Erin's Big Race

Yesterday Erin and our friend Suzie ran the Blue and Gray 1/2 Marathon in Fredericksburg. The weather was so nasty!! It was 34 degrees and rained the whole time! It was Erin's first 1/2 ever and i'm so proud of her for running it! I would not have run in that weather. Although she didn't get the time she was hoping for, she still did great! Congratulations girls!

Our Weekend at the Gaylord-12/12-12/13

This weekend we went to the Gaylord at National Harbor with the Grays and Chad's parents and sister's family. First we at brunch with Santa Claus and he indulged in us by letting us take a million different pictures with him! This was one of all the kids. After brunch we checked into our room and got into our snow gear to go to the ICE show. It was so incredible!! Everything was made out of ice! The kids especially loved the ice slide! We didn't end up ice skating because the session times didn't work for us, but we did get to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" while swimming in the pool. The kids thought that was great! We ate pizza and doughnuts in the The Grays room to celebrate Christianna's 6th birthday and we got to watch it "snow" in the atrium from their balcony. It was such a fun weekend and a great new family tradition:o)

The nativity scene...An ice angel with my two angels:o)

Chad coming down the ice slide...

Weston, Kamryn, Ella, and Ethan in the igloo with the penguins...

I loved this poinsetta!

Entrance to the ICE show...

All bundled up in the parkas they give you to wear at the ICE show. it was 9 degrees in there!!

My Failed Attempt At Christmas Pictures...

i am afraid that i might not get christmas cards out ever this year!! my children will not cooperate when i want to take pictures of them. these are a few of my failed attempts...
this one is actually my favorite, but ella totally covered weston's face with her hand!

weston looks like a total goofball in this one, but this is the only smile he kept giving me!

Playdate at the Battlefields...

A couple Saturdays ago i took Weston, Ella, and Weston's friend, Aiden for a playdate. It was a cold day, but nice and sunny, so we headed over to the battlefields and climbed Lee's Hill. They had so much fun racing to the top and looking out over the city. After that we went down to the cannons on Lee Drive and ran like crazy and played in the leaves. Then we headed over to Kenmore Park and played for awhile. We left there and met Aiden's mom and little brother at Chick-fil-A for lunch. The kids had such a great time and thanked me by taking a nice long nap:o)zzzzzzzzz
My favorite tree on Lee Drive.

At the top of Lee's Hill with Fredericksburg in the background.

"Wait for me!"

Best buds!

" I'll race you!"

Turkey Trot '09

This year, Ella ran the Turkey Trot 1 miler with Weston. Actually, i ran with Ella and Weston totally beat us! She did run the whole thing though! I was so proud of both of them! Chad and i ran the 5k and both improved our times from last year.

Not sure what's up with my arms, but Ella looks really cute:o)

Weston racing to the finish!

Before the big race...