Joshua's Super Sweet 16

November 29, 1995 - that is when my adventures in mommyhood began. It's hard to believe I have a 16 year old! I feel like I'm still in my 20's (most days) and for a girl knocking on 40's door, I look pretty darn good too! ANYWAY, enough about me...lol I guess I should have put this up earlier in the week but I guess that is the difference between a birthday celebrated on a Friday versus a birthday celebrated on a Tuesday night!

I know a lot of you may have seen that ridiculous show on MTV, where parents spend obnoxious amounts of money celebrating their child's sweet 16 birthday... well since the real estate market took a dump in 2008, I wasn't able to take a second mortgage out on the house to make his dreams come true with Rap stars and Go-Go dancers, sorry. I mean if his party could get the same return on investment as Kim Kardashians wedding bash (aka PubStunt or just your good old run of the mill - Sham), it would have been well worth the effort. Unfortunately, I never planned on such an event, it's just not how we roll.

SO, in our family tradition, the birthday boy got to chose where he'd like to dine for the evening (we all know he wasn't going to choose a home cooked meal, I can't blame him either) and the family all joined together to sing Happy Birthday and watch him blow out the candle on his lemon meringue pie (this is a veering off the tradition, but it's what he wanted instead of cake, so be it!) and of course - presents.

We were kind of stumped as to what he could possibly need, we know what his top 3 list items were, 1. Driver Ed, 2. Car and 3. Laptop... Well the first two weren't happening, he's got some work to do before that comes to fruition. The Laptop was something we were throwing back and forth. It is, and we both realize, a bit much for a birthday present, even this overly dramatized 16th birthday. We did decide that if we did make such a large purchase, it would be like, Happy Birthday - Merry Christmas (maybe throw in Valentines Day, St Patrick's Day and Memorial Day too!) - So off to Best Buy we went.

Joshua stayed over his friends house on Monday night, so bright and early (and really to make sure he was up in time to go to school) I called him and sang my little heart out. His reaction, "Thanks Mom." - Ahhhh teenagers... I am sure he didn't even listen to the entire song! Regardless, the count down began to his present unveiling... I know, the 1st Birthday - Princess wrapping is so played out, but hey it's not like we were going to use it again anyway... Lord knows I don't need to store more wrapping paper! Besides, I found it humorous...maybe it's just me, but I'll take what I can get!

So all day, time is winding down, you'd think it was my birthday - I was so excited to see his reaction... Would it be tears? Would there be a girly scream to rival those Justin Beiber (I don't understand why) would hear trying to buy bubblegum at the grocery store? Would he jump up & down yelling "Thank You! Thank You! You're the best parents in the world!!!"... No, there would be none of that. I'd like to think it was shock and awe,  Stephen later told me Joshua had tweeted his excitement moments after opening his gift... well that makes me feel better...lol

JoshMcMorrow Josh McMorrow

I got a new Mac book!

29 Nov Favorite Retweet Reply

And course he had gone to the House of Blues to see Mac Miller, he met him that morning at the mall or something when he was Black Friday Shopping with a friend... The boy loves his twitter, I wonder if Mac Miller ever responded...

JoshMcMorrow Josh McMorrow

@MacMiller follow me it's my birthday. http://pic.twitter.com/T4i0SrtB

29 Nov Favorite Retweet Reply

 
Anyway, back to the festivities! Joshua almost didn't want to go to dinner, but he is 16, and apparently needs to feed like a cow in the mid-west, because the boy does not stop eating. Which is one reason he HAS to get a job this summer, I mean besides the fact I work from home now, I can't afford to have him home everyday for every meal... he needs to start carrying his weight around here!

Of we went to dinner... We went to Liberty, not my favorite, but it's where he wanted to go... I am not a steak person, so I ordered the salmon, why it came out looking fried is beyond me...yuck. Anyway, he seemed to enjoy his meal & was looking forward to getting back to the house to play with his new laptop!

All in All I think it was a success, he enjoyed his birthday and now will bug me to help him set this and that up on his computer as he learns the way of the Mac.
I can't believe he is 16, wow. Just WOW. I may be taking this harder than when I turned 30... or when he turned 5...that was rough too...lol

Happy Sweet 16 Joshua... you're a great kiddo and we've been through a lot, we've had some ups and downs, but at the end of everyday one thing has never changed, and never will - I love you, seriously... I do.

Gabriella Turns 1!

Thinking back to a year ago, it's hard to believe how much my life has changed. It's been a busy weekend at the Eptons. We started off our holiday weekend with the Turkey Trot, shared a fabulous meal and then today, we celebrated our baby girls FIRST birthday! It's hard to believe in 4 days, Joshua will be 16!!! Where has the time gone? Is it me or does it go by faster and faster the older I get?

This morning Gabby decided once again that 330am was a fine time to rise and shine. I really didn't think she would go back down. I was up with her until about 430am, then reinforcements arrived, meaning Stephen. I would say around 5am, she was finally back down. Of course 630am the princess was ready to kick off her birthday festivities! We started the morning with a pancake and some fresh apple slices. She tried a blueberry but it must have been too tart, admittedly, I laughed when she scrunched her face and shook side to side...lol

We played for a while after breakfast, she was winding down but fighting a nap big time! I had so much prep to do for her big day and it wasn't long before is was 10am and I had nothing done yet... She finally decided to go down around 1045, so then I started on her smash cake. I will be completely honest, when Joshua turned one, I didn't even know what a smash cake was. I would say, I cut a piece of his birthday cake and he ate it like crazy! I decided I would make her smash cake match her bakery cake - Pink & Purple. Of course, I took it to the next level, Purple cake, Pink icing...

It seems like when you have people coming to your house, you always run out of time...why would today be any different right? I was running in different directions and despite a call from Stephen from the store telling me they couldn't find her cake, it was all under control.  I was relieved to see Stephen arrive home with the cake, apparently they were just having issues locating it, phew. Everyone arrived at the same time, even the pizza delivery chick, and I was still in the midst of finishing up icing and decorating her cake and the cupcakes. After some pizza, it was time for presents...

 If I had to guess I would think that Gabriella was on sensory overload. There were so many people, so much attention and so much unwrapping to do! I know for a fact that she was very pleased with all of her prezzies because when it was cake time, she really just wanted to continue to ride around!

I have to say, I may have erroneously thought that Gabby would dive into her cake face first... She was a lot more skeptical than I would have ever imagined. I thought for sure she would have crumbs flying, icing on the walls and be covered in cake remnants! She was tame, fortunately, daddy was there to try to show her the ropes... Kinda regretting my "lead by example" motto... no, not really... it was a pretty awesome spectacle, as seen in the video (it's kind of long but it's cute!)

I believe her first birthday was quite a success, there was pizza, cake and a stroll around the hood in her new wagon (there is another seat, so Connor may get invited on a walk about one day soon...lol) - She was tuckered out, got a nice bath and went down a little earlier than usual (which means I will probably be up at 2am but totally worth it) which is nice, I needed to relax a little - it's been a long, busy day for me too!

Happy FIRST Birthday Gabriella, Mommy & Daddy love you so very much!

Now, 4 more days until Joshua's birthday...OYE!

Giving Thanks & The Grand Strand Turkey Trot 8k!

Oh Thanksgiving morning, how I adore thee... Honestly, it's quite possibly my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving morning last year, I had welcomed my daughter, Gabriella, into the world. Needless to say I missed the Turkey Trot and enjoyed (sorta) my dinner in the hospital. This year I couldn't feel more blessed. I am in the full swing of my passion for running, back into my pre-pregnancy jeans, and thoroughly embracing everyday with my family.  A lot of awesome things have happened for me, and my family. I had my daughter, completed my first unofficial triathlon, ran my first half, took a new job and found time to smell the roses. When I was approached by The Digitel Myrtle Beach to be their sponsored athlete for the Myrtle Beach Race Series, I was thrilled! Who me? Ah, heck yeah! So today was the first race of the series, and I completed the 5th Annual Grand Strand Turkey Trot 8k. It was a typical morning, I had been up with Gabby at 3am, back to sleep at 4am, and the dreaded alarm blared at 615am. Ugh. My friend Jenn picked me up at 7am, we decided to carpool to packet pickup on this very chilly and a little bit breezy Thanksgiving morning. We had some time to kill after we got our bibs & shirts so we just spent it chit chatting in the car, since it was still 45 degrees out. As the time dwindled we made our way to the start. I guess there was an overwhelming response to this event (which is awesome since it was for charity!) and we got off to a little bit of a late start but nothing crazy. I didn't mind because I had a few minutes to catch up with my friend Christine who had recently moved away, and was in town! She was pacing her little boy while pushing a double jogger - she kinda rocks like that! I wish we had more time to chat but it wasn't long before the siren sounded and off we all went! Jenn is a tad faster (ok, a LOT faster than me) and when the crowd started moving, she was gone. I decided for this race that I would abandon my start fast and go like that for as long as possible, since it really wasn't working for me. I decided today that I was there to simply enjoy the run. So the only goal I set, stay under a 10 minute mile, and finish before 50 minutes. The course is flat, they say fast, but I say - depends on who's running it! As I hit 1.70 miles a gust of wind took my Nike visor right off my head! Thankfully (as going with the theme for today) a runner that was behind me scooped it up and handed it back to me. The whole visor thing through me for a minute, I had to get back into a groove.  The 8k and 5k runners started off together, and as we reached the split, I have to be honest - I had wished I was doing the 5k! I think my problem is that I really don't get comfortable until about 3.5 miles. As I started heading down Farrow Parkway, I started seeing people coming back (since mile 3 & 4 are an out and back) already - sometimes that can be a downer. Today, I just looked at the people passing me trying to guess how fast they were going and perhaps for a fleeting second, daydreamed about how it would feel to be at the head of the pack. Despite my daydreaming, I maintained a good pace, and soon enough I was turning around. Now, I was the person people were seeing, and all I could think was, "Good job guys!", and I like to think that's when everyone who was passing me was thinking too! I was at about 4.7 miles when I felt like I could pee myself (any woman with a child knows what I am talking about) but I knew I was close to the end.  The running path had started getting busy with non-racers, so I was weaving in and out of walkers and post-race peeps cooling down. Just a little farther, it's right about this corner, up over this last little bridge. You got to love a little downhill action to propel you toward the end, and boy did I need that! I don't have an official time yet, but according to my Garmin, my time was 49:28 (Update: Official Chip Time : 49:33) and my average time splits were 9:46, 10:01, 9:53, 10:00, 9:40 and 8:07 with an overall average pace of 9:52. In my book, not a bad day at all - this turtle will take it! What could be better than hitting a race goal you ask? Well for me, I think the best part of any race is when I can see my wonderful husband, who is always so supportive of all my races, standing at the finish line holding my baby girl. Someday she will actually understand what is going on, and I can't wait to hear her cheer me on... Of course the Eptons never decline a photo op, so here we are taking a minute to digitally document our day at the race, thanks to Jenn for being our photographer ;) Cutie Connor The last part of the day, which I think is beyond adorable is the Tot Trot. Of course next year Gabriella will be sporting a pair of Newtons (do they even make them that small?) for the Tot Trot so watch out! My friend Regan was there with her adorable son Connor (a.k.a. Future Heart Breaker!). He was so pleased with his race bling, and who wouldn't be? I think he was making eyes at Gabby too - we will have a chat about that later! I love seeing little kids being active, kudos to all the parents out there making their kids part of this wonderful race day! Now no race would be complete with admiring my own race bling! I love this medal, it's cute, it's colorful and it's a good size too! I really had a good time at this Turkey Trot, there were so many people just hanging out, listening to music and putting off positive vibes. I am so excited for this whole race series! Next up in the series is the Pressed for Time which means this girl here better be hitting the weights! I'm not hitting on much when it comes to the upper body strength and I am going to need to do some serious work! The bench press portion happens on January 13, 2012 and the race is the 14th. I cannot wait to see what the t-shirt and race bling for this race it going to look like! The rest of my Thanksgiving involved me attempting to make a homemade macaroni & cheese (which turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself!), and nice dinner with family and friends, and of course a little football! I haven't quite made it to dessert, my mom made homemade apple pie & pumpkin squares, not sure what I am waiting for! I guess Monday is when I will be recommitting to a healthy diet and fitness routine... Tomorrow is my baby girls first birthday so there is cake in my immediate future! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know I could not feel more blessed than I do today.