Update through Photos

There's been quite the time since I last posted, but that doesn't mean a lot of life hasn't happened! So for an quick update to bring the blog world up to speed, photos from the past 5ish months!

August 2012

 The Best Time of the Year--Allen County Fair

 Sassy Sondra modeling her Guys & Gals Lead outfit that Aunt Sara made for her.

Right before she stuck out her tongue then was too embarrassed to finish!

Ainsley's 1st Birthday Party 

She certainly wasn't shy digging into the delicious cake Grandma Massie made for her!

September 2012

Clum Family Gathering in Bellefontaine

Running and diving on a mattress with Stu and Sondra--It's so much fun to see how much you love interacting with other kids!

Train ride at Bellefontaine Lodge--Riding with Jacob

 October 2012

Half Marathon with Momma-Cita & Mister

All smiles BEFORE the run! After the run was more of a straight-faced hobble for me!

Trick-or-Treating At Otterbein

Three CrAzY kids!

Our Skeleton Family

 

President Obama came to my high school. This made for a crazy few days but was thankful to witness the madness!

November 2012

 We said goodbye to Grandma Clum as she was reunited with her husband and her Lord. It was the worst, yet best birthday present.

Ainsley first picture with Great-Grandma Clum

  Hot Chocolate 5k--Momma-cita's Birthday Gift

Trip to Chicago for Math Conference--This was our first time that both Mister and I were away from Ainsley overnight. 

We went ice-skating for the first time. [Isn't that what every 6 month pregnant lady does?!]

No falls! All smiles! Millennium Park

December 2012

We met Miss Piper McCracken. Ainsley absolutely loved the precious little baby! It made us more excited for the arrival of our little bundle!

Kisses for Piper

Ains LOVED holding Piper!

Cheese Party--We hosted a cheese party at our house! We had friends over with lots of cheesey food, wore cheesey aka ugly Christmas attire, and played Cheeseopardy aka cheeseo-themed Jeopardy.

 

I painted Ainsley's fingernails for the first time! It made her seem like a little lady, instantly!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning we had to torture you awake for presents!

"Cheese" face!

She did great opening presents until she opened a book--then all she wanted to do it read.

Motorcycle Momma like Grandmomma-cita!

One of Ainsley's common faces--I <3 br="br" it="it">

Nephews became animals for Christmas

 Visit with high school friends--Ange and Britney. Crazy that we all have at least one babe now!

Angela's Jillian; Britney's Emma; and my ham!

 Clum Family Christmas

Part of the Crazy Clum Great Grandkids

Play cards with Gabe

 Helping Papa put together our new *double* stroller

Crazy hair!

 January 2013

33 Weeks Pregnant & 16 months ornery!

Monkey

 Perhaps I'll work on consistent updating now!

Goals are meant to be accomplished!

I know I have been pretty MIA lately, but rest assure that even though I have have been "missing" I've definitely been "in action"!

Catching back up with life, as I scan through my list of 101 goals that I hope to accomplish in 1001 days, I have a handful successfully accomplished goals and more that I've made some progress on. Woot! Woo! :-)

Goal #2: Go Vegetarian for a month
For the month of February, Mister and I decided that we were going to fast from meat and bread and focus on what our next steps as a family should be. i.e. what we should get involved in, is there anything we should be initiating to better our community, etc. Let me tell you, even though this goal was to not eat meat, this carb lover struggled a lot more with not endulging in bread! [On Fridays my co-workers take turns bringing in a little treat. Well one day I headed to the workroom to find Panera bagels and there happened to be an Asiago cheese one. Score! After toasting it and covering it with cream cheese, I headed back to my classroom. Walkibg down the hall, I raise the small piece of heaven to my mouth when I realize I'm about to eat a bagel aka bread! Ugh! Darn it! One of my students enjoyed a bagel that morning nonetheless.]

After the month of February passed, we decided to continue to give up meat for Lent. Eating meatless seems like a healthier thing to do, even if not because I'm not eating meat, but rather because of the foods that I'm eating instead of eating meat. It's been a lot of fun to cook with Mister and experiementing with various vegetables. Yum! Yum! After celebrating Easter on April 8th, I think the game plan--after eating what meat is already in the freezer because I'm not all about being wasteful--I'll try to only meat if I know where it comes from. Which does not mean Meijer, Rays, etc. but rather a local farmer. We shall see. :)

Goal #12: Run a 5k in less than 30 minutes.
On February 25th, Mister, Momma-cita, my spin instructor, another workout friend and I participated in St. Rita's Family & Friends February Freeze. Well it certainly was in February and it certainly was freezing but some how I accomplished this goal that morning! You see, I was working through the Couch to 5k running program and my third run for that week was supposed to be the dreaded Week 5, Day 3: Run for 2 miles. You see, I've never ran 2 miles without stopping to walk so I was really nervous about this. I started with what I thought was a good pace and gave myself mental pep talks through the first mile and an half. As I came up to the 2 mile mark, I pushed myself to go a little more and then a little more and then a little more. The course was laid out around the blocks that the hospital is on and we had to make two laps around it. Well I thought that after the second loop we were headed back to the finish line, so that's what I was mentally pushing myself to, but come for find out we had to do an extra little loop [probably that last tenth of a mile]. So I kept pushing on and kept not walking. Soon I could see the finish line, I saw that my goal was definitely within reach stride. I kicked hard and crossed the finish line at 29:30!! My first 5k under 30 minutes and I didn't stop for any walking! :D

One hot [ecstatic] mess!
And an adorable, distracted one!

Goal #15: Run a block mile in under 10 minutes.
Continuing with the running theme, on March 7th, I accomplished this one. Mister and I discovered last summer that if you start on the sidewalk in front of our house and keep running until you get back you our house, it is right at 1 mile. Without the initial goal of completing the goal on that particular run, I accomplished anyways.

Running overall--but especially with Mister and Ains--has become pretty enjoyable and I'm sure there will be a post on the sybject in the near future.

Lil' Trooper in the Jogging Stroller

Goal #22: Breastfeed the lil' one for at least 6 months.
Ainsley is almost 7 months old--my oh my how time has flown!--so that means I've accomplished this by almost 1 additional month. The goal is to nurse her as long as I can until she's able to transition to cow milk. I'll be posting an individual post about this one as well! I've got a lot to say about this topic!

One quick word before heading out for a run--or maybe ice cream--even though I've been MIA lately, I was excitedly surprised that 10,000 visits have been made to my blog since it's beginning. So crazy! But thanks for stopping in and hopefully being inspired, encouraged, educated, or received a laugh on my behalf--that's the goal as I use this as an outlet! I won't wait another 3 weeks before touching base again!

2+ Week Update

Behold my attempt to do a two+ week recap! I've fallen behind making my mental blog posts into actual posts, so here are some snipets so I can feel "caught up"!

Dear Ainsley [Week 13]
Nothing too out of the ordinary in baby life. You've developed an incredible talent for wailing for no apparent reason while you are in your carseat. We've tried adjusting it but that doesn't seem to be the issue. On Monday you screamed yourself to sleep as we head to our TFC Thanksgiving get-together. Then afterwards I needed to swing by Meijer's. You were asleep so I left you in the car with Papa to run in real quick. I got a text reading, "Someone's world is ending." You were no longer asleep. When I got to the car if looked like a teenage makeout session had occuried the way you had the windows all steamed up! Sadly this wasn't a one time thing as you have wailed through many more car rides since. :S I'm hoping you lose this talent soon!

Other than that, you celebrated your 3 month birthday this week! As well as your first real family-get-together kind of holiday! I made a little turkey outfit for you and you did well not to spit up on it so you could wear it to all the family functions! You're a champ princess!

EDIT: Oh. My. Goodness! I just remembered a HUGE milestone for you this week! We had the privelge of hearing your laugh for the very first time. As we were preparing for bed and I was changing your diap, I tickled your belly a bit and there it was! It was so cute. It was so contagious! Since then, we've heard it many times and it causes us to laugh as well!

Thanksgiving Celebrations
This year I "celebrated" Thanksgiving 7 times, I believe.
1. Spartan Inn Thanksgiving--The food management class makes a Thanksgiving meal every year. So the Friday before Thanksgiving I enjoyed some fixin' courtesy of my students. Although there was plenty of turkey, I didn't partake in any of it! One of my students said, "Ms. Massie, don't eat the turkey!" "Why?! Did you make it?" "Nah, but don't eat it! I'll tell you why later. Eat ham." I passed on the meat all together, and never found out why I shouldn't eat the turkey. I probably don't want to know!
2. Friendsgiving Dinner--On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we went over to our friends Ben & Sara's for a delicious meal and lots of friendly fellowship. Sara [& Ben] did a great job preparing the turkey and other friends brought some delicious sides as well! I ate to my heart's content without any reservation!
3. TFC Thanksgiving--The Spencerville Senior High Chapter headed to the St. Mary's chapter for a Thanksgiving meal and sharing. The leaders of the St. Mary's chapter did all the leg work for the food, and it too was good. I think it was great for our teens to get to experience another chapter as well.
4. Girls' Night Thanksgiving--Held at our house on Tueday, we had our Girls Night Thanksgiving celebration. I made the turkey chicken as if it were a turkey and if I didn't spill the beans, none of the ladies would've known. If I ever volunteer to make the meat again, I'll probably go with just a turkey breast. Raw meat is disgusting and anytime I work with it, I question why I am not a vegetarian. Bleh!
5-6.Thanksgiving Day: Run for the Turkeys 5k--For the second year in a row, we started Thanksgiving morning with a 5k run. This was my 1st 5k since having Ainsley and my first 5k to "run" in my barefoot shoes, and I was almost 2 minutes faster this year than last year. [Last year's Run for the Turkeys 5k would've been my last non-pregnant 5k.] My time isn't, close to being something to brag about, but I was happy with it, and I made it to the halfway mark before walking at all so that was good for me! :)

Leanna & Chris before the run!

After the run, we headed home, showered, and then headed out to Chris' parents for Thanksgiving with them. After a full meal topped with apple pie a la mode, we headed to Spencerville to meet up with Zac before heading down to Greenville. Greenville was full of family, laughter, little girls playing dress up, men watching football, and of course, green jello and pears! Pretty usual. Pretty lovely!
7. Thayer Family Thanksgiving--Then on Sunday, after sleeping in, we headed out to Chris' aunts for the Thanksgiving on that side. we had round one with ham and then round two with turkey! Me? I had lots of broc & cheese casserole!

My favorite lil' turkey!

Black Friday
Mom and I were planning on heading out, just the two of us, at a not so ridiculous time mainly for the excitement of it all! Black Friday shopping is fun for me, as long as there is nothing my heart is set on. About 5:30am Mom and my brother were pulling in to head on out! Zac had a night full of winnings the casino and woke up after just a couple of hours rest, so he decided to tag aloing. There wasn't much we had to get, but in the end I'm glad Zac came along to help carry some packages! After a quick stop at Elder-Beerman, grabbing the "wrong item" [darn that misleading signage], getting the right item, loading up, we headed to Menards. Now I don't know if you are a Menard's shopper, but Momma-cita and I have ventured there on many Black Friday outings just to leave empty handed. It was a bit before 6 when we arrived and everyone and their brother was there as well. I suggested kicking Zac out of the car to get in line, but somehow I ended up being the one searching for the end of the line as Momma & Zac drove around looking for a parking spot.
Naturally I headed to the storefront for the line, but the line was actually all the way to the back of the parking lot and headed to Easttown Road. But there was a second line. Near the handicapped parking spots, there was a second line forming semi-organized so I thought that this must be the secondardy line because the other line was so dang long that once that line went through they'd send us through. Not so much. I quickly learned from a lady "with 2 herneatedc discs who was just going to plow in and cut in front of those beepity-beeps" that I was in line with the crazies. Ah, no thank you!

I saw some people I knew in line and went over to chat before walking to the very end of the endless line. They had been there since 3:30am in line. Ah, no thank you! Good luck getting your stuff, but nothing there was that important to me. So I began the journey to the end of the line. Shortly later the opened the door and the line began to move. So being so incredible intelligent lazy at 6am, I decided I'd just wait until the end of the line got to me! I didn't have to wait too long because soon enough Mom & Zac were already in line after parking in Meijer parking lot and passing me. I joined in and filled them in on "the crazies' line". By the time we got to the front door, Zac ditched us to talk to a friend who works there and Momma & I had a game plan. I was going to ask the first worker I saw where the two items we wanted were--a Circut for me and a gift for my brother.

The Circut is in the Christmas stuff and the _________ [maybe he reads this and I don't want to spoil Christmas!] is in the main aisle, you can't miss 'em! Thanks! We split ways, I go for the Circut and Mom goes for the other. I of course start weaving and waving through the aisle thinking there was no way Mom was getting the _______ because everyone seemed to have 2-3 in their carts, when I stumble upon a huge pile of _________ [not in the main aisle, of course]! I snatched one up, saw Mom in the main aisle still trying to find one and yelled out, "Hey Ma! I got one!"

After leaving it with her, I searched in the Christmas section to no avail. Now I have debated for 2 years about getting a Circut and Thanksgiving night decided I didn't really need one, so I wasn't going to buy one. When Mom said she happened to want to go to Menards, and that just happened to be where the Circut's were the cheapest this year, I told myself if they happened to have one, I'd get it. If not, no biggie! Well there weren't any in the Christmas section, but I also didn't see anyone carrying one. So I asked again. "Paint section." Ugh! Off to that area--which I didn't know where it was. Getting lost in the paint section, Momma called and told me where it really was. One worker's assistance later, I had a Circut in my hand! Now just to have time to use it! I need to get figuring it out before too long because it's helping with Goal #83.

Dear Ainsley [Week 14]
Hey Sweet Princess!

Being your Mama is still wonderful! I enjoy those cuddle-times and being able to provide for your every need.

14 Weeks, and ready for some snow!

You have still been wailing at night in the car, and I'm not sure what that's all about, so that's a bit frustrating. Last Friday after sleeping all through spin, I fed you and then we were on our way to Olive Garden to meet up with Grandpa and Grandmomma-cita as Papa worked. We load up and by the first stop light [just 2 blocks out] you began wailing. I pulled over at Rite-Aid, reinserted the paci, and headed on our way. That lasted about, oh 500 feet. I ever so safely proceeded to drive to OG, with my arm twisting back holding your hand, singing "Hush Little Baby". It helped barely. Once to OG, you were out of the car and into my arms, within 20 minutes you were sawing logs. You slept all the way through supper. I loaded you back up, and let the wailing begin. All the way home from OG. I've got to get more creative on a solution for this.

In other news, you have a new trick. You can put your fist/fingers so far into your mouth that you make yourself gag/puke. I'm so proud. :S Maybe I'll try to teach you a trick that you'd actually want to show off. [Okay, not really, teaching you a trick makes you sound like a puppy!]

Well babe girl, stay sweet and keep keeping Papa and I on our toes!

Love!
Your Momma

Goals!
I have lots of updating to do. Yikes! I guess that's a good thing since that means I'm crossing things off the ol' list.

As for everyone, especially during the coming months, life is busy, but life is good!

I'll keep working on these updates! :) Until then, be mesmorized by this close up, I know I am!