Minnows In!

I couldn't take it any longer. With the recent warmer temperatures, the weather has been teasing Kinsey and me, so I finally gave in and decided to "get our feet wet." I am so excited about getting some pool time. Max didn't join us this visit since his ears are still puny, but we had a great time with our fishy Griner buddies. Splash!

Go tell it on the mountain...

...that winter is WONDERFUL! It was the perfect weekend for a trip to the mountains. Cold, clear weather and lots of snow at the slopes. We missed out on taking Kinsey skiing last year, but this year, everything fell into place for us. Max stayed in Lenoir with his great grandmother and great-great-aunt while the rest of us went to Appalachian Ski Mountain. Kinsey had an absolute ball! Two times down the bunny slope and she was "bored" and ready for the big hill (of course with lots of assistance.)


Afterwards, we made a quick trip to meet our newest cousin, precious baby Graham. What a sweet little doll he was! Finally, here are a few pics I got this morning while taking a walk with Max.

Work Day

After a long and super fun-filled weekend of field trips, movies and wonderful meals out (including the BEST Valentine's brunch ever), we had to be responsible today and spend the last of our winter break getting ready for the work week. Boo! Both of my little slaves were such great helpers (insert sarcasm here), but don't worry, the evil boss rewarded them with a little playtime in the beautiful sunny weather!


It's off to ski slopes this weekend...

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Big Winter Break Fun

I love that we live close enough to Atlanta to make easy day-trips there. That's one of the coolest things about where we live. Cows right down the road, but bright lights and big city not too far away. This morning, the kids and I got up and went to the Georgia Aqaurium. We actually got there before they even opened and we were some of the first in. This was awesome because it meant Max could run around some on his own and actually see some of the exhibits. His favorite was laughing at the river otters. Kinsey still loves sitting in front of the giant tank, just silently taking it all in. After a couple ours in the aquarium (well, not technically IN the aquarium), we went and played on the cutest little playground in Centennial Olympic Park. The weather was AMAZING! What a teaser!



Later in the day, after what we thought was going to be a disappointing glitch in our afternoon movie plans, John Scott and Jacob brightened our day and came over for a Sonic slushy and some backyard playtime. What cuties they were!


Jack and I got to wrap up the night with a hilarious Sunday School Valentine's party with some amazing food and an interesting attempt at "The Newlywed Game." Although not first place, we did finish strong with 7out of 10 correct answers. The best: "What would your wife say you have more of than anyone else she knows?" My response was patience. Pretty sweet of me. His answer--RELATIVES!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Race Day

Kinsey had a big night last night. She had her first friend-sleepover with Hannah. They went to a movie, ate pizza and then played a bit before bed. I had the phone lying next to my bed all night thinking I'd get a middle-of-the-night phone call, but apparently she didn't miss me as much as I thought she would.

So I picked her up bright and early for her first official road race, the WCA Dr. Floyd Memorial. After her run with me the other week, she's been begging me to run a real race and this was the first one I could find in the area with a one-mile fun run. Dr. Floyd was also Kinsey's pediatrician, so it was bitter sweet. Jack and Max decided to run along with us (well Max technically rolled the race.) Kinsey was a superstar and ran the whole way at a really decent pace. She's definitely NOT her competitive mother's daughter yet because 3 or 4 times, she would turn around, run to the nearest kid BEHIND her and say "Will you be my friend?" I kept tellin her to save her interpersonal skills for after the race!!!

I decided to stay and run the 5K. If I'd have done my research on the course, I would've surely not chosen to pay money to torture myself. It was horribly hilly! However, I still got my best time and even won 2nd place in my age catagory. I won't tell you how many were in my age catagory, but it WAS less than 10! ;)

Malcom in the Middle (School)

To my mother-in-law's great dismay, I have a new class pet. Meet Malcom. He is a deer mouse that has been making appearances in almost all of the 7th grade classrooms and eluding our attempts to catch him for 4+ weeks now. I actually caught him by hand a couple of weeks ago, but he jumped loose. Yesterday, Malcom made a visit into my second period class and with great teamwork efforts, we were able to herd him into a box. I decided to keep him as a class pet to reward the efforts of my students (and all the stress that the teachers have been put through.) This is probably the first and last picture I will ever post of Malcom for Beth's sake, but I, personally, think he is pretty cute and have grown a little attached to the little guy!

Movie Night

Last night, the plan was out to eat and then dollar movies. Of course since Max's record for sitting still continues to be less than 5 minutes, we had NO intentions of paying full price. Apparently the rest of north Georgia had the same plan last night, however, because the movie was sold out. I guess it's a sign of the economy these days. Depressing. Anyway, cold, dissappointed kids required a fast Plan B--movie night at our house. Everyone ran home, put jammies on and met back in our basement for Surf's Up and popcorn. Poor Max had to go to bed and miss out (on the five minutes he would've stayed still for!) My highlight was Kinsey asking throughout the movie "When's the movie going to start?" If you haven't seen it, almost the entire movie is taking place as an interview of the main penguin. Too cute!