Summer Series Fun Run

Most Tuesday nights this summer, we were able to run a one-mile fun run sponsored by the Howard County Striders. They had an awards ceremony on the last night, and all the five-and-unders got medals. Grace's PR for the season was 11:49, and Archie's was 10:36. It was a very hilly course. Congrats!

Happy Fourth Birthday, Grace!

My little Princess is four. This is the first birthday I've felt almost sad on. This marks my last year of having a preschooler. Where has the time flown? Grace, I'm happy to report, was not a bit sad and had a ball at her McDonald's party.

My parents made it extra special for her. We were glad they stayed for a week to help with our house and celebrate Grace.

Summer Portraits: 2013

Welcome to Our NEW Home

We are SO thankful to God for our new home! It's fun to be first-time homeowners. In Blacksburg, a lady at our church introduced me to one of her friends in Maryland. That lady became one of my friends, and I just bought her house when her husband got an out-of-state job offer! How cool is that? The house is in basically good condition except the whole inside needed paint. Thankfully, my in-laws kept our kids the first week, and my parents came to help all of last week. This resulted in us getting the whole downstairs painted as well as the stairwell, upstairs hall, and office. The upstairs bedrooms still need to be done. The other major fix is upgrading the two upstairs bathrooms, which I'm pretty sure are original to the house. I've bought my wallpaper steamer to remove the curling paper, and we're trying to figure out how much we can do ourselves. Pretty sure we're going to need professional help with the new bathtub.

Most of the rooms are still too cluttered for pictures, but here is Archie in his new room. When we do repaint it, I think we'll keep the same colors because they're pretty cool

Will try to post more pics soon :)

Tennessee Trip 2013

 Highlights of our Tennessee Trip 2013 included The Smoky's and the Knoxville Zoo.

Ready to hike:

 The kids loved this rustic cabin in the woods. When they went inside, they decided they wouldn't want to live there, though :)

Climbing around the falls was also lots of fun. We had to pull ourselves up on a rope. Even Grace made it, which speaks to her determination!

This big guy stole my heart at the Knoxville zoo. I could have watched him for hours. They brought out his lunch pail, and he rifled through it searching for his favorites to eat first. The lettuce was quickly tossed out. He dove on the carrots, then peeled a leek and ate it. He ate some kind of tomato paste from a bottle but got impatient and chewed through the plastic. Finally, he ate the lettuce and cabbage but only the inside leaves. His cage was strewn with the disco

The long trip!

Cutest Cows on the Block!

Everything tastes better when you're dressed like a cow! Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day is rapidly becoming one of my favorite family traditions! Nothing like feeding a family of four for FREE just for showing some cow spirit!

Grace-isms

Grace says the funniest things!

Grace (while eating a PB&J she made all by herself): Daddy, when I'm done eating I'm going to fight you.
Daddy (playfully): Oh, Grace, don't fight me. I'm scared!
Grace: (giggly): Don't worry, Daddy! I'll fight gently so nobody gets vanquished!

Did somebody say vanquished???
Grace loves to latch onto a word someone says and ask the question "Did somebody say (insert word)?"

Earlier this year her two expressions that cracked me up the most were:

"Here goes nothing" (said before doing just about anything but especially funny when said before doing something daring like zooming down our giant, snowy hill on a by herself on a sled
)

"At your service"
Think I like this one. Pretty nice to call a kid's name and have them scurry to stand before you "at your service". Can I keep it?