It has been awhile...

I'm sorry it has been so long since my last post.  Life has been a bit crazy.  So lets get caught up on the last week:

• Hurricane Irene arrived in Maryland Saturday afternoon and decided that we should be one of the first to lose power.  At 4:30PM there as a big bang and then it was dark.  Of course I had not completed all the cleaning I had planned or filled up the tub with water so I was not fully prepared.  When we woke up on Sunday we had little damage - 2 large 12 foot branches fell and a whole bunch of mid size branches; a piece of siding is lose.  Our wonderful neighbor let us hook up our fridge to his generator (which we will be buying one this fall) so we were able to keep everything cold and charge our phones.  We walked the neighborhood and saw some big trees down.  Monday James went to work and I stayed home taking the kids to Linda's to get cleaned up.  Linda then helped with the kids on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our power did not come back on until Tuesday evening while we were at Paige's soccer practice, however daycare and the school did not get power back until Wednesday. Here are a few pictures:

James finishing his spaghetti sauce Saturday night

Ian while trying to eat his ice cream

Cleaning up the branches in the yard

One street over from our house

• Friday Paige was finally able to get in her second day of school.  She was so excited to go back!  Of course again she could not remember anything she did all day and "everything" was her favorite part.
• Saturday was my first 20 mile training run.  I was nervous and excited at the same time.  The goal was just to finish and I did in under 4 hours.  I was able to run all but the last 2 miles where I walk/jogged to the finish.  I was proud of myself and so tired.  I came home and slept for 3 hours.

About to head home for my nap - can you see the exhaustion in my eyes?

I think that catches us up on what we have been up too.  I will be back to posting on a regular basis now that there is no pending hurricane and we can get pack to our schedule.

As you may know, I have reached the fundraising goal of $1,500.00 set by Susan G. Komen Marathon for the Cure.  I'm cannot thank everyone enough for their support and donations.  Because I have reached the goal and the race is still 55 days away I have reset my goal to $2,000.00.  This will beat the amount I raised last year!  If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation click here and visit my fundraising page.  For anyone who donates $50.00 or more I will write your name on my marathon day shirt.

Marathon Shirt Names:

Mom & Dad

Linda B.

George S.

Don & Candace W.

Jo Ann P.

Todd N.
Shannon & Stan K.

Ada M.

The Buckner Family

The Wooley Family

The Wolff Family

The Lemke Family

The Perret Family

The Pollitz Family

The Dunham Family

The Harris Family