Family Christmas

We were so blessed to have a wonderful family Christmas last weekend with my parents and siblings at my parents house in SC. It started Friday when we arrived with Tim and Lauren, who flew in from Chicago the night before. Grandpa showed Martin how to chop firewood while mom and Grace played outside. Joe and Crystal arrived later that evening, followed by Beth and her family and Chris and Samantha the next day. We enjoyed great food, lots of presents, and wonderful company!! We are so blessed to have such a large family that enjoys being together!! 10 adults and 7 kids in the house for the weekend!! What a wonderful way to enjoy the holidays!

Oh crooked tree...

Our decorations are out now and the stockings are hung--all we need is Santa!! The kids had a great time visiting Santa. No tears--just a squirmy Grace. Martin loved Santa and sat on his lap answering yes to every question he was asked!!

Well, today we ventured out in to the cold with a two year old and a sick one year old to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. It was full and looked beautiful on the lot, although we did look very quickly so as to get Grace back into the car. Well once we put it up at the house, it was a different story. The tree trunk was very bent!! After an hour or so of messing with the stand and tree, this is the final product--a crooked tree!! Oh well, the kids still had fun decorating it!!

A new accomplishment

I also completed my first half marathon on Thanksgiving day!! I ran through downtown Atlanta, which was a nice change from my neighborhood where I have been training. The race went well, and I am proud to announce I finished in 1:45.11, hitting an average pace of just under 8 minutes a mile.

A sad week, but lots to be thankful for...

As a lot of you already know, the last two weeks have been rough for me. I lost a patient under anesthesia (my first) and my cat Apollo was hit by a car, leaving me the sad task of putting him to sleep at 10pm while Eric held him. I miss him dearly and will not forget his little face popping up from under the covers when we would wake up in my apartment at school. RIP little buddy!

On to brighter news, we had the wonderful opportunity to spend a glorious weekend at the lake two weekends ago and were blessed to have my parents, brother Joey, and his wife Crystal in for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed wonderful weather on both occasions, along with great company and great food!!

The vulture

Driving home today I saw a vulture in the middle of the street in our neighborhood. Eric, Martin, and I walked down to take a closer look. Martin love the "big bird" that flew "into the clouds!"

Fall is HERE!!!!

WE had a great fall day with temperatures in the 70s!! We spent time outside playing in the leaves, which Martin really got into. Graces wasn't so sure...

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend! My mom stayed with us from Fri through Sunday while my dad was on a retreat. He came by Sunday for most of the day and got to see the kids. He and Martin carved our pumpkin (yes, late for Halloween). Martin was a monkey and enjoyed getting the candy! Every night he asks for something from his bag. Grace came out for a few houses dressed as an MSU cheerleader but the rainy weather caused her and mom to head home to pass out candy.