The Simmons Family: January 2018

Chloe turns 12 on 12/12!!

This was Chloe's magic birthday. She turned 12 on December 12th! I think that is the coolest birthday date ever. We helped her celebrate by ice skating and then dinner at a Japanese steakhouse in Winston Salem. It was a super fun weekend. And to think next year we will have a teenager in the family!

Out for Christmas Break! PJ days are the best

Who doesn't love wearing their PJ's to school? Hunter, Hunter hates this day!

The fourth grade had the pleasure of providing the school with a Christmas performance all about Snow Days!

Bristol Christmas Parade

Here is the float the Sullins decorated for the parade. Me and a bunch of other Sullins parents spent all day making this float. It was a candy float named 'Sullins Sweeties.' It was an impressive float and we won third place! The boys all rode on the float while I walked and handed out candy.

The Christmas parade ain't for wimps. These guys were toast by the end of the night.

Girls night out in Charlotte

LeeAnne and I took off for one night to Charlotte, NC to shop and to simply get away for 24 hours. It was so much fun. We met up with Tres, my cousin, at one of the local restaurants and had a great night after a full day of shopping!

It had been way too long dear friend! We need to get together more often. Many thanks for a great, super fun night!

And many thanks to my dear friend for taking me away for a day of fun shopping and an evening full of excitement. It is fun to get away with good friends and I need to do it more often.

Randoms worth mentioning...2017

Brothers working together as they play a few holes behind the house.

My youngest cutie in the fall Program at Sullins.

My eldest with a solo part in Phantom of the Opera.

My Thanksgiving Cake I get every year at the bake sale.

Friends having fun watching Wonder after reading the book in class.

Speedway in Lights 5k! Add this one to your list!

This was another one of those races we hear is so fun but we have never actually raced. This year we decided to go for it and we all headed to the Bristol Motor Speedway! This race is held at night and you get to race around the speedway around all the lights for Christmas. You finish on the racetrack! Our finishers all got medals! We will add this race to our annual fun 5k runs.

It was a little rainy at the start but stopped before we finished. Another great thing about this race is that Jenny got to run with us!!! She did great!

Shut In 2017!!! FUN TRAIL RUN!!!

My new kicks for the Shut in race this year. I love this race and we haven't done it in a few years so when David signed us up I was surprised! I was waitlisted but was fortunate enough to snag a spot with a few weeks to spare. I had no expectations for this race. I had had a big racing season already and needed to start my recovery and rest block but this is my favorite trail run so my coach gave me the OK! It was a great run, warm and mostly sunny. I enjoyed the romp in the woods and crossed the finish line in 3 hours, a PR for me on this course.

A nice award for the finish!

David crossing the finish line! YES!! He made it. He has struggled with his running this year but I know he was really proud to finish this very difficult race.

Halloween 2017

Halloween is a big deal around this house. We decorate and party for the whole month and then it is a race through the Christmas holidays. We start with parties and festivities at school.

Then we celebrate with the GCC family with a hayride and fun dinner and haunted house. This year Hunter was dracula, Lucas was a scary Jester and Chloe was Winnie the Pooh.

Then we hosted our annual neighborhood Halloween party. The dinosaur was Derek and I wish I had a picture of him crossing the golf course in that outfit.

More parties at school with friends.

Lining up for the traditional Halloween costume contest.

Carving our pumpkins is always fun. I think the boys like eating the seeds once I bake them more than they like carving the pumpkin.

Some of our beautiful fourth grade princesses.

This was the school wide winner. I mean, who could really compete with the Golden Girls. This totally cracked my up! You should have seen these boys trying to walk in heels. They are classmates of Hunter in the fourth grade.

Lucas's class up on the stage and the only opportunity he had at school to wear his creepy mask.

This was the cast of one EPIC Halloween haunted house. I should do a whole blog dedicated to the hard work these kiddos put into pulling off the best Haunted House in the neighborhood. The boys worked on transforming the playroom into a haunted house. They had it scripted and every detail covered and they also offered various degrees of scary for the littles that wanted to go through. It was a lot of work, more than I think they realized. They led groups of 4 through the house from 5-8. It was crazy and I have to say they did an amazing job. It was the hit for the night!! I am curious to see if they will be up for hosting another one next year.

Our community service project was to donate items to make Kindness kits. We made kits out of the various items folks donated when they came to the party. The kits had water, gatorade, chapstick, a bath cloth, pair of socks, hand sanitizer and granola bars. The idea was to keep them in your car and hand them out to people begging on the side of the road. I little was to spread some hope and kindness, acknowledging a human need without simply handing over money.

A wonderful neighborhood filled with family and good friends! A great time every year!

Back on the hayride!

Saving the best for last! The hosts every year. We tried to dress up as Velma and Shaggy..oh well, we had fun! Until next year!

Hunter's pumpkin project

We have a rockstar forth grade teacher. One of the assignments was to make a pumpkin out of a book you read this fall. Hunter chose Paddington and I thought this turned out really well! So cute!!

Last meet for the boys in TN at Daniel Boone HS

Last meet of the season for most of the crew. There was one more meet but it was only for the 6th grade and up. Our team is mostly 4th and down.

Our biggest. littlest fans out to cheer on the middle school runners and of course their brothers.

Hunter making a charge out of the woods.

Hunter finishes third!

This race even had assigned shoots for the teams to start. I know I have mentioned this in the past but this brings back so many great memories for me. I hope my boys love it at much as I did and still do. Still running.....25 years later!

Sullins Academy 'mock' Cross Country meet

Winner, winner! This kid can run! He was the lead runner for Sullins CC all season. We did a mock CC meet at Sullins for the little guys who simply didn't get to participate in many of the races due to age and grade restrictions. They cam to practice and worked hard but that can get old if you don't have the opportunity to RACE! This is coming straight from the horse's month. Ms. VW made a course around the school property and the big guys raced 2 miles, the 4th grades 1 mile and the littles did half a mile.

Our two first place finishers and one second place finisher hanging out after a hard run in a big hilly field.

Fourth Grade finishers. Go Gavin in the cast!

And the biggest field of competitors goes the the second and third graders...and one first grader!

Thanks again to Ms.VW for hosting this event for the kids!

Trip to Alexandria

The Simmons finally made it to Alexandria to visit the Yo-Sims at their new digs. I really felt with the hustle and bustle of Northern VA that we were right back in Atlanta! They live in a great neighborhood but I must say the cost of living is more than $$$$$. I will take our little piece of SWVA and the peace and quiet. Alexandria and the hustle of DC will be a fantastic place to visit. So much history, I love it!