HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A little video to make you laugh!

Fundraiser for Relay For Life!!

Come support our Relay For Life team with a dinner fundraiser at Hog Heaven restaurant. You can dine at the Durham or Roxboro location on May 10th from 5:30pm to 8:00pm and 10% of the proceeds will be donated through our team to Relay For Life! Complete information below:

Relay For Life

Ok folks, I need more friends and family to walk with us in the Relay For Life. It is an overnight camping & walking event to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It will be held May 21st at the Orange County Speedway and the "rules" are that we have to keep one team member on the track at all times. The more members we have, the better off we'll be... But on the flip side, we'll finally get some exercise! The deadline for joining the team is 4/15 and is rapidly approaching, so get out to the website and sign up. Joining the team requires a $10 donation and they would like each team member to raise $100 (your $10 counts toward your $100) and this isn't hard to get - we'll help each other! I'm dragging our kids out into the infield and setting up the tent for a night of friendship and fellowship. We decided to do this in Mom's memory and we'll have a torch lit for her that will burn all night long as well as a photo of her in the memorial slide show. I know that she would be so proud of our participation and she has always been a strong supporter of cancer research. I'm trying to think of a "campsite theme" and am thinking about the beach... It was her favorite spot and I think she'd love to see some beach chairs and hear some beach music. We'll put the kids to work selling snacks/baked goods at our site and that will go towards our team's fundraising total. Let's make this one wonderfully memorable night!!

Starting life anew…

Where do we start?  I haven’t posted updates here in so long, because all of my writing has been done on the Caringbridge website  for Mom.  I guess it is time to “close” that site and but my thoughts back here again.  It is hard to think of closing that chapter of our lives, but I think it is time now – there are people that need those resources more than we do right now and while I won’t delete the site yet (I’m not that strong), I do think we need to start updates here again.

It has been a very difficult road these last 7 weeks – tomorrow will mark 7 weeks since Mom died and the days are still hard.  Some moments are better than others, but we miss her every day.  It still feels like she is on a trip somewhere and we’re just waiting for her to come home.  I went back to church this past Sunday for the first time – I’d been putting it off as long as I could – and it was as hard (actually harder) than I thought it would be.  There are so many people that we love there and so many memories that it makes for a difficult place to be.  Mom would want us to keep going though, so that is what we’ll do – it will just take time.

We’re going to the beach tonight to spend Easter there with Dad this year and while difficult, I think it will be a good change overall.  Taylor is out of school next week, so we’ll stay through Wednesday and Dad will come back Sunday afternoon.  I’m thrilled to get to spend Easter morning with him and have him there for when the girls get their loot from the Easter Bunny.

I haven’t packed yet and have been more than swamped at work, so I’m going to cut this short.  (speaking of cuts – we cut bangs on Hannah this week – she refuses to keep her hair pulled back and I was tired of watching her try to see and eat through it all.  It is precious, but she looks so different.  I’ll put a picture up here and will try to get pics from her birthday up too)  We love you all so very much and thank you for all of the constant love and support.  We just keep putting one foot in front of the other and look forward to the day when that becomes easier than it is now.  Happy Easter!

Where do I start?!

First, those that don't know, we've had some bad news about my Mom in the last month - stay updated at http://www.caringbridge.com/visit/jpatton as we fight this "pancreatic mass" and travel through this journey together.

We're at the beach right now on a little hiatus and we celebrated Taylor's 5th birthday yesterday - she is my little independence day baby and has a very special birthday. I have posted pictures up at picasa, http://picasaweb.google.com/jpclvrd/TaylorS5thBirthday?feat=directlink.

Hannah is a trip on the beach - we have to try to snap pictures in motion because she NEVER stops moving unless she is asleep. I have more videos, but am having trouble getting them up over this connection, so I will post them as I can. We're taking a break from the actual beach today to rest (it is SO humid!) and let Taylor spend some of her birthday money ($75!). Maybe she'll share it with us?!

We survived!

We made it through last week, which is nothing short of a miracle! We had dance recital practices Monday - Wednesday night, pictures on Thursday night, graduation on Friday night and recital on Saturday and Sunday. Whew! (Pictures are below) Taylor has grown so fast and I can't believe she starts Kindergarten this fall. She is going to summer camp next week, so this is her last week at Mt. Sylvan, which is very bittersweet. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in so long - it just seems like the weeks have been so busy and flying by. We are in swim team season right now with practices every evening... There was a meet this past Saturday morning, but we missed Taylor's heat b/c Mom got a little turned around on the way there and then had trouble finding a place to park, but it was probably just as well since we'd missed practice all week b/c of recital stuff. Hope you all are doing well and I'll try to post soon about the antics of Miss Hannah.... sigh...

Here is a sample - she has an obsession with baby wipes...

must have gotten the compulsive cleaning gene from her father...

Easter!

Here is a quick pic from Easter - I'll post more later.

Oh, by the way, the anemone died - tried to swim up the filter intake and this time did a really good job. It was unrecognizable. We now have a beautiful torch coral and it seems to be doing well.