Arden is 11!

Despite my efforts to talk her out of it, Arden turned 11 years old a couple of weeks ago!  

As usual, we let her choose whatever she wanted for breakfast.  She chose cinnamon rolls.  If I was more awesome, I would have made her some from scratch, but she loves the frozen Mrs. Rhodes ready-in-30-minute version, and she seems pretty happy, doesn't she?

Preston took her out for lunch during school (no pictures), and then she got to choose where she wanted to eat dinner also.  She chose....Pizza Pie Cafe!  Unlimited pizza and salad, what could be better for a hungry girl?  (I question whether goldfish crackers should be a salad topping, but whatever...)

 Arden got to have a second birthday dinner the next night with family at Outback Steakhouse.  She didn't mind at all.

 Arden of course wanted to have a party with some friends.  She chose to have it at "As You Wish" at Station Park, which is one of those paint your own pottery places, a la "Color Me Mine."  Here is everyone working hard on their creations:

 A couple of girls couldn't make it, so there was room at the table for me to play too.

 Arden painted a cute little piggy bank.  Her friend, who is quite an artist, helped her with the eyes.  Adorable!

 We had cake and ice cream there, and also opened presents!  Arden loved the fancy red purse (real leather!)

 Even though she is getting pretty old, I still make her take pictures with her bunny.  Awww..I remember when that bunny was bigger than her.  Now look what has happened:

 (Yes, I know her pants don't match her shirt.  I mentioned it to her.  She shrugged.  Arden is a beautiful girl who cares more about comfort lately than perfectly put together outfits.  She cared more about how she looked when she was four than she does at 11.  Which is fine with me, I guess!)

 Strike a pose!

Some things about Arden the 11-year old:

Favorite color:  Still red!
Favorite TV show:  Psych
Favorite activity:  Gymnastics!  This is pretty much her only activity most days, but she is still really enjoying it and recently got her "kip" on the bars, which is apparently a big deal.
Favorite song:  She likes a variety of songs.  They listen to a "hits" station at the gym, so she knows a lot of those songs...which aren't always my favorite :)
Favorite food:  Pizza - pepperoni only
Favorite treat:  Anything, but she loves cake and brownies.  Also fancy drinks at Fiiz.
Favorite thing at school:  Unfortunately, the thing I hear about most lately is boys.  She has two different boys that she "likes," and I get to hear about who did what while they were playing capture the flag at recess and who caught who and who said what and giggle giggle giggle.  She likes reading, but doing math (especially "Think Through Math" program) is not her favorite.
Other things about Arden the 11 year old:  Her room is usually pretty messy.  She likes to try to ride Preston's giant bicycle lately so she can shift gears.  I guess we might need to get her her own big bike.  She loves to stay up late, and is usually the last one out of bed in the mornings. She is usually pretty even tempered, but has been subject to some mood swings...probably just a small glimpse into what is in store for us in the future.  She got some money for her birthday and Preston took her to Target to spend it.  They were there for THREE HOURS.  She wanted to look at everything.  She ended up with a new wallet for her expensive purse and a movie.

Arden is so amazing, and I can't believe I get to be her mom!  I love her so much!  Right now, though, she reminds me of that Luke Bryan song that has been playing called "Fast."  The song is about how fast time goes.

Here is part of it:

"Looking at you looking at the window right now,
Those eyes, that dress, that smile that laugh.
If I could hit pause I would somehow,
But it don't work like that.

Sixty seconds now feels more like thirty
Tick-tock, won't stop, around it goes.
Sand through the glass sure falls in a hurry,
And all you keep trying to do is slow it down, soak it in
Keep trying to make the good times last,
As long as you can.
But you can't.

It goes too fast.
Way too fast."

February Recap

February....what can I say about February?  

We were sick.  And I was sick.  And training for a marathon.  And I didn't blog, obviously.  Sorry about that.  I meant to dozens of times but I have just been too tired!  I'll do better!

Usually the kids bring home one or two lovely sicknesses each winter, but I usually just play the role of comforter/medicine dispenser/hair-holder-backer.  But for some reason this year I got to participate!  At least Preston escaped unscathed, so we had one person to take care of all of us sickies.

First up was a lovely bout of stomach flu in early February that the kids brought to me.  It only lasted only a day or so, but it WIPED me out.  I was still trying to recover from that stuff when a nasty head cold that Daxton brought home got to me.  It stuck around for a few days and then made itself at home in my sinuses.  It wasn't as bad, so I still slogged through my long runs (including a couple of 18-milers), but whenever I tried to do speed work I would start coughing like crazy.  I feel like I am back to about 95% currently (FINALLY!), but I am feeling slower than I hoped I would at this point. Only 38 days until Boston!  Yay/Yikes!

There was some fun stuff mixed in there too.  We went up to the cabin a couple of times, and there was SO MUCH SNOW at the end of January.  Arden talked Grandpa into getting her a giant icicle from a nearby cabin roof, and learned an all-important life lesson...the hard way.    

 Don't worry, I freed her with warm water seconds after I took her picture.

 The sunset was so pretty with everything all white and pink.

 We of course went sledding...plenty of snow on the sled run.

 There was a bit of snow on the driveway down to the garage:

The HOA had been plowing the upper driveway for us, and there was a little bit of a pile at the end of the driveway.  The kids and Grandpa built a fort on top.

 Dax played some more basketball with the Junior Jazz.  One week they must have practiced defense a lot, because Dax was all over his man like white on rice:

Sometimes Dax gets to dribble, but mostly he runs down to his spot (the box at the side of the key) and yells for whoever has to ball to pass it to him.  Sometimes that works, but mostly it doesn't.  :)

Dax's coach was awesome!  Dax learned a ton and he was so patient.  

Dax scored a season-high (4 points!) on the last game, and his team won.  It was fun to go out on a good note.  Great season guys!  Can't wait for next year.

Cora has been doing indoor soccer and a cute little teeny soccer field.  She likes it because the scores of the games are usually pretty high, so she gets to score multiple goals usually.  (She could still use some work on her defense, though!)

We went back up to the cabin for President's Day weekend.  It was much warmer, and the snow was starting to turn slushy.  The kids (and grandpa) made some snow sculptures by the sledding hill one day:

The lake, which had been frozen over, started melting over the weekend and by Monday it was like a big giant slushy slurpee:

Tons and tons of other stuff happened.  Arden still does gymnastics pretty much anytime she is awake.  She achieved her "kip" on the bars at practice this month, so she was excited about that.  She also squeezes in activity days too.  Dax and Cora have been doing some art classes at Jodi's still, and I really should take some pictures of their awesome artwork and put them up here.  Soon!

Also, Dax is a cub scout, did you know?  They had the "Blue and Gold Banquet" at the end of February, and it had a glow in the dark theme.  The decorations were AMAZING!  I brought Cora along and she didn't mind because she got to sit by her friend A.  I have never seen so many glow sticks.  

Dax sat by one of his friends at dinner, so I didn't get any pictures of him, sorry!

There was lots of other stuff that happened that will go unremembered because of my slackerness.  But those are the highlights and lowlights I guess.