the good. the bad. the ugly.

THE GOOD:
i vacationed for 2 weeks!
week 1: brooke, heidi, and i (along with annie and rhet) drove over to my parent's place in north carolina to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday!

 hands full?

week 2: the fam headed over to hilton head, sc for kevin's medical conference. we had such a fun time! annie just couldn't help herself when she was around the ocean, clothes on or not she was in the water. every day annie, rhet, and i packed up our bag and made trip after trip to the beach, to the pool, then back to the beach again with a little nap thrown somewhere in between. it sure was the life. kev would make it home later in the day and we'd pack up and head right on back to the beach again...and then to the pool.

THE BAD:
i vacationed for 2 weeks...right before i ran a 1/2 marathon. the multiple birthday dinners, creme brulee, key lime pie, cheesecake, and eating out at hilton head were not the brightest things to do before a race. despite my shorts and shirt being a tad (ok, a lot) tighter than normal i finished in 5th place in my age group (out of 125) and had a time of 1:45 (an average of 8 min./mile). So in your face cheesecake!

THE UGLY:
i jumped up a digit in the 10's spot. that's right. i am now 30. that's ok, though, not much has changed. i still look like i'm 22 and get mistaken as my kids' nanny and not their mom (maybe one day i'll enjoy that), use way too many commas and in all the wrong places, over indulge in cheesecake and peanut butter, invest way too much time and emotion in gator football and duke basketball, can't take a nap or sleep in to save my life, dream of duking it out with paula dean and her peanut oil, and still sing all the wrong words to most songs.
and.....life, is, still,, pretty, awesome, (who couldn't use a few more commas in their life?)
bring on the 30s!

keep your dum dums

little miss was a purple dragon this year for halloween, and she was bound to let you know that she was a purple dragon... not a purple dinosaur, not a purple monster. oh, and that she was a "nice one" despite her spikes. 

i made her costume and had it all ready to go the night before halloween when she looked at it and said "where are my wings"? great. so i stayed up until midnight trying to make her wings. it made her halloween, which in turn made mine. which in another turn helped me look past the fact that when allowed to pick her candy she always chose the dum dums. come on girl! go for the chocolate and leave the suckers for the suckers. 

so, here is our "nice, purple dragon":

poor rhet was supposed to be a sushi roll. or if you asked annie he was going to be a rolly polly. he was neither. he was just a cute little 6 month old in a halloween onesie. sorry buddy. next year i promise.

it's fall, ya'll!

and with that, of course, comes a trip to the pumpkin patch! 

the scenery was picturesque, the hayride entertaining, the weather obliging, and most importantly 

all rabbits were still intact after we left.

3 months and some change

and by "change" i mean add 3 more months. poor rhet, he's only my second babe and he's already receiving the fourth child treatment (not that i know anything about that). as in he doesn't have as many pictures as babe #1,  not every milestone is written down, no applause or cheer for pooping, and no regular blog updates. i hope he turns out ok. 

here is me trying to play catch up.

• our sweet boy rhet is still in the 98th%ille for height. all of his pants are now capris. are boy capirs still in? oh wait...they never were. darn. but if anyone can pull it off, he can. 
• rhet is all smiles all of the time. he is such a calm, happy boy and we are REALLY crossing our fingers that he remains that way. he likes just about anybody but will roll over backwards just to look at annie. he adores her and i adore him for doing so. 
• he still looks just like his dad.
• he is starting to suck his thumb despite all of my anti-thumb tactics. that sneaky little boy sucks on his thumb until i catch him and pull it out and stick a binky in his mouth. no thumb suckers in this family!

• he has a little cock-eyed tilt with his head to the left. 
• when he's tired i throw a blanket over my shoulder, pick him up and he just nuzzles his face into the blanket. he then turns his little head so his cheek is resting on mine. favorite 'rhet' moment of the day hands down. 
• he screeches, squeals, blows raspberries and spits his food out with great distance. 
• rhet loves to be tossed around, thrown around, and takes annie's poundings like a champ.
• he makes it into annie's prayers every time: "and thank you for baby rhet-a-rooni".

we love this kid so much!

 do you see the fear in his eyes?

 poor kid inherited kev's white skin and doesn't have a shred of hair on his head

 so he's stuck wearing this goofy hat. sorry rhet.

summer snippets

summer was crazy. summer was fun. summer was busy. but now it's done. 

here's a recap of our summer:

a LOT of this:

multiple visits from this cute face:

and this cute face:

a 4th of July bash with these cuties:

 and a fun filled week with a visit from heidi and her gang.

(texas bernhisels, we just need you guys to come visit to top it off! 

there are blow up mattresses and multiple closets with your name on it!)

a trip to visit mama and papa b in raleigh, nc:

while we were there we went to Durham to see cameron indoor stadium and duke's basketball museum. 

when it was time to go, there was a lot of kicking and screaming....

 but mom and dad promised to bring me back, so i finally let go of the krzyzewskiville sign and left in peace. 

hopefully that next time back will be for an actual game...i'll keep dreaming (or kicking and screaming)

a trip to the zoo:

 several trips to museums and the aquarium:

 help with the yard work

and a few rainy days. 

 hope your summer was just as fun and eventful! let's all go take a nap...or two.

one of these things is not like the others...

one of these things just doesn't belong...

and i believe it is the thing in the middle.