Let the TRAINING commence...

 I know that my lovely SIL is going to make fun of me for posting again today, but I have an exciting development in the half marathon preparation.

We have two more probable team members, also good friends of mine from college, they are willing to give half marathon training a try.  Now Shwetha is kinda on the disabled list until she gets the okay from her doctor, and Carey maybe on the disabled list later if she ends up with a little one on the way, but for now they have joined the princess running crew. I am happy to announce that we can now add a Jasmine and a Sleeping Beauty to the team.  I don't have a picture of Sleeping Beauty as of yet, but I will get her to send me one. However, being that we just attended an engagement party for Jasmine and her Prince Charming I have a great picture of her. So without further ado I give you JASMINE......

Okay, okay, stop looking at me like that, the names are just for fun.  How about a picture of the three of us then...

There is that better??

Anyway, I will get a picture of Sleeping Beauty as soon as I can, and we're working on a Snow White too. :D Belle and I will officially begin our pre-training on June 1st so wish us luck, and steady feet. 

As part of the pre-training, you know working your self up to being able to run for longer then say oh 5 minutes, I am participating in a 5K walk here in Atlanta.  The walk will be held in Piedmont Park and benefits UNIFEM.  UNIFEM is an organization that works around the world to help provide women and girls a safer way of life by providing safer environments and working to eradicate violence.  One of their big initiatives this year in light of the devastation in Haiti earlier in 2010 is to provide safe living space for women and girls.  If an effort to help this cause I have set up a fundraising page.  If you are interested in donating to UNIFEM you can do so through this page it is secure.

http://www.firstgiving.com/bethcooper76

 I have now committed and am doing my first training walk towards achieving my half marathon goal. I am so happy to have great friends joining me in this, and still offer an invitation to any of you out there reading this blog to join us.  We can be virtual training partners in the up coming months and then all meet up and run together at Disney.  Think about it.

Okay off to consider a new pair of running shoes, I don't think Skimmers are going to cut it.

An Ambitious Pursuit

Okay I have an announcement to make.....(drum roll please)

        I have decided to run a half marathon!!!

I'll give you guys a few minutes to close your mouths and stop laughing. Please let me know when your finished.

Great thanks, now as I was saying I have decided to run a half marathon, in February in Florida.  It is an ambitious pursuit for me to say the least, but a challenge that I think will be very beneficial to me.  I have some weight to lose, according to my lovely OB I need to shed about 35 lbs, not a small number.  While pregnant with this little cutie .... 

I gained 45lbs, but I breast fed and didn't get to eat much and lost it all pretty quickly.  In the three years after she was born I gained a bit back, but nothing horrible, still when I got pregnant with this little cutie...

I was already behind the curve by a few pounds.  Still I did good during my pregnancy and only put on 30lbs, and lost 20 of that pretty quickly.  So when I went back to work I decided to use most lunch breaks to workout and cut my caloric intake by a ton.  I will not ever horrify you with the amount of calories in a Double Cheeseburger, McDonald and Wendy's would go out of business, but lets just say its BAD.  Now since I have been back to work I am pleased to say that I have lost 5 more pounds which makes me insanely happy, and makes some of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit again.  Yay!! The exercise is kicking my butt, but I feel great.

 So where did this crazy half marathon idea come from?

Well we are planning Boogie's first trip to Disney World for her birthday, and I happen to be looking at all the goings on that they have through out the year, and low and behold Disney does Marathons.  SERIOUSLY!  Now I am not a runner at all, so I am not even going to consider trying to run for 26 miles, I am not, but....

Disney also sponsors a half marathon, and not just any half marathon a Disney Princess half marathon.  Now we're cooking with Crisco, I mean extra virgin olive oil.  The Disney Princess Half Marathon is at the end of February 2011 and is sponsored by Ladies Footlocker, it is a woman's only half marathon. Yay!

I was still skeptical that I could pull off something like this, did I mention that I am not a runner, a fast walker yes, a 5K walk/runner yes, a run for the sake of running runner, NO!!  Still I have 30lbs to lose and running is great exercise, and this is at Disney World, so I watched the video from last years race, and people I am soooooooo doing this race.  This isn't a race (well obviously it is) this is a party, a celebration of being a woman, of being your best, of strength and courage and accomplishment, this is a testament to the amazingness of women.  Don't believe me watch the video....

http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/endurance/princess-half-marathon/

There are princesses and Minnie and Mickey, the Fairy Godmother and trumpeters.  There is even a Princess Ball at the end of the weekend. This is a weekend for women and a weekend for families and a weekend for kids, its an awesome event, so I AM DOING IT! 

I found a friend that was also inspired, she is also a novice runner, and we start training together on June 1st.  We are going to do it and we are going to wear our tiara's and our pearls and our tutus and make our families proud.  This is Jen and I, we will affectionately be called Belle and Cinderella from here on out.....

We went to college together, her wonderful mom watches my girls for me, our girls are friends and we obviously both have a love of Rhee over at The Pioneer Woman. :D  She is joining me in our half marathon challenge, we are going to be training buddies so that we make this work.  We are going to do this for hard working non-running mommies everywhere!

Today I am a mild mannered non-running mommy of two, but by the end of the summer I hope to be well on my way to becoming a finely honed princess running machine.  Stick around and see what transpires as we train for the race.  I'll keep you updated about out triumphs, sore muscles, bumps and bruises. 

 I also welcome any advice about training from runners, or cheers of encouragement.  If you would like to join us check out the link posted above and let me know that you're a training princess too, and we can be virtual running partners and meet up to run together at Disney.

Wish us luck!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Now show me pouty...

Just because....

Now I know that Father's Day is still a month away, but I just have to give my husband some props.  Although I will take them away if he doesn't remember that this year Father's Day also happens to be our 11th Wedding Anniversary (we actually got married on Father's Day).  Anyway I digress, sorry, I am good at that.

I have been thinking about my husband a lot recently.  This man works hard, really hard, all the time.  If you can believe it he is a miner, in Atlanta.  No, not pulling coal from the ground but doing improvements to the city's infrastructure, something no one will ever see. Its a hard job, with long hours and in dark wet conditions, but everyday he gets up and goes in with minimal complaining.  He lifts heavy loads and works in conditions that are not all together safe (making me very nervous on a daily basis) and when he comes home, he is tired.  He rests a bit before the girls and I roll in, but once we are home he is never to tired for his girls.  Jon is a wonderful father, and a good husband and I don't think that I always give him the props that he deserves.  So here they are for all the world to read.  Have a look at my darling husband and I am sure a candidate for World's Greatest Dad.  I know at least three people that think so.

This is the beginning of a large swing fort, because Boogie wanted one and Jon said he could build it.

Jellybean gets special attention too, especially right after a bath...

He is a great person to scout out Easter Eggs with..

Just couldn't let the photo op pass me by.

He's a great story teller right before bedtime.

An awesome teacher when it comes to throwing over sized Frisbees

Sometimes a draft horse

Sometimes the engine of a high performance race car

Alligator catcher...GO DAWGS!!

but always

ALWAYS....

A loving husband

A caring father...

and a wonderful example for our daughters.

I love you honey and I just can't tell you that enough!!

A day late...

Well really four if your keeping count, but moms don't really care.  This year I was on maternity leave because of our little jellybean for three great months, but all good things must come to an end and so I am now back at work.  It's okay, because I like my job, its pretty great, and the person that I entrust with my daughters is simply fabulous.

I say that to say this, my mother's day, monetary gift wise, was a little sparse this year, but its okay.  I had three great months with my girls, and they both gave me beautiful smiles Sunday morning. :D  

Like this...


and this....



Now seriously what more could a mom ask for, and that is the purpose of my post today.  Mom's are simple mom's want love and homemade noodle necklaces and planted gardens in the back yard, and flowers with roots.  My mom wants nothing more then pictures of her grandchildren, my mother in law, wants nothing more then pictures of her grandchildren.  They both would love to have more time with their grandchildren to hug and snuggle and spoil them rotten.  My children are lucky because even their Great-grandma would like nothing more then to do that.  Mom's are simple and wonderful creatures, we just want love from our children and or grandchildren, great grandchildren etc.

So let me show you the love that is my mom and Jon's mom and my grandmother, and Jon's grandmother who just pasted away May 1st.  These are wonderful, amazing momma's who love their children to distraction and we love them too.  



This is my beautiful mom and Boogie.  We are lucky to have her with us,  4 years ago,  when I was pregnant with Boogie she was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia), she is now in remission.  Doesn't she look great.



This is Jon's beautiful mom with the Jellybean.  After everything Jon put her through she ought to be a saint. :D  I'm talking two major surgeries, one being brain surgery and a full body cast by age 7.  Uh huh a saint.




My granny is a bit elusive, but here she is I caught her.  She was laughing at Jon who was trying to keep mom and dad's 100 lb dog Howlburt from eating our Easter Ham.  There's mom again, making something fabulous.



Jon's grandma has been sick for awhile, but I love this picture of her and her daughters sitting on the steps of her old Georgia house.  She was a wonderful woman and I am lucky to have known her.

Do you see a connection in all of these pictures?  Smiles, everyone is smiling.  That is love people and that is the best gift that you could ever get as a mom.  So smiles and love to you all.

What's in a name.....

Kelly's Korner's show us your life today is all about baby names.  We are done having babies, but with both of our girls Jon and I had a hard time settling on a name, well kinda.  Our oldest DD was actually pretty easy, before we knew we were having a girl we decided that if it was a girl we would use my first name as her middle name, and I was trying to convince Jon to do the same thing if we had a boy.  He was a hard one to convince because he  desperately wanted a Jr. and I was firmly against a Jr.  I wanted a little Gabriel, but no way was Jon having that, so God knew better then to give us a boy and we got our Boogie.  Jon originally suggested Sarah Beth for her, but while I didn't hate it, it wasn't my favorite.  I was kinda stuck on a name, a name I really loved my Paternal Grandmother's name.  I'm kinda old fashioned like that, I was named after my Great Grandmother, and my dad's sister, so I was Elizabeth Anne.  My husband's middle name is a combination of his Paternal grandparents first names Cad and Jewel; Cadwel, so I like the idea of giving her a family name.  Luckily Jon liked my Paternal Grandmother's name and loves me so much that he hardly ever tells me no and so when our little girl was born on October 21, 2006 we had a....

Charlotte Elizabeth

This is the perfect name for her.....

Now when we got pregnant again last May, I was absolutely sure that this one was a boy.  My pregnancy was totally different from start to finish and I carried differently so I was sure we were definitely having a little boy.  Jon's brother had since had a little boy named Gabriel so I knew that wasn't in the books anymore, and Jon was still pushing for a Jr., but I was ready to stick to my guns on that issue. This time I was hoping for a little Nathan or maybe Gavin or go way out there with something like Morgan, but it was still going to be a fight.  I thought of a couple of girl names, but I was sure it was a boy so why bother with the girl names.  Well the big ultrasound rolled around and the tech said do you want to know and we said yep and she said It's a GIRL!!  I cried, I didn't realize that I really wanted Charlotte to have a sister, but I did really want her to have a sister and now she was going to, but wait a girl and not a boy, with no girl names even thought about...CRAP!

This time I decided that Jon could pick the first name if I could pick the middle name...I kinda had it in my head already. I am a very clumsy uncoordinated person.  Dance teachers hate to see me coming, I once broke a guys nose in dance class doing the Tango, it was really bad.  I also walk very heavily and can trip over my own feet without even thinking about it, so for most of my life, my dad has called me Grace.  Yep, not a graceful bone in my body, but  I love the sentiment, so I insisted that he find something that went with Grace.  I made lots of lists for him to look over with my suggestions, and he even had to gall to suggest that we wait till she was born...WHAT??? Finally about 3 weeks after the ultrasound I broke down in tears I couldn't take it anymore I needed to call her something, anything, well anything but Cami, which was his first suggestion.  No offense to any Cami's but think about it Cami Cooper, nope dosen't work.  I really loved Evangeline and we would call her Evie, but nope.  Then I suggested Eleanor, you don't hear that very often, and it was in one of his favorite movies, nope. Celeste, it was my ancestor who immigrated to the US at the turn of the century through Ellis Island, I got an eye roll on that one.  Finally I got him to narrow it down....Elena, Zoe and Addison.  Well I had a good friend that just had a Zoe so in my head that was out, and Addison was her back up name so that was out too, so I figured Elena.  I like Elena Grace that is a good name, but Jon was more partial to one of the other names.  So with the fear looming that my friend was really going to kill me we announced that our little girl would be named....

Addison Grace

This name seems to fit her well too

So while I didn't totally get my way on the baby naming, I really did pretty good.  We are finished having kids biologically, so any child that we have from here on out will come to us with a name that someone else picked out, but at least we got our chance to leave a bit of a mark on the world and I think that we did pretty good. 

The Jellybean's first photoshoot

Now I posted a while back that we did a maternity photo shoot with Amy Hoga.  The pictures were fantastic and with a promotion through The Bump.com I got a Newborn shoot for free, no sitting fee.  So when Ms. Jellybean made her appearance we called up Amy and set up a time.

Now Amy likes to photograph newborns within 2 weeks of birth, but she feels the sooner the better.  So at a little over a week old Amy came to the house and set everything up for some great pictures.  Having her come to the house is a true blessing because as any new mother will tell you the first 6 weeks are really rough.  I think it probably compares to special forces training, but I am happy to say at 3 months out we made it through.  Maybe not with flying colors but we did survive.  Okay so back to the pictures...

Amy did our maternity shoot in like 30 minutes 45 minutes tops, but Jellybean was a bit of a diva and required close to 3 hours. :D  Amy was patient, especially since there was a 3 year old that also wanted to be in the middle of everything and we ended up with some fantastic pictures.  Have a look and see if you don't agree...

Boogie of course was being her cute self and playing dress up so I got this shot of her.  I think she looks like a little elf.

Then there was a shot with baby sissy.  Boogie loves her baby sissy...

Then me with both of the girls but Boogie the center of the attention

Then Jellybean the center of the attention...oh and Charlotte loved that she got to be partially naked. :D

This is really one of my favorites.  I got a great picture with my girls, and boy do I love them.

Here is my little Shuga Booga...she did great.

There is that umbilical chord...and don't you know if fell off just a couple hours after Amy left.

She is going to have blue eyes and dark hair just like her daddy...boy did I get lucky or what.

I just love the baby in the basket look, and my floors look good too. :D

I was not feeling very photogenic at this point, but I love the mood of the pictures that I got.  I think this one says, if anyone messes with my Jellybean they are toast.

Now I have left my two favorite pictures for last.  These are the ones that I look and think that the camera saw a little bit into the soul of things....

I don't think that we ever sleep this easy again in our lives.  I think that babies have the rest of knowing that there are people out there that demand nothing more then they just exist.  It is the sleep of innocence and security.  It is divine.

This is my absolute favorite shot.  I really wish I had something like this for my little Boogie when she was born.  This photo says I love you for being my blessing.  I will love you even when you don't like me.  I will love you in ways that you won't understand until you have a daughter.  I will love you even as I leave you to go home to my father.  This photo to me is what it means to be a mother. It is my soul and what I feel for both my girls.  It is what my mom felt for me and why I wanted to be a mother.

I love you my sweet girls!

I'm Baaaaccckkk!!!

Well I am back and in more ways then one really.  Today is my official first day of work and what a day it has turned out to be. Work its self has been pretty good, but getting here this morning was quite an adventure...this is how it went.

Little Ms. Jellybean who is almost 3 months now decided that she didn't want to go to bed until Midnight.  Then the heavens opened up about 2:30am and the thunder and lighting started and boy did it ever start.  This prompted the 45lb lab mix to get very nervous as he always does, and in the bed he came.  I have to say he is easier to move around with your feet then the 70lb bulldog, who by the way disappears in a dark room and can break your toes if kicked while walking through said room, but I digress.  At 4:30 lighting struck something very very close to the house, hopefully not anything in the back yard, but very close and woke everyone up.  My lovely alarm went off at 5:30 and I quickly turned it off to keep Ms. Jellybean from waking up (she is congested so is sleeping in her swing in our room).  With the lighting popping I skipped the shower, thank god I took one the night before and relied on a cold cloth to jolt me into the morning.  Got all the bags together for myself and the girls and made 4 total trips across the flooded yard in the torrential rain to the car.  One of these trips ended with me dragging the trash to the curb, two were to get bags to the car and two were to get sleep PJ clad girls to the car (thank you Ms. M for letting me bring them in their PJ's).  Once in the car at 6:45 we proceeded to head across the perimeter of Atlanta at 40-45 MPH, the water was so thick on the interstate that any faster would have been very dangerous.  Right as we pulled into Ms .M's house the rain and wind picked up..Woooo hoooo and I waded through a river twice to get two girls and two bags into the house.  By the time I got to work at 7:45 I was soaked from my ankles to my knees and my head to my chest, with very very soggy shoes, but I made it.  Yay!!

I have to say that while I definitely love being at home with the girls I also love being at work.  The atmosphere is good and the people are great too, so I am glad to be back.

I am also back to the blog (duh) and I apologize for such a long absence but Ms. Jellybean and her big sister kept me hopping for the past 3 months.  So let me make it up to you by showering you with cutie pie pictures of the two of them.  Enjoy, and if you think these are good, just wait till I post the ones from Ms. Jellybean's Newborn, shoot, they are gorgeous. :D

Right before we went to Florida for Easter we headed to the Zoo with some friends, Ms. Jellybean in missing because she was asleep in the stroller.

Boogie and A had a great time though, they are such hams.

By the end of the trip Ms. Jellybean decided to wake up and a bottle put her in a great mood.

Our next adventure was in Florida for cousin BBug's 4th birthday.  Both girls had a great time, but Boogie especially loved the chocolate covered strawberry's.

Ms. Jellybean just hung out with her Mimi and enjoyed the Florida sun, or actually shade.

We got all dolled up for Easter service, the girls had matching dresses thanks to NahNah and they were just too cute. (If your wondering where Boogie is, she was DONE with pictures by this time.)

Ms. Jellybean just took it easy once we got home from Church.

Boogie was excited that the Easter Bunny left her such an awesome basket.

Ms. Jellybean is now regularly gracing us with some super cute smiles.

Boogie is thinking about taking up motorcycle riding (her shirt says I blame my parents, which I thought was perfect )

Oh perhaps being a Meg Ryan Mini Me.  We did get her bangs trimmed right after this, just incase you were wondering. :D

For right now though she is a great big sister and a big helper to me.

I sure do love both my girls.