Happy Halloween 2015!

From my BOO-tiful babies

Happy Halloween 10/31/2015

10/21/2015

10/18/2015

Let me help you lift your head!

Carsyn's 2nd Birthday

Carsyn's 2nd birthday was originally setup for Kiddie Acres this past weekend, and then Hurricane Patricia happened and the forecast showed rain all weekend long!  I made a last min call and changed the venue to Safari Champs, an indoor playscape for kids.  Thank goodness I did because it rained non-stop that Saturday and her party would have been ruined.  Of course this meant I only had Friday to completely change her theme!  Luckily both locations were all inclusive and I really only had to switch up her evite and cupcakes.  Safari Champs was a complete success!  Everyone was still able to make it despite the rain soaked road conditions and the kids had a blast.  The Safari theme worked well as Carsy loves monkeys, plus I was able to find the perfect cupcakes to make for her!

For a full recap visit MyMomsMemmos
All photos located here.

Happy 2nd Birthday Carsyn! 10/28/2015

She loves her new castle and kitchen

I'm ready for my cake, mommy! 10/24/2015

Our girl is 2!

Happy Birthday to you!

Spooktacular BOO-ze Bash! 2015

This past weekend we successfully hosted our annual Halloween bash!  The jell-o shots were aplenty, the costumes amazing and the company always entertaining.  Everyone loved the decorations, we had several new spooky items this year as well as some new foods, introducing the new zombie meat body for snacks!!

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Facebook link to all the pictures.

Below are a few shots from the night (only the girls liked to take group shots)

The spread

pick your poison

Hosts:  Captain America and Wonder Woman

80s 8K

Forgot to post about this one!  At the end of September many of us Pfelly lane runners ran the 80's 8K in Cedar Park.  It was my first time running this 4.97 mile race and I had no idea what to expect, I just knew it had hills (my most favorite thing in the entire world...not!).  Thankfully all my marathon training is paying off as I ran an excellent race!

Before.  DeLorean!!! 9/27/2015

It was 65 degrees, 78% humidity, 3 mph winds and partly cloudy at 7:30 am race time. It felt great out! At first I was going to treat it as a training run and keep to a 9:30 pace, but with all the adrenaline pumping and the fact that I felt great, I went ahead and raced it. There were a TON of hills, at minimum 3-4 really good hills and a couple other rolling. I managed to power through it all and even kick it up at the end. New PR baby!

chip time: 00:43:50.1
Avg pace - 8:50
8:55
9:00
8:55
8:56
8:23

after the run

Ry's in Pre-K!

I can't believe how quickly time flies, my little guy started Pre-K this month!  Ryland loves that he now attends a big kid school.  It's great because his school is in the neighborhood, only a 1 mile walk away, and no more daycare!  His first day of school went very well, we all made it through drop off without crying.  So proud of my little man!  He's just so darn cute with his backpack and lunch box.

8/25/2015

walking to school

greeted by one of his teachers

I think he was a little shell shocked, but no crying!

Cincinnati Trip

The beginning of August we took the kids on their very first airplane flight to visit my brother & family in Cincinnati.  We left late Thursday evening stayed through Sunday afternoon.  They loved the plane ride, it didn't phase them one bit.  I finally got to meet my new niece, Harper, and the kids got to meet their cousins!  It was a reunion long time coming.   The kids played great together and enjoyed staying up way past their bedtimes.  Us parents got little to no sleep.  We had a fabulous time catching up, checking out the zoo & aquarium, visiting with extended family and eating at an awesome German restaurant!

baby Harper!

Visiting with family!

Freunds/Seitz/Maleks

all the littles

Checking out the Cincinnati zoo

they loved the water table

relaxing after a long day

Fun at the aquarium!

Infant Swim Rescue Lessons

Once the beginning of summer hit I immediately registered both kids for swim lessons.  We started the first local swim lessons in June and I just wasn't that impressed.  For Carsyn is was a parent/tot class where all you did was make them comfortable in the water; blow bubbles, jump in and carry them around in circles.  Ryland's classes were a little better, they taught swim moves, but they never let the kids do it on their own, they were always holding them.

One day at our local pool, Ry ran past me (obviously excited) and jumped into the deep end.  The kid has no fear!  I had Carsyn and wasn't able to make it to him in time, luckily another adult was in the water next to him and grabbed his quickly sinking arm.  Yeesh!  I knew these local swim lessons just weren't cutting it and we were tired of having to use life-vests and floaties all the time.  The next day we were at my SIL's house and I saw her kids swimming, they are the same age as Ry and Carsy!  I asked what they were doing differently and ISR came up.  This is the 2nd time I've heard this mentioned.  I looked into it last year but the price is what made me hesitate.  Once I saw the results we realized it was soooo worth it to put them in these lessons.

I asked one of my running friends for their ISR contact, registered the kids for the following week and cancelled the local swim lessons.  We were ready to go!

The first time participating in ISR it usually runs for 6 weeks, depending on the child's skills.  They are 1 on 1 lessons with the teacher, 5 days a week for 10 mins each lesson.  Then every year after that you can re-register for a refresher course which should last about 2-4 weeks.  Our teacher, Ms Vicki, was AMAZED with our kids (especially Carsyn).  Ry only cried the first 3 lessons, then after that he LOVED it and couldn't wait to go to swim lessons every day.  Carsyn cried for probably a good 2 weeks before she was comfortable with the process.  However right off the bat the teacher noticed how strong Carsyn was and how quickly she caught on.  Heck by week 2 these kids made amazing leaps and bounds with their swimming skills and by week 3 Carsyn was loving it and actually started smiling during the lessons.

Carsyn on Day 4  - swim to side/bar

Ryland on Day 4 - working on float

Ryland week 3 of ISR lessons

Carsyn week 3

At the end of week 3 Ms Vicki told us they were ready to test out the following week!  I couldn't believe how quickly they had mastered these swimming/survival skills.  They both had to complete 2 tests.  The first test was in summer clothes (shorts, shirt, sandals), they had to fall in and demonstrate all their survival/swimming techniques.  Carsyn even had to wear 2 diapers!!  I can't imagine how heavy that must have been wearing a swim diaper and a regular diaper.  The second test was in winter clothes; pants, long sleeved shirt, jacket, socks and tennis shoes.  THEY DID GREAT!  I feel so much better now when we take them to the pool knowing that if they fall in they can float, swim, survive.  These kids are like fish!  They love the water and no longer require floaties!!  :)

Below our their test out videos:  Summer clothes, Winter clothes