Savannah's Triathlon

On April 8, 2012 Savannah ran her first Triathlon with her dad. It was a chilly spring morning.

 Uncle Aaron and Aunt Lara joined them for this mini sprint Triathlon

 Savannah's yellow swim cap. The murkyness is caused by the warm air in the pool area

causing my cold lense to fog! lol.

 

 After the Swim (Savannah followed by Matt)

 Starting the bike ride. Fresh and Excited.

 Finishing the Bike ride. Tired but not beat!

 Getting family encouragement and hugs at the start of the run.

 Sprint for the finish line!

 The END!

 Recieving her award. FIRST PLACE in age group! Way to Go!

 Aaron and Lara also placed in age group.

 The support staff!

 NOW she is beat. : ) Love that girl. So proud.

Horseback Riding

For Birthday gifts last year Uncle Aaron and Aunt Lara bought the girls horse riding lessons.  They took several months of lessons from a sweet lady named Carrie. The grew comfortable and confident on horses and it was a very exciting for them. Before leaving North Carolina we had to get one more ride in. (even though Carrie isn't doing lessons anymore because she returned to teaching full time.) Carrie was awesome to accomodate us and took us for the girl's first trail ride.

Isabelle and Peanut

Isabelle on Peanut and Savannah on Gracie

Savannah on Gracie

Isabelle on Peanut

Tricia on Thomas, Savannah on Peggy, Isabelle on Gracie

Thanks Carrie for teaching us about horses.

And thanks Aaron and Lara for providing such a great opportunity for us.

And thanks Thomas for not running away with me! hahaha.

Dr Seuss's Bike

Okay so this is rather rediculous, but I have to include it because it made us laugh. Sorry about the silly commentary. Matt's brother Aaron (second on the Bike) had this idea to create the longest "bike" possible and have enough seats for the entire family to ride together. So this is what they spent Christmas afternoon doing.

Introducing the six-seater-super-mega-bike.

That is Matt(My husband)and Aaron (his brother) on a tandem Bike. Savannah (my 10 year old) is being towed behind and has Adam (my 2 year old) in a child seat behind her. Inside the trailor at the back is Isabelle (my 7 year old) and Logan (Aaron's 2 year old). Six people total. The balance was a little off and the white section with Savannah and Adam wobbled quite a bit, but everyone survived and the experiment was deemed a success.

If i can get it to upload the entire video will follow.

Merry Christmas!

What a great Christmas we had. We feel so blessed and really enjoyed spending the day with Matt's family. Adam was especially fun this year. Two is a great year for Christmas! He was so funny all day today. When he opened his stocking he said "I have a present! and another present!" then jumping up and down with his hands in the air said "Woo ooh! Woo ooh! Woo ooh!" And that was just the begininning. here are a bunch of pictures.

Waking up

Too Tired. (6am!)

"I too tired to open presents." and "My boot is bery heaby"Isabelle had to go check to see if the reindeer had eaten our "reindeer food" on the lawn.Adam Beating the water out of his spiderman punching bag...

Literally. It only lasted about an hour. He loves these kind of games. Does that promote violence? : )Likely his favorite present (from Santa) was this gun and holster combo where the guns make noises and light up. He wore the holsters all day. (again... violence?) Opening gifts. Check out those holsters!
The "rodent" we have temporarily adopted Savannah's class guinea pig (only during the Christmas holiday while the teacher is out of town.) Savannah insisted that "sammie" get a Christmas present so Matt had to make a special trip to the pet store on Christmas eve.Enjoying a cookie with his cousin.

We didn't take many pictures at grandma's house, but he got a huge set of Thomas trains! He and Logan played trains for hours!

Redemption: I realized this blog so far sounds like I only have one kid. I guess I kind of got lost in the joy and excitement of the two year old, but believe me the other two kids were not neglected! They each got a nice digital camera for christmas and a digital picture frame to display their pictures. (That is why i didn't take any pictures at grandma's-- the girls camera's were charged by then and they were being the photo-journalists.) They also got games and movies and books from extended family.

All in all it was a beautiful day, spent with great people, and eating excellent food. I love my family.

Matt's Trip out West.

Last summer Matt took his Mom and Dad on a road trip out to Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming.

They had lots of fun, made lots of memories, and took a few pictures. Here are some.

On the road somewhere they met "Tow-Mater"

In Arizona: Matt was very impressed with the Cactus.

Arizona Red Rocks!They Stayed in Arizona a few days with Matt's brother Michael and his family. We miss them a lot and it was fun to see how much his girls have grown. My camera has no flash, so the pictures they took inside the house didn't turn out.

From there they went to Utah to see LouAnn's family. They spent a few days there, but again no pictures. After that they headed up to wyoming where they drove through Yellowstone and spent a day or two touring the sites.

Mudpots

Old Faithful

Buffalo

And even a Bear.

They spent a few days in a rustic cabin with an incredible view.

And i have no idea where this is, but it looks cool.

So They had a great trip and were ever so glad to come home!

Meanwhile I had all four dogs, so i was very happy when they came home too. : )

Better late than never... School Pictures

Isabelle 6, Savannah 9 first day of school.
First day of 1st grade.

First day of 4th grade (she looks upset, but was just trying not to blink into the sun.)

So glad grandma takes them school shopping and helps them pick out cute outfits.

Popcorn

A few nights ago Matt and I were sitting on the couch talking and finishing off a bowl of popcorn. Adam (who had been in bed but got up because he smelled the popcorn) climbed up onto the couch between us, took the bowl from Matt and started to eat. Several minutes later I looked down to see him playing with his nose. I noticed a few popcorn kernals sitting on his shirt and as I pulled his hand away from his nose another kernal fell out and he started to cry. I sat him on my lap facing me and could see that there was a popcorn kernal in his right nostril. I was able to work it loose, but as it fell out I noticed something in the left nostril as well. After working that one loose he sneezed and another one came into view. Eventually we cleared six popcorn kernals from his nose! SIX! What prompted him to put six popcorn kernals in his nose is still a mystery. I can't imagine the leftover salt felt good. He sneezed for the next hour. The workings of a two year old mind...

"Ride for Heroes"

Last weekend we participated in a 25k bike "Ride for Heroes"

Uncle Aaron came out from raleigh and rode tandem with Savannah, and Matt rode tandem with Isabelle. These cute pictures were in the paper.

Aaron and Savannah just starting out.

Matt and Isabelle

Matt and Isabelle

Isabelle (see the grin!)

Grandma watched Adam and Logan so the rest of us could go. Thanks Grandma! The girls were real troopers and we had lots of fun. I think the favorite part for them was the snack stations. Savannah admitted to eating 6 krispy cream donuts by the end of the race! It was pretty cold and Isabelle's cheeks were constantly rosey but always smiling. We had a great time and i was really proud of my girls.

Boys are Gross

I mean really really gross.

Okay lest you think i'm a terrible mother and call social services it really isn't poo. It is just a dirt clod. BUT the fact that he THINKS its poo and yet is still playing with it... Gross.

: ) okay, Seriously though. Adam has had such a fun time having his Dad home this summer. They've fixed cars, lawn mowers, line trimmers,

Gone Shopping (adam's favorite places are the stores with lawn tractors where daddy patiently lets him try out each one.)

Sanded, nailed, screw-drivered, (built a dresser) cleaned stuff, fixed the toilet, learned to use compressed air,

Gone swimming, Boating, to the Zoo, and The Bird Sanctuary.

Spent countless evenings at Grandpa's having what we call "Testosterone Time"

(Adam calls it cookie time)

It has been a seriously awesome summer for a little two year old dude.

He has gone through MAJOR with drawl this past week since Matt has gone back to work.

Little does he know how much worse it will be when the girls go back to school next week.