Roman celebrated his birthday a little early this year. He played video games at Pixel Planet Arcade, ate dinner at IHOP, and had a sleepover with his best friend, Owen.
Author: Jodi
Roman and Owen…
Roman loves his best friend, Owen. They got to spend the day together today and topped it all off with a sweet treat from Sweet CeCe’s.
Bunny Shenanigans…
Xander’s bunny is such a curious little guy. Roman and I sat down to play some Sorry, and Clover hopped right onto the board…investigating the cards and pawns (he even tried to eat a pawn!). He’s so crazy…in the cutest kind of way.
Fort Building…
The boys have been working on a fort in the woods behind our house…
More Snow Days…
We had more snow!!! It’s really rare to get two big snowfalls in one winter in middle Tennessee. These were the biggest snowflakes that I’ve ever seen falling. I ended up staying inside, wrapped up in a knit blanket in front of the fire, reading most of the time. The boys got out and played in it, though.
I love these pictures…one of Jonas and Pranav and one of Roman and Luka (sweet boys my boys have been friends with since kindergarten).
It’s Been a While…
Wow…it’s been a while since I’ve posted…about six months! I’ll try to go back and start from July and post forward to January. It might take me a while. So much has happened in half of a year!!!
Snow Days…
We had our first snow of the winter! We took wintry walks with Petra, hung out with friends (here’s Xander with his good friend, Archer), had fun sledding, and even brought in a baby pool full of snow for the bunny to enjoy.
Darren’s Visit…
We loved getting to visit with my brother, Darren, over the holidays. He and I had a fun day together playing frisbee golf, catching up over lunch at Birdie’s (one of my favorite restaurants in Nolensville), and hanging out with Tom and the boys.
We spent Christmas day at Mom and Marty’s…visiting, eating, and opening presents with everybody. Darren made the most delicious stuffing with mushrooms, bacon, and creme fraiche. I know my mom was in heaven having all of her babies home with her. I love this picture of Mom, Darren, and my boys!
Christmas Cookies…
When you make Christmas cookies with your teenager…
Winter Hazards…
Roman got his mitten stuck in his braces. How that happened I’ll never know. HaHa!
Celebrating Early…
We celebrated Christmas early with Dad and Sheri. It was so good to see everybody…to hug my Aunt Jean, to listen to Dylan’s stories about the Crucible recruit training for the marines, to share worship music with Daddy, to love on Sheri and enjoy her cooking, and to catch up on life with my sisters and brother-in-law and niece. Blessed by togetherness.
Rocket City Marathon…
I have been training for my second marathon since August 23, 2021.
That’s sixteen weeks of getting up early, running when I want to, running when I don’t want to, prioritizing running over everything, running when it’s hot out, running when it’s cold out, running before the sun comes up, running after the sun goes down, running by myself, listening to music, listening to audiobooks, hydrating, refueling, checking my pace, stretching, praying, counting mailboxes running up hills, flinging my arms wide running down hills, thinking, philosophizing, breathing, and enjoying being out in nature.
It was an interesting phenomenon this time around…I burned out mentally about halfway through my training. I don’t know what happened, but it was REALLY hard for me to stay motivated. Once I’m committed to something, though…I have to see it through. But man the struggle was real. The taper is always tough for me…those two weeks at the end where you cut your mileage way back to rest your legs and gear up for race day. It tends to send me into a bit of a mental tailspin. So, I ended up doing most of my mileage on our stationary bike at home those last few weeks and wondering if I would even be able to/care to run on race day.
I drove down to Huntsville, Alabama on December 10. I checked into the hotel, grabbed dinner at Taziki’s, headed back to the hotel to get all of my gear ready for the run, showered, and got into bed early. I woke up around 530 am the next morning, checked my email, and saw that the marathon was canceled due to the weather. It was the weekend of the tornados. It put a lot of things into perspective just knowing how many people had lost their homes and their lives due to the severe weather that morning. I packed everything up and drove home.
I decided to get up the next morning and run the 26.2 miles at Crockett Park, my favorite local park for long runs. The weather was perfect, and Tom and the boys came out to cheer me on for the last few miles. (Jonas even ran with me for the last mile…which I don’t think was too rough on him because he could walk and still keep up with me at that point because I was running so slow…haha.)
I’m so grateful to have crossed that finish line.
Dylan…
Look at my handsome nephew, Dylan! He’s now officially a U.S. Marine. I cried and cried when my sister sent me this picture…just so amazed and inspired by his choices and grateful for how God has answered prayers and turned this young man’s life around.
Thanksgiving…
We spent Thanksgiving in VA with Grandma and Grandpa Seyfried, Lindsey Seyfried (Tim, Mary, and Audrey were in Italy), the Longs, and the Paccassis. It was great to be with everybody again.
Ruston Kelly…
Oh man…I was SO excited to get to go see Ruston Kelly in concert at the Ryman Auditorium tonight!!! Something about the pandemic and seeing music shut down just made me want to go see all of my favorites when everything opened back up.
I haven’t listened to music like I’ve listened to his in a long time…pretty much non-stop, from the first album to the last, all the way through, over and over again.
This is the one that hooked me…”Brave“.
Happy 13th Birthday, Jonas!!!…
Let me start this by saying that I cannot believe that my firstborn son is 13 years old today!!!
He had a fun day…walked in the Veteran’s Day Parade, ate brunch at the Pfunky Griddle, and went to the Great Escape Room. He loved having his two best friends, Ethan and Pranav, celebrating with him.
Veteran’s Day Parade…
The boys got to march in the Veteran’s Day Parade today with Masters Martial Arts Academy. Here’s Jonas smiling with his best friend, Ethan, Xander not loving having his picture taken but looking soulful and beautiful, and Roman showing off his best TaeKwonDo stance.
Bunny Hay…
Clover is such a funny little guy and so full of personality. When I was filling up his bins with fresh hay today, he literally hopped inside of them. Here he is dipping his toes in before making the leap. What a cutie…we love our bun bun.
Field Trip…
I was so excited to be able to go on a field trip with Roman today to the William P. Ridley 4-H Center!
Halloween…
We absolutely love Halloween in our neighborhood!!!
Here we are in our costumes: Tom as a snowboarder, me as a poke ball, Jonas as a black caped somebody with a scary mask, Xander as Pikachu, and Roman as Mario riding Yoshi.
