THESE GIRLS. TODAY.

well, minus one of them, but I REFUSE TO ACCEPT that she isn't coming, so she will remain in the pictures.

*sniff*

*SOB*

NINE YEARS. WOWZERS.

happy anniversary to us!

it's been nine years full of ups and downs. but you are mine and i am yours and we're in this for the long haul. i truly believe god brought us together and he will continue to bless our marriage as he has for the past nine years.

love you, dave!

HENRY AND HIS APPLE: A SERIES OF PICTURES.

I RAN A 5K AND DIDN'T DIE.

almost, but i didn't.

let me preface this by saying, I AM NOT A RUNNER. not even close. i think i would like to maybe some day maybe try to run more, maybe. but i'm not a runner now, period. i haven't been on a run in years and years.

but the school sent a flyer home about a 5k to raise money for teachers and it was a weekend dave was home and ya know, why not?

so i asked my mother-in-law, who is a runner, if she wanted to do it and yes, of course she does.

now, my mother-in-law is not your typical mother-in-law. the woman is in SHAPE. she runs FIVE MILES A DAY, people. it's just not natural. and rides her bike, and does jillian and a body former. she's not normal.

so anyway. i sorta started dreading the race the week before. and then i started questioning my sanity at the starting line. and then i started running. and oh geez, what was i thinking?

i didn't even try to keep up with barb. she sprinted on ahead of me while i just tried to keep pace with some dude in a red shirt in front of me. my goal was to finish. to try not to walk, only run. if i could do it in 30 minutes, great.

mile 1 - seriously, i've only been running a mile? two more???

mile 2 - i am a fool, a total fool. if i squint i can almost see barb's navy and orange workout pants ahead of me. way ahead of me.

at some point they passed out water, which was fun. it broke up the run a bit. and then i passed red-shirt guy, so that was cool.

finish line - i did it!! i didn't walk! i did it in 27 minutes! goals = met.

and then i went behind a truck and dry-heaved for a few minutes.

oh, and barb totally WON for the ladies 50+ division!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and beat me. by an entire minute.

shame, shame.

PICTURE DAY.

never let it be said that hallie doesn't rock her own style.

today is picture day at school and she is STOKED. she spent a lot of time perfecting her outfit and hair accessories. and then she put on lipgloss.

people, this is hallie to a "t". ENJOY:

i'm sorry for the blogging break. i just haven't been in the mood, which is weird because i love to blog. this summer hasn't been my favorite. but we're rebounding into fall and i have lots and lots to look forward to.

also,

last night i opened my eyes and saw a man standing next to my bed. i did the normal thing and pretended like i didn't see him, closed my eyes and just rolled over until i thought he had left our room. and then i quietly, quietly poked dave, trying to gently get his attention. unfortunately, it just ticked him off and he yelled at me, which really defeated the point of quietly getting his attention.

anyway,

i whispered - someone is in the house! and he leapt out of bed like a good husband and searched the house while i followed behind him with a kitchen knife. and apparently i was wrong. but he was SO GOOD to humor me, especially when i couldn't sleep still about an hour later and made him get up with me AGAIN because i thought i heard a noise coming from the monitors in henry's room. and then again when i asked him to search our bathroom again.

it was SO REAL. i should have realized it was a dream, but it was so vivid - i can see just what he looks like - short and stocky, black shorts and NO SHIRT, haha. and hairy.

and this morning we found my phone and dave's computer in his suitcase. so i must have had quite a night or sleep walking. or maybe the shirtless man moved our things?????

SOAKED. AND MORE TEEF. AND FRIENDS. AND SUCH.

this is how my morning started.

except it was pouring buckets when it happened.

but who cares?! because IT WAS POURING BUCKETS!

yee-haw!!! bring it!

in other news, hallie lost her other top tooth. it is pretty dang adorable. i never knew i wanted a kid with missing top teeth. she slurs her words and everything :)

(sorry, crawfords, she wouldn't pull it at your house!)

also, i went to a wedding that had donuts for the cake. and a chocolate fountain. and was at a winery. ftw.

and got to hang out with these peeps.

and this guy is home (until tomorrow, but who's counting?)

all caught up?

yes.

VIDEO ROUNDUP.

we take lots of video to keep dave in the know about our daily nonsence. and believe me, they are priceless. i love watching these videos of our normal, everyday life.

hallie will someday be a world-famous singer (haha).

or perhaps a cowgirl on a ranch in wyoming?

and henry will be professionally cute.

the end.

TOOF FAIRY.

well, we recently had a visit from the tooth fairy.

a top tooth this time. very exciting. funny for me though, because i can look ahead to the huge chompers she's going to have. dave and i both have large and in charge front teeth, so she's doomed. or blessed, whatever.

this front tooth was a long time coming. and then finally she wiggled and wiggled until it was juuuuuust almost out. i mean, she could seriously stick it straight forward with her tongue. GAG.

so we put some floss on that sucker and i yanked it out. it took a lot of yanks (and screams) but she insisted and out it came!

with a lot of blood!

lots of blood!

so gross.

and the tooth fairy brought two dollars. say what?! how generous!

(check out those pics...THREE outfit changes? i promise they all were taken on the same night!)

COWGIRL HALLIE.

well, we have a cowgirl on our hands.

and her horse room is (mostly) finished! I will post finished pictures, but here's what we have so far:

i'm realizing now i didn't take pictures of two of my very favorite things! i will tomorrow, for sure. also, the picture above is so NOT a finished product. geesh, keri. (that is hallie's art project, btw).

anyway, she's so into horses that we signed her up for one horseback riding lesson. my thought was that she might be too scared or too distracted to keep doing it.

so we would start with one and see if she liked it. and then if she liked it, we would sign her up.

sign me up, mom, she says.

she is hooked.

HE WANTS A KISS.

and this is how he shows you.

gravy, this kid.

WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING INSTEAD OF BLOGGING.

we are re-doing hallie's room. HORSES. yes, horses. yeesh.

how do you make a cute little girl's room "horses" without looking like a western puked on it? or without going too overboard with the horses knowing that she will change her mind next week?

it's tricky, i tell ya.

her wants: a sky with clouds (whaaaa?), pictures of baby horses and a big horse.

my wants: organization. shelves. a place to put all of her many, many things.

what we did: blue walls, clouds handpainted by moi, a grouped-by-color bookshelf, stuffed animal net/hammock/thing, floating shelves, lots of bins and storage, a new toy chest, painted her headboard and dresser, added a mirror, put up a giant horse decal thing-y, new horse sheets, framed pics of baby horses from etsy and added a storage unit of drawers to her closet.

and it's done....mostly. i stayed up late lots of nights doing lots of stuff. and things are finally coming together. the headboard is still not on and the mirror is not yet hung up. and neither is the stuff animal net/hammock/thing. but it's really, really close.

and here are some pictures of the progress:

i'm not gonna lie - it sucked getting all of these stickers off the dresser to be painted. and sanding the crayon? not my favorite.

book wrangling.

color coding.

new shelves!

storage! organization!

yay for chalkboard labels!

clouds. boo-ya.