Our Thanksgiving

We started out with a 6 hour drive to the lake on Wednesday. And let me tell you, after our marathon 16 hours in the car in one weekend a few weeks ago to visit the Williams and meet Winnie, 6 hours felt like nothing! 

 

 

The weather was great and the kids had fun playing outside.  CeCe found some shells down by the water. 

 

We raked the yard full of leaves and then Bryce and Anthony played football between the leaf piles.  

 

Thursday we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house/farm south of Montgomery for one of my favorite holiday traditions, Thanksgiving with the Robinson family!  Again, the weather that day was perfect.

 

We went on a few hayrides

 

Bryce played football with his cousins (so fun to watch them all play football together, I remember watching my boy cousins do this every year, and now a new generation is doing it!)

 

CeCe played with the cousins too

 

It got pretty hot ouside so we let CeCe take off her dress and run around in her undershirt and hidees.  She was SO excited! 

 

All the kids love driving the tractors

 

More football!  

 

Friday we drove 4.5 hours to West Point to spend the weekend with Kiki and Papaw Duke.  Friday night Papaw Duke, Anthony and Bryce went to the West Point vs. Starkville football game.  Even though WP lost, Bryce loved his first high school football game. 

 

 

 

 Of course we watched the Egg Bowl Saturday night (or the beginning anyway, it was a BAD one!).  I love that I captured this moment of our first touchdown.  Too bad it will always be a memory of such a bad loss!!  

 

The perfect weather from Thanksgiving day disappeared and it got cold in West Point!  Luckily Papaw Duke has this huge warehouse full of toys to go to on cold days!  They took CeCe's tricycle and Bryce's football and those combined with the forklift made for super fun playtime!

 

After a fun filled 4 days we drove home 9.5 hours on Sunday. 

Thanksgiving program and feast

 

CeCe's school had a Thanksgiving program today. It was cute!  Each class dressed up, CeCe's class was Native Americans.  This was her first program in front of a bunch of people and she did great! 

 

 

 

After her program we went to Bryce's school for his Thanksgiving Feast.  We cheated and brought our lunchboxes though!  It's always fun for me to see Bryce at school and CeCe loved eating with the big kids. 

Meeting Winnie

My sister's due date was Saturday 11/10.  The Thursday before she went to the Doctor and had made no change from the week before so we all thought it would be another 5-10 days at least before the baby arrived.  Friday afternoon my mom called and mentioned that Blakeley was having a few contractions but that they stopped when she laid down.  Friday night Anthony and I talked about how it was going to be nice to have nothing to do all weekend.  HA!  Saturday morning I was checking my email and noticed an email from my mom that came through at 2:41am.  I immediately knew what was going on and sure enough, they were headed to Huntsville.  I knew they wouldn't have left in the middle of the night unless Blakeley was sure it was the real thing.  I thought it over in my head and said to Anthony "Let's Go".  I know it was crazy.  Driving 8 hrs. up there on Saturday, staying not even 24 hours in Huntsville, and driving 8hrs. back on Sunday was insane but I'd do it again in a heart beat to be able to hold my brand new neice/nephew.  About 3 hours into the drive Blakeley called me to tell me she had the baby....A GIRL!!!  I had been thinking girl the whole time and am so happy to finally have a neice!  4 nephews and now finally a neice!  CeCe is thrilled too.  I know she would be happy with any baby, but she loves that she and Winnie share the name Catherine.  Winifred Catherine Williams.  Sounds so nice, doesn't it?  And CeCe loves that she can share her clothes, shoes and hair bows with Winnie. 

 

We surprised Blakeley, Hunter and the Js.  They didn't know we were coming and it was fun to surprise them.  I couldn't wait to get my hands on her!!  She looks just like Jasper. 

 

 

CeCe grinned, stared, giggled and smiled the whole time I was holding her. 

 

Not sure what was going through this one's mind.  He didn't have much to do with Winnie at all!  I think he was nervous around her because she's so tiny. 

 

CeCe couldn't wait to hold her.

 

And had to hold her again the next day before saying goodbye. 

 

While the girls were being calm in the bed, the boys were in the chair climbing all over each other and rough housing!!!

Kids Rock Race

Today was the Kids Rock 1 mile race that is part of the Rock and Roll Marathon series.  Bryce was super excited to get to run in a race just like Daddy had the day before.  We have been running with him a little bit but the most he's run is just under a mile.  We knew the crowd and other kids would pump him up and push him to go that extra little bit.  He set his goals:  Run the whole mile and finish in under 10 minutes.  He did both and his time was 9:35.  Super proud of him! 

 

 

 

I cannot get enough of this toothless smile!!! 

 

CeCe was EXHAUSTED today.  Yesterday's all day festivities combined with a late night at a friends house combined with the time change combined with no nap again today made for a super tired but still sweet and cooperative bird.  She held her sign and cheered just like she did yesterday!

 

I failed to get any pictures of Anthony running yesterday but made up for it today.....

 

Coming up to the finish line

 

He got a medal that is almost just like Anthony's but says Kids Rock.  He's very proud of it and wore it all afternoon and night!

 

One proud Mama!! 

Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday was Race Day!  Anthony has been training for the 1/2 Marathon for a few months and we were all excited for the day to finally be here.  The kids and I made posters the afternoon before (and actually kept it a secret from him, very hard for CeCe to do!)

 

Our friend (who was running the full marathon!) picked him up at 6 so they could get parked before the road closures started downtown.  The kids and I left at 8 to drive down there and try to find him somewhere on the race route.  I had no idea what kind of traffic or parking I would find but we ended up totally lucking out on a great spot close to mile 4.5 and close to the finish line.  The weather was beautiful.  Cool in the morning and warmed up to perfect by 10:00.  We walked to the 4.5 mile spot and waited and waited and watched the sea of runners to try and catch a glimpse of Anthony.  I decided to move CeCe's stoller out of the way a little more and as I was doing that I heard, "Brooke!"  It was Anthony running by and thank goodness he had seen us because we would have totally missed him!  I didn't get a picture though and was so mad!

 

 

After that spotting of Daddy we looked at the map and tried to decide where we could see him again and after walking a while decided to just head to mile 13 (right before the finish line).   

We hung out there for about 45 minutes before he came by. I was getting text message updates when he crossed certain points along the route and had figured out about when he should cross the finish line. The crowds got thicker and thicker of spectators and runners and I could tell I wasn't going to get a good picture that time either. I was getting the kids set up to cheer and hold their signs when CeCe said "There went Daddy" I said no way, he's not supposed to be here for another minute or two but sure enough, there he ran. So we missed him for the second time!!! 

Dancing while waiting and cheering, Go Daddy Go! 

 

The kids were AMAZINGLY well behaved all day.  I got a little snippy and stressed trying to get from points A-B-C to the finish line but they hung with me and had a great time. 

 

Found him!!  WAY TO GO DADDY!!  He finished in 1:51:58.  only 30 seconds over his goal time. 

 

 

These pictures were about 15 minutes after he crossed the finish line.  He looked great!  There were people laying on the ground groaning and he was picking up the kids and playing chase with them.  Super Daddy!  

 

We ran into our friends the Tootles and ended up playing/hanging out with them the rest of the afternoon.  Their dad is the friend Anthony rode with so we wanted to congratulate Lynn on finishing the full marathon.  They had access to the VIP tent and gave us bracelets to get in also so we had breakfast, lunch, and drinks all afternoon.  Definitely felt like VIPs!   

 

 

I am so proud of Anthony for doing this.  SO PROUD.  He amazes me with his determination for things.  Even though he was pretty stinky after the race I just wanted to be close to him so everyone would know that he is mine!  

 

The Tootle family after Lynn finished

 

After the race, while Bryce and Nick were playing and wrestling, Nick accidentally knocked Bryce in the mouth.  The tooth that was already hanging on for dear life got knocked a little and started bleeding.  It was time to pull that crazy tooth so while Bryce was freaking out a bit, Anthony yanked it out!  Doesn't he look so cute?!  I've been waiting on this since he started loosing teeth 1.5 years ago! 

 

Today is another big race day....Bryce is running in the Kids Rock 1 mile race today at 2:30.  You know I'll post pics from that race too!!  

A Happy Halloween

What a great day we had!  Both kids wore their costumes to school today which was such a treat.  CeCe and her class trick or treated at the retirement home next to the school and then had a little Halloween party.  Bryce gave his first book report today and thinks he did a good job! 

 

Tonight we had some friends come over for dinner and then we all walked around and trick-or-treated.  We have such a great family friendly neighborhood with so many houses with lights on for trick or treaters.  There were tons of kids walking around trick or treating too.  Fun atmosphere!

 

 

This years costumes...... Dr. CeCe, Baby Doctor and Cubs Baseball Player

 

Could be a baseball card! 

 

Dr. CeCe and her patient, Big Addie! 

More Halloween Fun

 

Our carved pumpkin

 

 

I was scheduled to take the Friday treat in for Bryce's class yesterday so Cappy, CeCe and I made these cute peanut butter/ritz/pretzel/raisin spiders.  CeCe was the best eye maker ever!  

 

Our house decorated for Halloween

 

This morning Anthony ran in a 5K race that started at Bryce's school and ran through our neighborhood.  It actually went right by our house and followed one of his favorite running routes.  We went up to the school to cheer everyone on and to be there at the finish line to see Daddy.  I let the kids dress up.  Bryce chose to wear his Halloween costume and CeCe decided to dress silly.  

 

Go Daddy Go!!!

 

After the race.....he barely broke a sweat!  I bet he won't look this chipper after the half marathon next weekend!

 

This afternoon we walked down the street to CeCe's friend Sophie's house for a fun Halloween party.  The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline and playing on this rollercoaster. 

 

After the party we hitched a ride on our friends hay trailer and rode all around the neighborhood.  It was so fun!  We are planning on using this to trick or treat on Wednesday so that will be awesome!

 

 

Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow.  We had planned to drive to Charleston for the day (Cappy is still here and we want to take her there so bad!) but Hurricane Sandy is messing us up.  It was SUPER windy here today and Charleston got tons of wind and rain today and is supposed to be windy tomorrow so we might have to post pone that trip for another visit.  Boo.