Shopping Trips with My Girls

I took several Christmas shopping trips with my girlies this season! I think they might love to shop as much as their mommy! Uh-oh!! :) Ella had to pose with J.B.!

Funny polar bear in the mall! I thought he looked a little vicious!

Stopped for a bribe in Tom Thumb!

My sweet girls!!

Class Christmas Parties 2011

I got to make a quick visit to the girls' and Carson's class Christmas parties! They all had a great time! Emmy wasn't in the picture taking mood...she was too busy!! :)

Ella and her sweet buddy Grayson

When I stopped in to Carson's party he was getting ready to enjoy a cute reindeer cupcake!

Mommy and Carson

Yummy

Ella and Quinny with their reindeer food!

Annual Austin Adventures!!

Chels and I went on our annual shopping/girls trip to Austin/San Marcos the second weekend in December! Oh, how I love this tradition of ours!! We have always managed to keep this tradition alive, and I'm so thankful! This year we had a special guest come along! Miss Abby Paige came, and she did awesome!
We did something a little different this year. We spent Friday night visiting with our friend Beth from waaaaayyyy back in middle school! Then on Saturday Beth and her little girl Lakelyn, shopped in San Marcos with us!! We had a great time!
Before we hit the outlets we stopped off at a neat little store in San Marcos that I learned about from a co-worker. They had this little tree display that we posed in front of!

First stop Friday...Chuy's in Round Rock! We always do that, and I love it! Abby munched on tortillas and baby food and was all smiles! After that we headed to the Round Rock Outlet Mall to shop.


Abby and Lakelyn ready to hit the San Marcos outlets! It was a bit chilly!!

They loved the little riding toys that were positioned every 10 feet at the outlets!

Abby tried on a hat in Janie and Jack! Cute smiley girl!

On Saturday night Chels and I went to Amy's Ice-cream...another of our must-dos! I took this picture of the Lulu-Lemmon store just cause I thought it was great! I could totally move to Austin tomorrow!!

Our little shoppers looking cute and Christmasy!!

Loving the Leaves!

On a perfect Sunday back in November my little 3 had a BLAST playing in the leaves that had fallen in our side yard! They played and played!! This little trio are truly best buds!

Carson and Emma


Sweet sisters!

LOVE!!

Carson and Emma



Emmy and El


Making a leaf angel...I think it's Emma, but I can't be 100% sure! Ha!! I waited too long to post these!

Impromptu Santa (and Mrs. Claus) pic

Last Friday was Sam's birthday, and after school we headed into the mall to pick up his cookie cake from Great American Cookie Co. As soon as we walked in Miss Ella spotted the Santa set up, and she reeeeaaaallly wanted to go talk to Santa. I was all for it, because there was NO line! Carson was too big (or so he thought), and Emma was feeling a little nervous! However, after I discovered that the guy was going to let me take a picture with my phone I talked them into posing! I'm hopeful that I get to take them when they are all wearing something Christmasy, and Cade is with us! Just in case we don't, I thought this one turned out pretty good!!

Kindergarten School Pictures

Back in October the girls got their individual pictures taken at school! I loved how they turned out! Emmy is above and Ella is below! Carson's was good too, but I'm waiting to scan his! The colors on his pic looked crazy when I took a picture of it!

13.1

Today I participated in The White Rock Marathon for the 3rd year in a row, and I'm pretty sure after today's run I deserve at least the next 3 years off!! Ha!! I ran the half this year, and those 13.1 miles will forever be scarred into my memory!!
Compared to some of the "natural runners" I know I'm a wimp, but believe me it was BRUTAL!! It rained heavily the entire time, temperature was around 42 degrees (but felt like 35), and I was chilled to the bone!! I run mostly for exercise, and I'll be the first to admit that I don't love running like some of the gung-ho runners that participate in multiple marathons a year and travel cross country to do them. So mix a long run with weather like that, and I'd rather just skip it!! However, after paying my hefty admission fee, and knowing that 3 friends were relying on me to split a hotel bill with them there was no turning back! So my goal today was to finish! My time wasn't great (1 hour 59 minutes, which is 12 min slower than the 1/2 I did in 2009), but it's done!
I did have some fun on Friday night when I got to share a hotel at The W, and eat in Victory Plaza with some of my buddies from school, who also ran the 1/2. Julie, Jana, Carrie, and I had a great time!! It was the 2nd annual White Rock and W stay for Julie, Carrie, and I!
Of course we posed in the lobby of The W next to their tree!

Before we started! The rain briefly stopped while we waited to start, but picked back up as soon as the race began!

Jana's son drove us down to Fair Park to the start, held our heavy coats while we ran, and let us stop by his office downtown to change clothes in the very swanky fitness center's locker room!! Talk about treadmills with a view!!

Here we are picking up our packets at the race expo the night before the run!