Rock-n-Roll Marathon

The kids wanted to take their picture with the Geico Gecko at the Expo when we picked up our race packets.  Little cuties!

Here we go....

Well..let me just say that I'm SO glad that it's over with--and I will NEVER do that again!! It was hard--really hard. I was so ready and confident that we'd do well--we'd trained really hard for this and been really dilligent in getting ourselves ready. The twenty miles I ran before wasn't that hard, and I'd averaged under 10 minute miles--I had this!! The weather was the one thing that we couldn't control, and it really did a number on us--and everyone, for that matter. The low that morning was 70 degrees--very humid and it got up to 89 degrees by the end of the marathon. We started out well....but at mile 7, Drew had to stop to walk and told me to keep going. I was hoping he'd catch back up to me, but he didn't. I was doing pretty good until about mile 16 when the sun came out in full force. It was SO hot--and there was NO shade. I would go through water stations and just pour water over my head. I'll admit, I cried several times and wondered why we ever decided to do this?? I was ready to quit at mile 21...but realized I'd come so far and heard a song that really encouraged me to keep going. Drew almost quit at mile 8--but looked up and saw a guy in front of him with a shirt on that said, " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And that gave him the encouragement to keep going. I passed him at mile 18 and was glad to see that he was still going and doing okay. Towards the end, runners were falling all over the place. There were medics and ambulances everywhere because people couldn't deal with the heat. My goal was 4:30, but I realized early on that I wasn't going to make that, so I decided that 5 hours would be my new time to beat. I barely made it!! 4:54:55. I averaged an 11:15 pace. I waited for Drew to finish and was so glad to see him. I'm happy that we did this together, but wished we could've finished together--and with better times. We both agreed that day that we never want to do this again! Now that it's a few days later....Drew is already talking about trying it again--in a different city with cooler temperatures. It will be a hard sell to me--and I can't even believe that I would even consider it?? Didn't I just say that I would NEVER do this again? I know I could do it in 4:30 though.....I guess only time will tell......

Birthday Parties

We've had a lot of birthday parties to go to lately. Gracyn FINALLY got to go to Chuck E Cheese. The only way I said we'd go is if we were invited to a birthday party. She was SO excited!! Poor Hudson wasn't invited, so he got to hang out with Daddy.

She had a blast!!!

Now I keep getting asked when we can go again....wonder how long I can put it off??

Then we had Alessandra's party at the park. The girls loved getting their faces painted. They both got pink unicorns and rainbows.

Hudson got a fish.

He and Towns had fun playing together.

As we were eating a buck came right up to the table. I couldn't believe he came so close. The kids LOVED it!!

 Then the last weekend, we celebrated Ava, Towns and Brier's birthdays. The kids had SO much fun at Funtastic Playland!!
Singing, "Happy Birthday" to the birthday kids. 

 Hudson loved "driving" the truck.

 They climbed all around the tree houses.

 Gracyn felt quite at home in this castle! My little princess!!

 Hudson had fun too!

 He preferred playing on the pirate ship though.

 Gracyn loves playing Peek-a-boo with Alessandra's baby sister, Isabel.

She loved her party favors--and wore her fairy wings the rest of the day. (Glitter is ALL over the house.... :) 

Happy, Happy Birthday to our friends & cousins!!

Lately...

Our marathon is right around the corner--it's this coming Sunday. We did our 20 miles and that was A LOT! I'm SO ready for race day to get here!!!

The kids got their school pictures taken.

Gracyn's teachers said that she posed herself and the photographers just went with it! Ha!

 I didn't know that they got to take some together--what a nice surprise!!

 

Gracyn got a hold of my phone at lunch one day and snapped some photos....

The morning I told her that her 3 weeks were up and she could now play on playgrounds again she ran out the back door into the backyard. Sweet thing had missed playing up high!! We ate dinner at Chick-fil-a that night just so she could play. :)

I let her have "rest time" in my room watching a movie. This is how I found her...

Meme got a new costume for dress up. Hudson had to try it on--he's a fan, but not of the mask!

Bath time with bubbles AND the jets!! What could be better than that??!!

Gracyn was playing and tied up Hudson's arm a little too tight to the staircase and he couldn't get loose. He was pretty distraught about it.

He finally got free and then ran right into the rope. Drew and I tried not to laugh too hard. :)

Love these two!!

This & That...

Here's a look at what's been going on in pictures....

Early morning snuggles....my favorite!!

Huddy didn't want his picture taken that morning.

Dapper Dan!! I think he looks ADORABLE in his little robe. He's a big fan of it too!

She had to try on this mask at Hobby Lobby the other day. Cutie Patootie!

I found Hudson sitting on the couch reading his little Bible. He was turning the pages saying, "God 'yoves' me... And, God 'yikes' me....And God 'yikes' it when I do nice 'tings'.....And God 'yikes' it when I drink milk and 'wahteh." LOVE this sweet little guy--my heart melted right there!!

The whistle on his SWAT uniform is his most favorite thing! He would just stand there forever blowing it!

He also really liked the flashlight too.

He prefers to wear just his underwear a lot these days. Couldn't resist taking a picture of this cute little toosh coloring!

HELLO bed head!! She also had just found these Sleeping Beauty sunglasses and was thrilled to be wearing them again!!

They LOVE to turn their play house and other toys over on their sides and pretend that they're other things. It drives me CrAzY!!!

Happy Halloween!

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!"

Here are the treats I made for the kids' teachers this year. 

They took these glow bracelets to their friends at school to wear during trick or treating.

We made some yummy Halloween sugar cookies. Of course, they couldn't be up there together doing it together, so we worked in shifts. :)

 

 

 Hudson had to bring snack for his class at school, so we made chocolate covered pretzel sticks with Halloween sprinkles, his favorite!!

We had dinner at my friend, Allison's house, that lives in our neighborhood. Then we headed off to trick or treat. Sleeping Beauty and Mr. SWAT Officer were ready to go get them some candy!

Gone are the days when I could dress them up to coordinate with each other. (sigh) Here's a look back...

 

 

Hudson got a good amount of candy and decided he was done for the night.

 

 So, Gracyn and I dropped him off at home and we hit the streets again. This is how most of the night went....she'd race ahead of me!

She LOVED being able to pass out the candy too. Although, we didn't have too many visitors come by once we got home.

I had so much fun with this little girl!! What a GREAT night--a HAPPY Halloween it was!!