Waiting At The Bus Stop

All Jasper Wants In Life...

Is to sleep by my feet with his head on my sneaker :-)

Puppiness

Not A Sanctioned Use Of The Trapeze Bar

Jasper & Clara

Are already buddies!

Just Hangin' Around

Welcome Home Jasper!

After a long day of driving we are home with Jasper! He is extremely friendly, loves playing with the kids, and wants to be where all the people are! (Good luck to us tonight with the crate training!)

He is confined to the kitchen for now until he is housebroken. 

Here are some pictures! He is a BIG BOY! 

Meet Jasper

Ok don't judge, we are bringing this little guy home on Saturday! ;-)

Bridal Shower

Yesterday night I went to my co-worker Marina's bridal shower; she is getting married next month. It was black & white themed and a fun night; here are pictures:

Rebecca

After a lot of consideration we relinquished ownership of Rebecca to the Mid Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue. She was picked up this morning and is on her way to its president in Richmond VA, who has fostered over 500 dogs and only takes the most difficult cases. As Rebecca was never socialized to people or dogs as a puppy, she needs to be with an experienced owner, with other dogs and with no kids. While it was hard to say goodbye, we really think it was the best thing for her. 

Carowinds

Charlie has been asking to go to our local amusement park, Carowinds, since coming home with his first report card. Since at that time it was closed for the season, he had to wait, and has since made it through 2 more quarters with straight A's. So as a reward we got season passes to Carowinds (mostly because I couldn't see paying the exorbitant price to go one time, but paying less than the cost of 2 tickets a piece for the season passes, especially when there is a water park and so much else to do there, seemed much more reasonable.)

Today was our first trip and we took Ben with us because his flag football game was cancelled. Mike took the boys on the roller coasters while Amelia and I spent the day in Planet Snoopy, the kiddie area. With Amelia and my weak stomachs we couldn't even handle all the kiddie rides, so it's a good thing the boys had Mike to take them on rides with names like "The Intimidator" ;-)

Here are pictures -- mostly of Amelia, since I wasn't with the boys. 

St. Jude Trike-Athon

Amelia proudly participated in her pre-school's St. Jude Trike-Athon yesterday afternoon and was the ONLY kid in her school without training wheels! 

Spring Pictures

Spring Pictures involved a compromise -- Amelia wanted to wear her hair in a side ponytail with a headband ala 80s rocker. We compromised with a French braid and a headband. 

The Trials Of A Picky Eater

Alone at the table wrestling with a green bean so that she can have dessert...

Beginner's Night

Amelia and I went to Beginner's Night at Elizabeth Lane this evening, where Amelia got to make a butterfly and eat fruit snacks in one of the kindergarten classrooms while I got to sit through an hour long meeting in the auditorium about the kindergarten curriculum, assessments, staggered entry dates, a spiel by the principal, the nurse, the PTA, the lunch lady, the guidance counselor -- ugh.

Amelia, however, thoroughly enjoyed herself. Here she is, in Ms Ebert's classroom. 

Sunday Baseball

This afternoon after grandma and grandpa left we took the kids uptown to the BB&T ballpark to see our first Charlotte Knights game, Charlotte's minor league team (affiliated with the Chicago White Sox.) 

The ballpark is extremely nice and kid friendly -- there were little batting cages and pitching games for the kids, and they got to run the bases after the game. Amelia was whiny at first (Inning 2: "did anybody win yet...?") but after a while she discovered the jumbotron and I told her if she danced hard enough maybe they'd show her on the screen, so she had her own private dance party for the last 3 innings and didn't bother anyone :-)

Charlie enjoyed the game and seemed to generally pay attention, hoping someone would hit a home run his way. 

It was a fun afternoon and with the cheap ticket prices I would definitely go again!

Here are some pictures:

Charlotte RaceFest 1/2 Marathon

I had a super fun time running in the half marathon on Saturday -- well I should say it was super fun until about mile nine lol and then it was a struggle, thanks to a mile along an uneven bike path and another mile that was a steep uphill. I did, however, manage to beat my last 1/2 marathon time by exactly 1 minute, coming in at 2:09:48. Up until mile nine I was on pace to come in at 2:05 -- there's always next time ;-)

I had an awesome cheering section at the finish line, with Mom & Dad, Mike and the kids, and Mandy and the girls, who even made signs! So sweet, made my day :-)

Here I am with the kids after the race:

Next up is a 5k with Mandy on Mother's Day :-)

Grandma & Grandpa Are Here!

Grandma and grandpa are in town for my half marathon tomorrow! Dinner reservations for 11 don't happen very often so we had to commemorate the occasion!

And She's Off!!

Rebecca successfully taught Amelia to ride her bike while I was at work the other day -- "It was easy!" Rebecca said; "All I did was just give her a push!"

Cousin Love

Trying Without Training Wheels

(And so far with a lot of help from Mom.)

Easter Sunday

We had a quiet Easter this year. We took the kids for a walk at the nearby Four Mile Creek Greenway and then went out to lunch, since I didn't particularly feel like cooking Easter dinner.

In the afternoon I did my final 10 mile run in preparation for next weekend's half marathon, and of course the kids have been sugared up on Easter candy all day. 

Here are some pictures from our walk this morning:

Social Experiment of the Summer

Kid fridge in the garage packed with snacks for when the kids are outside playing. Yeah we'll see how long it lasts...

Amelia VS Costco Hotdog

(The hotdog won.)

Congrats To A Terrific Kid!

Charlie's teacher called me at 8:30 last night to inform me that Charlie was her class's recipient of the Terrific Kid Award for the month of March, and that there was an awards ceremony this morning that I was invited to attend. 

March's character trait was courage, and when Charlie's name was called the presenter informed us that "Charlie's classmates tell us that he exhibits the trait of courage because he is not afraid to turn over a log and pick up any critter he finds under there!" Yup that's my boy!

Here he is waiting in line with the other third graders to be presented his certificate (only a head or so taller than the other kids!):

With his certificate:

And a group shot (they stuck him in the back row with the fifth graders)