Rock Encore

I received a really cool surprise in the mail...a bonus medal from the Rock 'n Roll Marathon series.  If you run more than one race with them throughout the year, then you earn bonus medals.  Here is what I received for running two events with them in 2012 (the Half in Dallas in March and the Half in San Antonio in November):

Christmas 2012

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year!  Mimi & Papa and MayMay & Poopah all came to celebrate with us.  Jackson had one specific request for Santa, a rainbow motorcycle.  I spent many hours trying to figure out how to make that a reality for him.  In the end I convinced him that his new multicolored bike was a very special rainbow motorcycle from Santa.  He seemed ok with that.  The other really memorable moment from this years Christmas was the snow.  We got about 4 inches of snow throughout Christmas afternoon.  I am pretty sure that this is the first Christmas where I have seen it snow on Christmas Day.  Here are some fun photos from the festivities:

Auntie Mal Mal

Mallory came for a weekend visit.  She hadn't seen Jackson since the summer, it was so cute watching them together.  We had such a wonderful weekend!

Santa Claws

We bought a little santa hat for the kitty cats, who knew it would provide hours of entertainment as we dressed them up and took photos.  Here are a few of my favorites:

2012 Dallas Marathon

Marathon #9 is officially in the books.  I surprised myself with the desire to run another marathon.  I think I wanted to see if my body was still capable of it.  I ran 700 miles during my training program, lots of really early Saturday morning runs before soccer practice or vacation days to squeeze those miles in.  I made it through the training healthy and strong.  Unfortunately, I caught a cold two days before the race.  I've never raced anything longer than a 5k while under the weather.  I was at a loss on what to do.  But after all those training miles, there was no other choice but to lace up my shoes and pray for the best.  It was miserable.  The weather was less than ideal, very warm and humid.  At mile 9, my heartrate started elevating and I wasn't able to keep it under control even by considerably slowing my pace.  At mile 12, I started thinking about what it would be like to drop out of the race.  At mile 19, I had to start walking.  I hate walking in a race.  But I figured I could walk to the finish if I had to, until I figured out how long that would take.  At mile 20 I had a beer, it was disgusting.  At mile 23 or so I realized that I could run to the finish line, so I gutted it out.  As I crossed the finish line I had a very difficult time catching my breath, it was a pretty scary few moments, but thankfully I was able to get it under control.

In the end my time was terrible, 24+ minutes slower than what I was trained for.  I'm not sure how much of that was related to my cold or the weather.  But together it made for a very miserable day.  In the end I am happy that I gutted it out on the course, but I don't think I will ever try to race while under the weather again.

2012 Class Photo

Here is Jackson's class photo.  I have no idea how they get all those kids to sit still for that photo.

Pretty Princess

Jackson and I went to a friend's holiday party and cookie exchange.  While I visited with Sarah in the kitchen, Jackson made himself at home with all the fun girl toys that he doesn't normally get to play with.  At one point cute little Anna Grace came to find me to ensure I was aware of what Jackson was up to.  This is how I found him, he was have such a blast playing dress-up with the tiaras and jewelry.  

Arboretum Photos

Steve got some great photos of Jackson when we were at the Arboretum last week.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Jeremy & Nicole's Engagement Party

Back in October we traveled down to Austin to celebrate Jeremy's and Nicole's engagement.  It had been way to long since we had seen Jeremy and it was a great opportunity to meet Nicole.  We had such a great time!  Here are a few fun photos:

Football Saturday

A few fun photos of my Michigan boys:

Dallas Arboretum

We went to the Dallas Arboretum today.  Mimi and Papa had never been and they really wanted to see it.  It was super crowded, probably all the people wanting to walk off their turkey.  We had to park in the remote lot and riding the bus to the Arboretum was the absolute highlight for Jackson.  The entire time he asked when we would be getting back on the bus.  Jackson's least favorite part was seeing Santa.  He is still very afraid of him.  He doesn't like his beard or his bell.  After a very tearful photo with Santa, Jackson realized that he forgot to ask him for what he wants for Christmas.  So we went back to see him.  No tears this time.  But there was a request for a motorcycle.  A rainbow one.  Awesome.

Happy Turkey Day

Mimi and Papa came up to spend Thanksgiving with us this year.  Jackson was so happy to spend a long weekend with them.  We all ate way too much and had plenty of fun.  Here is Jackson's turkey art:

Crazy Hair

Jackson's crazy hair after bath:

San Antonio Zoo

After the Half Marathon Jackson, Mimi and I headed to the San Antonio Zoo.  It was Jackson's first trip to the San Antonio Zoo and my first trip in many many years.  We had a blast!  Jackson's favorite part was the petting zoo.  He LOVED the goats, which is quite a change in the past six months (he was so scared of the goats at his birthday party).  A very close second was the train, a nice 20 minute trip around the park.  What fun!  His least favorite part was the butterfly house.  He was so scared of the butterflies, he thought for sure they were going to bite him.

San Antonio Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon

Jackson and I went to San Antonio this weekend for the San Antonio Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon.    It was a tough one.  The temperature was 72 at 5AM, and mid 80s at the finish line.  I don't race well in the heat and humidity, so it was a full fight to the finish.  My goal was to finish between 1:40 and 1:45; I finished in 1:44 and I'm very pleased with it considering the conditions.  Right where I need to be for the December Dallas Marathon.

School Photo - Fall 2012

Here is Jackson's school photo:

A Few Fun Photos from Dinner at Babe's

We go to Babe's for dinner occasionally, great home cooking.  Jackson loves all the chickens and the old farm equipment.  We took some fun photos on our last trip:

Soccer Party

Now this was the part of soccer that Jackson really enjoyed...the end of the season party!  The party was at GattiTown and Jackson had way to much fun.  He rode the carousel, the pirate ship (not a fan), played a ton of games and loved the motorcycle!

Halloween!

Jackson picked out his costume this year.  He wanted to be a fireman.  I was very excited about Halloween this year since it was the first year where he really "got it".  We went down the street to the block party for a little bit and then we went Trick or Treating.  Jackson had a blast!

Fun Fall Photo

We had dinner tonight at a new pizza joint in downtown Frisco.  And afterwards we saw this cute photo opportunity:

Wine Weekend

Sarah and I took a trip to the hill country this past weekend to taste some Texas wine.  We had such a blast!  My favorite was Grape Creek, probably because I really enjoyed the cellar tour and tasting.  I learned a lot more about wine and found a few good bottles to bring home.  I can't wait for our next trip!

Scott took a couple of funny pictures of Jackson while I was gone.  The first was at his soccer game and the second one was after nap.  We still aren't sure where he found the mittens and gloves.

New Bed

Here is finally a good picture of Jackson's new bed.  He still sleeps with 5 million stuffed animals.  And books.  And cars.  And whatever other toys he can find.

Playtime

These photos make me giggle.  The first two are his "office" and the third is him lining up his cars (something we see him do very frequently).