run now. brag later. (feets don't fail us now!), a friend/kid gathering, a nyc dinner & analogies

this weekend i have a lot of friends doing a pretty cool thing: running! a very long distance!

the adorable megan smith will be doing her 4th (i think, but it could very well be her 10th) marathon. that girl is an animal!

and my other adorable friend, amy d., is doing her first half marathon along with amy m. and kelly j. (this is my fleet feet gang - they know how to repreZENT). i am super excited for them! their first big race, 13.1 miles is far far far.

it is quite the accomplishment, just think about it...megan will be running 26.2 miles on sunday and the amys and kelly will be pulling in 13.1 - it takes a lot of dedication and lot of hard work to get to a place where you can put out that distance.

oh yeah - i cannot blah blah blah on this without giving a big shout out to amy h. (i know a lot of amys) - she completed the nyc half-marathon a few weeks ago.

she is AWESOME and rocks so very much. whee! i entered the lottery for that race but didn't get in, but i am so happy amy did - she did so well!

here she is before the race, happy

and here she is after the race, even happier i am sure

i signed up to get texts from amy's run, we were in community group at church and i kept checking my phone. i hope they don't think i was being rude but i was so excited for her. forgive me.

amy h., lisa and i are running the 5K on sunday - it makes it one year for me and my running. the covenant 5K was the first race i did in my recent running gig - it was a terrible race for me but i am sure sunday will be way better!

oh yeah, i also signed up to run the chicago half-marathon in september. i'll be doing it with mike and i figure i have enough time to get my rear in order for that. yikes, though.

here's a random photo of lottie sue, she had a booboo on her eye and loved it that she got to wear a band-aid there.

disclaimer: she didn't even need one but she is obsessed with band-aids. she will put them on any booboo, be it me grazing her leg as i walk by - oh no! she needs a band-aid. right away! i oftentimes walk past her bathroom and find a band-aid wrappings littering the floor. now i know what we are getting her birthday...

the bandaid is 100s times bigger than the booboo

matt said she looked like nelly.

he's right

so a few weekends ago we had kitty kat (and jasper) and the gilmores (and cj) in town at the same time. since it's hard to coordinate seeing everyone we threw a lunch party so everyone could come over to one gathering and catch up. kitty kat has a baby girl in utero, so everyone had to see her and her cute belly.

matt and i moved furniture and brought any toy we thought the kids might like. we thought they all had a great time. brad even made a video of the event - it's great. check it out!

they DID wreck the place, but they are cute it's no problem

there was the video and here are some photos i pulled off the camera...

rowdy puckering up to give me a smooch

(that boy is still loving his mommy strong)

an overall shot of some of the party

(please note carrie and scott in the background, they both

had on navy and white striped shirts. dorks in love)

cj eats goldfish and cassady pushes the popper around

lottie sue and jasper play in the tent

(lottie sue called jasper "my prince" all afternoon - it was cute)

this is all you saw of lottie crawling through the tent's tunnel

cj taking a cautious look at the grandfather clock

jasper on the trampoline

kids on the roller coaster

it was such a fun time, if we would have gotten together three years ago there would not be any kids and here we are - they almost outnumber us! we like it!

we kept the tent up for a few days since the kids liked it, i usually just bring it out on rainy days (which we have been having a lot of those lately).

matt and kids stuffed in the tent

on to another subject...the smiths and masons went down to new orleans for mardi gras and came back with a LOAD of beads/cups/frisbies/and the like.

can you find me?

next up lottie sue, she thought it was soooo funny

(although rowdy did NOT like it when i was covered
with the beads - see, loving his mommy)

but he was fine chewing on the viking horns

lottie sue took these from the stash and i found
them like this in the dining room later

katie came over with hudson since they were in town (yay!). lottie sue loved to play with hudson and she was so proud of herself for picking him up.

don't worry, she had a spotter

wonder woman

she then tried to pick up rowdy but couldn't, this is

as far as she got - that boy is a load (built solid)

the hussars hosted our last dinner group. they based it on one of their favorite restaurants in nyc, i will have to check but its name is the red cat - anywho...it was fab.

the gracious hosts

sidenote: the hussars used blackboard paint to make the board, it's in the butler's pantry and is so great. the twins can color on it and it just honestly looks cool. PLUS, amy found these awesome chalk markers. they are what restaurants use and are so neat. everyone commented on the board. amy got them at michael's but i found them on amazon if you are so inclined.

i am trying to figure out what wall we can paint so i can buy these

i only have one group shot of the night, must have been too busy eating...

jo, always camera-ready

lemoncello straight from italy

and i should really thank carrie, she is feeding my nutella obsession. she sent me a recipe for nutella cheesecake brownies - i am totally making these. i don't have much of a sweet tooth but i do have a nutella mouth.

click here for the recipe

she also sent a link for nutella cupcakes...

and then click here for this gluten-free recipe

if you are on facebook then i am sure you have seen this. it's pretty cute.

i have no idea what they are saying, but it's super cute

ok. and last but not least - a few items of interest...

• 10 must read books for girls and boys, by boys and girls
• the washington post held a contest in which high school teachers sent in the "worst" analogies they'd encountered grading papers. you can see the full list here but i am listing a few of my faves...

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.

From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.

They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.

• david foster wallace, in his own words
• we have to wait until 2012 to see the new season of mad men :(
• sarah silverman is going to guest star on the the good wife (i LOVE that show)

ok, enjoy your thursday - tomorrow is TGIF. word!

a shonnie bear baby shower & dr. g changes a diaper (a success!)

Shonnie Bear and Chris are expecting Baby G early next year - it is SO very exciting! Last Saturday we held a baby shower at Patterson's house for our dear friend. Check it out!

here are the yum yums, and they were yummy

please look at the drink dispenser on the left (it's
mishi's) - i am obsessed with it (must. have. it)

these are the party favors, they are recipes of the dishes we served

quicki quichie made by mishi

shon, chris and trent

brandi and chandra

i took a picture of trent, mrs. graham (grandmommy
to be) and chris taking a picture

shon opening gifts (there were a million, i cannot stress to how much
they cleaned up. family members showed their love by giving big
ticket items and having them shipped to their house - SMART!)

rowdy is with his auntie beth and jo, megan and mary ann look on

brad and mr. cassady make an appearance
(please not cassady's tuft of hair on top - it's awesome)

hahahaha, jo wrapped the card inside the gift

For the first time ever, Chris changed a diaper. Better get used to it - hahahahaha! Anywho, he did a perfect job!

here we go...taking off, cleaning up and putting on

voila! a complete success

We then watched some football and ate TOT, here is a picture of Shon talking to Matt after he made a remark about Georgia.

matt is in troubbbbbble

they make her want to drink (no bowl game this year)

Anywho, I will try to steal photos as they come up. I was busy with the shower and I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked.

I meant to put these up in October, better late than never. Mike ran his first (and last I think) marathon in Chicago. Way to go! When Matt and I lived in Chicago the marathon ran on our corner, we would go out with coffee in hand and cheer on runners. It was so much fun, we would always see people wearing UT stuff. Cool.

run mike, run
(that's 26.2 miles, people)

And here is Harlan in his Halloween costume, he was Tigger.

becce said that harlan went nuts after he figured out trick or
treating, he RAN full out to each house yelling "I NEED CANDY"

And now, a few interesting reads for you...

• No more Santa for you!
• Read a little bit into Jung's mind...
• 'The Onion': Mocking All Who Deserve It Since 1988
• Google keeps getter cooler.
• Note for parents: A Hamster is the Hottest Christmas Toy. Go figure.
• Here is your complete guide to Thanksgiving television. Eat some turkey and veg out for a few days.
• If you like to read or need holiday gift ideas, here is the list to the National Book Award winners.
• Forbes names Hollywood's most overpaid actors.

I am so ready for turkey, gobble gobble. The next time I post it will be from our new iMac. I am so excited! We ordered on and it came with a cracked screen. Bleh. But we should be set up tomorrow.

Have a happy Monday!

brother and sister, 100% rowdy, a deeee-lish dinner & lottie sue works her guns

Rowdy is three weeks old today, it seems like he was born just yesterday! Anywho, he is packing on weight, this boy is NOT afraid to eat (and eat and eat) and he's gained over two pounds since leaving the hospital. He's really filling out and he has that strawberry blond hair that Lottie Sue had when she was his age. He is looking less like an old man and more like a little baby, ha! His favorite things to do are: EAT, sleep and cuddle with anyone. His love language is physical touch, no doubt about it. We are working on getting him on a day and night schedule and so far it's going well. He will sleep all night with no crying, so we can just pop in there to feed him and he goes right back down. He's becoming more alert during the day and likes to look in the direction of lights.

Lottie Sue has been a dream with him, we keep waiting for her to act out at home or at school but so far she's been her usual lovely self. She is very into "baby brother" and she likes to help with him, it lasts about three seconds but at least she shows interest I guess...

Matt had a photo session with them last night and here is what we have. Rowdy doesn't really cooperate that much and Lottie Sue won't get out of any shot. She wants us to take her picture so she can then look at it on the view finder. Here are our kids!

isn't he ADORABLE???

little brother, big sister

Beth came over last week to meet the little Mr. Mowrer. Upon her arrival Lottie Sue went NUTS, she loves loves loves her some Beth. When Beth left she asked me where she went and when she was coming back...

three pretty adorable people

Beth ALSO gave us a SAH-WEET gift for Rowdy - CHECK IT OUT! I LOVE THESE ONSIES!!!

yes, beth rocks

This past weekend the Gilmores were in town for the Georgia game (IN YOUR FACE, SHON - loveyouthoughkisses) and we (I mean Matt) made a deeee-lish meal and invited the Smiths over as well.

megan gets way excited over lottie sue's meal

matt used some of his beef reduction that
he made himself (a six-hour project)

sawn and ris (as lottie says)

tommy and megan post meal, thumbs up y'all

i don't remember what i was doing to crack this
child up,but she was laughing laughing laughing
(love her)

all the girls and rowdy (and baby g)

Lottie Sue likes to eat well and stay in shape, she consistently works out her guns.

she really works hard, she grunts a lot during the reps

Lottie Sue LOVES to play "nite nite" - it's a game in which she commands you to act like you are asleep. She has been playing this game since she could barely speak. She loves to put items to bed; dolls, books, shoes, people and so on...

I snapped this photo of Elmo and Cookie last night, I saw she had them in bed before she went down for the evening. Too cute.

elmo and cookie are out like a light

I leave you with this photo of Cass, Patterson sent it to me last week and he's to cute not to publish. Go vols!

patterson said he loves to watch football on the telly

OK, I am amazed I actually created a post - I rock! Life is busy with a newborn but we are enjoying it, I would of course like more sleep but I can function without it for the meantime. Just don't ask me to do any math.