Growing girl and some sickies

We are in Texas right now. We planned this trip several months ago, when Matthew and I thought we would be running in the Cowtown 1/2 marathon.

That didn't happen.

Nobody was motivated in our house to run. Not even Nora or Elyn.

So, since the trip was already planned, we decide to come on and celebrate Nora's birthday...again.

Before we left, we took Nora to visit the doctor for her well-child 3-yr. visit.

He proclaimed her "perfect". I'm sure he says that to all the moms and dads, but we think she is pretty much perfect too. (Minus the fits, the getting out of bed a Guinness World Book record amount of times, recently wetting the bed at night, etc.)

They measured and weighed her too. Nora has ALWAYS been on the smallish side. She has never exceeded the 30th percentile in either weight or height. (Her head has always been around the 75th percentile though, she's got a big noggin!) What were her percentiles for her visit yesterday?

Weight-30 1/4 pounds...50th percentile
Height-3 feet 2 inches...75th percentile

WHAT! She is growing!

We have been commenting lately that she is getting tall and appears skinny. Little did we know...

While we were at the docs, we asked him to check over Elyn. She had woken up several mornings in a row with matted eyes and snot covering her face. Nice, I know.

In the doctors words, she has a "rip-roaring" ear infection.

Two prescriptions later, we were finally on our way to TX.

On the drive, I started feeling bad. Really bad. My throat started hurting, then my ears, then my whole body. By the time we got to my mom's house, my temp was 101.5 and I thought I was going to pass out.

I took some NyQuil and went to bed.

I am feeling better today, if you call sandpaper lining my throat and needles stabbing into my ears "better".

Hopefully some rest and TLC from our family will get us all well.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Memories that can be worn

Do you have a piece of clothing that you refuse to get rid of? You might not even realize that you would never get rid of it, but it’s there.

I have my wedding dress, heirloomed, in my attic. Never going to get rid of it. I have one pair of pants that I can’t get rid of because I was skinny when I wore them and it is a good memory for me…you know, you have that pair in the back of your closet too. I hang onto shoes and purses (ahem…handbags).

But what is the thing that brings back more memories than anything else?

T-SHIRTS.

Look at how many I own:

I know, ridiculous. And that is what my closet looks like. Judge if you will, I don't care.

And here are a few of my favorite…

My Annie shirt. Two words. VERY COMFORTABLE.
1994 Camp Tahkodah shirt. I hang onto it because it is from the first summer that Matthew and I met. Awwwww.
This lovely airbrushed t-shirt is memorable to me because I got it with my friend, Clair. I would be surprised if she still has hers. It is also one of the most comfortable t-shirts that I have. Hideous, I know.
This t-shirt is my shirt from my first Race for the Cure run.November 3, 2002. I remember the race very well. I was going through a very growing time in my life. I was dating Matthew, but he was in Arkansas and I was in Tennessee. I spent a lot of time alone because I lived by myself and had no family close by. I loved my friends at school and had recently started going to a new church. It was out of character for me to sign up for something where I didn’t think I would know other participants, but I paid my money and showed up for the event. I was SO out of shape and had only planned on walking. Well, the competitive side of me came out and I attempted to jog some of it. I probably jogged 2 out of the 3.2 miles of the race. When I crossed the finish line, I loved it! I thought, hey, I could run a longer race than that. SOOOOO, I looked to find out when the Country Music ½ Marathon was going to be and decided to start training for it.

I was NOT a runner and had to start extraordinarily slow. Run 1 minute, walk 3 minutes, run 1 minute, walk 3 minutes. A few weeks later, run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes, run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes. I kept building up from that until I was able to run 30 minutes without stopping.

I knew that I would need accountability, so that led me to asking some women I worked with to join me in my crazy endeavor. And I made some pretty amazing friendships because of all the miles we ran together. From November to April, we ran together, talked together, shared running injuries with each other, laughed together, prayed for each other, anticipated the run together. I loved those few months. I was getting fit, I was in love, I was planning a wedding, I was enjoying teaching, I was spiritually strong, I was very confident and happy. (I'm still most of those, but back then, it was the first time for me to be so spiritually strong, so confident, and so happy that it really sticks out in my mind.)

Here is the t-shirt from my first ½ marathon. NEVER. GOING. TO. GET. RID. OF. IT.

What about you? Any t-shirts that you refuse to get rid of, even though you don't wear them any longer? And no, I will not be making a quilt out of them. Don't even get me started on that.

Pink Balloons!

We celebrated Nora's birthday this weekend. My mom came from Texas on Saturday and in her true form, she couldn't wait for Nora to open her birthday present!

A digital camera!
Nora was hilarious taking pictures. She would take pictures of things like, her bedspread, her pajamas, her feet. She has quite the photographic eye.

After church yesterday, we went to Red Robin for lunch. Everyone was in a pretty good mood...

at the beginning. One little girl was overly hungry and melting fast! She hated everything.

At least the birthday girl was in a good mood!

Rare picture of us that I'm not crazy about, but hey, here we are.

Because of her supercute dress, it was obvious that it was her birthday. The waiter and waitresses came over to sing to her and give her a treat.

She didn't really know what to think about all the singing...

but knew just what to do with the treat!

Since we started talking about her birthday about a month ago, Nora has been pretty clear about one thing. She only wanted PINK BALLOONS. Every time I would ask her what she wanted, that is what she said. PINK BALLOONS.

So, that's what she got.

Everywhere.

All over the house. (Pay no attention to the random purple balloon in the background. We don't how it got in with the bunch.)

Even her cake was all about pink balloons. (Yes, I made it. Yes, I was/am proud of it. I'm no Ace of Cakes, but I thought it was pretty decent for me.)

Waiting for all her guests to arrive.

So excited for the party! Side note about the hat:on Saturday night, at the dinner table, Nora informed everyone that she was having pink balloons AND party hats at her party. Guess what mama didn't get? Party hats. Of course. So, I went to get some PINK party hats. They don't exist. Random Dora hats were the second best thing. At least Nora didn't wait until Sunday at 4pm to tell me she expected party hats.

Gram and Grandpa brought a Radio Flyer tricycle!

Her friends...the kids in our small group (John David, Ellie, and Gibson...not pictured, Sydney and Warren-they're babies).

Blowing out her candles!

Elyn loved the cake!

Such a good daddy!

Nora loved the cake too!

Time to open presents! I loved that Ellie helped her open each one.

"Thank you Gibson!"

Nora and Nonna playing a game of CandyLand before bed last night.

Today was her actual birthday! Here she is opening presents from us. (Her "big" present was her party and some new bedding for her new bed.)

A watch! She is constantly asking us, "What time is it?" Maybe this will encourage her to answer her own question.

What else is in here?

A $1.00 microphone! Yea!

I LOVE IT! And she truly does, she took it with her to Chuck E. Cheese tonight.

Birthday festivities at Chuck E. Cheese

Matthew had to leave early and go teach class. So, here we are, just three of us.

I think it was a good birthday for Nora! She is loved by so many and it was so evident this weekend!

**I'm sure several of you came to my blog today looking for an AMAZING RACE update, because you knew it would be stellar writing and serious insight on the show. However, since today is all about Nora, the update will happen tomorrow.

**Oh, and we have been having serious issues with Nora staying in bed lately. Just at nighttime. She does a great job at naptime. She gets out of bed, minimum, 4 times each night. ANNOYING! Tonight, zero times!!!! Either, she is big now and taking this whole, "I am three now" seriously or she is sick. My money is on illness. Awesome.

My sweet three-year-old

Today, Nora turns THREE! These have been the most rewarding, hardest, growing, loving, frustrating, happiest years of my life.

She is such a sweet girl and we are so blessed to have her! She challenges us daily, makes us question our parenting, shows us unconditional love, helps us understand the love God has for us better, brings us JOY.

We love you Nora! We love how you stand by what you think and want (and are confident that this trait, although it causes us much frustration right now, will be used for good later on in your life), we love how tender your heart is toward Elyn, we love how polite you are, we love that you love to sing, we love that you love your friends, we love your imagination, we love how excited you get about the smallest things, we love your memory, we love your hugs, we love how you dance, we love that you are a good eater, we love YOU!

Happy birthday baby girl!

(beautiful dress done by Danna. She is awesome and quick! Check her out here! Thanks, Danna!)

A new arrival

Congratulations to Jay, Julie, and Bailey on the arrival of Blake Jay Newton this afternoon. I can't wait to see him and hold him next weekend! What a blessing to our family. (How adorable is Bailey in the picture? You can tell he already loves his little brother!

Let's be friends...

Do you "follow" my blog? I want to follow yours!

When Traci redesigned my blog, she added the "Follow This Blog" app. to my sidebar.

Apparently, only THIRTEEN people follow my blog :). I follow their blogs too.

Lucky 13!

If you are a follower, join in the club. I want to join in on your club too!

If you sign up to follow, I will return the favor.

Let's be friends!!!!!

Here's some pictures

I have been an awful photographer lately. I think it has something to do with my "good" camera being in the shop. I'm counting down the days until it is back in my hands.

My mom sent me her little digital to use, but the battery STINKS and I don't always remember to recharge it. Therefore, I am missing precious moments in my house.

Here are a few that I have captured and have had friends take some too.

Our friend, John David, had his birthday party at Jump Zone and we had a fabulous time. Melody, our friend, took some pictures and shared them. Thank you Melody!

The whole group

Matthew and Elyn going down one of the slides, kind of looks like he is ripping her arm out of socket, doesn't it?
But she didn't care...she loved it!

I love this face!

Dress up has been big around here lately. Elyn testing out the plastic heels. She is surprisingly good. I see many pairs of high heels in her future.

Not the most attractive picture of either, but it shows how excited they are to dress up.

Still working on the heelsPretty princess

Valentine's Day

We had a pretty low key Valentine's Day around here. It was a normal day, basically, just all the food was heart shaped.

Breakfast: heart-shaped blueberry muffins

Lunch: heart-shaped sandwiches

And "heart-shaped" fruit

And finally, Matthew had "What Not To Wear" day at school this week. Here is how he went:

Look familiar?