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.

a trail race, vive la france & a church luncheon

my friend rachel and i did the heels & wheels 5K a few weeks ago. it was partly paved but mostly trail and it was HARD. you had to go up a mountain (steep hill), jump over a creek (that was fun) and run through a field or two. oh yeah, i saw a big snake and stopped for a few minutes to gawk (there was a crowd).

my race bib

rachel's first 5K - she basically crushed it

i liked the race, my first trail race but probably not my last. i have a running buddy that loves trail runs so maybe i will do a few more with her.

the race season is starting up! i am doing the run for the schools with a bunch of friends on saturday, it's great because we do the zoo with the kids afterwards. lottie is already very excited.

 click on the image to learn more or to sign up

and then my favorite race of last year will be on the 7th. it will be matt's first 5K (since we've been married, he did do a marathon about 10 years ago), so i am taking the kids in the jogging stroller. are we cute and active or WHAT? the race for the deaf is routed through the lovely island home neighborhood. it is so cute and quaint, i can't wait!

 click on the image to learn more or to sign up

last week lottie's school had a "book character" day - all of the kids had to dress like their favorite book character and they had a parade. it was cute. i tried to get lottie sue to be fancy nancy (those are her favorite books) but she wanted to be sleeping beauty. as you can see, she is kinda both. vincent was an elephant and looked so cute (good job, lisa!), i forget the book he likes so much.

lottie sue and vincent, bffs

here are a few shots of the parade...

that weekend it was our turn to host dinner group - we went french. matt and i love the french! vive la france!

here is the menu...

i know, yummers

here is the table, we thought it looked french

matt literally cooked for about eight hours that day, it was delicious. maybe the best meal he has ever made, and that is saying something because he is the best cook i know.

after dinner the nerf gun came out, much fun was had.

then somehow rick, amy and matt exercised. maybe it was to burn off some of the calories from dinner? rick is a HARD CORE athlete person, he was showing us some of the moves he can do in his sleep.

rick and amy feel the burn

this is matt after he did a move rick showed us,
he is smiling because he is happy it's over

then the next day our community group at church had a luncheon. lottie sue and rowdy had a great time, the food was plentiful as well.

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

• the 2011 pulitzer prize winners were announced...i have read (and loved) the book that won for fiction - a visit from the goon squad by jennifer egan
• the times has a q&a with tina fey
• if you like "radiolab" (i do), then you can read about the hosts here
• go check out the atlantic's how genius works - get inside the minds of some of the most creative people
• here's a story on what you don't know about the muppets
• better safe than sorry: four ways you might be mishandling your cheese
• slate has a story on the politics of parks and recreation
• here is a story on lorne michaels

and oh yeah - we made homemade ravioli the other night with the smiths. it was so great, a labor of love...

mario would have liked it

and now i leave you for real with this photo of rowdy sleeping in the car. he's so cute.

 

 zzzzzzzzz

alrighty, this was a quick post. i have an Easter one in the works for you - it was a wonderful day and a full weekend. the carsons and gilmores were in town. yippee!

photo dump - rich stuff.

i don't know if you have noticed on my blog, but i have an 8K coming up next weekend. i am certainly ill-prepared for this but i'm gonna do it anyway. the other day i did 5.15 miles on the treadmill to see how bad it would be and it was honestly ok - but doing it on the road is going to be harder. anywho...next saturday at midnight amy and i will be running that race. gulp!

also, baby boy apple is scheduled to arrive in mid-august!!! lottie sue and i will be hopping on a plane to chicago so we can be there to welcome him to the family! i am WAY excited.

my old stomping ground

lottie is very excited to get on a plane again, and she is WAY excited to see harlan and meet baby boy. it's gonna be a great trip!

also, a mention about pool toys. IF you have a pool or frequent one you MUST buy a toypedo.


there was one in our pool at the beach and it was by far the #1 pool toy. i am ordering the red, black and white one. TRUST ME. it's the best pool toy that ever existed.

ooookkkkaaayyy...this post is really just a bunch of photos that are random and have been on the camera the past month. this is no method to the madness of this post, just a lot of stuff thrown in together.

here we have "the mustache" rehearsing his lines for our deaton the odds video.

i love fake mustaches so much, they are too much fun

see? instant fun

these were taken in the middle of june, the apples came down for a weekend. here we have harlan and lottie sue enjoying pool time in the backyard. grandmother gave us this pool and it's pretty big. lottie sue received a slide for her birthday, put the two together and it equals hours of entertainment.

up the slide, down the slide and repeat Xs 100

that was a busy weekend, kitty kat was in town and we got to see her and jj!!! i was so happy! here we have kitty kat with jj and rowdy hanging out with morning coffee.

kitty kat and family - i miss you so very much (sniff sniff)

then that friday night we attended an engagement party for shawn and marty, the future mr. and mrs. mason. look! here i am with lindsay!

my wonderful montana friend

marty and matt (with one of his goofy smiles, hahahaha)

mrs. mason and lindsay

me, katie, shawn and lindsay

katie was pregnant at the party but not anymore, little hudson was born a few weeks ago. he is doing very well!

mommy and aunt to be

let's see...this photo is of lottie sue and rowdy up at the lake one morning.

breakfast time

lottie and bb get a closer look at each other with binoculars

one saturday morning a few weeks ago my cousin melinda and family were driving through on their way to chicago. we met up at the cracker barrel, it was so great to see them! lottie sue loved seeing claire and jane!

melinda and jane (holding a planking rowdy)

lottie sue and claire (aka, "my best friend cousin") play with bubbles

rocking chair time

rowdy and melinda

and now a few more random photos...after a GNO at tabby's one night i had the pleasure of meeting up with two of my favorite new yorkers - meghan and michael!

whee!

after dinner one night we took the kiddos out for ice cream. lottie sue made a MESS but was still super cute.

nom nom nom nom

we also spent the day at the lake with the smiths recently. since there is a pool we hardly swim in the lake anymore. we used to float around in the lake ALL the time before the pool and it was so much fun.

a smooch for megan

not sure if you can see it very well, but there was a group of geese that got a little too close for comfort.

meeeeegannnnn...we gonna get you.....

since the monday after the 4th of july was a work holiday, we went over to kingston to spend the afternoon with matt's parents.

rowdyman with one of the dolls grandma made

lottie sue and her "peoples"

our buddy

here are a few shots from the hipstamatic...

rowdy and cj, the morning we left for the beach

happy boy

princess lottie

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

• i love this blog - letters of note. it's a blog of correspondence deserving of a wider audience. i like this one today.
• random: jeff probst married jenna fischer and hubby.
• READ THIS TOMORROW and not right now!!! as variety notes, the new york times delivered a spoiler-filled story about mad men on monday. jerks! i haven't read this though...
• npr has a list of laugh-out-loud summer books - hahahahahaha!
• npr also has a summer-tv guide for you - lots of good programs on right now for your viewing pleasure.
• here's an article with elisabeth moss, a la peggy olson.
• an interesting article on living rooms from the times.

alrighty, i'm signing off now. enjoy your sunday!

check ya later!