*Cheese* Or Cheesy?

In an attempt to blog more frequently, I give you 4 of the 78 takes from
our church directory photo shoot.

Marathon. Not.

So Sunday was the day I was supposed to run my marathon. The marathon that I signed up for last winter. The marathon that I didn't end up running. I battled iliotibial band syndrome all summer and into the fall. I ended up spending more time with the physical therapist than I did logging miles. Ok, so maybe that's a sad exaggeration, but whatevs. I'm not bitter. *cough*



So this is me lining up to run the 5k. I wasn't even sure I was going to do that, after not running for over 2 1/2 weeks leading up to the race. It turns out that running is a good thing to do before you run a race. I logged my worst 5k time ever. On a happy note, I bought a super cute running skirt that I love and want to wear around the house just for fun. Love. It.

I know I sound like a total whiner, but honestly I had a ton of fun watching the marathon. My long time running partner, Kelsey, ran as well as our new running buddy, Tammy. Tammy is also a robot. Her husband Dan ran the race too. So it was super festive. I went all out and made signs and brought cowbells. I very well could have been the marathon's most annoying fan as I released my inner cheerleader and yelled encouragement to every single person who went by. Even some people who were just taking a sunday stroll in the park. (old man and old lady)
"YOU'VE GOT THIS! LOOKIN' STRONG!" Watching everyone cross the finish line, whether I knew them or not, was such an emotional experience. I was so choked up as each person came down the chute and completed their race. They are all champs.

Anyway, that's the marathon update. Right now I'm enjoying being a slug and not running at all but I have plans. Plans for the future. Plans to try again. Plans to conquer my knee and conquer the pavement. I hope.

First Day

Even though the first day of school was two weeks ago, I'm still going to post first day of school pics.

We have a new Kindergartner.

And also a 10th, 8th, 6th, 3rd, and 1st grader.

And a very sad 3 year old who really wishes he could go to school.

But it didn't take long and he was content with his new status of King Of The House While Everyone Is Away. And his other new status of Official Everly Pesterer. He's very good at both.

Frog Jumping Contest

We skimmed the paper one day last week and off of the page leapt the words "frog jumping contest". The time and place were immediately written on the calendar and we started counting down the days.



Our new house is home to all sorts of amphibians. All summer long, the same little tree frog visited the glass on our deck door every evening, feasting on insects. Two others are regulars on our downspouts at dusk. The toads come out every evening and cruise the driveway just outside out garage doors. And the window wells are home to many leopard frogs. But for this competition we called in the big guns, the bullfrogs from the pond up the road.

Nate took two giddy side kicks and his fishing pole and headed up the road. In less than a half an hour they returned with three beauties in the bottom of their five gallon bucket. We coached them, we practiced, we anticipated a trophy.


There was one kink in our plan. An hour before the competition, a certain three year old little brother set the frogs free. A search and rescue ensued but we were only able to recover one, so Nate made a last minute trip to the pond and caught more. Phew.

When we arrived on Friday night, anticipation was in the air. Kids ran around with bucket holding their green secret weapons. We all held our breath, our chance wouldn't come until heats eleven and twelve. We waited, and we watched. We eyed up the competition. We became nervous. The little leopard frogs were dominating. Bullfrogs were getting owned.

And so it was, when our two little buddies had their chance, they were sluggish out of the gate. Younger, quicker, smaller frogs showed them up. We had disappointed boys, but that disappointment fuels their fire for next year. We know which weapon to bring. We know that bigger isn't always better, but that the hunt for the frog is half of the fun.




Watch out small town, next year we will be bringing home some trophys.

Traveling

I'm hacking some internet from my parent's house. They don't mind. Sometime I'll have to tell the whole internet story, or lack-of-internet story.

Anyways, I'm sick of talking about it.

So we went on vacation, camping in Western South Dakota recently. It was super duper fun. One of my favorite camping tips (well just packing in general) is to put whole outfits for each of the little kids in gallon sized ziplock bags. So, for example, Gemma can go to the suitcase and pull out a bag with her name on it and inside ishe finds a shirt, shorts, and underwear. No digging through everyone else's stuff trying to find something that's hers. I do that for all the kids under ten or so.

So I thought I would take that concept to the area of snacks. We went up to visit my new nephew a few hours away. Instead of passing around snacks for the whole entire trip, I thought it might work for each person to have their own bag with a little of everything in it. Twizzlers and grapes, snack mix and drinks. Etc. So I labeled them all with each of their names and Nate and I placed bets on who's bag would be empty before we left town.



We nailed it.

Only one kid had food left in their bag by the time arrived at our destination. Noelle.

Next time it's back to free for all.

Disconnected

So obviously, we don't have much internet access. Thus my absence from the internet. We are in negotiations with Qwest, on a quest for high speed and not dial up. Fun times. So for now I'm hacking access from my parents and trying to get the urgent online things taken care of in my limited time.

Limited access has proved to make me much for productive at home. I can't look up every little question I have on Google every time I think of it. "Does IKEA sell cute recycling bins?", "What size curtains would I want for this window?", "How close to the septic system can I plant trees?".

So please endure with me through this waiting. I'll be back at it soon. Until then, I'll keep attacking the unpacking. I leave you with these photos.

New House, Toby Vision

Locked

Locked

Locked

Moving

We are on the home stretch, packing packing packing.

I've got no blog posts.

The pile of packed boxes is getting bigger than the pile of empty boxes.

And yes, I let my baby girl eat cheerios off of the floor. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Go Green

I overheard from the next room "Hurry! She's gonna be MAD!"

And this is what I found:

I wasn't mad, because I'm not the one with the Hulk Eyes.

"Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry...."

Mother's Day

Last week one of my kids had a "secret assignment" they were working on at school. The week before Mother's Day? What could it be? He needed a few photos of just him and mom. I was stumped. As I dug through my hard drive, I had all sorts of photos of the kid and a lot less of me, but almost none together. And that inspired my one request for Mother's Day. I didn't care if I got dinner out, or flowers or anything else. All I wanted was a photo with me and my crew and individual shots with each of them one on one. Nate humored me.

But I also got pancakes. Heavenly.

Packing

I did a little packing for the move. First things first.

Souvenirs

This year our school district finally gave us a real, true, Spring Break. A whole entire week off. None of this three day weekend business like we've had the last....forever. We had big plans for the big kids. Tyler, Caedmon, and Jack were flying out with Nate's mom to visit their cousins on the east coast. Noelle and Cam were joining Aunt Mariah and heading up to visit Aunt Holly in the Twin Cities. That left Nate and I with just the three littlest ones. It was a really different week, like stepping back in time ten years to when Tyler, Noelle, and Camryn were little. Very surreal.

They all had a great time, and by the end of the week, we were all reunited again. Everyone came home will stories and gifts and unique memories of Spring Break 2010. The boys, however, returned with a gift for me from Andrea. Remember when she gave me this? Well, this time she sent this heavenly creation:


Clearly she knows that my love language consists of peanut butter combined with chocolate. That only thing that could have made it better would have been if she would have brought it herself and we could have eaten it together.

Miss you Ann!

Easters

The Easter Bunny pulled a late night hiding candy. She was a little sleep deprived, staying up ironing spring clothes she had just pulled out of bins in the basement. Fifty degrees, you will not keep us from our short sleeves and spring dresses. Anyway, here is her handiwork:






Our church put on a Passion Play that was amazing to watch. It was so neat to see so many people involved. So powerful. The man that played Jesus was incredible.


We spent the afternoon at my Grandparents' house with most of my siblings. (Missed you Gabe and Naomi!) More egg hunting ensued and much delicious food was consumed. The pineapple upsidedown cake had my name all over it. And today it's back to school after a long spring break.

The end.

Could This Be It?

Is it finally, really going to happen?

We have been busy, busy, busy the last week or so. We put an offer in on a bigger house and now we need to sell ours. Fast. Our house has never, ever looked like this and probably never will again. Let me show you before the 2nd law of thermodynamics kicks in.






And because selling a house with integrity means full disclosure, I give you this:

'Stashed

Two things.

1. Fake mustaches are a fantastic source of entertainment for the entire family. They are a fun and cheap souvenir to bring home to the kids.



2. It's probably a good idea to actually READ the package before you purchase a souvenir for the kids. And even better idea? Don't by stuff for the kids from Spencer's Gifts. Unless you are looking to add some colorful words to their vocabulary. Words they don't learn from PBS Kids shows. Oops.