My rebirth as a runner!

I joined a Women’s Beginner running group towards the end of the summer so I could get back in the groove of running and so I could finally learn to run long distances with my two little ladies in the jogging stroller. It is definitely an adjustment pushing weight and not being able to use your arms when running. Overall it was a great experience and I hope to keep it going so we can participate in many runs together.

This is at one of our weekly Saturday group run.

This is at the finale 5K run we all participated in together. I ran it in about 30 minutes which I thought was pretty good. I hope to do even better at my next run and I'm looking for running partners so let me know if you want to join me.

NOTE: I would DEFINITELY recommend this running program for anyone interested. It is set up for women who have never run or those who haven't run in awhile. We started out running and walking at different distances and intervals and built up to running 3 miles.

Welcome Monika to Raleigh!

I don’t have any pictures for this post but my baby cousin Monika moved up here from New Jersey. I wish I had taken a picture of her driving that 10ft budget pulling her car behind it. She drove all night by herself from New Jersey.....she is definitely a tough sistah. She is finishing her thesis for her Masters at Seton Hall and working a security position til 10pm each night so we don’t get to hang out much now since she's pretty busy with both her jobs. She’s staying right next door in the rental property so Amira and Amanda like to go over and knock on her door and bug her. It’s so nice to have some family up here in NC.

Welcome Annie to the family!

Here is our new puppy Annie. We got her from a local rescue agency in late August and she has been a handful so hopefully she will remain a part of the family. She has a jumping and nipping/biting problem which is really hard to deal with when you are trying to get to the car for work. If Jacquelle had his way she might already be gone.

I called a dog trainer and they told me to start squirting her with a water bottle to correct her but that only worked for awhile. She also seems to have an incontinence problem because she gets really excited and pees at our feet when we first come out in the morning and when we first get home. Any suggestions would help since I’d love to keep her around!

She's an 8 month old black lab mix.

Rusty still is and always will be my first dog luv:) We have had him for 2 yrs and he was a rescue as well. He's almost 3 years old.

Happy 50th Anniversary Tarts!

Aunt Glenda and Uncle Kent had a great vow renewal ceremony and Amira was able to be a part of the ceremony with her cousin Yassmin. Here are some pictures from the ceremony:

Amira, Cameron and Yassmin

Aunt Glenda and the girls

Amanda wasn't as excited as everybody else:)

Mr. and Mrs. Leggett (my in-laws)

Kejuan’s Send Off Party to Piney Woods School (my alma mater)

My 3^rd oldest nephew is now attending Piney Woods School (one of the few remaining historically African-American boarding schools in the United States). We gave him a send off party so here are some pictures from that. I tried to label my nieces and nephews based on their birth order. People who haven't seen them in awhile will be shocked at how much they all have grown.

Amira being clingy to Kejuan before the party (she rotated which cousin to cling to throughout the day)

My nephew Dacari (6th oldest), Amira and Cousin Phillip

Kejuan with Devonte (2nd oldest) and Cousin Eric in the background

My sister Salama and her friend Angela (she may as well be part of the family)

Brianna (5th oldest) and my brother-in-law Byron

Brianna and Kaylah (7th oldest) strike a pose

Kejaun in the kicthen aggravating the cooks (mama and Salama)

Keairr (4th oldest) and Kaylah made up a little jingle to get the party started

Here are Keairr and Kejuan clowning around before everybody got there....they were imitating some of my mama's African music....hilarious!

Here is their jingle....Kaylah gave a shout out to everybody leaving home for school and made EVERY single person at the party dance with her. I just posted a few of them below.

Here is Rico "twirling" Kaylah for his dance performance

Here is Sandra taking it back ole school for her dance performance


Mama's performance was BY FAR the BEST of all. She had us crying laughing.

We had such a good time sending Kejuan off to school.

Amanda's 1st Birthday!

Amanda had her 1st birthday party at day care. Here's the big girl with her smirky smile waiting on us to sing Happy Birthday!


Here are the vegan, all natural cupcakes I made with some whip cream and sprinkles added. For those of you that are doubters of my vegan food.....they actually tasted very good! Amira and I fixed them together that morning before day care......she felt like it was her birthday:)

NOTE: For those of you like Trina that will probably try making these cupcakes, I never use the coconut extract and they turn out fine. I also use the unbleached flour and natural/raw cane sugar instead of white sugar.

Amira, Farrah and Jill are waiting patiently for their cupcakes.
At least Farrah liked my cupcakes.....Amira liked the whip cream and sprinkles and Jill just wasn't in the mood for a cupcake:)
Amanda is right where she wants to be.....in her daddy's arms. She is sooooooooo much a daddy's girl.

Here are some pictures of my big girls after day care. It's hard to believe how fast they grow up....some days I wish I could pause time for awhile and keep them where they are.....other days I dream about them going to college so Jacquelle and I can go to the movies on a weeknight and then to IHOP at 1am just because.

Pool Fun

Here are some pictures of Amira and Amanda in the pool after church. I started out with very very very cold water....I don't know if us having well water has anything to do with that. Well the girls weren't having it....Amira would only stand up and Amanda would hold on to me super tight when I put her big toe in the water so as to say...."Mama pleez don't put me in this artic water!"

About an hour of me sitting out there trying to get them to get used to the artic water Jacquelle comes home and puts a big cooler full of hot water in the pool. Let's just say I'm happy I was able to get them out of the water without a fight. They had such a good time after the water warmed up! I wish I would have video taped them splashing with each other....it was hilarious.

NC Zoo Trip

We took a trip to the NC Zoo and we had a good time although somebody should have told us to stretch before going in since the zoo seems about 300 miles from one end to the other with steep hills in the middle.
Here's a picture of Amira and the giraffes:



Amira in the helicopter:
My exhaustion from pushing the stroller up the mountain of a hill:
This is the beginning of them getting tired:

And this is the end result:

Fun Friday at Day Care

Here are some pictures from Fun Friday at the girls day care. This is the day after Amanda's surgery so I was off work at home with her although she probably could have gone to day care just fine. We decided to drop by and watch Amira and her friends get wet up.

Amanda's recovering WELL!!!

Miss Amanda had her surgery today (tubes in her ears and little bumps removed from the sides of her pinkie fingers). She has recovered extremely well. We weren't expecting any side effects from the surgery but we were expecting her to take a little while to get back to herself after the anesthesia. She was fine by the time we got home from the hospital. Although the surgery was with two different surgeons it only took maybe 10-12 minutes total but we still don't like our little lady to have to "go under" for any amount of time.

Here's a video from yesterday and just so happens you can see one of the little bumps. I'll have to post an after surgery shot when we take the bandages off so we can see how well the award-winning plastic surgeon at Duke has done.

Here are some pictures and a couple videos of her (with her bandaged hands) and her big sister this afternoon in the yard doing one of their favorite things ......riding in the infamous red wagon (thanks Grandma Holmes).

Amira starts posing with her eyes(you have to watch America's Next Top Model to understand:). She thought I was taking a picture. That lil girl is hilarious.
It's funny to watch Amanda imitate her sister "snatching" (although all she snatches is air):