We had a jam-packed, funfilled weekend. It all started early Saturday morning at the Reggae 5k in Black Mountain where I attempted to run my first race. It was tons of fun and I do believe I may become addicted to running 5Ks for the next year or so. (that is usually how long my obsessions last on average) I literally have not competed in anything since I was 12(?) and I played rec league basketball. It was very strange to feel those little jitters in the first 30 seconds of the race. Actually, I hated it and thought to myself, "if I feel like this the whole time, I am NEVER doing this again." But it passed and the rest of the race was quite fun. I sure did hate when people passed me though. In the end, I did surprisingly well and enjoyed the whole experience.


The boys had loads of fun because we got to ride the shuttle over to the race and then they spent the morning running wild with Willa and Gray in the creek nearby.



Beth ran the race with me so uncle Jonathan came. He helped the boys tie dye shirts and then cheered us on to the finish line.



The Pittman family was there too! Uncle Chuck pushed Lucie in the stroller and ran, while Aunt Amie walked with a few of her buddies and their kiddos. You should have seen Uncle Chuck and Lucie racing through the finish line! It was a little bumpy and Chuck was sprinting......and Lucie was screaming and crying. If I had my wits about me, I would've gotten a picture.






















Did I mention that it was FREEZING cold and raining off and on the whole morning? Thankfully, Annabelle slept in so I left her with Seth. They showed up about midday and had some food and drinks with us. I did like running the final stretch with rain pouring in my face while I listened to Won't Back Down by Tom Petty on my ipod. I felt so hard core:)











After that, we all went up to the Bobilya's rental house on top of a sweet mountain for none other than.......DIRT BIKE DAY!!!!!! It was Dana's birthday so they all brought the 4wheelers and dirtbikes out to ride the trails through the mountainside for the day. Annabelle and I hung out around the house with all of the dogs and girls. It was great! We got to see Eli (Dana and Amy's little guy). It was amazing to see how much he is drawn to the dirtbikes even at 11 months old. He would slowly make his way over to them each time he was put down. The boys hope to pass their 4wheeler downt o him one day.




Around 4:00 or so, the guys all took off to go fishing in the river below. I am pretty sure they didn't catch anything, but, for some reason, the boys were soaked to the bone when I picked them up later to go home. I had forgotten their clothes back at the rental house so they had to ride home naked wrapped in some random pieces of clothing I had in my bag. It was a pretty funny sight to behold. You know, anytime they get themselves all wet and nasty, I make them ride home in the car that way so maybe it would deter them from getting that way the next time. It doesn't phase them though.

Then I drove home, got the kids settled with our babysitter and went back to the house to hang out with just the adults. We hung out around the campfire and sang a few tunes until much too late in the night...........

good times, good times

Here is a little on our weekend excursion to Acworth.

We had a little belated birthday party party for Amy on Saturday night:

The kids spent lots of time in the yard playing together.

We hadn't seen Aaron since Christmas so he has changed quite a bit in that he is crawling all over the place. Annabelle liked him a lot though she wasn't sure what to do when we were giving him all of the attention. She seemed baffled! Aunt Angie buzzed his hair and it looks so adorable! I made Heath try out our beloved backpack and now they are in the market to buy one for themselves. The backpack has always been my favorite piece of baby equipment. I didn't care about any of that other stuff........swings, exersaucers, bouncy seats, .....just make sure I have the backpack!

Walker has a broken arm.
Caleb feels so sorry for him and prays for his arm to heal properly every night.

Did you know that 4 out of the 6 grandkids have blue eyes? That leaves Adam and Amy who have the most amazing brown and hazel eyes ever.

This is a look Annabelle gives me often now. She did not want to take this picture.
We battled it out and I won.......

Annabelle was timid around Max the dog on Friday and Saturday, but warmed up to him Sunday. She loves him though........he just makes her nervous at first.

She loves Walker and Amy's dog, Joe, too.

Like I said, it was a good visit. I got to run twice, take two peaceful showers and made a trip to Target. What more can a girl want? The boys cried and cried when we left.

Picture Flashback

I don't have to tell you this, but man does time fly by! I was trying to upload photos from this weekend's adventure when I came across all of these pictures on Papa's computer. I can't figure how to get mine on here so I thought I would give you a little blast from the past of my kiddos.

Adam: I think he is about 2 here. I think we are at the zoo.

Here he is with his broken leg

Adam, Caleb, Amy and Kiah outside of church.

I think Caleb must be almost 2 years old here. We were at the Fousts' pool down in Georgia.

This is down at Bear Creek. Uncle Heath was helping Caleb throw rocks through the willow tree and into the lake. Caleb has always had a strange obsession with throwing things into bushes.



Nana, Caleb and Adam "swimming" in the hot tub at Bear Creek. Adam was such a chunky little guy at 8 months!



Caleb and Nana feeding the fish in the pond

Amy is just barely 2 years old with all of that hair.

Fishing with Uncle Johnny and Daddy. Caleb was having an issue with being in the picture.

Caleb's first year in baseball

cades cove trip

Nana and Papa came up to visit while we were living in the house in White Oak Grove.

This was in January

Caleb's thumb after a couple of weeks.

Amy and Annabelle last summer

This is down at Bear Creek and I think that is Papa's deer.

Bear Creek Fourwheeling

Orlando trip this past summer

Bear Creek.....Adam is about 8 or 9 mos. old

Annabelle last summer

Christmas 02: me holding Adam

So there you have it. Random pictures from the last 5 years.

The drive down to Acworth this morning was lovely! Maybe lovely isn't the best word, but it went much better than I had expected. We made it in 4 hours and only stopped twice. Caleb was a great help in the car with Annabelle, who only ended up sleeping for about 30 minutes of the entire trip. I thought I did pretty well driving through the traffic in Atlanta. I just try not to change lanes much and take my time. The boys didn't even really want to stop for bathroom breaks because they were so excited about getting down here. I hope that the ride back on Sunday goes as well. I also hope that Seth gets all of the painting and yard work done while we are gone. I felt so guilty when he called this afternoon and I was eating with his family at their favorite Mexican restaurant. He will be down soon though.

I plan on taking some pictures tomorrow so I will add them to this later.

Aaaahh, warm weather...... I just love it. I am afraid my posts may become fewer and farther between now that it is so nice outside. Well, that, and the fact that I am going to have to start keeping my house in showing condition. We are getting our for sale sign back out and will list it within a month if not much happens with that. Here is my plan: clean up and head outside with the children all day long. They will like that idea. The boys and I planted bulbs last fall, and much to my surprise, they are blooming now.

I am taking the kids down to Georgia this weekend. Seth has to stay here and paint so we are trying it out alone. Caleb assures me that he will be my big helper on the trip down and back. He is so very helpful with Annabelle and I am pretty optimistic about the 4 hour car ride. I plan on spending the weekend relaxing and gleaning "homeschool wisdom" from Angie. Who knows? I may even sneak off to Target all by myself!

Jonathan's girlfriend, Beth, gave me a cd with these pictures she took of my kids. She is so thoughtful and kind.

They are watching some thing that was in the easter eggs.
I think it was one of those growing dinosaur things.