Kiawah Island Half Marathon

We signed up for the Kiawah Island Half Marathon in early August and began training a few weeks later! We have been spending much of our free time training... and it all paid off! The race was on Dec 12th and we had a GREAT time! The weather forecast was calling for cold rain... but fortunately, the rain held off until that afternoon. We added layers of old clothes to discard after we began running. James' goal was 2 hrs or less and his time was 2:00:00!!! My goal was 2:30 or less and my time was 2:19:10!!! It was a great weekend away... thanks Mom & Jim for keeping the kiddos!!!

Troy, Me, & James before the race!

Leslie, Trey, James, Me, Kyle, Angie, & Troy after the race!
The girls... we have been running together for a year now... thank you both for keeping me motivated and always reminding me that I can go one more mile!

We did it!!

Catching Up!

We have been busy this fall and I have gotten behind on the blog... here are a few pictures to catch up!

Raymond: We love having Raymond! The kids enjoy playing with him and he lets them do anything to him. His favorite place to lay down is on the kids' picnic table?? He is a great dog!

Tooth Fairy Visit: Jaycie had her first visit from the tooth fairy!!! She left her a $2 bill and buttons to add to her collection. We are expecting another visit any day!

Halloween: This year for Halloween, Jessica was Hermoine Granger (Harry Potter), Jaycie was Peter Pan, Jamie was Tinkerbell, and Jacob was Spider Man. Jamie refused to go Trick-Or-Treating... she enjoyed handing out all of the candy! Dad & Ann came to visit for Halloween!

We did many pumpkins this year... including a vegetable pumpkin Jessica did with her book club, a horse, a cat, and my favorite... Baron, our boxer. Jessica & James worked for hours on our Baron pumpkin... Baron passed away in October. He was 13 years old and we still miss him a lot.

The "J" crew with Papa & Memommy (my dad & stepmom).

The ZOO: We took the kids to the zoo on a teacher workday... perfect weather and NO crowds. It was a perfect day at the zoo... we loved feeding the giraffes and the lorakeets!

Papa is Jacob's best friend... and Jacob is Papa's shadow!

Thanksgiving: We had a VERY busy Thanksgiving... but we are thankful that we were able to see so much family! Jessica played Huate again in her school's Thanksgiving Drama... all of the kids did such a wonderful job! They set up a Pilgrim village and a Native American village to re-enact the first Thanksgiving. Jamie & Jacob were turkeys in their preschool's Thanksgiving celebration... they did a great job (no surprise... they act like turkeys all the time at home - ha!) For Thanksgiving, we headed to NC to spend time with James' family, my grandparents, and friends and family in Raleigh for the NCSU vs. UNC football game (way to go Wolfpack!). At the end of the trip, we were exhausted!

Happy Birthday, Sage! (my niece)
Jaycie & my Grandmom
The kids & Seth (my cousin)
Jessica & Sydney (my niece)

My grandparents with some of the great grandkids!

Girl Scouts: Our Girl Scout troop award ceremony! The girls received badges and Jessica officially became a Junior and Jaycie officially became a Brownie! They really enjoy Girl Scouts... this year I am their Assistant Leader... I have really enjoyed getting to know all of the girls!

Getting ready for Christmas: The kids went to a Polar Express Party at Colin & Anderson's house to get everyone ready for Christmas!!! We had a blast! Geri also came for a quick visit to get a little bit of shopping done and to help us make our Gingerbread Ornaments!

Everybody Loves "Raymond!"

The short story, well maybe not so short:

1 - Jessica, Jaycie, & I volunteered at the local animal shelter last weekend.

2 - James trusted us to go "unsupervised" with the intention of returning home w/o any new furry friends.

3 - While there, we played with all of the animals... bathed most of the puppies... and met the sweetest dog EVER... "Raymond"... a yellow lab mix... not quite 1 yr old. He was VERY scared and stayed snuggled up to my leg the entire time I was with him... a police officer had picked him up and brought him in to the shelter.

4 - We DID return home... no new furry friends in hand!!!

5 - James was relieved (as we already have 2 dogs, 2 fish, 2 frogs, & 4 children!)

6 - Jessica could not sleep that night... she has a HUGE heart, especially for animals. She was sad and said she kept thinking of their lonely barks and the fact that none of them had a real home (yes, she can play with the heart strings and have a bit of drama!)

7 - I kept thinking about Raymond and told James about him... I thought he would be a great friend for Black Jack in the back yard... our stray we found earlier this year. I bet you can tell where this story is going!

8 - James does NOT say "No!" He just kept asking me if I REALLY thought it was a good idea???!!

9 - We decided we would wait the week... and call the animal shelter on Friday. We told Jessica that IF he was still available for adoption, our whole family would go visit him at the shelter this weekend and we would seriously consider adopting him.

10 - We prayed every night that Raymond would find a good home... be it ours or someone else's... well, Jessica just prayed that it would be ours!

11 - Friday comes... I call the shelter... he has been ADOPTED!!!! Somewhat sad, somewhat relieved... I tell Jessica and she cries.

12 - Saturday comes... James brings home Raymond!!!! It was my dear, sweet HUSBAND who adopted Raymond!!!!!! I just love this story!!! The kids think their Daddy is a hero, and so do I!!!!!

Now, Raymond does not sound like a great dog name to me... James & I wanted Carter or Finley (Carter Finley Stadium is the home of the Wolfpack!)... or Walter... or Sunny. But, all the kids like Raymond... so, Raymond it is!!!

The first meeting.... Surprise!!!

Meeting Black Jack... I was a little worried b/c Black Jack plays ROUGH... but, they get along GREAT... I think they will enjoy each other's company!!!!

I guess it IS true... Everybody Loves Raymond!!!! And to James... we love YOU!!!!!

OUR TERRIFIC KID!

Jaycie is the Terrific Kid in her class this month! She was SO excited! They have a ceremony to recognize the Terrific Kids at school and receive an award from the principal. Afterwards, I was telling her how proud we are of her... and that we think she is a terrific kid always at home... I was leaving to go out of town and told her "Bye, bye Terrific Kid!"... she replied, "Bye, bye Terrific Mom!" What a sweetie pie!!!

Our 1st BIG Campout!

We finally did it... took all the kids camping! James & I went often before we had kids... and several times with Jessica & Jaycie... but when Jamie & Jacob came along, camping went out the door... mostly because we would not all fit in our tent! Well, we have a new tent (thanks, Mom & Jim!) And it was PERFECT! We went with our neighbors (we are so very lucky to have such awesome neighbors!)... and we all had a wonderful time. We didn't venture too far from home, only about 45 minutes... "just in case!" The weather forecast did not look good... it called for rain all weekend, but we didn't get a drop! Our tent worked perfectly... in the tent, we had 4 twin air mattresses, a king air mattress, 4 plastic tubs w/clothes, 2 fans, the dog (Baron only), and a little room left over! We had the campground to ourselves, except one camper that came the 2nd night. We took the kids' bikes, they played kickball & bocce ball, we took the kids fishing, cooked a big breakfast each morning, ate smores, went on a hike, took the kids to the nature discovery center, did the canopy walk in the trees, and had a great time! The kids were asking when we would go again... before we even got home! We will definitely go camping again... and venture farther away!