gingerbread houses {and NO movie night :-(}

so movie night on friday night ended up NOT happening. the kids behavior was SO poor all afternoon {every last one of them. yes. even joshua!} that i was so sad/discouraged by the time pat got home...and i filled him in on it all. and he made it a BIG deal. NO movie night. did the candle then went straight to bed (early!) he talked to them all and did a GREAT job making it a teaching moment...i couldn't. i was too close to tears - the ugly cry. it was one of those rare days where it was ALL them. i didn't contribute to it (not that i was PERFECT, but i was consistent and on top of things and their hearts were just ugly and complaining and arguing). ugh. it was so discouraging. and SAD! i was so looking forward to that sweet time together. but, pat and i ended up having a fun evening! ;-)

saturday morning i ran by myself. last saturday i was planning on running 12 miles. about halfway through, i realized i had time and decided to just run a half marathon (13.1 miles.) and then, as i was nearing the end, i realized i was kind of close to being under 2 hours!! somehow i've gotten faster (i have NO idea how??) but i would have had to run an 8 min mile for the 13th mile. wasn't going to happen. BUT, it gave me a GOAL for this saturday! i was 1 min and 49 seconds over...

sidenote: i've NEVER been competitive. i'm still not...really. i've never cared about my times or anything...i've mostly cared about DISTANCE. but, this was a goal within reach and i wanted to do it!

I DID IT!!! {i know, you were about to die from the suspense :-)}
1 hour, 58 minutes, 12 seconds! 9:01 avg!!! not super fast in the running world, but fast for me!

so, after running, i got home and the kids were ALL set to decorate their houses! we told them we were doing it in the morning (so all the sugar had all DAY to wear off!) i was SO shot after that run...spent. dying. hurting. was shoveling bites of my yummy pancakes and eggs in in between taking pictures and spreading icing. no rest for moms :-)

i really love this picture of him!

gingerbread house eating rules are similar to halloween candy rules. eat it whenever you want. when it's gone, it's gone. levi and lincoln's houses were gone within an hour (and lincoln was awake until at LEAST 10 pm last night. i didn't look after that. ugh.)

it was fun. christmas music playing. sweet kids. good times!!

ended up being kind of a weird weekend...hard stuff with kids...but good conversations and productivity with pat. life. never simple, is it??

BUT...i discovered the BEST thing that is TOTALLY going to kill any hopes of not gaining weight this month. not sharing until i remember to take a pic. i ate it twice this weekend and both times it was GONE before i thought to take a picture! i guess i'll have to go get it again soon, huh?? you know, for YOUR sake? ;-)