Birthday Weekend

This past weekend I had a great time celebrating my birthday with my family!  I had asked for a few presents (mostly some new clothes) but what I really wanted was time.  I asked Mark for time with him, time with the whole family and time by myself!  I got a bit of all three!

Friday night, Lindsay, Brad and Grandude all kept their eyes on Caroline while Mark and I went on a date. We had a yummy dinner at Macaroni Grill, did a bit of shopping for me and Caroline and stopped and got some dessert on the way home. Date nights have become so important to me. I'm thankful for wise couples that have instilled in me the value of a weekly date night!! I am fine throughout the week when Mark is gone but it seems that the moment we leave for a date I am able to breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. Often times I will even ask Mark if we can have a minute of two of quiet so I can collect myself so that the rest of our night can be filled with talking and laughter!

Saturday, Mark and I took Caroline on a little jog.  I am so proud of Mark.  He has started running and is doing a great job.  It's a joy to be able to workout with him now!

Afterwards, we went on a little adventure and had lunch with this friend...

Not a dog, but a pig named Olivia!

Mark, Caroline, Lindsay, Kelsey, Grandude and I all went to visit a petting zoo.  We had so much fun! 

I love this picture of Kelsey below, "I've got nothin" or maybe she is trying to hug sweet Olivia!

While we all enjoyed our time there, we did spend a good bit of time reassuring Caroline that everything was OK.  She never cried but she never really warmed up to the animals either!

Even Aunt Lindsay tried to help out and you can see that Caroline still wasn't too thrilled.  Who doesn't love a baby bunny!?

She did enjoy the "hay ride" though.

Lindsay is such an animal lover and the pictures of her and Kelsey throughout the day are gorgeous.  She has such a bright, contagious smile.  There are so many good pictures I didn't know which ones to post.  :-)

We had a great time learning about the animals.  This is PJ the chicken.  Did you know that chicken's feathers are soft?!  Me neither.

It turns out we didn't really need to go to the petting zoo though!  We had our own banana eating monkey with us the whole time!

Sorry about the terrible humor.  I seriously don't know what happens to me when I write!  Surely, I don't make jokes like that in my everyday conversations!?

Saturday night we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner.  I thought the girls would enjoy watching the guy cook in front of us but the "fire" ended that pretty quickly.  The food was good though and I enjoyed some more time with the family.  My birthday weekend was great.  Here's hoping to a great year as I prepare for the big 30...eeks!

Extra hands!

Two weekends ago Mark and I had planned to work in the yard for a good portion of the day although Lindsay and Brad had different ideas!  Lindsay asked a couple of times if we would like to come over to watch the Georgia game, cookout and just hang out but I kept telling her that we were busy.  However, we were very thankful when Lindsay and Brad pulled up to help out!  It turned out to be a great Saturday.  We got a ton of yard work ton in a short time, were able to watch the Georgia game, eat yummy burgers and take the girls swimming.  I'm thankful for such a sweet family!

Below Lindsay and I are preparing for Thanksgiving by practicing our wishbone breaking skills!

Little girl!

Whenever I thought of having a little girl, I thought of bows, pigtails, dresses, black patent leather shoes and ruffly socks.  I can't believe that she is already getting to that point.  Although the "ponytail" is stretching it.  :-)

Baby Steps

Technology is great!  It's crazy to think that Caroline will grow up thinking it's normal to talk with her grandparents who live half way across the country.  She even gets to "kiss" them on a regular basis. 

This week, the technology came in really handy.  Let me preface this by saying I know my daughter very well!  Tuesday morning I took Caroline to a consignment store to sell some clothes.  While we were there, she kept pushing off of me and wanting down.  She walked around the store, holding my hand, just beaming and squealing to anyone who would listen.  On the way home I called my Mom and said, "Don't remind me of this, if I'm wrong, but...I think Caroline is going to walk soon."  Have I ruined the story already? 

Tuesday night Caroline and I got on Skype with Mark.  He was in Richmond, Virginia for work.  Caroline was standing on her own, with a sippy cup in hand, when all of a sudden she walked her little self right up to the computer screen to give Mark a kiss.  It happened so quickly I almost didn't believe it.  I propped her right back up where she was and she did it two more times.  She is such a funny girl because she never realized that she did it.  She was so focused on Mark and holding the cup that it didn't even phase her.  I think it's going to be several more days/weeks before she is really walking but it was a good start.  She did not take any steps today but she rocked back and forth and stood by herself.  Soon...

Everyone keeps saying that I should be glad that she is not walking yet but I'm ready!!  She is big enough, old enough and there isn't much that she doesn't already get into.  I'm excited about the new adventures ahead.  Mark is now home so we will be practicing her walking the rest of the week!

Wagon Rides

Sharry, Sarah and Reagan knocked on our door tonight and wanted to take the girls on a wagon ride.  

They're precious girls! 

I think they both enjoyed it but what I really wanted to show you are a couple pictures of Caroline's newest expression. 

 

She looks like she is screaming but she's not.  It's pure joy/excitement!  She did it yesterday for the first time.  I encouraged her once by mirroring the face and telling her how silly she was.  Now you can't stop her!  Every time she gets excited she opens her mouth as wide as she can!  I can't help but laugh when she does it which only provides more encouragement.  She spent a good portion of the wagon ride with her mouth wide open!

Spoon fed

Caroline has moved out of the infant room at daycare.  I had been hesitant to move up her up because it meant we would have to change her nap schedule but we've made it and I actually like the schedule better now.  Surprise!

They are very advanced in the next room. :-)  When I was dropping her off one morning the kids were all seated at the table eating milk/cereal in a bowl and they were all eating with their own spoons!  We have not been working on this at home so since that day I have started giving her a spoon at meal times and encouraging her to use it.

She is pretty proud of herself!

She's not so good at getting food on the spoon but she is pretty good at getting the spoon in her mouth.  However, sometimes she gives up and this is what I turn around to see.  Oatmeal everywhere! 

One of my other favorite meal time views is Caroline sitting with her feet crossed.  It's precious!  Of course, Sophie is always waiting anxiously for any food that drops.

Giddy Up!

Sunday night our friends Dustin and Adrienne (sorry for the terrible lighting)...

hosted a Cowboy/Mustache Birthday Party! Don't you love the fake chest hair on Dustin!?

It was tons of fun to see everyone get in the spirit.

Some of the boys even grew out their own mustaches for the evening!  I was impressed!

Eli was the most enthusiastic participant of the night.  He got a fake mustache after this picture was taken and sported it for several hours!! 

Unfortunately, my camera didn't come back out  after the party really got started.  We had a great time with good friends....so much so that we skipped our Financial Peace class!

God is AMAZING

So lately, God has been really obvious in my life. He has gifted me with an amazing wife who loves more than I could ever have imagined! He has given me (us) a child who has the ability to melt my calloused heart with nothing more than a quick sparkle in he eye. She has made me laugh every single day. I was telling Nicole this weekend, that I truly have everything I could have ever wanted. God has brought healing and health to my life and has kept His hand over me and my family though we don't deserve it. I serve an awesome God!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Slide

Caroline has learned to go down the slide all by herself.  The first part of the video is her 5 weeks ago trying the slide for the first time.  The second part is of her going down the slide today.  At the end she looks a little startled but afterwards she says, "MORE!" You'll just have to trust me on that one!

Triathlon #2

It feels like just a few weeks ago that I did my last triathlon post but this was the "big" one that I have been training for, for a few months. 

Saturday morning we headed down to Callaway Gardens.  I had heard such wonderful things about it and was really excited to spend the day outside.  The weather was PERFECT but the Gardens themselves were not worth the cost to get in.  Don't hear me wrong, it was beautiful there but it cost $25/person to get in and see nature.  EEKS!  I can hike Kennesaw Mountain for free at home!

We ate lunch outside, visited the butterfly garden, ate dinner with Chad and Noelle and watched a few hot air balloons blow up and do tethered rides.  It was a little too windy for them to launch.  I was just so thankful to spend the weekend with some of my most favorite people (Mark, Caroline, Mom, Vern, Noelle, Chad and William).  There were only a few favorites missing!

Sunday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and made our way to the Gardens for the triathlon.  The weather was again perfect, even a tad bit chilly before the sun came up.  Noelle and I got ready to swim and made some friends before the race started.

The water was as warm as bath water!  The swim was pretty good.  I had a "fancy" new triathlon suit on but it didn't quite do the job in the water.  The suit was scooping up water!  The first couple of hundred meters I kept thinking about what I should do.  I even considered dropping the top but I figured that wouldn't go over so well once I got out of the water.  :-/  I made it though!

Before the triathlon, I was most worried about the bike ride but it was great.  I think people would say that it had "rolling hills."  There were some short, steeper climbs, some longer lower grade climbs and then some great, long declines.  I'm sure that I rode faster than I ever have before on the downhills.  I'm not a fan of going downhill and a few times I caught myself saying outloud "Nicole, you're such a weinie" while putting on the brakes.  I'm sure the folks passing me thought I was crazy!

After the bike I headed out on the run.  The whole course was great because it was very shaded.  I never really got hot.  I would definitely do the race again because the course was so nice.  My run went pretty well and I ran a significantly faster pace than what I had been training for. YIPEE!  Let me just say, my fast is not even close to other people's fast!

Overall, I was very pleased with my race and was thankful to have all the support. Of course at the end I told Mark, "I want to sign up for another. Pretty please?!?" He agreed...I'm just not sure when it will happen. :-)


Caroline and William get a special shoutout for being such troopers during the race but also for the months of hardwork they have endured as we have trained.  They've had many chariot rides behind the bike, spent lots of time in the stroller as the sun is rising and spent hours in the nursery at the gym all so their Mama's could compete.  They are pretty sweet... and sweet on each other.  You should see the kissing pictures...they are just waiting to be pulled out for the wedding day.  :-)

Just because

I've been thinking lately about how thankful I am for my sweet husband so I decided to compile a short, silly, partly serious list of why I am thankful!

• He irons his own clothes.
• He can be very disciplined when he decides to be.  Two examples...He has been reading through the Bible in a year and is up to date on all of his reading.  He has given up for soda since the begining of the year and hasn't slipped once! 
• He loves Caroline dearly.
• He always puts the toliet seat down.
• He makes me laugh when he dances around the house.
• He works very hard to make sure that we are provided for.
• He gets up with Caroline in the mornings when I'm still trying to bring myself to join the land of the living. 
• He's not afraid to do housework (laundry, dishes, vacuuming).
• He is very supportive of any endeavor that I take on.
• He can fix just about anything!
• He is a good teacher.
• He puts up with me!

There are a trillion more reasons why I love Mark.  This list is just a small start and just because I really have been thinking about it.  Seriously, everytime he irons I give thanks to God and just today at work I was reminded of how I love having the toliet seat down.  :-)  Silly stuff but he's pretty great!

Go Panthers!

Last night Mark was gracious enough to take me to the first ever football game at Georgia State University!  I am a proud of alumni of Georgia State.  I really enjoyed going to school in the "concrete jungle."  The student population was very diverse and of course the surrounding city is as well.  I learned quickly how to navigate MARTA and where I could walk by myself.  More importantly I had my mind opened beyond the white suburban community where I grew up.  I also made some great friends.  However, it often feels there is not much to brag about since everyone in the south cares about football and without a team there was not much to say.  Thankfully, that is no longer the case. 

There was a ton of energy and excitement when we entered the Georgia Dome last night.  Everyone was decked out in their royal blue (except us). I couldn't believe how many folks had Georgia State shirts on!  The articles I read in the newspaper said the school was hoping for 20,000 in attendance but there were over 30,000 people present!  The Braves played the Mets last night and there were more fans at the GSU game!  I'm sure it's the only time that will happen but it's still a fun fact!  The music, the fans and the football were all great.  Of course, it was only their first game and it was only agaisnt a Division I team but we were glad to get our very first win, 41-7! 

Not having been to very many college football games, I was impressed with the "GSU" pretzels!

Of course, my camera battery died right after this silly picture but at least we have proof that we were there!