Spring Break in TN

Last week the girls went to TN for spring break and to spend some time with Nana and Papaw. They were thrilled to be going. They love going to TN...especially without mommy and daddy in tow. 



They had lots of fun and Nana and Papaw had lots of good pictures to share. They went to an Easter Egg hunt at my parents church.

They had a gold and silver egg hid and the kid that found it would get a special prize. Mom said Katie was so determined to find one of those eggs that she didn't even pick up eggs that she found. Gotta love her competitive side...she gets it honest at least. By the end of the hunt Katie only had a few eggs in her basket.

They dyed some eggs to hind around the house.

I gave the Easter Bunny a heads up that the girls would be in TN...so he was nice enough to stop there for them.

All dressed up on Easter morning and ready to go to church. Two beautiful girls!

They took a trip to Gatlinburg TN to Ripley's Aquarium.

Getting an up close and personal view of the penguins.

I love how Katie is leaning back from the sting ray...as if it was going to get her.

One of Katie's famous silly faces

What's in there Papaw??? I think he had to be the brave one and put his hand in the dark hole.

Hold your breath....so silly

Sweet sisters....this gives me hope that even thought they fight they really do love each other. :)

They love their Nana and Papaw

Hugs

By mid week Nana wasn't feeling so good. She had a cold so Papaw had a day out with the girls so Nana could rest. Both the girls wanted to go to Bays Mountain.

 You can see that Katie has trained Bree how to join in the silly face photo's

 Checking out the animals.

 After Bays Mountain, they stopped by Eastman Park (we played here lots as kids) to let them play.

 This playground hasn't changed a bit.

Papaw also took them to see Matthew's soccer game he had that afternoon. I think the enjoyed their day with Papaw.

They had lots of play time at home and with Kevin, Brandy and Matthew. I know they had a blast and each time we talked to them on the phone we got an ear full of that they did. They are already asking about when they get to go back this summer. Thanks to Nana and Papaw for giving them a fun spring break and also giving Chris and I some time on our own!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Last Monday was my 35th Birthday....so Happy Birthday to me!!! This birthday was a little different, this was the first one I have spent without my girls...probably since they were born. They spent the week in TN with my parents because it was Katie's spring break. They have been wanting to go to TN for months. I was glad to share them and let them have so much fun. Post later about their fun. 

So since they were in TN for a week Chris and I had lots of time to hang out. We both took some days off work and had a 4 day weekend to do...well...what ever we wanted. :)

On my birthday I got to spend the day with this guy.... 

 We went to Wilmington for the day...just went to places that we wanted to go. Had lunch at one of my favorites places BW3's. They not only have great wings, but this place is special to us because it was one of the places we would frequent in Knoxville when we dated. We both learned we had a competitive nature as we used to play each other in the trivia games. Today, they still have the trivia but they didn't have it up to play this day :( I was looking forward to beating him...or him letting me win. :)

When we came home...I had some very special cards made and sent to me from my girls. Hands down the best present I got all day. :) They both had drawings on the back as well.

 We decided to stay in and cook for dinner. We picked up some steak kabobs and twice back potatoes from the grocery store. It was really yummy and then we split a dessert as my birthday cake. :)

I honestly can say that this was one of the best birthdays I have had  and it would have been prefect if the girls were here...but it was a great day or few days of just some time for me and Chris. I also got several bday calls from my friends and family's as well and some funny\sweet cards.  To be 35 and have two beautiful girls, a husband that loves me, wonderful family and some of the best friends a girl could ask for....not sure life could get much better than it is now. I know I am blessed more than I could ask for....my cup runneth over. Thanks to all who love me and help made my day so special.

Look Mom...Two Wheels!

Last weekend Katie learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. She tried it last year but was just to nervous about falling on the ground, so we just waited until she was ready. On Saturday, she went outside with Chris and tried on her smaller bike. It took her all of an hour to figure it out. Now she is cruising up and down our streets on her bigger bike. Just goes to show you that when she is ready and puts her mind to something she will get it done. :)

Click here for some video footage.

 I love how excited Bree is for Katie on her big accomplishment. :)

I Just Felt Like Running.....

Sorry...had to use a Forrest Gump reference there. :) Sunday was my much anticipated (by me) half marathon. I started running and training again 10 weeks ago...this was a pretty big goal for me as my last half I trained for, but didn't get to run..was a 20 week training program. So when I signed up for this one 8 weeks ago I knew I would have to really push myself and stay motivated to train 

Here I am at 6am in the morning waiting in the line for the bus to take me to the starting line. We started out on Wrightsville Beach and then we finished back at the Mayfaire Center.

 Long line of people waiting for the bus. We got here early...but I ended up getting to the starting line only 3 minutes before the start. I had to pee really bad and the wait for the bathroom was about 50 deep so...I took the last resort. Another girl and I were on stand out as we made our own bathroom behind the police station. Sorry mom, if you happen to see my hiny on a you tube video. But what are you gonna do??? Chris and the girls stayed back at the finish line and they walked down to the main strip that everyone runs through so they could see me.

The weather was pretty awesome, in my opinion. It was overcast, a little misty and around 60 degrees. It was perfect to run...no sun beating down on you and no down pour of rain. Here I am at around mile 5. I was feeling good so far...keeping a good pace and I was happy to see my little cheering crowd.

I have to say...it is pretty cool to be apart of a race like this. It's fun to be the one who has control of the road and the cars have to stop for you. :) Normally when I am the one having to get out of the way for cars or pray they dodge me. It is super motivating to have so many people who you don't even know cheer you on.

After the main stretch we ran almost the entire last half of the race in the Landfall Subdivision..the money place for Wilmington. It was a change of scenery and the people who live there were all out cheering us on as well.

I felt like I did really well all the way through the race until about 11.5 miles. At this point my legs were beyond tired and I just SO wanted to walk, but I knew that if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start running again.  By the time I made the turn to finish up my last 1.1 miles, I honestly kept repeating Philippians 4:13 and Psalms 73:26 and praying that the Lord would give me the strength to put one foot in front of the other. It felt like I was going in slow motion and that last mile would never end. When I was about a quarter mile out, I saw three smiley faces and two girls yelling for their momma. Man, that was just want I needed to lift my spirits and give me the final ump I needed...Bree even came out and ran with me for a little bit...she was grinning from ear to ear. :)

The FINISH LINE!!!!! If you can't tell my hands were up in the air.

That's my medal baby!!! The girls were so excited that I got a medal, they each were taking turns wearing it. I love that they saw me work hard to train, that they saw me push through the race and finish. 2Timothy 4:7 is what comes to mind: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

My goal when I started the race was that I wanted to run it all and wanted to finish under 2:30. My final time per the race was 2:28:47 (my ipod has 2:25 and some change), so will go with the race I am sure it is more official. :) I am just happy that I came in under 2:30, for my first half. My placement was 902 out of 1162 total women who ran the half. They haven't put the placement for age groups yet, but I was just thrilled I placed under a thousand. I do want to say a big thank you to Chris for supporting me during my training and the run. He was super great at motivating me to run on days I just didn't and was awesome on race day! Thank you babe for pushing me to do my best and not letting me discourage myself!

I have to say that God's protection was definitely there for a couple of people, well for all, but it was seen for two guys. Before the race started, as we were driving in we saw a really bad wreck. It was right in the area that we were going to run, they had the cones all placed out to have a lane for us to run and lane open for drivers. Later I found out that a volunteer worker for the race was setting stuff up in that area and was actually hit by a drunk driver. He was taken to the hospital and ended up with only a broken ankle and some bruises. Another man collapsed less than a 10th of a mile from the finish line. It happened just a few minutes before I came through. They were loading him up in the ambulance when I ran by. Not sure what happened but from what I heard, he was basically gone at the scene, but on the way to the hospital the paramedics were able to revive him. He is now in critical condition. I know everyone is thankful both are alive and hopefully on the mend to getting back to healthy. I know prayers would be appreciated, especially for the man, I believe his name is James, that is still in critical condition.

Now that I have completed my first...will I run another one??? That is my plan, still no motivation for running a full...but maybe one day:)

School Project

Katie has a school project where she had to design and build a Leprechaun trap. I told her that sounded like a good project for her and daddy to work....he is the engineer in the family. Katie showed Chris what she wanted to do and then he helped her tweek it a little.

He let Katie spray paint the box gold....daddy was fixing it so the lid would stay on.

 Katie was so excited to build this with him....she talked about it all week.

 Bree couldn't be left out...she said she had her own project to do...she sat in the yard and painted too. :)

 The finished trap....you see the little pot of gold in there. Katie and Chris found this on Saturday when they went to the flea market. It was PERFECT and it was what was needed to help lure that little Leprechaun into her trap. Once he is in there and tries to run with the gold (that is attached to string) it will pull the box lid down on top of him.

Katie said she wanted to put some food in there so when she traps him... so he won't starve. :) She is always thinking. One project down and this is just the first of many to come I am sure. Thankful Chris enjoys doing them because I am not a builder. I think the first one they did turned out great!. 

Laugh for the Day!

There is a reason why I love the Kindergarten, 1st grade and even probably into 2nd grade age. I love the way they write based on sound alone. Katie's stories are so cute to see how she spells words. Well, today a friend posted this on Facebook...it was from pin interest. A story a boy wrote about Horses aka Hores. :)  I wasn't able to share it on FB so I just took a screen shot. Enjoy :)

Out with the Old in with the New!

No....not Chris....shoes.:) Running shoes to be specific. My old faithfuls that I started running in last year decided to turn against me this year during training for my half.

This what my shoes did to my toes. Nice black and blue color...very pretty.

 I really didn't want to have to get new shoes this far into my training. I was only about 4 weeks out from half and I knew I would have to break in the shoes. But after reading some about the damage shoes that don't fit can do to your toes...I decided to just go and get new ones. The first pair I bought I ended up taking back. After I got them home and ran 4 miles in them I just knew that were gonna work. I went back the following weekend and tried a 2nd pair and they have been great. Much easier to run in now that I am not in pain...well at least toe pain.

I have two more weeks until my half, so I am hoping my toes will hold out for these last two weeks of runs and then I can give them a break to heal.