A Discussion on Paul, a Lost Tooth, and a First For Me

Those were some of the highlights of our week.  I can't remember all that we did but I do know that those darn safety latches I installed are horrible.  They break off so easily.  Within a day, I already replaced two of them.  A couple of them have broken multiple times and at this moment, all but one are broken.  And I can't find many other options.  The ones I installed earlier in the year were some leftover ones I had from a few years ago.  They are much sturdier and work great.  I wish I could find those again. 

With the nice weather, we have been trying to spend some time outside playing.  Miles and Bennett love to hear those words- "go outside" and they get so excited. 

And this happens often...one of them gets in the Cozy Coupe and the other one decides he wants in to and gets in through the window.  Miles wasn't too happy about sharing with Bennett this time.

 

I also have a random morning picture of the boys.  I don't know what kind of party they have in there at night, but you never know what state of dress you will find them in in the morning.  It is kind of hard to tell in the picture, but this time Bennett took off all of his pjs and it looks like Miles took his pants off but was able to get them back on although they were inside out-I was impressed.

 

The  nice weather also means the kids haven't had any rainouts for practices.  But soccer and football are close to being over so that will clear up the practice schedule a bit.  Ellie was practicing before her tumbling class Tuesday and officially accomplished a standing back bend by herself.  She was so giddy about it and kept doing it.  And she was very excited to show Miss Melody that night.  We have had a slight setback though.  She was doing it again a few nights ago and fell on her head and has now been scared to do it again.  I spotted her on it the other night and I think have her reassured that she can do it again by herself.

The kids finished up the first quarter of the school year and Jackson brought home a progress report.  It is his first year getting letter grades...he got his first set of straight A's.  I was so happy for him.  The comments from his teacher were very typical of Jackson-he is a good student who works hard but sometimes he has trouble getting started and staying focused :-).

 

Another cool moment for Jackson was when he brought home his report, he asked me what I was doing.  At the time, I was working on preparing our discussion for small group that night.  He saw my paper mentioned something about Paul and he proceeded to tell me about Paul and Silas being in prison together.  He told me about the earthquake, the guard who about killed himself because he thought the prisoners escaped, how Paul stopped him, and how the guard and his family accepted Christ and were baptized.  It is just awesome how his is absorbing this stuff.  And Ellie got in on the storytelling too a bit.  And to top it off, we had a great discussion about Paul during our small group that night.

Thursday was a little busier than we thought it was going to be.  Andrew had trial that day in Lancaster, so I took the kids to school.  Then the twins and I went grocery shopping.  Part way through our shopping at Wal-Mart Andrew called to let me know he had left one of his binders at his office and needed it.  Problem was I didn't have my key for the office and I needed to get gas.  So we quickly finished up at Wal-Mart, filled up, and called my mom to meet me at the office since she had  my key.  Thankfully she came right away, I grabbed the binder, and we were on our way.  Andrew just wanted me to leave it in his truck.  When we pulled up next to the truck, Miles kept saying, "Daddy truck."  He was sad when we left and he still hadn't seen his dad.  But we made it there and back in a little over 45 minutes.  That gave us just enough time to finish up our shopping at Aldi, take all the groceries home, and then pick up Lincoln.  I picked up some McDonalds for the kids for lunch (Lincoln was very excited) and they got to eat out back.  Then I got to bother the twins with part of their costume for Halloween.  I need to cut out a collar from the white felt I got but wasn't sure about the size of the neck hole and getting it symmetrical.  Luckily I found a pattern I could download online.  I printed it off, added a bit to the length to make the bottom parts hang down a bit more, and then used some old exam table paper I had from my drug rep days, to cut out the pattern to see how it fit.  The paper worked perfectly and I was able to get the right size for the boys.  And next up was making their bow ties.  I got some blue fabric and just sewed together a couple of blue rectangles for each bowtie, turned them right-side out, used some hemming tape to finish out the seam, gathered it in the middle, and tacked it.  Now I have to decide if I want to even bother with making some hats that they will probably just throw off.

Friday brought another football game.  We have been so fortunate to have some really great weather.  It is sometimes hard to catch much of the game while trying to keep track of the other four kids but I know Jackson likes to see me there.  I did get to see Jackson sport some cool moves on one of his runs.  He was spinning, leaping, dodging in and out.  And he actually picked up some yardage :-).  Matthew and Kristin and their kids came to the game which was really nice of them.  I forgot my camera yet again (I have to remember it for the next game since it is the last) but another mom there posted some pictures on Facebook of Jackson and Andrew that I was able to download. 

 

After the game, Andrew and I got to have a date night.  CCF had their first Parents' Night Out of the year and we took advantage of it.  So we dropped the kids off after the game and headed to Colton's to eat.  I had originally wanted to order out and watch a  movie, but then we changed plans.  I was running my first 5k the next morning and there was a chance of rain.  Everyone recommended wearing a hat while running in the rain to keep the rain out of your eyes and I was wanting to find Jackson's Cardinals hat.  I wore it at the beach and it fit well.  Jackson was missing a few other items so we headed out to the ranch to see what we could find out there.  Andrew's parents are down at Gulf Shores, so we didn't stay long.  We did find the Cardinals hat and that was it and then we headed back home.  We picked up the kids a little early and headed home so I could finish getting stuff ready for the next day.  Jackson and Ellie both had soccer games and Jackson's was the same time as the race.  Andrew thought about running the 5k too, but he had to be in charge of the kids.  So I got the stuff ready for the games and my run (including rain prep) and headed to bed. 

I had such a nervous stomach the next morning.  Andrew actually went for a run before I had to leave to pick up my race packet.  He wanted to give me a goal time to beat :-).  I picked up my packet early and went back to the house so I could finish getting the kids ready to go and then we were out the door.  Thankfully the rain was holding off for a little bit.  Jackson and Ellie headed to the soccer fields while the younger three, Andrew, and I went to the Primary School for the beginning of the race.  There were quite a few people there-some serious, some not.  It was a good first race for me to do.  The race was called Inspire 1 and it was to raise money/awareness for juvenile diabetes research and they also had a 1.7 mile run and kids' fun run along with the 5k run/walk.  I wasn't sure what to expect with the beginning of the race, so I kind of ended up in the back 1/3 of the group.  It took some maneuvering to get around people especially as it moved onto the bike path which was pretty narrow.  I ran in the grass along the side of the path for a while before I got back onto it and into a good pace.  Since it was a flatter course than what I was used to running around home I guess I thought it would feel easier.  But it was still hard and I tried to push myself :-).  We went around the loop by the schools and then over to the path that runs by the YMCA, up LaHarpe St a bit, and then back through the soccer fields to the Primary.  It was fun to see the kids and Andrew cheering for me as I went through the soccer fields.  I think Jackson was playing the first time I went through.  I my way back he and Ellie were cheering for me, but Andrew took the twins and Lincoln to the finish line to meet me there.  It worked out great that everything was right there by each other.  I don't have an official time yet but I think I finished somewhere around 25:35 and within the top 10 of females which I was happy with.  I forgot to turn off my tracker on my phone right when I finished so I wasn't too sure about the time.  Hopefully they will have the official results up soon.  Leah and Tiffany also did the race.  It was the first time for Leah and she did the 1.7 mile without any training.  Tiffany and Addi did it together and it was awesome to see them come across the finish line together-they did so great.  Overall it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it.  Andrew and I are signed up for the Truman Bulldog 5k in a few weeks.  From what we hear, it is a hilly course so I guess we better get to work.   Here are some pictures.  Andrew mainly took video, so I tried to get some pictures from those and they are pretty fuzzy.

You can't see me, but I am towards the back of this group.



Coming into the finish.

After the race, we headed over to watch Ellie's soccer game.  Part way through the game it started sprinkling a bit and it looked like more was heading our way.  So we loaded up the twins in the stroller and I took them and Lincoln back to the car.  The rain stopped for a bit but then it just kept raining harder and harder until they finally called off the games.  We headed straight home since Andrew, Jackson, and Ellie were soaked.  Then I went and picked up some lunch and a Redbox movie I had rented earlier since I thought we would have a rainy day in.  The rain was kind of off and on and the kids ended up playing with their friends most of the day so we didn't watch the movie until that night.  Jackson ended up going to a birthday party for the night and Molly joined us for dinner.  Then it was finally time for the movie, Epic. 

We went to the early church service on Sunday and after lunch Andrew thought he would get a football game going for the kids.  I think we realized it is more of an evening event as they all ended up wanting to do something else.  I felt sorry for him because he ended set up 1st down markers :-).  So after he gave up on that idea, he headed to the office and came back that evening to grill us all some steaks.  My parents had just gotten back from St. Louis (I don't know how they do it-they are gone pretty much every weekend going here and there to see all of their kids) so we had them and Molly over.  The kids were very excited to see them. We ate outside again and it was so nice except for some pesky flies.  I think I ended up killing around 15 flies in our house this morning.  The kids played after dinner and my dad went back to work on the ceiling fan.  That is not why I invited them over, but he was determined to figure out why it wasn't working.  But he finally figured it out and Lincoln is excited to now have a working fan in his room. 

So now onto another week.   They go by so quickly these days.  The guy that is doing our outdoor fireplace poured the concrete base today and will start setting the bricks tomorrow-so excited to see it all finished.  We just found out recently that we are hosting Kanakuk Movie Night next week at the K-Life House so we need to get working on that.  Jackson filled out some postcards for me and he and Ellie delivered them to people around the neighborhood that have gone or may be interested in attending kamp.  Now we need to mail out the rest and hang up some posters.  Now to end with a couple more pictures.

My Monday morning crew :-)

Miles trying on Lincoln's boots