Carter had a great time with his cousins. Of course, his showing off for them caused many more problem with misbehavior, but he had a blast:

We had a great lunch with Uncle P and Aunt Cathy. Here's Carter sitting with Uncle P.


Carter with Poppa:
The three guys all dressed alike:

The kids outside the restaurant:

We headed to Louisiana at the beginning of August. We flew directly from Charlotte to Baton Rouge. Here's a blurry picture of Carter and Kevin on the shuttle in Charlotte:

Carter was very excited to ride on an "airpane." Once on it, he looked out the window and continued to ask to ride on an airpane. I don't think he realized he was on it.

We started our trip meeting with family in Baton Rouge. After lunch, we headed over to LSU to check out Mike The Tiger's new home:


After an exciting day, Carter was exhausted and fell asleep on the way to Gammy and Poppa's house:

We took Carter to EdVenture.
He got to drive a firetruck:
Dress like a fireman:
And drive a tractor:

Carter is extremely playful and always wants to be "ha ha funny." We never know what he'll be wearing our hauling on his fire truck. Here is playing with his trains:

Breakfast has been a struggle in our house. Here is where I will earn my "Mother of the Year" award. Yes, that's Chex Mix for breakfast.

We bought a bike seat for my bike. Carter was super excited about wearing his helmet. We don't make it too far on our rides, but they are long enough for him. He enjoys hanging his feet, so they hit mine as I pedal. Here he is helping us put it together: First ride:

I did find a few pictures from our beach trip. Carter woke up very early each morning, so Matthew joined us to watch cartoons in our room. While in there, he also taught Carter how to climb in and out of the pack n play. Carter helping me pack:

We attended the Blythewood Balloon Festival with the hopes of being able to go up in a balloon. That never happened. Every time the balloons began to inflate, the wind would pick up. Carter did enjoy seeing them, and we enjoyed the people watching.

Carter enjoys playing with my old Walkman and listening to his "moo-sick." Funny, because my students don't even know what a walkman is.

Carter likes to "cook." He mixes spices together while I cook. I found this adorable monkey apron for him and was able to find a little set of pots and pans at IKEA.

Every little boy needs to wear sunglasses while he cooks.

Carter had to make a bed for his big Elmo:

More from the botanical garden. Of course, Elmo made the trip with us:

Ok, so I think I will go back and catch up by posting some pictures. I realized how long it's been since I have even uploaded pictures from my camera.

In late May, we met up with some friends in Charlotte. After lunch, we headed out to the Daniel Stowe Memorial Gardens. They were awesome with tons of water features. I'm sure you can tell which ones Carter enjoyed the most:

The summer is flying by. Last week, Carter and I crashed my friend Connie's beach vacation. She was there with her family for the week, so Carter and I drove down on Thursday and left on Friday. Carter had a blast with her two boys and absolutely loved being at the beach. Some highlights:

• When I was tell Carter a wave was coming, he would wave at it.
• Carter wanted to "get down" when I was holding him in the ocean. I told him he couldn't reach, so he reached up toward the sky.
• Carter announced everyone airplane that flew over.
• He had a blast digging in the sand, throwing it on me and throwing it all over himself.
• He saw a bunch of dead crabs.
• Carter followed Connie's son Matt everywhere.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. It was tough being there without Kevin. Carter wasn't always Mr. Cooperative. Now, I think we will plan a trip to the beach for Labor Day. I'm looking forward to that!

I am getting horrible at blogging! I think I get too caught up in trying to keep up with every event and all the details. More coming soon.....I promise.....Maybe.

Anyone who has talked to me in the past 9 months knows my life has been consumed with running and training for a half marathon. The original plan was to run the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon. You can read about that here, here, here, and here. (It was a big deal!)

Up to that weekend, I had decided it was going to be my first and last half-marathon, but its cancellation totally motivated me to keep going. I ran the Georgia half-marathon in March, and completed my Team in Training half-marathon in Nashville in April.

It was so much fun. I got to complete the race with Misty, a good friend I have made through the team. You can see us giving each other five as we cross the finish line (look for the purple shirts to the middle left.)The race started 15 minutes early due to the threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes (I think our team causes extreme weather.) We ran all over Nashville including by Vanderbilt, music row, Broadway, by the Country Music Hall of fame, Belmont University.....) All along the way, there were bands and huge crowds cheering us on. In one area, people were handing out fruit, another couple had a breakfast party and allowed runners to use their bathrooms, and people were even handing out beer along the way. Being part of team in training was awesome because coaches were stationed throughout the course to cheer us on. At one point, someone even yelled my full name, and I'm still trying to figure out how they knew it, but it meant the world to me in that moment. We did see a lot of runners down needing medical attention, making me very thankful for my training. When we crossed the finished line, we were told to get our medals, get something to eat, and get out of there due to the weather. It took quite some time to get out of the finishing area and check in at the Team in Training tent where I met Kevin and Carter. Luckily, we were able to walk back to our hotel before the storms came.


Running has been a HUGE accomplishment for me. If you would have told me 15 years ago, I would be doing this, I would have never believed you, but running has started to define a part of who I am. I don't always look forward to long Saturday morning runs, but knowing I can accomplish something so many people can't keeps me going. (Ok really, the thought of a chicken biscuit really encourages me along with not feeling guilty about what I eat that day.)

Seriously, thanks to everyone who has supported me and encouraged me through all of this. I promise to keep running!

Carter got pretty sick in mid-April. I got a call on a Tuesday afternoon while on a field trip to the zoo that he had a high fever. I brought him to the doctor the following day, and a strep test came back positive. I was somewhat relieved knowing he should be better the following day after starting antibiotics. His fever continued for a week. We even rushed him to after hours care when it hit over 104 on a Saturday evening. Carter was tested for the flu and had a blood test. The best conclusion anyone could make was that he caught a virus on top of the strep. We did take him to touch a truck that same Saturday. He had a blast. At home, his giant Elmo sits in a chair wearing a hard hat. When Carter met Elmo, he really wanted him to wear a hard hat we had bought. Carter just cracks us up!

I just signed up for 500 miles in 2010, but if you know me, that's not good enough. I'm going for 800 instead. I'm currently at 274.63 miles for the year.

Oh my goodness, I just realized I never posted anything about Carter's 2nd birthday. Time really is just slipping away from me. I really want to start a petition to add 5 or 6 non working hours to the day. We had Carter's party at a bouncy place with inflatables. It really appealed to me when I was told we would have the place to ourselves, don't show up early, and just bring cake. Carter had all of his grandparents there, 2 cousins, a great aunt, and lots of friends. We worried many of Carter classmates would be out of town because we had his party during spring break. Many of them did make it, especially his best bud Aaron. Carter received some nice gifts, but not too many (thankfully!) We celebrated at school on his actual birthday. I brought petit fours for his classmates, and Carter and I went to the park after to play.