Cocoa Run

Everyone knows that Mike loves to run. He has done a half marathon and goes running almost every day. Recently I started running too. I was really just doing it as part of my daily workout but Mike signed us up for a race in January. Then my dad found a 5K race in Charleston right before Christmas and I figured it would be a good warmup run. My dad and brother decided to run with Mike and I. The race was on December 20th and we woke up that morning to rain.

Pre race pictures :) Don't we all look so happy to be going out to run in the rain! (Mike is the only one who looks like he isn't happy) I felt pretty good that morning and I was excited to run except that before we left I banged my knee on the door frame so that wasn't fun.

It was raining while we were waiting for the race to start but it cleared up during the race which was awesome! The weather actually ended up being nice because it didn't rain but it was cloudy so it wasn't too cold either. After the race it started pouring though. Mike was able to get a nice picture of me finishing the race. I felt good coming in. My knee was hurting a bit but not so bad that I couldn't run and I felt like I could've kept going :)

I finished the race in 35 minutes and 10 seconds which I think is awesome for a first race and I really didn't practice as much as I should've before the race.

Joshua finished the race in 29th place overall and 4th in his age group with a time of 20 minutes and 40 seconds. Josh missed third place by 10 seconds :( but he still did a great job.  My dad finished in 29 minutes and 35 seconds :)

Mike finished 23rd overall and 2nd place in his age group.  His time was 20 minutes and 16 seconds.

I think everyone did a great job! It was a fun race. I was surprised at how much running with other people helped to keep me going and the music helped too.

Congratulations everyone!

Christmas Cookies

Baking Christmas treats is one of my favorite traditions! This year we made cookies and brownies. Mike, my dad and I did the actual baking but Josh came and helped when it was time to decorate the cookies.

Daniel helped by trying to eat the frosting :) We made a ton of cookies but thankfully we gave most of them away. I think the best part of making cookies is eating them though!

Festival of Lights

This was the 25th anniversary of the Festival of Lights. We have been for 22 of those 25 years...crazy! Even though we've been so many times, I still love it and seeing the lights never gets old! This year was different since it was our first time going with Daniel. Even though he is only 6 1/2 months old, it was still so much fun to see his face light up when he saw all the lights. Daniels favorite part was a part of the park that plays Christmas songs and has trees that light up with the music. He loved that but it was hard to get his reaction on video because it was so dark but it was awesome!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2015 is even better than 2014!

Grinch Night

I make an advent calendar at Christmas full of activities that we can do as a family during December. One of Mike's favorite movies at Christmas is the Grinch with Jim Carrey. This year I wanted to do more than just watch the movie so I planned a Grinch themed dinner to eat during the movie. The only negative was that I wanted it to be a surprise so Mike had to hide out in our bedroom all day...it was worth it though.

The dinner :) I think this is definitely going to be an annual tradition.

Mmmm so yummy!

Gingerbread Houses!

Building gingerbread houses is part of our Christmas traditions. This year we were super excited to be able to do it with Daniel! We decided to do a village this year instead of just one house. Daniel was really just interested in eating the houses :)

We sure do love our sweet boy! I love that he has his tongue sticking out :) We didn't let him taste it but I'm sure he would've enjoyed the sugar rush! Next year he can definitely help his dad eat the village.