Dogwood Festival and 5K run

We got up dark and early on this lovely Saturday to run in the Dogwood Festival 5K run.

Here's a nice pic of some of the members of the FRC (Fayettville Running Club). This is before the race.

It was a perfect race, some challenging hills and weather in the low 70's. Gavin has been training for a few weeks, and he ran a PR 26:56!!!! He won gold for his age group and we are so proud that his hard work paid off. Meanwhile I pushed Dean and Lily in the stroller and finished our 5k in 28:30... not too shabby.

Dean's first, and Gavin's long overdue...

HAIRCUTS!! My handsome boys shed their locks on Wednesday. I cannot believe just how long Gavin's hair got in one year!
(thanx for the great smile there Gav)
We didn't want to cut Dean's hair and lose those amazing curls, but the knots overpowered me :)

Believe it or not Gavin actually wanted to cut his hair. We have a 5k run on Saturday, and he wants to be able to keep his head cool. Gavin is intent on winning gold!

So how did my very energy filled two year old do in his first 'sit down and be still for more than 20 seconds' task? Very well, thanks to the old Easter egg candy trick! And if you were wondering, he still has some curl in his hair, just no more rats' nests.

Very handsome boys!

But poor Lily.... she was so sad that I was taking the boys and not her to get their hair trimmed. I had to explain that she is a beautiful girl, and that we can put more clips and bows in her hair if we don't cut it. I think it might be time for a mother-daughter shopping trip or new bottle of nail polish.

weekend bowling

Two great videos below: The first is Dean's turn bowling, and the second is Lily cheering Gavin on (and also Lily being pretty gross!)

Spring Break

has been nice. I am on a one week break between classes (the same as Gavin), got my grades from my last 2 finals (perfect 4.0 gpa still!), but why is it when a person finally has a little time off *BaM* here comes the flu or virus or whatever. I have 3 weeks until my first triathlon, and getting sick at this point is very frustrating. The kiddos and I had lots of plans for this week, and we only got to check a few things off of our list before I started feeling yucky.

Hoppy Easter

New talents

Dean has picked up on playing the guitar... well sort of. Ok, he plays the guitar like a 2 year old, but he looks really cool doing it. It's a small guitar that Gavin bought at a yard sale last fall, but never used, and has recently been discovered by Dean.




So adorable. Meanwhile, this morning I took a class for military spouses, where we learned to do/make mosaic tiles. Here's my near-finished product:


I still have to wipe off some of the extra grout and then seal it tomorrow. Kinda pretty and it was a fun class.

the big ol 2-8

Yup, I'm old. Well, old-ish. Tonight, the lovely St. Patrick's Day night, I aged gracefully to the big 28. My big celebration for the day was a fantastic mother/daughter pedicure at the mall. The oh-so adorable Lily and I picked out pink polish and sat side by side to get our toesies painted. So much fun, I can't believe I forgot the camera at home!

Well here is an after picture:

Am I upset that Lily's nails are way cuter than mine? Yes, but it is my birthday, and I will make the best of it!

Happy St Patty's everyone!

Tri-ing

Triathlon count-down T minus 7 weeks! I am tri-ing to learn how to ride this scary bike, tri-ing to become a better swimmer, and also to run a 5k in 20 mins.
Here is my fancy tri bike:



And me feeling much more confident after adjusting some things and having a nice 10 mile ride:

Growing up Lily

It's a difficult life for her. Being super cute and super adorable, being the only little girl in the house, and now starting preschool.

Gavin was is very proud of her.

And its going to be tough separating the dynamic duo.

She had a great first day, and even ran into one girl from her ballet class. She impressed the teachers who thought she was just 'amazing'. Love her!

Circus time!

About 2 weeks ago now I took the kiddos to the circus. (I know, 2 weeks ago??!?, what is up with the procrastination? Well, working on double the college classes and my first triathlon, along with the whole wisdom teeth thing got me a little behind) Anywho, we didn't get the greatest pics, but there were a couple of the kids' reactions of the show were priceless:

The circus definitely isn't what I remembered it to be. Yes, there were elephants and even lions, but there was also a lady with a whole lotta cats doing tricks. No, not tigers, I mean cats, as in alley or house - cats. Weird. Mostly we saw a lot of acrobatics, more like a Las Vegas kind of a thing rather than the high flying trapeze I was awaiting.

This is my favorite pic... she is so in shock!

A really fun time, we also took lots of video, but I won't bore you with it here.