13.1 complete....what's next????

We started in late August training for the DRC Half Marathon.  I was really excited that Kacy and I had some newbies;) joining us.  What a journey!

 The emotional finish...13.1 miles gives you a lot of time to think about where you've come from....

 This group of ladies is truly amazing.  We all had a little something to prove to ourselves...and that we did!

 Our shirts were lifesavers...there is something to hearing your name cheered as you run and run and run!

I am so very proud that we finished this one...and I got to give Katherine her medal! 

We FINISHED!!!!

New Place...NO INTERNET...playing catchup!

We have been super busy with our move...Halloween snuck up on me...I mean nothing a little tulle and hot glue can't conquer but still...where did October go!!!!????

 I had big plans for the girls to be the Lion and the ScareCrow from the Wizard of Oz, but Keatyn had other plans...as you can see, she wanted to be a "Peacock Princess".  Thank you Pinterest and Etsy for your helpful tips!

 We also had 50's day at Keatyn's school and well, we don't do things "sort of";).  My mom whipped out poodle skirts for Keatyn and me and we managed to make Addilyn fit into Keatyn's old skirt!  We had so much fun!:)

And this picture is extra special.  My granddad has been very sick since July and so he was super excited to have bowls full of candy for his great-grandbabies.  We really could have stopped after this stop because they filled their buckets FULL of really good candy!  

Halloween is such a crazy time, but it is fun to see how excited the kids get about...CANDY;)!

First days of school...

So far so good in 1st grade!  Hoping and praying for a fabulous year!

Round 2

This past week I began my training for another 1/2 marathon set for November 6th!  It has been nice to get back into running several days a week.  There is a group of us training and I'm really excited about that.  I had the opportunity to train in a group last year and that really seems to help me stay motivated and also makes the longer runs much easier to endure!  I'm looking forward to what this training has to offer and challenging myself once again!

A Date Night...

This past Saturday night we went out with our friends Brandon and Julie to a fundraising event for the Longview Museum of Fine Arts.  It was fun to get to dress up and go out on a date:)! 

 Besides weddings, we just don't get very many opportunities to "get fancy"!

 Stephen, me and Brandon...these two were a force!:)

We couldn't resist posing with a couple of the centerpieces!

And then the Hubs and me.  We had a blast...the event was quite humorous and we had lots of laughs!

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And so it begins....

Here is Keatyn and one of her sweet friends, Barrett at Meet the Eagles!  She thinks he is the coolest because he has a bow and arrow and her taught her how to use it;)!

We are so excited to start 1st grade.  Meet the Teacher was on Thursday night and we were a little ahead of the game because we've known Wendi Hicks forever...SHE'S Family!  Keatyn could not be more excited to have Mrs. Hicks AND...

 ...to be right across the hallway from KK!  What an exciting year it is going to be?!?  So many new things happening!  Addilyn was very excited about "cheer" season starting!

 Along with a new school year comes Football Season and cheering on the boys!  Maddox and Keatyn performed at Meet the Eagles on the field with the HS Cheerleaders.  They were oh so cute!

Fun times were had by all!!!!  And believe it or not, there was even a breeze:)!

A little Warm-up running...

What better to do before a run on the beach then enjoy a yummy milkshake...just kidding that's a horrible idea!  However, we had these early in the day so as to not see them again later;)!  They were so yummy. Kacy and Kara had found this cute soda shop on the Strand in Galveston and we didn't just visit it once!!!!

 Oh the submarine...I wasn't a huge fan.  It was so HOT in there!  This picture expresses how I truly felt about it!

 And EVERY race needs a pre-race stretch...or an 80s workout video pose!

 WE survived running a 5k on the beach in the dark wearing headlamps!  It was really a lot of fun!

Me and Kacy post-race!  So fun to have a running buddy who keeps me motivated:)!

I was pretty pumped to have placed 6th out of 60 in my age division!

This was a great way to kick off our 1/2 marathon training for the Fall!!!!  Now if we could just have some cooler weather to run in PLEASE!!!!

Sleepovers MIGHT be overrated for mom...sigh...

I'll let the pictures speak first...

The time has arrived in Keatyn's little world for sleepovers...however, I'm not sure if my sanity was quite ready for it.  I admit that I'm neat and tidy on my own time, but the way my children, mainly Keatyn, play drives me BONKERS!!!!!  Girls have lots of fun things to play with...but in that fun there are little dress-up earrings, barbie shoes, dolls, etc!  If I can just teach them to put away before dragging out the next...this will be a fun time!!!!!

Crafty little Playhouse

I found a cute pattern for a playhouse made from scraps of material.  Every once in a while I get a wild hair and want to use my sewing machine.  My mom always has tons of fabric, so I raided the fabric bins and found some cute fabric to use for this crafty little idea!

I had some major assistance from my mom and she finished out the windows and trim for me.  The girls love it!  I made it to fit over my dining room table.  Partly because this is the only table in my house, but also because this was a great size for the girls.  

This is a picture of one end of the house.  Notice the cute little scrap curtains that my mom added.

This is a better picture of the window.  This is on the front side.

It has a little door that the girls can go in and out of and also has some grosgrain ribbon so it can be tied back.

As you can see, they crammed as much as they could into their little house.  I was frequently reminding them that EVERYTHING they got out, they would have to put away.  That didn't go so well;)!

Seriously...we had a deal...

Seriously...we had a deal...I was going to pinch and save and pay for my very own laptop computer.  I had asked my family to just give money for my birthday because I had my sights set on this computer.  I even told Stephen to skip the gift giving because I might want to tap into those cash resources to speed along the saving process (wink, wink).  Well, if any of you know my husband you know that he LOVES to give gifts and he's really thoughtful in doing so.  Well, this birthday was no less!  He surprised me, broke the rules of the deal and bought me the MacBook Pro for my birthday.  I have to be honest in saying that I felt a little guilty.  I felt guilty because I know him well enough to know that I should have kept my plans to myself.  I should not have told him that I was planning to use my "birthday money" on the computer.  I should have known that he wouldn't let this gift slip by!  I am grateful because I'm sitting here now, in my bedroom, in my bed typing this blog post on my very own computer.  

I am so thankful to my family for giving me this gift.  It's one of those gifts that was strictly a WANT on my part.  I am grateful!

4th of July Fun!!!

 We celebrated our sweet friend Case with a bit of water fun!  

 I made these tasty strawberries stuffed with a sweet cream cheese mixture and a blueberry to make them 4th of July perfection!  Yummy!!!

 Addilyn showing her patriotism!;)

 And making a little noise too!

 All the kiddos chimed in!

 Stephen enjoying some grub!

 The ladies watching the kids swim in the lake as the sun went down.  It was finally pleasant at this point.  This ended up being a very bearable East Texas evening!

 And my yummy treat for our second 4th shindig were these yummy Rice Krispie Treats made in to a flag.  I was pretty proud of my creation;)!!!!

And this it how it all ended.  A good time was had by all.  Addilyn got up from her nap, got onto the cozy sofa and fell asleep just like this!  Pooped!

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July....The Bills did!!!!

When Momma's away...

So I was out with the Ladies and I come home to my house calm, girls in bed, house spotless and Stephen relaxing (ok snoring) in our bed....I wake up to these pictures and a video that I will load if I can ever figure that part out.

Into momma's make-up I see.  Addilyn LOVES to wear my eyeshadow.   Most days she looks as though she has been beaten to a pulp because she wears blue and gray eyeshadow under her eyes instead of on the lids;)!  This night was no different except that tonight the theme was MONSTERS! 

So here she is...all smiles because she had received a "makeover" from the newly famous in our house...

"Monster Makeup" company!!!!!

I will say that seeing the smiles makes me stop and think about how blessed I am to have a husband who loves our girls from the very core of his being and allows them to dream a little, act on it and lets them use their imaginations with absolutely NO stipulations...obviously;)!