lottie sue's recital, the lake for memorial day & the akins that run

all together now...awwwwwwww!

our prima ballerina

here is her class photo, she has an awkward face...which is fine because i love funny photos.

lottie sue's weird smile, but still super cute

(she loves her ballet buddies)

lottie sue had her ballet recital on saturday, she was so cute and did so well! she did all of the moves and made us proud. and when i say "us" i am speaking for granbunny, granray, irene, bb, gramma, papaw, grandmother, matt and myself. she has quite a following.

this is lottie sue while we were waiting in line to get check in...too cool.

what wears blue and loves to dance? this girl. 

a cuter version 

lottie sue goes back with ava and sydney
(thank you, robin for the photo)

here is lottie's sue class, she is front and center in this shot
(robin, thanks again!)

we get her back after the show was over 

we, of course, had flowers for her 

it was a long day, lottie sue was sleepy and tired 

but not too sleepy and tired to take a photo with daddy 

after sleeping in the next morning we headed up to the lake for some fun in the sun. we WORE the kids OUT. they swam in the pool for hours and hours, it was so much fun. rowdy loves the water, he will dive in (we catch him, of course).

we spent the night up there and here are the kids eating breakfast monday.

it was 8AM and lottie sue already had her suit on 

this is the view in the morning, misty - but it all clears up

(and i forgot to take of photo of that, next time) 

bb reads a story to the kiddos 

rowdy plays with his truck

matt plays with dominos

grandaddy and bb are building an addition to the lake house. they have had several additions to the family over the past years (harlan then lottie sue then rowdy then knoxie - phew!) so they want to make sure everyone is comfortable.

it is almost finished, but it's not quite there. so here are a few shots of what it looks like now and i'll post a few photos of the finished product.

it is going to have two sets of bunk beds and then two day beds (that will double as couches). i told them it's like they will never know we are there...and then thought that maybe that is their plan...hmm.

and i meant to post these photos MONTHS ago...matt's aunt, uncle and cousin ran a half marathon in march. they totally ROCKED it. i have mentioned that jan battled (and won) a fight with breast cancer last year and this was her just livin life. her hubby jim ran it as well, along with julie (her daughter/our cousin). they are rock stars.

13.1 miles is a LONG WAY, people

speaking of running...i ran today for the first time in a few weeks (shame shame youknowmyname), it was the start of my half marathon training.

feets don't fail me now

you better get used to these posts on my blog, i am embarking on a running summer to get ready for my TWO half marathons.

and now, a few items of interest for you...

• the delayed hobbit films get release dates and titles
• right now i am reading this book
• not sure if you watching the casey anthony trial, but i am - the trial is online and ov tv
• paypal will pay 24 college-aged students $100,000 to NOT attend college for two years
• why health food is less satisfying
• here's a story from the times, it includes a moving personal story about overcoming opioid addiction
• the food pyramid is about to go away and will be replaced by a plate (it will be revealed on thursday)
• major booty found: blackbeard's anchor recovered from ocean

ok, short post for me today. i am still writing the easter/mother's day post. i will finish it soon! bye, lovelies.

totally random post: fascinators, two races, dinner group, thomas jefferson plants & so much more

carrie is getting married in a short while and one night i had the pleasure of meeting her out with some friends to go wedding dress shopping. she was such a good sport and tried on about 50 dresses. it was way fun. the best part was trying on the fascinators. i am ALL about these and so is carrie. we heart them.

side note to carrie: send me some photos of the other night or i can steal them from your blog). k? thanks.

the bride to be, being fascinating in a fascinator

(please note, this is NOT her wedding dress) 

it took me about 30 seconds to have one
of these on, wore it the whole time

i ran in the run for the school at the zoo with a ton of my friends. it was FUN. matt met me there with the kids and we did the zoo afterwards. it was a good day.

this is my 12th race so far

check out my friends! (the smiths, a blum, a hussar,
a davis, the overstreets, the palmers and me) 

kristina ran the show, and did a photo essay of the day 

the hussar twins ran the kid race - they took OFF 

miss mady ran it as well - she must get her talent from her parents 

then it was zoo time. lottie sue and rowdy had a great time.

we have the davis kiddos, the hussar kiddos
and the mowrer kiddos in the jeep 

uh, way to ham it up, lottie sue - not

lottie and matt ride a camel (this was the highlight of her day) 

megan with a cup of joe and watching the exciting camel ride

rowdy was chasing after dad and lottie 

rowdy chats up a camel 

megan and i cannot resist a photo booth

(kissy, happy, scared then pretty) 

the next day lottie sue went to vivaan's birthday party at bounce usa - she had a GREAT time and i took two shots with my phone.

they are blurry because she was never still

and now to the random photo section of the post. here is a photo of something lottie did...looks like snow white was going under the knife.

bb stopped by one evening and brought food for an impromptu picnic.

eating al fresco

THEN a dream came true! i have always wanted to be a runner, and a step up from that i want my family to be an active family. running together is a dream of mine. even though matt has completed a marathon, he hasn't completed a 5K. so on may 7th we ran a 5K as a family - i was so happy!

my race bib (#13)

i pushed the kids for mile 1 and 2 and then matt
came back after finishing to do the last mile

(matt, moi, mackenzie, amy and kelly - with
rowdy and lottie sue in the jogger) 

that night it was the langley's run to host dinner group - thai food was on the menu and is was AWESOME. it was tasty and pretty to look at, way to go! rick also built this crazy awesome deck. i wish i had taken a photo because nothing i write will do it justice. i will bug kate for one (kate, send me a photo!).

good food, good friends 

us cutie pie girls

(kate, moi, amy and jojo) 

and now i have more random photos for you. lottie sue is learning to count, here is she practicing while wearing fairy wings, glitter headband, beaded necklace while carrying a handbag.

the more you know the further you'll go 

our church's parent's day out program had an end-of-the-year festival. and of course we forgot to bring the camera so i shot two with my phone. lottie sue cried (big time) when it was time to go.

happy on the merry go round 

pink face after eating cotton candy 

and check out mr. knox! here he is at his 9-month appointment. check out those legs!!!

could he BE any cuter? nope. 

and now some other photos from my phone.

lottie sue golfed after running through the sprinklers last sunday 

rowdy at the park the other day, he
wanted to go down into that water 

here is lottie sue sulking after i told her it was time to go home

and now, i leave you with items of interest...

• the office a la georges seruat's 'sunday afternoon'
• matt and i love kristen schaal ever since the flight of the concords
• i am excited about the hunger games movies, i like jennifer lawrence but thought she was too old to play the part - but that is overshadowed by woody harrelson as haymitch (i lurve him)
• this is the most expensive photograph ever purchased: $3.89M
• you have probably been living under a rock if you haven't seen this video. i think it's fine but other people are gaga over it.

please say yes

• roseanne barr writes for new york magazine
• i loved melissa mccarthy when she was sookie on the gilmore girls (still love her and now she's in bridesmaids!!!)
• here's a list of the 50 most important women in food (i will NEVER be on that list)
• death cab for cutie is streaming their new album on NPR
• marc maron interviews garry shandling
• i just started watching web therapy, and it is ker-ackin me UP

i will leave with this...dear, sweet kitty kat send us a tomato and strawberry plant. i would take a photo but it is currently storming) all the way from monticello - how COOL and AWESOME is that? well, that's basically kat in a nutshell - cool and awesome. 

THEN she proceeded to write up these descriptions for us. i'm going to have them framed. she is thoughtful AND very pregnant. my brain was NOT capable of doing stuff like this when i had a bun in the the oven. bravo, kitty kat - and thank you again! 

stay tuned for photos of tomatoes and strawberries

alrighty, i have another post that i have to write for you soon. it's from easter and mother's day. stay tuned!