Saturday, November 29, 2014

Lately...

A lot has gone on lately. My mom had a scare when a routine colonoscopy turned bad. After 5 days in the hospital she is home and recovering. Scary stuff! Thanks for all the prayers and support...it was felt. Love ya Mom!

On the home front...Norah painted a fox (and yes..."What does the fox say?" was said a lot!)

We had a pretty day at the beach not long ago and Norah and I went out and enjoyed it! I snapped some pics and one made the Christmas card...here are a few that didn't make it!




Jeff and I celebrated 10 years of marriage with a family night out for sushi and then a date to Chive Blossom and Frank's! Fun times!





So good! Want to go back pronto! 

Norah loved picking a dessert!

We attended a fun 9th birthday party for Ellie!

I went on two field trip days with Middle School at our school...a beach day and then movie time!

Ladd planned wind sprints, poetry writing, and land form drawings...it was so fun!

Ladd also planned a cool scavenger hunt that we had to do inside due to the rain (she is awesome!) but it was still fun! And the movie was good but if you haven't read the book...I think you would think this movie was a little on the slow side. I liked it but again...I've read the books. It was fun to hang out with our kids and not be in school for the day!

We have been on Thanksgiving break and I have loved every minute of it! Tuesday night some friends came over for a few POM Margaritas...recipe here...so good! Then the next day I got to hang out with Norah, Ellie, and Alec. We headed to Coastal Grand Mall and they jumped, played, had lunch, and we saw a movie!



After that it was time to cook it up! I made everything from scratch and got a fresh turkey from Fresh Market. Thanksgiving came and we watched the parade, hung out, and ate too much food. Such a fun day!

Rockin' the Jake and Betsy koosie! 

Love this pic...she seems so grown up!
We visited some friends too and at the end of the day...someone was tired!


Jeff got our tree and it looks great...just have to decorate it now! Today we have some fun stuff planned so better get geared up!

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Norah's First Swim Meet and randoms...

This weekend was Norah's first swim meet in Columbia, SC. We arrived at our hotel around 6ish Friday night and walked over to Carrabba's for dinner. We got pizza and I must say it was delish! It was fun to eat out just the two of us and she told me how excited and nervous she was for Saturday. We walked back to the hotel, got ice cream, watched a movie on Disney, and crashed. I do love staying in a hotel...no cooking or cleaning!


We got up the next morning and met the rest of the team down at breakfast. Everyone was getting geared up before we headed over to the local YMCA. Once there...Norah's nerves hit her and she started to get upset. But once she got in the water...she was good to go. My mom and Denny (thanks for coming...Norah loved that you were there!) arrived too and the day started!





I was so proud of Norah! She finished 5 events and it was amazing to see what she has accomplished since starting swimming in late September! Since it was my first time being at a swim meet too...it was loud, organized chaos, and exciting! I loved seeing all the swimmers walking around, families and coaches cheering everyone on, and just team work at its best! I love our team and the kids rocked it! The coach and parents were so helpful in all my questions and it was a super FUN day. Norah did hit the wall (literally as she forgot her goggles in the last event-the backstroke) at the end and tears ensued but we found that it was due to hunger. So she changed into her clothes and we hit up Panera for her to refuel. (The blue is from Gatorade!)

*Biggest lesson learned from the day was that Norah has to eat more during events...we have a plan for next time. I also feel like getting her first one done will help her know what to expect in the future too (same for me...I will know what to expect.) She can only improve and again...I was one proud parent of her in just competing and completing each event and so happy to say we are part of a great team...the Wahoos! And she said that she had fun...the most important part!
Needless to say, after lunch...she was asleep in the car for most of the ride home.

Here are her final results...there were 7 teams there...To think that if she keeps up...next year she would still be in the 7-8 year old group until June 2016! I loved that the coach took notes about the swimmers so she would know things to work with them on, etc. Again...cannot say enough good things about our experience.
And of course...once we were home...I was a wee bit exhausted....I did find this pic on my phone that Norah had taken of herself...hahahaha!!!

Randoms...
We went to 8 am Church today and afterwards as we were eating breakfast...we watched some of the CBS Sunday Morning News (the one with the Sun logo) and I laughed out loud at the interview with Jon Stewart...seriously it is hilarious! I must admit that I have not watched the Jon Stewart show before but now I want to watch it. And then I bawled tears regarding the story on Lauren Hill (2 part story)...one part focused on Lauren Hill and the other part was about the team that played them...wow please let my kid grow up to be compassionate, brave, and every other characteristic Lauren and all the girls profiled exemplify! So basically the show was fantastic! I forgot how much I like that show.

Reading through the weekend links on this website (love this blog!)...thought it was an interesting read about Alice Gregory finding and wearing a "uniform" everyday. I definitely have less clothes compared to my past days but this makes me want to pair down even more!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Thursday things...

Loved having Tuesday off with my girl. Monday night we went on an adventure in the neighborhood.


Tuesday we ran a bunch of errands and tackled the mountain of laundry! Here are some pics as we are out and about!



Our ten year wedding anniversary is next week so here is a little tbt for ya...circa April or May 2002...(before the camera phone...this was seriously probably taken with a disposable camera and gasp...developed!) :)


Last night had a little girl time at Perrone's...always fun with these ladies!

Trying to get back in reading gear...currently reading these three...I'll let ya know what I think when finished.


Also I just saw that one of my favorite books is being made into a Young Adult version and available next week...love this!! How can I convince all the kids I know to read it?!



And I found this quote which pretty much sums it up lately!

Monday, November 3, 2014

Overwhelming October...

October was a blur. There were so many days that I was so overwhelmed with commitments, duties, mom guilt, daily stresses, etc. I was at a lost with what had to give. But now we are starting a new month and I hope that means some calmer days.

Today we made it to Church...Thank goodness as we have missed it! We are so lucky to love our Church! Of course this called for a family car selfie and then Norah snapped a pic of us at breakfast.


Okay I need to record some happenings in this past month before I forget so beware of long post.

We celebrated Halloween with friends and had a blast! The kids got to run around and it was so fun to see their excitement. Norah loved every minute of it! The food, weather, and the people were amazing!







And I can't forget about earlier in the day...I dressed up for my school as well as being one of the moms who did Norah's party at her school. Halloween 2014 was a big day!



Last weekend we traveled to Florida for Jake and Betsy's wedding and Norah was part of the wedding as a flower girl. She did great and enjoyed her duties! We are so happy for Jake and Betsy!


































As you can see in the last pic...Norah was worn out from all the fun. It was such a cute place to visit as we enjoyed the downtown area on Saturday and we are still raving about the best ice cream ever from here...



We hope to get to visit Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach again!

We celebrated Jeff's 47th birthday this month and he got to have a weekend to do whatever he wanted. Fishing was involved and a homemade fudge pie. Seriously it turned out awesome! It was so thick...crazy good!



Speaking of fishing...Jeff got to do some fishing in Charleston and caught a Wahoo. He had a lot of fun!


A few other things that have happened...Norah made the paper again, went to the Waccamaw Homecoming parade, still swimming, and with her first report card...Principal's Honor Roll...all As! We are so proud of Norah!





And one of the best things...my back! I had the injection in my SI joint...the day after was rough but then it is great! It is so nice to not be in constant pain. I still have a little here and there but with Advil and time...I feel like I'm good to go! Well I'm sure I left out something and glossed over the events but wanted to make sure I documented some of the things that happened over the last few weeks. Now onto November! (And my laptop died a terrible death so therefore posting on an iPad which has proven quite complicated so who knows how this post turns out! Gotta work out some kinks!)