Mud Fears Me

About two months ago my good friend Brooke had a crazy ideal to sign up for Mud Fears Me, which is a 5K mud run. Sounded like a wonderfully fun ideal. Sign me up...oh yeah and I'll bring the hubby along for the ride as well (I needed somebody to push me over walls and what not). Fast forward two months later, October 27th. The weather pre 10/27 was absolutely perfect, eighty degrees and beautifully sunny. The forecast for 10/27: low of forty and high of 60. Perfect (NOT!). Our race time was 10:30, which allowed a five degree warm up- forty-five degrees. You've got to be kidding me. Who is crazy enough to do this crap?! Yep, this girl right here. So I'm going to take you along on my journey via pictures, compliments of none other than Nonnie.

Here's me and the hubby who I wrangled into this run. 

Did I mention it was opening day of deer season as well?

Hubby wasn't too pleased about that one. 

Instead he was busy making mud angels in forty degree weather, now that's true love.

Our crew, dedicated friends. Crazy as us.

I'm enlarging this picture for your viewing pleasure. 

First thing: Brooke and I are holding hands in this pic.

Second thing: Can you spot the hubby?

Yes, that would be him doing the power ranger in the air.

Now I understand why he complained the whole time that his knee hurt.

Initially the water was two feet deep, about two feet into it there was drop off.

His power ranger move was performed before the drop off.

Did I mention he studied the drop off by watching the run slot before us, and he knew the drop off was two feet out?

No pity.

The coordinator lady actually recommended not going into the first set of water because it will zap your energy, because it was that cold. I understand now. My crazy group felt we needed to swim through the football field of water in order to get "the true" experience. Idiots. I bailed out about five feet into it when I thought I was drowning/in hypothermic shock. Next mud run, you will find me taking the kind lady's advice. She kindof knows what she's doing. After seeing my life flash before my eyes, I refused to get in any more deep water. If the water came up to my nipple line, sister was out!

This is a move performed frequently by Brooke. 

And she would stay there about five minutes until she decided it was safe to come down. 

haha!

There it goes again.

As if the first obstacle wasn't enough, here are the boys running through even more water.

The girls were out.

Trudging on.

The only one to actually finish this obstacle was Brian. 

Rope burns for all.

Would you check out that face?!

Not to mention the leg spread.

Classy all around.

The mud crawl. Can you see the glistening of the barbed wire above my head?

The mud angel. 

Our mud hug. So close to the finish line.

We had to keep reminding Brooke the whole race that this was her ideal.

LAST obstacle. 

Wahooooooooo.

Brooke had the right ideal. 

Hold the nose.

I had mud boogers for at least 24 hours.

We did it! We did it!

We all survived. With no major injures. And we're all still friends :)

And check out those medals.

The wash off with "warm" water.

That was a lie.

There's no such thing in forty degree weather.

Bucket list- check!

To top off the run I also pooped in the woods. There I said it. Another episode added to my poo-scapade. Ten minutes before the race my IBS kicked in, and I knew I had to go. But my friends informed me there wasn't enough time and we were already in the front of the line. My thought process was when I jumped in the freezing cold water it would increase my sphincter tone. Instead, it did the opposite. Half way through the trail run I had to hop in the woods and let the deuce loose. This crap only happens to me and my jacked up bowels. Ugh.

Politic'an

It is election season and I am SOOOOO over it. Notice so is capped, underlined, bolded, and italicized. Placing major emphasis on that word. All of the Facebook posts on the candidates are driving me mad. I get it, people get fired up about politics. I agree, it's a very important issue. One I am very passionate about myself. We (Americans) are voting on a single person to run our country, pretty dang important if you ask me. But what does a Facebook post prove? It divides people even more than we already are. People aren't going to be persuaded to vote for a candidate based on an angry rant on Facebook. If anything they are just going to be pushed away, solidifying their reason for voting for the other opponent. People will make their decisions based off of what they see on the debates/news coverage, not a Facebook post. 

People, during debates place your phones and computers under lock and key. And hide the key for at least twenty-four hours. Just enough time to simmer on down. 

Not only am I over the excessive political Facebook posts/rants, but also the daily news coverage. Each day seems to be a repeat of the day before. Obama was campaigning in (insert favorite swing state) and Romney was campaigning in (insert favorite swing state).  I vote we have one day a week of political news coverage, not every single day. Every single day for the last three months gets old really quickly.

One positive from this campaign season. I have received NO phone calls endorsing any candidates this year. Thank you sweet Jesus! I guess the "do not call list" is working. 

November 6th can not get here fast enough!

God Bless America!

Picture Mania

I am a picture addict. For me pictures capture a moment in time. A feeling printed on paper. 

E is my main subject. Currently I have 644 pictures on my iPhone and 643 of them are of E (and that's after deleting a few). 

E coughed, take a pic! E licked the wall, take a pic! E touched the dog, take a pic! 

Get my drift. 

This week E had a photo shoot with none other than- his Nonnie. The ultimate mission was to get some pictures taken for his birthday invitations. In case I failed to mention before, I am an OVER preparer. Here are a few pictures I can share without ruining his birthday invitation surprise. :)

I have very few pictures of E and me. Usually I am makeup-less and in PJs (by no means photo-op ready). I must say, I am in loooooove with the first picture. 

Mom Stays in the Picture

The exact reason why I need more pictures of E and me. 

Our quaint little town had a pumpkin patch this year. Best ideal ever. And so convenient. You can go take your picture with the pumpkins and support the local school all at the same time. Here are some pumpkin patch pictures taken by E's personal photographer, Nonnie. 

E was not so sure about the hay. I would go as far as saying he absolutely hated it. 

How Nonnie got these pictures I'm not really sure, because alot of time in the pumpkin patch was spent crying. 

In the spirit of homecoming week, our town had a parade. At first E was mesmerized with the dancers and the band, the mesmerization ceased as soon as the candy started flying. E was completely freaked out. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the sucker that bopped him on the head. I pulled out my best distraction tools and broke down and gave E a sucker. Little boy loved it. He had blue raspberry sucker everywhere, including on Mommy. 

Check out that blue tongue!

E loves his cousins.

So glad to see them at the parade. 

My little Chelsea (on the right) is growing up so fast. She got her hair chopped off this week and she looks like such a big girl. 

Little E with his little pumpkins. 

And he's playing in the hay!

Go figure. 

One day he hates it, the next day he loves it.

Mommy Brain

I've noticed since having E I have lost a generous amount of brain cells. I can't remember anything- I've forgotten my debit pin number (the number I key in at least twice a day, if not more). Who does that? An ex-prego. I misplace everything. Keys, shoes, jewelry, money, you name it, it's been lost. Space cadet Brandi, time to make a landing. 

Yesterday E had Gymboree. I had to work so my mom met me at Gymboree with E in tow. We were both a little early so I hung out in mom's car for a little while because E had fallen asleep and heaven forbid we wake him (he'd only had a thirty minute nap ALL day). Mom hadn't brought any diapers so I ran to my car and grabbed one, just in case E had an accident in Gymboree. He'd pooed on my mom earlier in the day. This sister wasn't chancing it. I walk back to mom's car not really paying attention because it was only a couple of cars down from mine. Mindlessly wandering the parking lot. Pull on her passenger door handle and it's locked. Yank again (without looking up). After my third attempt of yanking aggressively on the door handle, I look up catching the words before they came out of my mouth. "What the hell, why did you lock the door?!" Thank God my filter for the day was in place. Low and behold a strange woman was behind the wheel, not my mother. I was yanking on a complete stranger's door handle with them inside the car. The van was the exact same style as my mom's. I turned to the car beside me and saw my mom laughing uncontrollably. Luckily the woman didn't find me a complete creep and rolled down her window and said she was glad she wasn't the only one who did that. She must have ex-prego brain as well. 

Revelry Fun

My favorite, favorite, favorite festival of all time is the Red River Revel. And guess what, it's REVEL time! It started last weekend and I've been a Mrs. Antsy Pants to go. I actually won passes this year- go me. Thank you Shreveport Times. Yesterday the weather was beautiful, not too hot, not too cold. And just the right amount of sunshine. We loaded down the ole Honda Pilot and trucked it to festival plaza. Parking spots were limited (because it's downtown), but somehow we managed to get front row. Chris was so excited he almost ramped my tire onto the curb, leaving a pretty little scratch on my rim. Oh well, this is my mom vehicle. It's going to happen. We ate some wonderful food. Chris had the muffaletta pizza and I had a chopped barbecue beef sandwich. Dessert- of course funnel cake. E got his first taste of funnel cake, and of course he wasn't nowhere near as excited about it as his Mommy. Story of my life..haha. After our tasty lunch we checked out all of the vendors. E never once fussed, he was too busy people watching. As a matter of fact, so busy people watching that he refused to look at me while I was trying to snap pictures. Little turkey. E was so excited about his good time at the Revel that he boycotted his afternoon nap. E was running on a thirty minute nap all day. Might I add, he was in an amazing mood. I'll take it. 

Cruising the Revel

E got a free basketball. Chewed on it the whole time.

The boys

Twinsies

 

E (busy people watching) and me 

Did I mention we had another poo disaster? As I was getting ready to bathe E, I did as I usually do and just took his diaper off in one swoop and threw it in the trash. Only this time it had a surprise and that surprise went EVERY where. The floor, the toilet seat, the tub, the shower curtain. One day I will learn. 

In the Spirit of Halloween

Since Halloween is just around the corner I decided this would be the perfect blog post. Last year was such a fun Halloween. It was the first time I ever made my costume. Mrs. Crafty Pants. I reached deep down inside to my innermost Martha Stewart. I saw this prego skeleton costume on Pinterest and I knew this was THE chosen costume. I ran into a couple of road blocks along the way, but in the end it turned out perfect. To add a little special touch I made baby E a fireman, just like his daddy :) Here is the Make it and Love it blog where I found the easy step by step guide on how to make the costume:

Prego Skeleton Costume

This is me and all of my nieces and nephews. I will miss this part of Halloween this year :( 

My sweet little man brewing in there. 

The hubs and me

Gymboree Fun

Today was E's first day of Gymboree and he LOVED it! Being the super frugal Mom I am, I waited until Groupon had a Gymboree deal to sign E up. $35 for one month and no membership fee, yes please. Plus E wasn't extremely social until about a month ago. I must say E was in pure heaven. As soon as I sat him on the mat he started waving at the other kids. Mr. Social. And I must admit Mommy had quite a fun time as well. There were four kids in his class. Two were 14 months + and the other was a couple of months older than E. I wish there had been more his age. The gap between fourteen months and ten is pretty large. The older two are bumping up to the next class. So it will be just E and the other little boy. I might end up switching to another class because the whole purpose of going to Gymboree was to get E around more kids.

E loves the balls.

Making friends. Can you see that huge smile?

Please excuse my unflattering position. Note to self: Next class avoid the leg spread.

Peek-a-boo

E's first sliding experience. Not very impressed.

Wild man on the loose. 

Window licking. 

The windows are ceiling to floor in Gymboree. 

E loved watching the cars and watching the people pass. 

We will be busting out those bubbles, E loved them.

Will he climb through the tunnel?

Yes he will! 

This child isn't scared of anything.

Beating on the drum. He cried when the teacher took his stick away. 

(The only time he cried.)

As you can see, we had an absolute blast! It was such a new environment for E. This makes me excited for the future. Future t-ball games and future soccer games and future school programs. Being a mommy is the best thing ever! So much more exciting than my past life as a party girl. 

E had so much fun at Gymboree he pooped his bath water. Yay! And then he tried to play in it. Luckily I was quick on my toes and yanked him out before he could get a handful. And guess who wasn't home AGAIN....Chris. (Not his fault, somebody's got to work in this family.) The Lord loves to test me. Bring it :) With His guidance I'm going to be A okay.