Quick Update...

Things have been really hectic around the Chandler household! Not only did I go back to work, but Miss Madison has been sick. I think we are finally over it, but I don't know. She seems to feel much, much better.

Work is going great for me. I'm not fond of the commute, but I will live with it. The commute in Tulsa was a piece of cake to compared with what I have to deal with now! It is not fun. I enjoy working again, but I also miss spending time with Madison. I know she misses me too. She was soooo happy last week when I stayed home with her when she was sick. However, she is learning soooo much. She can count to 20, knows her colors, and knows her shapes. She is talking up a storm, and she repeats everything you say. She turned into a little girl over night!! She's a lot of fun right now, and we are enjoying this stage.

My parents are coming this weekend, and Jeff is out of town next week. I hope to try and keep this better updated, but I just don't know if I have the time to do it anymore. Facebook is much easier to keep up! :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Remember the Ten Run

This weekend was the Remember the Ten run. We did the 5k. It was really good to be back in Stillwater, and it was also good to be able to FINALLY do this run! I'm definitely making this a yearly thing to do. I finished at 33:45 and Jeff finished about 30 seconds after me. I was surprised at how well we both finished. Doug Gottlieb finished right ahead of me, so that was cool! It did rain the ENTIRE weekend. We had thought it was going to hold off during the run, but it didn't. It didn't rain hard, but enough that you were wet! Needless to say, we didn't get very many pics! :(

Here is Mommy and Madison before the race...

And, here is Mommy and Madison after the race. You can see the water all over the stroller...

Here is Mommy, Daddy, and Madison after the race...

Wendy and me after the race...

This is the memorial inside Gallagher Iba Arena...

For those of you that don't know, I was extremely close to Jared Weiberg. I ran in honor of him. I still miss him every single day!

America's Run 2010

Today was the first of my 2 5k's. It was America's Run 2010, and it was at Cowboys Stadium. It was a really cool event, and you got to finish on the 50 yard line! However, there were at least 5,000 people in the 5k! It was just packed the whole entire way. It was really hard to try and set a pace. The website says I finished in 34:07, which is 3 seconds faster than I thought!! :)

They also had a half marathon. Troy Aikman ran it. He did it in 1:49! Not bad Troy!

Here's Troy before the start...

So, here is the start of the 5k...crazy!

Here I am starting...I'm in the very middle with a pony tail! :)

Daddy and Madison got to wait for me to finish, so they wondered around. Here is Miss Madison outside of the stadium.

And, here are Mommy and Madison after the race. Madison is playing with my finishers medal.

So, next weekend is the Remember the Ten run. It's going to be a lot harder than this one, because it's more hilly AND I will have the jogging stroller. I'm sure it will be just as fun though!

Happy Easter!!!

Life Update...

So, this week has been kinda wild and crazy. I got back from my girls weekend in Atlanta, and I had no voice. It was awful. I really didn't feel bad, but sounded horrible. In the end, the doctor said that my vocal cords were irritated and gave me prednisone for a few days. I'm a lot better, but by no means 100%. If I'm not close to 100% by Monday, I am supposed to go back to the doctor.

Also, Madison has been sick again. I really just thought it was allergies. Jeff ended up taking her to the doctor on Wednesday since I was under strict orders not to talk. In the end, the doctor said that she was just starting to get an ear infection and had allergies. So, she's on amoxicillin and zyrtec. This is her FIRST ear infection. I have no idea how we made it this far without one, but we did! She's feeling better and went back to school on Thursday.

I got a speeding ticket this week too! I have no doubt I was speeding, but I really don't think I was going that fast. He said I was going 75 in a 60! UGH! Then today I got summoned for jury duty! JURY DUTY!! UGH!!! I'm not looking forward to it.

But, the BEST news of all is that I got a job! Yep, I'm going to be a geological technician again for a very small oil and gas company. I saw the job, and I applied last Tuesday. I interviewed on this Tuesday, and they offered me the job on the spot! I accepted on Thursday. So, I start the 26th. Miss Madison is going to start going full time at school. She's been doing awesome there, so I hope this is an okay change for her. The only thing that I think will be hard for her is the napping on a mat thing. She's soooo not going to go for that, but I know she will adjust. It's also just going to be a huge adjustment for the entire family, but I know in the end that this is a good move. I feel really good about it, and I'm excited to get back in the game! Wish me luck!

School, Sick, and New Shoes!

Madison survived her first week of preschool, and so did her Mommy!! The first day they basically had to rip her out of my arms. She wouldn't let go of me, and the teacher (Ms. Townsend) told me that she was going to cry no matter how long I stayed. It was awful. So, the second and third days were the same thing, except when we pulled in the parking lot, she started crying! However, the teachers said that she had really good second and third days. She made a friend the second day, and on the third day they went outside, and she LOVED it. So, I'm hoping that over time she will stop the crying. It's just going to take awhile. We have noticed that she is definitely talking a lot more. She tells us at dinner when we ask about her day, "I did...." Of course, we can't understand anything after I did!

Also, this week I was sick. I couldn't hear anything, and just felt terrible. I finally started feeling better on Friday. However on Thursday, Madison started coughing, and she has just gotten worse. She doesn't have a fever or anything, just congestion. And, now Jeff has it! UGH! I'm hoping that we will all be better next week.

AND, Madison got some new thongs a few weeks ago. She had a pair last year, and she wouldn't wear them at all! However, these she really, really liked! I put them on her today, and she pranced around showing us. It was cute. So, the pic up top is her in her new shoes!

Japanese Botanical Gardens

We went to the Japanese Botanical Gardens in Ft. Worth this morning. I've been wanting to go for a long time. I knew the weather was supposed to be nice. The temperature was perfect at around 60, but it was cloudy. There weren't many people there when we got there, but by the time we left, it was starting to get more crowded.

These gardens are part of the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens. It's very peaceful there. They have a huge koi pond in the middle, and you can buy food to feed them. So, we walked around and fed the fish. Actually, Madison RAN around, and she fell many times. It's very hilly and uneven, so she kept stumbling and falling. But, she always got right back up and kept going!

So, here we are feeding the fish and a couple of ducks!

This was a very fun and cheap activity to do as a family. We will definitely go back! I want to explore the other gardens. Maybe next time we can take a picnic.

I'm trying to do things around Ft. Worth that I've been wanting to do since we moved here. I decided that we've been here a year and a half, and there is a ton of stuff to do that we've never done. So, up next is the Ft. Worth Stockyards! Maybe we can go next weekend, weather permitting!

The Goddard School

We've been trying to figure out what we wanted to do with Madison in regards to a preschool for awhile now. We had wanted her to go 2 or 3 days a week starting this fall. All the preschool's/mother's day out programs are enrolling now. I honestly didn't go and look at any. Several of my friends went, and I knew which ones to stay away from and which ones were okay. Most of the ones that were okay were religious based, and we really didn't want that. So, I started doing other research and looking elsewhere. I came upon a place called The Goddard School. It's a chain that has been around for 22 years, and this particular location opened in June. It's more of a preschool than just daycare. Jeff and I felt very comfortable with it. It reminded us a lot of Riverfield, which is where we wanted Madison to go in Tulsa. All the lead teachers are certified. The owner is on site, and there is also a director. The director actually has her masters in early childhood education, and she approves all the lesson plans.

So, Madison is starting on Tuesday. She will go 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) from 9am to 1pm. They really encourage the parents to stop by whenever, and they said I could definitely stay with Madison until she started getting used to it. So, I was really relieved by that. Also, if the need arises, we can enroll her in full time care. So, that's good too!

So, this weekend we are on the hunt for some more shoes (closed toe, rubber soled), a lunchbox, and an over sized shirt for messy play! I've got the shoes taken care of, but we still need to get a lunchbox and the over sized shirt. Hopefully, we can find a lunchbox in March!

We are all excited for Madison, and we hope she loves her new school!

Bear Creek Park

Last weekend we went to Bear Creek Park in Keller to feed the ducks. It was really busy, but we had fun anyway. Madison LOVED to see everyone's dog, and we had to really watch her. We walked around the park, and then fed the ducks at the end. She didn't want to leave!

So after running around, we finally fed the ducks! She loved doing that, and told the ducks bye when we didn't have anymore bread!

We hope to go back more often since the weather is getting better. It's good for Madison to run and run and get all that energy out!!

Running

I've been trying to get back into running for a very long time. It always seemed like something came up that I couldn't do it. Well, I glad to say that running is back in my life!! It makes me feel good again, and it relieves some stress. I would say 99% of the time, Madison is with me, but it's good "alone" time for me. I can think about things. So, I signed up for two races in April! The first one is America's Run. It sounds neat, but I'm a little overwhelmed with the 20,000 people they are capping the race to!! You get to end on the 50 yard line inside Cowboys Stadium...very cool! The second run is the Remember the Ten run. I tried to run it the very first year it was held. However, I was pregnant and having some difficulties, so the doctor wouldn't let me race. I'm looking forward to the races very much!

In other news, Madison was sick at the beginning of the week. She's fine now. I think it was just some sinus drainage from all the weather change. They are already talking about possible flurries on Tuesday! UGH!! I'm ready for Spring!!

SNOW!

It's snowing here today, and when I say snowing, I mean SNOWING!! We were supposed to get like 1-3 inches, but they are predicting around 10-12 inches. That's a HUGE amount of snow for the DFW area. Jeff's flight tomorrow to the Daytona 500 has already been cancelled, but he has been rebooked. I hope he gets to go tomorrow! My parents were going to come tomorrow, but it's looking like they will probably just come on Saturday.

I took Madison out twice today, and she hasn't been impressed either time! She doesn't know what to think about this snow. She tries to eat it, which is cute!



Here's the street in front of our house...pure slush at this point, but once it freezes over night it's going to be a problem!



UGH! Is it Spring yet?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Bad Blogger

I know I've been a bad blogger. Not too many exciting things have been happening around here, so there hasn't been too much to blog about. Everyone is doing fine!

My parents got us fireplace doors and gas logs for Christmas. They didn't get installed until just a few weeks ago. We haven't got to use them too much because it has been so warm, but I'm using them today since it's 35 right now!

I forgot to take a pic of the doors shut before I lit it, so I tried to close them part way and take it. I really, really like the look of the doors.

And here the doors are open with the fire going!

In other news, Jeff finally got his master's diploma! He put it into the frame this weekend. He actually has an office at work now, so he's going to take all his diploma's and certifications to work now! I'm so proud of him for finally getting his masters!

Also, Jeff has been having problems with his foot. He finally went to the doctor yesterday, and they told him that he has a bone bruise from pounding the treadmill! He's supposed to keep to the elliptical. I hope this doesn't cause problems with the runs we are going to do the spring. We are planning on doing America's Run 2010 at Cowboys Stadium, and doing the Bristow Wildflower Run! I've been doing my Couch to 5k plan, and I'm on week 3. It's coming along, and Madison likes to go, so that's good!

Jeff and Jeremy are supposed to be going to the Daytona 500 this year. Of course, the race is on Valentine's Day! So, I guess I don't get to go to San Francisco or anything!! They will have fun, and I'm hoping that my parents or at least my mom will make it down here for a few days.

Hope everyone is doing well! And, for all you people in Oklahoma, I hope you still have power and are staying safe!!