A new pet! Well for 2 days :)

We are LOVING this beautiful weather and have been outside every chance we get! So on Saturday we were outside playing with our usual peeps, The Rousters and along came this cute dog from nowhere! She just ran into our yard and stayed....and stayed...and stayed, for 2 full days might I add! Now granted she had a lot of attention with all of the kids on the street but she was having the time of her life. She loved to play fetch (as a matter of fact that was the middle name given to "Lucy") and would run, fetch the tennis ball and bring the slobbery thing right back and drop it at your feet for another go around. She did this for hours! The kids loved her and were completely entertained for two days. Unfortuantely for the boys in this house, and fortunately for me (I can't do the indoor dog with long, shedding black hair-I'd like to be that good mom but it's not in the cards right now) the dog was microchipped and we found her owner. So on Monday Chris and Braden drove her to her real owner and found out her name was not, "Lucy Fetch Rouster Noble" but rather Maggie. :) It was a sad day when we told Braden. He even cried and yelled at me and said, "You'll never ever let me get a dog" which kind of broke my heart but then he was such a big boy dropping her off and was happy Maggie found her home. Now, I wonder how many times I'll hear, "Can we go see Maggie?" in the next few days. :)

Birthday party craziness :)

Last Friday we went to a 4 way birthday party for Carson, Tyler, Lynlee and Addi. We had it at my preschool and it ended up being a perfect way to let the kids play and celebrate. For as many kiddos as we had everywhere, it went so smoothly! It must mean we all have some pretty great kids! :) Happy birthday to 4 special friends! I only took a few pictures for some reason, but here are my boys having a good time.

Ethan enjoying his first cupcake independently! Wow!! What a face. :)

Braden playing

Lakan & Kaleigh were sitting and coloring so nicely and Ethan then scooted on in and tried to color too! It was hilarious to see the girls' faces because they were big enough to know that he was scribbling on the table. ha!

St. Patty's Day

Cutie boys dressed in green. :)

Should an 18 month old be big enough to drive the gator by himself?!?! Only my gigantic children could reach the pedals. It looks so funny to see him drive (and crash since he can't steer) around. :) He loves it!

Almost bedtime

A couple of bubbly boys having some fun!

I love sweet pj pictures :)

Ethan working on a puzzle before bed. :)

Rodes City 10K Run

Saturday was the second leg of the triple crown of running. This was the 10K which was 6.2 miles. I rode down to the race with Christy and Amber and then we met Chris there. Chris actually ran the whole race with me which was fun. :) He was so good about encouraging me and even let me use his ipod when mine for some unknown reason wasn't charged and wouldn't work from the start line. He's such a good boy! :) It was a great race, a few small hills (although any hill seems big to me), and the sun was shining. I am so grateful that all of these races have had such perfect weather so far. Fingers crossed that the 10 miler in two weeks is the same! We finished with a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 26 seconds (1:03:26). Amber was a few minutes ahead of us and Christy a few minutes behind do to a bathroom detour. :) I'm pretty happy with my time. It's right at a 10 minute mile pace and that's about as good as it gets if I'm going over 3 miles. I'm a little nervous about the 10 miler because I've never done more than 7 but I'm just preparing to walk some if I need to....just as long as we finish. :)

Christy's bday

Last night was SOOOO much fun! Monday was Christy's birthday and for those of you that have followed the Vaughn's and their fight to keep Grayson home, it was also a huge deciding day-whether the U.S. Supreme Court would hear their case. The case was denied and without question a terribly devastating day for Christy and her family! :( Jen and I thought we'd plan a girls night for Tuesday night and just get Christy out of the house for some fun. We sure did have some fun!! I am so blessed with such great friends! We had a blast. :) Thanks to all the girls that came and made it an extra special day for Christy. :)

We started with pedicures.....ahhhh, so needed right now...Especially on my nasty running feet. :)


Then we headed to Puerto's for dinner. Christy's friend Heather (who is hilarious) had told Christy that Monday was "the crappiest birthday ever" and Tuesday was her "new year." A new day to look to the future of happier times. So, she bought all of this New Year's decor and had it on the table when we arrived. It was fun and such a sweet gesture. We sure did get some looks from people in the restaurant. :) One couple stopped and said, "you realize your a few months late....maybe it's the margaritas." ha!

Happy birthday Christy!! Oh and Happy New Year! :)

I must say, all of us hard working mommas needed a yummy margarita last night. :)

Christy, Jenn and me :)

The whole gang....after this a handful of us went to Cluckers just to sit and talk and hang out some more. I didn't get home until 12:30 which is pretty late for a Tuesday night! Chris was proud of me. :)

Boys...

Sunday night Papa T and Mimi watched the boys while Chris and I got our long run in together. I had to capture this sweet moment with Papa T and Casper. The boys LOVE Casper and Braden continuously asks me why we don't have a dog. :)

This is just random but oh so funny. Chris' brother gave Braden a couple of lego sets. I had no clue lego sets were SOOOO complicated. What happened to snapping together some blocks??? Anyways, Braden couldn't wait to have Chris work with him on these sets. I actually didn't get a picture of them working together but had to capture Chris still at the table working AFTER Braden went to bed. There were 99 steps to build this guy." 99 steps!!!!! Anyways, he was doing legos by himself which cracked me up and then in the morning it was all finished and Braden picked it up and dropped it within 5 minutes of seeing it. 99 steps shattered on the kitchen floor! I guess these things are meant to be put on a shelf. :) oh well, Chris didn't care because he secretly loved it and wants to build it again I think. Better you than me babe!

Jackson's 4th bday party

'Tis the season...for birthday parties that is. :) March is the month that most of our friends' kids were born so we hit a lot of cute birthday parties during this time of year. Today's was Jackson's 4th bday celebration and it was a Toy Story theme...right up Braden's alley.

The kids waited so nicely while Janelle ran a game of stick the badge on Buzz or Woody

Braden giving it a try

Ahhhh, sweet boys! They are just getting too big!!!

Ethan plopped down with the big kids too. Of course he didn't stay long but it was cute watching him "back it up" to the couch to sit like they were.

Happy birthday Jackson Lewis! Check out that tongue. :)

The wild boys eating downstairs. When I came down to check on them I heard some big time bad words being said..."poopy" was the word and they were using it with all conversations and cracking up! :) (It was cracking me up too). Oh my....boys! I guess I'll take poopy talk for now. What will it be in a few more years? Yikes!

Ethan and Darbi are so cute together. They were both trying to get into their capri sun drinks. Later on Darbi was trying to feed Ethan his sippy cup. She likes to take care of the babies (of course he's almost as big as her). So cute!!

* Thanks for having us Lewis' and happy birthday Jackson! It was fun!

5K to support Romania missions

This morning I ran in a 5K at Northside to help support the next mission trip to Romania. Since I went to Romania in 2005 I totally understand the $ they need to make that trip happen and it's especially close to my heart so I really wanted to do this race. :) Plus, a 5K is not so scary now and I know I can do it. It was raining pretty hard when I got up so we were so fortunate that it only sprinkled during the run which actually felt pretty good! Chris surprised me and was sitting in the car with the boys in the street when I came around a corner. He looked like the paparazzi with the camera out the window as I ran by. :) It was fun to wave and yell at the boys and gave me a little push to keep going. Then they were at the finish line when I got there-so sweet! Anyways, I didn't shatter any running records today (ha!) but I did win a pretty cool door prize. It was a basket full of dental items (actually from my dentist) that included the sonic toothbrush and a whitening gift certificate along with several toothbrushes and toothpaste. I was quite excited! That was a perfect door prize for me. I was so excited. It was just a great morning!

Chris and the boys catchine me at 2 miles

Finishing the race

Tina and I after the race

Carrie after the race-She was the first female finisher overall! Way to go Carrie!! That is sooooo cool!

Such a funny boy :)

Ethan is in that adorable stage right now where he imitates everything he sees us doing. He's always brushing his hair, putting on lotion if he has any kind of a bottle with something in it, sweeping the kitchen, dusting and even blow drying his hair. I had a little pet shop set in the house that I bought at the consignment sale to take to school and Ethan's been loving the hair dryer. Such a funny boy!

He loves to dress up because he sees big brother Braden doing it. :)

It's beginning to happen!

My boys are actually starting to play and hang out together and not hurt each other! ha! A couple of days ago I was cooking and it got so quiet in the house. Well you know what that usually means...TROUBLE! But to my surprise, I came around the corner to see this. Now granted Ethan had pulled every book off of Braden's shelf but they actually sat like this together and just read for about 15 minutes and were happy. I love that Ethan is getting big enough that they can really start playing together. After all, it does say in their hallway, "Brothers are the best of friends." Here's hoping for many more moments like this. :)

Jace & Lexi's bday parties

Last weekend Jace and Lexi celebrated their birthdays. Jace turned 4 and Lexi turned 2. Their birthdays are just a few days apart so they had a combined party at "Outside In." It was a fun party and my boys had a blast! Thanks Johnsen's for inviting us. :)

Jacob is Jace's cousin and also in Braden's class at preschool-such handsome boys!

Jace & Braden take a train ride

Ethan loved this place! So many cars to get in , balls to throw and bouncers to jump in. He was in heaven!

Peek a boo cutie pie!

Happy birthday Jace & Lexi!!