St. Jude Half Marathon 2012

The St. Jude Half Marathon was sooo much fun this year!  So many family members ran in it!

Rachel and Eric came in town with their two kiddos and spent a few days with us.

Nonie and Pops also stayed with us!  

My dad was running the Half too, so we would meet up with him on race day.

Payne and Reese look out the window of the Cook Convention Center down town.

The day before the race, we had to pick up our race packets and bib numbers.  

Payne and James couldn't stop looking at the cars on the road.

Adde and Reese manage to look at the camera :)

More watching :)

Playing at home- going for a quick wagon ride while waiting for dinner!

Adde is always so sweet to Reese :)

Just hanging out

Reese and Payne having breakfast.

Love having the Harrisons staying with us!

On Saturday, December 1, the whole family rode to the race together!

Justin, Dad, Me, Rachel, Eric, Dad Payne

before the start of the race.

(and a big thanks to Mom and Mom Payne for watching all the kids while we raced!)

Eric and Rachel

Rachel with Rachel's friend Rachel!  Haha.

Rachel and Me

Dad and Me

(Dad's first half marathon!)

So excited to race this with him!

Justin with his Dad (who also is running a half for the first time!)

Justin and Me :)

And we are off!  (I think this is about half way through)

I had such a great time SPEED walking with my dad.  We talked a ton and had a fantastic experience together.  He is a great racing buddy!

Yep, Dad being silly.  We needed some of that around mile 8/9 :)

Around Mile 10 we see Dad Payne!  Way to go!  Still smiling!

I ran ahead of Dad to capture him running past mile 12!  This is the longest we trained, so just one more mile to go ;)

We see the finish as we make our way into AutoZone Park!

Dad Crossing the finish line!  

 Dad finished in 2 hours 50 minutes!  Amazing first half!

What a great day.  Lots of family racing for St. Jude.

I know this sounds cheesy, but this day totally warmed my heart, and I was teary eyed many times.

I never want to forget it!

Reese is 18 months, James is 3 1/2!

Reese

Height: 30 inches

Weight:  22 pounds

Head:  18.5 inches

Our sweet Reese at 18 months

Favorite Foods:  Cheese, blueberries, chicken nuggets, bananas, scrambled eggs (struggles to eat vegetables)

Favorite Books:  Spot Where are You?  Dora Books

Favorite Shows:  Dora, Mickey Mouse, Shaun the Sheep

Words:  Mama, Dada, Night Night, Ball, Bowl, Apple, Papa, Nonie, (sometimes says Pop and Meme), Go!, Bubble, Uppie, Wa Wa (Lovie/paci), All Done, Want More, Back Pack, Cake, Puppy, Baby, Bye, Hi!

Sleeping:  Naps once a day for 1.5 - 2 hours, Goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps all night for 12 or 13 hours!  Incredible! (occasionally cries but puts herself back to sleep)

She loves her big brother and wants to do exactly the same things he does.

James

(no stats)

Favorite Foods:  Mac n Cheese, peanut butter, blueberries, shredded cheese, grilled chicken, boiled eggs, and of course any kind of chips or candy!  Will still eat lots of raw veggies!

Favorite Books:  Spider Man, Bat Man, Anything about Trains or Trucks, Three Billy Goats Gruff

Favorite Shows:  Diego, Shaun The Sheep, Chuggington, All About Monster Trucks, Chuck

Phrases:  "Tank you God for all Dat", Calls a computer a "Pooter"!, "Watch Me Mommy!"

Sleeping:  AWFUL!  Waking up 1-3 times just about every night.  Sometimes just crying, sometimes screaming.  Sometimes it's that he wants a sip of water, other times he has to go potty, other times he has had a bad dream and is just super delirious.  Other times I can't even figure out what in the world he needs.  

I asked the pediatrician what she thought I should do, and she recommended a sleep test and to keep a journal of daily activities, whether or not he napped, and times of waking and bedtime.  We were about to make the call for a sleep test, when all of a sudden, after one day of journaling, James slept all night.  He did it again the next night, then the next.  Then he had one night of waking up.  Then the next two nights he slept great!  I don't know what happened, but suddenly he has more good nights than bad ones.  AND he is starting to sleep past 7am lots of mornings!  (instead of waking up closer to 6am).

So we continue to pray that this was just a strange toddler stage he had to go through, and now, hopefully it is behind us.  Hooray!

He was really posing for us this evening, so I kept snapping the camera.

Goober :)

I do have to break up many fights during the day, but they sure do love each other!

James just hates it when I have to lay Reese down for her nap.

Boy, I sure love these kids.  We are sooo very blessed.

State Championship

The ECS Eagles made it to STATE!!!!  

The game was at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, and we played Knoxville Webb.

I met all of Justin's sisters in Nashville so we could drop off kids and all ride together.

Sweet sweet sweet Cassie volunteered to take mine and Rachel's kiddos back to her house so they could play with the Fish cousins!  (Thank you Cassie!!!)  That left Katie, Rachel, and me to have a focused, fun, adult time!!

HAHAHA!  A funny happening!  Don't ask!

(And yes, Katie, I did just post this picture!)

I haven't laughed so hard in so long that I had to capture the moment on the blog!

Me, Rachel, and Katie!

Mom and Dad Payne....Go, Fight, Win!  Love that they support our Eagles so much!!

The whole crew including my brother-in-law, Tim, and his son, Caleb.

And here we go!  The football game is about to begin.

Coin toss

Justin was up top in the box

Coach Thornton is down below talking to the defense.

Go EAGLES!!

They played sooo hard....

and at the end of the 3rd quarter we still had not scored.  Webb was an extremely talented team!

Pretty much unstoppable...

Coach Walters regroups the guys and encourages them to get on the board!

Mom, Dad, and Katie watching intently...

Finally!!!  The Eagles score!... not only one time,

But two touchdowns by the end of the game.  So happy it was not a shut out.  

Huddle at the end.

The Eagles played their hearts out.

A bitter sweet moment for the coaches...

So happy to be at STATE,

So sad to have lost.

The coaches go out to talk to their team.

Now for the award ceremony...

Eagles are State runners up!  I'd say that's pretty awesome!

We are so proud of our Eagles, and can't wait until next year to try and do it all over again!