Dude Fought the Good Fight

Colton's team faced fierce competition tonight. All of them did really well, including Colton. He fought all three periods and lost by just a few points. He's come a long way in a short amount of time!

Another Chapter Ends
Tonight was Colton's school's fall sports banquet. Colton received a certificate for cross country and was presented with the "All League" Award for his achievements this year and for being the only member to have run all three years for South Central. Fortunately Coach Kornegay is coaching soccer again so Colton will get to have him as a coach one last time. The pics didn't turn out well and I've decided that I need to invest in a digital camera that takes good action shots. It's not very often that I find dude motionless, you know? I can't believe the next time he runs he'll be in high school!

New Respect for Santa
Today was a busy day for Cole and I. We spent the day cleaning the house and (finally!) putting up our outdoor holiday decorations. I noticed that one of the gutters was coming loose and decided (what was I thinking?) to climb on the roof and fix it. My house is very tall and the gutter was loose on the side above the driveway...splat! Colton held the ladder and I climbed from the back of the house over to the driveway side. Climbed may be overstating it...I actually crawled on my hands and knees, at one point Colton started singning the theme to Spiderman, over to the other side of the roof. I had to get really close to the edge...again, splat!...in order to reach the nail. All I had with me was a screwdriver, so I took the handle and pounded the nail in with that! Amazingly it worked! I carefully climbed back over to the other side and down the ladder. I think I had butterflies in my tummy for another two hours! Never again!!!

Dude Pinned Him!!!
Colton's team won the wrestling match tonight and Colton pinned his opponent in under 40 seconds. Seriously it was so exciting!!! I was jumping up and down so much that the lid for my camera battery came open and the battery flew out!!! Colton was so AWESOME! This pics didn't come out very well as I couldn't hold still long enough to take them but here are a couple that turned out alright. He's so cool!



Sizing up the competition.


Getting ready for the take down.

National Young Leaders State Conference
Colton spent the past four days attending the NYLSC with more than 100 8th and 9th graders from all over Georgia. He had an amazing time. He participated in workshops dealing with leadership, conflict resolution, diversity and much more, plus they had a talent show and an evening social for the participants. The commencement ceremony was yesterday and it was very emotional, not just for the participants but for the parents as well. I am very proud of the young man he has become and thrilled that he was able to participate in such an incredible conference. Thank you so much to all that contributed funds to get him there (the reg fee was $1,400!). It was an event that will have a positive effect for years to come. (This pic is with Cole and his faculty advisors)



Cole and his buddy Drew. They hit it off and became fast friends over the weekend.









Colton and Megan. (Notice the red eyes.) They had a difficult time leaving each other. Ah, to be young and in love again. :0)















Cole and another buddy at the end of the conference.

JT!!!
Christian and Mindy sent a CD full of pics of the big man. My favorite are included in this post. Is he the cutest, or what?
Who knew a backend could be SO CUTE!!! Seriously!















JT and daddy after a morning of hunting.














JT and Mindy showing off their cookies...that's after he polished off a cup of pudding!

JT's super cute backend again. He's wearing Scooby Doo underpants like his daddy use to!

'Big man in a little bed!'

National Young Leaders State Conference
Colton is attending the NYLSC this weekend in Atlanta. It's four days of leadership, team building and diversity exercises -- the program looks great! I spoke with him this morning and he is loving it. Everyone in his group gets along well and his roomate is cool. There are plenty of cute girls and they all LOVE running their fingers through his hair...which of course he hates...NOT! Anyway, here's a link to yesterday's slide show. You can see Colton in two of the pics...he's in a brown polo shirt. www.cylc.org/nylsc/pictures (select the Atlanta location)

Happy Turkey Day!
Colton and I flew to Baltimore on Wednesday to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday with my baby sister. We had a great weekend and of course it went too quickly. Erika is doing great and it was nice to see my niece and nephew again (Pete and Gracie, her cats). We spent the weekend watching movies, working out and eating healthy, thanks to Cole's wrestling regiment. Colton and I are very thankful for our family and friends, our health and the other, four-legged members of our family, Scout, Robin and Hope. I am extremely grateful for the life-changing events of this year, a successful start to my business and the teaching opportunities I am very much enjoying. Our lives are very full of love and laughter and we thank you for that.



Cole and Gracie.

It's been a very hectic week and it's only TUESDAY! Colton dressed up as a dead skateboarder for halloween. Great costume and I'd love to share pics with you, but I forgot to put the memory card in the camera!!! Duh!

He leaves tomorrow for a school trip to Washington D.C. His dad is flying in from Colorado to spend the weekend with him and Colton is so excited! I know they'll have a GREAT TIME!

I started grad classes again yesterday. I figured out that if I take two classes each term for the next year, I should graduate next December. That will definitely serve as much needed motivation!

Revitalize Marketing & Communications continues to grow. My marketing campaign is working and I've had several new inquiries over the past week, including a meeting today with a company that is going through a restructure and rebranding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they select to work with me as it would be a great account and will help me get my foot in the door with other local companies. It's all very exciting and equally as stressful but I'm really glad I took the chance.

Annette (Wady) is flying in Thursday so I get to have some MUCH NEEDED girl time while the dude is in D.C. I'm sure I'll have plenty of exciting pics to post next week!!!

Regional Cross Country Meet
Colton had a FANTASTIC finish during the regional cross country meet held on Saturday. He finished 9th out of approximately 130 runners and beat his best time by 59 seconds to finish at 13:17.












The 8th grade runners and Coach Kornegay.










Colton and Coach Kornegay. Jason has been his coach all three years!













Proud mom and "the dude."

Crazy Colton

Josie!!!

Hugh (6), Josie (3) and Colton (13)

Summer 2006

Better late than never! These pics are from Colton's visit to Colorado in July.

Hugh flexes his huge muscles and gives Grandma Irene a good laugh. Hugh is SIX now!!!

Cole's first cross country meet of the season was the Covered Bridge Invitational on Sept. 9. He placed 22 out of 193. Great action shot, eh?

I caught Scout napping while I was hard at work!

It was an exciting afternoon! Colton had a cross country meet and he and his team did so awesome! Colton came in 5th and his team placed first. It was a smaller turnout than normal and the course loved them today! They were all determined to place well because it is their coaches birthday. When they were awarded the trophey, the team called the coach up, presented it to him and sang happy birthday! (I should probably change the date stamp on the camera!!!)