Our First 5k

Yes - we finally ran a 5k and I don't mean Joe and I. (In fact Joe has already run one but did not participate in this one with us.) I mean all four of my kids and I ran our first 5k. It was a very last minute decision to run and no one knew we were doing it. To top it off I couldn't find my camera. Such is my life.

The run down of the race.... I set my alarm for the morning of thinking maybe we would go but knowing Joe had to work and I would be alone with my kids. (Not that that has ever stopped me before. just trying to find an excuse.) When my alarm went off I was freezing and had not slept very well but didn't want to disappoint Lydia since it was her that was asking to do it. So I meandered down to her bed and laid with her and asked her if she really wanted to because we didn't have to. She immediately jumped up and said "Yes, yes, I want to. Please can we?" I said "Alright." Then we woke the rest of the kids up hurried and got ready, had a very poor breakfast since I was out of several grocery items. Then we went to register.

Once we got there I noticed that other parents with kids had wagons and backpack carriers for their children and I thought, "Shoot I should have brought our stroller." Oh well, too late for that. I attempted to call my Mom Lori to see if she was up and wanted to come watch. If she could I was going to ask her to stop by my house and bring my stroller but as it was she was up but not ready and would not be able to make it over in time (10 min.) so I did not ask her to grab my stroller. And then the race was starting.

We ran down to the start line. That was exciting and our second best performance throughout the whole race. :) I had us stand in the back of everyone so that we weren't in the way of anyone. (Probably would do that different next time.) When everyone started to fill through the big arch way I urged my kids on. As soon as it was our turn to go through the arches Miriam started to cry. What a good start! We had to run past the registration tables and I was questioning whether we should really do this or not but I guess my pride kept us in. I told Miriam "Do you see that sign up there at the end of the road? I will carry you after we get to that." She said ok and away we went. Jane also cried right at the beginning that she was thirsty. Which in my haste of the morning I had forgotten to grab drinks. But luckily for us a guy at the registration table had some and ran it over to us.

Lydia and Corbin had taken off on their own but returned worried that I wanted them right by me. I assured them it was fine and they could run up ahead. So they ran up again and then Corbin ran back to us again and stayed with us the rest of the time. So already he was going to run more than a 5k, but he did this running up a ways and then coming back one more time during the race. Which it was great to have him with us because he helped me carry the waters and energy packs they had given us when I needed him to. When I tried to put them in my pocket my pants would start to fall down. I struggled with keeping my pants up the whole race.

Well the start of the race was pretty well how the whole thing went. Miriam and Jane took turns crying and I would convince them to walk to a sign then I would carry them a little ways. Corbin kind of be bopped around us helping me when I asked. And I never saw Lydia after we left the start line till we were done. Throughout the race I tried to keep my children's minds off of the walk. I would tell them things like "Should we have ice cream when we are done? What is your favorite kind? Look at that boat, do you like that boat. Those are pretty flowers. Oh, watch that plane do you see it?" I don't know if it helped for sure but I think it did.

Honestly the truck that follows the last people was always right behind us. One time we passed the two ladies in front of us but it didn't take them long to pass us again and they moved way far in front of us. So we were the last ones and the last ones by ALOT!

When we got to the last stretch Corbin ran way up ahead of us and stopped at the finishing arch and waited for us. The sweet kid could've finished without us but he waited. Once the arch got close enough the girls ran their little hearts out. Since everyone had finished we had quite the crowd to cheer us in and these two little girls had the biggest grins on their faces. Again regretting that I could not find my camera!!! We went over to the shade and yes I did feel like crying. looking at my little kids and knowing that they had done it. The pride I felt for my kids was immense but I held in the tears.

We found Lydia over next to the awards table as they were drawing for prizes. She did get a long sleeve shirt that was big enough for her Dad. She was super excited. A lady offered her a backpack instead but she wanted what she had won. Adorable! Maybe when I find my camera I can post a picture of her in it.

They separated the winners into age groups. Jane got the third place award for her age. When they announced her name I could not spot her so I had to take the price to her. She was so excited she won and everywhere we went all weekend she had to tell everyone.

In the Post Register today they news about the race came out and in the article it said, "Three-year old Miriam Lewis of Idaho Falls was the youngest to complete the entire 5k course on her own." How fun to have her in the paper!

Again, I just have to say I am so proud of all my kids! And they are very proud of themselves.

The times got all messed up so they are not posted right. They say Lydia's time is 42:21 and Corbin's is 42:22. (I don't know how they finished together) The girls and I don't have a time we are just listed as "Finisher". (I guess you can't see just how bad we did.)

But WE DID IT!

Corbin's Goal

Corbin is number 3. This is one of his goals. I love to watch him play. I will try to catch a goal on video but I think he only has one more game.

What can I say I am one proud mama!?

Planting Our Garden

I guess with all this hard work we'd better put one in.

Hailey and Lydia's photo shoot

These adorable girls snuck my camera and took some pictures. I am glad they did. Their pictures turned out so cute! These are just a couple of the many they took. Oh and they snuck Grandma's flowers too! Silly gills!

Gym Days at the Apple

As part of our school we go twice a month to the Apple Athletic Club for gym days or P.E. We have played many games, had special visitors come or instruction (this week we will have a boogaloo instructor come), and we have also taken part in a presidential fitness program complete with awards.

I was able to get some pictures when Mr. Dance of 2007 (I think that was the year) came. He was fun and tried to teach the kids a neat dance routine but the Apple's sound was not working which made it a little hard. However we still had fun. I was not able to get pictures of the awards ceremony because my batteries were dead. :( Maybe I can get a fellow homeschooling mom to forward me some.

Here are some I got...

To all the sweet women I know!

Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.

They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.

They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.

They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.

The heart of a woman is what
makes the world keep turning.

They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their
family and friends.

Women have vital things to say
and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

SOMEDAY

Changes

I am not usually one to post a lot of writing on my blog but I just had some thoughts I wanted to get off my head. I have never really had a problem with change. Going from single to married to married with kids was no problem. I enjoyed moving from place to place and I especially loved changing personal things, like my hair, my decorations, etc. It has only been recently I have grown to not like change. When I spend time thinking about old memories I begin to long for those times and I feel that it is change that has made those times not exist any more.

I love to think about all the time growing up that I got to spend with my family. The special intimate times that I hold so dear. Like staying up late talking/bugging my parents. Times I got to spend one on one with a brother. Vacation memories. Holiday memories. I love to think about these and then I realize I will never get to experience these again I ache to have them back.

Sure I can look on the bright side and be grateful that at least I have these memories and there are many more to be made. I just know that change is what has stopped them and change is coming and is going to make these particular moments fewer and more difficult to come by. When my brother Kyle returns from his mission I am afraid things will be so completely different from 2 years prior. And I don't like the change.

Part of the change I feel coming is that we are now in the next stage of life. We have no babies no diapers. All of our children are talking walking independent children. Pretty close to ending the toddler stage too. In a year and they will all be in school. Maybe it sounds to some like perhaps we are not done having babies but with how the spirit is communicating to us it feels better to be done than to think of having more. My point of bringing it up is that I just feel like this is part of a major changing period in our life considering it was about this time of year that our baby would have been born thus extending the baby phase.

I have always been close to my family and I feel everyone should be close to their families. Now, though, with this great change I feel I am having to cut the strings even more and I don't want to. I want to through a ginormous toddler fit and stomp my feet and scream "NO!"

At this point I turn to Joe and think 'with him I can get through because he is really who I chose'. I love him and I love my children. I love having this family I have. And may all this change make us a stronger closer family. I have been telling myself it is time to grow up and realize I am a grown woman (that sounds so weird, I'm sure I am just a young lady still) with growing children a loving family to whom I am Mother over.
To the point, my family is splitting up (no pun intended). My brothers and their wives are planning on moving and that is understandable but it still sucks. One set of parents is for sure moving although not to drastic a move and the other threats on moving somewhere warmer and I hate it. And who knows where Kyle and perhaps a wife will go? Probably Rexburg at first.

I always found myself lucky to live in a family where we all lived in the same town. The support and closeness we share I felt was how it should always be. I have always felt bad that Joe's family was so separated and found it very interesting that one sibling preferred it that way. No offense. I just really like having my family close where getting together can happen so easily.

I blame the uncertainty on the economy. I do really understand that whatever the future holds is for the best but right now I am sad. I love my family and I hate the thought of it breaking up. Blackfoot and Poky are far enough.

With all that griping said I will finish with a favorite quote, "If there were no CHANGE, there would be no butterflies."

Getting together when our special guests come to town.

Gathering for birthday parties

Playing outside together.

Lydia's baptism

All about Joe

This is what my husband looks like when the house is a mess. How 'bout yours?

Yet another one....

$39.23 bought us...
81 boxes of cereal
2 gallons of milk
4 boxes of mac n' cheese
1 bag of baby carrots
3 boxes of gold fish
2 butters
2 syrups
1 gatorade
5 Gillette shampoo

Total savings.....







$327.07
88%

$10 for...

OK so I don't mean to only blog about couponing but I think I had my best deal last night. I was looking through my normal couponing blogs at 10:00 p.m. and realized there was a sale that was only good yesterday so after much debate I ran to the store and this is what I got for $10.38...

10 boxes of kellogg's cereal
1 gallon of milk
1 package of orbit gum
10 orchards juices
and $10 to spend on my next trip.

Total savings $59.50 or 83%

This is so fun for me. I get so excited doing this wouldn't you?

Couponing

What I have learned so far:

While I have only been couponing for a little over two weeks I feel like I have learned a lot. I never new there was so much to learn. I have learned the lingo and what all the acronimns stand for. I have learned what a catalina was and how to use it. I have learned what a doubler was. I have found many wonder couponing blogs that know the really great deals. Most important I have learned how to combine deals and coupons to get lots of free stuff.

I love this and just wish I had known how to do it sooner.

My most recent savings include 8 orchard juices and 2 boxes of bagel bites for $7.30 while getting back $10 to spend on my next shopping trip. So I kindof made $2.70. :)

I bought a lot that day. I went to Walgreens and bought 6 boxes kleenex, 4 kotex boxes, 3 aluminum foil, 3 landry detergents all for $20.59 plus I still have 5 more dollars to spend next time I go in. according to them my savings was $28.38

At Target I got a bag of Halls and 2 things of cereal for $0.39 That was fun!

At Albertsons I bought 15 boxes of fruit snacks, 2 muffin mix, 2 macroni grill pastas, 2 wanchai box dinners, 1 box of cereal all for $21.75 according to them I saved $52.23 (Not my best and as of today the fruit snacks are on sale and combined with coupons and deals you could get them for $0.10 a box and I paid $1.8 a box. That frustrated me but oh well.

Lydia is 8

My dear sweet Lydia is 8. I can't believe it. I feel so grateful to have her in my life. She is a wonderful blessing. She is beautiful, caring, fun, caring, creative, smart, and athletic. She makes a wonderful oldest child. She is super helpful to me. She takes such good care of her siblings. I cannot express how much I love her in words. I hope that I can be the mom that she needs and deserves.

Love ya Lydia - Mom

Math Literacy Fair/Carnival

We just went to our annual math literacy fair and had a great time. I volunteered to run a booth and I graciously told Joe he had to me too. We did have a great time though. We played a Spiderman game where players picked a character and rolled some dice. They had to add or multiply the numbers together to move up the building to rescue Mary Jane. Corbin absolutely loved this game.

They had other games there such as bingo, bean bag toss, arcade basketball, and many more. We also had an author come and talk to the kids. DARE officer, Love and Logic reps., and many more. The door prizes consisted of and ipod shuffle and $10 gift certificates. Lydia won a gift certificate. (And I had everyone sing to her.) All in all it was a very great time.

Oh yeah and we had pizza!

Out of the mouth of Jane

Jane points to a bottle of zicam nasal spray and says
"What is that?"

Mom says, "It is cold medicine."

Jane gets a peculiar look on her face for a moment then says,

"Let me feel it."

She proceeds to touch it and informs me,
"No it's not, You are teasing me."

The Spelling Bee

Our kids participated in a spelling bee on February 5th. It was so fun. They did really well and I was so proud of them. I was afraid that they would be so unhappy if they did not win and I was impressed that not only were they happy with their selves once they were done but they were talking about how excited they were to do it again next year. Lydia says she wants to win next year. I cannot explain in words the amount of pride I had for my kids. It was the best birthday ever.

Honestly our kids were getting kind of nervous before hand and they were pretty much wanting to back out and not do it. I told them that for my birthday I would really like for them to try to spell just one word and that would make me so happy. I said that I wouldn't just be happy if they won but that I would be happy if they just tried. This gave them some confidence and I think they did better than they thought they would. The best part of it all was that they were proud of themselves. And they should be. It looked scary getting up there and yet they did it and smiled when they were done.

Corbin outlasted quite a few in his group. And Lydia lasted 5 rounds and longer than half of her group.

They received a certificate for participation and they got to pick a prize.


Corbin looks so short in this picture next to the other Kindergardeners and First graders.




Doesn't she look adorable!

My Activity Day Girls

These are my sweet activity day girls. I just love them. They are so fun. This is just after we went sledding. We had a really great time.

Chirstmas morning at our house.

Our Christmas. I believe Christmas is so much funner when you have kids. I really love to watch them as they experience the magic of Christmas. I love my kids!

Okay nevermind

So I miss blogging on this blog so I think I will stick with this one. I have a right to change my mind however many times I want right!?



These are photos of my birthday. We had a super fun time. We each got to decorate our own cakes.