January Miscellaneous

Odds and Ends from January...The new year is off to a great start!

Loving how Brooker made his bed today...each stuffed toy gets a chapter book to read!

Waffles and Pancakes loving girl...wants them every morning!

Tot Time craft with my girl!

Sent to me by Mrs. Halloran...he says this is where he rests his pencil!

Looking so intellectual...Haha!

And another tooth is gone...that was #4!

Princess crafts with the little one on a cold/rainy day!

She loves doing gymnastics...her newest skill...the backbend...Kinda!

Taking Bitty Baby for a stroll.

Margaret and Mary Kate taking their babies for an afternoon walk.

Daddy/Daughter date! Mary Kate eagerly waited all day for her daddy to take her to their "meeting" (as she called it). Outback and Icecream...with a visit to the pet store too!

Just a super sweet note my handsome boy brought home to me one afternoon. So glad he doesn't want to get rid of me!

Making snow slime at school.

Eating icecream on one of his dates with Mammy.

Mary Kate and Bella at dance class. Mary Kate took a break for a few months because she wasn't really enjoying going but then asked to start going again and loves it!

It was time for another trim...Mary Kate told Pablo she loved him several times!

Highlands Hammock 1/2 Marathon

This morning I was able to check something off of my long time to-do list...run a 1/2 marathon!  For years I've been wanting to do this race with my momma and Amy but have let life get in the way of training. This year I was determined to make the time to train and do the race. I stayed with mom the majority of the time and we did walking/running intervals. I felt so good at mile 10 that when I reached the hard road at mile 11, I took off running for the remaining 2 miles. Finished with a time of 2 hours and 35 minutes. I look forward to doing another 1/2 marathon!

M is for Mustache

Mary Kate's class studied the letter "M" this week...she had this beautiful mustache on her when she came home from school! Fun stuff!

Upward Basketball

Upward Basketball season is here! Today was Brooker's first game...He's #13 on the Little Spartans team with coaches John Barben and Jay Whitaker. B played a great game! No baskets but lots of great attempts. He loves basketball and kept a great spirit the whole game. The opposing team had some really tall kids and Brooker was set to guard against Joel Smith who's much taller than him. He handled himself well and we were proud when he got the Defense star this game because he really had to work hard to defend the other team! Looking forward to watching Brooker grow spiritually and athletically this season.

Disney Marathon/Camping Weekend

What a weekend to remember! My mom and Uncle Mike made plans earlier this year (while Mike was deployed to Afghanistan) to run the Disney Marathon...26.2 miles. It's been on mom's "bucket list" and the day was finally here! We found a great campground in Kissimmee for the weekend and went up on Friday. Saturday we spent the day getting mom's racing packet, making posters for cheering on the runners, eating lunch at Cheesecake Factory with Uncle Mike and Aunt Ashley, shopping, swimming, dinner from the Columbia Restaurant, and more. On Sunday morning mom woke up really early (3 a.m. to be exact), and she and Mike headed to Epcot where the race would begin. We woke around 7:30ish and by 8:30 a.m. we heard on the news that a man from Brazil had already completed the marathon...wow!! We got text updates throughout the day on mom and Mike's time and distance. We ended up seeing them at Mile 14...they were all smiles but were only a little over halfway done! After some hugs and pictures, they continued on their way and we went back to the campground to pack/clean up. After grabbing lunch to-go we went to Epcot to wait for them at the finish line. We ate a picnic lunch in the parking lot then perched ourselves in the stands to wait...Mom was updating us via text that they were getting close. At 1:07 p.m., mom and Uncle Mike crossed the finish line! That was 6 hours and 7 minutes of running and walking...talk about tough! They were still smiling but the soreness and exhaustion soon set in and they were ready for showers, food, and rest! We were so glad to witness this event and enjoyed a memorable weekend with family!

This was taken at Mile 14

Holding hands across the finish line!

Checking out Mammy's big medal!

Brooker's Level 2 AR Star

Brooker's sweet teacher sent me these pictures this morning...Brooker earned his level 2 star in Accelerated Reader and his name was called on the morning announcements and he got a new AR shirt. Mrs. Halloran said Brooker was so proud and you can bet we are extremely proud of him too!

YMCA Fire 5k

What better way to start the new year than with a little exercise! This morning Brooker, my mom, and I competed in the YMCA's Fire 5k which took place down at the fairgrounds. It was a cold cold morning but we survived...I ended up setting a personal record with a time of 27:26, earning 2nd place in my age group...yeah! Mom and I even made the newspaper :)

Happy New Year!

It's a new year! I always love a fresh new start...Hopefully that means a fresh start with blogging since 2013's blog didn't go so well! Our sweet Brantley spent the night with us last night (his first time spending the night away from his mommy and daddy). He did great and we enjoyed some snuggles with him this morning. We ended up taking a good luck New Year's soup to Jamie and Kenny's house today and enjoyed an afternoon hanging out, trappin' hogs, riding Kenny's dirt bike, shooting Brooker's new gun, jumping on the trampoline, trying out my new camera lens, and more. We had our black eyed peas, cornbread and collard greens...yummy! On our way back home we stopped by Jamie and Kenny's new house...it's coming along quite nicely...we can't wait for them to move closer to us! Happy New Year Everyone!