Great Wolf Lodge

On Thursday we headed to Charlotte, NC for a fun overnight stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. Nate & Henry were thrilled that their friends, Griffin, Miller & Sarah were going, and Bryan and I were pretty excited that Sandy & Bobby, Ashley & Brad were going too. We all had a fun time and I can't wait to go again.

Love this picture of Henry and Sarah in the elevator!

Easter 2010

Easter morning was beautiful with a church service at Biggerstaff on Lake Keowee followed by an egg hunt. Luke was thrilled when he found an Easter egg filled with candy! Here is Stacie & James who are expecting baby Marlowe any day now!

Half Marathon

Happy Easter! What a wonderful and busy week we've had. We enjoyed a great visit from Silas, lots of sunny weather and I finished my half marathon! My knees are still in a great deal of pain, but I have no regrets about my training and I might even do it again one day. I finished in 2 hours 25 minutes, not great but I did run it all.

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Silas & Luke

Luke & Henry dancing

Food Inc.

Bryan and I watched a great movie Saturday night. Food, Inc. and it was so very interesting. If you would like to watch it, ask me. I just ordered my own copy from amazon. And I'll be glad to let you borrow it. So, it's inspired me to really pay attention to what I'm feeding my family, especially when it comes to meat. Just made this yummy organic veggie chili and thought I'd share the recipe:

Three-Bean Veggie Chili
In a big pot using 1 tablespoon olive oil, cook 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped cloves garlic. Cook 3 minutes.
Add 1 chopped zucchini and 1 chopped red bell pepper. Cook 5 minutes.
Add 3 tablespoons chili powder, 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (14.5oz), 1 can tomato sauce (8oz.), 1/4 cup ketchup, and 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano. Cook 8 minutes.
Drain, rinse and add beans: 1 can black beans, 1 can small white beans (I used cannellini), 1 can dark red kidney beans. Cook 3 minutes. Serve with grated cheese. YUM!
I'm enjoying my second bowl as I type.
Per cup 203 calories, 4 grams fat, 11 grams protein, 12 grams fiber & 0 cholesterol

Nate running the tiller

The Tiller Running Henry

Beach Pictures

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Luke Sneezing

Welcome Baby Ty!

Robin and JD have been blessed with her 4th beautiful baby! Ty Kelley Spires was born weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz.

We have just returned from a long weekend in Myrtle Beach. So much fun! I will share pictures as soon as I download them from my camera!

Good Luck Robin!

Please say a prayer for my dear friend Robin tomorrow (Monday). She is having baby #4 by c-section. She already has Trace who is 6, Tara, 4, Trent who is a month older than Luke and tomorrow she will meet Ty! She is a teacher, mom, and hero in my book. And, she doesn't read my blog, probably because she doesn't have time. Can't wait to hear all about this new little boy! I love you my friend.

Camera's charged & ready to go!

Finally a break in the rain! Boys have been outside all day long. I'm so glad to have my camera back, here are some pictures from the day.

I just attempted to run 14 miles this morning, emphasis on "attempted." Luckily I was running in Walhalla, and Powell Real Estate was just a phone call away. I made it for 2 hours, probably had 3 miles left then I got hungry. Really hungry. So Daddy picked me up on Fowler Road. Thanks Daddy, it's good to know that you are still always there to rescue me!

I'm a little frustrated with myself, but I will use this as a learning experience. I usually run later in the day, after lunch and my half marathon will be at 8am, so I'm glad to know that I need a big big breakfast on the day of the run.

Charging camera battery now, but in the meantime I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of the boys with their precious Grandfathers. Here is Henry with his Papa and Nate & Henry with their John Daddy.

It's 5:50 am and I'm on my second cup of coffee. No, nothing out of the ordinary. Henry's up, of course. He can't help it, he just doesn't need that much sleep.
So my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger. I remember cleaning up really fast one day before we had company over and for some reason, I kinda sorta remember throwing it away. Not sure what I was thinking...
Beautiful weekend here in the Upstate. Yesterday I wore shorts & flip flops! Training for half marathon is right on track. Sunday I ran 11 miles (2 hours) in Clemson and felt really good. My only complaints are my knees & feet. Bryan took Nate & Henry on a hike to Oconee Station Falls and DeeDee & John Daddy enjoyed time with Luke.
Saturday night Bryan and I had a date! We had dinner at the Blue Heron while the boys visited MeMaw & Papa. Nate & Henry ended up spending the night and sleeping in their new motor home. We picked Luke up on our way home.
Can't wait to post some pics, hopefully will get a new charger for camera soon! Happy Tuesday!

New Links

I'm trying to improve my html skills so I've added a few links to the blogs I'm reading & some favorite things. Be sure you check them out! (Thank you C for introducing me to the nienie dialogues (Stephanie Nielson), I am enjoying her!

Updates!

Well, I've been making promises to update you on so many things and I haven't so here goes!

Thyroid stuff is fine. I'm not feeling like I'm losing my mind anymore than usual! Go for bloodwork in a few weeks, and another ultrasound in a couple of months. So far so good!

Jacob's visit was great! My boys always have big plans for playdates. They talk about how their friend will do this & that with them, then when their friend gets here, they're like any other child when they encounter lots of different toys & they want to go from one thing to another. So, Jacob enjoyed checking out all our stuff & Henry ended up playing Mario with Nate on the Wii. But, Jacob had a great time & wants to visit again.

The snow was just perfect in my opnion. Plenty for sledding, snowmen & cancelling all plans for the day, but melting by the next day, making way for highs in the 60's by the end of the week. I just love South Carolina weather, 4 beautiful seasons to experience.

We did survive our sick weekend. The stomach virus still has Nate a little droopy. However, Nate & Luke had great well visits at the doctor today & they were in perfect health! Luke is pushing 26 pounds and Nate has finally hit 45 pounds. Dr. Bean was especially impressed when Nate told him his favorite foods were onions & babyback ribs. I am so thankful for my precious boys and all their different personalities, appetites & body types. Sometimes I just stare at them in complete amazement. How different 3 sons can be. And how fast they are growing up. When I can't get them to stop hugging me at night, I think to myself that in 10 years I'll be wishing they'd just give me one hug as they head out the door.
Right now Bryan and I are lying in bed with Luke snoring between us. Just like the 2 before him, he will be on the other side of the house before we know it. Our precious babies are babies for such a short time. I pray that I don't wish away a minute of it.

I love you! By Henry

A Beautiful Day!

We've been well for so long...

Nate had his first sick day of first grade today. He's been so healthy this year, so it's bound to happen eventually. In fact, we have a house full of sick children. Luke has a terrible bad cold. I'll be surprised if it doesn't cause an ear infection before the weekend is up. Henry has had a sore throat & low fever for 2 days. And poor Nate, he has the dreaded stomach virus. I just hope they don't infect each other with each different illness. Might be a long weekend at the Duncan house!

Sledding

Luke in the snow

Jacob's visit

Today Henry is having a friend over after school. Jacob is one of the special needs children in Mrs. Becky's class. His Mom is so excited because Jacob has never been to a friends house to play. Henry's teacher is excited too. She says that Henry is a very compassionate boy and interacts with all the special needs children well. I have been trying to teach Nate & Henry about loving and being friends with people who aren't just like them. Thanks to a great book Denise recommended, NutureShock, I have learned lots about teaching them to not have prejudices when it comes to race or handicaps, etc. This book says that we need to talk about differences, so I have been telling then when it comes up in conversation that they can be friends with children that have different colored skin, they can invite them over to play, they can love them, etc. We've been talking about handicaps, and how everyone is different, but God made all of us and loves all of us just the same. It sounds silly & obvious, but they are very receptive and interested.

Like every other Mom, I hope that my children do well in school enjoy activities and grow to be happy, well adjusted men one day. But my daily prayer, the one I pray every night out loud (so they will hear me and understand how important it is) is that they will grow up to be men that love Jesus more than anything else in the world and that they would love other people like Jesus did.

I will let you know how our playdate goes....

Ride a horsie

Thyroid

Who'd ever thought that a little gland in your neck could effect so much stuff!!!

I have been taking synthroid for 8 years and never had any problems other than having to tweak my dosage during a pregnancy, etc.

I went to have my tsh checked last month (which is what you do every year when you have hypothyroidism) and my amazingly brilliant Nurse Practitioner MaLee had the good mind to run some other tests, do an ultrasound of my neck and determined that I have 2 major thyroid issues that have to be dealt with. 1 - I have Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease that your own body attacks your thyroid gland and tries to destroy it. Quite common & not a big deal as long as it doesn't go undiagnosed. However, undiagnosed, it can be deadly. 2 - I have several nodules on my thyroid that are very inflamed & need to be shrunk or removed.

Her treatment plan was to put me on a mega dose of synthroid - like med's, killing my thyroid & hopefully shrinking the nodules. If they aren't smaller in 3 months, then she will remove them because very often they are cancerous. However, thyroid cancer is very treatable & nothing to worry about.

So, what's the point of me sharing this with my blogging audience you ask? She told me that during the course of the next 3 month I will feel like (I'm using her words) I am losing my mind. That I will become irritable, depressed, anxious & who knows what else??? She said to me "get ready, cause it's gonna get bad." Yes, she said that. Those words exactly. And she isn't overly dramatic.

Please keep my (and my household) in your prayers because I'm irritable enough as it is.
And, keep a watch on your own thyroid. Especially you women of childbearing age. Symptoms include: depression, fatigue, dry skin, dry hair, weight gain or loss. Hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer, hyperthyroidism is very common & often goes undiagnosed.

My computer is home from the hospital and working great! (Thanks to Billy Pechanec - just in case you ever need a great computer doctor) Here are a few pics to catch up on January.

No room for mom in this bed!

Feeding the Kids

I took a fantastic class yesterday at Oconee Mem Hospital about feeding your kids healthy foods. I'm so excited about implementing her eating rules. Thought'd I'd share them here:
1. Just look at it (on your plate).
2. Notice when your own stomach is full.
3. Nobody has to eat anything they don't want to eat.
4. No bad-mouthing the food.
5. Sorry, no seperate meals for the kids.
6. Non stop munching is not allowed! Eat your meals & snacks instead.

The class teacher & author of the book had a real laid back approach to changing a picky eater to a pleasant eater. Her philosophy was that forcing a child to eat a particular food, even just one bite, wasn't effective. It also makes mealtimes miserable. This morning for breakfast, Henry (who only eats cereal) tolerated looking at blueberries & a very small bowl of oatmeal. He didn't taste it, but he didn't mind it being there. Because nobody was telling him to try it, he wasn't threatened by it being there. Usually he would have squealed & said "get it off! get it off my plate!" I am anticipating that one day, he will try it.
The class will be offered again on Feb. 20 and I highly recommend it!

Training for the half marathon is going good. I ran 7 miles yesterday and it was fairly easy except for bruised heels. I've also been doing p90x for 2 weeks & I love it! I think it is helping with strength & cardio endurance. I know it is really really tough!

Happy Birthday to Nate! Yesterday was Nate's 7th birthday & he celebrated all day long! Tuesday night we had a birthday dinner with MeMa & Papa and they gave him a real bow & arrow set. A huge hit with all the guys (of course). Nate was the best shot hitting the target almost every time. Wednesday, John Daddy & DeeDee came over late to decorate our car as a surprise for Nate in the morning. He loved it! Bryan had lunch with him at school and then a birthday dinner at Wise Guys with my family. DeeDee made a cake that looked like a real volcano. There were even little cars caught in the lava & trees, etc. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I kill the virus that is on my desktop computer.
We still have a roller skating birthday party this weekend with his classmates, so the celebration will continue.
Henry has been extra sweet all week (of course) and hasn't slept past 6am since New Year's Day!
And Luke, oh the climbing.... the climbing is driving me crazy. On the couch, climbing on his brothers, nearly falling off the back of the couch. Standing in chairs, flipping over stools, climbing the step ladder to peer into the washing machine. And he is so crazy about ducks. Anything with a duck just sends him into giggles & snorts.
Hope to post pictures of birthday festivities soon! Happy weekend to all!

I cut Luke's bangs

So it wasn't my most brilliant moment... Luke's bangs have been in his eyes for a few days, really getting on his nerves. So yesterday, I just held them straight up (never do that with bangs) and cut. I didn't think I cut that much...

So this morning I took him to Mrs. Leesa and he got a "big boy" haircut! This is my first and last attempt at cutting my boys hair, at least with scissors. I might try the buzzer next time!

Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas with Nate Henry and Luke. The boys were up at 5am so excited that Santa had really came! Nate & Henry got electric scooters and Luke got a ridey horse.

Playing New Super Mario Bros for Wii

Parades!

Christmas parades are so much fun when you're 5 and 6 years old! Nate and Henry enjoyed watching the Six Mile Christmas parade (yes those are their Halloween buckets & we ended up with just as much candy), and being in the Walhalla Christmas parade & West Union parade.

Today was the last day of school & Christmas vacation has officially started!!

The Biggest Loser

I love the show The Biggest Loser and as I was watching the finale this past week I decided if they could run, so could I. I haven't ran since I found out I was pregnant with Luke, but I'm signing up for a half marathon on Easter weekend. I decided to blog about this because if you all know about my commitment, it makes it more difficult for me to back out.

Finally a little posting...

Gosh, I haven't blogged in so long! I've let all this great online shopping take priority I suppose. Nate, Henry & Luke are really keeping my hopping while Bryan has been working 24/7 at Duke to get out of this eternal outage.

Please pray for my precious Uncle Brent. He fell just before Thanksgiving and has had a tough time recovering. Today he had hernia surgery (due to the fall) when they discovered that his hip had been broken all this time and required hip replacement. He came through the surgery tonight well, but it will be a tough road for him and for Granny in the coming weeks/months. Keep them in your prayers. My Grandmother (Nana) is recovering from knee replacement and doing great, thanks to many prayers.

The exciting news is that I'm going to have a neice!!! James and Stacie found out this past week that they are expecting a healthy baby girl. Finally, someone to boss all these boys around! I can't wait!

I so wanted to post some pictures from this weekend, but because my Kodak Easyshare program has over 10,000 pictures, it's giving me fits, so no pictures.
This past Friday night was the much anticipated Cub Scout/Parent campout at Camp Old Indian!! Nate has looked forward to this for months, Bryan actually camped here when he was a scout. Nate & Bryan had a wonderful time learning to tie knots, playing games, shooting bb guns and doing other manly things that scouts do. In the meantime, I was busy trying to entertain Henry so he wouldn't be devestated about not being allowed to go. Henry isn't old enough to be a scout. I told Henry that Nate was on an overnight scout trip, but it wasn't until Saturday night, when Bryan had gone to work & we'd settled in for the night that he really heard those words, Nate had been at "Camp Old Indian!" He cried like a baby laying in my arms. Thank goodness that in 15 minutes he was his old self again, excited thinking about HIS time at camp just a short 2 years away.

A Private Blog

Today while sitting in the pickup line at school, I had this terrible vision of a kidnapper driving through and taking one of my boys. I've been blogging since April of 2006 and there's way too much info here to remain public. Hope you'll visit just as often as ever!

Showing off with Lemons

It's a Party in the USA!

Happy Halloween!

Okay, I could NOT get a picture of all 3 of them posing in costume together, but they were 3 really cute PIRATES! We started trick-or-treating around 1 (Bryan went to Clemson Game but I wasn't up for sitting out in the rain with the boys). By 4, they were really tired of getting in & out of the car so we headed home for dinner & to enjoy giving candy out to our own trick or treaters. My boys have always enjoyed being the one's giving the treats rather than getting them. However, I am quite excited about all the Skittles they acquired today! Rainy, rainy Halloween, but lots of fun!!

Luke walking

Luke's first haircut

Luke has been needing a trim for quite a while. His hair is so pretty, but I was dealing with this mess every morning.

Yesterday Mrs. Leesa gave Luke a beautiful haircut. He sat in my lap & enjoyed a sucker and all the attention. He sure looks like a big boy now.

Happy Birthday Henry!

More new shoes & fun playing together!

Another great week! The weather has cooled & the rain has passed giving us low to mid 70s & sunshine! Couldn't ask for more! Here is Henry at his preschool's fundraiser and here is a huge tent, tube & teepee that the boys set up in the hallway. Luke loved it, of course!

I said earlier that we'd bought shoes for Luke in Gatlinburg at the outlets. Well, they just wouldn't do. You've got to get "fitted" at Cochran's in Anderson. So, we headed over with Granny and found a lovely pair of bright white shoes. I was quite surprised to see that Luke loved them! He's doing great taking a few steps here & there. He's trying to say lots of words, today was "tee" (tree), and "ki ka" (kitty cat).

Be sure to notice the new shoes here in this picture of Luke in the tree house. This is the very day we bought them & they are already very scuffed!

Halloween costumes came in the mail & I'm so excited to have 3 pirates in this house!

I'm so glad to have James & Stacie back home from England! She is doing well with her pregnancy, although she's had plenty of morning sickness (but she's had it all day). They decided now is not the time to spend a year in England.

Bryan's Aunt Mary is in town from Seattle and Mark Denise & Silas will be visiting next week! So much family to enjoy. I love October...