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!