Giddy Up, Party Down

This year, we decided to have a birthday party at a location, rather than at our house.  I knew right away that I wanted a cowboy theme.  Then I found this blog as inspiration.  I knew immediately that I was going to steal 

borrow these ideas.

I scraplifted some invitations from etsy. Notice the vinyl

 "brands".  That's all me :)

I made a banner.

I made the horsey cupcakes & cupcake toppers.

I made treat bags.

Cowboy(girl) hats were necessary.

The location didn't exactly match, but my mind was made up.  We rented The Jungle Gym in Delaware, Ohio.  Actually, I got a pleasant surprise that Grandma Jackie paid for the party as a gift to the boys.  What a perfect gift!!!  

Here are a few shots of the fun (excuse the blurs, everyone was in action nonstop). The zip line was favorite by far.  I still can't believe everyone could hold on.  Those kids were flying....

We served cowpoke food: hotdogs, pulled pork, chips, potato salad, carrot chips, and strawberries.  

Everyone Ate!

We had cupcakes.

We had a surprise guest:

Grandpa Bob drove up from TN while he was checking on his house being built.

Us (minus Kyle)

All the guests.  An attempt at a group shot:

Fail!

Everything was really nice.  Parties outside of your home is the way to go.  We had our party late, starting at 4:30 pm, so we had all day to prepare. I even managed to run that morning with MIT, 9 miles = new PR for Mama Murray!  We didn't make too much fuss over the party and everyone was happy.

The boys received a ton of gifts from their friends and have been enjoying them ever since.  Here is a photo of one of the gifts from B&K: 

masks are upside down :)  oops

Thanks everyone for reading & checking in on us.  We had a great time with a few special friends.  Now....BRING ON SPRING!!!!

Poor, Sad Frosty

Back in the end of January, the boys and I tried our hand in a little snowman action.  He's small, sad, and mis-shapen.  Keegan kept stealing his head.  

As you can see, Sissy is still with us here.  This is the last photo I got with her in it.  I thought I had lost these photos during a recent transfer from the camera.  To say the least, I was tickled pink to see these today :)

Up to 8

source

As you'll remember from this post, I started running with MIT {Marathoner's in Training} back in December.  I was reluctant to start, in fact, I'm pretty sure it was peer pressure {thanks, Vicky}.

Today our schedule called for eight miles.  I wasn't able run with the group, as I usually try to do, so I pounded out eight miles on my treadmill at 7 am on a Saturday.  Not to mention that I missed last week's 7 due to a Girl's Weekend in NYC {more to come on that later}.

Today's run wasn't easy.  I've learned now that it's all mental.  We're capable of much more than we give ourselves credit for.  I, too, was one of the "I'm not a runner" peeps.  Running with MIT has changed my view of runners.  There area all types, sizes, and ages; all running with the pack.  It's truly inspiring.

So far in 2011, I have run the better part of 109 miles.  Whoa!  Never in a million years would I think that was possible.  I'm entered for the Capital City Half Marathon in May {along with 2 friends and countless MIT peeps} and totally stoked to be doing it.  The race is two short months away, and I only have 5 more miles to add to my Personal Record {PR}.  Just the fact that I said "only 5 more miles" proves how much I have changed.  Before I did this, my goal was to run a 5K (3.1 miles) without walking.  Now, that's an easy training run.

I'll leave with my new favorite quote: 

There's nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing anyway. ~Mark Burnett