(Not So) Tee-Tiny Turns Two!

One second your baby is a baby and then the next thing you know she's two and telling you what shoes she wants to wear. We're still not out of the baby woods yet being that she's wearing a diaper and taking a pacifier at night. Two things I'd like to get rid of but then the truth would be evident.....my baby's growing up :(

I had her a very special birthday tutu made by my neighbor, Ashley, and Elaina stared at that thing for 2 weeks before her official party day. She LOVED wearing that thing! 

She was getting all prissy and didn't want her picture taken. That's when her mean side was released and she ripped her hairbow out. Whatever, it's not my hair that's hanging in my eyeballs. 

I did my own little bit of party decor recycling the tissue balls from last year and hanging Danielle's wonderful, reusable birthday banner. Elaina liked all the cutesies.....or she just really liked standing on the table. That's highly likely. 

My little party area.

I tried and tried to get a good one of Lanie and her little friends but of course no one would smile at the same time. We all know Elaina wears her poker face most of the day so I don't know what I was expecting! 

This one cracked me up with Cruz and the gun and Carris' face. Then there's Elaina. Still bored to tears. 

"Cruzie, do NOT point guns at people!" 

One place she was all smiles was in the bounce house. She was scared of it the last time we got it out but this time she was all about it! 

It was also an opportune time for me to catch a picture of her birthday bloomers! 

There was swinging with her bff also. 

I somehow missed the token blowing-out-the-candles picture. I think I video taped it instead. I thought cake pops would be a great idea for the little people this year. Less mess! They were a hit! 

Before the cake pops even came out everyone had discovered that I had put m&m's in little jars for the kiddos to take home. Most of the jars were plundered and Lanie was shoving them in her mouth every time she thought I wasn't looking. 

This is her "you did NOT see me eating that.....no, I didn't do it" face. 

I loved this pic of Logan climbing the slide stairs. 

Elaina didn't want to slow down for even a second to have her picture made with me. Yer dern skippy I made it happen though!! 

Present time! Elaina got lots of sparkly things and tons of goodies to keep her occupied!

One of her favorites was the sunglasses from Carris. 

So precious! I love her little hands clasped under her chin:)

Happy, Happy second birthday to the prettiest pink gift I've ever received! We love you LanieBug! 

Spring Hill Kids' Marathon 2012

Normally around this time of year we are fighting traffic and stressing ourselves to try and get a parking spot at the Kid's Marathon in Nashville. Not this year! Our very own Coach Mark, our P.E. teacher, headed up a Kid's Marathon right here in Spring Hill! The boys prepared by running 25 miles in the weeks heading up to the race.

We were all prepared except for the fact that all the warm weather was back in February and today it was a balmy 50 degrees with an overcast sky threatening rain! Rhett makes me laugh in this picture. What is he doing??

Cade was the first runner with the fourth grade boys' start. We were loving the smaller crowd! 

And they're off! I was not quick enough to get ahead of this crowd of runners. I barely caught Cade heading by! 

 It was so much easier this year to sprint from place to place to catch up with them in the middle of the race. Cade was heading into the stadium with three runners ahead of him. 

That lap around the track was a killer for all the boys! Just when they thought they were done they still had that last .2 miles to go. Cade did great holding his 4th place position. He had one guy pretty close behind! 

 Cade: 4th place in the 4th grade group. Great job! 

Next up, Grant and the second graders. Grant cracks me up when it comes to any kind of competition. He doesn't like the training part but when it comes to competition day he is in it to win it! He was so pumped up he could hardly stand himself! 

There was a little lag time waiting for their start so someone suggested that they do push-ups. So funny to see all of them drop at the same time and push it out!

Second graders, off!

Grant (and every other competitive kid) was in an all out sprint right out of the gate. I was sure that by about 100 yards all of them were going to pass out. 

He was having fun sprinting though!

The turn to the stadium had him red faced and a bit tired but I was surprised to see that he was holding second place pretty tightly. He was preceded by his friend Breck that is a regular at races. 

Heading towards the finish line:

Grant Morgan: Second place in Second grade! Yeah! 

Last up, Little Buddy and his kindergarten competition. We almost missed the start because we were watching Grant. Rhett made it just in time but he was in the very back of the pack at the start. 

I was cracking up watching him at the beginning because he looked like Frogger, weaving in and out of kids with his game face on. 

It didn't take him long to find his way towards the front of the pack of kids. 

Bobby was somewhere in the middle of the course to cheer on the boys. Let me just pop in and say that in all the miles we've run together to prepare for this race not once, not EVER has Rhett run the entire way. Never. So, imagine Bobby's shock when he saw fluffy hair bobbing his way only to clearly see that Rhett was in the lead! 

Then, out of nowhere, Jet, Coach Montgomery's kinder kid bolted past him right when I snapped my pic of him rounding his way into the stadium. 

Rhett was losing steam around the track and Jet was holding him from first place pretty solid. I nearly shrieked when right around the last curve Rascal Flatt's version of Life is a Highway belted out on the loudspeaker and Rhett turned it on high gear. The only other song that speaks to his inner self more than that one is Fire Burning where the tag line is "Somebody call 911" (and that's exactly what I thought we'd need to do if Rhett actually sprinted out the entire mile!)

He zoomed right past his friend to a first place finish! I could.not.believe.it!!

He picked up his medal and trophy like it was no biggie.

My hats off to a little friendly competition that sparks some drive! I love it! 

Our friend from church, Lauren, was first place girl. Look at TSC showin' out! 

I was so proud of all three of my runners. They all worked really hard getting their miles in prior to the run. It was lots of early wake up days to make it to running club before school started. We can't wait until next year's race!!

Keith Urban- All for the Hall

Bobby and I had a mid week date night with Jason and A'lyce at the Keith Urban All for the Hall concert. This was the second or third time Bobby and I have been to this concert and usually it's a great one 

The first disappointment was when Barney Fife, the overzealous door guard, would not let me in with my professional camera. Do you know how hard it is to document a concert with no camera?? I was so aggravated because in all our concert goings there has never been an issue with my camera....that and I'm NOT a professional photographer. No one is going to be paying me for shots I take at concerts. Anywho. There was way less Keith Urban and people I liked to hear and way more talking and people singing that were popular back in the day when I was a wee babe not listening to country music. In any case it was a fun date night and I'm thankful we took this one picture before heading in. Good times! 

Easter!

We had our usual get together with family on Easter. I always love Easter...the day to celebrate the fact that my Savior still lives! I like that it means that spring is on the cusp of being full blown and usually the kiddos have on some new(er) digs:) Here's my crew:

One quick pic with an uncooperative Little Miss.

A Daddy pic:

And individuals for the blog book (and so I can be reminded how handsome my fellas were when they were just wee lads)!

And one beautiful Princessa...

We hid eggs in the yard. Some candy, some money. (And since I'm journaling this day nearly a year later...gasp!...I can tell you that as of about  4 months ago we were still finding money eggs in the yard!) Elaina has her "don't you even think about touchin' this egg" look on her face. 

This is the one running boy that I actually got to stop for a second to let me snap a picture. All the others were in too much of a rush and their pics are nothing but blurs. 

Rhett thought that hiding underneath of the basketball goal stand would be a great place to count his treasures and to sneak too many pieces of candy. Little does he know that I'm on to pretty much all of his tricks.

We end up with quite a bit of loot. I can't remember who got the $10 egg this year....I think it was one of the cousins.

And to prove there were cousins there, here is a pic of sweet Amelia. She was kind enough to stop for a pic. 

Mom and dad and Bob and Elizabeth were present for the celebration too.

Easter 2012 in the books.....albeit really, really late! Better late than never though! 

Bubba's Boots

Elaina has a love for shoes that pretty much mirrors my own. I'd be lying if I said it didn't warm my heart :) Today she was digging around in her closet and found Cade's old boots that he wore when he was about her age. Immediately she came running with them in her hands saying, "Mommy! Mommy! Boots...on. Boots on!" So, I obliged.From that moment on she was sporting them. There was running around the house listening to the clop, clop....Her head was thrown back in laughter....And there was screams of delight!
Who knew finding some new shoes would be THIS exciting?!!
Well, who am I kidding? I acted the same way when the UPS man dropped off the box containing the new pumps I ordered from HauteLook. This girl stuff is WAY too much fun :)