Running the race before us

Marathon weekend is upon us!  We love taking part in the activities of the FM marathon.  They have so much for the whole family and it is an awesome event!  This year 4 out of 5 of us did races.  Connor and Carson were first with the mile run on Thursday night.  Carson is very competitive and really wanted to do his best.  In school this spring he ran the mile in 7 mins. 31 seconds.  Here they are waiting for the race to start:

Such serious faces- concentration and determination at it's best!  

It was a very hot day- 90 degrees. There were about 200+ kids in their age category and Carson came in the top 15.  Connor was not far behind and I'm pretty sure he beat his school time.  He ran the whole mile which he hadn't done before.  So proud of them!  They are talking about doing the 5K next year.  It would be a fun goal to work for.

On Friday evening I had the opportunity to walk in the 5K with a bunch of people from Westside.  We were walking in honor of a special little girl.  One of the paras at Westside has a young daughter who was recently diagnosed with Lupus.  We decided to walk in honor of her and to get the word out about finding a cure for the disease.  There were 55 of us who walked with the other 9,500 racers.  It was 95 degrees, but it was a ton of fun!  People along the route put on sprinklers for us and squirted us with water guns to cool us off.  I walked the route with Lizz Peterson and a few others.

On Saturday morning, we cheered on Andy in the half marathon.  It is so exciting to see all of the runners working so hard to accomplish this major event!  We made some posters to encourage him towards the end and stood at mile 7 to cheer him on.  His knee was a bit of a distraction.  Actually a lot of a distraction.  He was really hurting when we saw him, but he pushed through it and made it to the finish line.  To say I am proud of him is an understatement!  He worked hard and didn't let the pain keep him from his goal!  

Our camera is not very good for these types of things, but here is a photo of him after crossing the finish line (He's in the orange shirt).  

Can't wait for next year! 

Blessings

I sure am blessed to be the mother of these three amazing kids!  

Celebrating Mother's Day was a weekend affair in our home this year.  We went out as a family on Friday evening to Olive Garden!  MMMmmmmm!  Then on Sunday we went out to eat with Andy's aunt Arline and her sons Darren and Jason and Jason's wife Kat and daughter Kaycee.  Jason and family live in Kansas so it was a special treat to be able to visit with them.

Sunday was a very relaxed day.  I sat on the deck and read a book for about an hour!  I don't do that very often, so it was a great treat!  We also walked to Tutti- Frutti and enjoyed some frozen yogurt!  Boy, do we love that place!  It was a great day!

On Friday, Carson's class had a Mother's Day Tea that I was able to attend.

We were treated like royalty:

And serenaded with poems:

I was told how much I was loved:

And given gifts straight from the heart!

One thing I noticed about this Mother's Day that was different from the previous ones:  The boys especially have really been able to communicate their feelings and love in a special way.  It wasn't just teacher made gifts that they signed their names too.  They really put in some thought to their words and I sure felt appreciated for the things that I feel go unnoticed so often.

Good times

Today was a fun day!  We started the day with Connor and Carson's first piano recital.  The first of many!  They both did great!  I'm not sure when I will be able to post a video.  We have been having some troubles getting videos on here.  Here are some pics though:

On a side note- those of you who haven't seen the boys in a while can get a taste of how tall they truly are.  They are almost as tall as Michelle!

Connor said he was a little nervous, but he did very well.  They had to memorize their pieces and did so with ease!  Michelle is a great teacher and we are so grateful to have the boys studying with her!

After the recital we had a little get together to celebrate Luther's 60th birthday.  Here's the gang:

 We enjoyed a lunch of bbq pulled pork with salads, chips, and fruit.  We also enjoyed almond glazed strawberry shortcake and cupcakes in the shape of the number 60.

Grandpa was able to blow out all but three candles, but he had a good helper to get those for him! 

We were all pretty nice to him as far as "old jokes" go!  He got a few funny cards, but the presents were pretty nice.  Bev made him a scrapbook that took everyone down memory lane with lots of laughter that filled the room!

It was a great way to celebrate an amazing man!  We love you Grandpa/Dad!  So glad we could celebrate you today!

Matching outfits has been a standard in our house because we have twins.  With the boys, I milked it for all it was worth.  I can get still get by with it on special occasions, but not by their choice.  I have never matched Kaelynn and I until today.

Last December I was combing through the girls clearance rack at Target and found a dress that was really cute and it looked like it might fit me.  I tried it on with low expectations since it was a "girls" size.  To my delight it fit perfectly.  I purchased it and brought it home.  As I thought more about it, I remembered that there were other sizes and thought it might be fun for Kaelynn and I to have some matching- just once.  So I went back and got one for her too.  Funny thing- when she saw that we had the same dress, she wasn't too thrilled.  She thought it was a little weird- until today!  When I said I was wearing mine to church today, she quickly proclaimed that she was wearing hers too.  We gave it our own little touches to make them a little different.

And here's the proof:

Can't say that I will do lots of this, but it sure was fun for today!

Easter celebration

After a wonderful morning of worship we enjoyed a relaxing meal and fellowship with some dear friends.  Three of the 4 other families on the worship staff were able to join us at our house for Easter dinner.  We had a wonderful time.  There were 18 people, 10 of whom were children ranging in ages from 2-10.  Such a blessing to be able to celebrate with people who love and support us and whom we do the same.

We got a few family pics.  I wish we could have done one outside, but it was cool and very windy (go figure) and it would not have made for a very good picture!  Here's what we got though:

                                               I took this pic of Carson and just had to share it.

The couples who celebrated with us- (from left to right- Andy, Kenyon and Ginger, Jessica and Jonathan, Jon and Kami)

We did an Easter egg hunt in our backyard.  The guys only task for the afternoon was to hide 297 eggs in our yard.  They did well and the kids had a blast!

                      Kaelynn took Lauren under her wing and helped make sure she got her share of eggs.

                                                               Carson with his treasures!

                               It isn't easy getting 10 kids to look the same direction for a picture!

We are so blessed!

Getting ready to celebrate

We are getting ready for Easter around here.  We've invited three families from the worship staff who are familyless like us this Easter.  There will be 18 people including 10 children ages 2-10.  I can't wait!  We had Friday off of school and work, so we spent it getting ready for the event.

I've gotten several ideas for decorations and egg dyeing from Pinterest and have had so much fun preparing it all.

 We tried a new technique for egg dyeing: tie-dye eggs.  It was messy, but produced some pretty cool eggs.  We did do lots of the traditional too.

Connor with his favorite egg.

 Kaelynn with her favorite egg.

Carson went outside as soon as the fun was done and I didn't get a picture of him with his favorite egg.  Maybe I can remember today.

The finished product (minus the 18 blue ones I need for one of my centerpieces).  Yes, there was lots of dyeing at our house!

One of my ideas from Pinterest- an Easter egg banner made out of the paint samples you get at Home Depot.  

 Another Pinterest idea- washed out soup cans made into silverware holders.

 We also filled Easter eggs for the egg hunt and got the placemats ready.  We have lots to do today including cooking and cleaning.  WooHoo!

We watched Zoe and Emma for our friends last night.  They are four and two and love dressing up.  Kaelynn hasn't played dress up much lately so it was fun to watch the three of them dance and "play princess".
On a side note- that wedding dress used to be quite large on her.  Now it is off the floor and almost a bit small for her.  She has grown so much!

Spring Music Programs

This post is filled with lots of short videos.  All three kids have had their music programs.  Connor and Carson's was two weeks ago and Kaelynn's was yesterday.  I love going to these programs.  Our kids are exposed to many different kinds of music and dance in the public schools music curriculum.  I like that!

All three kids did a wonderful job and we were proud of each of them.

Our internet is not working very well right now and these are the only videos I could get on here.  Unfortunately none of them are of them singing.  They did do a lot of that, but I guess the videos of the songs are too long for blogger to handle right now.  Here are a couple of snapshots for each of the kids:

Kaelynn was one of three students that got to play the xylophone.  Sorry about the camera work, it was Andy :)