Random

I just love this picture of the boys headed in to church.

Proof they love each other. I get this pictures as often as possible!

Colin loves preschool. This was his "special day," which I completely forgot. My mom had to rescue me by dropping what she was doing, buying a snack, picking up Maddie (while dropping off the snack), and then bringing her back when preschool was over. She saved me!

Maddie was SO determined that she was going to carry this through the grocery store all by herself. It took her awhile, but she did it.

Myrtle Beach Marathon

Jason ran his second marathon and I only took pictures of the kids! What is up with that?? Mark and LaDonna and their kids came with us (Mark ran the half). Short trip but fun!

Mountains

We travel a lot. It's our favorite way to spend our time and money. Most of our trips are so fun, but every once in a while we run into one that is totally cursed. This was one of those trips. The Overview We picked up Ann, Randy, and our niece Lila at the airport and headed straight for Asheville. We stayed one night there, then travelled to Beech Mountain to ski, relax, and show Ann and Randy the NC mountains. We love it up there! The Things I'd Rather Forget -Lila vomited in our very packed (people and stuff) car on the drive to Asheville. -Maddie started up with ashtma while in Asheville. We ended up in the ER in Boone later in the trip. -We didn't have snow tires on our car, so bought chains in Asheville (couldn't find them pre-trip in Raleigh). Our rental was on top of a steep road with slick packed ice/snow. After a lot of stress, Jason and Randy jimmy-rigged the chains on using bungee cords. -On our anniversary, after a long and sleepless night, we decided we needed to take Maddie in to the ER. After we got down the hill, we took the chains off the tires. It was 6:00 am and barely light, and 16 degrees. I failed to unhook the chain first, and it caught on a wheel bed. One hour and endless stress later, Jason had to remove the tire completely, unhook the chain, and put it back on. All without gloves or a heavy coat. I came away from the experience in awe of his ability to stay calm and cool under pressure. -It was WAY too cold to ski, which was the whole point of going up to Beech Mountain in the first place. Ugh. The Happy Memories -It was fun spending time with Lila and Ann and Randy. We always love being with them. -Amazing homemade sourdough bread from the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis. -Hot chocolate in the Biltmore with the kids while waiting for Ann and Randy to tour the house. -How incredibly good the kids were the entire time. -Walking on a frozen pond on the Blue Ridge Parkway. -Watching the kids have a blast sledding in Beech Mountain.

Happy Anniversary

Thank you Kim for 12 amazing years. Looking forward to infinity more. Love You. J

Melissa

At the beginning of February our wonderful nanny, Melissa, left us to move back to Florida. She and her husband are expecting their first baby, and we are so excited for them, but so sad to lose her. She was great for our whole family, and had been with us since Madeline was 3 months old. We miss her!!

Random

The boys thought wearing my boots was hysterical. And that they made good weapons.

At the end of January, I flew to Florida to join Leanne, Ashley, Megan, and Leanne's other sisters-in-law Emily and Kliss for a long weekend. It was cold, but we still managed to have a great time shopping and eating out and just hanging out. I loved being with these girls, even without great weather. They are fun girls, happily married to great guys, and I am so grateful to have them in my life. This was one of two trips that helped get me through several tough months that followed. We took airboat tour through the everglades. Our guide was great...old and leathery with an accent that almost required a translator. He stopped and fed a racoon that knew when and where to show up for a snack.

We drove a road famous for all the alligators that live in the river. This was when I missed my boys. I knew they would love it.

Jason, on the other hand, had kind of a lousy weekend, since Colin spent the majority of it vomiting. Colin asked Jason if he could talk to me, then got on the phone and sobbed that he needed me to come home and hold him because he was sick. It nearly broke my heart. But they all survived, and Ethan and Jason even forayed into origami.