Happy New Year!

Well, I was right. It's the new year...and I never got a post done in December. Oh well, we had a good month anyway and this long post proves it. Actually the story begins at the first week in November. Okay well, I realize it may be a bit confusing because my last post was made in the middle of November, but remember...pictures don't get downloaded onto the computer for a month after they happen. If you know us (substitute ME) at all, this shouldn't be a big surprise really, but I digress.

Halloween was orginally going to be celebrated in Seattle, but due to scheduling conflicts we postponed the trip until the first week of November. It had been about a year since we'd been up there so we were due. (Actually it was supposed to be our ONLY trip up there this year, but someone's brother talked us into a Christmas trip too! But that's a story for the next blog...next month when those pictures get downloaded.) Well, speaking of someone's brother, Sarah and I took a ride on the ferry to meet him at the Seattle Aquarium one day during our visit. Grandma babysat! It was a fun little outing just mom and daughter. Babies seem to happily take up so much time, that having some "alone time" with the oldest doesn't happen as often as it should. Needless to say, she and I enjoyed each other's company in a new way and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the same time.

So, here we are with my brother at the Aquarium. He is a goof ball! Sarah wasn't quite sure of him at first...remember we hadn't seen him in about a year, but it didn't take her too long to warm up.Scuba man captures rare Sarahfish. Hold your breath! She's diving deep!Family pictureMust Do Items While On The Piers in Seattle:

1. Feed seagulls at Ivars - DONE!

Here are some leaves off the Bloodgood Japanese Maple tree in front of my parents house. What a stunning shade of red!

So that was the Seattle trip! We had a good time although it was a little short, it always is.

I might add that someone's brother also loves to purchase exceptional halloween costumes and finds the best deals at the sales the day after Halloween. So, after several phone calls and blurry pictures back and forth describing many, many costumes we finally settled on some winners for the kids next year. Keep in mind they are a little big still, but you get the idea:

1. Winged Dragon

2. Mermaid - maybe inspired by our trip to the aquarium? Note dragon in the background...On December 6th, we drove down to Kiawah Island which is just south of Charleston, South Carolina so that Kelly could run in the Kiawah Island Half Marathon. It was the culmination of a fundraising and training effort that began back in July. We stayed at The Sanctuary, a very high end resort on the island. This is the front entry, it was decked out in Christmas finery although not particularly visible in this picture, you can see a Christmas tree to the left in this picture...it's bigger than it looks.Sarah and her friend, Maddie, posing on the reindeer in front of the Christmas tree from the above picture.Kelly's race singlet with ribbons attached on the back. The ribbons were sent in by some of my donors with names of people they wanted to honor or remember. It was very inspirational!Sarah and Logan waiting for Mommy to come jogging by at Mile 11. What a great day to run!Here I am at mile 11 with Mary, a friend from Raleigh I met and ran with that day. We were slowpokes together! You can see that there weren't too many people still on the course at our pace.At the finish line with my medal! Ran 13.1 miles in just over 3 hours! Woo-hoo!

There is more to the Kiawah Island story, but I'm going to save it for the next blog. It's more Christmasy anyway and involves the big man. Besides, I'm blogged out for the night...but...

Who could leave out a picture of the Christmas program? Here is Sarah's Kindergarten class singing "Mary had a Baby. Yes, Lord. Mary had a Baby. Yes, my Lord" So cute!! (Oops! not cute...cool!)

Best shot of Logan for the month:

Logan's now got a grand total of 6 teeth, is eating table food, and gaining weight. This is a major improvement compared to 2 months ago when he was on formula full time, spitting half of each bottle back up, and flirting with the bottom of the growth chart after having been at the 75% mark after birth. With several visits to a gastroentrologist and a new medication to keep his digestive systems flowing, he's made a nearly 100% turn around in the spit up problems we were having. Plus he's finally starting to gain significant weight again. Monday we're going in again to check his weight and see how much he's gained the last month. Since most of his clothes have started getting small, I have high hopes that he's made great progress!