Tree Cutting Outing

Today we went up to the mountains to cut down a Christmas Tree for the first time.

We took a hayride up the mountain.  The boys got a pole for measuring and Gill grabbed a saw.

It wasn't long before we found the perfect tree

The kids all helped Gill use the saw and chop it down.

After our tree was down, the workers took it to bundle and get it on our car, while we explored the mountain and the trees some more.

My jokesters thought this would be a good tree!

We climbed to the top of the mountain and enjoyed the great view!

When we got down to the bottom of the tree farm, we enjoyed hot chocolate and picked out a Christmas ornament for our new tree.

It was a beautiful outing and we got a fabulous tree!

Thanksgiving 2015

This Thanksgiving was filled with friends and so much fun!

We started off our day at the Ballantyne Turkey Dash.  It was the first time Patrick and Finnegan ran as well, in the one mile kids run.  They did great, they stuck together the whole time and finished strong. 

After the boys were finished, Rebecca and I ran the 4 miler together, with Turkey hats and all!

We were so lucky to have Uncle Ralph with us for the holiday. After we were home from the races, all the guys went outside, to play with a giant balloon Ralph brought, bike, scoot and enjoy the beautiful day.

The boys helped me with our Thanksgiving table.  They made place cards for all our guests, and inside each one they wrote a reason they are thankful for that person.  It made for such a special dinner, and everyone enjoyed reading and sharing what the boys wrote.

We started a new tradition this year.  Finnegan worked for 2 weeks on a Thanksgiving Piñata. It looked awesome and was filled with fun little toys for the boys to enjoy.  We kicked off our Thanksgiving Dinner with the boys smashing this amazing turkey!

Dinner was great and we were so happy to have Nannie, PopPop, Christine and Pierre join in our special holiday.  The "icing on the cake" was the special desserts made by Finnegan.  This Cinnamon Vanilla buttercream cake was out of this world!

We are so thankful for our family and our wonderful friends.

Panther's Tree Lighting

Tonight the boys and I went uptown with some of their buddies to see the tree lighting at Panther's Stadium.  We enjoyed carolers, hot chocolate and a visit with Santa before the beautiful tree lit up.

What a way to kick off the Holiday Season!

ThunderRoad Marathon

Today I ran the ThunderRoad Marathon.  I trained for 5 months with the Isabella Santos Foundation and raised money to help fight pediatric cancer.

Our ISF Dream Team met at the starting line before the race to get motivated for the big day ahead of us.

At mile 7 I looked up and saw a giant Minion balloon ahead of me.  I knew what that meant, my family was there cheering!!  It was awesome to see the kids with their signs, Mom & Dad and Gill (who was ready to refuel my belt, and help me prepare for the miles ahead). 

Our family shot at Mile 7.

After seeing them at 7, I felt energized and ready to conquer the rest of the race.  It was a beautiful day and  was having a great pace.  I saw them again at mile 12.5 - the minion balloon beckoning.  I stopped for a hug, a refill of water and more motivation.  Then, I also said goodbye to Mom, Dad and Patrick - as they were taking Patrick to his soccer tournament.

I won't lie, things got hard around mile 18.  My pace slowed and things began to ache.  But, I knew that Gill, Finn and Sully were at 19, so that helped a lot!  With final hugs, water refills, extra fuel and a bit of advil, I went out to conquer the last 7 miles.   It wasn't easy but the crowds were awesome, the police cheered me on and I knew who was at the finish line waiting for me.  

I'm proud to say I crossed the finish line at 4:34 (3 minutes faster than my last marathon).  It was a great race and I'm so lucky to have my family's support.