Happy 50th Birthday MOM!

50 years old, and now 50 years wise... On August 22, 2010, my Mom turned 50!  To celebrate this momentous occasion she ran 18 miles with her running group.  She is training for the Chicago Marathon (race day is 10-10-10).  Of course, we all have our travel limitations and living in SC has made it quite difficult in trying to decide when to come home, what occasions to make, how to say no, etc.  We did not make it home for her big birthday (as we did my Dad's last year).  So, in order to commemorate her big day, my sisters and I gave her very thoughtful gifts.

I headed up the creativity committee assembling a scrapbook of her life, which turned out AWESOME!  Carolyn headed up the jewelry committee and picked out a beautiful Pandora bracelet with a few charms.  Katie gave the overall approval of this big "sisters" gift :)

Of course, before I shipped off my masterpiece, I took pictures for you all to see! 

Happy Birthday Mom!

One Hot Summer, and One Really Bad Blogger!!

Somehow, a month and a half has escaped without a single blog...I am going to blame the weather.  This awful heat must be eating my brain cells!  We have seen more days here in SC in the 90s than I care to discuss.  I am pretty sure we haven't had a week without touching 90 degrees since the end of May (no joke)!  I digress...

This summer, like many others, has been crazy busy!  A few days after coming home from Grandma Chase's funeral, we welcomed more visitors from Indiana!  The Coonce family (Jason's sister) came for a visit!  They drove down (bless their hearts!) and we all got cozy for a few days, as they brought their two girls Larissa and Linnette.  Chase really enjoyed seeing and playing with his cousins.  It was nice having them in our home, and great to be able to share with them a little bit of the southern life!

 Jessica, Linette, Bob, Chase and Larissa!

Cousins!

BIG NEWS:

Of course, as most people know already, our other big summer news is that we are expecting kiddo #2 to arrive around March 24th!  We are SUPER excited!  I was a little nervous about this baby because I was SO ready to have another one, I was praying we wouldn't have to wait months and months before getting pregnant....Luckily for us, it worked out great and we are SO happy to be having a SPRING baby (right before the heat rolls in)...Maybe a St Patrick's Day surprise?!!?  We'll see :)

Summer fun:

Once again, we spent another great weekend with the Easley family... our great friends!  Matthew's Mom lives up in Concord (about 30 minutes away), has a pool, and offered to keep us and the kids entertained a couple weekends ago.  For the first time on a Saturday in a LONG time, it wasn't Africa hot and we were able to enjoy 85 degree overcast weather at the pool!  Chase and Hunter had a blast playing in the pool with their daddy's.  Sara and I enjoyed watching from the swing and chatting.  As I have said before, I am SO grateful to have friends like them so close by!  Thanks again "Aunt" Sara and "Uncle" Matthew (and "Grandma" Darlene!)

 the boys playing

 living the good life

 a little swim bug

happy as a clam!

P.S. Chase showed off his verbal skills and now likes to say "Hunter" Yay!