not much going on here...pirates & pottying

pirate & princess day @ school

scrub a dub dub

yes...i really made this a blog post

for the past 2 days, emery has done her poops on the potty!!!!  i have no expectations that this will last because i am not "potty training" yet.  and i am 99.9% sure she is only doing it to be more like beckett but i'll take it!!!  

she is quite impressed with herself :)  good job EC!

my first marathon!!

but not my last :)  other than growing 3 small humans inside my tummy and things of that nature, this was the coolest thing i have ever done.  i truly LOVED EVERY MINUTE...even the training!!!  early mornings, late nights, hangovers, walking pneumonia, sick kids, freezing temps, pouring rain, hot as hell...i never missed a single training run...dating back to july.  it also helped that i love my running partner!!  not only is she an amazing friend, she also loves to talk :)  it wouldn't have been the same without debra...we only did one long run without each other...and for the most part, they all FLEW by!!!

we never knew our pace during training...we just assumed 10 minute miles and would then run for that length of time depending on the mileage that week.  turns out we run a little faster than we thought :)  we didn't care about our time...just finishing without ever walking.  the conditions on race day were PERFECT!!!  the stars aligned and we had temps in the 40's & 50's.  having so many people there cheering for us (even strangers would read our names from the bib) was huge!!  you have no idea how much it helped!!!  it kept it so exciting knowing that someone was waiting for you at the next mile!!!  Laura, Liz, Rachel, Steve, Madison, Jacob, Emily, Brad, Nicole, Philip, Susie, Debra's mom & Henry, Jeff's parents, Tiffany, Brandon, Ellis, Beckett, Emery, Jeff, Janna Rae, Brody...i know i am forgetting people!!!  we saw so many people we didn't even plan on seeing...Dillards, Pearces, etc!!!

the signs people hold up are hilarious...so very clever!!!  SO much music and running in areas you have never run in kept it interesting.  we got a beer @ mile 21-ish?!  a quick cheers and chugged it down (thanks for the tip heather!)  i really just can't say enough about the whole experience (can you tell!?!?)  i think everyone should run a marathon!!!  i think you can totally train your body to do anything...i never would have thought i could run over 26 miles w/ out stopping...EVER!

a HUGE thank you to our husbands who supported us by watching the kids (a lot!) while we trained.  my parents and susie and philip too :)  susie and philip kept the kids after the first spot brandon met us to cheer so that he could follow me around and be @ the finish...thank you!  thank you to everyone for all of the good luck, well wishes, congrats, trinkets, hairbands,  glittering talent, and so much more!!!

debra- thank you for agreeing to run it with me!!!  it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!  and laura- it wouldn't have been the same without you along the way for training either...you totally should have run it with us!

there's always next year :) ha!

details to come!!!

inspiration

how awesome are those signs!?

while the daddies are away, the kids and mommies play!!

while on the phone with rachel this week, we discovered that both of our hubbies were out of town for the weekend...SLUMBER PARTY!!!  ...we shouted at the same time :)  after further investigation, cynthia's husband was going to be out of town too and she was in for fun!  8 kiddos, 3 moms...love, love, love adventures like this...almost as much as my kids do :)  the kids were up until 10:30...and the moms set a curfew of 1 a.m. for ourselves...so much fun catching up!!!

taylor is one month older than emery...it was so cute to see emery with a friend her age :)  they had a ball!  they are both huge "baby" fans...

the "older" kids played together SO well too...

i can't believe the babies are almost 2 years old!!!

the girls played dress-up/fashion show/pageant in rachel's closet and wells was the judge!

one big pallet...they all slept great...all with their american girls :)

thanks again rachel!!  love you girls! 

10 days away...

from my first marathon!!!  debra and i have matching outfits (i hope we look good in purple!) and next weekend we are "glittering" our shoes :)  don't worry,  i will be posting pics!!  they will be fabulous...right jill??  we only have one itty bitty (12 mile) training run left.  slightly scared that our long 23 mile run was 4 weeks ago?!?!  but we are trusting in the training schedule :)  eeeeeek!!!

and how cool is this?...2 of my bff's gave me this tonight...and they had NO idea we were wearing purple or doing glitter?!?!  it is a headband...LOVE!!  thank you girlies!!

i would also like to point out that i wasn't going to drink btwn NYE and the marathon...oopsies...screwed that up already :)

it was bound to happen

he finally fell off the counter...onto his face.  that's right, face first...as in, his face broke the fall.  his lips and nose swelled up so fast (and bled so much) that i thought his nose had to be broken.  after ice and all of that business, he seemed much better so i thought we were in the clear.  nope...he started puking.  off to the ER we went.  the good news is that they did a CAT scan and all looks fabulous (although brandon is convinced it only looked okay because there isn't anything in there to look at!)  the bad news is that he is still climbing on everything...and baby sister is right there behind him!  

and just in case you needed a reminder of what his sweet face normally looks like :)

emery and her army of newborns

do you love the twilight reference?!?

so many babies...and she loves them all!!  BTW- she has more than this!  i was too lazy to get the ones from upstairs and in the car :)  and not a one of these was a hand me down...these are all hand picked by em...

she sleeps with btwn 5 and 10 babies every night.  crazy girl.

christmas part 2

after emery's nap on christmas day, we headed to susu and nish's house in the city.  for the second year in a row, they had the chef/owner of ibiza, brasserie 19& copa, come and cook christmas dinner for us.  friends and family, including my parents and brother, enjoy some seriously delicious food...always a fun time... 

their big gift from susu and nish...ipod touches!  best toy ever for a kid!!  music, movies, tv shows, games (educational too!), video camera, camera, texting, face time, and on and on and on.  they were THRILLED!!!!

how awesome are those headphones?

susu and nish!

emery got triplets that all talk to each other...probably should have gotten her an ipod touch too!!  it's only a matter of time :)

charles!  he is tons of fun...and obviously a fabulous chef :)  he ended up shacking over @ susu and nish's house (we did too)...we were all over served!!!

uncle grant

the fam

emery & goldfish

hugs for daddy...she CAN be sweet

scallops

the best grits EVER

the best salad i have ever had!!  brandon is going to attempt it...chopped kale!

here are the kids face timing with their friends who also got ipod touches for christmas...gotta love technology :)

we all had a very merry christmas!!!  thank you again santa, bebe & bo, susu and nish :)