Warrior Dash

About six months ago I convinced five teachers to sign-up for the Warrior Dash. I must have the power of persuasion because I, myself, have no physical skills, whatsoever! We all trained for the Dash, in our own way, but as June 2nd approached I began getting a little nervous. I knew that I could not run a 5K. I have no upper body strength, except that which requires me to haul Cayden around. Needless to say, my expectations were low. My goals went in this order:

1. Don't Die. (#2 on the waiver for says that you could get seriously injured or die).

2. Finish the race. No matter how long it takes.

3. Don't get hurt. No broken ankles, or arms, etc.

4. Attempt all the obstacles.

Heath, Cayden, and I went to Tulsa Friday. We did not get a restful night of sleep. Cayden went to sleep 2 hours past his normal time, and then cried off and on, until I finally put him in bed with us. He has NEVER slept in our bed for an extended period of time. He slept a little better, but not great. The next morning we were off, and thankfully Heath's mom watched Cayden so we didn't have to take him out to the Dash.

This is our "Warrior" pose. Inspired by Greg.

Like stretching is going to help me. HA!

Tebowing? Streching? A little of both?

 The Dash consists of a 3 mile "run" and 12 obstacles. If you aren't familiar with the Warrior Dash you should check it out and see what the obstacles are! There was lots of climbing, cargo nets, balancing on small boards, etc. Really the worst part were the STEEP hills!! UGH.

One of the last obstacles. The one performing the Plank Maneuver at the top is me!

 One of the final parts to the race is jumping over fire! Caity and I knew we wanted to jump with style and grace, so we agree to try some leaps, instead of just jumping!

Look at that physical prowess! I think I could be the poster child for jumping over fire!

WOW! Even better!

I love this one of Janet!!

 After you jump over fire, you plunge into a mud hole that is about 3 feet deep. To make sure that you totally submerge yourself, they put barbed wire about a foot above the water level! I jumped in and literally swam to the other side! It was great!

Sharon after the mud hole!

I survived the Dash! WOOT! Woot!

Our "After" pose. Exhausted. Spent on Energy. Covered in mud.

Well, I completed ALL of my goals! We weren't fast, and that was okay with me! We didn't run the whole course, but we were there to complete, not compete!
I have to say that I am really proud of myself and our group. We started as a team, and finished as a team. There was a lot of encouragement along the way, especially for those who get stuck at the top of a climb, and need some help getting over (me!). The one obstacle I am most proud of though was the rope wall. Basically its a flat wall with some small ledges. You have to pull yourself up a rope to get to the top, and then climb down the other side. I really didn't think I could do it, but I DID!

We are definitely doing it again next year!!!

Thanks to Heath for taking all of the great pictures!!!

This is how we roll..

What do we do all day, you ask? Our days are filled with complex learning and diversified physical activity. When we aren't working on our genius skills, we fill our moments learning a few of Beethoven and Mozart's diddys. Well, we'll just show you instead of telling you about the brilliant things we do. 

Mastering our knowledge of culinary tools.

Done! Here is your ladle, Momma!

Working on the "Stop and Pose." It's all part of a rigorous schedule.

Social skills are also important!

Water sports use many of the major muscle groups. Working the arms, legs, and brains! We are well rounded.

Under the tutelage of Michael Phelps we have almost nailed the butterfly stroke.

Xylophone prodigy. Genius is thinking outside of the box.

Obstacle courses are no match for the physically and mentally fit.

Flexible legs....Flexible mind.

Holding an object in our mouth while contemplating our next move = multi-tasking.

Sometimes working on a really difficult math problem needs a different perspective.

More multi-tasking

A+ in Cuteness

As with most 10 month old, we go from one activity to the next pretty quickly. We have swim lessons next week, and then we start a class at The Little Gym in a few weeks. We went for an introductory class on Wednesday and Cayden LOVED it! I can tell that he is really going to enjoy it!

Summer-Summer-Summertime!

I hope that you all are now singing a little Will Smith!

This past weekend was great! We ran lots of errands, saw lots of people, and we had our first pool experience. Sunday night Jennifer invited us over to dinner. We really weren't planning on putting Cayden in the pool. We were just going to dip our feet in. Honestly. We weren't even really sure Cayden would like the pool. So we sat on the edge. And dipped our tootsies in. He splished. He splashed. And then he wanted more. So we got in up to our knees. And still he wanted more. Then we got up to our chest. He LOVED it! We are going try some more pool time later this week with our swimsuit. But it really made me excited for our upcoming swimmin' lessons!



He was lovin' the pool.



Pure Joy.

 Confession: I think we became "those" parents. I think it was subtle. I think it was our subconscience. Heath has terrible allergies. I usually do okay, but have sensitive skin. We knew Cayden would end up with variations of both. I think that we have been keeping him indoors accidentally. I think our brains were telling us that we don't want to irritate is allergies. Anyway...I'm trying to get passed that. Saturday we went outside, for a bit. He was a little hesitant about the grass. He would touch it, and jerk his hand away. Finally, he just crawled off the quilt and was good to go!

Cheerio ol' Chap!

He took his hat off, and thought the wind blowing through his hair was hillarious.

 I love this one.

And this one. I really wanted to take a picture of me and my little man on Mother's Day, but totally forgot! So this will do just fine. I have one day left of school. ONE day! I cannot wait to spend my days with this little guy!

Mother's Day

Today was really  my first official Mother's Day, and it was great! Heath and Cayden definitely spoil me, and I have the cutest card "signed" by Cayden to put away and cry over for years to come! One gift feeds into my manic-creative spirit...a jigsaw! As usual there is always a lot to talk about! Cayden will be TEN months old tomorrow. Needless to say, I need to be partying planning like a fool. I say fool because really, will he remember this? No. Who is the party really for? Me. I get it. But I feel like it is one of those things that I must do. Like quilting, I must do it. Anyway, I will post about quilting and birthday parties later.

Here's Cayden. Working on perfecting his chakra. Namaste. His current go-to-pose is Downward Facing Dog. He is quite good.

 I could have taken 15 pictures like this. He hasn't figured out how to bend at the knee, in order to stand. So for now, we will continue our daily yoga.

Our version of the business suit!

 Oh Cayden. I have said it before but he is getting such a personality. We joke about his 90 or nothing attitude. Because he is either speeding around the house in the walker, speed crawling, chasing the cats, etc. He isn't walking yet, or really standing on his own. Sometimes when he is cruising along the couch he will stop, and for a brief moment he considers letting go. But then he goes back to doing what he was doing. I think that he will just walk one day. And then we really will be in trouble.

 It seems that when Cayden is near a blanket or pillow, he will sometimes just lay down for like two seconds. Usually when he does, I follow it was an, "Aww. Night, Night." He just smiles and then pops back up, and back to business. When you say, "Where's Piglet?" He will find him, and then give him a hug. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

As I have said before, it's getting impossible to take his picture without it being blurry. The days of cute, sit-by-Frank monthly photo shoots are over. Done. I think I took 30 pictures, and I could choose from two. Oh well. We had a few days of sniffling, snotty noses two weeks ago. That was really the first time Cayden has been sick, thank goodness! Sleeping is getting better. We aren't sleeping through the night yet, but I feel that it may be close. Napping. Pssshh. Naps are for babies. Or every. other. child. but. mine. I blame the cats.

We have moved into the 12 month clothes, the size four diapers (5 at night), and finger foods. I think that we are well on our way to not gagging anymore. He likes Yogurt Melts, and thanks to Millie, Happy Baby Puffs. We take them every where! He has stacking bowls that he likes to push around the floor, but now he adds stuff to them. Mainly balls. He likes to put the balls into the bowls and roll them around. He's quite advanced. We read at a minimum 7 books a night. I'm really hoping that his love for books continues until he's 80.

Dear Cayden,

I was holding you the other day while you were napping, and you smiled at me in your sleep. For that brief moment you were two months old again, and I got a little sad. But my sadness was short-lived, because each day you do something that makes me love you more and more. I love when we pick you up, you sometimes lay your head on our shoulders. It's so sweet. I don't really like this biting phase you are in, or the hair pulling. We love hearing you laugh. We love how you smile at everyone, and that "charming" is the perfect adjective to describe you! Thank you for being my reason to celebrate Mother's Day. I can't wait to spend the summer with you!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Just a Boy

Heath and I have often commented on how Cayden is SUCH a boy. I'm not sure if it's because of the environment, how we treat him, how we play with him, or what. But Cayden loves to wrestle and rough-house. He loves to make lots of loud noises. He likes to go-go-go....fast-fast-fast.



This is the look of determination. He is on the runway of life, with the open road ahead of him!

  Cayden has started talking. Kind of. He is definitely getting better at Mama, and Dada. If I haven't mentioned it before, he likes to chase cats. I kind of laugh, and make jokes about writing a children's book called Cayden's Cat Chasin'. It's because he likes it THAT much. Each day when we get to Jennifer's, he is on the lookout for Lola. Poor Kitty. Back to talking. He says Kitty Cat. It sounds like Ki-eh Cah. Does this qualify as his "first" word? Or are we looking for correct pronunciation? Ugh, being a parent is hard. That's why I blog. Cayden will never come back and say to me, "Mother! You don't know what my first word was....???" Why yes, son. I do....check the blog book.

The things we do for kids. This is my segue into my insane need to be crafty. Heath calls it Laser Vision. I see something I want to make, and I pretty much stop at nothing until I have the supplies, and I am working on it. Remember my need to quench the thirst of the artist hiding in my body. Well, I may have found something to top that. I blame Pinterest. There is an article floating around about how Pinterest makes mothers feel inadequate for not having a perfectly organized pantry, or ready-to-eat lunches in mason jars.I get it. Some days I do feel like Pinterest Moms have it all. Then I remember that technically I'm a Pinterest Mom, and I can Repin pics and look like I have it under control as well!

My new craft is quilting, and I've jumped in feet first! I found a quilt on {gasp!} Pinterest, and knew I had to make it for Cayden. I purchased the pattern. I linked her blog to my blog. I bought a sewing machine, without ever having really sewn before. I bought material. And I began. And I fell in love. There is something really satisfying about cutting, and piecing, and sewing, and seeing it actually work.



Some of the blocks. Some of the material.



A finished block.

  I am really excited to continue working on it. I will try to post pictures as I make progress!

Heath has to travel this week. Ugh. I hate it when he is gone. Cayden doesn't like it either. In fact, he tried to sit in the suitcase so that Daddy couldn't pack! Hopefully this week will go by quickly.

Side Note: The students have nine, NINE, 9!! days left.