Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 2013

Jennifer and I ran in the Arlington Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving Day, November 28. It so happened to be my birthday. I am so thankful that she ran with me. We walked a lot because she is not a runner but we did run some. My run tracker stopped working so I really have no idea where one mile ended and the next began. Before long we were at the finish line. It was about 34 degrees out there when we started but I think it warmed up a few degrees by the end of the hour. Here are some of the pictures from our run.

Before we left home. 

Before

After

Changing my life one day at a time.

Jennifer's Birthday Party

Here is a cute Smilebox I created of her party. I wasn't able to get great pictures of all 24 girls that were in my house that night but we got many great ones. We were more focused on having fun! I think we did a GREAT job of that!

Enjoy!

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Until next time...blessings to you!

September Birthdays

Jenni is 7!!!

She had a High School Musical party, of course! She was so excited! We her a shirt to wear and a fun cake. We got Disney Channel Scene It and they kids played it. Then we had cake and opened presents!

I had to get a picture with the birthday girl!! I can't believe she is already 7 years old. Where did the time go? She is getting so tall and still a beautiful little girl. We love to hang out together and she still likes to snuggle with her mom (for now!).

She is a total daddy's girl! Every chance she gets she snuggles up with her dad or gets hugs! I know that he is wondering how she can be so big so quickly, as well. Time does fly....

She got some wonderful gifts, four of them Barbie dolls! So it was a good thing we had this wonderful Barbie Doll house made for her! She loves it! It is totaly awesome! It takes up a lot of room but that is ok. It is 5'x5'. We had Steve Hughes make it for her. I got the plans off of ebay and asked him if he could do it. It turned out fantastic! She is in the second grade and is doing wonderful!! She almost always has a great attitude when it comes to doing her school work and finishes by 11 in the morning so she has the rest of the day to do other things.

Nick is 16!!!!!!

He had a Family Force Five disco type party. We had a disco ball and party lights. We had a Wii and Playstation 2 there.

We were able to use the fellowship hall at our church so John and his band set and played a short set. It was fun but loud. 

His friend brought Guitar Hero to play. Thanks bunches!!! They really had a lot of fun playing that game.

I thought I would get in the picture since I am usually taking them! (yes, that is an earring! ugh! Not my choice or his dads. We are hoping he out grows it soon!) It is hard to believe that he is 16. That is such a weird age. They are so close to what the world calls adult and yet so far from really understanding what it means to be grown up. He is in 11th grade so we have 2 years of high school left to get him through. Then, only God knows what is in store next.

So that is what we did for our two September kids birthday's. They both had a great time and we are so blessed to have them in our lives! 

Until next time...blessings to you.

JC Turns 9

Although I am late posting this, it is really not a complete post because we have yet to do the annual birthday dinner (where the birthday person gets to pick the place to eat) and he hasn't had his party (he will do that in May). But I wanted to post some things now before it got too far away from his actual birthday.

It is hard to believe that 9 years have gone by since he was born. There is an almost 7 year difference in him and his older brother. We had two miscarriages between them. So as you can imagine, we were thrilled to finally have this little guy in our arms. Funny thing is when we were first pregnant with him we found out that there were two sacks. But after two weeks we were able to see that one of them was empty and that little one didn't make it. So JC knows that he has someone in Heaven waiting to meet him someday. We have taught him that God knows us before we are born and that He makes us in our mother's womb so he knows that his sibling is with the Lord.

His older sister had just turned 12 when he was born so she was and always will be like a second mom to him. He was a big baby. He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces. He came after only 3 hours of labor. Not too bad! His older siblings took MUCH longer.

From the beginning he was a very special baby. He was able to brighten everyone's day with his smile. He is still very good at that! He is one of the most active kids I have ever seen. He loves to climb trees and do most sports. He loves music, too. His dad got him something very special for his birthday this year!

John took him to Guitar Center so he could pick out what he wanted. He was allowed to pick a regular guitar or the bass and he had his choice of colors. He was so proud when he came home carrying that box that held his new pride and joy. It is a beautiful blue bass with a lightning strap. His dad has already started teaching him things and he goes out to the music room and works on it several times a day. So now, all three of my guys play the bass guitar! How funny! Of course, there is one difference between JC and the other two, he is RIGHT handed instead of left like them.

Until next time...blessings to you.

Happy 6th Birthday, Jennifer Lynne!

Happy Birthday, My "Lil' Angel Baby"! You turned 6 years old today. I have been looking at your baby pictures all week. I wanted to post those on here but haven't had the time to do it. I wanted to scrap them in your book but the last six years have gone by so quickly and though I have taken lots of pictures of you, I have yet to put them in a book. I vow to change that this next year so that on September 16 we can look through a scrapbook and see the years gone by of how you have grown into such a wonderful young lady. And next year I will take the time to post those special pictures of you throughout the years that should be on here for everyone to enjoy!

You were born at 9:25 a.m. on Sunday morning. You were 9 pounds 6 1/2 ounces. You were born in 55 minutes of labor. Your 14 year old sister was in the delivery room when you were born. That made it very special. We had lots of friends from church come to see you that day and the next. I can not believe 6 years has gone by already. Every year has been such a joy with you as I watch you grow and change.

Each year we let you pick the "character" theme for your party. This year your favorite thing is Holly Hobbie. They don't make party stuff yet so I went on line and made invitations and thank you notes. I got Ms Cathy to make your cake (as always, she did such a great job). I let you pick where you were going to have your party because last year you didn't get a chance to have a party. You wanted Chuck E. Cheese so we did it. I picked Saturday morning at 9:30 because I knew it would be almost empty until almost noon. We invited your friends from church, school, the apartments we teach at and just friends outside of any of those. You had 25 friends come to your party, plus parents. That is a great turn out.

Your cake turned out cute!

Your 1st Grade Teacher, Ms Kirkpatrick

Your Best Friend, Kamryn

Afterwards, we came home and unpacked all of your gifts. You played with the My Little Pony house for most of the afternoon. Even after stopping and playing with something else you always went back to that. I would say that had to be one of your very favorite gifts this year.

Today you wore your new dress that you got from one of my daycare kids. You looked so pretty! That great smile just made my day, all day. I know this next year will pass just as quickly as the last one did. So lets make sure we take some moments together and share how your day was and what you are thinking about and dreaming about. I don't want to miss a second of your life. I love you so very much, words are not enough to tell you. God gave me a great gift 6 years ago and I am forever grateful!

Love, Mommy

Until next time...blessings to you.