Happy Anniversary

Celebrating 7 years today!

Christmas Cards!

How do you display your cards? I love finding different ways to display things and this year I copied Katie Hall's idea that she did last year. I used one of my evergreen swags and some ribbon to display our cards this year. I thought it turned out cute! Just wanted to share. One more week of school. YAY!!

What Happens When....

....Jake wants to wear his Christmas PJ's and I, as a horrible mother, have neglected to buy him any? Well, you improvise and put "Frosty" on his t-shirt. Problem solved! He thought he was the coolest thing and insisted on taking not one picture, but several pictures.

With sissy in front of the tree....(um yes, they are both wearing last year's Christmas PJ's which are a tad small/short!...I'm over the Christmas PJ's but after last night's request I'll give in!)

With Podie as we found him this morning, reading books!
And last with a reindeer that LG had caught at the Christmas parade.
Jake is definitely a sweetheart and hugger at this stage in his life. He is also a tantalizer to his sister and a knock-down-drag-out BOY in every since of the word. BUT, he has such a gentle heart and is so thoughtful. I love him to pieces!

Christmas Parade

Friday afternoon we decided to head by Community Trust bank to see Santa. They both did fine and it was worth the trip because I got this cute picture as we were leaving!

Then we headed to the Ruston Christmas parade and met up with the Halls' plus lots of other families. A good time was had by all.
Landry Grace's expression when she saw the start of the parade.
And last but not least our family photo.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to you sweet Landry Grace! Little did we know when you were born at 1:15pm on this day 3 years ago how our lives would change. You have been a complete joy and we love you more than words! I thank God often for you sweet girl.

Blessings

We had a great trip last weekend to Dallas! The kids had a great time(that's an understatement) at Great Wolf Lodge and both Matt and I had successful races on Sunday at the White Rock Marathon. Forgive me for posting the race stats on the previous post! I was tired and wanted to report something and that was the quickest and easiest way. I was also very pleased with my time and in no way, shape, or form thought I would or could run as fast as I did. My goal was to go out faster than my previous 2 marathons to give myself a chance to run 3:30 and if I burned out or "died" then so be it. With 4 miles to go I was in a total zone. My head was telling me to stop and walk, but my heart told me to keep pushing. My splits for miles 22-26 were 7:41, 7:36, 7:41, and 7:37....at some point in your life I don't think your body is supposed to be pushed this much(according to your level of ability. Every one's fitness is different and I know there are slower and much faster people out there. These mile splits this late in the race were fast for me). My long runs were not near this fast so I was way out of my target zone. I would close my eyes during this part of the run and think of the finishing time. Matt had asked me the night before what I thought I would run and I really didn't know. He said 3:28 and I laughed at him. I said that would be a 6 minute PR. So his comment also stuck in my mind during those last grueling miles. I caught up with the girl who beat me at the half marathon a couple of weeks ago around mile 23 and she could actually talk and wanted to have a conversation. I could only muster "uh huhs". I did beat her by a minute and we both had huge PR's(personal records). I was pretty much incoherent after the run and went to the medical tent to lay down. Weakness.....who cares, I was pretty pleased with my time.Not trying to come across arrogant, just giving my short version of the race. Matt finished his half in 2:20. He had hopes of breaking 2:20 but says he might do another one some day. All in all it was a good experience from what he says.

Here is a picture from last week. I gave in and let the kids open one of their birthday presents early. They were thrilled!!

My parents came to Dallas with the kids on Saturday to meet up with us. They stayed at the same hotel but in different rooms. We had a good time visiting with my brother and meeting his new girlfriend and then we headed back to the hotel for dinner and bed.
We did meet up with the Hamby's for a little while. They are good friends of ours from Benton. Ben ran the San Antonio marathon a couple of weeks ago and the half at White Rock. Oh, and yes that is Landry Grace falling out of Matt's arms. Great accident prevention there....!
After the race we met Mom and Dad at GWL. They had been there since 1 and we got there around 3:30. I cannot tell you the amount of help me got from them last weekend. Thanks so much!! LG went down this slide literally 75 times. This is the smaller area for toddlers and she had a ball on these slides.
Here they are with their Toy Story cake. Kacee's Sugar and Spice always does a great job!
My parents with the kiddos. My poor dad wouldn't be caught dead in a swimsuit. He just doesn't do water. He was soaking wet from sweat as it is 84 degrees in that place year round. Thanks Dad!
At 8 every night GWL has story time in the lobby. The kids are all dressed in pj's ready to go. During Christmastime is snows 3 times a day and the kids thought that was fascinating!
This face says it all! There were also some bigger slides that only Jake would ride on and this time he was tall enough to ride on the super adult slides with me and Matt(another perk for having an extra set of hands to watch LG). He loved riding the huge water slides and we loved doing it with him!
Happy girl!
Just before we left on Sunday. You have access to the water park all day on the day you check out. We could have stayed until they closed that night at 9 pm. Just an FYI.
Today I went to Landry Grace's class to deliver her requested Minnie/Mickey cookies. Her THIRD(cannot believe she's 3) birthday isn't until tomorrow but another little girl in her class also has a birthday tomorrow so we opted for today so that they don't have to "share the spotlight". She was tickled about the cookies!
Landry Grace was all smiles.
With Ms. Cindy....we love Montessori so much! They adore Landry Grace and we feel the same about them!

Stats from White Rock

Suzanne Tyler #807

Ruston, LA, USA

Age: 32 Gender: F

Distance	MAR
Clock Time	3:27:55
Chip Time	3:27:52
Overall Place	406 / 4586
Gender Place	48 / 1773
Division Place	15 / 339
Tot Div	4586
Tot Gend	1773
Tot Ag	339
10K Rank	743
10K Time	50:05
Half Rank	713
Half Time	1:45:08
20 Mile Rank	565
20 Mile Time	2:39:35
Finish Rank	406
Finish Time	3:27:52
Total Pace	7:56/M