Anniversary Oh-Choh

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!

Yesterday, I was explaining to the kids what an anniversary is... "It's when you celebrate something that happened to you.  A birthday is the anniversary of your birth so you get to have a party.  This is the anniversary of our marriage so we get to go out to eat and maybe stay at a hotel."  Pierce says, "Or you could play a joke on dad."

This is a real conversation.  Hudson says, "Like put some ice down his pants!"

Pierce says, "Yeah, or put some slimy chicken on his back!"

Hudson says, "Pierce!  I never knew you were so gross!"

Pierce says, "What?!  I'm not a lady!"  Boys are weird.

David is a self-sacrificing, loving husband to me.  He's willing to do the dishes and the laundry and help me keep up with the house stuff.  He runs to Starbucks when I need a pick-me-up.  He lovingly gives up that last bit of dessert when we share (sometimes I just need my own!).  He's an awesome daddy to our four little Freddies and has vision and purpose for our family that keeps us seeking the Lord in prayer and His Word.  The fruit of his efforts are evident in our children's prayers and conversations (maybe even the slimy chicken comment!).  I'm so grateful for the last eight years.  We're counting on this being the best year yet!  Love you Freddy!  :)

Park Days

Dad texted me Saturday to see if the kids could come play while I did my long run. Yes, my dad is awesome. David and I dropped off the kids and headed to the park to run around in circles. It's not too bad with music going and gorgeous weather. I ran in the rain last weekend with no headphones and about went crazy.

8.2 miles later I felt fabulous. My feet feel great and I'm actually enjoying myself and I love that my husband is doing this with me.

Sunday we took the kids to the park. Loving this fabulous February weather!

Saturday Morning!

There's a cushion fort in my living room and applesauce all over my baby, who's not a baby anymore.  I switched out all the girl clothes to 2's and 4's.  They're getting bigger.  A girl at the Y the other day said, "Oh, last time I saw you, you had just had a baby.  How old is she now?"  She'll be two in May.  Wow.  I ran out of half & half and milk, so I put heavy cream in my coffee this morning.  It's divine. But I should go to the grocery store.

I'm running 8 miles this afternoon.  I plan on remembering my headphones today so I don't die of boredom.  Last week I ran at the park in a drizzly rain with no headphones around the 1/2 mile loop with two other guys and their dogs.  It was boring and a little awkward.  You can smile and say hi, the first time you pass them.  The next 10 times are just weird.

Funny things for the week (mostly from Alayna):

• "Mom, Adelle bit my shoulder and then my foot hurt."  That's usually the way it works.
• "Mom, you know what's so funny?  Some people have wrinkles on their face!"  Not funny.
• Every night after she's tucked in bed, and I'm tucked in bed, she comes into my room.  "I just made up this beautiful song that I needed to sing to you before I forget it."  Her most recent creation, "They needed to change clothes so they did and they put all their laundry away and their mom was so happy she gave them a hug."  Oh my, what a lovely song.  ;)

In other news, one boy got a bar of soap in his mouth for saying a "bad" word.  I used to give them a tsp of picante sauce.  They hated it, but adjusted and now they want it on everything!  So I moved up a notch to vinegar.  That was just plain torture for both of us.  The bar of soap was just funny.  We'll see how long he remembers to watch his little mouth!

We've reached the season of Lent once again.  I don't usually have the kids join us in fasting during this time, but we decided to make this season as meaningful and memorable as the Christmas season.  It's all about the power of the resurrection of Christ and what that means for our daily lives.  So we decided to fast from television.  Whoa baby!  The kids have done great.  Alayna doesn't get it, "But Strawberry Shortcake is a good show!"  Explaining fasting in three-year-old terms is not easy.  We're doing fun things from Passionate Homemaking's blog leading up to Easter.  This means a little bit more focus on my part ( a little bit more coffee, a little bit more planning, a lot less panic when the finger paints are required for a project!).

Since there are no Saturday morning cartoons, I should probably go pull out the finger paints or something before they bring the house down!

Getting the Workout In Today

Sweat dripped from my chin and elbows splashing onto the treadmill.  I'd prepared for this moment all day, all week.  I'd even planned my meals around this workout. I'd committed to training for something specific and now I could check another box on my training log.  As a busy, homeschooling mom of four kiddos, getting a workout in takes planning, motivation and accountability (preferably money, but I'll take a gold star).  ;)

I know that on Monday's our homeschool group meets from 8:30 to 1pm.  I teach Body Sculpt at the Y from 4:30-5:30 and my Choose to Lose team meets from 6-7pm.  I can either run early in the morning or from 1-2 while Adelle is still napping (since I value my sleep, lets go with the afternoon).  I have to know what the weather is going to be like.  I have to lay out my clothes and make sure my phone is charged.  I have to make sure I eat light at lunch and drink plenty of water through the morning if I'm running in the afternoon.  I have to prepare and plan for success.

My meal times have to line up with my workouts.  Eating too close to a workout can make me sick.  Not eating enough before a workout makes me feel weak.  Getting the right combination of protein, carbs, and  fat pre and post workout make a big difference in how I feel the rest of the day.  Food matters.

Lots of things motivate me.  That cheeseburger I ate over the weekend that I need to work off; a workout partner meeting me at a specific time; or boxes I can check off leading up to race day.  Aside from running, working out is my job.  I'm responsible to be there and be fit enough to lead others through a good workout.  It's nice to get paid to workout!

Planning ahead, finding what motivates you and adhering to some kind of accountability helps you get that workout in every day.  My schedule varies daily and my kids can throw a wrench in things.  But, for the most part, if I make a plan, I follow through.  However, "he who fails to plan, plans to fail."  :)

Note: I'm teaching a writing class on the 5 paragraph essay.  The previous was an example for one of my students.  However, I'm planning on keeping with this theme and providing a sort of blogging accountability/plan.  Writing is good therapy for me anyway.  So, in the next few days I'm planning a series (we'll see if I actually follow through!):

• My weekly workout schedule
• Choose to Lose update
• Food Matters
• Kids fitness and nutrition

Yea!  This should be fun!  :)

Just some boring home videos :)

Videos!!!

Alayna singing her Daniel and the Lions Den Song

Adelle Doing her half-time Super Bowl Dance

All three big kids in bed with us

Plantar what? Sounds like a bad word ... And it is!

My legs were tired at the end of my run Saturday. I stretched while chatting with mom and dad, then drove home to make dinner and revert from athlete mode to mom mode. We ran everyone through the shower, played some games and got everything laid out for church the next morning. But come morning I could barely walk, not because my legs were sore, but because my feet hurt so bad. I made it through kindergarten Sunday School without too much grimacing but by afternoon and evening I had a very obvious limp. We watched the Super Bowl at Mimi & Papa's house. I sat on the couch with ice on my feet. We watched Madonna's rigid lip sync while Adelle put on a much better show in the living room. My feet felt better after icing. I iced the again when we got home. I could walk without limping this morning but it still hurts. I'll ice again today but plan on taking the week off from running to make sure I recover fully.

It's not plantar anything. I read up on it and it should pass in the next couple of days. I'll post a link to Adelle's half-time show in the next blog post.

Run like the wind

This is why I never blog!  Every time I sit down at the computer someone joins me!  I really don't mind too much.  :)

So, I ran 7.6 miles yesterday.  I've run 5 and 6 miles before, but I ran a loop at the park or ran around a neighborhood.  This time I ran 3.5 miles out one busy street (with a sidewalk) and 3.5 miles back up another busy street, then around the hospital to get my last 1/2 mile in.  It was a little scary being out that far and knowing the only way back home was to keep running.

It was a nice chilly Saturday with lots of geese around the pond (and lots of goose poop to dodge on the sidewalk - that makes for an entertaining stride); fighter jets veering off left, right and straight up - so cool.  I waved at cars that honked and gave directions to one lady, and shied away from large men all bundled up out walking their huge dogs.

I'm following Jeff Galloway's run-walk training plan. I run three minutes, walk one minute.  I think I'll up it to 4 and 1 next week.  Since I got an iphone all things are possible.  I downloaded an app called Interval Timer.  I used it for HIIT training but I can set the intervals at any time I want.  So my phone beeps at me when it's time to walk or time to run.  I also got Runtastic Pro which maps my run, pace, distance, overall time, calories, heart rate, altitude, and reads minds.  Incredible.

Anyway, I haven't even looked at next weeks' run.  I'll plan some exciting route and fly.  It'll be great!  :)

Videos I finally uploaded to youtube

These are just some videos that my family members might enjoy.

Hudson's Presentation about Pike's Peak
Adelle talking about the friends and family she was looking at on facebook.
Adelle looking at her animal board on Pinterest.

This New Year - uncharted territory

Adelle will be 21 months old next month. I'm usually preparing to welcome another child into our family around this time. Instead, I'm training for a half marathon and still wearing my skinny jeans, with no plans to pull out my maternity clothes in the future. It's such a nice feeling! So far, I have no baby fever. Our family feels complete and I really like not gaining and having to lose baby weight for a fifth time. No babies in the house is uncharted territory for me. The kids are all getting bigger. I can actually send them outside to play without worrying about Adelle eating rocks (though the occasional mud pie is not unusual).

Hudson turned 7 in December. He is thriving with our new academic homeschool group, Classical Conversations. He gives a presentation every week and it's been so fun to watch his public speaking skills develop. Pierce is his toughest critic watching for good eye contact and poise.

Pierce is 5. He is learning to read and write and spell and add- all the fun stuff. He has a new bruise every day. He still doesn't say his "r"s so everything he says is cute and funny. Last week he asked me if I could speak "Bwitish.". :)

Alayna, is the same little princess she ever was. She's always in one costume or another. My mom gave her a purse-calendar and she loves to "take notes and make lists." She makes up songs daily. One of her most recent she titled, "I will pray for David.". :)

Adelle is our little comedian/monkey. Last night when we were getting ready for bed she grabbed Alayna's dress and pulled it on and started dancing around the room. We all laughed at her so she kept going. The she got on her hands and feet and bear crawled down the hallway. Her endless energy is exhausting, but she is constant joy.

David and I are just trying to keep up and soak in all the fun stuff along with disciplining, training, mess making and clean up. Kids don't come with an off switch or volume control (that's why God made Netflix! Haha, just kidding...sort of).