Christmas Caroling

On the last day of school Kohen's KG class got to Christmas Carol around the school the last 30 minutes of the day....I just happen to stumble upon them right when they were getting started...My camera was still in my car from Kresee's Christmas Play so I went and grabbed get to get a few pictures....

Then they went into the cafeteria to sing for the 6th graders since they were at lunch....

It was really cute watching all of them...They had a great time and loved singing for the entire school:)

SLP Christmas Play

Kresee had her 1st SLP Christmas performance...Kerry and I have had the pleasure of seeing this the past 2 years with Kohen (he was the innkeeper both years)...After her outstanding dance performance the other night, I was hoping she would do well today....
Here she is just walking in and she spotted us...She was the prettiest little angel:) Jack was the innkeeper...But he spotted his momma and lost it:(...Poor guy!

Mary and Joseph asking the Innkeeper if there was any room....

The 2 little angels waiting on their part of the story...
Kresee running to bring baby Jesus to the manger

Putting baby Jesus in the manger

Then the angels went to tell everyone that Jesus was born....

After her wonderful performance:), we snapped a quick pic of us with our angel....

Christmas Dance Recital

Kresee had her 1st little dance recital on Wednesday at Rolling Meadows retirement home....I built it up all day long trying to make a big deal about how she was going to perform for all of us...We never get to see her dance at class so she acted excited about Kohen and Daddy and Grammie coming to watch her....

Luckily, when we got there the teachers took them away from us...We went and stood in the very back allowing the people who lived there to sit in all the seats...Kohen and Jude ended up going and sitting on the carpet on the 1st row with Meme and Big Papa...But mom and I got close seats when it started....

Here they are bringing them out and lining them all up...

I honestly thought she would see us and come running...I just knew she would climb up and sit in someone's lap and not want to participate...But since she surprised me with Santa's visit, I shouldn't underestimate her:)....Here she is looking for us....She did see us immediately and just smiled and waved...My friend Ashley videotaped it for me and I'm so glad b/c she was soooo stinking cute....

Here is Ezra (who Ashley thought would cry as well, but did awesome too!!)

Kresee did every single dance move the entire song....She loved being up there and performing...She is so shy and I was so proud of her....

Here are some sweet ones of Ezra....

Kresee dancing her little heart out:)

They actually performed 3 times...I didn't take any pictures the 2nd song...But then the whole group came out at the end to sing "we wish you a merry christmas"

I can honestly say that I've been wondering what in the world I'm doing paying this much $$ each month for stinking 2 year old dance lessons...BUT after seeing and watching this, I think it's been $$ well spent...You knew she loved it and loved being up there...Made my heart smile....She is such a sweet girl!!

Holiday Hustle 5K

I didn't know if I wanted to sign up for the Holiday Hustle at the YMCA this year or not....Since it was going to be just 6 days after my 1/2 marathon and with my hip issues, I was wondering if my body would like me very much....But I said why not?....This was my 1st ever 10K last year! and I didn't want to do the 10K and signed up for the 5K instead to play it safe...Surely I could go and run 3.1 miles....The Tuesday after the 1/2, I ran 2 miles and did an hour of Zumba and felt great...So I knew I was good to go....

It was very chilly Saturday morning...The low was like 26 degrees....Kohen had a basketball game at 8:30 at the YMCA, so I watched his 1st half then went outside for the 9:00 start time....BTW--they lost 12-4...But in their defense, I'm pretty sure there were some 1st graders on that team...Made our KG look tiny compared to some of them!

I thought I would take this run nice and easy...It was just one of those where you run 1.5 miles and turn around and run right back....Before the turn around, I was counting and realized there were only 5 girls ahead of me...So the competitive person came out...I knew I could catch the 3rd and 4th place girl and would be happy placing 3rd female overall....So that's what I did:)

I finished in 27:46 (new PR for me)...I was the 3rd female and 9th overall...And I got 2nd place in my age division, so I got me a nice silver medal!...And the best part was they were giving away door prizes...I won the last prize--$25 gift card to Academy...I was super excited about that!

Shea ran the 10K and got 1st place in her age division...She is fast...Ran it right under 55 minutes....I don't know if I could do a 10K ever in that time!!
I talked Ashley into coming out and running it...She was cursing me beforehand, but after was super glad she did it...She pushed herself really hard and was very proud of herself...And I'm always proud of my friends for getting out there and running!!

This was my 4th 5K and my time has improved a little each time....Almost by a whole minute from the City of Lights 5K 3 weeks ago!

Lazy Girl

This is what Kresee does every single day when we get home from school...When we pull up to the house she says "Mommy I'm tired. I want some chocolate milk and I want to watch Curious George." So I have to get her all situated and she hangs out for a bit...It's nice because it gives me time to unload the car, sort through backpacks and get dinner started....She even will leaves her coat on most days like in these pictures:)

Visiting Santa

Kresee hates Santa...Well she hates the Easter Bunny or anything that might be dressed up in a costume....I didn't even take the kids to see Santa last year b/c I knew there was no way she would go fot it...She initially said she didn't want to visit Santa..."I not sit in his lap"..."I don't like Santa"....But then about 2 weeks ago, she changed her mind...."I go see him. I won't cry." ...I honestly did NOT believe her...But she asked more than once....Last Monday (the day after my 1/2) I took the day off to rest and relax....Kerry wasn't feeling great at all and so he ended up taking a sick day....So we thought we might as well take the kids that evening while when we weren't busy....
Kresee before we left the house...She's ready to go!
We got to the mall and started walking towards the set-up...There was no one there and he was hanging out by the cash register...Santa saw us and started HO-HO-HOing...I think it freaked her out for a minute...But I would have bet a million dollars she would chicken out...She didn't look excited, more like she knew she had to do it--haha...She went right on up and sat in his lap....She didn't smile once...But she did answer some of his questions....I was just in shock!!!

This one was from my phone...Kohen was just talking away looking at who knows what...Kresee was leaning as far away as she could without falling off his lap....He was a great Santa...He looked good and took the time to really talk to them (again no line)....I was so proud of her....

My uncle comes over every Christmas Eve morning to the Maroney's to visit with Kohen, Kresee and their cousins...I really hope she does well and sits in his lap for some pictures as well...Kohen has never cared nor has he been scared of anything like that....So I guess I knew I had to have one that would be:)

White Rock Half-Marathon

This past Sunday, I ran my 2nd half-marathon at White Rock in Dallas on December 4th.....This is my re-cap mainly for myself to read back someday...SO it could be very boring for anyone else--haha!!


Saturday it was really cold here...like 41 degrees and rainy...Just yucky weather....My mom came and picked me up and we headed down to Dallas at 12:30....We arrived and it was in the 60's there and just gorgeous...But we knew what was coming...The yucky weather just hadn't made it to the Dallas area yet....We checked into the hotel and then drove down to Fair Park so that we would know exactly where we were going the next morning since 25,000 runners would be doing the same thing....We came back to the hotel and met up with Mike....We were starving and drove right down the street to some hole-in-the-wall Italian place....But it was super yummy...I could have just eaten bread for dinner and been totally happy...By the time dinner was over, it was rainy and windy and cold in Dallas:(.....


We went back to the hotel to watch OU get spanked by OSU....I actually tuned out during the 3rd quarter and was going to bed at 9:30 knowing the 5:00 am alarm would be early!!


We got up at 5 on Sunday morning...I looked outside immediately and saw the rain just coming down....Not good and not very motivating....And it was in the low 40's as expected....I put on my long-sleeve shirt with a short sleeve on top...My capri tights...My ear warmers and nike hat...And my gloves that I could throw away if I needed to....I ate a mini bagel with some dark chocolate peanut butter and we left the hotel right after 6:00....


I honestly wasn't that nervous which was weird...I get crazy nervous for just stupid 5Ks here in town...I think the cold, rainy weather was my main worry....And not the whole running 13.1 miles!

We arrived and walked and walked...Found a restroom a mile long...Waited inside a building for a bit....The race was to start at 8:00...About 7:55, knowing we were in Corral C and not at the front, we headed out to the starting line....We got to see the fireworks and hear the National Anthem...And it wasn't raining....Just a very light drizzle.....We got to see the elite runners take off and we just walked until we could get into the corrals....


But the rain started not 30 seconds into the race and it never really stopped.....The first 2 miles Mike and I ran side by side....Then I could tell he was probably going to keep a faster pace than me, so I gave him the go ahead....And he took off ahead of me....I'm really glad I wore my hat b/c it really helped when the rain started really pouring around mile 2.5.....But it wasn't bad...I never thought it was too much and I honestly never got cold...The first 3-4 miles really flew by....I was keeping a good pace (for me) right at or under 10:00 min/mile...The rain let up some too....

My times are a little off b/c I had to start my runkeeper a little before I officially ran across the starting line...It was hard to mess with b/c I had my phone seran-wrapped and in a ziploc bag and then in a little pouch that fit around my waist...that phone was NOT going to get wet (Kerry warned me that I would be in big trouble if it did)!!!


Mile 1--9:57
Mile 2--10:03 (grabbed some water at a station)
Mile 3--9:52
Mile 4--9:57


The rain started coming down again and I thought I might be going to fast but it felt good and comfortable...I knew coming though at mile 6 were some hills...But they really started at mile 5.5 and the never ending hill lasted until mile 9....I was familiar with it since we ran a lot of the same streets as the Rock N Roll in March and these hills I had run on before.....I felt way more prepared and in shape this time around....My goal was to attempt to keep around the same pace or just a tad slower, but not kill myself so that I still had energy from mile 9 on...I only trained up to 10 miles and only did it once....


Mile 5--9:53
Mile 6--10:10
Mile 7--10:09
Mile 8--10:06
Mile 9--10:12


But man when those hills leveled out, I could tell my legs were tired from all that...I was happy that my splits were still OK b/c I grabbed water twice at 2 stations during those miles....Then I was really ready to see if I could speed up and finish it...I knew I was doing well and I was feeling good...Again, I couldn't believe my feet were not frozen since you stepped in a million puddles...I was soaked and I had on 2 pair of gloves that I never took off....I was actually just fine temperature wise....

Mile 9 was where we split from the marathoners...We went right and they went left...I honestly still can't imagine doing a marathon and I was glad to be turning right:)


Mile 10--10:01
Mile 11--9:34
Mile 12--9:56 (stopped for water)


A little before 12.5 miles, the cops started buzzing and moving us all over to the right b/c the 1st place marathoner was approaching!!!...I just yelled for him...It was amazing knowing he was passing me!!!...He finished 26.2 in 2 hrs 17 mins!!!!...Crazy:)...Sure was inspirational though:)


Mile 13--9:33 (I love that this last mile was the fastest of all of them!!)

And then I couldn't get my stinking phone out the of pouch to push the stop button for a good 30 seconds after I finished which was super annoying, so it's a little off...Of course, it's even more off since I ran techinally 13.31 instead of 13.1...I wasn't the only only who had that mileage either...That's OK...I like these numbers better:)
My official 13.1 race time was 2:11:38 for 10:02min/mile pace....I guess I was disappointed for a second b/c all I knew was my time on my phone and I saw my average pace of 9:58, but again my distance was longer...But I got over it quickly knowing my last 1/2 was a 2:20 something finish at a 10:36min/mile pace...That's awesome beating that time for a new PR!!!!


As soon as you finished, you were shuffled into a building which was nice...B/C it was fah-reeezing the minute you stopped running!!...They gave you your medal and you got your picture made...Mike found me right away....We walked over and got our finisher shirt, a banana and a water....Then we walked outside and froze again to another building to meet mom so she could take our pictures:)

Mike did awesome...His time was 2:10:19 so a little over a minute ahead of me....Super proud and amazed by him!!...Think about where he was this time last year...Right in the middle of his battle with cancer...He was on a feeding tube, receiving chemo and radiation, etc....And now look at him...Seriously, he is amazing!
I could not get those clothes off FAST enough...I was just soaking wet...And it probably took me a good 15 minutes to change in the bathroom stall...You know how hard it is to get wet clothes off and then put dry clothes on your sticky, wet body....

I'm glad I signed up for White Rock...I'm proud of myself for completing 2 half-marathons in 2011....I'm glad I beat my previous time....And I can't wait to sign up for my 3rd one...Contemplating one in January in town...If not maybe Cowtown in February??...Not sure yet:)