Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Pounding Thunder Road, Boughman's BeerBQamp 2013, and PATRIOTS v Panthers....

Well, I did it.  Half marathon #6 is under my belt.  I ran the Thunder Road Half Marathon course on Saturday morning, for the third time.  This time I was proud to be on "Team Libstrong," supporting Libby Jones (3), who is battling leukemia.  With a little convincing, I talked my neighbor, Nick, into running it with me.  He's not a runner, but he's young.  And in great shape.  And he cooked a pasta dinner for us Friday night.  I actually held him back, as he pushed me.  The weather was awesome.  I had several other friends, and extended family, who also ran it.  (3 from our beach crew:  Amy Tisdale, Jon Topham, and a PREGNANT Jill Garman Talevska were out there.  Congrats to them, and double congrats to JILLY!)  Brian and the kids met me at the finish line, holding signs they had made for me :)  Finishing time:  1:57:03.  With my recent injuries and lack of training, I was thrilled to break the 2 hour mark.  It was a good morning!
PINK, for Team Libstrong!
Less than 1/10th of a mile to go to the FINISH!  I was just about out of juice...
WE DID IT!!!

They had Krispy Kreme at the end!  How could I not?  (But I wished I hadn't!  Made my tummy angry!)

Iron Man Jon

Payton deciding if she wanted to make friends...or not.
Other friends who ran...Me, with Wally B, Jordan, and Paul

Well earned COLD finish beers :)
After hanging out with friends at the finish for a bit, we headed back home for lunches, naps, a much needed shower for me, and prepping and packing for Qamp Boughman!  Cheryl and Jeremy's annual BBQ, kickball, and bonfire party.  The weather cooperated.  The people came.  Kickball was played.  LOTS of food was eaten.  And the bonfire was bigger than ever.  A fun night for sure!
She was "making" a garden with some other girls.


I love the concern from all the kid's faces in the bounce house.

A sad Raegan with her grandpa Joe

Stonie, Me, Julie
With my crazy busy morning, we missed Juliet's first birthday party :(

MaTTie playing kickball

P's turn

G wouldn't leave my side and wanted to play...so he did (kind of)

The cute Richardson Family...Janice, Jon, and Baby Nolan
Nick, Andy, Chasity, Me, Brian


Walter and Terri

Jordan, Walter, and Teri

The ever popular wagon rides..
Me and my bestie, Cheryl...the hostess with the mostess!
Monday night NFL.  Always an exciting game, but even more so when it comes to YOUR town!  Confusing as it may be, I'm a Pats fan.  We all know that.  I live in Charlotte.  I'm from Charlotte.  I tried to be a Panthers fan...I did.  However, my heart has always (well since 2003) belonged to Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and all the Patriots. Well, this MNF, MY PATRIOTS came to Charlotte.  I was lucky to have been invited by Bill Roosenberg, and family, to take their extra ticket.  Um, yes please!  I knew I was setting myself up for lots of harassing, but here's how it all went down...we tailgated.  Everyone was nice, and the harassing was at a minimum.  We had great seats.  There were TONS of Pats fans in the stadium.  It was a great game...until the end.  We had a chance to tie.  Even to win.  But unfortunately there was a bad call, and the game was over.  Sad face.  We.Got.Beat.  We shouldn't have let it come down to the final call.  It sucked...but I'm a glass half-full kind of girl, so just seeing Tom Brady made my night :)

That morning, prior to the game, I dressed the kids up in their Pats gear for school.  There were a couple kids in their Panthers stuff, and we got a few "boos."  lol.  I was hoping they wouldn't get bullied.  Ha.  I had the girls in P's class all cheering for the Patriots before I left...


My view from the tailgate.

Lots of Pats fans :-)  We were happy, at the time.

#12.  My boyfriend.
This is Katie Guthrie.  Uncle Gary's cousin, who is a Top Cat.
In the middle of all the tailgating, Brian sent me a text picture of a thermometer, which was reading 102.6.  Griffin caught a cold on Sunday, and my poor baby was running a fever.  By Tuesday morning, he was 100% again, although I had to stay home with him because he had the fever the night before.  To add to a rough start of the week, Brian played golf on Sunday.  One of his buddies accidentally ran over his foot with the golf cart.  His foot and ankle is the size of a baseball.  The x-rays didn't show a fracture, but he's definitely in pain, and using a crutch to get around.  Hopefully he'll be back to normal soon!

My dad has had an even rougher time this past week...his week "off" from all meds.  He's lost 9 pounds in the past WEEK, so they've given him another week "off" to see if he can get some food in his system, and keep it there.  They are going to back off the infusion for a bit, and decrease the amount of pills he's taking.  Basically, my dad put it this way...they are giving him as much poison as his body will allow, without killing him.  Although on most days it feels like they are.  I feel horrible for him, and no one can really do anything for him.  So, little by little, he's going to start his recovery by eating some rice, toast, and anything else bland, drinking Ensure, and keeping hydrated.  This sucks.

Please enjoy these 2 videos of Griffin...hopefully they will put a smile on your face :)
Griffin sings "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"
Griffin LOVES his superhero shirt (hand-me-down from my friend's son, Lucas, which explains the "L")


Here are the kid's school pictures, 2013-2014 (I took a picture of them with my phone, so they are not great quality)

Griffin, age 2

Payton, age 3 1/2

Here's my little supermodel and big superhero, to leave you with...



If you say "say cheese" this is what you'll get.

Every.Time.

CHEESE!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Soccer, Playdates, Stomach Flu, and more...

I feel like I start out each post the same way..."We've been busy!"  Well, we have been!  We always are.  I like it that way.  The clocks have been set back, the days are becoming shorter, the temps cooler, and the kids continue to get cuter (okay, I may be a little biased ;)

Let's start with more Soccer Shots pictures.  These are from Payton's last two Thursdays of soccer (yesterday was her last one until the spring, and because the playground needs mulch, they've closed it..so, the kids played their last day indoors). They have been working on the "goalie move."  (By the way, Brian asked Payton to show him her soccer moves.  Griffin brings the ball out, and starts telling, and showing Brian, every one Payton has learned so far...so he's also learning!  I may try to stick him in the spring session, if they'll let me.  He's supposed to be 3 to start, but COME ON :)








So what's Griffin doing all this time (other than supposedly paying attention?)...




Last day of Soccer Shots until spring...
G trying the "airplane move."


P accepting her "Soccer Shots" certificate (she hugged her coaches just after this).  She's looking forward to seeing them again in the spring and asked if they could just keep playing all winter.


We had a play date with one of Payton's friends from school, "Lexi."  Her parents are also friends with some of our friends, so we made it a Friday night party!  Lexi, Payton, Griffin, and Sydney, Lexi's 5 year old sister, all got along beautifully.  They played so well, and quiet together, we really didn't even know they were there!



Audrey, Kari, Heather, Me




About 4:30am, Payton woke up.  She had puked and pooped everywhere (sorry for that visual, but it happens!)  Brian and I started cleaning up.  I got her in the shower, he stripped and re-made the bed, got the floors cleaned up, and we all tried to get a little more sleep before we heard that little "knock knock" on our bedroom door, letting us know little man was awake.  How could the stomach virus, ie-"The Plague," already be in our house?  Ugh.  So, our Saturday plans changed a bit.  Brian and Griffin went to the UNCC football game, as planned, and met Gary and Cameron there.  I stayed at home with Sweet P, let her watch movies on the couch all day, and I cleaned.  REALLY cleaned.  Cloroxed and Lysoled everything and anything.  Albeit, successfully, as no one else got it.  Whew.  We escaped it once.  Well, that was the only incident from Payton.  She looked like she felt fine, and said she felt fine, but I still kept her in all day.  She had quite the appetite.  She kept asking for snacks, and I finally quit taking her little by little, and made her a tray of food.

That afternoon, after Griffin had a nap, I wanted to get him out of the house (and I wanted a break) so we headed over to Cheryl and Jeremy's.  Raegan and Camryn's cousins were in town, and so were Cheryl's parents.  We had a fun evening, and got back home in time for Daddy to go out for a friend's birthday.



Sunday, Payton, and the rest of us, were in the clear.  After an 11 mile run with our neighbor, Nick, a run to Target, and after naps, we headed back over to the Boughmans.  Payton was upset she didn't get to go over and play Saturday night, so we went back over for playtime and dinner. 

Griffin took several minutes, and a couple of tries, to get this couch exactly right.  It was hilarious to watch.  Headband-his doing.



My little photogs...Payton picked up the camera.  So monkey see, monkey do.

It's been since late September, when the pool closed, that the kids have been in a pool.  I thought it was time to see what they remembered. We went to Marion Diehl indoor pool. Well, Griffin is still reluctant in the water.  He puts his head under, will hold my hands and kick, blow bubbles, but that's where it ends. Payton is rusty, but can still make it around the pool.  They had fun, especially in the kiddie pool, and then at the little park outside afterwards.









The kids also got haircuts this day...although you can't really tell G got much cut off.  We're going for the shaggy skater look, I guess (so I was told by his "stylist." lol)  Payton just needed hers trimmed up, as she wants to grow it long, and the trim made it look so much more healthy, even, and fuller.


And if that wasn't enough in one day, I took the kids to Anne Springs Dairy Barn, solo, for some pictures (Daddy was at work).  Here are some of the "outtakes."  I have to save the good ones for Christmas cards :)




His hair is glowing!



Geeeez...Show a little leg, why don't cha?


Here's Payton exactly a year ago, at the same spot:


The day wore the kids out.  This is how I found Griffin that night:

And Callie:


Here's Griffin saying the blessing (which I didn't even know he knew!):


Always playing dress up with my shoes...My knee high boots become booty high boots on her...Growing up WAY too fast!


I went to get G up the other morning and found him like this.  I wonder how long he had been there.  We talked about it, and he told me he would be sleeping in his "big boy bed" from now on.  No more cold floor!  Poor little guy :(


Night out with Shiela, Brenda, and Dougie.  Wine.  Good wine.  Good friends.  Good night.  I'm lucky to have such an awesome husband who lets me get out every once in a while.  We like to "tag-team" so we save on babysitting costs.  He's going on a golf outing with his best buds this weekend, and he went out for a friend's birthday last Saturday night.  But, it is nice to have date nights with each other, every once in a while.  Good thing my birthday is coming up (hint, hint, honey ;)

Well, another busy weekend ahead...my half marathon is tomorrow, which I'm not totally prepared for, and then we have our annual "BeerBQ" party at my bestie's house.  Brian is playing golf with his buddies, and I'm going to the PATRIOTS v Panthers game on Monday night.  LET'S GO PATS!!! 


**UPDATE ON GRUMPS, DAD, BOB, ROBERT, LUKE, NART, and any other aliases I'm leaving out...**

The chemo flat out sucks.  As soon as he "doesn't feel as bad," meaning he still feels like absolute crap, but not as bad as the day previous, he has to begin the chemo/infusion/pills cycle again.  He describes what he feels like as extreme fatigue, eyes feel like they have Elmers glue in them, and the worst flu symptoms you can imagine.  Just shaky, no appetite, no energy.  Yucky.  Really yucky.  We all hope and pray for some pErFeCt news at the end of all this.  The surgeon really felt he got everything, inside the colon, and the lymph nodes affected on the outside, but with cancer, you just never know.  February 24th, 2014 is our end date.  Let's hope it's FOR GOOD!  Please keep him in your prayers...Grumps, be ready for a PAR-TAY in March!  Hey, don't we have a trip to Vegas planned then anyway?  Perfect.  WHOOP!