Summer...Not Yet a Distant Memory

What a summer! A blessed summer for which I am thankful...

Thankful for moments such as these:

Mary Claire participated in her 1st triathlon this summer! She got 3rd place in her age group!

Look! We have another swimmer in the family!:)
Mary Claire did great for ther 1st swim team season.

Cutest swimmer in (and out) of the water!

In July we took a little trip to the Biltmore in North Carolina. Beautiful and amazing are the two words that come to mind when I think of this historical mansion and property. Will never know what it's like to live that lifestyle, but that's o.k. God has blessed me with the life I live, and for that, I am THANKFUL!!

Just a candid shot of these people I love taking trips with...:)

See, I was there!!
Thank you, Jonah for taking the picture. Mary Claire, see what you look like when you act that way?:)

The only child that would pose by the statue entering the grand mansion!

Finally, everyone is smiling! Love these kiddos with all my heart!

Honestly, I don't know where he gets it...haha

John Owen learning to enjoy games from another era. What?! No video games were around?

After the Biltmore, we met up with my mom at Dollywood and had a blast riding roller coasters!
My kids love some rides!
However, in my "old" age, I have developed a dislike for the rockin' and rollin' roller coasters in such a way that I scream so loudly and make the worst faces (with pictures to prove it) on these rides. But I endure the fear for time well spent with my children and memories they will forever treasure (ha!) of their dear mother screaming her head off. :) Why must they find so much amusement in torturing me?

 

To be continued...

Happy 6th Birthday, Mary Claire!

I can't believe that I'm typing this, but my "baby" just turned 6 years old! We celebrated this special birthday with a mermaid party! A few mermaid friends, a pool to splash in, a cake, mermaid cookies, and presents to open...What mermaid wouldn't be happy on her birthday?
Here's some pictures from the party:

We had so much fun planning and getting ready for the party! Then we had so much fun at the party, I completely forgot to take pictures while we were swimming! The pearl gumball necklaces we made for Mary Claire's friends were a BIG hit at the party. And her big brothers even helped by "hooking" treats on the girls' fishing rods as they "went fishing"! (Thanks, John Owen and Jonah!) Happy birthday to you, Mary Claire! And many more...:) I LOVE YOU!!

I have loved every minute of the birthday parties we have planned and celebrated. It's a lot of work, but it's FUN at the same time. Sadly, I am done with planning themed birthday parties. I vowed that after my children turned 6, the themed parties would end. But we can still have loads of FUN with a sleepover or activity with a few friends. A special birthday dinner and a cake or cupcakes, of course...Whatever the birthday boy/girl requests! We LOVE birthday celebrations!

We Love Colorado!

I think it's safe to say that my children fell in love with the state of Colorado while we were skiing in Winter Park last week! It's been almost 12 years since I've been snow skiing in the Rocky Mountains, but surprisingly, it was like riding a bicycle. I loved it as much as the kids did. The first day we were there, all 3 kids took their first ski lesson. I must say it was an awkward feeling being on vacation and turning my children over to "people" on the mountain for the day. Jan and I got our skiis on and headed up the mountain ALONE!! I kept skiing down, frantically searching with my eyes to spot them and purposely skiied by their class area multiple times to make sure they were doing o.k.

They did GREAT!

Winter Park was very family-oriented and the instructors were awesome!

John Owen is already asking when we're going back!:)

I took lots of pictures with my phone, so maybe the quality isn't the best, but we had the BEST time!

 

Jonah, me, Mary Claire and John Owen

The boys and me at the top! Most incredible view!

Mary Claire loved this polar bear we passed everyday as we entered the Winter Park village.

This picture was taken at the top of the Pioneer Express lift. It was such an awesome sight! There was only ONE green run from this point, so I told the boys to be sure and follow me. The other runs were BLACKS (very difficult terrain!)

They loved the Mary Jane area at the top!

Jan and his boys

John Owen playing on the train in the village

This is what skiing all day does to Mary Claire...She was WORN OUT!!

Jonah with a chair lift and the mountain in the background

Riding the cabriolet!

To be continued...

Snow Days of Winter 2014

Mary Claire and me getting ready to go down the hill!
We have enjoyed our snow days of Winter 2014! We've had a lot of ice, but it has provided us with some FUN sledding! We stayed out for 3 1/2 hours on Tuesday...The kids came back with a bit of a sunburn, and I felt so bad for forgetting to put sunscreen on them.:( But they said it was worth it for the fun we had with friends. At one point, there were about 25 people sledding with us! I brought snacks and drinks, and we just had a BLAST! After day 3 of being "cooped up", we decided it was time to venture out to...where else? SONIC!! Su-Su and I shoveled ice and snow out of the driveway, and we set out with a car full of kids!! FREEDOM! :) That might be a bit dramatic, but hey, it made for some good laughs and memories!

This picture makes me think of another picture of a maybe 2 year old "me" with an 8 year old "Su-Su" playing in the snow by the houses we grew up in. My forever "sister"...:) My children love her as much as I do! 

Madison, Mary Claire and Susan

Mary Claire loves her time with "Su-Su"!

And her time with Madison!

The girls!:)

My 3 lovin' some snow days!

John Owen and Mary Claire ready to go out in the snow!

Getting out the door can be so hard sometimes!:) Especially with gloves on...

The most beautiful snowflakes were falling and we tried to catch a couple of pictures as they landed on the car. Cool!

John Owen asked me to take his picture by the red bushes on the corner of the street. Beautiful with the fallen snow!

MC, Ashton, Ellie, and Maryleslie ready to sled down the hill!

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Recently, Jonah's 2nd grade class was given the assignment to do a book report and create a model of the main character from the book. Jonah chose one of my favorite books from my childhood--The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. Jonah has done such a great job reading this year! I'm very proud of him.:)

We had fun making this together, and I think he was proud of the finished product.

Meet Ralph S. Mouse...

We even found a tiny little red motorcycle in the cars and trucks drawer in the playroom and hot-glued it to the side.

Jonah loved that!

The projects from his class are displayed in our school's library right now, and they all did a GREAT job!

Good Intentions

I promised myself that I would try not to fall behind in posting for our family scrapbook, but it seems that I'm doing a "catch up" post more and more these days. :( I have good intentions; I really do.
With the dawn of a new year, I could say that it will be my resolution to post more, but I'm afraid to put that kind of pressure on myself. If you can't tell by my running and racing, I like to do my very best to achieve my goals, so I'm being careful not to put the pressure of blogging on my shoulders!
That being said, I never got a chance to do a new year's post. Nevermind the fact that I had 2 extra days off from work this week due to frigid temps...Yeah, just forget I mentioned that.

 Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve with some wonderful friends at our house.  I'm so thankful for good friends! The kids and their friends loved counting down the new year, drinking their sparkling cider, and blowing their noisemakers! Wow! The noise that filled my house!
I took pictures of the celebration with Jan's phone, and wouldn't you know it? I forgot to send them to myself so I could post. To be continued...

This is Mary Claire wearing a smocked coat made by my mother for me when I was about 6 years old. Mary Claire is 5 1/2, and I love that she can wear some of the treasured dresses that I wore as a child. A small part of me wishes I had the gift of sewing like my mother, but God gives us all special talents, and sewing is not one of mine. So thankful for my mom and her gift!

Speaking of God's gifts-This is one picture from our annual Caudle Christmas gathering in Oxford, MS. All the great-grandchildren with Grandmother Caudle. She's 93 and there are 14 great-grandchildren AND one on the way!! (missing Cooper and Christopher in the pic and Baby Armour should arrive in late April or early May)
Family is a blessing!

We started the new year off with an off road race on January 5! The boys decided to brave the cold, rain, and MUD with us, so we all dashed through the woods, dodged the roots and TRIED to miss the muddy puddles. Then we raced to the finish(and the warm car!) It was a 3k (about 1.8 miles) and the boys have agreed to maybe tackle the next trail race with us--the 5k at Stanky Creek! Should be interesting...Happy trails!

A little mud never hurt anyone, right?

Me and my boys after our muddy run!
I was so proud of them for enduring this. Life lessons can be taught through things such as this. :)

My new year started off with a follow up visit to the ENT, and the news that I need surgery. The next few days should prove interesting as I go in for nasal surgery on Jan 9th! I'll be put to sleep (thank goodness) and I'm a little nervous, but I trust that God will lead me through this. I'm thankful for a wonderful, hard working husband who loves me and loving parents who help me so much with my children. I think I've got things in order so that I know the kids are taken care of while Mommy is down for a few days. Who knows? Next time I hit the trails running, maybe I'll be breathing a whole lot easier!:)

Praying God's blessings on us all this year--And for God's blessings on you!
Nicole