12 easy miles...

I ran 12 miles yesterday morning with my neighbor Jen. We left our houses at 5:30 am and arrived back by 7:15 am-so 12 miles in 1 hour, 45 minutes isn't too bad, huh? Then I quickly stretched, refueled and showered and we were in the car for church by 8:55 am! Afterwards, we treated ourselves to a little Mellow Mushroom downtown, which hit the spot! Eating pizza after running 12 miles = no guilt! It was a beautiful day downtown. We even managed to fit in a family bike ride that afternoon. This morning I was up to do my strength training and didn't even feel like I ran 12 miles the day before. It was awesome running with Jen...we talked the entire time! She's going to do 13 with me next Saturday and she's not even training for a marathon. Can you believe I'm actually looking forward to running 13? I think I'm officially 'addicted' to running! She's done two at 3:45, so I think she knows a thing or two about it :) This weekend is busy, but fun! I'm hosting Bunco on Wednesday, our 9th anniversary is on Thursday and we have good friends coming in town from NC for the weekend! I also have two photo shoots and tons of errands to do. I got called to jury duty and need to get out of that...one of the perks of being a stay at home mom I guess.

"When I grow up...

I want to be Batman!" This is what Harrison told me this afternoon. I think he may be getting his future "career" confused with his Halloween costume. His choice of costume changes daily...from Spiderman...to Batman...to Superman. Well, at least we have the same 'super-hero' theme? Although, wouldn't it be nice if we really could be 'super-heroes' when we grow up?

We are all doing well. I've been super busy editing photos from shoots that I rarely have time to blog anymore. Ask my business partner...or my husband, editing is quite time consuming. I try do it at night or naptime...really, there is no other time to do it. I'd rather be hanging out with my boys than be on the computer, but I started this blog to talk about them and our lives.

Brady is walking up a storm. He gets better and better every day. Brady and Jack's language has really taken off. Brady will see Jack across the room and shout "DACK! DACK!?!" until his brother acknowledges him. Yesterday Jack said "I won wa-wa!" and walked over to the refridgerator. He was so excited that I understood him and granted his request. He must have been grinning from ear to ear! They, like their big brother, are really, really, really into cars and anything with wheels. As one of three girls I am learning all there is to know about raising boys and what they like.

Just lovin' this awesome weather. We all went for a walk this morning and we're getting ready for another one right now!!

My future 'super-hero'

Future Clemson Tigers

The time is NOW...

I don't know why I've been so sentimental these days. Maybe it's because I've heard some stories about children losing their parents or parents losing their children or it could be that I'm reading The Last Lecture but I feel like doing all of these things that I say I will do "someday". I admit I'm a pretty busy woman but I when I feel the urge to tell my children I love them, I do. Most of you know that I lost my sister 10 years ago in a tragic car accident and because of that I realize how short and precious life is. It can be gone in an instant. Sometimes I find myself worried about what my house looks like or what I look like or what the boys are wearing and I stop myself and realize that IT SIMPLY DOES NOT MATTER. I'm not dying or anything but I want to live my days as if they were my last. I want my boys to see me as a happy person who had no regrets. I want to be nice to people and I want to have fun! Spending time with the people you love is so much better than decorating your house or obsessing over material things. I recently read a blog that my friend Slacker Mama shared on her blog. This mom lived right down the street from where we once lived in Northern Virginia. I could have seen her at church, the grocery store, Target, the park, etc and now she is in the hospital fighting for her life with a husband and two little girls-2 1/2 and 6 months old-at home. Her husband wrote something on his blog that sent chills up my spine and had me in tears...

First, life is very tenuous - very fragile - and very fleeting. I would give anything to be able to interact with Hyatt again... to hold her, talk with her, smile and laugh with her - and share the joy of life with her. Please do this with your family right now. Stop what you are doing - stop all the busyness of life and go spend some time with your loved ones.

So true, so very, very true...everyone please go tell your children that you love them. Go. Right now!!

Lady Luck

I believe that I am one lucky lady. I have three beautiful (or handsome) little boys and an amazing husband! Tonight I took Harrison to see the Backyardigans. He liked it, but what I truly liked was watching him watch hit. Seeing it through his eyes made the whole thing worth my time. I love having one on one time with each child and as Brady and Jack get older we will be doing it more often with them too. I feel so blessed everytime I look at Dan and the boys. I am so thankful for all that I have been given. As I type this the rest of the house is sleeping and I should be too. I put a load of cloth diapers in the wash a little too late, but at the time time I am enjoying this time of reflection. I just checked on all three of them and they all looked like sleeping angels. I could literally have stood there for hours staring at them. Don't you just love them when they're asleep? Even Harrison still looks like he did as a baby when he's sleeping. However, my 6:00 am run will be here before I know it, so I better get to sleep. Night-night!

He walks...

Two days before he turns 19 months, Brady took his first steps! We were in therapy when it happened. He walked for a long time between me and his therapist. He was so happy and proud of himself!!! I'm so excited and proud of him...Jennifer (his therapist) may discharge him completely after next week. She thinks there is nothing wrong with him at all. As a matter of fact, she just felt he needed his time to walk and he is not even tight in his heels anymore. I could literally jump for joy right now. I have prayed and prayed for this day to happen and it finally did!!! Prayers really do get answered. Thank you so much for all of your nice thoughts and prayers! I'll try to post some video if I can.

Alive and Well!

Of course Saturday turned out to be a perfect day weather-wise! Oh well, we decided to drive over to the beach and eat at a restaurant right on the beach with great views. After lunch, Dan and Harrison went to the movies. We wanted to treat him to special things, since his party was canceled!! They saw "Space Chimp". Dan's opinion was "not that great". I think Harrison just enjoyed watching it on the big screen.

Hanna did not end up being quite the storm they thought, but that's OK! I've been through Hurricane Hugo 19 years ago and I will never, ever forget that storm. I'll take a wimpy storm like Hanna anyday over a hurricane.

Hanna, Hanna go away!

Tomorrow was supposed to be a super busy day for our family. Harrison had a soccer game at 10:00, his party was at 1:00, and I had a photo shoot on the beach at 6:00 pm. Guess what? It looks as though TS Hanna is going to make an appearance in the Lowcountry and now none of these events will be happening. Oh, and I was supposed to run 10 miles tomorrow morning. I'm a little bummed...but I know it's out of safety that these events had to be cancelled. We hadn't even mentioned Harrison's party to him at all this week because I had 'that feeling' that it may be cancelled. I was going to reschedule but the place couldn't do it until the 20th anyway. We'll just treat him to something extra special. Besides, he's 4, plenty of time for parties! We did a family party last Friday (his actual birthday), treated him to Five Guy's (his restaurant of choice) and had another little party at my parent's house last Saturday. So, we've done a lot of celebrating his birthday.

Jen and I did a 'semi-long run' this morning, 7 instead of 10. It's already looking grey and cloudy out there, so no running for me in the morning. The rocking chairs and hammock are off the porch, the flag is down and the wreath is off the door. We have our 70 bottles of water, flashlights, batteries, candles and plenty of snack food-because when it's storming, there's nothing like eating trail mix and oreos!!!

Get into the groove...

Whew! It's been hard to get back into the swing of things now that Harrison is going to 4K everyday. It really keeps us busy and me in the car! He had a great 1st day of school and birthday on Friday! We headed to my parents on Saturday after his first soccer game that morning. I think he's really just trying to take everything in and is adjusting...although slowly. I guess it will prepare him for next year when he goes everyday, all day to Kindergarten.

With Hanna on the horizon...there's a possibility that we may be evacuating on Thursday. That puts a big ? for his party on Saturday. I also have a photo shoot that day and he has a soccer game that morning. It may be a busy day that doesn't end up happening at all. My biggest concern about moving back to S.C. was the whole hurricane thing and now we may be 2 days away from evacuation. People were buying water like crazy at the grocery store today. I sent Dan over to Costco after work to buy 2 big things of it...YIKES! We'll see and I'll keep updating our status. In the meantime, I am writing down all of the things we should take with us in case of evacuation.

Signed up for my Half-marathon in October in Columbia. The Governor's Cup Road Race...ummm, that's in less than 2 months. The marathon is in December...where has the time gone? My training is going well but it is still hot, sticky and hot in the morning. Looking forward to those Oct, Nov, Dec mornings again. Bring on the cold (cooler) weather...and Hanna, if you're listening-Please don't come visit us! My 4 year old will not be happy! Oh, if only it was that easy...