welcome to the mowrer family blog!
you'll be able the follow the chronicles of lottie sue and rowdy here, as well as see what the rest of the family has going on. enjoy.
my friend rachel and i did the heels & wheels 5K a few weeks ago. it was partly paved but mostly trail and it was HARD. you had to go up a mountain (steep hill), jump over a creek (that was fun) and run through a field or two. oh yeah, i saw a big snake and stopped for a few minutes to gawk (there was a crowd).
my race bib
rachel's first 5K - she basically crushed it
i liked the race, my first trail race but probably not my last. i have a running buddy that loves trail runs so maybe i will do a few more with her.
the race season is starting up! i am doing the run for the schools with a bunch of friends on saturday, it's great because we do the zoo with the kids afterwards. lottie is already very excited.
click on the image to learn more or to sign up
and then my favorite race of last year will be on the 7th. it will be matt's first 5K (since we've been married, he did do a marathon about 10 years ago), so i am taking the kids in the jogging stroller. are we cute and active or WHAT? the race for the deaf is routed through the lovely island home neighborhood. it is so cute and quaint, i can't wait!
click on the image to learn more or to sign up
last week lottie's school had a "book character" day - all of the kids had to dress like their favorite book character and they had a parade. it was cute. i tried to get lottie sue to be fancy nancy (those are her favorite books) but she wanted to be sleeping beauty. as you can see, she is kinda both. vincent was an elephant and looked so cute (good job, lisa!), i forget the book he likes so much.
lottie sue and vincent, bffs
here are a few shots of the parade...
that weekend it was our turn to host dinner group - we went french. matt and i love the french! vive la france!
here is the menu...
i know, yummers
here is the table, we thought it looked french
matt literally cooked for about eight hours that day, it was delicious. maybe the best meal he has ever made, and that is saying something because he is the best cook i know.
after dinner the nerf gun came out, much fun was had.
then somehow rick, amy and matt exercised. maybe it was to burn off some of the calories from dinner? rick is a HARD CORE athlete person, he was showing us some of the moves he can do in his sleep.
rick and amy feel the burn
this is matt after he did a move rick showed us,
he is smiling because he is happy it's over
then the next day our community group at church had a luncheon. lottie sue and rowdy had a great time, the food was plentiful as well.
and now i leave you with these items of interest...
and oh yeah - we made homemade ravioli the other night with the smiths. it was so great, a labor of love...
mario would have liked it
and now i leave you for real with this photo of rowdy sleeping in the car. he's so cute.
zzzzzzzzz
alrighty, this was a quick post. i have an Easter one in the works for you - it was a wonderful day and a full weekend. the carsons and gilmores were in town. yippee!
this weekend i have a lot of friends doing a pretty cool thing: running! a very long distance!
the adorable megan smith will be doing her 4th (i think, but it could very well be her 10th) marathon. that girl is an animal!
and my other adorable friend, amy d., is doing her first half marathon along with amy m. and kelly j. (this is my fleet feet gang - they know how to repreZENT). i am super excited for them! their first big race, 13.1 miles is far far far.
it is quite the accomplishment, just think about it...megan will be running 26.2 miles on sunday and the amys and kelly will be pulling in 13.1 - it takes a lot of dedication and lot of hard work to get to a place where you can put out that distance.
oh yeah - i cannot blah blah blah on this without giving a big shout out to amy h. (i know a lot of amys) - she completed the nyc half-marathon a few weeks ago.
she is AWESOME and rocks so very much. whee! i entered the lottery for that race but didn't get in, but i am so happy amy did - she did so well!
here she is before the race, happy
and here she is after the race, even happier i am sure
i signed up to get texts from amy's run, we were in community group at church and i kept checking my phone. i hope they don't think i was being rude but i was so excited for her. forgive me.
amy h., lisa and i are running the 5K on sunday - it makes it one year for me and my running. the covenant 5K was the first race i did in my recent running gig - it was a terrible race for me but i am sure sunday will be way better!
oh yeah, i also signed up to run the chicago half-marathon in september. i'll be doing it with mike and i figure i have enough time to get my rear in order for that. yikes, though.
here's a random photo of lottie sue, she had a booboo on her eye and loved it that she got to wear a band-aid there.
disclaimer: she didn't even need one but she is obsessed with band-aids. she will put them on any booboo, be it me grazing her leg as i walk by - oh no! she needs a band-aid. right away! i oftentimes walk past her bathroom and find a band-aid wrappings littering the floor. now i know what we are getting her birthday...
the bandaid is 100s times bigger than the booboo
matt said she looked like nelly.
he's right
so a few weekends ago we had kitty kat (and jasper) and the gilmores (and cj) in town at the same time. since it's hard to coordinate seeing everyone we threw a lunch party so everyone could come over to one gathering and catch up. kitty kat has a baby girl in utero, so everyone had to see her and her cute belly.
matt and i moved furniture and brought any toy we thought the kids might like. we thought they all had a great time. brad even made a video of the event - it's great. check it out!
they DID wreck the place, but they are cute it's no problem
there was the video and here are some photos i pulled off the camera...
rowdy puckering up to give me a smooch
(that boy is still loving his mommy strong)
an overall shot of some of the party
(please note carrie and scott in the background, they both
had on navy and white striped shirts. dorks in love)
cj eats goldfish and cassady pushes the popper around
lottie sue and jasper play in the tent
(lottie sue called jasper "my prince" all afternoon - it was cute)
this is all you saw of lottie crawling through the tent's tunnel
cj taking a cautious look at the grandfather clock
jasper on the trampoline
kids on the roller coaster
it was such a fun time, if we would have gotten together three years ago there would not be any kids and here we are - they almost outnumber us! we like it!
we kept the tent up for a few days since the kids liked it, i usually just bring it out on rainy days (which we have been having a lot of those lately).
matt and kids stuffed in the tent
on to another subject...the smiths and masons went down to new orleans for mardi gras and came back with a LOAD of beads/cups/frisbies/and the like.
can you find me?
next up lottie sue, she thought it was soooo funny
(although rowdy did NOT like it when i was covered
with the beads - see, loving his mommy)
but he was fine chewing on the viking horns
lottie sue took these from the stash and i found
them like this in the dining room later
katie came over with hudson since they were in town (yay!). lottie sue loved to play with hudson and she was so proud of herself for picking him up.
don't worry, she had a spotter
wonder woman
she then tried to pick up rowdy but couldn't, this is
as far as she got - that boy is a load (built solid)
the hussars hosted our last dinner group. they based it on one of their favorite restaurants in nyc, i will have to check but its name is the red cat - anywho...it was fab.
the gracious hosts
sidenote: the hussars used blackboard paint to make the board, it's in the butler's pantry and is so great. the twins can color on it and it just honestly looks cool. PLUS, amy found these awesome chalk markers. they are what restaurants use and are so neat. everyone commented on the board. amy got them at michael's but i found them on amazon if you are so inclined.
i am trying to figure out what wall we can paint so i can buy these
i only have one group shot of the night, must have been too busy eating...
jo, always camera-ready
lemoncello straight from italy
and i should really thank carrie, she is feeding my nutella obsession. she sent me a recipe for nutella cheesecake brownies - i am totally making these. i don't have much of a sweet tooth but i do have a nutella mouth.
the washington post held a contest in which high school teachers sent in the "worst" analogies they'd encountered grading papers. you can see the full list here but i am listing a few of my faves...
Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.
hey hey hey. YES. i know it has been way over a month since my last post. please don't be hatin on me, sometimes life gets in the way! i really think i need to rethink how i publish entries, instead of doing long ones every now and then i should really do shorter ones once or twice a week. i'm gonna noodle that.
we have been busy busy bees over here. i do NOT know where the past few weeks have gone. it's 2011, peeps - so happy new year (and i hope you had a great thanksgiving /christmas / holiday season)! i actually have stuff to post about from our mountain trip with the linkers (oopsie, that was in october), our trip to little rock to visit with matt's wonderful family for thanksgiving, our trip to chicago with the kiddos to see the apples - not to mention christmas with tri-cera-tops. GEEZ.
i, at least, have the photos for the posts ready so now i just have to write it. my brain has been fried from all the goings-ons the past few weeks but i am now finding more time as we get back into normal life. i'm starting to feel the creative juices fee-low once again. huzzah!
so this post is about the most recent happenings, i'll go back in time later on for you.
to make up for my lack in posts i am putting up my sophomore photo from high school. i am sure you remember this photo i found (and frantically posted - mwah ha ha) of becce from back in the day. she questioned where all of my awkward photos might be...i promise you i didn't have any at the time but now i do (thanks, grandma). so, in the spirit of full disclosure - i give you photo evidence of me VERY awkward (my awkward phase lasted from basically first grade through the age of 25 - ha).
the horror (!!!)
you may want to know who did that gorgeous hair style? well, it was me! i wanted blonde hair so i poured peroxide on it (side note: NEVER do that). the glasses are giant and my braces pull everything together, not to mention the lovely acne and WAIT - i just now realized i am wearing a mock turtleneck. save me now. thank goodness i have blossomed into a beautiful swan.
ok, now i am going to blow your mind. matt came across this little gem one night and we have gotten so much mileage out of it. if you have seen us over the past month you have seen our little dragon. SOME people love it (my dad, megan) and SOME people make fun of me for it (ahem, jo...).
you can decide, if you want to make one just download the file, cut it out and fold accordingly. and if you try it and get discouraged just keep going. it's best took cover one eye and look at him in the eyes - before you know it he is ALIVE.
here i have a few photos of some peeps trying it out...
jp gets it
megan sees the light
megan shows it to shawn
the gilmores partake
anywho, it is so much fun. he stays on the desk here where i make blog magic, and i am looking at him with one eye right NOW as i write. and you, too, can have your very own baby dragon - go to this site and download the page. all you have to do is cut and fold accordingly. this site also has a shorter video that probably explains it better but i am unable to embed their video. be sure to check it out.
here's another SUPER neat thing that happened over the break. my college-friend tiffany works a regular job during the day and at night time she is a stand-up comedian. kinda like a super hero if you think about it.
she had her knoxville debut a few weeks ago and i went to see her - it has been YEARS since we've seen each other. upon reuniting she presented me with a mix tape (or CD really). it was awesome (thank you, tiffany!!!).
anywho, she KILLED it that night and i got to meet all of her fun friends. and they really are fun, we were basically ushered out of the club because of too much fun.
here i am with the super star
here i am with some of tiffany's friends, she had a brood there
here i am with laurie, tiff and moi
(laurie was tiffany's RA at clement - she
used to get on us for studying too quietly)
tiffany on stage - SO COOL
this past weekend tabby hosted a twilight movie marathon / dinner / good times night. it was awesome. we all had so much fun!
the hostess with the mostest
me and the ever-cool shawn
jen and kristina
jo, shawn and myself were talking beauty regimens and
all i could look at was jp peaking at me from the fridge
tabby and i took a lot of photos that night, sometimes
we took photos of each other taking photos
jen, shawn and moi
jo and amy not in focus, but the wine bottles are at least
amy telling a hilarious tale
jo doing the running man
three gorgeous ladies
from the looks on their faces i think this must be a scene in which
jacob was shirtless - oh wait, he's like that in every scene
they all love something, i assume it is either edward or jacob
but jen loves jacob the most
next up we played the best wii game EVER! it's called just dance or something like that. i lurve it sooooo very much. basically, a silhouette is on the screen and you have to dance like him / her / it - the person that nails the most moves wins the round. it's like a dance-off.
group dance
jen and tabby have a round
here i am with kristina (who is so good she can
do it with her eyes closed - she feels the music)
here i am with jen, i wasn't that excited to compete against a former
atlanta falcons cheerleader but i did ok (jen is awesome!)
one more big thank you for tabby for setting everything up and taking care of us that night. whee!!!
on to another important item, rowdy's hair. he has blonde curly hair and matt and i have been holding off on a haircut. it's just so cute. but the past few weeks it's gone from cute to bozo-style. matt and i cut his hair the other night - two people at the same time. matt did the right side and i did the left. probably not smart but we are crazy like that.
not the best picture of rowdyman but you see the hair issue
little blonde curls
looks GOOD, we didn't totally mess it up (!)
we were the lucky recipients of another snow dump - probably 3-4 inches at our house. yesterday we bundled up and ventured outside.
matt and rowdyman (this was his first trip down the hill)
lottie sue loving the snow angel she just made
here she is making another one, she did about 12 of them
lottie sue and rowdy sledding
good thing i work out
they are sledding down the street at a
super slow pace, but it worked for them
here i am with rowdyman
here rowdy is eating snow
lottie sue wanted to make a snow man so we did a mini-version on the deck.
making the base
putting arms in
rowdy eating even more snow
and lottie sue eating snow
ta DA! we had beans for a mouth but they kept falling out
in this photo it looks like rowdy was putting an eye in
but he was actually taking the olive out to eat it
so that concludes my first post of the year - now that i've noodled it, i do think i am going to try and do smaller posts more often so look for another one by the end of the week/weekend. but of course i leave you with a few items of interest:
1. the other night at GNO amy and i talked for a while about books. i'm going to list the ones that either one of us has read and then some that we are going to read
the hunger games, book one of a trilogy - i read the first one and like it. this has "let's option this for a movie" written all over it
a game of thrones, amy recommends this trilogy and that's enough for me
a visit from the goon squad- i don't even know what this is about but i've seen it recommended in a few magazines and that's all i need
just kids, this book just won a pulitzer - it's by patti smith and it's supposed to be great
freedom: a novel, i bought this for cera for christmas, maybe she can weigh in on it but it came in #1 on several book lists
the immortal life of henrietta lacks, THIS sounds so good to me - it's about an immortal line of cells that made crucial innovations in modern science (that's from the synopsis, not me)
it is a pricey item BUT it's like getting a mini facial every day - if you did that at the spa it was be astronomical. matt keeps telling me how pretty i look, tee hee. i got it because becce wanted one, she really makes shopping easy for me as she has the eye for stuff i like. i'm a copy cat. meow.
5. and a few posts ago i mentioned a list of the best magazine articles ever written, here's a new one for you. matt says it's the best he's read so and i have it on my nightstand. from esquire, "the falling man"
ok, that's all i have for now. i am hoping that school is back in session tomorrow. i do love the snow but it really messes up my mojo. i started going back to the gym (after a 6-week hiatus - GASP) last week and have been snowed in yesterday and today. i really want to get back in that as i've told about 100 people that i am doing a half marathon this year - so that means i kinda have to do it now. i will blog more about what happened to my running initiative in another post but to sum it up - life and the holidays got in the way.
i leave you with something i saw online, thought it was pretty so i'm sharing it with you.
