Summer Bucket List Days 8-14

Our second week of summer included our first trip to the Farmer's Market, more trips to the library, movies with a friend, golf, water balloons, swimming, and a birthday celebration for Josh. Summer was shaping up to be lots of fun! 

Day 8: Bike riding to the farmer's market for some fresh blackberries, jam, and peaches and then seeing Angry Birds with Eli's friend, Hayden, later that afternoon. 

Day 9: Rode our bikes to the library again and while I was browsing for some books for me, this kid finds his books and checks out all on his own. He is getting so independent! 

Day 10: Eli cashed his checks from his lawn mowing business (Eli's Tiger Mowing Service), played Legos and other games, and donated old toys and clothes to the shelter. 

Day 11: Celebrated Cooper's 7th birthday with a swim party at his house and then got a treat from the ice cream truck later that afternoon. 

Day 12: My two favorite boys decided to go play a round of golf together.

Day 13: VBS with Hayden and Stephen, more treats from the ice cream truck, and water balloon games in the backyard. 

Day 14: We celebrated Josh's 37th birthday by baking him a strawberry cake (his favorite) and spending the day with him. 

Spring Break Beach Trip-Day 2

Monday morning at the beach dawned bright and clear. The weather was perfect! We all enjoyed a morning walk on the beach, drank coffee and ate breakfast on the balcony, and then packed up our bags and ice chest for our day at the beach. We planned on being down there all day so I packed tons of drinks, snacks, and lunch in the ice chest. The beach was beautiful that morning, but the water was still REALLY COLD (remember we went in March). I didn't get in very much at all the entire week because of how cold it was, but I loved sitting right at the water's edge and letting the waves hit my feet. That was perfect! 

Eli being a kid didn't realize the water was cold and jumped right in. How do kids not feel temperature like that?!? He was boogie boarding and riding waves in no time at all and having the time of his life!

Josh braved the water for a little bit, but even he said it was cold. Eli loved having his Daddy out there with him to help him ride the waves onto the shore. 

Eli took a break from boogie boarding and he found other fun things to do. He played in the sand, chased the birds, walked on the beach, tossed the Frisbee, ate snacks, and much more. Josh and I would take turns of being the "parent on duty" so the other one could read or nap and not have to worry about Eli. It worked out great. After lunch, Eli wanted to play with his football and throw it into the waves as they were crashing on the shore. He and Josh started that game last year when we went to the beach and Eli still loves to play it. 

We stayed down at the beach pretty late that first day. You never know what the weather is going to be like so when you have a gorgeous, rain free day at the beach you want to make the most of it. We did just that and didn't come back up to the room until around 5 o'clock that evening. We all took showers, changed into dry clothes, and Josh grilled. We wanted to rest, take it easy and not fight wait times at the restaurants. 

After supper, we all donned our headlamps to go crabbing. It's a Wilson beach tradition and we always have so much fun. We all have our respective jobs. I'm the spotter and the bucket holder, Eli is the runner and the catcher for the small to medium crabs, and Josh is the catcher for the large crabs. Eli has gotten so much better at catching them and has so much fun snatching them up. 

Most of the ones we found this night were in the small to medium range so Eli felt very comfortable grabbing them. We all had a blast and after a photo op we released them all back to their homes. Josh used to make us play a game where we all had to put our feet in a circle and then he would dump out the bucket. Whoever left their foot there the longest after the crabs had been dumped out was the winner. I lost every single time because I'm not about to let those things crawl on my feet! This time we just dumped them out and didn't play the game :) 

It had been a WONDERFUL first day at the beach and we couldn't wait to have more fun on Tuesday!

March iPhone Pictures

March was here before we knew it. Truthfully, we were all very happy to welcome March because (a) Eli was getting his cast off around the middle of March (b) March brought spring weather and it started to warm up (c) Spring Break (HALLELUJAH!!) and (d) baseball season was about to begin. Hooray for March! Here are some of the pictures I took with my phone during the month of March. 

Eli lost his 8th tooth in March. I can't believe how many teeth he's lost already! 

His looks have changed so much over the past year and it all has to do with his mouth :)

He looks so big now because of his big grown up teeth!

We were at Sonic when he lost it and I took some quick pictures of him with his tooth.

He couldn't wait to put it under his pillow that night for the Tooth Fairy.

Our school always plans their Field Day the day we get out for Spring Break. The kids have fun all morning playing games and then we dismiss at noon. It's a great way to welcome Spring Break. After a morning spent playing lots of fun games, Eli and I had lunch with the Atkins family at Johnny's Pizza and then headed home. We were happy to get our Spring Break started! Hooray for a week of NO SCHOOL!!

The celebration continued for me that night. Josh and I had to attend the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner. I love getting dressed up to go out with my guy. We took a couple of selfies with my phone and then got his mom to take some of us before we left. It's not often we have to get dressed up so when we do I always feel like we have to take a picture. I love this man so much! 

We normally go to the beach during the summer, but the original dates we picked this year didn't work out so we had to change them to coincide with our Spring Break. The new beach dates put us leaving Sunday and returning Friday. Even though we were leaving Easter Sunday we still had to dye Easter Eggs :) Eli and I also did the Resurrection Eggs together in the days leading up to Easter Sunday. I bought them from Lifeway years ago when they were 90% off!! (I still can't believe the amazing deal I got on them!) This year Eli chose to do Spiderman Easter eggs so that's what we did :) I felt crazy because I was trying to pack everything for the beach in the midst of egg dyeing but we still had fun. 

We finished the eggs and then it was time for Eli to go to bed. We were leaving for the beach the next day and couldn't wait! The next morning Eli woke up and found that the Easter Bunny had left Eli some Easter gifts that were going to be perfect for the beach. They were just what he needed! Now it was time to load up and make our way to the ocean for some fun in the sun! 

Eli the Deer Hunter

At Christmas Eli got a new deer gun for when he and Josh went deer hunting this year. This was something new for both Josh and Eli so we were all excited about this special rite of passage for our little boy. All Eli needed now were a pair of camouflage pants and an orange hat. Once we bought him those our deer hunter was all set to go. 

Modeling his new camouflage gear.

Before taking him to the deer stand, Josh took Eli to a Uncle Clare's land near the levee to practice target shooting with his new gun. They got all set up and then Eli started taking some practice shots. 

My little sharpshooter was a natural. He was so proud when he located the first shot he took. 

After some practice, he and Josh started going out to the deer stand. The first two times they went they didn't have any luck. They saw deer but they were never in a good position for Eli to take a shot. Eli was starting to get a little disappointed, but then it finally happened! 

On January 7th, Josh and Eli went out to the deer stand one last time. Around 7 o'clock that night I got a phone call from Eli telling me that he had shot his first deer. He was so excited!! He took his shot from 137 yards away (Josh used his golf range finder to verify the yardage) and Josh said he shot him perfectly below the shoulder. Josh said watching Eli kill his first deer was one of the proudest Dad moments he'd ever had. I think he was just as excited, if not more, than Eli! When Eli shot the deer, he thought it was a doe, but once they found the deer they saw that it was a spike. Eli was so proud that his first deer had horns even if they were small! They came home to show me the deer, take pictures, and pick me up so we could all take him to the processor. 

This was the picture Josh took right after Eli tracked his deer and found him.

Look how excited he is!! I'm so proud of him :)

My happy boys with Eli's first deer. 

We took Eli's deer to be processed and he loved being able to tell everyone at the shop his story of how he killed his first deer. A couple of weeks later, we went to pick the deer meat up. Now when I cook deer meat for supper Eli always wants to know if it's his deer that we're eating. He is so proud to know that he helped provide meat for our family. Now his goal is to kill a big buck because I told him he could hang it on the wall in our house if he did. If he continues to be as good of a shot as he is now, I'm pretty sure it won't be long before my house will be decorated with all kinds of deer horns. 

2015 St. Jude Marathon/Half-Marathon Weekend

Most of you that read my blog know that I was not always a runner. In fact, this running gig is still very much new to me. I'll never be one to say that "running is my jam", but I do enjoy the challenge it gives me; I definitely enjoy the physical results; and I enjoy the friendships I've made because of running. Back in 2013, my neighbor Angela asked me to start running around the block with her doing a program called Couch 2 10K. That led to Josh challenging both of us to run a half-marathon and the rest is history. I've now run 3 half-marathons (5/3/16 Update: It should be four, but the flu sidelined me from the Rock n' Roll Half-Marathon in New Orleans this year.) My first half-marathon was supposed to be the 2013 St. Jude Half-Marathon in Memphis, TN. That race was going to be the culmination of my year long decision to start running and stick with it. If you remember that was the year of the bad ice storm, and after driving all the way to Memphis, we found out the race had been canceled. I ended up transferring my race registration over to the New Orleans half-marathon and ran my first half there. In 2014, I trained again for the Memphis half-marathon and that year I was able to complete it with Josh running right alongside me. 

When sign-ups for the 2015 Memphis Half-Marathon began in May of 2015, I didn't waste any time and signed up again to run. Josh and I have always signed up to be St. Jude Heroes as part of our running program and that basically means that on top of running the half-marathon, we each pledge to raise $500 for St. Jude Children's Hospital. It's not much, but I'm thankful for the little bit that we're able to contribute (through the generous donations of friends and family) and give back to St. Jude's Hospital. To my surprise this past year, a big group of my running friends decided to sign up for the half-marthon as well. Woo Hoo! (I'm thankful they signed up too because in the middle of training, Josh injured himself and spent several weeks where he couldn't train. I was grateful to have my girls with me) The five of us-me, Angela, Rosalie, Carie, and Brandi-trained together all year long. I'll be the first to say that having the support and commitment of a group of friends definitely helps your training. Those early morning runs ONLY happen because you know there's someone waiting in the middle of the street for you to get your booty out of bed and onto the pavement :) 

The Memphis Half-Marathon weekend finally arrived and we all caravanned to St. Jude for the race. Josh and I finished raising our $500 on the road (Thank you to all the last minute donors!) and we were both able to reach our fundraising commitment goal. It was rewarding to get the email below and know that we were able to help a family going through such a difficult experience. 

If you sign up to be a St. Jude Hero, your name gets put on a car they have at the Runner's Expo. I love seeing this car because it is crammed full with the names of all the people who not only are going to run the race, but raise money for St. Jude's Hospital as well. It's very heart warming to see. Once I found our names (thankfully, they're in ABC order) I snapped a picture of them. 

We picked up our running gear, went to carb load at a nearby restaurant, and then got ready for bed. It was going to be an early morning! 

I had all my gear laid out before going to bed. I was READY TO RUN!

Even though Josh wasn't able to run with me this year, I'm glad he came to support me. This was going to be my first half-marathon without him by my side, but I knew he'd be cheering me on the entire way.

We took a group picture before we headed to the starting line. We were all so nervous!

Rosalie, Brandi, me, Carie, Angela

So many people from all over the country come every year to run this race and it's always amazing to see the huge crowds of people. The organizers of the race usually have 13 corrals so they can do a staggered start (to prevent us from running over each other). Each corral is usually jam packed with people! The five of us stood on the sidelines and kept waiting for a corral with runners about our pace to pass by and then we jumped in.

Just a couple more pictures until race time!

The race was great this year, but I definitely missed my hubby running with me. All of us girls ended up getting separated, but it ended up being okay.  The running app I use was not displaying correctly (probably due to the sheer number of people also using their cell phones) so my time was not nearly what it should have been. It kept telling me I was running a certain pace but it was about a minute behind. Even still, I finished with a decent time and the main part is I finished :) We each got our finisher's medals and waited around at the finish line until every one of us finished. 

3rd half-marathon completed!

Way to go, Angela!

Good job, Brandi!

Carie, you rocked that run!

We're done and we all survived! Love this group of girls!

Another half-marathon in the books :)

The 2015 St. Jude half-marathon was over. We did it and we survived! I can't wait until next year!

5/3/16 Update:

I just signed up last night to run the 2016 St. Jude Half-Marathon again this year. Once again, I've pledged to raise $500 for St. Jude Children's Hospital. If you'd like to be a supporter of St. Jude, click HERE to donate. Your gift helps a family in need at St. Jude where no family ever has to worry about payment to receive treatment for their child. Thanks for you help!