Dallas White Rock Marathon

On Sunday, my parents, Allie and I braved the cold and rainy weather to watch Jarod cross the finish line of his first 1/2 marathon. I am so proud of him! I am at home every Saturday when he runs his "long run", but it never really hit me how big of an accomplishment this was until this race. Since the weather was so nasty, we weren't there very long but I did get to see him cross the finish line (I didn't see him in the Turkey Trot). I tried to yell out his name, but my voice is hoarse and it didn't come out very well. He usually runs the 1/2 (at home) in a little over 2 hrs and he finished this time in under 2 hrs. Wow! It's amazing to me how many people can run that long. I just wish the weather would have been nicer for the runners

Jarod after he finished the race.

Doesn't he look exhausted? Poor thing!
I was very happy to see him and to find him! It took us a while to find him at the Turkey Trot. This time we had a better game plan.

The day before this picture it was 80 degrees and Allie was in short sleeves and shorts! Gotta love Texas weather.

Christmas Pictures

Well, I don't really have much to post about, so I thought I would share our newest pictures of Miss Allie. We had pictures taken of her last week at the baby sitters. There is a photographer who will come to your house and let you have portrait parties. It was a great deal that I couldn't pass up and I think she did a great job. I feel like we always have the same pose for most of her pictures and this time we don't. The hardest part was that I didn't get to be there b/c I was teaching. I can't believe how big my little girl is getting. Time is flying by!

Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving Day started out very early for the Varner family. For those of you who do not know, Jarod has recently (May) taken up running and is training to run a marathon by next winter. To read more about Jarod's running he has his own blog and it's linked on my page.

Jarod decided to run in Dallas' YMCA 8 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. My mom and Allie and I decided to brave the really cold weather to cheer him on. My mom and I got there about 45 min. before Jarod finished running. I was so surprised by how many people were out there. They said that 30,000 people registered. We waited on the sidelines looking for Jarod and I had the camera ready, but I never saw him. I saw two of his friends run by, but not him. I knew that would happen! We had plans to meet at the finish line, but with the massive crowds, it took us a while to find him. Next year we will have a better plan. If my knees are better (they better be by next Nov.) I plan to walk the 3 mile. I think we've started a new "Varner" tradition.

After the run we headed back to my parents house in Arlington to finish up fixing our food for Thanksgiving at my aunt's. Every Thanksgiving we head to my aunt and uncle's in Arlington. This year was a little different. My brother's and their families were with their in-laws and my dad was sleeping b/c he had worked the night shift at the hospital and he had to work Thanksgiving night too. So, it wasn't a huge crowd, but we had enough food to feed an army. It was great to be with my family, especially my Granny. We had good food, lots of laughs and watched the Cowboys win! We even had big snow flakes!

Jarod and Allie and I spent the rest of our weekend with my parents. Our plans were to go home on Saturday, but I'm such a home body that I had to stay one more night. My mom and I got out pretty early on Friday morning to shop. Crazy! We shop every year on "black Friday", but I had never seen so many crowds before. We were out for 1/2 the day and called it quits. We got out again on Saturday in the yucky rain, and it was a lot more enjoyable.

It's good to be home again (not that we went far away) but neither Jarod or I look forward to going back to work tomorrow. But, only 4 more weeks and I'm off again for Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Fall Festival Pictures

Isn't she adorable?

Allie's favorite cousins: Karlie and Greer

Allie finding some yummy candy for her mommy and daddy!

Daddy and Allie eating a snack

Allie really looking like the Care Bear

Pumpkin Patch and Fall Festival

We went to the pumpkin patch in Flower Mound with my parents on Saturday. We had a great time! It was great weather and Allie was in a great mood. She loved being outside and wanted to walk around by herself (without holding our hand). We couldn't get her to smile for pictures because she was in awe of everything around her. We did manage to get a few good pictures. She and I rode the train ride pulled by a tractor. I think she really liked it.

On Sunday we headed to Arlington for my nephew Greer's b-day. It was great to be with all of the family. After Allie's nap we went to the Fall Festival at my parents/brother's church. Allie got to go trick or treating and she wore her Care Bear costume for the first time. Jarod and I were really worried that she wouldn't wear it, but she surprised us and I think she liked it. She enjoyed going around to the different cars with Poppy and grabbing candy out of the bowls. The first couple of times she would only take one piece, then she got the hang of it and would grab at least 3! My kind of girl! We ended the day with some tears on the way home, but had lots of giggles when she looked at her candy.

It was a great weekend filled with fun and a great trick or treating experience.

Allie and mommy on the train ride!

Poppy, Mimi, and Allie

18 Months

First of all, I can't believe I have an 18 month old daughter!

Allie had her 18 month check up today. According to the doctor she is doing really well and of course her parents think she is doing well! She weighed in at 26 pounds and she is 33 1/4 inches tall. She hasn't grown much since her 15 month check up. I guess she is finally starting to slow down. She is 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight.

We talked with her doctor about her biting. There is really nothing else we can do about it. She said that most kids Allie's age are in the phase for a while. Well, Jarod and I are so tired of this phase! She has bit everyday this week and her newest thing is to say, "no bite", bite herself and laugh about it. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.



Her doctor also suggested that we think about potty training. This came as quite a shock to me. For the last few weeks, Allie has not had a wet diaper during the night. I can't believe she is already capable of doing this at such an early age. We are not going to push this concept on her. One, I need to be home to work with her and since I work I cannot do that. We are just going to slowly introduce it to her and hopefully by Thanksgiving and Christmas break and we can work on it. I just never dreamed I would be potty training at such an early age!

I thought I would take this time to tell you some of the new things or fun things she is doing now:

Her newest word is "thank you". I love when she says it. I try to get her to say it all of the time. I am amazed at how quickly she picks up on things. She can count to three, recognizes the letter B (probably random) and loves to entertain with her singing and dancing! She has always loved to sing. This week I caught her singing to her baby dolls, telling them "no, no" and then picking them up and hugging them, telling them "it okay". It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen! I have many more things I could tell you, but I figure this is enough. I really love this phase of her life. I am truly amazed at how much she has changed in one year. She truly is a blessing from God.

Texas State Fair

We went to the state fair with our good friends EA and Ashley on Saturday. It was perfect weather and I think Allie had a good time. I'm not quite sure how she felt about the animals. I'm hoping next year that she will like to feed the goats. I tried to get her to pet them and she clung to me for dear life. Then when I picked her up she kept saying "oat, oat" (for goat). She loves being outside and did really well for not having her afternoon nap. She didn't get to enjoy all of the delicious "fair food" (a lot of it is fried in peanut oil and she is allergic to peanuts), but Jarod and I did. She did enjoy eating the Strawberry Chill that I bought for all of us to share. EA and Ashley tried the fried guacamole bites. We tried one and they weren't that bad but not that great either. All in all I think Allie enjoyed her first state fair experience.

We Have Air!!!

This is a picture of my new AC unit. It's huge! It was so nice to walk in from work today and for my house to be nice and cool. Now that I have air, I'm in a much better mood. I know Jarod is very grateful b/c I've been a little grumpy when he and I talk on the phone.



I also have a new fancy thermostat. Some of you may already have one like this, but our old one was very old school. I can tell it the temp I want it to be when I go to bed, when I wake up, when we go to work, and for when I get home from work. Very cool!!!

I feel very fortunate and very blessed to have such a wonderful luxury. I am glad that this part of the Varner drama is over with! Hopefully we won't have anything else happen for a while. Tomorrow, State Farm is coming out to look at the damages and make estimates. Luckily, we just have to pay a deductible and they pay the rest and fix everything. Yea for home owners insurance!!!

Stuck in the Mud

Well, I already knew that last week was going to be a rough week at school, but I had no idea what else was in store for the Varner family. Our weeks are pretty calm at our house. The most drama we deal with is my day at work (not a great class this year) and Allie's biting at Carmen's (which she still does). Last week my school had parent conferences on Tuesday night and Thursday from 4-7. Not only did I have to stay at school forever, I wasn't going to get to spend a lot of time with Allie or Jarod. Monday and Tuesday went pretty well. Wednesday started off with my shoe getting stuck in the mud when I dropped Allie off and I should have known then that my day was not going to go well.

Even with my behavior child in the office most of the day, it still wasn't going very well. I picked up Allie at 4:00 and headed home. I live 20 minutes from school and I go through a lot of signal lights on my way home. I didn't have to stop at one signal light all the way to my house. I should have known then that something was about to go wrong. Allie and I pulled up to the driveway and I couldn't get the garage door to open. I thought that was a little strange, but just drove around front and went the front door. I tried to turn on a lamp and it wouldn't come on. Then I tried the kitchen light and it wouldn't come on. I finally realized that we had no power. I called Jarod and we both realized that some how the electric company did not get our bill (that is very much a mystery, if you know Jarod at all, he gets our bills in on time). We did get a pink slip, but Jarod thought they just hadn't received our bill before they sent it out (we learned a lesson on that one, always call and check!). So he got on the phone with the electric company and paid the bill but know one would help us get our power turned on. They said it would take 24-48 hours! Then we had to decide what to do. Do we stay at a hotel or go to my friend Michelle's? We also had to get all of our food moved from the refrigerator and freezer. We had decided to stay with Michelle until she called me and told me that her husband and dog had just been attacked by a pit bull(both our fine, thank goodness). Then we had to find a hotel that had a kitchen so we could store our food there. Not only was it stressful that we had to stay in a hotel, but I had conferences the next night until 7.

Thursday was not great at school but my conferences went really well. Jarod had called around noon to say that our power was back on so I couldn't wait to get home and spend some time with Jarod before he went out of town on Saturday for work. I got home around 7:45, hugged Allie for a little bit and then it was time to get her ready for bed. Jarod and I started up the stairs with her and he saw water spots on the floor. Then he looked up and noticed that we had a huge water spot on our ceiling above our stairs. When we got to the top of our stairs, it looked like our ceiling was about to cave in. Needless to say the rest of the night was not spent cuddling and watching some tv. We put Allie down and I have no idea how she slept through the yelling back and forth from the attic to the stairs. We had a leak in our attic and Jarod had to get up there and try to get the water up before our ceiling collapsed. We had to get our air conditioner turned off so it would stop leaking. Needless to say there were a lot of tears on my part and I really lost it when our ceiling started to come down. Thank goodness for parents and my uncle's advice on what to do. Then we called our State Farm agent (a close friend) and he calmed me down.

So, we need a whole new AC unit and we have lived without air since Thursday night. Wouldn't be quite so bad if our bedrooms weren't upstairs. Jarod left for North Carolina on Saturday morning and I headed to my parents house. I just got back tonight and hopefully by this time tomorrow I will have air!!! If not, I think I will be in a very bad mood. I'm so ready for Jarod to be home and for this drama to be over. I'm just very grateful that this didn't happen this week while Jarod was gone.





Allie in the box that we used to pack our food in.

















Our hole in the ceiling and our huge water spot!











The buckets we set up to catch the water from the ceiling. Sorry the picture is sideways. It wouldn't cooperate for me!

All About My Man

This is a fun one! I love getting these types of emails and usually they are all alike, but this one is different!

Who is your man? Jarod Veryl Varner (yes, his middle name is Veryl)
2. How long have you been together? Married for 4 years and about 5 months. Together a total of 9 years.
3. How long dated? We dated for 5 years before we got married.
4. How old is your man? 26 but has a birthday coming up soon!
5. Who eats more? Jarod can eat more, but he is really disciplined on what he eats.
6. Who said "I love you" first? Jarod did after 2 weeks of dating (we were in high school). I told him he didn't really love me yet (I was so rude), but then I said it 2 weeks later.
7. Who is taller? Jarod
8. Who sings better? I do, but he is better at making up songs
9. Who is smarter? I always say he is, but really I think we are smart in different ways. He was definitely the better in school than me and I hope Allie takes after him!
10. Whose temper is worse? It depends on what is happening. In the car his temper is worse; but I can have a temper too!
11. Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but since I've gone back to work he helps a lot!
12. Who takes out the garbage? Jarod
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jarod
14. Who pays the bills? Jarod, thank goodness!
15. Who is better with the computer? Jarod
16. Who mows the lawn? Jarod
17. Who cooks dinner? Is someone supposed to do that? I guess me when I cook, but he will help if he is around. I am striving to do a better job at cooking!
18. Who drives when you are together? Usually Jarod
19. Who pays when you go out? Jarod
20. Who is most stubborn? Me, but he is stubborn too!
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Jarod, but I'm getting better at it.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? mine, we live in the same town
23. Who kissed who first? I kissed Jarod first on our first date.
24. Who asked who out? I asked out Jarod, he was very shy.
25. Who proposed? Jarod and it was very sweet and he caught me so off guard!
26. Who is more sensitive? ME!
27. Who has more friends? I've never really thought about it, I guess the same
28. Who has more siblings? Me, I have two older brothers
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Jarod with the big things, me with the little things, but we work together on most things

I tag everyone!!

Plano Balloon Festival

We had a great time at the Plano Balloon Festival on Sunday night. We went with our great friends EA and Ashley. Jarod and I caused us to run a little late, so we didn't get there as early as we had wanted to. We had a great picnic and Allie really liked the balloons!





Jarod making a silly face with Allie

















Very pretty balloons













Allie and mommy

SURPRISE!!!

This weekend was fabulous! Jarod and I both took off on Friday and we went shopping at the Allen Outlet Mall. It was a nice family day together. On Saturday I cleaned and we went and picked up my best friend Courtney. She had come in town for a wedding. I was very excited to see her!

Saturday night we had plans to go out to eat with my family for my birthday. We were meeting at 7:00 at On the Border (my fave). I had invited my family to come over earlier if they wanted to so they could hang out before dinner. So, all day I kept picking up the living room and kitchen so it would look nice when people came over. But, little did I know that Jarod had something else planned! None of my family took me up on the offer to come over early that day. I was a little sad and not to happy when my mom called me at 6:30 to tell me they were going to be late to dinner. Jarod, Courtney, Allie and I headed out to the restaurant. On the way there I had wondered if we would be sitting in the big room. He said probably not b/c we didn't have enough people. When we walked in I looked through a window that looked into the big room and I was shocked at what I saw: my FRIENDS and my family sitting in the room. Needless to say, I was very surprised! I have always wanted a surprise party and Jarod planned one and pulled it off! I had no idea. It was a wonderful night with friends and family, good food, lots of laughter, and a bad waitress. I also got a fabulous new camera from Jarod (another surprise). I have a wonderful and thoughtful husband and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday surprise.

The Big One Oh

Yesterday, I went for my longest run so far. 10 miles. I finished in about an hour and 45 minutes - which was about what I expected. I ran from our house to the park next to the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Grapevine. Paige was gracious enough to pick me up afterward. I usually run loop routes or what are called "out and backs", both of which can be pretty boring. Running all 10 miles in one direction definitely helped keep it from getting too boring. It was a nice run over the Grapevine Dam. On the left side were two golf courses and the lake was on the right. I really could have taken a swim by the time I made it to the dam (about 7 miles into the run). I learned a valuable lesson in hydration - almost two hours of running is too far to go without water. I plan to buy a water bottle that can be carried while running. I learned a lot from the run. Such as, I'll definitely be ready for the half-marathon in December but probably will not be ready for a whole marathon in the first quarter of next year. I may have to save that one for later in the year. I'll probably wait until I get a little closer to my goal weight - in order to give myself a good chance of finishing in a decent time.

Jarod

Comet: It Helps Your Tub Get Clean

You may think I'm crazy that I'm writing about a bathroom cleaner, but it truly is amazing! For almost a year, I have struggled with keeping our bathtub sparkling clean! The finish is off of our tub and our tub gets pretty dark (I know gross). It wouldn't matter how much I would scrub or Jarod would scrub, we couldn't get it clean! I kept telling my mom about it and she suggested to soak our tub in bleach(didn't work) and vinegar (again didn't work). My mom and dad came over to watch the Cowboys yesterday and before she left she went and looked at my tub. I had proved yet again that vinegar did not work and then my mom brought out Comet and it worked like magic! My tub is sparkling clean. So if you want your tub to sparkle like mine, get the liquid Comet.

Now on to other things:
Allie had a wonderful week of "no biting" last week, but unfortunately she has not given it up for good! She tried to bite all day at Carmen's and she bit her buddy Matthew on the cheek. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I thought for sure we were moving past this phase. I guess I was wrong.

Allie is cutting two more teeth. She has so many now that I've lost count. She is still learning new words every day. I can't believe how much she has changed in the last month. She is at a really fun age now and makes us laugh all the time.

Race Results

I ran in the Lewisville Masonic Lodge Race for the Children on Saturday. My primary goal was to beat my personal best time and I accomplished that goal (I finished in 25:48). My secondary goal was to win a cool door prize, and I accomplished that goal by winning a dinner for two at Tierney's Duck Inn - which I hear has delicious fried catfish. Now I'm looking forward to running a 1/2 marathon in December and a full marathon in February. Fun stuff.

Paige's Blog

The Varners blog definitely belongs to Paige so I won't impose myself for long, but I wanted to let folks know that I'm running in my first race on Saturday morning - a 5K in Lewisville. I'm pretty pumped about it and I'm looking forward to a half-marathon in December. I'm continually trying to evict the fat kid that still lives in me. He won't go without a fight.

A Little of This, A Little of That

I have been the biggest blog loser! Life at the Varner household has been hectic. Going back to work has been the cause of my crazy life! I'm not used to this whole "working thing". But, I'm finally starting to settle in and remembering how to be a working mom!

Since my last blog, I got to hear Ron Clark speak and he was so inspiring and hilarious! I am amazed at his accomplishments with underprivileged kids. He has a school in Atlanta and I would love to go and visit one day. I also have a brand new fridge! A 5th grade teacher bought me a new one and left it in my room for me to find one morning! They felt responsible for it since I put it in their portable. But I put it there so it wouldn't be stolen! I couldn't convince them that they didn't need to do that. It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.

School is going okay. I have one child that has tested me since day one! Every day is a battle with him and it wears me out. I have never had a child behave the way he does. I've had some children with bad discipline problems, but never like this and it is completely frustrating. Hopefully we will make some progress soon! I'm just lucky to have a supportive principal who is there to help me with my battles! Every night after Allie goes to bed I pass out on the couch. One night last week I woke up and didn't even realize I had fallen asleep. I looked at Jarod and told him I was so sorry! Thank goodness I have a very understanding husband. I had forgotten how tiring the first couple of weeks of school are.

We spent Labor Day with my family in Arlington. It was great being together. It had been a really long time. I enjoyed being with everyone and getting to spend time with my nephew and niece. They both enjoyed having Allie to play with.

Allie has changed so much over the last couple of months. Her personality is developing more and more each day! She is in a terrible biting phase!!! Almost everyday for the last couple of weeks she bit someone at the baby sitters. But in the last 5 days she has only bit 2 times. This is a huge accomplishment. We are hoping that this phase ends soon. She makes us laugh all the time. She LOVES to dance and sing. Her dancing is all over the place and she will dance to anything! She is also learning to say lots of new words. Her newest words are "please" and "shhh" (telling us to be quiet).

I would like to post some new photos, but our camera is on the fritz! I'll look for some pics we took a month ago and see if I can find anything good!

I guess that is all I have for now. I'm sure that I forgot to tell something, but I honestly can't think of anything at the moment. I hope everyone is off to a good week!

Work Day 2

Well I tried to create a post last night, but the internet was not cooperating. I'm sure none of you have ever experienced that! My first day back went pretty well. I was a little worried about Allie. She was not a happy camper when we woke her up. She likes her beauty sleep! Once she and I got in the car she was in a great mood and we sang, "Twinkle, twinkle", A,B,C's", and the "Wheels on the Bus" for 15 min. It was a lot of fun, because she sang along. Once we got to Carmen's (in home day care provider) I was a little worried how she would act with the other kids because she had not seen them all summer. Once she saw two of her buddies she was all smiles and told everyone hi! It was the cutest thing I'd ever heard. She is quite the social bug. Not sure where she gets that from! She is always the last one to fall asleep b/c she wants to keep everyone up talking. She had a great day and was thrilled to see me when I picked her up. A great gift for a mom on her first day back to work.

There is a lot going on at school. Our school is being remodeled and this is the first week we were allowed back into our rooms. Usually we can get in and start putting our rooms together but not this year. What makes the situation even worse is they are still working on our school. The whole school is a mess and I get the pleasant smell of hot tar outside my window! The best part about yesterday was finding out that my refrigerator and my student's computer monitors were stolen! Lucky me. Oh well, luckily all can be replaced. I am currently trying to talk Jarod into replacing my refrigerator.

I am looking forward to Thursday and getting to hear Ron Clark speak. I'll try and post about it later in the week.

7 Days and Counting

Well, in 7 days I will no longer be a stay at home mom. Every night I go to bed and I think, "one less day with Allie". I have truly enjoyed being home with her all summer. She is at the age (almost 16 months) where she makes us belly laugh. Her personality is coming out and it keeps us on our toes. We are never sure what she has in store for us!

I watched a movie on TNT the other day about Ron Clark, a teacher played by Matthew Perry. I think it came out last fall, but I never had the opportunity to watch it. He was a teacher in Harlem, New York. After watching the movie, I realized why I was in teaching. I may not teach in Harlem, but I work with kids who struggle and do not have great opportunities in life. I hope that this school year I am able to make a difference in at least one of my student's life.

Although, I love being at home with Allie and I dread next Monday, I know that God wants me in the lives of the 6 year olds that will grace my presence on August 27th.

*Oh by the way, I get to hear Ron Clark speak at our districts General Assembly next week. Isn't that ironic?

Radio Flyer

The Park

We took Allie to the park today. It was extremely hot, but she had a good time anyway. We used her awesome Radio Flyer wagon for the first time. It's four wheel drive so we did some off roading. She enjoyed watching the planes fly over her and waved bye-bye to them.

Blog Number One

Paige recently learned that a number of our friends use this website to keep in touch and share what's going on in one another's life. We thought we'd give it a shot. Odds are the newness will wear off in a couple days (or at least when Paige goes back to work) and we'll never be heard from again, but we'll see. Above is a picture of Allie in the awesome Texas Bluebonnets. Unfortunately we waited a long time into Bluebonnet season to take the picture and the field was just about overgrown.