Happy 100th Birthday Grandma Jane!

December 29th marked the 100th Birthday of my Great Grandma Jane. In celebration of her birthday, all of my mom's family got together for 4 fun filled days between Christmas and New Years. My mom's sister and her family live on Long Island in New York. They were able to fly down for a few days to help us all celebrate. There were 18 of us total. Instead of all bunking up in someones house - we decided that it would be fun to get a hotel for all of us. We stayed out in Grapevine and had a nice relaxing time. Our weekend consisted of sitting around and playing games, watching football on TV, and eating and eating and eating!

On Sunday, we all went to First Baptist Church Dallas. This church is where my mom and dad grew up attending, and my grandparents still go there. They announced Grandma Jane from the pulpit and they the entire church sang Happy Birthday to her. It was so fun. On Monday night, we all went to the Dallas Stars game. Grandma Jane didn't go because it was past her bed time. Here's the family in Victory Plaza outside of the American Airlines Center before the game.

Harper loves hanging out in her sling. I can take her anywhere in it! Harper enjoyed her first Hockey game. She stayed awake for the first part and then fell asleep in her sling. It's amazing that she can sleep with so much noise going on around her.

We bought the "cheap seats" and were literally on the back row of the upper deck! No seat in that arena is bad though - so we had a lot of fun. Here's the entire family - stretched out over two rows.

The Stars lost but we all had a great time!

Christmas with Family

This year was Harper's first Christmas. We had a busy holiday season visiting lots of family. On Christmas Eve, Jeff and I hosted the Sherman family for lunch. I cooked yummy fajitas and tortilla soup. The Sherman family typically does the traditional turkey and dressing for Christmas. Since I was hosting it this year, I decided to change it up a bit. Everyone loved the Mexican themed lunch. As soon as the Sherman family left our house on the 24th, we packed up and headed up to Paris to see my family. We made it just in time to attend the Christmas Eve service at Calvary Chapel Paris. After the service we had a very yummy dinner prepared by my mom and sisters. Mimi and Papa with Harper It was so fun to all be together for Christmas Eve. First time that my whole family was together since this time last year. Harper was the center of attention all week! Christmas Morning with Daddy.
Thanks Grandma for all the new fun toys that you sent in the mail to Harper! There was a definete theme this year to her presents - anything that she can use as a teether. Harper wasn't sure how to open her presents this year. Next year - I'm sure will be a whole different story!

Merry Christmas from the Shermans!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

It's been a while...

Jeff and I are so excited because a 24 Hour Fitness just opened up about 5 minutes from our house. This is HUGE because before now the closest pool was in Plano - about a 20+ minute drive!! We have been watching the 24 Hour Fitness being built and have anxiously awaited the grand opening. We were coming home last night and noticed that there were finally cars in the parking lot. Harper was sleeping in the back seat and I said - "Jeff - let me just run in and pick up some membership info - I'll be right back." Well, I walked in and was so excited about the newness and niceness of this facility and one thing led to another - and I walked out about 15 minutes later with two brand new gym memberships! This Super Sport Club has everything we could ever need - 3 swimming pools, tons of cardio and weight equipment, great classes, free babysitting, etc.

In the last 3 months, I've tried to go out for a run a few times but have just ended up being disappointed with myself. Having a baby will really get you "out of shape" fast! The last athletic thing that I did was run the White Rock Marathon last December. I then found out I was pregnant and decided to have a nice relaxing pregnancy which involved little to no working out.

I'm now itching to get back into pre-baby / triathlon shape. My goal is to do the Capital of Texas Triathlon in Austin over Memorial Day weekend. I don't just want to go out and complete it - I'd like to try to compete in my age group again. After today's visit to the gym, I realized that I have a long way to go to get back into race shape!


24 Hour Fitness has a great 25 meter indoor and outdoor pool. After doing a little cardio to warm up, I timidly jumped into the pool. I was nervous because the last time I swam laps was well over a year ago. Don't worry - I didn't forget how to swim - but it sure felt like I hadn't done it in FOREVER! My arms were aching before my stop watch even hit 10 minutes. I struggled through a couple of sets and then decided that the hot tub looked really inviting.


I'm glad that I made myself go tonight. I'm excited to get back in the training mode. It will definitely be challenging with Harper. Jeff & I won't be able to just go work out together at the gym whenever we feel like it. It's going to take much more planning. Today I fed Harper, then handed her over to Jeff while I went up to the gym, by the time I got back home and cleaned up it was feeding time again. Jeff then left to go do his workout and then we will have dinner when he gets back. Bottom line is - I'm going to have to drag my lazy butt out of bed in the mornings to go get my workout in before Jeff leaves for work. We shall see how this goes...

This week my sister Carol stayed with us for another few days. Last weekend she flew up to DC to visit some of her friends from college. She flew back to Dallas on Monday afternoon just in time for the ice storm to hit! Only in Texas can it be 70 degrees one day and SNOWING the next!! Carol was stranded with us for two days until my mom could come and pick her up. It was fun having her here for another few days to hang out with us and play with Harper. My Great Grandmother came over on Wednesday afternoon with my mom. On Wednesday my sweet friend Alana came in from Abilene for a visit. I've worked with Alana at LLS for over 5 years! She and her husband moved out to Wylie a few years ago. It was so fun having her as a coworker and a neighbor! In April, Alana moved out to Abilene. She is still working for LLS - but is working from home now. She came in town for a meeting and we met for lunch. Her daughter Zoe is about 6 weeks older than Harper.

Zoe and Harper enjoyed meeting for the first time at Chipotle. We thought it was only fitting to meet at Chipotle because that is where Alana told me that she was pregnant with Zoe and that's where I told her that I was pregnant with Harper. When we were both working in our Dallas office, we had regular lunch dates at Chipotle. Notice Zoe's hand around Harper - so cute!Zoe is such a sweet baby. She is petite compared to Harper!

I wish that Alana didn't live so far away. I'll have to settle for keeping up with each other via our blogs.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Today is Jeff's 28th birthday! I thank the Lord every day for my sweet husband. Over these past 3 months, it has been so fun to watch him with Harper. He is such an Awesome dad! I can't wait to watch their relationship grow! Tonight we had a Frisco ISD Coaches Appreciation dinner. They served Babe's chicken and Jeff thought that it was a great birthday dinner. Better than anything that I could cook! When we got home, I had a key lime pie for his birthday. Harper enjoyed her piece of pie.... (just kidding - not on solid foods yet)Happy Birthday Jeff! I love you!

Presenting...The Sherman Family

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