The Benders: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Country Music Half Marathon

All my dad wanted for his 60^th birthday is to participate in the County Music Half Marathon with his three daughters. Last Spring, we all signed up to walk in this 13.1-mile race.

When Susan found out the exciting news about Benjamin’s arrival, she had to back out, but Emily, Dad, I trained (sort of!) for the big day.

Saturday morning, Ryan dropped us off at the Start line, and we huddled with 31,000 other participants to begin. Since we were walking the Half Marathon, there were a lot of other racers who started before us. It ended up taking us 50 minutes to even get to the start line to begin our walk! We joked that by the time we started, some runners had already gone 10 miles – CRAZY!

We had a great time on the course. It was a gorgeous day and we spent the time talking and looking at the beautiful city of Nashville (so much has changed in the 6 1/2 years since we have been gone!)

We walked for over three and a half hours - 3:42:48 to be exact – and were greeted at the finish line by Ryan, Wesley, Jackson, Philip and my Mom! What a great way to end a picture perfect day!

Now granted this was before the race began, but seriously? Should anyone look this good at an outside exercise event? I love this picture!!!

Now, this is more like it!

Emily looks great, but I look like I have been sweating for 10 miles! Only 3.1 more to go!

About to cross the finish line

We have just spotted Ryan!

And we cross! Dad would probably like me to note that he finished 1 second before Emily and me - Way to go, Dad!

13.1 miles!!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Too cute not to include!

On our way to Nashville

The Royal Wedding

The alarm clock rang - 5:00 am! I hit snooze twice and then headed downstairs to a quiet house to begin the Royal Wedding festivities. As I turned on the television, I saw a handsome Prince William step out of the car...the wedding day fun had begun!

I sat in awe and watched with millions (maybe billions!) as Prince William married his Princess. I was able to watch in peace until the ceremony itself started and Philip & Jackson woke up. All three of us watched until Wesley came down and it became a family affair.

With all the Mommy Talk about the wedding, I have a few "kid quotes" I had to share:

I ran upstairs to get a few things done during a lull in the festivities. Jackson and Wesley stayed downstairs. It was about time for the Royal Kiss and Jackson yelled up to me: "Mom your weather is back on!"
Jackson ran into the playroom at Mimi & Pop Pop's house to find all the adults huddled around the TV watching the taped ceremony. His response : "Oh, we have that video at home!"
Ryan, a friend from the YMCA, asked his mother as she watched the coverage "Do we even know these people?!"

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Spring Visit with Uncle Melvin

Uncle Melvin stopped by for his Spring Visit tonight. We love it when he comes to town! He always makes time to come see us and we really love our dinners with him.

Tonight, we feasted on HoneyBaked Ham and a potato casserole that Wesley made (yummy!!).

He was able to capture a few pictures on his phone from the night:

Thanks, Uncle Melvin for always braving the Atlanta traffic to travel up to Cumming to see us! We love you!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Random Shots of my boys

Saturday, Wesley got to sleep in and I took the boys on a breakfast run! Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks - Fun!

Most Tuesdays at work, I can expect a cute text about 3:00ish. Here are two of my favorites:

Most Tuesdays, Wesley cooks so he usually sends me a picture of the boys enjoying a cookie from Publix!

Helping with the recycle

Jackson really wanted to wear a giraffe outfit on this day, but he doesn't own a giraffe outfit.

So...I put one of Philip's on him. He was happy in his 18 month top and shorts!

Dance Party in their giraffe outfits

Philip is our adventurous climber!

Jackson never did this!

Philip keeps climbing into the handle of this wagon and getting stuck. It is cute though!

There's always room for one more! Jackson loves climbing in the Cozy Coupe when Philip is happily driving around.

Egg Hunting at Kate's!

Since we decided to stay in town for Easter this year, I thought it would be fun to get our gang together from church for a celebration. I offered up our home for lunch and an egg hunt and then realized that you can’t hide or hunt eggs in our tiny backyard. I talked to Kate this dilemma and Kate, being Kate, excitedly offered her home for the festivities. I provided the eggs and she provided the awesome backyard.

After service at church, we went home to change and headed to Kate’s. Everyone brought a yummy dish. I brought a HoneyBaked Ham, deviled eggs, and a carrot cake (Lynne gave me her recipe and it turned out so good!!)

It was a beautiful afternoon with great friends! What a way to celebrate Easter!

Mommy Table

Daddy Table

Someone will have to help me with this one. Seven children were upstairs with the 4 Mommies. One little Philip was downstairs being watched by all 4 Daddies. Really? It takes four of them to watch Philip? That doesn't seem quite fair!

Note: After this picture was taken, I told all the kids to head downstairs to play with the men!