Raleigh Rocks!!!

After running a half marathon in Charlotte in December, I was hooked! I came home and found one in Raleigh for March. I didn't want to do it myself, so I recruited Brooke to run with me. We've been training together since January for the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon. Our race was yesterday! We were up early and ran hard. Despite Brooke fighting bronchitis this week, she toughed it out and ran the entire race. What a trooper! We finished right over the 2 hour mark and ran the entire time. Tired and sore today, but it was worth it! Ava and Emet even ran in the kids' dash after all the half marathoners finished. Ava loved it and wanted to know why she didn't run the long run with Mommy. I told her maybe one day we could do one together!
Jon, Kevin, Ava and Emet were great supporters for us. Kevin's parents, Beverly and Tony, along with Sonja Holloway came to cheer us and Troy (Kevin's brother) along. It was great to have a cheering section! Thanks for all the support!
***Warning...lots of pictures in this post!!!***

Brooke and Me before the race

Amber, Troy and Andrew

Breakfast at Krispy Kreme...this was their hangout after we started the race!

Yummy!!!

Our Cheering Section!!!

End in sight!!!

Finish Line

Way to go Brooke!!!

So glad to be done!

Getting ready for Ava's race

My sweet kiddos!

She's stretching!

Say cheese!

Ready, Set, Go!!!
Emet is on the far left and Ava on the far right!

Run, Ava, Run!!!

A strong finish!

Emet crossing the finish line...he was the last one!

So young, and already a little runner! Gotta make a Momma proud!

They got race medals and treats!

Our support system!

Brooke and Kevin

Thanks to Jon for taking care of our kids so I could train for the race and for supporting me in this! I love you baby!

Race Mementos

Museum of Life and Scienc

We made another trip to the Museum of Life and Science on Wednesday! What a day we had with our friends the Richesons! We always enjoy our time with Melissa, Isaac and Caleb and our trip to the museum was no different! We spent over 3 hours walking around and exploring. The day was perfect and we spent most of our time outside. We visited the playground, sandbox, farm animals, dinosaur trail and dug for fossils. They did a butterfly release and we were there when they let the butterflies go. Ava even got to touch one! We were also able to see the bear, lemurs and wolves. We visited the "wind" section of the museum for the first time. The kids were able to steer sailboats and even build their own little sailboats. This was a huge hit! We had a great time and were exhausted by the time we got home!

Ava and Isaac by the sheep pin

Observing the sheep

Fossil Dig

More digging...

Still digging...

Everyone's favorite...building the boats (and getting wet)!!!

South Carolina Summary

The kids and I took off last Wednesday for a whirlwind trip to South Carolina. Jon was speaking at a youth retreat on Friday and Saturday so I decided to take a few days to go down to visit family and one of my best friends, Tracey. What a trip we had! Very eventful and busy for sure!
The kids and I stopped at the Gaffney outlets on our way down. We went from the outlets to Tracey, Asheton and Bailey's house. We enjoyed dinner with them and went to church with them for their Wednesday night activities. We were actually in the nursery with the kids. My kids had a blast playing with all the other sweet babies at Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church!
After baths and going to bed just fine, Emet woke up screaming in excruciating pain. Crying in pain like I've never heard, and of course I was worried! We tried calming him, without much success. I ended up calling a triage nurse in Wake Forest and she advised us to go to the ER. (She could hear how bad he was screaming and I don't think liked what she heard.) We headed to the hospital only to wait 6 hours to learn he needed a steroid shot for croup. Poor baby! He was pitiful! I was less than impressed with the ER (mainly the doc) but, he got what he needed and the sweet nurses said he should be fine and could go on as normal. (He is still not quite back to himself though!) The rest of our time with Tracey, Asheton and Bailey was good...we went to a consignment sale on Thursday as well as to storytime, Chick-Fil-A and the park. It was great getting to spend time with them, even if Tracey and I had to spend the majority of our time together in the ER (up all night)!
We headed to see Allyson, Kevin, Kaleb, Kelsey and Kolson on Thursday afternoon. My kids always enjoy time with their cousins so this was a real treat for them! They played Thursday afternoon into the evening and the kids were out of school Friday so we enjoyed a beautiful day at the park (and Chick-Fil-A again, but just for ice cream...Allyson packed lunch for the park!)
Friday afternoon we headed to Clemson to hook up with Amy. She treated us to a pizza dinner and took us to a Clemson baseball game! So much fun! Emet loved watching baseball!
Saturday we visited Mama Chasteen at her rehab center. She had been in the hospital and is now in rehab working up her strength to hopefully be able to go home. It was great to see her and she seemed to be upbeat! The kids had fun reading books with her. After we left her we went to Mama and Papa Simmons' house for lunch. Again, great to visit with Jon's grandparents who we normally only see once a year. Such a special treat. Ava enjoyed climbing their tree!
A great overall whirlwind trip to SC...minus the ER trip (and the long ride home on Saturday)! Love all you South Carolina sweethearts! (Sorry we missed Jeremy, Liz and crew..they were out of town!)

Emet's hospital bracelet

Emet at the park in Spartanburg

Bailey in the swing (she is ADORABLE!)

My sweet girl

Attempting a photo

Hard to get cooperation!!!

Emet loved this car and seemed to think it belonged to him!

Kelsey and Emet

Kaleb still spends time playing with the kids...he is such a great big brother and cousin!

Amy and Emet at the baseball game!

Go Tigers!!!
I ran into a friend of mine from Rolesville (where I taught) at the Clemson game. Her family lives in Clemson now and they are huge Tiger fans! It was great to see Kate, Emma and John Allen...wish I had a picture!

Ava reading with Mama Chasteen

Emet showing her the book, but not wanting to give it up!

After they dressed her, we had to get another picture!

Mama and Papa Simmons with the kids and Amy!

Emet Went Potty!!!

I'm a little behind...but I caught this on camera about 2 weeks ago. Emet has been telling us he has to go potty for quite some time. After multiple trips to the potty and no progress, he finally went potty! I'll spare the dirty details and just show you the cute pics of him on his big boy potty! I'd like to say we are on our way to a diaper free house, but since this one success, he has yet to go again! I can dream though right!

Way to go Emet!!!

Hurricanes Hockey Game

We took our youth to a Hurricanes game on Saturday night. Despite a (terrible) loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, we had a blast watching the game and hanging out with students. Emet loved watching hockey. He was mesmerized by what was going on and actually sat still for almost the entire game! Quite a big deal for our oh, so active little boy! Ava enjoyed the game too...more for social reasons! She enjoys hanging out with the "kiddos" as we like to call our students!

Ava and Jon watching pre-game warm-ups!

Sarah, Me, Emet and Ava

Family Shot

Metamorphosis 2010

We had an in town youth retreat last weekend. We hosted students in homes all across Durham and joined with other churches for Metamorphosis! We heard from Nathan Smith and a great praise band. Saturday we did a Stop Hunger Now project and packed meals for people in other countries without food. We enjoyed time with our students and think that they enjoyed the weekend as well. We pray that our students will be the "not me" students Nathan spoke of...the students who live out their faith and speak boldly the truth of the Gospel!

Some of our students, and Mike one of our leaders,
at the meeting on Friday

Cindy cooked breakfast and lunch for the high school girls and guys!

Jon at breakfast

Rhonda and Valerie at the Stop Hunger Now project

Jon packing meals

What we packaged to send overseas

Sarah, Madison, Me, Kate, Brittney, Kara

Tristan, Morgan and Kara at the bowling alley Saturday afternoon

Ava joined us for bowling...and loved it!

She had a blast and ended up bowling for all the girls on our lane the last few frames of our second game!

My high school girls...Chelsie, (Ava, Me,) Madison, Brittney, Sarah and Kate

Brittney and Ava
(Ava had her latest night ever...up until 1 a.m. with these girls!)

Group Shot

Silly One!