Our New Addition... Introducing Charlotte

Here is our new puppy! We found the perfect little girl! She is a Sheltie/Jack Russell mix about 3 1/2 months old. We drove up to Sanford, NC (which is just outside of Raleigh near where we used to live) to get her today. Nikolas has been begging us for a new dog for over a year but we were just not ready. Over the past few weeks I just started poking around to see what was available then Kerry said, if you find one, let me know... well that was all I needed to begin an all out search. Since Prissy was such a wonderful dog and she was a rescue that we adopted from a client that could not keep her, I had decided I wanted to find a dog to rescue vs. buying another one from a breeder. Especially since the last two we bought from breeders had "issues". So I have spent all week all over the internet searching.

She is so calm, not your typical hyper Jack at all so I think the Sheltie in her calms her down. She is very loving and sweet. She just sat down while we ate dinner tonight and went to sleep. The boys had a ball outside running thru the yard with her this afternoon. Lainie is still a tad nervous about her (in some pictures you might see her up on the playset) but she is warming up to her. I gave her a good bath after we got home to get that kennel smell off and she is even cuter now! I think Nikolas is the most excited about her and will probably be my biggest helper so I think it will help him to have this new "chore" to keep up with. He is so in love with her.

Anyway, hope I am up for this new challenge :) Not like I had all this spare time to devote to a new puppy but I think she will do just fine. Here are some more pictures from today.

The big day arrived...the St. Judes Trike-a-thon!!

Today was the big day, the bike a thon. Lainie was so excited and she it was going to be the best day at preschool ever!! :) I think it lived up to that. The kids had so much fun and most importantly raised a lot of money for St. Judes Children's Hospital. I think we are close to $2000.00 which is just awesome!! It was going to be an outside event but the weather was just too cold and windy today so the wonderful teachers at Lainie's preschool created a track in the fellowship hall for the kids to ride around. They rode their bikes for about 30 minutes and had a great time getting their bikes washed or gas from the gas pump. Then they had snack and got medals. Here are some pictures from our fun!!

All better now

Well Lainie is all better this morning! She last got sick around 7p last night, slept all night! Part of it on the floor in our room then climbed in bed with us around 3am to snuggle. She has ate some toast and goldfish this morning and is back to her ole self!! Yeah, so glad this passed quickly. She would have been so sad if she missed the Bike a Thon tomorrow at preschool.

Running Update: Ran 2 miles today on treadmill but it was a huge struggle to do that. I quit at 2 miles... I was just not in a running mood today I guess. Still bumming about the dog we can't have!! So my quest shall continue.....

And the fun just keeps on keeping on....

 Well I should have known... Now Lainie is sick, been sleeping since 2pm, only waking up to throw up and go back to sleep. Poor girl! Kerry took the boys upstairs to watch a movie so she and I could lay on the floor downstairs and rest and watch the Olympics from last night. It is so hard to watch someone so little get sick like that!! Hopefully this will pass quickly!! No real fever, just the vomiting! Another little girl from her class went home early today like her so something is going thru her classroom. Just hoping she feels well enough to go on Friday for the Trike a Thon!!

On another note.... looking like we may soon adopt another dog!! We (meaning Kerry and I) have discussed it since Prissy died almost 2 yrs ago but we wanted to wait. The boys have been begging for a cute cuddly small dog for many months and I think I found the right one!! Waiting for the paperwork to go thru right now. Kerry really wanted a long hair dachshund that I found (I liked him too but really liked this other one more) and the boys both voted for the cute cuddly puppy! He is about 8 months old (neutered and vaccinated), housebroken already and playful so he sounds perfect. We hope to maybe go see him this weekend. I know I am nuts for adding another animal into this house but I think I want another as much as the kids!!

Editted to add: They just emailed, don't think he is a good match with kids. So mad that they did not put that in his profile!! On all the other dogs they do have warnings... grrrrrrr~!!!

My training is paying off...

I have to say that I am pretty surprised by myself... today I ran for 30 minutes, it was 2.25 miles. This was on the Treadmill, but on Sunday i actually did run outside for 30 minutes and that was about 2.5 miles. Guess thsi program actually does work. I think I just might be ready to run a 5K in April after all!! I felt great for about the first 15 minutes, though to myself... "finally, this is the way you are suppose to feel when you run" well that quickly disappeared and I was back to the "what the heck am I running like this for???" but then I got a second wind and finished up strong! Hoping I can get that "good" feeling back for the entire 3 miles when the time comes in April!!

Alex got his official Bear Badge at his Blue and Gold Dinner

Alex offically got his Bear Badge this weekend along with a Gold Arrow and 2 Silver Arrows. Each arrow represents 10 extra activities that he has completed along with earning his badge. And he got a few more belt loops too. He loves doing all the fun things they get to do, yet we have not gone on one camping trip yet. Maybe this fall it will work out. They always seem to fall on weekends that Kerry just can't take off work. And I am not going with him LOL. He says he wants to keep going and become a boy scout so we will continue to support him on this quest. They had a very nice dinner (catered even this year) and had a Magician come do a nice show and give out balloon animals. It was a fun night for the boys!!

You will notice in the picture that Alex is the only one not wearing his uniform... well we had a laundry mishap that afternoon. It was a busy day with 2 basketball games and that morning I realized his shirt was dirty so before we left for the games I threw it in the washer with Lainie's clothing. We got home and I transferred it all to the dryer but I did notice there was something all in the washer but I think I thought it was a tissue that had been left in a pocket. Well we had about an hour between getting home and needing to get ready. So I pull it all out of the dryer and all the clothing is covered in white and gooey stuff still!! Come to find out as I am pulling stuff out that Lainie and placed one of her pull ups in the dirty clothing and not the trash. Well all that diaper stuff was now all inside my dryer. I had to vaccum it out and rewash everything. Well needless to say I did not have time to rewash his uniform. They understood and were happy that we were there anyway!!

oh and do you think Alex will be taller than me in another couple of years!! Look how tall he is!!

Relay for Life, I have joined a team!

First of all, I need to give myself a WooHoo~!!! I ran 2 miles straight this morning!! So excited!! This is such a huge accomplishment for me!!

Second, because I have started this journey a friend let me know that she was doing the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life 24 hr event in May. I have decided to join her!! Cancer has affected my life and my family's life as well as all my extended family and friends. It touches everyone lives in some fashion every day! Whether it is a close friend, a neighbor down the street or a co worker...everyone knows someone battling this disease, it touches everyone and that is why I am doing this.
Here is a link to my personal page, I plan to update the blog I have there too when I can to keep track of my training and thoughts. http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10SA?px=14212325&pg=personal&fr_id=24654

Alex's test results.... FINALLY a week later!

Well the test indicated NO MONO! Which by now we pretty much figured out LOL oh well, good thing he was no longer sick!

Saving Money!

I am so happy, I saved $90 in coupons and VIC savings today at Harris Teeter. It was like getting a week's worth of groceries for free!! I normally do the bulk of our shopping at Walmart b/c for the items we use the Walmart brands are considerably cheaper even for the name brand with a coupon but I do try to hit Harris Teeter once a month when I see they are having good sales on things or meats (I don't like Walmart meats). This week it is Super Doubles, meaning they double any coupon with a face value up to $1.98. On normal weeks they will double coupons daily up to $0.98 which even with that, sometimes is not cheaper than the Walmart brand or even the same product at Walmart. So our pantry is over flowing as is both my freezers and fridges... will only have to hit Walmart next week for a few items but the bulk of our shopping is done for several weeks!

I don't play the coupon game like some ladies I know on my local Mom's board (they end up paying next to nothing when they go) but I also bought some other things today that were on VIC savings or an item or two that I did not have coupons for but we needed. So clipping coupons and watching for sales does pay off!!

My new background...

So I need input, what do you all think who read this? I saw this background and picked it for 2 reasons...
1.) It is pretty and I loved the colors and 2.) The butterflies symbolize my missing Thyroid and helps me remember the Thyroid Cancer. Hard to believe it will soon be a year since that/this roller coaster started.

Anyway, please let me know what you think ;) Thanks