rambling thoughts

I had, a moment ago, a bunch of thoughts bumping around it my brain that I was going to attempt to but into a post. But just as I loaded up this page to start typing, my two oldest girls came stomping up the stairs yelling at each other about spilled books. Suddenly all previous thoughts have fled my brain and I am left with nothing to write about...I guess that solves one of my problems. I was trying to think of something fun to do on this fabulously summer day, but something that wouldn't require too much energy on my part, because I am feeling oh so tired today. But if the kids are going to fight, then I'll just put them to work and I'll go back to bed.

Back to School, HOORAY!

 August 29th was a glorious day!

Kathryn is off to grade 5. She'll be the big kid in the school and get to do all that big kid stuff and be a team leader.

Tansley is off to grade 2. She is super excited to be in Mrs Schmit's class and to learn more math.

Kymberly is off to Kindergarten. She is excited to walk to school and home again with her sisters and for show and tell day.

It's hard to cry while jogging.

This morning was race day. The day my girls and I had been training for since April. Three times a week we'd brave the elements and get up at 6am to go for a run. Most mornings the girls were the ones dragging me out of bed.

It was a fairly big group this year with quite a few kids. When the timer said "GO" we were off. You should have seen those kids go. It was good to for my girls to have some other speedy kids to keep pace with instead of their slow mom. I was so thrilled to see Kathryn coming back so far ahead of the pack out on her own. I knew she was taking first place for her age group. I was done in with emotion as I watched Tansley pass me by, knowing that she was running faster than she had the whole time we had been training. I gasped for air as I tried to keep back the tears and keep my pace. They were both so far ahead of me that I couldn't even see them finish. I was so glad that my parents were able to make it out to watch us race so that they'd have someone cheering just for them when they crossed that finish line. I picked up pace for the last three blocks, but I didn't feel like I had much more to give. As I came within a block of  the finish line I could here my Kymberly chanting "You can do it mom! Go Mom!" Once again I was overcome by emotion. Crying is not helpful when one is trying to finish a race strong. But finish I did, slower than last year, but I'm not dead from the effort. That alone is an accomplishment.

Our finishing times

Kathryn 30:30 - First in the girls 10 and under
Tansley 37:10 - Second in the girls 10 and under
Me 41:31 - I got a participation ribbon for the women's 30-37 group.

Last years times can be found here.

A little determination can go a long way.

I've been meaning to write this post since Wednesday morning, but one thing or another has stopped me from doing so. Better late than never.

Wednesday morning, bright and early at 6:45am, my two oldest girls and I are up and out for our last run before race day. We walk three blocks down to where the race will start for our warm up. Then we look down the road and out on to the hi-way, and tell ourselves that we can do it, and off we go. By the time we run the three blocks back to our house, Tansley tells me that her foot hurts. I ask her what kind of hurt and she says it just hurts every time she runs. I ask her if she wants to head home and she nods her head. I tell her that is OK, if it hurts it's better not to run on it. As she walks off she says "I hope it doesn't hurt for race day" I agree with her. She's worked so hard, it would be a shame if she couldn't run in the race. She turns to go home and I make my way out on to the hi-way. Kathryn is so far ahead of me she is only a spec on the road...this is normal. I can't keep up to that kid. Awhile later, and at least a third of the way down the hi-way to our turn around point, I hear footsteps behind me. Here comes Tansley with all her might trying to catch up to me. I grin from ear to ear and tell her how proud I am of her and ask her what made her come back. She said she got half way down the block and just thought to herself "I can do this" and so she did. She passed me and headed off into the distance with the biggest smile on her face. I can't keep up to that kid either. We all finished our run that day...at possible record slowest times ever for each of us(at least I know mine was). But we finished and hopefully we will all have more energy tomorrow morning for Race Day.

It's Party Time

Last week Kymberly asked me to help her write her birthday list.

Today, I tried to do my best to fulfill her list.

Breakfast in bed...check

Fix Hootie...check. Hootie is a stuffed owl that I made for her a couple of years ago. His wing was coming loose and she has been asking me to fix it for months.

Mooshi Monster Stuffy...check(courtesy of Tansley's creativity). Tansley got the idea to make a stuffy out of an old tuque from a crafty book she has so I helped her put it together.

Barbie set...check(courtesy of a second hand store). I had actually bought this barbie furniture for the doll house months ago, but had completely forgotten about it, so glad it came in handy.

Rainbow Cake...well she changed her mind to ice cream cake...bless her heart. I was not looking forward to baking a cake in this heat. A part of me felt a little guilty for not baking her a cake and decorating it all fancy...but then I had a slice of that ice cream cake and all guilt was washed away. 

And once she had a taste of it, she declared it the bestest birthday cake ever...check.

We also sang Happy Birthday to her numerous times(check) and I gave her plenty of birthday hugs and kisses(check). We did forget to give her a present before breakfast, and I completely forgot about the ball on the end of the string thingy(what ever that was), but she didn't miss it.

We met with some friends at the spray park and had pudding and popcorn wars...

When all was said and done Kymberly declared it the bestest Birthday(check) and assured me that she had a Happy Birthday Day(check).

Success

Our Olympic Primary Party

To save space and time, I created a photo collage to try to capture the fun that we all had.

It was a fun, hot and successful evening.

Superman

Recently we've been listening to "Superman's Song" by the Crashtest Dummies an awful lot. Daniel get's on these kicks where he will listen to one song over and over and over, where ever we are. This is how our children choose their favorite songs. The list includes "I want to know what love is" by Foreigner, "Separate Ways" by Journey, and "Shape of my Heart" by the Backstreet Boys, just to name a few. "Superman's Song" has now been added to the list. If you don't know the song, or it's been a decade or so since you've heard it, you can take a listen here.


While driving in the Van the other day the girls asked if we could listen to the Superman song. So I put it on. We listened to it once, then twice...and then again. I started telling the girls about the Superman movies and explaining some of what the song was talking about. A few days later we were over at a friends house. We were sitting around visiting. The TV happened to be on, and one thing led to another and we were suddenly watching the first Superman movie. The girls thought it was pretty awesome. James came and went doing his own thing. Yesterday, it was chasing him down to put him to bed. I grabbed his blanket and wrapped it around him and scooped him up. I then plopped him down in his crib(yes he's two and I still put him in the crib...I like the confinement). He laid there on his tummy with his blanket wrapped around him like a cape. He stretched out his arms and said "SUPERMAN!" and then proceeded to make flying noises. And this after only watching the movie once, and even then it's not like he sat and watched the whole thing, he was too busy playing with the pinball machine. He would then make his stuffed cow fly through the air saying "Superman!" followed by the swishing flying noises. What a kid. I tell you he's all boy.