Happy Halloween

An awesome dad

and a wonderful husband

Happy 30th Birthday

Fried Food and Farm Animals

We made a trip to the North Carolina State Fair on Saturday. Its a 2.5 hour trip to Raleigh so we prepared for our first day without an afternoon nap. And I will say Holden did awesome. The fried food and people watching probably helped. We hit the fair with some friends that have never been to a state fair (were they in for a treat).

Holden loved the animals, we hit all of the livestock barns and saw a steer get auctioned off to the local grocery store, Harris Teeter. And we walked through the rabbit shed and a petting zoo. He was so excited feeding carrots to the goats he couldn't contain himself. He kept jumping up and down and squealing. I tried to catch it in a photo but the photo doesn't do it justice.

The boys, Jeremy and Jay, were overly excited about the fair food. Here is a list of items that were purchased and sampled (or consumed in entirety).

• Fried frito pie
• Chocolate covered bacon (pig lickers)
• italian sausage
• gyro
• corn dog
• fried oreos
• funnel cake
• fried snickers
• fried mac & cheese
• krispy kreme bacon cheeseburger (see photo)
• fried reese's peanut butter cup
• fried cookie dough
• corn on the cob
  

The favorites were the snickers, oreos and frito pie. And I would say 4 adults consumed way more fried food in one day than we have all eaten in 6 months combined.It was an awesome day even with the 5 hours of driving.

Race for the Cure

Let me start by saying I had a goal. For a long time I have said I hate running. But wasn't really sure if I hated running because I wasn't good at it or if I really hated it. For years I have watched folks running in the neighborhood secretly envious that they could run and I couldn't. This spring I decided with encouragement (or a little kick in the ass) from Jeremy that I would set a goal to follow the Couch to 5K training program, sign up for a race and if I still hated running after the race I could say I tried. I also personally wanted to complete the 5K before I turn 30 in November.

Since May I have been running and today I completed my first 5K.

49.38

My time for finishing my first competitive 5k run. It was the longest and farthest and largest hills I have run. I am proud to say I ran the entire race even if it was slower than I thought. I was finishing my first mile when the first runners were crossing the finish line, but no matter I DID IT. And I LIKE RUNNING.

So I'm going to keep running and set a new goal. I'm going to find another race to sign up for in November/December and set to shave some time. Considering 5 minutes but open to suggestions. Also considering maybe trying for a faster mile like 12 minutes.

Festival in the Park

We went to the annual Festival in the Park this weekend. It was hot but a good time. Holden went on his first carnival ride. The first of many I presume. He was pointing at the ride but Jeremy said he didn't think it was as cool as before he got on. He did like the giant slide however.

Holden is pointing to the carnival ride Holden on the carnival ride, not so sure anymore

He loved the giant slide

For Your Enjoyment

A Dancing Fool

Go Big Red!

Holden is all set for college football season. Our very own Lil' Red to help cheer on the Huskers this year.

18 Months

Holden is a year and a half old and since he is fast approaching 19 months I thought I'd try and squeeze in an update. Now everyone seems to think its ok to ask when were having another baby, 18 months must be the magic number. No answer on the homefront yet, we are still on the fence.

He is 23 lbs and 32 inches. He went from the 10% to 50% in height, grew over 4 inches in 6 months. We thought he could reach a lot more things now a days. Everything else, doctor gave him a thumbs up.

He is getting pretty good at using a fork but not so much with the spoon. He is also very good at throwing temper tantrums, actually had his first timeout at home last night for hitting dad and laughing.

He is a fan of music and becoming a picky eater. All of that hard work to make sure he had lots of different kinds of fruits and veggies when he was smaller doesn't matter anymore, we are lucky if he eats his green beans. We also have found out that he doesn't like his food to touch unless he does it. Like put his banana in ketchup.

He is quite the talker and even though probably no one other than Jeremy and I can understand, he has a pretty good vocabulary. I would say only about 12 words are actually understandable to others, and some two syllable words like 'nana' for banana and 'ditty' for kitty and he is pretty good at 'bubble'.

Bath time and playing outdoors are probably tied for favorite activities. The separation anxiety seems to be waning but the shyness with new folks in the house is very strong. Even with friends that have been around since he was itty bitty.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I promise to get some up soon.