"Oh, here come the meat sweats!"

That was what Jessie had to say tonight after our bountiful meal! But wait, I am getting ahead of myself.....

Our Thanksgiving started pretty early this year. We woke up and headed downtown for the Turkey Trot 5k. Jess and my Mom watched Noah while Wes and I ran the race.



A few thoughts. If you ever run a race of any distance and are in possession of any of the following: a baby jogger, an eight year old child, an 87 year old man, a bum knee, or Dolce and Gabana sunglasses - PLEASE go to the back of the line!

Anyway the race was really fun and Noah had a great time running around making friends - as usual.


Noah helps Wes and me warm up.


Wes comes through the finish chute. My sister tried to get one of me but there were like, 5000 people running so, you know.....


We tried to get Noah to pose for a group photo but he was unwilling to stop running for even one second!



We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and cooking. Noah went down for a nap. Or so we thought...



What is that on his face you ask? Don't worry, it's moisturizer!




Finally it was time for our meal and it was everything we thought it could be!



Wes finishes cooking the turkey to perfection.


Bebe and Noah wait for some yummy food.




Happy Thanksgiving...and remember, you are what you eat!

Shoe Fetish

We all know that I love the shoes...it must be genetic. The love has been passed down to Noah. He got new shoes yesterday and loved them so much that he insisted on sleeping in them.

He literally kept them on all night! Oh my....

(sorry for the blurry picture. the settings on my camera got changed and i didn't realize until after i took the pics!)

I must be a really good Mom......

Those of you that know me well, know that I have many pet peeves. High up on my list - along with my husband leaving his papers all over my kitchen counter, and people who stand too close to me in line at the store- is singing children. I know, I know, its totally ridiculous but I hate the cheesy sound of a chorus of singing children belting out sappy songs. Don't ask...I know I am weird!

Anyway, our church is doing a children's Christmas program for preschoolers and Noah is making an attempt to be a part of it. Now, don't get me wrong, watching those kids stand in a line (sort of) while trying to remember the words and not fidget and screaming the words to their favorite part is hysterical! The bad part is listening to the CD of the program with Noah to help him learn the songs. The most convenient way to do that is in the car and I am sad to report that for the last several days I have logged many miles listening to small children singing the "Jesus" version of Mary Had A Little Lamb. The only thing getting me through is the fact that Noah loves it, and totally sings along which should be helpful if he does indeed join in for the Christmas performance. But, I tell you what. I am reaching my limit...that CD may "accidentally" get stepped on very soon.

I have told Wes that I deserve a medal for this but that an extra Christmas present or two will probably pacify me.

Wes Turns 30!

So, I have been very behind on my blogging lately. I am just now getting to Wes's birthday almost a week late!

Wes turned the big 3-0 last Thursday and to celebrate we had his family over for dinner, cake, and presents. I made Mexican (Wes's favorite) and we enjoyed a lovely meal. Ah, who am I kidding....we enjoyed our meal until Noah took a bite of something he didn't like and intentionally made himself throw up so he didn't have to keep the undesirable food in his body. Happy Birthday honey! After the throwing up incident people were anxious to get up from the table so we moved into the living room to open presents - always my favorite part, even when they're not mine! Obviously they are Noah's favorite part too. He was Wes's little helper the whole time.

I think he just enjoyed playing with the wrapping....

In other news, I am finally running again! Last Friday evening Wes and I joined people from our church to run and pray through Park Circle. Our church is actually relocating to this area soon and our pastor started a Run/Pray time where members from our congregation run through different areas of Park Circle and pray as we go. I had been wanting to join in ever since he started but had to wait for my foot to get the all clear. It was the most perfect first run back...focusing on other people, running through brand new places in the dark. Hearing mainly just our little group's light footfalls as we ran through the neighborhoods of the people we hope will join us in worship someday. Even as we "crossed the tracks" in the dark I was not bothered in the least.Somehow it did not feel like we were going through "unsafe" areas. We simply ran and prayed!

And, finally, Noah is now seeing his girlfriend Clayton on a pretty regular basis. He had her over for a dinner/play date the other night.

I reminded him that it is a good thing she is two and still dazzled by peanut butter sandwiches and milk!

Election Day

So yesterday, after I dropped off Noah at school, I grabbed my coffee and a book and headed to the middle school down the street to cast my vote. I got there at 9:05 and figured it would be a couple of hours. I joined the line at the same time as several other people and we all settled in to wait, armed with our no nonsense "don't bother talking to me" faces.

Pretty soon people started trickling out of the building - the line barely crept forward - and they informed us it had taken them 3 hours to vote! We all looked at each other in shock and that was all it took to get rid of our outward defenses. "Holy crap, 3 hours!" was the general consensus. I quickly called Wes' Mom and asked her if she could pick up Noah from school and then got ready to be really bored.

Except that I wasn't. In these types of situations it seems people are usually very grouchy and get increasingly frustrated the longer they have to wait. I kept waiting for that attitude to come but it just never did. They people around me seemed happy, excited, to be there voting. The longer we stood, the more talkative we all became. We joked about coffee and trips to the bathroom, we danced to ring tones on peoples phones. One women passed out hard candies from her purse, and some of us learned that the people around us were neighbors who we might never have taken the time to meet otherwise. Ironically we did not learn anything about any one's personal politics. Not once did anyone talk about the candidates or the issues. It just didn't seem to matter. We were all doing our part in the democratic process and that was enough. Politics were simply irrelevant.

I left - 4 hours later! - with more than just the phone number of a new friend. I left with a new knowledge of the people that live in my community. People that are not a part of the circles that I run in, but maybe should be. I left glad to have taken part in what is sure to be a historic election. And I left glad that there are times when it is not all about politics.

I think we should all try to remember this now that the election is over and decided. Americans are not as different as our political parties would have us believe. I hope we can all take a moment to make politics irrelevant and enjoy the knowledge that we live in a great country full of diverse, interesting people who are more alike than different. Let's take a moment to appreciate the historical significance of this election and how far our country has come in the past 50 years. Let's also remember that our God is sovereign and is not at all surprised by the outcome of this election. I hope we can trust in that and instead of being fearful, be hopeful for what the next four years can bring.

Carolina Bay Trick-or-Treat Mania 2008

So last night we did the whole trick-or-treat adventure and it was a blast. Noah spent all day gearing up for it by practicing ringing our doorbell and screaming "trick-or-treat!" when I opened the door. Finally, around 6:00 we got ready to head out.

Noah wanted to wear his hat hip hop style, but I explained that Thomas the Train was NOT hip hop, he was British. So we conceded to wearing it the normal way.

After getting our costume on we went running down the street to pick up our buddy Clayton, the pirate.

We started around the neighborhood and within 5 minutes Clayton and Noah decided that they would hold hands.

They literally went the whole night holding hands. They would get their candy and then look around for each other, "Where is Clayton? I gotta hold her hand!" It was so cute!

When we first started we were the only people out and I worried that there wouldn't be many people in our neighborhood to trick-or-treat with. But pretty soon all the other people came out and we ended up going around in a huge mob. The best part is that most of the kids in our part of the neighborhood are really young so it was really cute to watch all the little kids walk around together. I was also pleasantly surprised that most people were home to hand out candy and they really got into it. Lots of them dressed up and sat out on their porches and were excited to see our mob of little people.

Here are Noah and Clayton at Mr. Paul's house. He was a hit because he gave lots of candy and because of his giant blow up pumpkin in the yard!

Come on guys, lets get more candy!

After a little while we lost most of the mob but Noah and Clayton and their friend Abby still had energy to spare so we kept going. They formed a three man train and we roamed the neighborhood like this.....

Noah and Clayton stuck it out until the end but finally exhaustion got the better of them and they hitched rides on Dad's shoulders to head home.

And of course when we got home, the first thing Noah did was dump out his candy, sort through it for the good stuff, and say "have some please?" So we did!