Happy 3rd Birthday Ezra James!

Three years ago -- August 31, 2007:

August 29, 2010 -- Ezra's 3rd birthday party:

August 2010 - 101 miles for me!

I did it. I ran 101 miles this month. And I feel fantastic! I'll probably stick to more reasonable 15-20 miles per week now that I'm back at work but for this August I am happy that I achieved my goal. And since posts are always more fun with pictures here are a few of someone who I'm always chasing around. He's doing the exact opposite of running -- eating Dales Donuts. But hey, it's all about balance right? Run 101 miles and you can really enjoy them. :0) Would you believe that we've never taken him for donuts until this past month? A fun little Saturday morning treat for sure. He digs them!

Ezra's 3rd birthday party is this afternoon. He is EXCITED!!!

El Tesoro

8.7.10

We went out to El Tesoro a couple weeks ago. Logan is on the board for Camp Fire and was one of the volunteers for their De La Vida end of camp staff luncheon. So we headed out to Granbury for a morning of prepping food (Logan) and exploring the campgrounds (me and Ezra.)

Logan and Ezra - August 2010 - Ezra, almost 3 years old

And a little comparison shot from the last time we were there.

Nell and Ezra -- August 2008 -- Ezra, almost 1 year old

Back to 2010. Logan and Ezra walking across that same bridge.

We dropped Logan off and then Ezra and I went to explore. I have fun memories of trips to El Tesoro with my Bluebirds troop growing up. It would have been early elementary school for me -- probably 2nd-4th grade. These cabins still look the exact same to me as they did way back then.

Week Three = 82 miles

18 miles and one week left to reach my goal. It's definitely harder to get in miles now that I'm back to work. If I could only add a few hours to the day. I wish. First day of school for Fort Worth kiddos tomorrow. Good luck to everyone in the morning. :0)

And a few pictures of my kiddo...he digs Logan's new Ipad. He looks so big to me in these pictures. And speaking of big, our success story of the week is that Ezra has made it a full week of sleeping in big boy underwear at night. No more pullups. That's the last piece of the puzzle for us on this whole potty training adventure. Now that he's made it a full week with no accidents in the nighttime I'm going to officially declare him potty trained. Right before his 3rd birthday. Big success for us!

Dining Room Makeover!!!

It’s done! I am LOVING our new dining room! They say a room should rise up to meet you. This one definitely does and I love spending time in it! It’s where we eat most of our meals now and also where I do most of my editing. So alot of time is spent in this room. It took a little longer than expected to pull it all together but I think it was worth the wait. A big thank you to my amazingly talented sister Mary Bess for her decorating skills and guidance through this makeover.

The walls are a smoky gray color. They were inspired by the back wall at Simple Things. Love that store.

Chandelier – This one of my favorite things in our house. It's a wrought iron and crystal chandelier that belonged to my great Aunt Frances Short Carvill. It was given to her by her brother Tom Short who lived in California. Purchased sometime in the 60's or 70's and then eventually given to my mother. My mom gave it to us when we moved into our old house 7 years ago. I have always loved it and especially do now that it belongs to us.

Buffet – I found this back in April when I was in Austin with Shana for her bachelorette party. It came from a really neat store on South Congress called Uncommon Objects.

Mirror – I got this one a few years ago for free on a random trip to Goodwill. I was dropping off some donations at a drop off station when another guy was trying to donate this giant mirror. The only problem for him was that that particular station wouldn’t take large mirrors. So his problem became my new mirror! It was a yucky gold but I still liked it. He said it had been hanging in his mother’s house since 1978. For our new dining room I painted it white, then light blue, then black, and then roughed up the edges with sand paper. Walla!

Table, Chairs, & Bench – These are new from Crate & Barrell. The table is actually our second table to get this summer. The first one I purchased was an antique Mexican door table and it was delivered at the end of May. It was really neat but once we had it in the room we discovered the top was warped and was going to need a major rehaul to actually be functional. So for almost two months we had this one there while we were figuring out to do. Talk about some major buyer’s remorse on my part. Luckily I was talking to the owner of a different antique store here in Fort Worth and he suggested that I ask the store to return it. And sure enough they did. Nice! And then about a week later I found this one at Crate & Barrel. This new one is perfect.

Curtains – These were sewn by my sister Mary Bess. Have I mentioned how good my sister is to me?!?! THANK YOU MB!!! Curtain rods are from Pottery Barn.

Life is Beauty Full – I got this last year from Sugarboo Designs. This was the very first thing I purchased at our new home. Just love it!

China Cabinet & Rug – we’ve had both of these for a while now at the old house and new. In my original makeover plan I thought I was going to look for a new cabinet and rug. But after putting everything together I kind of like the way they look so they might stick around for a while.

And here's the before picture from right before we moved in last June:

And a few pictures of our dining room this past year before the makeover. These were all taken last summer/early fall right around the time when Ezra turned two years. I think this room has come a long way!

Goodbye Summer 2010

Heading back to work tomorrow. I'm a little bit sad about this because it has been such a relaxing and laid back summer. Two full months of pretending to be a stay-at-home-mom has been really nice. I know that I have it really good (two months off of work is AMAZING! I know that most of the work world doesn't get this and I am truly grateful to have the awesome job that I have) but I am sad that I'm heading back to reality tomorrow. I will miss the slow pace we have had at our house and the flexibility of everything. I do not look forward to our school mornings starting up again tomorrow. That hour or so in the morning of trying to myself (and Ezra) ready, get out the door, get Ezra to daycare, and to make it to work on time always has my stress level super high. If you happen to see me in the morning between 8:30-9:00 you know what I'm talking about. That's the time that I'm always booking it. Hopefully we'll do better this year though. Preparation is key and tonight I have everything ready!

On a happy note though here are a few pictures from a couple weeks ago of Ezra James. One of his new things this summer has been baseball. We pretty much skipped right over t-ball after a day or two of the T and have been strictly baseball now for the past two months. I can't believe we waited this long to play. Yes, our Idaho cousins would be disappointed in us for starting this late. I will always remember how Topher was pounding the balls down the street at his 2nd birthday party many years ago. And I just know that one day I will be sitting in a major league park watching my nephew play ball! His Uncle Logan will be his agent of course. :0) Ezra loves baseball! We have played it many, many, many mornings this summer. Looking forward to starting him in a t-ball league. I think it will be spring?

And one last note about summer -- I have been super dooper productive this week. Why does it always work out this way. Wish I was like this all the time. AND today I put the last finishing touches on our dining room makeover. Pictures coming in the next day or two. I just need to find a "before" picture to share. The transformation is amazing!

Week Two : 60 Miles

I've now logged 60 miles of my goal of 100 for August. Run 60 miles in 13 days and you'll feel pretty darn good about yourself. I do! This summer marks my 8th year of consistently working out. For 8 years now I've been doing some form of running, weights, or yoga. And a lot of that time I've had a combination of all three. (Love it when that happens!) It all started the summer that my husband was studying for the bar. Exercise has been a big part of his life ever since he lost 60 pounds (crazy, right!) Pretty much the only breaks he took from studying that summer were for working out so if I was going to see him it had to be working out with him at the gym. That's when it started. And it's just kind evolved since then. Sure I've had moments where I've taken a week or two off but besides those few times exercise has been a consistent part of my life and for that I feel great! So if you are reading this and don't exercise then you should start. It will change your life. And back to my 60 miles this month.... still feeling good but more tired this week. My legs are definitely feeling it. I can only imagine what this could do for me if I could do this all the time. I wish I could. It's a big push for me though so one month is a good goal for me now. I'm heading back to work on Monday. Back to the real world. I've definitely been spoiled this summer. :0)

A few shots from our recent trip to our sweet little neighborhood park. We were there about 7:30 a.m. and it was already crazy hot. It didn't bother Ezra in the least though. He always wants to be outside. :0)