Happy Birthday Colby

While we were in Maine Colby celebrated his birthday with family.   For his actual birthday in August we celebrated the day with birthday donuts in the morning, followed by a trip to the "Jumpy House" as Colby likes to call it.  We ended the day with Colby's favorite dinner of pizza and ice cream cake.  Colby had fun opening presents with Mommy, Daddy, Ella, Fenway and Chloe.  It was a great day!

Our Trip to Maine

In July Ella, Colby, Fenway, Chloe and I took a road trip to Maine to visit family while Casey was away on a mission trip to Korea and Nepal.  Colby and Ella loved spending time with their cousins and Fenway and Chloe loved swimming in the lake.  Chloe even learned how to jump off the dock.  This video shows some of the memories we made during the 18 days we were away from home!

Dancing Before Bed

Last week Ella and Colby were dancing before bed.  Colby made me laugh as he was trying to hold out his pajamas to dance like Ella was doing with her dress :)  Make sure you turn up your volume so you can hear both of them humming.

Adventures in Babysitting

This week our house was filled with lots of furry friends.  Not only did we have our two dogs and fish to take care of but we also took care of a neighbors guinea pig and a friend's dog.  We loved it!

Meet Sam the guinea pig.

Meet Rush - Chloe's best dog friend!

(other than Fenway of course)

 

Chloe and Sam keeping an eye on each other.

Rush meet Sam - Sam meet Rush :)

 

A Visit from Auntie C.C.

Last month Auntie C.C. came to visit.  We had so much fun while she was here.  We went swimming, went to the Alabama Jubilee festival, took a trip to the Unlcaimed Baggage store, had a tour of Cathedral Caverns, went to Nashville for a day, enjoyed the end of the year musical at Ella's preschool and had a fun evening at Point Mallard water park for a family picnic put on by Casey's employer.

Ella at Alabama Jubilee.

Ella and Auntie C.C. loved looking at the hot air balloons.

Ella was so excited to have her picture taken with this "pincess."



 Our ride in a hot air balloon.

We celebrated Auntie C.C's birthday with home made chocolate covered strawberries.

Eating lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville, TN.



Look Who is Swimming

We had a great night tonight swimming at our friend's house and enjoying grilled pizza together.  Both the kids were like fish in the pool.  Colby swam for the first time all by himself with his life jacket on.  He didn's need any help from us getting around.  Ella loved jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side without a life jacket on. Woohoo!  Go Ella and Colby!

Happy Father's Day



Birmingham Zoo Video 2

 

Here is the second video I wanted to share from our trip to the Birmingham Zoo.  The kids had a blast playing the drums and Colby even did some dancing :)

Birmingham Zoo Video 1

I have been having some trouble uploading this video over the past couple of days.  The kids had fun following this African Wild Cat back and forth for several minutes.

Gymnastics

Ella started taking gymnastics and LOVES it!  The instructor is great and she has a couple of friends in the class as well.  Colby even has a friend to play with while he waits for Ella to finish. 

Colby and his best buddy having fun.

Our Weekend in Birmingham

Last month we visited  Birmingham, AL.  We had a great time at the Birmingham Zoo, cheering on Casey at his 21k trail race at Oak Mountain State Park and taking in some local restaurants and breweries.  We had a great time together.  There were so many pictures I wanted to share I just decided to make a slide show.

We Love Chattanooga

Last month we took a weekend getaway to our favorite southern city Chattanooga, TN.  We had a great time together visiting some of our favorite places while taking in new tourist attractions as well.  Here are some of our favorite pictures from that weekend. 

Buddies!

Catching some water at the splash pad in Coolidge Park.

Enjoying a family run together.

Colby was excited to take a trip on the incline railway.

Ella and Bitty.

Taking in some views of Chattanooga from Lookout Mountain - the top of the incline railway.

Running . . . . a Way of Life

Casey and I have been reading a lot of running quotes lately.  Here are a few we like:
"Run for your life" 

"Make an effort not an excuse!"

"If it was easy, everyone would do it!" 

 "Believe you can do it. Think no other way but 'Yes you can.' The human body is capable of considerably more physical endurance than most of us realize."
-Paul Reese

This one we especially love:

"People ask why I run. I say, If you have to ask, you will never
understand. It is something only those select few know. Those who put
themselves through pain, but know, deep down, how good it really
feels." -Erin Leonard

In 2008 after Ella was born Casey lost 80 pounds.  He did this by eating healthier and running on a daily basis.  He has been in a total of 40 races (a couple of 25k's, several half marathons and countless others).  I watched how Casey would come back from his runs with a calm over him.  I was always envious.  After Colby was born in 2010 I decided to try my hand at running.  It wasn't easy to get started.  There were many times in the beginning when I felt like crying and quitting.  My muscles hurt, my lungs burned and my mind told me to quite.  With Casey's encouragement I kept at it and now I am addicted!  I once said I would never run a half marathon and I just completed my first one this spring.  I have signed up for another this fall.  Casey will be doing a 50K and a marathon this fall as well.  When people ask us "Why do you run?" I can honestly say it is more than just the act of  running.  It is the rush you get during a run, it is the euphoric feeling you get when you have pushed yourself to run further than you though you could, it means family time together, it means running "dates" for Casey and I, it means being out in nature, it means feeling a general body calmness when you are done, it means being lost in your thoughts and it means teaching our children to live an active healthy lifestyle.   Running has become a way of life for us and we are a better family unit because of it. 

Our blog is usually about our kids but this time the video is about the many running events we have taken part in :)  I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it! 

Daddy Daughter Dance

Last Saturday Ella and Casey went to a Daddy Daughter dance at church with a renaissance theme.  After looking around for costumes in the area and on line I decided to make them myself.  I added the skirt to a play dress Ella already had (the existing skirt on it was very short).  I also made her head piece.  I copied Casey's costume from a picture I had found online.  They both had a great time and finished their date together with some frozen yogurt at a new store that had just opened. 

 

Ella participating in the may pole activity.