First Weekend in May

Our weekend was fun, it started with our friend Zak's first birthday party.  I also braided Addy's hair for the first time!  She loved it, and so did I.

Addy was excited to play with Rex's train table again.

Zak and Addy eating lunch together:

Addy loved playing with the baby toys!

And the bounce house was a big hit, of course.

Cake time!

He wasn't so sure about it at first, but once he got a taste of the icing, he seemed to enjoy it a little more!

Present time! Zak prefers to play with things that aren't toys, so we got him stacking measuring cups and spoons along with a book and lego set.

After the party it was nap time.  I've always said that Addy sleeps like Steven, and these two pictures are proof!

When Addy woke up, she wanted to take her braids out so she could be Ariel:

 Then Saturday night we decided to have a family sleepover in the bonus room.  We watched the movie "Horton Hears a Who" that she got for Easter.  Then it was time for bed...and this sleeping arrangement didn't last long.  Addy asked to sleep with us.  On the full size mattress.  You can imagine how well we all slept that night.  Lets just say Steven and I don't intend to suggest another family sleepover for a long time!

Grandparent's Day & The Half Marathon

Friday, April 26th was grandparent's day at Addy's school.  The preschool through 5th grade put on a program for all the grandparents.  It was so cute!  The theme for the program was "Under the Big Top".  Addy's class sang the song "Boom Boom Goes the Elephant".

Addy and her friend Kylee:

After the program, the school provided lunch for Addy and Grandma and Grandpa.  Then they went home and spent the afternoon together.

I had taken the day off work for a couple reasons.  I really wanted to see Addy's program, and Michelle, my cousin, was in town to run the half marathon with us and we needed to pick up our race packets on Friday.  So after the program, we headed downtown and met up with Steven for lunch.  Then it was off to the Expo where we picked up our race packets.

Steven couldn't stay too long since he was still working, but Michelle and I enjoyed walking around the Expo checking out the different booths.

When we got home, Addy was ready to play with Michelle!  She thought it was so funny that Michelle got in her bed.

For dinner we met up with Jen and family to celebrate Chris's birthday.  We ended the evening at their house for dessert.  Chris doesn't look happy in this picture, but he was!

Saturday, April 27, was the Music City Marathon/Half Marathon!  The big day we spent 12 weeks training for.  We were excited and ready.  The temp was in the low 50s, and it rained on us.  The whole time.  But we did it!!!  We ran 13.1 miles (in the rain, did I mention that?) in 2 hrs 17 min 29 sec.  We really weren't running to set a time, just to complete a half marathon, and we did it!  And we weren't the only ones, there were 30,000 people running this event!

We wore garbage bags to stay as dry as possible before the race so we wouldn't get too cold waiting to get to the start line.  It took us almost 30 min. to get to the start after the gun went off.  It worked!  We ditched the garbage bags about 1.5 miles into the race though.

Michelle and I sported our "fellow flowers".  It's a women's running movement that honors, shares and celebrates the reasons behind why women run...because they believe that every woman has a story and every woman runs with a purpose.  So cool.  

The purple flower: The odds are against me.  Too slow.  Too old.  Self doubt.  Having a baby. Just had a baby.  No time.  No training partner.  The kids need me.  It's dark out.  It's too early.  I'm tired.  I have to work.  It hurts.  I'm scared they'll laugh.  The doctor said I shouldn't.   Can't find a sitter.  Life is too busy.  I look in the mirror and don't see a runner.  What if I fail?  No more excuses.  I'm doing this anyway.

The white flower:  Dreamer.  To show grace and courage.  To embrace the challenge and welcome new beginnings.  Putting yourself out there.  I will run through the fear to feel the joy.  

Along with Steven and Michelle, a few of my friends from work ran too.  Dr. Nguyen and Mike (on the left) ran the half marathon, and Dyra (on the right) ran the mini marathon.  It was so much fun to have half our staff running this event!

An "action" shot:

The only "after" picture we got with one of our phones!  We were fine running in the rain.  It was when we crossed the finish line that we became miserable.  Walking to the car was complete torture!

Michelle was very clear about what she wanted for her post race meal...Chick-fil-A!  It may or may not have been our 3rd day in a row eating Chick-fil-A :)

After lunch we all settled in for a nap!

While we were running the half marathon, Addy was at home with Grandma and Grandpa.  She took over an hour long bath!

Brushed her teeth like a rock star elephant:

And showed of her back bend skills:

Then Grandma and Grandpa wanted to take her to the mall for lunch so she could ride the carrousel, but Addy requested they go to McDonalds instead so she could see Ronald McDonald and play on the playground there.  :)

For dinner, Jen and her family came over.

After dinner Michelle, Jen, Steven and I went to the Jimmy Buffett concert!  We had so much fun!  First time any of us had been to a Jimmy Buffett concert.

Sunday, April 28, was Michelle's last day with us.  We took it easy in the morning, and Addy tried to get in as much play time as she could!

Michelle was flying standby and tried to get home on a couple flights that day, but they didn't work out.  We didn't mind, we had a great day hanging out at the mall together in between trips to the airport!  Addy was thrilled to see her again when we got home that evening.  Michelle was quite a good sport playing with Addy!

Michelle did get home first thing Monday morning.  We had such a fun weekend, rain and all.  We were pretty proud of ourselves for completing the half marathon, let alone in the rain!  It was a truly memorable weekend!'

After New Orleans...

After our trip to New Orleans, we had a couple weeks of just normal busyness going on.  One evening we went to Mackenzie's softball game.  Unfortunately, she was pitching and took a line drive to her left knee.  A trip to the ER seemed necessary after seeing how quickly her whole leg swelled up.  Thankfully, nothing was broken!

On her way into the ER and smiling!  Don't get me wrong, she was in a lot of pain!

Katie and Addy playing in the waiting room:

Waiting for x-ray results:

Addy being silly and looking SO grown up to me before school one morning:

Playing outside...she does so well on the swings and is quite confident in her abilities!

We got more of our planting done.  This picture doesn't show all that's planted now, and it's still a work in progress.  We've had a lot of rain lately which hasn't helped this project move along very quickly!

Addy took a picture of us cleaning up after planting!