a weekend in January

January 6-9 were busy. Ron left the afternoon of the 5th to fly down to Tampa, Florida. He and 5 other guys were running in the Ragnar Relays from Miami to Key West. 199 miles. 6 guys. It took them just under 22 hours. They averaged 6:37 per mile! wow...

In the meantime, I had some plans to redecorate our bedroom and surprise him when he came home. What was to be a small project for my step-dad (installing new closet doors), we ran into a few snags and took two days to complete. The opening was 1 1/2 inches off, so he had to tear down the trim, pull out some boards to open the space up, hang the doors, buy new trim with new measurements, and install. He also put a new ceiling fan in for me. He was going to help me by fixing our bathroom ceiling which had started peeling, but that project also ended up being more extensive, so we decided to put that off for another day.

The fun thing about all this is that he found the original boards used to build the house. Looks like our home was built in June of '63.

I also decided to cut about 10 inches off of my hair. Ron found out about it, even though it was supposed to be a surprise, and asked for pictures. I like it because I can go straight or curly depending on my mood. Both pictures were taken on my phone. The first one was taken by me while I was driving the car in Hoover. Big mistake!

My birthday was coming up on Monday, and Chuy's was having a birthday bash for Elvis on Sunday. So me and the kiddos went to an early dinner before heading to Sunday night church. They love Chuy's because they get a push-pop after their meal.

We decided to go see Ron at the airport Monday morning. He was flying in and going straight to work. We wanted to get a quick visit in instead of having to wait until the end of the day. Laney took a rest on the bench.

The kids were overjoyed when they saw their Daddy. (I was too...)

Here's a picture of Ron and his teammates. I've watched a few videos of their weekend together. A couple of these guys are crazy!

We had a nice evening at home that night. I got to open my birthday gift, which was a wooden bowl made by a friend. I love it!

cleaning up

it was time to clean up some Christmas decorations and laney wanted to help. I just love this picture because of her sweet face. i was standing on the ladder putting things in the attic; she was helping hand them to me.

iPhone images

i guess i'll start off the new year with some pictures from my camera. here's laney, wearing her boots and loving them.

sam and luke went to the barber shop for hair cuts. (we love the characters at plaza barber shop in cahaba heights.)

sam is multi-tasking. he wanted me to send this pic to ron to show off his hair cut, mcdonalds toy, and the hot wheels car that the guys at the barber shop gave him. definitely our "type-a" boy. :)

mustaches from their kids' meal

manners? who needs 'em...

awww!! this girl LOVES her daddy.

we got home from church and she put on one of luke's shoes and one of sam's. she has her own style for sure.

2011 was a good year. We experienced highs and lows. We watched our babies grow up right before our eyes. We got to spend more time with each other and our families. We discovered how enjoyable Birmingham can be...even if we still don't like the traffic. :)

Happy New Year!

Christmas morning

I took a quick shot of the living room before the kids woke up. They trashed it pretty quickly.

They excitedly ran into the living room to see what Santa brought.

Each child only got about 3 presents, so it didn't take long to unwrap and start playing. Laney's wearing her new boots in this picture and playing with her new doodle pro. She doesn't have to borrow her brothers' doodlers any more.

She loves putting the light saber in your face and staring you down.

Luke was thrilled with his Star Wars gun and light saber.

Sam got a bike for Christmas. Since he couldn't ride it in the house, playing with stickers was his number 2 choice.

We enjoyed a nice Christmas together. Simple and low-key. After a traditional biscuit coffee cake breakfast, we got dressed and went to church.

Christmas with Pops and B

Pops started out with a scavenger hunt.

After the kids found and opened a box, we read the next small chapter in a book leading us to find out what God wants for Christmas.

The kids eventually found a box with a mirror in it. They looked in to see what God wanted...He wants you! What a fun little adventure...

The kids took a ride on Pops' homemade scooter-thing.

Sam helped him by pushing...

Laney loved her new outfit!

Of course we sang happy birthday to Jesus.

The next five pictures are courtesy of my SIL...

ornament time

my parents used to give us an ornament every year, to sum up the year so to speak...

ron and i are carrying on the tradition. laney's ornament is a sparkly and glittering high heel. she started playing "dress up" this year and has turned into a bit of a girly girl.

luke's ornament is a guitar that says "rock on". he's the life of the party and loves music.

sam's ornament is a man holding on to a carabiner. this represents the adventures that sam encountered this year. he went for a ride on a zip line, learned how to swim, rode his first water slide, and more.

i was given a sewing machine ornament, because i love to sew.

and ron was given tiny drums since he officially became a drummer this year after he accepted the role at church. he's showing off for the camera a bit...

Enterprise, Louisiana

Rebekah and I went to Enterprise by way of Monroe. When you go through Monroe, you have to take the ferry across the river. We pulled up to the stop sign and waited for our turn to drive onto the ferry. After a few minutes, I turned off the car and started to walk down the drive to find out why it was taking so long...

Then I saw this sign...

Baba Dee lives 2 miles on the other side of the ferry. But when the ferry isn't operating, you have to back track and drive through the hills, which takes another hour! So after 2 1/2 hours of driving, thinking we were five minutes away, we had to get back in the car and drive for another hour. Not fun! But once we got there, we were greeted with kids playing in the beautiful sunshine.

Laney was eying the cake toppers...which turned out to be delicious...

The kids enjoyed sitting at their table sans adults!

I wish I had taken more pictures at Baba Dee's house. Hopefully I'll do better next year...

Christmas at the Philleys

We went to the Philleys the weekend before Christmas. Baba Dee had Christmas in Enterprise on Saturday, so we sandwiched it in between some time in Clinton. Laney was ready to finally open some presents.

The kids enjoyed seeing cousin Jackson. Sam loves his new camera.

Luke got a new guitar, which he loves.

Laney got a Barbie car.

The boys even got some running in... Sam's training for his marathon. He has to run 25.2 miles by January 26. He turns in his running chart and gets to run the last mile with other children at the Mercedes Marathon in February.

I love my boys!