Pre-Halloween

This weekend Ben's mom and aunt took the girls to a fall festival. There were rides, a parade, and lots of other stuff. Here are some pictures I thought were cute.

 Monday we took the girls to Boo at the Zoo. They had sooo much fun and got tons of candy. It was just funny to see when Grayson realized that the booths set up were giving candy or other toys away. Her eyes got as big as she is. They have candy booths set up, lights, roasting marshmallows, a maze, etc. We didn't get to many good pictures, but here are a few.

Last night we went to my parents house for dinner and they got them Halloween cupcakes....

For school we had to bring all kinds of stuff, but I made these little witches hats for their classes.



Course we are going to get better pictures tonight, but here is a glance at their costumes. 

World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party

This weekend we dropped the girls off with Ben's parents and headed down to Jacksonville, Florida for the Georgia/Florida game. Ben got the tickets a long time ago for his birthday so we (more Ben) have been waiting for this weekend. We got up Friday, I made Ben go run with me, kissed the girls goodbye and headed down to Jacksonville. I have never seen so many Georgia/Florida flags, stickers, etc on the way down there and of course we were in my car that has "University of South Carolina Alumni" on the back window.

We got down there at about 3ish or so after being about blown off the road from the weather. We met up with Ben's aunt, uncle, and cousins and some of their friends. I was of course pointed out as the "Oh you’re the Carolina fan". Not only do Georgia and Florida wear their colors game day...oh no...all WEEKEND. Apparently I did not get the memo, nor had I planned on wearing anything red and black. That night we went out to dinner and then headed back to the hotel in order to get up and go tailgating at 8:30. Now I am a true sorority girl at heart and enjoy tailgating, but that was back when I didn't have to get up and do anything on Sunday.

So Saturday morning came around and we were up ready to go. No rain in sight, just wind and overcast. We headed to Publix to get our finally treats and made our way to our parking spots. We had so much food, drinks, and even a t.v. set up that just so happened to not pick up the Carolina game. Tailgating wasn't really what I expected. I thought people would be running around and going crazy, but actually everyone was very low key and just hanging out. We never heard any negative comments about either team, nor to me who of course had on a flowery dress, burgundy rain coat, my Carolina chair and Carolina cup.

Just right before we were headed to the game we started getting text and phone calls...Lattimore down...Lattimore out...etc. My heart sank with the rest of Columbia, but I knew I had to cheer up and get ready for the game. We made it up to our upper row seats and watched the game. The stadium was split Georgia and Florida which was really cool to see. Check out some of our pictures.



We had a great time at the game and I only wish Wes could have come with us. Ben probably would have had more fun with an actual Georgia fan, but he had to settle for me. It was great to see Ben's family and met some of their friends. We made it safely back to Columbia last night, and of course we are already looking forward to going next year.

Trip to the ER

Hopefully this is one of very few trips to the emergency room, but with two children I seriously doubt it. This past weekend we spent at Ben's parents house and Saturday morning Grayson didn't wake up until 10:00. Now Grayson is one that will actually sleep just like her daddy, but really 10:00. We noticed that she did have a fever, coughing, and running nose. We went ahead and gave her some meds and went about the day. Over the weekend she seemed to feeling alright, but progressively got worse. By Sunday night around 10:00, her fever was 103.4 and she throw up all in her bed. I know some children are able to have fevers that high, but we had never seen one this high. So we quickly called my mom and her friend told us, which I knew was coming, get in the car and take her to the ER.

My mom came over to watch ME as we packed up and left for the hospital. She looked just so pitiful and just laid on our shoulders until we were able to see the nurse. The nurse said she thought it was the croup and wanted to take some x-rays of her neck. Evidently the croup causes your airways to narrow, which hints the wheezing cough and high temperature. She quickly gave her some motrion because by now her fever had gone past 104.

They brought us back to the x-ray room and our first thought was man this isn't to bad, they are going to get us in and out. The x-ray didn't take long and Grayson had to sit in this little chair well we held her. Once again we were put in the waiting room to wait for the results. We waited and waited and waited. Grayson got her 10th wind and was running around, talking to everyone, and of course by now Ben and I are exhausted.

Finally at about 2:30 (yes we got there around 10:30) the doctor saw us and told us it was the croup. They gave her a steroid shot and we were free to go. We finally got home about 4:00 and of course ME comes running down the hallway in FULL panic mode to see what's going on. Finally we got everyone to sleep and ME let us sleep until about 8:00 (which is late for her). Ben went to work and ME went to school. I stayed home with Grayson. I thought I would let her sleep, since we had stayed up so late. Around 10:00 I thought for sure she would wake up, then 11 came, then 12, and by 1:00 I just knew I had to wake her up. She was so sweet and cuddly and could have slept all day.

Monday and Tuesday I stayed home with my sweet baby. She had about 800 baths (bc she was so congested) and we actually got to run lots of random errands. Even though she was sick, I loved being able to spend time with just Grayson. Wednesday my mom offered to come and stay with her. Finally today she is back at school and seems to be doing much better. Thank you everyone for thinking about us and calling to check on Baby Grayson!!

This was on Sunday, not feeling so great but she still enjoyed eating ice cream!

Monday when I took her outside to do some yard work. She helped out alittle. 

Tuesday I caught her redhanded picking her nose! We got out and took Butter for a walk. 

Finally by Wednesday...we got a cute little smile!!! :)



Fair

This weekend we went to North Augusta to visit with Ben's parents. Saturday Ben and I did a 10k race. In Augusta you never know what to expect when it comes to races, but we knew Strictly Running was timing so everything should be good. Course we get there and we see other people, but no signs of where to sign-in or who's in charge. We walked around for about 15-20 minutes and finally found where to go. The area around the place was super hilly so we both started getting a little worried. Then we realized that we were going to be running along the canal, which is all flat and an out and back course.

The race was very small and there was also a 5k option, which most people choose to do. We started out and a few kids were in front of us, which I knew after about 100 yards they would be walking. I took off and at one point looked around me and there was nobody in sight. I got to the turnaround spot (at mile 3) and finally saw the second place guy was about a mile behind me and then I saw Ben. He was booking it and was on target to get a good time. I wanted to use this race to see if I was ready for a half-marathon in two weeks. Well, I discovered I am not. I still had a descent time, 39:52, but I could tell I started slowing down around mile 4. Ben had a great race and finished third with a time of 46:32. For winning I received a dremel, which is some sort of tool, and Ben got a $25 gift card for Fleet Feet. Overall a good race and I was glad that we did it.

After the race, the Riddles wanted to take the girls to the fair. Oddly enough I have only been to the BIG State fair and never a county fair. So along we went to the Augusta County Fair. It was actually pretty big and had the same rides as the State Fair. They still has all the french fries, elephant ears, etc. you could eat as well as good "people watching".

Here are some other pics from this weekend. ME dressing up in Ben's Georgia outfit, they found a box to keep them entertained, and just general cuteness. Grayson even went number 1 and 2 in the potty, which of course made everyone happy.

Yasso 800s

Last night I got an email of what our track workout was going to be today. The workout called for 10x800s, which is a lot of 800s. If you don't know 800's are a half mile. My first thought was surely someone will change the workout to 8x800s once we got going.

We did our normal 1.5 mile warm-up and then headed to the track. The plan was still 10x800s, with a lap (400 meters) in between each 800. The plan was to do each 800 at a 3:00 minute split. The first five were: 3:03, 3:00, 2:59, 2:59, and 3:00. Butter sat and watched as we just went round and round. After five, we stopped and got water and I of course mention...are we still doing 10 of this...and the answer was yes! Number 6 was about 2:58 and then number 7 came and included tunes of "Roll On" by Alabama and "Come on Eileen" by the Dexy's Midnight Runners (one hit wonder). Then came number 8, the tunes quickly decreased and was filled with very heavy breathing. The last ones were 2:58, 3:00, and 2:57.

The workout hurt, but I/we were glad that it was finished and that we had completed all 10 of them. I went back and read this article from Runner's World that was back in 2001( http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-624-0,00.html ) about Yasso 800s. Is is really true... would we really be able to do a 2:58-3:00 hour marathon. No way! I don't think that is completely true, but it was a great workout and maybe one day it will be true!

Pumpkins

This weekend was absolutely beautiful...which of course means we played outside ALLLL weekend. We even skipped church (I know I know) to go to Lowe's and play outside in the backyard. Friday night I went out with the girls for Katherine's birthday dinner and Ben stayed home with our girls. Saturday the girls and I went to park and played. We met up with Katherine and Langhorne who brought their dogs to play. Buttercup just cracks me and the girls up; she actually enjoys going down the slides and running around on all the equipment.

Here's ME on her "troll" bridge. She wouldn't let us pass until we solved her riddle. 



That afternoon we went to the zoo. My mom and grandmother actually met us out there. The zoo was super crowded and we had to park about a mile away. As always the girls had a great time and enjoyed eating Dipping Dots for the first time and ME was a pro at milking the cow.

After the zoo, the girls were pooped! Our friends came over to watch the Carolina game. We enjoyed our fair share of pizza, beer, and football. The gamecocks ended up losing, but it was still a fun night.

Sunday we went to the Pumkin Patch at our church. Rather than cutting the pumkins, we decided to paint them.