Little Dancer

For the past three weeks Little Miss Raylee has been having so much fun dressing in her "dance" clothes and going to dance class. If she had her way she would wear that leotard and tutu all day, everday. She is getting so much better at following directions and listening. Bradock insisted that he get a pic with his sister, so here are my two cuties cheesing it up for the camera.

London's Run

This week has flown by with launch for Wave 5 of Water-in-Motion at work, lots of appts, preschool and dance class, Brett finishing up his CASS Homeless shelter dental rotation and another fun run for me. My mom and I had signed up for London's Run back in November, but after running the marathon I was kind of feeling bad for spending the money on yet another run. Oh well, it was for a good cause and I had lots of friends to join in on the fun. Rachel, Sherry, Ashley, Mom and I were excited to start the race together. I ended up running the half marathon in 1:52:05, which is an 8min 33sec/mile pace...pretty excited about that result! My mom actually came in second for her age group at 2:06:15 and got an awesome metal. It was so fun to see Brett, Bradock and Raylee, my dad, the Halls, Gonzalez's and Tawna cheering for us at the finish line...love the family support! The kids loved all the fun kid activities that was set-up at Schnepf Farms...especially the bouncy toys and petting the alligator and turtle.

FINISHER!!!

After four months of constant training I finally finished my very first MARATHON! It is so nice to be able to finally say that. Rachel and I have had so much fun doing this whole journey together. We decided that we couldn't just run the P.F. Chang's marathon we had to do it in style. So we bought matching shirts and with the help of my awesome sister we decked them out in Rachel and Donnie fashion. Seriously, I think we tripled our fan base with our matching t's...we needed all the encouragement and cheers that we could get.

The night before race day I could not go to sleep. My mind was going crazy thinking about the next day and my anxiety level was really working overtime. With little sleep I was up early Sunday morning so I got ready, ate a little pre-race snack and was out the door by 5:45a so Dave could drop Rachel and I off at the starting line in downtown Phoenix. By the time we were dropped off we had about an hour before go time, so we tried to stay as warm as possible with several bathroom trips (nerves and just to make sure we were good to go) and streching as we awaited the time to get in our assigned corral and begin our crazy run. The countdown began and at 7:40a we were movin and groovin as we made our way down the streets of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. There were so many people, which made it that much more fun and exciting. Every mile there was a band playing and all along the way different high school cheer squads were there to motivate and encourage us...so cute and so fun! There were some crazy people out there. In fact, for most of the race we had a guy running next to us that was completely barefoot...no shoes...no socks...no nothing. Just his bare, black feet hitting the asfault...CRAZY!

You know this race really got me thinking (you kind of have a lot of time to do that when running a marathon) about how much love and support went into that big day. I had an awesome friend/running partner who stuck through this whole thing with me and pushed me to be better and stronger than I thought was possible. I have a husband who not only cheered me on during the entire race, but has been cheering me on for the last 4 months. No complaints...just loving support. My dad with his bright yellow shirt (which was awesome because there was no missing him) was there waving his big hands (those same hands that have held me, helped me and loved me for 28 years) and clicking away crazily on his camera as we ran by him. All the fun text messages I received...even if some of them were telling me I was crazy...but AMAZING! It was truly an experience I will never forget and one I will always cherish. I love and am so proud of that medal I got yesterday, which on the back it reads "FINISHER...I ROCKED!" I have crossed off yet another item on my bucket list, but I think it will definitely be one that I will be re-visiting...too much fun not to do again.

Preschool Stuff

Mr. B is still loving preschool and has done and learned so much in his short few months there. Here are a few pics of him and some of his favorite projects. Bradock's teacher has still been really concerned with his muscle weakness in his hands, so an OT Therapist came and observed him the other day. I posted the results of that evaluation, but in summary they concluded that he does have weak muscles in both his hands and arms/shoulders. We have some fun new activities that we will be doing on a regular basis to strengthen those areas. Otherwise, he is doing fantastic and we are so proud of what a great boy he is.

Oh and I must add that Mr. B graduated from Nursery at church and is now a full-blown SUNBEAM! I can't believe how big he has gotten. He is such a sweet, loving boy and loves his new "big boy" class. He loves singing in sharing time and loves his teachers Sis. Sanders and Sis. Smith.

Give a little "Whoot Whoot"

I just new this year was going to be a good one...and so far it has not disappointed. We have been anxiously awaiting for Brett's National Dental Board exam results and whaddya know...all his time away and grueling hours of studying totally paid off becaue he passed, passed, PASSED!! We were just a little bit excited. The kids and I are so proud of Brett for working and studying so hard. We just knew he could do it. Now Brett just has to finish up these next 4 months of clinical rotations and pass his licensing exam and so long dental school. We can't wait for his graduation in June.

We had a little celebration this weekend starting with tickets to see Mesa High students perform "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Mesa Community Arts Center. My mother-in-law got quite a few tickets, so a lot of the Flaherty crew was able to go and enjoy...sorry to those that missed out because it was seriously an awesome musical. Saturday night Brett and I decided to plan a "Family Fun Night"...really we were just too cheap to get a babysitter for the second night in a row...so we took the kids to dinner and the movie, Secretariat. Suprisingly, the kids did so good that I think we will actually do it again. It's kind of nice when you go to the $2 theatre because it cost all four of us less than we would pay for one ticket at Harkins or AMC. Now don't get me wrong, I do like my date nights without the kids, but once in awhile it's fun to go out as a family.

So Long Twenty-Ten

Raylee decided to end the year with a bang and get the 24-hour projectile vomit and high fever. Luckily it came and went just like 2010 did. However, our New Year's Eve sure was a blast and made all the ups and downs of this last year seem like just great memories. The kids spent the night at the Flaherty's for the big cousin sleep-over and we spent the night with the Fort's, Colburn's 1 and 2, and my brother and his girlfriend, Ashley. We went to dinner at Cantina Laredo at San Tan, which was absolutely amazing food...I highly recommend. Then the Fort's, Justin, Ashley, and Brett and I went bowling. We were going to spend the night at the Tempe Block Party to see good ol' Jimmy Eat World, but I'm a wimp and the cold weather kept me away. Bowling was soooo much fun, though! There was some serious mad skills shown that night. We then ended the night playing games back at our house...The Last Word is a really fun game...Rachel you rocked it! Anyways, it's been a heck of a year, but I'm glad to welcome 2011!! Can't wait to see what's in store for this year.

Here's little Raylee girl with her "Throw-Up" bucket. She would just carry it around with her. You know when this girl is sick when she actually lays down on the couch and sleeps through most of the day. I hated that she wasn't feeling good, but she sure was one chill little child. I knew when she was better when she popped up from sleeping, demanded pancakes and threw her high heels on and started traipsing through the house like she owned the place...yup Raylee was back and ready to go.