Valentine Fun

I really enjoyed Valentines this year. Last week was pretty rough because I was sick the entire week. I'm just now feeling better. Jarod was gone part of the week and with me being sick, my house was a little of a disaster zone. Jarod emailed me on Friday and told me the Valentines came early and there was something at home that would make me feel better. When I got home, I walked in to my kitchen and there were beautiful yellow tulips (my favorite flower) in a vase on the bar and my kitchen was clean. After smelling my flowers, I walked into the living room and on the end table was another vase of pink tulips! I was so shocked. They were also beautiful and my living room was nice and clean. When I left that morning there were clean clothes in a pile and they were gone, so I decided to go upstairs and see what else Jarod did. When I got to our room our door was closed part way and I noticed a lamp was on (Jarod never leaves on lights while we are gone). I opened the door and my room was clean, bed was made and a vase was on the nightstand with two red roses. Do I have a sweet hubby or what? It was the best gift ever. When Jarod got home that night we hung out and watched a movie with Allie. We originally planned to all go out to eat, but food did not sound good to me.

Jarod and Allie watching Monsters Inc.

On Saturday (Valentines) I slept in and Jarod cooked breakfast for me. Allie and I decorated cookies (thanks Anna) to take to our friends Matt and JT's house. Our small group at church is trying to find different ways to serve each other and others. JT came up with the idea to have two couples every 3 months volunteer to watch each other's kids so the parent's can have a date night. Matt and JT and Jarod and I decided to kick it off on Valentine's night. We kept two kids (Thatcher and Karl Mikal) plus our own (Allie, Hannah and Callie) from 5-9 Saturday night. We all had a great time and the kids got along great. We are so glad that our friends were able to escape for few hours and focus on their marriages.

Hannah and Allie working on a puzzle.

Dinner time; Girls side

Boys side

Miss Callie hanging out

All four munchkins.

Sweet Karl Mikal typing on the computer.

I also had a video of Hannah and Allie dancing to music, but blogger was having issues downloading it. I will try to put it on later in the week.

Getting Crafty

My friend Kristen had a bunch of girls over and taught us how to make bows for our little girls. I was a little overwhelmed at first because I am not crafty what so ever! Thank goodness Kristen is a teacher and had patience with us all. It took me a while to get the hang of it. In fact I think in 1 hr. I had only made one bow. At one point I said that I couldn't do it and Allie said, "you can do it mommy". It was great to have girl time and to learn how to do something fun. I think they turned out pretty well and can't wait for Allie to wear them. Thanks Kristen for having us over. We will have to do this again!

Sorry there are no pictures of Allie actually looking at me. She was eating dinner!

Allie will be wearing this bow tomorrow.

This picture does not do this bow justice. It is by far the cutest on I made. In fact several of us copied this one from someone else because we all liked it so much.

This was the first one I made, and you can tell. Not my best.

I just love this red one. I think this is the best one I made.

I Was Just Kidding Me Mommy

I know it has been forever since I've posted anything. There really isn't a whole lot going on in our house, but I will try to do better! I decided that I will quickly post something Allie told me just a few minutes ago. We were up in our play room and Allie got in the desk drawer b/c she saw the calculator. She loves to play with the calculator. I did not know what she was getting because I was in the bathroom so I asked her to close the drawer. She chose not to listen (imagine that!) and continued to get in the drawer and then finally pulled out the calculator. I told her that she needed to put it back because she did not listen to me and that the calculator was now in time out. Then this conversation happened:

Allie: "Mommy, the baby told me (she's holding her baby doll) to get that calculator."
Me: "No Allie, right now the calculator is in time out. You can have it in a few minutes."
Allie: " I was kidding me Mommy (her telling me that she was kidding). I was just kidding me."

Love the words of a 2 year old!

Movie Madness

One of my teammates at work told me about a new video store (by my school in Carrollton) that had great prices for rentals and a free kids section. I was a little skeptical but I decided to check it out last Friday before I went home. The video store is called Family Video. I had never heard of it before, but I think it's great. They have amazing prices for rentals. For a new release it is $2.55 and most of them are 5 day rentals, they also have $1.00 rentals, 2 for $1.00 and a free kids section. Allie had lots of fun looking for movies to watch. She chose Wall-E and a free Wiggles movie and we got 4 other movies. For the first month they are all 1/2 off. I have a feeling that I will be visiting them a lot. You just can't beat those prices!

Yogurtland

Last week, Allie started pooping in the potty! We were all very excited at our house b/c we have been waiting a long time for this to happen. I have no idea why all of sudden she decided to do it, but we are thrilled that she did. I made sure that she had a special treat when I picked her up and Jarod had one for her when he got home. We made such a big deal about it. On Friday, I told her that if she pooped again that day then we would go get ice cream. I took her to a place in Carrollton called Yogurtland. A teammate of mine had told me about it and had given me a gift card. This place is awesome. You pay 30 cents an ounce and you have 16 flavors to choose from. There is also unlimited toppings! So, Allie decided on strawberry yogurt, sprinkles (chocolate and rainbow), gummy bears and M&M's. Not the combination (the toppings) I would have chosen but it actually was pretty good and inexpensive. So, if you live in the area, check it out!

2 Weeks of Christmas

The past two weeks have been wonderful. I've really enjoyed my time off with Allie and with Jarod. I have been a bit lazy with blogging and I apologize. The Varner family had a wonderful Christmas and I hope all that read this post did too! I always feel like Christmas is strung out over two weeks. Maybe I feel that way b/c that is how much time I have off from work.

The Sunday before Christmas was spent at my Granny's house with all of my aunts and cousins. It was great seeing everyone and enjoying good food, good company and having a lot of laughs. On that Tuesday, I took Allie to the mall to see Santa. I had no idea how she would respond to him. I took her when she was 8 months old and she loved them. I did not take her last year, because I thought she would scream. I was the child who never had her picture taken with Santa because I screamed the entire time and refused to sit on his lap. She really liked him. She was a little shy at first, but then warmed right up to him.

On Christmas Eve, Allie and I made a gingerbread house and cookies for Santa. Our house did not look like the one on the box. I really didn't care how it looked as long as Allie was having fun. She enjoyed sneaking candy too while she decorated. My parents came over to spend Christmas with us. We opened presents from each other. Allie had a great time. Christmas was so much fun with her this year. She loved everything about it. She also thought every gift was from Santa. She and my mom put reindeer food outside and then we left the cookies that she decorated out for Santa.

On Christmas morning Allie woke up and was very excited that Santa had come to her house. She wasn't quite sure what to do when she saw all of the presents he had left her. I didn't get a lot of good pictures of Christmas morning, but Jarod did capture it all on video. For Christmas lunch/dinner we went to my aunt's in Arlington. My Granny and some of my cousins joined us this year. It was a great time and Allie enjoyed playing with her new toys. My parents stayed with us until Sunday. We just hung out and had some great food and watched a few movies. They also let Jarod and I escape to a movie.

We've spent the last couple of days hanging out and enjoying the nice warm weather. I have enjoyed reading over my break. It doesn't take much for me to get wrapped up in a good book. I read 3 books by Karen Kingsbury (I just love her books). I read the first book of the Twilight series and I'm waiting for the rest of them to come in the mail and I'm currently reading The Shack. It is a very powerful book!

Tonight we will conclude our 2 weeks of Christmas at my parents house with my brother's and their families. Allie is very excited that she will be able to open more presents. Hopefully I will get more pictures tonight. After downloading all of the pictures from my camera, I don't feel like I did a very good job this year.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2009! Best wishes to you all in the new year.


Waiting her turn in line.

This was taken with my camera. The one they got was a lot better and she had a great smile.

Telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas.

Decorating the gingerbread house.

Excited to open up presents on Christmas Eve.

This house is from my parents and she loves it.

Christmas morning: Checking out what Santa brought her.

Allie loves anything musical. Santa brought her a blue recorder. She calls it a kazoo.

Me, my Granny and my mom on Christmas Day.

I love my Granny and I'm so grateful I was able to spend Christmas with her twice!

26.2

Today was the big day! After almost 6 months of training Jarod ran in his first marathon.
I originally planned to see Jarod start the race because I've never seen him start one. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see him start. It took us so long to get down to the AA Center, that he had to get out of the car and walk there. By the time I got parked, I couldn't find him. My parents and Allie came to pick me up so we could drive to our first spot to see him. My brother Scott and his family were set up to see him go by at the 7 mile marker. Some how, they did not see him (we think they were set up where the 1/2 marathon and the full marathon split). I had signed up to get text messages throughout the race of where he was so I didn't think it was a big deal that they didn't see him b/c I would get a message soon and then we would know where he was.

While we were waiting at mile 13 (1/2 way point) and I was starting to get very nervous. I had not received one text message so we had no idea where he was. Finally, we saw him and Allie was so excited. He came over and gave us both a kiss. After he saw us he saw Scott and his family (after missing him they drove where we were but saw him at the 14th mile). Then we headed back to the car and drove to mile 16. My brother Chad and his wife Jami were waiting there. That spot was perfect and again he was able to come say hi.
Then we drove back to the AAC so we could get a spot by the finish line. Scott and our friends EA and Ashley were set up at mile 22. By the time they saw him he had fallen behind in the pack that he was running in. I was starting to worry because his goal time was 3hrs. 30min. I just knew something had happened to him.

Finally, just after 4 hrs. we saw him come by us to finish the race. Words can't describe the emotions I was feeling at the time. I was just so proud of him and I wanted to run out there with him. He came over and told us hi and then finished the race. All 26.2 miles of it!

After I found him and gave him lots of hugs I found out a few things: one, he forgot to wear his timing chip which is why I never received text messages and two, at around mile 18 he started having leg and groin cramps. This explains why he fell a little behind the pack he was running with when I saw him. So for the last 8 miles he had to run off and on with cramps. He had never experienced running cramps until today. My heart broke for him b/c you could tell he was so frustrated with himself. I had to keep reminding him that he couldn't control what happened and all that mattered to any of us was that he just accomplished such a huge goal. After the race we all headed to Papasito's for some much deserved Mexican food!

Jarod,
Allie and I are so proud of you. You are such a good example to us both. Thank you for being such a loving husband and father. I'm truly amazed at the goal you set for yourself. I know that you didn't do as well as you wanted but you need to be proud of yourself. You will always be #1 in our book! We love you!

Waiting for daddy

Of course Allie wouldn't look in the picture or hold her sign.

Mile 13

Waving goodbye to his girls

Cheering section for mile 16

Mile 16

Almost there!

He can see the finish line!

To our family and friends:

Thank you for all of the support and love you have showed Jarod. It means so much to both of us. You were great cheerleaders for him today!