Christmas 2012

We actually got to sleep in Christmas morning

I thought for sure London would be up early

one little girl not too happy about taking Christmas pictures

love the PJs and "bed head" look

excited about everything in her stocking

Kennedy decided she wanted to be Santa and hand out gifts

London painted the letters for the word "love" for me

the quilt I made mom

I think Kennedy enjoyed sitting and playing on boxes more than anything

Can't decide if this game was for Russ or Kennedy

Kassade and Keyton joined us later that afternoon

I just realized that I didn't take any photos of our dinner

It was good good eatin'

Crab legs, brisket, potatoes etc

It was another great Christmas - so glad my parents were able to join us

Christmas Eve 2012

Christmas Eve day was peaceful

Pretty relaxing day since I didn't have to work

Mom and dad were here and in the evening we went to church

I thought since everyone was dressed up we could get a picture

Kennedy had a blow out at church - luckily I put an extra set of clothes in the diaper bag

then she did not want to cooperate in taking a picture with her sister

 not sure what we were laughing about but I really like this picture

 Kennedy and her "cheese" grin for the camera

 My family's Christmas Eve tradition is Swiss Cheese Fondue - yumm

I don't like eating out on Christmas Eve - I think it is a fun time to sit down together 

Russ and I always have fun cooking together for special meals like Christmas Eve/Valentine's Day

Eating fondue seems to be a "slow down" dinner

 It was time to goodbye to Buddy

The night before we wrote a note to Santa asking if we could break the rules just one time

(Rule: you are not allowed to touch your elf)

She wanted to kiss Buddy goodbye and give him a hug

Santa sent a note back saying that since she was a good girl and so kind to Buddy

it would be okay on the last night to kiss him goodbye

Santa is all prepared

Kids off to bed, my parents left fairly early 

Russ & I enjoyed the rest of Christmas Eve together 

enjoying the quiet of the house, the Christmas lights, and a movie/conversation

gotta love that - no interruptions

Look who showed up to help out with sugar cookies

Nana and Papa arrived yesterday

 We made my Aunt Mabel's famous sugar cookies

Mom was very patient with London

I can't decide if she enjoying playing with the flour or cutting out the cookies more

see her little pile of flour to "dip" the cutters in

 she decided it was pretty messy and off came the shirt

had to get a picture of her pants and the chair and notice the counter covered in flour

 with a clean shirt on - it was time to get down to business

she did a great job frosting and decorating was her favorite

fun bright colors this year

 I call this "Sprinkle Explosion"

 It was is always more fun cooking and decorating when your mom is around

Snow

London has learned that snow doesn't stay around very long in KS

Yesterday morning she woke up to snow, she was so excited

As Russ cleaned off the sidewalk and my car - she was out there with him

7:10 AM she is making snow angels because she knew after daycare it would be gone

It stuck around long enough to make a snowman with her daddy

Curls

I've been asked many times if I think Kennedy will have curls

She does . . . here is a picture after bath time

usually by morning they have been flattened down 

I think as her hair thickens and gets longer  - the curl will hold

London's hair started out this way until it got a little longer

 Kennedy saying  "CHEESE"

such a little squirt! always making us laugh

Run Baby Run

Once again we headed to Memphis for Marathon Weekend - Dec 1st

It was time again to raise some money for St Jude Children's Research Hospital

In Tulsa, OK  gas was the cheapest

had to take a picture of this 

I couldn't believe that I could get excited about gas being under $3.00

there was a lot of napping in the car  - makes a happy mama

 finally arriving at our destination

This picture was taken 2 years ago

the Mississippi river probably is half this full - really sad to see how low it was

We headed over to register Russ for the race

they had the alphabet around the floor - St Jude patients made them

We then headed to St Jude for a visit

they are constantly adding and expanding each time we are there

Russ' sister and brother-in-law (Jay & Leslie) got this paver in honor of Konley

Russ picked out the saying he wanted on the stone

took us a while to find it since they have many different areas

it is neat to read them as you are walking down the sidewalks outside of the hospital

London kept picking flowers and I asked her to stop over and over

when we found Konley's paver

she said "mom this is why I was picking flowers, I wanted to put some on his stone"

it melted my heart - such a sweet sister

Thank you Jay & Leslie for this beautiful tribute to Konley and making us a part of it

Race Day - We go down with Russ to the starting line

a few minutes before it starts we head back to the hotel - they run pass the Peabody hotel

Cheering everyone on until we see daddy come by

It is hard to describe the feeling, electrifying 

and overwhelming to think how many people are here to help support St Jude

waiting - we've got tattoos, pom poms, cow bells and signs to wave as they run by

we are at mile marker #3

18,000 runners

5,000 are St Jude Heros - they raised 5 Million Dollars

need I say more?

sometimes they are a little congested

you see all ages  from very young - to grandpas (as London called one man)

they have a marathon, half-marathon, 10 K, 5 K and family walk

these are the half and full marathon runners

I think next year the girls and I will do the 5K - we can get done before

Russ starts his full marathon - yes a FULL marathon that is what his goal is for 2013

oh . . . there he is  . . . get the camera. .  quick!

I almost missed him - I guess it had something with 2 little girls distracting me

he always stops and gives us kisses - A good luck thing??  maybe

we watch a little more and then go eat breakfast, shower and visit the ducks

then it is time to head across the street to Autozone Park

and wait for him to cross the finish line

this year we weren't able to get as close to the field but we managed to find him

He finished

We are so proud of him!!  Yeah!! 

A great way to honor Konley and help another child live

Since it was beautiful outside and the girls needed some play time  

we headed off the to Memphis Zoo

a few animals our zoo doesn't have

baby chick hatching

I thought this would be a perfect spot for a family photo

as you can see no one cooperated for me

after all the running, walking and playing we were hungry

what to eat ? ? ?  hey we are in Memphis not Kansas

BBQ what else - which one to pick?

We decided on Corky's - it happened to the closest to us

makes my mouth water just thinking about it

We stayed at the Peabody - love this place

Something about an old elegant hotel

you may not have a microwave or refrigerator in your room but so worth it

location is a big part of it and the staff is wonderful

met some neat people this year that came to participate in the race

 the famous Peabody Ducks

Going up the elevator to their penthouse

Kennedy scared of her daddy's driving

yep, they are tired little girls after a 9 hour drive

Once again we would like thank everyone who supported Russ 

it continues to be a very meaningful thing for him to do