The Farwell Family

So, going back a couple weeks ago, the kids were supposed to have school the Monday after Easter to make up for a snow day. I was up early on the bike to get my workout in before helping in school, when I got the text that school was canceled for our makeup day. While I was ready to just get the day going, the kids were excited to sleep in. They did spend some time outside rolling the snow up into big snow balls.

Everything was canceled for that evening as well, but Melody decided to go ahead and have Ellie and her duet partner come in after lunch to work on their routine since they had competition coming up. And since Ellie and I had that coming up that weekend, I wanted to make sure I had everything ready for Jackson’s birthday. It was mainly just making sure his gifts were ready, ordered his requested Dairy Queen cake and threw together some quick, small decorations to put out from stuff I already had. His expectations were pretty low, but I still wanted him to have a celebrated day. Our plans were also up in the air as we didn’t find out when Ellie would be dancing until early that week and the weather was throwing us for a loop. The weather did end up canceling multiple practices through the week along with another 2 of Jackson’s track meets. And Jackson YCW down in Branson that weekend and the weather wasn’t that great for them either. To prepare for YCW, I met up with a few other moms Friday morning at the K-Life house to make sandwiches for their dinner that night and then I had to rush home in order to get my long bike ride in before picking up the kids from school. I did stop partway through to go back to the K-Life house to pick up Jackson’s school stuff before he headed out on the bus around lunch time. Then it was making sure Ellie and I were all ready to leave the next morning for her dance competition in Cedar Rapids. I did my long run on Thursday, so I just had an hour run to do on Saturday before we left. Thankfully Ellie thinks of stuff like hair spray, etc. that we would need. We did have to make a stop at Walgreens as we left town to get red lipstick. Andrew stayed home with the younger boys and kept them busy going out to the ranch and putting out mulch around our house. It was a nice surprise when we got home.

Ellie and I made it to Cedar Rapids without incidence and were even able to check into our hotel early, which was great. We got to relax a bit since we were there several hours early. Ellie did her own hair and makeup and did a better job than I could have done. We met Melody and her duet partner, Makenzey, down at the convention center that was connected to our hotel. They ran through things a few times before taking the stage. They did a wonderful job and it was fun to watch them light up the stage. They had a lot of fun with it. Their routine was to Proud Mary by Tina Turner.

We waited around for the awards ceremony where they got fifth in their category and a high gold.

Ellie and I went back to our room afterwards so she could change into her next outfit and we had about 1 ½ hours before we had to meet up with everyone for her group number. Her group number was a little bit harder because they only had less than half of the girls they usually have, so they had to change several parts of it. They still did pretty well and scored a high gold with that one too. Ellie and I were exhausted by the time we got back to the room a little after 10. I was really looking forward to sleep, but my back was killing me. Ellie fell asleep easily and proceeded to kick me throughout the night 😊. We did sleep in a little the next morning, which was nice. But then it was up and on the road before more snow came.

Jackson left for YCW Friday around 1 and I got just a few texts while he was gone, but he said he was having a great time. He sent me this picture from Grandfather’s Mansion at Silver Dollar City.

They went to the Harrisonville K-Life party barn Friday night, spent all day at Silver Dollar City on Saturday and got to see For King & Country perform along with hearing Kevin Harrison speak and then listened to Joe White speak and Josh Wilson perform on Sunday before heading home. He got home around 5 Sunday evening, exhausted. 

That night, Ellie worked hard on a surprise for him for his birthday-blowing up and decorating balloons to put in his room. She waited until he fell asleep that night and snuck into his room to spread them all out and he woke up to the surprise on his birthday the next morning. It was very sweet of her.

And Monday was Jackson’s big day-he turned 14! He is growing into a young man who will probably pass me up in height this year. He is a boy/young man I admire-he has a quiet strength and humility. He is willing to help out when we ask and even when we don’t. He’s smart, funny and I love to watch him as he grows in each new athletic venture he takes on. His latest one, being track. We started the morning with donuts and dropped him off at school not knowing what the rest of the day entailed. It was another cold day with snow still on the ground, but they had a track meet scheduled in Macon. It did end up being moved to Wednesday, but I didn’t have any birthday dinner plans for him, so Andrew picked up McDonalds for him on the way home from practice. He was pretty pleased with that. And then we surprised him with the news that we were going to AJ’s the next night for his actual birthday dinner. My parents came over that evening and Jackson opened presents and then we had his Dairy Queen cake. We gave him the new trunk, some Muck boots, some kamp shirts and a soldering iron. His drone that he got for Christmas was also part of his birthday. He did like all of his presents and we all enjoyed the cake. He handed out hugs to show his appreciation. We love this kid!

After cake, Andrew started clean up while I went with Ellie to her clogging class for Parent Watch Week. They learned the last part of their dance and it is a fun one. I didn’t stick around for her duet since I had just seen it at her competition. I went back home to prepare for our busy day the next day.

I was up early on Tuesday for my workout and we had what ended up being our last bible study that morning. We finished up Uninvited and decided we didn’t have time to start a new study since everyone was so busy. After bible study, Brian just came over to my house so we could get a TriFAHL meeting in. Ellie got to go visit the middle school in the morning. She is excited to be done with Ray Miller and move on. Later that afternoon, I went to work the book fair at the Primary. I started at 2:30, so the boys just got to hang out at the book fair while I worked until 4. Ellie walked over from her school to join us. We did get busier than I thought we would and the kids all got to pick out a book. Then we headed home and got ready to go to AJ’s. Andrew picked up Jackson from practice and we headed out. My parents met us there. Angie was our waiter and she talked to Jackson about how she remembers us bringing him when he was just a little baby and she couldn’t believe how big he had gotten. Then when he said it would be nice to have chicken strips and a cheeseburger, she made it happen and he loved it. The night was topped off with some vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and a sparkler 😊. Again, we got more hugs.

When we got home, we decided to go ahead and watch The Greatest Showman. We knew it would be a late night, but the kids really wanted to see it. Ellie and I were the only ones who had seen it before and the rest of them really liked it. Lincoln loved it! The weather got nicer on Wednesday so Jackson got to have his first track meet at Macon. I picked up the kids from school, picked up my mom at the Health and Fitness Center and headed that way. Andrew was working cattle that afternoon, so he met us there. Jackson did the long jump, 100 meter hurdles and the 4x200. He did a great job. We found out the results later that night and he placed 7th out of 16 in the hurdles, but was the second 7th grader. He was 9th out of 33 for long jump, 3rd 7th grader and 3rd out of the 11 Kirksville kids. I think he was pretty pleased as were we.

That evening, the twins and Ellie actually had halfway warm weather for soccer practice.

Thursday, I did my long run since the weather was going to be nicer than on Saturday. I did my swim after dropping off the kids from school and went for my run a little later. I went outside in capris but immediately went back inside and put on shorts. It was a really nice day out. I had a 1 hour 45 minute run and I actually got hot. Andrew saw me a couple times and sent me this picture. 

I didn’t have a lot of time to get ready when I was done since I was supposed to leave around 1 for Jackson’s next track meet in Unionville. I did a quick Epsom salt soak and while I was doing that, I ordered pizza for small group and some Jimmy Johns for me. I quickly got ready, my Jimmy John’s was delivered and I got on the road and just ate while I was driving. My mom wanted to go too, so I picked her up on my way out of town. Thankfully it was such a nice day, because we ended up being there from 2 until 6:30. I spent some time getting t-shirts ordered for the TriFAHL. Jackson ended up not doing long jump and did hurdles and a sprint medley relay where he did the 200. The running events didn’t even get started until closer to 4 and then his relay was the 5^th from last event. He did fall down while practicing the hurdles and got some nice abrasions on his shoulder and chest. But, he hopped right back up and didn’t let it slow him down one bit. He was a tad faster for the hurdles than the day before. And we finally rolled back into Kirksville at 7:30.

Andrew had an appointment that afternoon, so he wasn’t able to come. He took care of the other kids, got them where they needed to go and was excited to watch the videos I took of Jackson. Friday was my long bike ride day, which entailed a 4 hour 15 minute ride (I did it indoors since it was a little cooler and a chance of rain, plus trying out a new seat) and then went outside for a 45 minute run. Then it was time to pick up the kids and make a dessert to take to Leah’s Bunco night later that evening. We went over to my parents to eat dinner since Lissy was in town. We had barbecued hamburgers which were great. We didn’t get to stick around too long since I had to get to Bunco night. Lissy joined me and helped me finish up the dessert. We had a nice night visiting and playing a few rounds of Bunco. The boys even joined us for a while 😊.

Lincoln had a soccer scrimmage Saturday afternoon and Ellie had swim team at the same time. It was Lincoln’s first game in a while, but he did well and got in there. My parents and Lissy came to watch him and Lissy had promised Ellie she would pick her up from swim team, so they took all the kids and went to La Fuente and brought them home later that afternoon.

Ellie stayed with Lissy to help with mini shoots and Lincoln went to a friend’s house for a birthday sleepover party. We didn’t tell him that he missed the Dairy Queen my parents brought when they brought Ellie home. And that night, Andrew let the twins sleep downstairs and have their own sleepover since Lincoln was gone. The next morning brought even more cold weather and snow. So depressing. Andrew picked Lincoln up before we headed to church. And after church, they took me to the grocery stores. When we got home, Jackson got buys with his latest project-trying to use pieces of old computers to build a new one. We’ll just have to see where this goes. I started working on shirts for Jackson’s and Ellie’s teams for the 3on3 and we just had a low-key day trying to ignore the snow and cold weather.