Mountain Sports Festival

Saturday afternoon, I headed towards downtown to enjoy music with Maggie, Justin, and their two boys. The Mountain Sports Festival was holding free music all afternoon and evening. What two better words go together besides live music and free?! After enjoying the sights, sounds, and sweat for a few hours we packed up our stuff to head out to dinner. Before heading home, we enjoyed a mexican meal in the Biltmore area before calling it a night. By the way, this family is expecting baby #3 in October! Yeah!

Baseball Birthday Celebration

In the past two weeks, my friends Ann and Hollie had birthdays. We haven't all been together to celebrate yet, so I suggested that we catch a Saturday night baseball game together. This would be kid friendly in hopes that everyone could attend. We had a good turn out but missed the Anders family, the Johnsons family, as well as Mandi and Ryan. A group of us ate at Wild Wings then some of us walked over the game. It was nice to enjoy some baseball and each others company. Happy late Birthday to Ann and Hollie both!

GOTR

Since the end of February, I have been helping with the Girls on the Run program at our school. We met Wednesday and Thursday afternoons until 4:15 with 15 girls. The 4 coaches taught lessons on self- confidence, bullying, self-image, saying no to drugs, and how to help other friends. In addition to these lessons the girls were training to run a 5K. This past Saturday was the moment these girls had been waiting for and I think it was everything they imagined and more! We arrived Saturday morning to participate in the New Balance Girls on the Run 5K. There was a booth set up to get your hair sprayed super bright colors and more ribbons, bows, and headbands than you could imagine! One 5th grade girl on our team convinced each coach to get their hair done by these young beauticians! She even convinced our principal to participate and her dark hair was brightly sprayed with hot pink! I ran with a 3rd grader who I taught in Kindergarten and kid-sat 2 summers. She did awesome pushing herself up the hills, only walking a few steps before picking her starting point. We would walk maybe past three driveways before she picked out the next mailbox, stop sign, or driveway to begin running again. My friend Anna and two of her 3rd grade teammates showed up with homemade shirts to cheer on the girls! They also handed out roses at the end to their group of 3rd graders. Blair, Anna's husband was a running buddy for a girl in Anna's class. She was pumped to have "Mr. Holloway" as her buddy. All those times she struggled through practices was worth it in the end when she turned to him and said, "Will you be my buddy next year please?" All the girls did awesome and I am certainly proud of their hard work!

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Update on Pattie-cake

After Pattie and I spent 40 minutes one morning trying to get her back in the house, I had to take desperate measures! The good thing in all this was she never left my yard. So, she is now the proud owner of a shock collar. Luckily, I have only had to use the shock part once. She quickly learned to either come back when she hears the beep or come before the beep had to be used. My aunt Laura sent me a box of their old dog's stuff. It was like Christmas! We now have big bowls that I had my eye on in the stores, more durable toys, lots of leashes, and the most amazing invention for dog walking EVER! Although Pattie has gotten better, she still pulls terribly during walks or runs. I went walking with Anna who uses the gentle leader on her dog, Clemson. I realized there was one in the box. This past week I tried it and all I can say is AMAZING! It was like a hands-free walk for me! I think Caroline could even walk Pattie now and no one would get dragged down! So Tuesday of last week we used the gentle leader and Thursday I put it on and stepped foot into the woods with Ann and her dog Chloe. We were going on a 3ish mile jog in the woods where Chloe is allowed off the leash. After 3 minutes into the run, I decided to try Pattie off the leash. She was the leader of the pack! She would run ahead with Chloe but stop just before getting out of sight or either come back to check on us. She loved the freedom of chasing Chloe but knew her job was to keep me safe! I will certainly be going on more of these evening runs! In addition to all this fun, Pattie has been taking some tests. I have been leaving her out of the crate in the evenings or weekends when I've been gone for a few hours. She has made it up to 4 hours until yesterday. She spent the morning out of the crate lasting 4 hours then was left out for 5 hours was I gone in the evening. Pattie did awesome! I think both times she drank from the toilet, but so far nothing has been chewed up except the toilet paper so I took it off the roll this time. Really the toilet paper just looks like the clawed at it just to prove her point. Either way, I've been so proud of her and hope this good behavior continues!

Mandi Gets Engaged!

After 11 years of dating, Mandi and Ryan are engaged! We celebrated Wednesday night with some of the girls for dinner. Mandi (the one with the brown jacket on) and I have worked together for the past 5 years. She has certainly added some humor to my days at school! Now we wait for the big celebration sometime next year!

cheep, cheep

I took down the fern hanging on the porch yesterday to give it a little drink of water. As I sat it down, I noticed this tiny nest filled with four blue eggs. I bet the mama bird was watching me intently ready to strike at any moment! I'll certainly keep my ears open for the cheeping and hopefully I can post updates soon!

My Mom

I was able to spend mother's day weekend up here with my sweet mom. She arrived Friday night to a lasagna and salad dinner prepared by yours truly! We spent the evening playing with Pattie and sitting outside enjoying the weather. Saturday morning, I took her out to eat breakfast at Sunnypoint Cafe. (Which if you are a fan, they are in the running for the best breakfast by Good Morning America. You can vote May 15th, I believe.) After a scrumptious breakfast, we browsed Target and World Market before heading home. We played in the yard for a bit before deciding to head to Carl Sandburg's house. After traveling down the wrong road for awhile, we finally found our destination! We walked around the lake, the house, and the barn before heading to a few shops in the Flat Rock area.
We made a quick stop to pick up a few movies and a few more groceries before arriving back home for the movie marathon! We decided leftovers would make for a good dinner before popping some popcorn for the second showing of the evening. We watched It's Complicated, took a break and played outside with Pattie, then came back inside for Julia and Julie. Sunday morning, we ate our leftover breakfast with a few new extras and drank coffee leisurely. After church, I made mom lunch before she had to head back home. During our lunch of salmon, sweet potato, and sauteed squash, onion, and zucchini we watched the last move Love Happens.
We had wonderful weather and were able to enjoy being outside with Pattie while enjoying each others' company. I am truly blessed to have such a loving mother.

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Big Brothers

I'd just like to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful big brother! Thanks for taking care of your little sis all these years and for being such a great role model. I love you!

Growing Up

I took Pattie to the vet today. She hasn't been since the summer when she had her girlie surgery. Well, I actually took her a few months back to see how much she weighed before buying more heartworm and flea medicine. Anyway, I was totally dreading the experience based on past visits. However, this one was so much smoother! She never jumped on anyone that walked by or in the room and she even laid down while waiting in the room! She now weighs 44 pounds! They said she was ready to advance from puppy food to adult food. My baby pup is growing up!

On another note, while walking to lunch today here was my conversation with one of my kids:
Kaden: Is Mrs. Watkins married?
Me: Yes, she is married to Mr. Watkins.
K: Oh, I thought you were married.
Me: No, not yet
K: Well, you should find someone to marry so he can be Mr. Gribble.
Me: Laughing I told him that I would have a new last name one day when I met the right person.

Looking a little bit confused, he continued to lead our line to lunch.
Oh the thinking of five year olds!