It's the Journey...

Sunday, August 7, 2011

More Hilton Head fun!

These three crack me up in this sequence, I had to post them all! Sorry about the first one, I can't seem to fix it - tried twice!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Half Marathon Weekend! - April 16th, 2011

My amazing friend Bonnie and I used to run a lot to keep in shape while our hubbies were off earning their MBA's. Bonnie always wanted to run a race to see what it was like. She attempted to run a half marathon I believe back when we were at Stanford, but she couldn't make it to the race when the day actually came because her Grandfather passed away and she had to go home for the funeral. Well, two more children later, she got back into running and decided that she was going to run that half marathon! That was last year in the Fall of 2010. She told me then that I was going to run the next one with her! I was hesitant, but thought that I would most likely regret not doing it with her! So, we signed ourselves up to run a half marathon in Charlotte, NC in April. The training began in December/January. I trained all by myself at my own pace. I think I got to a 9 or 10 minute mile and worked my way up to a long run of 11 miles 2 weeks prior to the race. Bonnie and her oldest, Elijah, flew out to Charlotte from Northwest Arkansas (where they now live) the Friday afternoon prior to the race on Saturday am. Julio flew in from India just to be there to take care of our kids (while I was running) and watch us do the race! He had to fly back out somewhere on Sunday night from Raleigh! The photo above was taken not long after the race was complete! Bonnie and I got times not far from eachother in the range of 2 hours, 6 minutes. Bonnie could have run faster, but she decide to run the race with me! It was great to run with her, to have my best friend there to motivate me and keep me going! Overall, our time was about a 9:45 minute mile. I have to say that it was an amazing experience that I will never forget! Thank you Bonnie, I love you!!

I am the runner in the black capri's with a white shirt tied around my waist with a white hat on. I am pretty much in the middle of the group of runners in this photo. This was a few paces behind the finish line!

Bonnie and Elijah out to brunch with us after the race!

Ayden and Elijah! These two six year olds became friends at 9 months old! :)

We all headed over to the Nascar museum to keep ourselves busy with the kids after brunch! Gabriel found a race car that looked like "The King" from Disney's "Cars" movie, which was his obsession at the time (April, 2011)! :)

Cheeeeese!

The whole group outside of our hotel before headed to the airport on Sunday! Bonnie and I also went out for a fun night of dinner and drinks on Saturday night (and Friday night!) but we neglected to take any photos. It was such an AWESOME weekend!!!

Julio's Birthday Beach Trip! - April 9 , 2011

It was Granny and Papi's last weekend visiting with us after their two month stay to help us out during Julio's travel in the beginning of his International role with DaVita. Julio really wanted to go out to the beach for his birthday weekend, so we drove out to Wrightsville Beach for a night. We arrived in the afternoon after Ayden's soccer game back in Cary that we didn't want to miss. We played on the beach for a couple of hours and then headed over to the cute little Mexican restaurant on the corner for some dinner.

Jumping off a little cliff of sand! :)

Ready, set go!

Here is Ayden's attempt at jumping over "All of Daddy!"

He made it! :) I love my camera! I could never take a mid air shot like this before! :)

Cute litlte profile pic!

I look at this photo and think it really captures the essence of my two boys! Always energetic and full of life!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Testing

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Testing!!

This is my post

Monday, August 1, 2011

Gabriel's 3rd Birthday Party! - April 2, 2011

Gabriel's 3rd Birthday! - April 2, 2011

We decided to have an actual big birthday party for Gabriel this year as he turned 3 because we had not thrown him one that he could remember. We had a party for his first birthday, but that was too long ago for his memory, so I decided that he would have a great time at a Stretch and Grow party through the Town of Cary! He loved the classes he took in the Stretch and Grow program with Miss ! So, we went to Bond Park Community Center and collected in a group with all of his friends on the mat. The kids said their names and then they pretended to be animals to songs and did some other little hand motion games too. It was too cute!

Then they lined up on one side of the gym to do, ready, set, go! Run, run, run all the way to the other side of the gym!

Then she broke out the big parachute, which was so much fun!

The dads hanging out. :)

Towards the end, she brought out the play equipment. Here is Gabriel with his sweet friend Peyton!

The three buds, Jake, Quentin and Gabriel!

They are such hams!

Stamp on the hand time! :)

Chocolate, "Cars" themed cupcakes! Gabriel was sooooooo excited to have a Cars birthday party!

The snacks and dessert table.

Here's Gabriel blowing out the candle!

Group shot at the end of the party. They were checking out their party bags!

At home later, Gabriel enjoyed opening up all his gifts! It was an awesome party and day! :)

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Playing Together Well! - March 30, 2011

Ayden had an idea to make a puzzle and smart Granny helped him find something to make the puzzle out of, an O's cereal box! I love seeing or hearing about moments where Ayden and Gabriel cooperate and get along, so I had to blog about it! :)

First Hangout in the Backyard After Winter! - March 29, 2011

They were cute and wanted to bring a ball in the backyard once it wasn't too cold anymore. They were playing that game where you role the ball back and forth on the ground. :)

Spring Soccer Season - March 21, 2011

This was one of the first days of practice for the Spring season. Ayden gives the ball a big kick!

Dribbling!

Shooting to score!

Scrimmage!

They say the cutest things...

10.09 - Teacher at preschool: "Ayden, where are you from? (during Celebrating Cultures Week at preschool)

Ayden: "I am half of a Puerto Rican!"

6.1.09 - Ayden over dinner tonight, "I love these Rolly Ollies!" (Ravioli's)

1.22.09 - Ayden: "Mom, upstairs I heard God talking in my heart!"

1.19.09 - Ayden: "I am a scientist at legos cause I have a creative brain to make them."

12.21.08 - Ayden: "I am a really good expert!"

"Israel is not in the United States, but it is still on the Earf (Earth)!"

"When baby Gabriel was born from your tummy...let's be grateful that God gave us a baby!"

6.6.08 - Ayden:"Spiderman and God have special powers...they can control the earth!"

I love how I have filled his head with the power of God! :) He (God) comes out in his thoughts as right up there with Spiderman. :)

5.13.08 - Conversations with Ayden:

Ayden: Mom, why is it cloudy out today?

Mom: Well, the sun is there, but it is behind the clouds.

Ayden: Oh, the sun is playing hide and seek!

5.7.08 - Ayden was getting ready for bed last night and he found his children's bible on the bathroom counter and recalled his "reading" from his nap/rest time that day. He said, "Jesus and God are our friends!" I said, "Yes, they are!" He proceeded to look at the cartoon photos on the front of the book and tried to guess who was Jesus. He pointed to Noah and said, "That is Jesus!" Then he pointed to Moses and said, "That is God!" I told him that God is not pictured there, that he is up in heaven. It did make me quite proud that he was reading his bible during rest time! :)

3.18.08 - Ayden and I were talking on the way to school and he was talking about where we were going and we had also just passed our church. He said, "Only I go to school and church." I said, "Well, Momma and Daddy go to church too, but we don't go to school anymore, we are all done with college, high school, grammer school and preschool." He replied with, "When I go to college, I can go to Stanford!" I laughed and said, "And when you graduate from Stanford, you can find a job like Daddy." He then said, "I can find a job at Stanford...I can do art or painting or stamps!"

This cracks me up, it is like a combination of what Daddy did (Stanford) and the things that Ayden and I do together (crafts, etc.)! I have to admit that we did feed him a line a few weeks ago about going to Stanford when he grows up! :)

2.27.08 - He also has been curious about more complex issues and concerning himself about the future. He said today, "When I am older, I will have hair on my cheek like Daddy." Another cute thought of his was, "Daddy has to work so that we can have toys, food and our house and other things." Of course he learns these things from us, but it is cute the way he processes them. :)

2.11.08 - I was putting Ayden to bed tonight after he read his books to me. He often does this because he memorizes how his favorite ones go and he reads them to himself or rather recites the sentences from memory. :) We were trying to quiet down, which is often difficult for Ayden to do (surprise, surprise!) and after sitting there for a few moments, he reminds me that we need to pray. I said, "Who do you want to pray for?" He said the usual folks and at the end, he said "And tank you for ebrebody in our wife (life)!" This is how he ends most nightly prayers.

Oh and by the way, Ayden went pee-pee on the potty all day today! Not just a small portion of the day. We are making slow progress!

2.6.08 - Ayden was helping me vacuum the stairs. He did the whole flight of them and when he got to the top, he said, "When you've got yuckies, you have to clean them up! Then you can have juice or water or somsing (something)."