this weekend...

This weekend has been a fun weekend for the Philley Pham.  It started with Sam hanging out in Mommy and Daddy's big bed for a while.  Look at him with his arm propped up...what a cutie!  We ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel then went to AT&T to get new phones.  Ron only kept his phone for a few hours and decided he didn't like it.  So off he went to get the phone of his dreams...  just in case you're wondering, he is very happy with his second choice.  We watched a little tennis and basketball, and then we were on our way to dinner.
We went to Rosie's for an early dinner and got a kick out of Sam eating the cheese dip.  Of course he dipped his chips in there, 'cause that's what you're supposed to do.  But he also dipped his fries and chicken fingers in there.  Basically, whatever he could get his hands on, it was going in the cheese.
After Rosie's, we went to Stein Mart to try to find some deals.  As usual, Sam came out with a new toy.  We found a wooden puzzle that we couldn't pass up.  It included fishes (don't laugh-I checked the dictionary and fishes is a real word) and a fishing rod with magnets on them.  As you can see in the picture, he's pointing to the next fish he wants Daddy to catch.

Sunday brought the usual...church, a sandwich for lunch, and a long nap for Sam.  I spent time organizing pictures from the last 2 years.  Now I just hope I have time to scrapbook some.  I also went to Old Navy and got Sam and his little brother-to-be matching shirts.  This is the first thing I've bought for #2 and it has me even more excited to have another boy.  They're gonna' look so cute together!

Well, I'll end this post now.  This post was so boring, that grandparents are probably the only ones who actually finished reading it all.  ...sorry to bore you...

The Yellow Bowl

My last post included a couple of things that came our way each day.  Thomas, rice cakes, etc.  So I'll keep going with this concept a little longer.  Does anyone want to know what yesterday brought?  What in the world could have made me take a picture of our kitchen sink with dirty dishes in it?

Sam woke up from his nap and I put a few Goldfish crackers in one of his kid-sized bowls.  He enjoyed crackers and juice while watching Curious George.  Once the bowl was empty, he got up and ran out of the den.  I sat on the couch, waiting to see what was about to happen.  I heard a loud noise, like he'd dropped the bowl on the floor.  He came running back to the den, bowl-less, so of course I get up and search room to room for the missing bowl.  It's not in the bathroom or bedrooms...  so I ask him "Sam, where's your bowl?".  He replies with "In the sink, Mommy".  WHAT!!??  I go to the kitchen and sure enough he'd stretched out his little arms to throw his dirty bowl in the sink.  I was shocked.  Neither Ron nor I had ever told Sam what to do with dirty dishes, but obviously he'd been watching us.  I clapped and gave him so many high-fives that even he was proud of himself.

This is obviously a great reminder, even in such a small way, that it's important how we live our lives.  I wonder what else Sam is picking up from us, good or bad.  I hope one day we'll see the love of the Lord in him...that will definitely be a day full of high-fives!

Thomas and Rice Cakes

I bought Sam his very own Thomas the Tank Engine toothbrush holder yesterday.  He played with it in the den for a while, proudly showing off the cup in one hand and toothbrush in the other.  Then it was time to take it to the bathroom and give it a test-run.
His favorite part about the set is the little cup it came with.  He's had lots of fun filling it up and drinking out of it.  What a big boy...I mean he's already drinking out of real cups.  So yesterday's big event was the new toothbrush and cup holder.  What would today bring?
Today brought the love of rice cakes.  Who would have thought that a 2 year old would like rice cakes.  Ok, we're not talking about your plain-old rice cake...but the apple-cinnamon flavor.  Yum!  I gave him a bite of mine thinking he'd hate it.  There was that initial "What in the world am I eating?" look as he bit into it.  But after a few bites, he was going to town with it.  He ate an entire rice cake, so of course that deserved a few pictures.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring.  He'll be at Mother's Day Out in the morning, so for me it will bring a long-awaited pedicure followed by Maternity shopping.  But after that, we'll just have to see...

The Last Couple Weeks

It's been a pretty exciting last couple weeks @ Casa de Philley. Penny had a birthday on the 9th. I know you're all wondering, so I'll tell you, I got her a pair of Capalene long johns. Don't laugh, it's what she wanted. We were gonna try and celebrate over a nice dinner, just she and I, but the baby-sitter got sick. The funny thing is, we ran into the Burgesses and had dinner with them, which was enjoyable. Penny was going to go to Birmingham last Thur. but got rained out. This past Wednesday we, once again, put our house on the market and had a showing on Thursday which was promising. Thursday was also a big day b/c we found out that we'll be having a another baby boy. We, for some reason, had it in our heads that it was a girl, so we've gotta change our thinking. I've decided this is a very good thing b/c we already have TONS of baby stuff, all for a boy, so we'll be avoiding the pink version of the same "stuff"...for now. We would love everyone's input on what to name the little guy. We finally got that dinner out, sans toddler, which was awesome, except that Penny got in a fender-bender while taking the baby-sitter home. Mucho drama, fortunately no one was hurt.
We had plans to travel to Montgomery this weekend to visit with my sister and parents, since they would be down there for the weekend. Our plans were thwarted by The Great White Out of 2008.
I've recently been chastised for not posting workouts, as I said I would. So here's a synopsis of the last 3 weeks. 5 runs per week. 1 long run per week (10,11,12). 1 tempo run per week: week one - 4 miles @ 5:40 pace; week two: 6 miles @ 6 minute pace; week three: 6 mile cutdown - 6, 5:54, 5:48, 5:42, 5:35, 5:27 (last 1/4 mile in 1:12). 2 interval sessions: week 1: 4 x mile 5:20 pace 2 min. recovery; week 2: 4 x mile 5:15 2 min. recovery. The in-between runs were 45 min to 1 hour. I'm getting fitter, but still a long way to go. This week I'm shooting for 6 runs total to include a good tempo run, 1 interval session, and a long run. I'm looking to make my return to competitive running on March 2, which will be 10k @ UAH. The last time I got close to racing I got injured, so I'm not gonna hold my breath.
We're encouraged everyday, through prayer, that God's plan for us is perfect, and that although we don't always understand the hows or whys, we can have peace and rest in his sovereign will. So, if we don't sell our home, if I can't race due to injury, if our plans are changed b/c of the weather, or if we have silly accidents, it's all to his glory, according to his will.
So, that should catch everyone up.
This week has great promise...I'm excited.

Life is good

Life is good...I have homemade bread and it's snowing in Huntsville.  How could I not be happy?  Some posts are entertaining or informative; this post is neither of those.  Some days the little things in life are worth writing about, even if it's only for yourself.  

So, I joined this craze of making homemade bread about a year and a half ago.  You can read all about the benefits of buying wheat and milling your own flour for homemade bread on the BreadBeckers website.  But for me, it all comes down to staying regular.  :)
I quit making bread a few months ago because I got tired of the work that goes into it.  It's definitely time-consuming.  And Ron didn't like the taste of it anymore, so I was buying bread for him while Sam and I were eating the homemade loaves.  After I stopped making bread I noticed a definite change in my health. Because I had sold my mill 2 months ago, I had to buy another to begin making bread again.  Oh, what joy when I received my new mill yesterday via FedEx.  I borrowed some wheat from Denise (thanks Mrs. Brown) and now the smell of fresh bread spreads throughout the house.  I'll say it again, life is good.

Now for the kid in me...it's snowing!  Even more now than it was 15 minutes ago when I started this post.  Sam is glued to an episode of "Thomas the Tank Engine" right now.  When it's over, we WILL be going outside to enjoy the snow for a few minutes.

One last thing that brought a smile to my face today: Sam at gymnastics.  He goes to gymnastics every Wednesday and absolutely adores it.  He's become known as the runner in the class.  Seriously!  He runs circles around the other kids and it just makes me laugh.  He keeps me young. 

Aunt Bekah Visits

As you can see, Sam loves his Aunt Bekah.  Seriously, he loves her to death.  He runs around asking for Aunt BEE-kuh...it's so cute.  He got mad at us in this picture because I snatched his pacifier away from him to get a smile.  Obviously, I got the opposite.  Bekah came to visit over the weekend and we had a great time.  I actually shopped with her.  I know, a shocker.  It was a little different than what she's used to since I'm a destination shopper.  I don't know if that's the right term, but basically I go into a store to get one item and don't mess around.  She enjoys perusing the store's aisles at leisure.  Um, not me.  So anyway we got some shopping done, then of course we had to go to Rosie's.  You can't pass it up when you have out-of-town guests.  After church and a quick lunch, she headed back to Montgomery.

This picture is more like it.  Sam had fun dancing, running, playing, etc. with Bekah.  She even taught him to wink.  I wish I had a picture of that; it's priceless.  It was nice having her around...not only because I enjoy her company, but it's also really nice to have an extra set of hands.

We even had time for a family photo.  Sam was tired of pictures by this point, but Ron grabbed us for a quick hug and pic anyway.  

Meet Brian Pope

Brian Pope is a guy who lives in Oxford, MS, near "the square." He ran cross country and track @ Ole Miss in the 80's. Brian is now 45. He lives alone in very modest, if not subsistence level, conditions, and off of about $10,000 a year. Brian competes at a high level of running, recently winning the world masters (people 40 and over) cross country championships, and setting most of the national records from 3 to 10k. He's a fast dude, no matter what his age, but for someone 45, he's really fast. During graduate school, in 2003, I had the chance to race him in a large road race. In that race I ran well, setting my personal best in the 10k (right around 32 minutes flat). Brian beat me by a minute and a half. I wanted to write about him b/c althought he's not a "normal" guy w/ what I'd consider normal goals, I feel he embodies the spirit of those who really enjoy the sport of running, those who are willing to sacrifice, not for goals, but for the pure enjoyment that "participation in" brings. Click here to read more about Brian Pope.

I've avoided writing much about running b/c most people that know me, know that I enjoy running. I hope that this sheds light on the motivation. I've also decided to post my daily workouts as a blog entry whether or not I write something meaningful. It will help me to see it in writing and give me another layer of motivation. Maybe when I'm 45 I can be 1/2 as fast as Mr. Pope.

Sam's new (old) bed

Sam got a big-boy bed on Saturday.  It was the daybed Ron had when he was a little boy, so it's been around awhile.  He really seems to like it.  We pull out the trundle for him to use as a step.  Of course, I cried a little watching him go to bed all by himself.  I'm happy that he's growing up, but sad at the same time.  He didn't fall out of bed, which was a concern of mine since we didn't have a safety gate on the bed.  But Ron insisted we didn't need one, and I guess he was right.

We went to church a little earlier than usual to help Ron set up sound.  We took a couple of toys for Sam to play with since we would be there for so long.  Thanks to Sam, Thomas the Tank Engine had his own place at the communion table.  There's just something about this picture that makes me laugh.  

Well, things gear back up this week.  Mother's Day Out and Gymnastics start back.  I'm very excited to get back in the swing of things.  I'm also going back to the gym.  I've been twice in the past 2 months, so I think I've had enough of a break.  I'm also looking forward to a birthday lunch with some of my girlfriends on Thursday...Surin, here we come!

That's about all the update I have right now.  I'm sure Ron or I will have something to say in the coming days about the BCS Championship game.  Go Tigers!

New Year's Day Recap

We had friends over on New Year's Day and enjoyed good food, football, and fellowship.  Ron grilled wings out in the cold for everybody...poor guy.  But they were delicious, so thanks Ronzo for your hard work.

Ashley was able to get Benjamin to go to sleep...

Clayton had lots of fun walking around our chairs...

Sam and Virginia successfully kissed...

...and there were some "not-so-successful" ones.  They had just bumped heads trying to kiss (notice Sam rubbing his forehead).  Virginia is already puckering up for another try.

Overall, I think the kids had fun.

The adults did too.  Because we asked the question, we found out what happens when you flush the toilet.  I know, it sounds weird.  Our friend Ashley is a civil engineer and basically her job is to get rid of our waste.  I seriously can't believe I'm writing this, but it has to be included.  The beginning of 2008 will be remembered for the night we learned what happens to our poop.  :)