5K a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

Wow- never in my life had I ever thought that I would be running a 5K!  I did it! It felt good.  Kinda.  Union Tar Heel Days has this 5K every year and this year I decided to try it.  Aden and Waylen thought they would do it with me.Waylen started out in a sprint.  Being 8 years old its tough to pace yourself and easy to sprint to win.  He was having trouble at the turn around point and I had to walk with him for about 2 minutes.  He ended up getting a ride back into town.  Aden beat me with a time of 24 minutes 50 seconds and I made it in at 31 minutes!  Yeah!

It was painful.  I wanted to give up and stop towards the end.  Admired the ditch flowers, prayed to God and thought about Jaycee Dugard, I just read her book!  She was kidnapped at age 11 for 18 years and endured so much.. I thought about all she had been through and kept pushing myself.  Made it!

So fun to have my family there to cheer me on, watch me, and run it with me! Can't wait for my next one!

To Cake or Not To Cake?

OK , so tell me how many moms out there do this..get their birthday cakes for their children made for them either by Walmart, Hyvee or private party?  Uh yeah, that is what I did for years.  So much easier right?  Don't have to bother with the mess, the kids love it, plus who has time to make their cake.  I surely didn't!  Until I met Julie, my inspirational missing piece of the puzzle!

Never Never Land!

Peter?  Is that you?  Is that you, Boy? The shadow that was on my door looked like Peter Pans shadow.  The one where he has both hands on his hips.  You can picture it.  I knew who it was.  It was Aden.  He was coming into my room to snuggle being freightened by the storm that we were having outside.  I was so excited!  Yes, he wants to snuggle with me!  He wants his mom to calm him and take care of him!  I called out his name, "Aden!?"  no answer and no midnight snuggler.  Darn.  I laid back down in bed with Lydia as she had come into our bed earlier due to the thunder and lightening scaring her.  I thought to my self  I don't want Aden to grow up.  It saddens me to think that Aden is getting older and growing up and no longer wanting to snuggle with me or come to me freightened by a storm.  I dont want that to end yet.  I jump in his bed and tell him come on and he polietly says "I'm ok."  Uggg, knife right though heart! :)  I pray to God to help me though this. Daily! :)

Here Comes the Bride!

"Mommy!" "Mommy!" "Come here a minute!"  "What's this mommy?"  Lydia points to the big white bag clear to the back of Nathan and I's closet.  It was the bag that has my wedding dress in it.  Lydia loves dresses.  So of course we had to haul it out and open up the bag. Right away she dove for the veil.  She just had to put it on.  It was so cute.  She looked beautiful.  Right then and there I thought about her one day getting married and how maybe, just maybe, she might use my dress.  Thinking about how much Nathan loves his daughter and one day having to give her away.  Thinking about how much Nathan loves me and can do so many things that other people most likely have to pay for like put a new roof on our house, change my oil, snow plow everything, that he will help anyone in need, how he starts my car in the dead of winter and in the summer washes it sometimes twice a week and hoping that Lydia one day will find that in her future husband. ~sigh~ 

 Yes, daddy I will!

Apologies To Julia

I love my mother- in- law!  She truly is the greatest.  Not many people can say that about their mother- in- laws. Julia would do anything for anyone and loves her family unconditionally!  There is just one thing about Julia that her and I don't have in common.  She loves to shop.  YUK!  Not just spend- all- the- money- you have- all day shopping she can go to a mall and spend all day there just looking and not buy anything at all!  I do not love shopping.  I like to do it and when I do I usually know what I need and get in and get out.  The other thing about Julia is that anything that she looks at, that she thinks she could make, she says in  a low whisper "we could make that"  or "you know how easy that would be to make."  It truly is comical and every time I laugh and roll my eyes. 
Well after careful deliberation and lots of inspiration from other blogs and very talented people.  I am going to try it!  Try to make all the things we see in the stores for our homes that are always way over priced.  So, Julia, I APOLOGIZE! :)  I will attempt to take before and after pics.  Right now I am working on a small shelf that I found at good will for 3 dollars.  I have viewed items all over my house that have potential for my new found craftiness looking them over thinking in my head be afraid be very afraid!  Pictures to come.  Thank you Julia.  You have always known we could do it!

Here are some letters I found at Walmart.  Wish I could say that I cut them out with my handy dandy jigsaw but that was not the case!  They were almost $2.00 a piece kinda pricey but this is my start.  I then primed them and painted them pink.

 Tah dah!  They look great on her purple walls.

 This was a little shelf that I found at Goodwill for $3.00.  It was blonde wood.  This picture was of it primed because I forgot to take a pic of the before!

 Here is the finished shelf.  I painted it ivory and glazed it black.  Not too bad.  I would give myself a 3 out of 10 for this project.

 This is Lydia's newly painted room.  Something was needed for the walls so I decided to attempt to hand paint the border.  The windows still need trimmed.  The curtain looks way too small for the window but I am waiting for the trim. :)

 "Jesus Love Me" was the first thing that came to mind.  We sing that alot and teach the kids that Jesus loves them by inserting their name into the "me" slot.  Lydia also starts all her prayers off with this song. "Jesus loves me this I know help me to sleep tonight and no tigers be in my closet...."

 Here's Lydia doing her first craft.

 All done.

1+5= Crowded

Bathrooms that is!  Yes 1 bathroom five people!  Well actually it's only three of us that mostly get ready in the mornings with one bathroom.  We have always had one bathroom as our family has grown over the years.  I keep telling myself that one day it's going to get really bad and we will HAVE to do something.  I think though, that we will just deal with adapting to our one bathroom as we continue to grow.  For now this is how our morning goes trying to get 5 ready with only one bathroom.
* I get up and in the shower.  10-15 mins of alone time. Me time.  Time I love!
* Nathan comes in and gets in the shower.  (after I get out!)
*  I head upstairs to call for the boys to get out of bed.  Luckily the younger two still take showers at night and have yet to feel they need to in the morning.
*  Nathan gets out of shower as I am blow drying my hair.  He then takes over the sink and shaves. 
* Aden comes in and stands behind the shower curtain to undress and get in the shower as his mom and dad are both in the bathroom finishing up.
*  I try and give my growing adolescent privacy and leave the bathroom to get as much done as I can.
*Have the other two get dressed. 
*Nathan starts serving breakfast.
In and out.  In and out.  In and out.  So far it is working pretty well for us.  We will see when Waylen decides bed head smell may be noticeable by peers! :)

Beauty Shop

As I sit here typing my first post on my brand new blog (scary)  I am getting my hair did by my beautiful 3 year old daughter Lydia, while still reviewing spelling words for my 7 year old son,Waylen, for tomorrows spelling test.  Wow now that is called multitasking!  Something I think us girls are just born with a God given talent to do!  I love when Lydia make believe plays with her dolls and does my hair like we are at a real beauty shop.  I don't remember doing that as a little girl although I am sure that I did!  There is just something about her doing it that is so innocent and I can't help but to just watch her.