Christmas in FL part 1 - arrival and Anthony's early b-day celebration

the kids were super excited to be going on an airplane to see Mimi & Papa in "Flordiya"! as you can see below, Jackson was running as fast as he could once we got off that plane and he spotted Mimi waiting for us.

We hadn't had dinner so we went straight to Cracker Barrel. The kid's favorite stop once we get into FL. :)



The next morning we got up and played and waited in anticipation for Vonda and the girls to arrive from Tampa! It was cold and rainy most of our time in FL so we played inside a lot more this time.



the girls got right to playing!

That night we all went to Golden Corral to celebrate an early Birthday for Anthony. Of course, it's the kid's favorite place to go. Unlimited food and dessert! If I was a kid I'm sure it would be my favorite too. :)







they even sang to Anthony!



Mimi and Papa had spiderman masks to wear for our cake and singing Happy Birthday to Anthony.





Mimi made Anthony's favorite...Coca Cola Cake...it was yummy and it was fun to all be together again!

Anthony's 1st 1/2 Marathon

Anthony was SO supportive of me while I trained for my first 1/2 Marathon. After he saw that I was able to do one and ENJOY it he was sure he wanted to do one too! He signed up for the Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon in VA Beach Labor Day weekend, September 6, 2009. He did AWESOME!!! He was much faster than me and I was SO proud of him and happy I could be there to cheer him on!

at the Expo to pick up his race packet





Jackson is always willing to give us a laugh!

up bright and early! my sisters were amazing and offered to watch the kids for us while we were at the race. i know the boys would have enjoyed it in some ways but it was so nice to be able to watch without wondering if a child had wondered off! there were SO many people. seriously ridiculous! i didn't even see Anthony cross the finish line because there were so many people and it was hard to find him! i was really bummed about that but i loved being there to support him and he did such an AMAZING job!

he convinced Chris to join him in his madness and sign up for the race. i think Chris was really wishing he hadn't agreed but he was a trooper and finished his first (maybe his last) 1/2 marathon too!

Cody was such a good boy!!!


we ran into a friend from LU, Bethany Gadomski Walter! this was her first 1/2 marathon too! and imagine that in a crowd of over 16,000 runners!!!

had to get a picture of Woody the Cowboy! i can NOT imagine running a race in a costume much less in 80 degree weather! what in the world???

here he comes...mile 11 and looking GREAT!

Good job Chris! finished in 2:16:00


so proud of my man!

Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon - September 6, 2009
Finished in 1:51:00
WOO HOO!!!

he's almost home!!!!

Anthony has been in San Diego, CA this week on a business trip.

he left Sunday morning at 4:30am while i was still struggling with my stomach bug. Needless to say, Sunday was a rough day. tough to be sick with 3 kids to take care of AND then it's really easy to get even more bummed when you know your whole worship team and church family is worshiping together in a "rare only happens twice a year risers event" and you keep seeing Facebook updates about how incredible the service is and how awesome the sermon is and there you sit...at home...sick...alone (well not really alone...3 kids who still need to be taken care of and don't really know how to appreciate the fact that their mother is VERY less than 100%).

OK. that's depressing. are you feeling sorry for me yet??? OK. let's stop talking about it! :)

the good news is that we have officially SURVIVED!!! survived our time without him and anticipating some time with him this morning before he has to go back to work after lunch. poor guy is SO exhausted. and we even survived starting a week of home school...an incredible change to our family's routine without having daddy here at night to let mommy take a nice bubble bath and soak my cares away.

seriously though. the homeschooling has actually kept the week fun and not been overwhelming as of yet. it's kept my mind busy and left me less time to wallow in my self pity of not having my man around!

the good news...the even better news...is that Anthony was supposed to leave AGAIN on Friday for Alabama...after we only had him for one day...but that trip has been CANCELED!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

he is almost home for good. he'll be landing in about 15 minutes! we can't wait.... can any one else testify that having daddy around...your man at home...is a GOOD THING!!!

he remembered

Anthony got Krispy Kreme doughnuts for me this morning for my birthday!!!

it was a new tradition i started for us this year - doughnuts for your birthday breakfast! yesterday i thought he probably wasn't going to remember but i didn't want to remind him:

1. it's not fun to remind someone about the "tradition"

2. i don't really need to be eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts

BUT, he remembered! i was so excited! and i ate them! :)

we have a date night planned tomorrow night so we didn't really "celebrate" today. but that's OK, tomorrow will work just fine!

i love my man! :)

Anthony's Birthday Celebration

Anthony turned 32 this year and we had fun celebrating his birthday! I decided a new tradition for birthday breakfast would be doughnuts! We never buy them so it will be a nice treat to look forward to on our birthday. Krispy Kreme had Christmas doughnuts so Mimi & Papa and I went to pick them up while Anthony was at AWANA with the boys. He was completely surprised and loved it.


I wish I had pictures of all us celebrating with our doughnuts but Anthony would KILL me if I posted his just woken up pictures. :) I decided to be kind.


The doughnuts were a big hit with the boys. although, if I had known that the red and green doughnuts had a mint flavor I would have opted for only snowmen. They weren't too excited about the mint flavor. I say, you can't go wrong with Krispy Kreme, no matter what! ;)

I picked Anthony up from work that night and we headed over to Maggiano's in Durham. Let me tell you...INCREDIBLE!!! It was the best dinner out I've had in a long time. My new favorite...Rigatoni D (Thank you Angie and Tracey for the suggestion!!!). We had a wonderful time together and can't wait to go back!


While were having our FABULOUS dinner, the kids and Mimi and Papa were making Anthony his favorite...Coca Cola Cake...so we could celebrate together when we got home. It was very yummy!





Anthony's office gave him a dancing Santa for his birthday. Addison was checking him out and he was a big hit! :)