Youth Christmas Party

We had our youth Christmas party on Wednesday night. After delivering cookies to some people in our church that are home bound, and singing Christmas carols for them, we headed to the Gann's for our party. We had great food and enjoyed a game of "Dirty Santa!" It is always fun to see what kind of gifts end up at a party like this. Jon, Ava and I ended up with a Target gift card, Bert's Bees chapstick (the best), an airhorn and a toboggan! We did well...some of our students weren't so fortunate! We had a blast. Thanks to the Ganns for opening their home to us!

Some of the girls

The game
Ava loved playing (she opened a bag before it was her turn and I had to put it back together and back in the middle for the game)!

Still playing...

Aaron and Brittney

Another game picture

Chelsie, Kate, Madison, Brittney and Ava

Ava and her buddy Brittney!

Gingerbread House

Ava and Jon worked hard on our Gingerbread House. It is still decorating our kitchen, but I have a feeling it will be filling their stomachs before long! Check out the cute pictures. I must say, this year's house was better than last year's. Jon says it is because they actually followed the directions for the icing!

Ava loved decorating the house!

Daddy's little helper!

The finished product...doesn't it look great?
Sweet Kisses

Run Charlotte...Half Marathon!!!

We headed to Charlotte last Friday to meet up with Tracey and Asheton. We enjoyed our dinner at Maggiano's on Friday night and Tracey and I ran in the Thunder Road, Amica Insurance Half Marathon on Saturday! Saturday morning came early, the race started at 7:50. It was also the coldest morning of the season...about 15 degrees colder than any other morning I've run outside. When we started the race the temperature was around 28 degrees...COLD!!! We ran the first ten miles without walking, then walked a little during the last three miles. We both finished in 2 hours and 10 minutes. We had a blast and want to do it again! Thanks Tracey for keeping me motivated and helping me through my first half marathon! Thanks to our hubbys for cheering us on!

Dinner at Maggiano's

They weren't running in the race...can you tell?

Ready to run...ready for the cold!

At the start

LOTS of runners!

Us in the middle waving...

running...

Finishing!!!

Clock time was 2:13...our chip times were 2:10

Glad to be done and oh so tired! Jon and Asheton were not supposed to be this close to the finish. Jon thinks our camera and his computer bag made them look like press so no one asked them to move. Good for us because we got good pictures right at the finish line!

Fun times!

Our supportive husbands with the sign they made while we were running!

Disney on Ice Date

Friday morning Ava and I had a date. We went to Disney on Ice at the RBC center. The Academy kids went and had a couple of extra tickets. What a nice treat to be able to join them! Ava loved it and our memories of this outing are priceless!

Ava holding her ticket...ready to go in!

Getting ready for the show!

Snow Cone

Loved it!!!

Family Christmas and Football

Saturday was our Christmas party with my Mom's family. We went to Kernersville for lunch and an ornament exchange and Bob and Linda's house. As always, it was great to see everyone even if it was just for an afternoon. I didn't take many pictures...believe it or not...but I did get a cute one of Ava, Emet and Kaleigh (my cousin's little girl)!
When we got home Saturday night we settled in to watch two big football games...well big for our family anyway. We watched our Mountaineers take on the reigning National Champions, the Richmond Spiders. Our Mountaineers pulled through in the end! What a close and exciting game to watch. We were hoping we'd be as excited about the turn out of the ACC championship game which we were also watching, (we watched App on the computer and Clemson on the TV), unfortunately the Tigers didn't pull out a win. Nonetheless, we had a great time watching the games together. Ava even enjoyed a little football with us!

Ava, Emet and Kaleigh

Ready for football!

Picture This...

Each year since we've been married we have taken a picture to put in an ornament frame. When our kids were born, we started taking pictures of them for ornaments. I'd love to one day have a tree that is full of pictures from the years. Our picture collection is small now, but as each year comes the collection grows. What a fun way to capture the progression of our family!

Top Row: Emet's first Christmas (the first two ornaments)

and Ava and Emet-Christmas 2008

Middle Row: Ava's first Christmas (the first two ornaments),

Ava-Christmas 2007, Ava-Christmas 2008

Bottom Row: Jon and I from our graduation (2 weeks before our wedding) through last Christmas

Christmas is Coming!!!

We decorated for Christmas!

In the midst of decorating, I caught Ava in her handstand.

She has taught herself to do this!

Mom came over on Monday and spent the night.

She and Ava decorated the small tree in Ava's room!
Our Tree

The Fireplace

Tracey shared a tradtion with me several years ago that her mom did growing up. I decided to take that tradition on in our family. I'll be sharing the idea in my next post...gives you something to look forward to!

1999 SSHS Reunion

The St. Stephens High School graduating class of 1999 had a great time at our 10 year reunion Saturday. Hard to believe we've been out of high school for 10 years! It was fun to see old friends and catch up on what everyone is doing!

A group of girl friends from my high school days!

Eight of us are married, one is engaged and five of us have had children! Crazy!

Ashley and Me

Ashley lives here in Durham and we decided to try to do a better job at keeping in touch. Hopefully a playdate with our kids and a lunch outing to Chick-Fil-A will be in the near future!

My best friend from elementary school...Holli Valentini...now Holli Wilson.

Holli and I lived on the same street growing up. It is safe to say that she was one of my first friends when I moved to North Carolina. What a treat to get to catch up with her this past weekend and to meet her beautiful little girl!

Thanksgiving in Durham

We had a great week in Durham for Thanksgiving! It was great to all be together!
There are a lot of pictures in this post...we took family pictures one day and I couldn't narrow it down any more than this. Hope you enjoy!

The Chasteen Family (All 17 of us!)

Allyson, Jon, Amy, Jeremy,
Scarlet and Don

Kelsey, Allyson, Kaleb, Kevin and Kolson

Lydia, Liz, Bryn, Jeremy and Carson

Jeremy and Liz

Jon and Emet

My Girl

My Boy

Me and my precious kiddos

Amy and Ava

(I love this pic!)

Jon and Me

Jon and Emet before a great Thanksgiving lunch

Papa carving the turkey...and all the other yummy dishes!

Kids' Table

Emet enjoying his lunch

The Gang

Emet's first "dip" in the hot tub...he likes to look at it and put his hands in, but didn't want to actually get in! He wasn't very happy in this picture!

Ava on the other hand, loves it!!!