ball in the net! (no goalie in this age group!) Score!

What a cutie this kid is!

Color Run

Remember back in May when I told you all that I was training for my first 5k?  Well the Color Run has come & gone & I survived!

 I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to run the entire thing since I had been averaging about 2 miles on my  twice weekly runs, if that. (Training kind of came to a halt after mom's accident- priorities tend to shift when you almost lose your mom.) 

However, Rebecca stuck by my side, encouraging me to keep going & I did! Aside from a very sore knee when I finished, I felt like a warrior! Ha!

 We didn't get too much color during the run, despite trying to get as close to the "powder tossers" as possible... 

 

 But after the run, there was an "after party" where they jammed music & had big color explosions every 15 minutes!

 

Then we were covered in color!! So fun!

 They had blowers there to blow the color off as much as possible before getting into your cars. Good thing, because even with the blowers, we still carried a lot of it home! :) 

Thanks, Becca for being my cheerleader! And thanks to Randy for always being proud of me, whether I ran my first 1.5 minutes or 1.5 miles! 

Couch to What?

Couch to What? Couch to 5k.

That's right. I am doing it. I am pushing through & have decided that I can't keep being lazy.

I tried counting calories from the day after Christmas through March, and after plateauing at 12lbs lost, the scale just wasn't moving. I was getting frustrated. I was hungry, tired of constantly worrying about the calories and the scale wasn't rewarding me anymore. So, I quit worrying with the calories.

Rebecca has been trying to get me to try running since the fall. Running just isn't my thing. I want to be a person who CRAVES a good run, but in reality, it just doesn't appeal to me. Sounds like something I'd rather not do, really.

But then she showed me a video of her next 5k that she wants to run...

 After watching that, who wouldn't want to get up & go? I knew I needed to get active. Not for weight loss, because really, I am okay with where I am now. But more for toning & becoming physically fit. Let's tighten things up a bit, shall we?

So, 5 weeks ago, I got out & "ran" with Rebecca on a Friday afternoon. It was literally in the 90s outside. WHAT.was.I.thinking?

 

We had no real plan, just got out there & ran. And I about vomited from the heat. If you know me, then you know the feeling of nausea is like cryptonite to me. That was NOT going to happen again. I was incredibly sore. Proud of myself for going out  there & giving it a go, but very sore.
 I thought it over throughout the weekend & knew that if I was going to start running, then I needed a game plan. I downloaded the Couch25K app on my phone, got busy working on a running music playlist & by Monday, I hit the pavement for day 1 of the new plan.
Interval training.
 No more of this  get-out-there-&-see-how-far-you-can-go-before-you-die.
 I started slow & worked through my weeks.

I am now finishing up week 5 & am officially over the halfway mark! By the end of this week, I will be running for 2 miles (or 20 straight minutes) for the first time. We'll see how it goes!

 

I sure hope this color run is worth it! :) It's the "happiest 5K on the planet" and it's gonna need to be!!

Second Year of Soccer! Go Hurricanes!

Eli decided that he wanted to play soccer again this year! I was pretty excited about this because I think he is pretty fun to watch! Something about little kids running up & down a field together kicking a ball & looking totally adorable in their shin guards & jerseys! Eli is # 7 this year & has definitely gotten a better coach than last year! He actually teaches the kids what to do - now there's an idea for a coach, huh? We actually requested this coach because he is the father of a boy, Nathan that Eli took speech with. So we have known the family for a few years. Eli was totally excited that Nathan was going to be on his team! Here is Eli getting some direction from Coach Steve before the first game.

Right off the bat at the start of the game, Eli gets the ball & heads down the field with it! Goal!

After the goal, he ran right back to Coach Steve for a high five!After a few more minutes of play, it was time to switch out with the rest of his team mates & his turn to sit on the sidelines. He wasn't so sure about that! :)Once he was back in, it was on! It is really funny to see the kids compete with one another for the ball... sometimes even those on their own team!He had the ball a LOT during this game, so I got a lot of pictures, but I will only share the ones where he kicked a goal! Yep, he kicked in another goal towards the end of the game!

I love how he is mid air in this shot (too bad that other kid is halfway covering him!) He was so proud of himself when he got that second goal! He came right over for big smiles for Mom & Dad!I had a lot of fun getting action shots with my camera. This was the first real situation I had been in to work on that. I didn't get every shot right, by any means! But at least I didn't have blur & caught the action! Gotta start somewhere! I can't wait for the rest of the soccer season! I just know Eli will have a blast! And it helps that he gets snacks at the end, right?

Basketball

We signed Jackson up to play winter basketball through the YMCA this season & the season just flew by! Maybe because it was such a busy few months overall? I don't know, but the season came & went in a flash. Luckily, I asked Grandaddy to come & take some pictures of him on the court during the last game of the season. I had been trying to get some decent pictures but my camera kept blurring each shot, no matter what setting i used. So i gave up & called in reinforcements! A reinforcement with a much nicer camera (can i just admit that i covet his camera???)

Here are some pictures of our boy on the basketball court. And can i just say- he is ADORABLE out there. He could NOT look more like his daddy when he is out there because he walks, runs, moves just like him. It is crazy! This season, he tended to do best defensively, but only because he didn't get as much opportunity to play offensively. He has great aim at shooting/passing the ball when we play at home & at both Grandaddy's houses, but he was a little meek & didn't really want to get aggressive to get the ball. So the only real opportunities he had to shoot & pass were when the ball was passed to him. And lets face it- there were ten 7-year-olds out there on the team- it was more like an every man for himself scenario! But i will say that he was the best kid on the team at guarding & that is because he is quick on his feet like his Daddy! I think by next season, we will have our own goal at home & he will feel more confident to get in there & get that ball!