baby shower fun

Aunt Amy had a baby shower while we were in TN for Thanksgiving. The girls and I were thrilled to go!





Finally, a picture of the mommy-to-be!


Forget dip, my kid is happy with plain, simple toast. I think she had 7 slices - seriously.

Just gorgeous!

Audrey picked out an extra gorgeous dress to wear to church today. It's a hand-me-down from Julia (shock, shock) but Audrey didn't care. All she knew was that when she was finished dressing today she... looked... good. Audrey had none of her usual arguments about wearing a hairbow, and she pranced (PRANCED) into the room to show off her good looks to her Daddy. Pictures were a must. I tried to take some outside, but it was just too sunny.


Pictures from the shade really weren't much better.




Both my girls looked extra sassy and beautiful this morning!

Around here...
* Our rocking horse, Petey, stays in the hallway most all the time now. Audrey whines every night that Petey "scares" her, and I'm tired of moving it back and forth. Doesn't Petey look pretty with his hairbows?


* "Hey girls, let's take a picture of you for the blog."



* Happy Birthday, Matt! We couldn't sit down for lunch or dinner Wednesday together, but we did manage to have birthday strudel for breakfast.


* What do we have planned for tonight??
It's Christmas tree time!!

Commitment on a bad day...

A bad running day that is! My day started off pretty good. I took the slowpoke way to get myself and the girls ready this morning and still somehow managed to get to Sunday School on time. Church was followed by having lunch at a friend's house. Matt and I enjoyed time talking to adults (the wife is Audrey's preschool teacher, Mrs. Grace) and my girls loved playing with their 4 year old and 8? year old daughters. I was also pleased to realize this afternoon that I would be skipping my second FULL DAY of real cooking. (Matt cooked breakfast and dinner Saturday, Grace cooked lunch Sunday, and dinner Sunday was leftovers) Yes, my day was actually quite good.

The bad part of the day was the running part. I exercise on a treadmill by myself Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sundays, though, I exercise with a group of ladies at church. Our goal time today was 28 minutes, and since I'd done 27 minutes Thursday, I wasn't too worried about 28. I should have been. I don't wear a watch when I jog, but I'd guess that around minute 7 or so I took a turn for the worse, and the rest of my running time was spent forcing myself to take another step. It was not fun, AT ALL! But I did it. In fact, I ran longer than 27 minutes. We had run down the street to another church, I forced myself to run the entire way back even though my time wound up being 31/32 minutes. I did find out that our mileage was 2.5 though. That's not as bad as I thought I was doing.

As a natural born worrier and list maker, and as a lady with 30+ minutes to think about whatnot this afternoon, I composed a list of potential reasons I had a bad running day.

Perhaps my problem was that I didn't have the time and mileage right there in front of me to give me a needed boost.
Perhaps my problem was that I was running on pavement instead of a treadmill.
Perhaps my problem was that I didn't have a TV to watch while I was running.
Perhaps my problem was that I decided to chew gum while running. (Stupid, I know - but I thought it so figured I ought to admit it.)
Perhaps my problem was that I hadn't drunk enough water lately.
Perhaps my problem was that my body has been busy fighting this cold I have and therfore I have less energy to devote to activity.

The list in my head went on and on, but you get the idea.

Anyways, throughout my bad running today I really doubted whether or not I could do this 5k next month. I thought about how much better and more confident I would be if I waited and ran one of the 5k's coming up in Feb. or March. BUT! I got home and decided that I didn't want to think that way anymore. I went ahead and signed up (i.e. paid money) for the Jingle Bell 5k Run - December 4th! YAY! Go me! And for those of you wondering, yes I had a hard time parting with the money (the frugalista in me is one powerful lady!) but I think it's worth it to participate in something that I never thought I'd be able to do. I also like that it's going to a charity (Arthritis Foundation), and that I'll get a t-shirt. ;)

Oh, and Matthew/Matt/Dear Husband, when I complete this thing in 20 days (oh cripes!) you're going to have to eat your "You'll never run a 5k" statement that you made around week 4. I haven't forgotten it.

A lovely afternoon

Matt's in the kitchen making chili.


The girls have a friend over.



I'm on the couch reading, facebooking, and researching present ideas for Christmas. :)


Yes, it's been a very lovely afternoon at the Bowman house.

Methinks the lady doth protest too much

Did you know that sometimes when I start typing things up for this blog I google a word or phrase to see if I'm spelling/using it correctly? Well, guess what. I do. So, I googled that popular "methinks" Hamlet phrase and found out that it is a common misquotation. The actual Hamlet line is, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Aren't you glad you have me to around to tell you these things?

Ok, enough about misquotations. Let's get on to the protesting lady...

Below is a picture of 3/4 of Julia's preschool table.


Let's call the little boy at her table "Eli"... because that's his name. This weekend Julia was practicing writing his full name. She also grins like a possum whenever his name is mentioned.

hmmmm - This sort of behavior makes a Momma think.

I thought it was cute and all until this morning when I assigned Eli the exciting weekly job of 'caboose'. What is a caboose you ask? Well, in our class that means he gets to stand in the very back of the line. Do you see him way back there?


Wait! Who is that back there with him? Is it?... could it be?... Oh, yeah! It's Julia making absolutely sure that she is the next to last person in line. The child left p.l.e.n.t.y of space between herself and the people in front of her. Sometimes you just can't take any chances.



Did I mention that Jules did this 4 times today? It was so funny and sweet. In the words of Aunt Amy, "Bless it!"

Fred's and a 5k

I walked over to Fred's this afternoon by myself. Audrey was asleep and Julia was playing computer games online (supervised of course). After cruising the store for some $2.99 sunglasses to replace my recently broken ones and buying a present for Amy and Jacob (hehe! go on Amy, wonder long and hard about what I possibly could have bought for you guys at Fred's) I headed home to find Matt rushing around looking a little frazzled. Apparently, Audrey had more than just a regular accident during her nap. The worst part (in my opinion) was that her accident occurred while she was sleeping in our bed... on MY SIDE!! Ok, so I get home while he's in the middle of cleaning up the nastiness, and I was immediately overcome by gratefulness that I had missed the majority of cleanup duties. (pun welcomed but not intended)

Changing the subject

I don't think I've mentioned on this blog that I've been doing the couch to 5k running plan. Of course, by "running" I actually mean "jogging at a slow pace" plan. I'm over halfway through it and ran (errrr.... jogged slowly) 2 miles for the first time Thursday. Yay me! I originally had my goal to run (jog) the Arthritis Foundation's Jingle Bell 5k December 4th, but now I'm hesitating to do it. Part of me thinks I need an extra week or 2 to prepare, but the other part of me wants to go ahead and try. I need to search out and see if there's another race nearby late in December or in the first part of January. Even if I postpone my 5k, I'm still pretty proud of myself for doing this in the first place. I've definitely come a long way! :) Now, if only I would do a better job of watching what I ate... but that's a goal for AFTER the yumminess that is the holiday season.

Monday we took our first preschool field trip! Our group went to a local farm/corn maze, and we definitely enjoyed ourselves! A corn gun, hay maze, corn maze, cow train, corn box, playground, and a picnic lunch were all parts of our good time.

An afternoon nap was required for all 3 of us Bowman ladies after our morning of fun! Happy November!