Memorial Week Trip to Florida

Trips to Florida now are such a whirl wind! We try to spend time with everyone and it goes by so fast! We started the first part of the week off in Wakulla.  After getting in at 1 am on Saturday I woke up at 5:30 am to go run 10 miles with my girls.  The rest of the day was spent partying down for Jacob's 8th Birthday. The Cardoza's had it going on with an awesome water slide, great food, and snocones! On Sunday we headed over to St. George Island with my dad for BEACH time,  it was sooo relaxing, I love that place. Zac and Papa spent some time at the hunting camp swimming in the river, shooting guns, and driving big trucks. Monday was lunch with my Mom and Grandma and a little shopping. Before we knew it we were headed to Freeport for fun at the Creek, sand pit time with Grandma, cooking out with the cousins, cupcakes for Gracie, and more BEACH time!

Alabama Sports Festival

For thirty years Alabama has hosted their own mini Olympics, or State Games.  The televised opening ceremonies began on Friday night with all of the athletes marching into the BJCC with fireworks to honor wounded veterans.  The AL Sports Festival Committee had family members of wounded vets present them with a medal, it was so sweet to watch an elderly lady place that medal around her husband's neck only two rows in front of us.  Gracie competed on Saturday and brought home 1st place All  Around, 1st place on bars, 3rd on beam, and 4th on vault and floor.  Her team won 1st place too!

Father's Day Weekend

On Friday we went to the zoo and let the kids enjoy the splash pad.  We later hit our favorite restuarant, Agave! Saturday we headed out to watch the Oak Mountain National All Star Baseball team play in their tournament, on Tuesday they ended up winning the whole metro tournament!  After the tournament we went to Bass Pro Shop.  The kids loved it and Daddy did a tiny bit of shopping (he's not one to spend money).  Sunday was church and chinese! Thanks to Pinterest we made Daddy a pretty cool card too! Wes had to go in to work that night and we went with him to eat dinner.  He grilled hamburgers, sausage dogs, and hotdogs for his employees.  He's such a good boss; at work and at home. ;)  I am so thankful to be blessed with a husband that truly loves and values being a father.  His family is his #1 priority, there's not anywhere else he'd rather be than with us.  He loves his children more than anything.

Team Hollington

About 2 months ago Wyatt became obsessed with my medals from my races and he insisted he wanted one of his own.  We explained that he would have to earn one.  He was so cute, he would run around the house to show us how fast he is.  At first he asked if could ride his "power wheels" (his Hot Wheels tricycle) in the race. Gracie had expressed some interest in running and Zac has football to prepare for so I began to look for 5Ks with fun runs.  I found a race that had a one mile race for the kids and a 50 yard dash for 3-5 year olds! Perfect! I practiced with the older two at the YMCA indoor track to make sure they were ready.  My goal was for them to be able to run the whole thing comfortably. The Pig Race 5K was put on by the AL Law Enforcement to raise money for Special Olympics. It ended up being a small race, but a lot of fun.  Zac finished his one mile in 8:29 and Gracie finished in 8:50! Wyatt was nothing but smiles during his 50 yard dash. The officers participating were cheering his name, he loved the attention. I am hoping Zac will complete his first 5K in October. Next year we all plan to do the Zoo's 5K and kid runs.

Mother's Day Dinner at The Cheesecake Factory

Saturday night we enjoyed our first family dinner at The Cheesecake Factory! It was delicious, a great treat for Mother's Day.  I love my kiddos and my hubby! I didn't get a pic with Wyatt, he wouldn't still long enough while we were waiting for an hour to be seated! :)

Gracie's Floor Routine at State 2nd Place

A Few Pictures!

Here a few random pictures!

Wow, I haven't blogged in almost 5 months!!

Well 5 months have flown by and now it has almost been one year since our big move to Bham. I guess I will do one long blog post to catch up for the last 5 months. I have to start with Christmas. I can sum up in Christmas with one word, blessed. We were blessed beyond measure. After being unemployed and living off of one income (which I never thought we could do), I didn't see how in the world that we would be able to do the whole gift thing and make it to Florida to visit family. God made a way, he's always providing. After visiting family and seeing the joy on my children's faces as they enjoyed the holiday season, I came home to worry about finding a job once again. I went through a round of interviews (one was 5 hours long) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I just knew that this was the job for me! They were almost finished with their process when I received an email from the principal at JCIB (Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School). I had interviewed there back in November for their IB Coordinator position(basically an assistant principal) to find out that it was going to be difficult to get my leadership certification in Alabama (long story) and I didn't get the job. In this email the principal said she remembered me from my previous interview and she suggested that I apply for a teaching position that was available at JCIB. I agreed and within 2 hours after the interview I received a phone call from the principal offering me the position. Ok, now I had to choose between UAB and JCIB! I had been praying through out the week that I would have wisdom, and God made it really easy. On February 3rd, on our way to watch Bama beat the Gators at a gymnastics competition, I accepted the teaching position and it was well worth the wait! The school is ranked the 6th best high school in the Nation, with a long record of being in the top 10 including #1! The staff and students are amazing! I am teaching AP US History and AP/IB Psychology. Psychology is a new subject for me, but it so so much fun. I've actually pondered going back to school again one day for psychology. Enough about me! Zac has really enjoyed playing baseball this year, he has improved so much! He has been a terrific left-fielder and he hit a double yesterday with 2 RBIs! Gracie is continuing on with gymnastics to level 4. She has her round-off back handspring, her front tuck, and some other cool flip I forgot the name of. Wyatt has been attending "Daddy's Day Care," we are thinking that he will go part-time to pre-school either in the fall or next spring. He still has two more years before kindergarten. Wyatt is definitely our little clown, he's so funny! Wes has been working really hard in the yard, and he's still a natural at FedEx. :)