"I just felt like running"

Forrest Gump has been on my mind a lot lately - - funny what comes to mind when you are RUNNING. :) Which is what I've been up to lately - a lot of running. This 1/2 marathon has already been a fascinating experience, and the actual event is still 6 weeks away.

First, it's a great feeling to see yourself improve. I've kept pushing and sticking with it, and it's amazing to me that I can actually progress! Who knew? :) I've always been an aerobics kind of girl - running has never been my thing - and it's hard to measure progress with aerobics, but now I'm loving measuring my progress with improvement in my times and distances. It's actually rather addicting.

Which brings me to the 2nd interesting thing about this - that I'm really getting hooked on it! Yesterday it was drizzling, really windy and cold, and I still went running. TOTALLY NOT ME. The "me" that I know would have used that as an excuse to stay home. I have no idea what pushed me out the door . . ? I actually enjoy it. And I see pictures like this and actually want to go RUN there. Go figure.

And lastly, it's made me totally appreciate my husband's adventurous spirit even more. He's always looking for something new and fun to do (which is how I ended up signing up for this thing in the first place), and I sooo appreciate that about him. We've experienced many things I may not have if it wasn't for his fun-loving, never-sit-around attitude. I am blessed to have him as the spur in my saddle. :)

So, I still have a long way to go to 13.1 miles, but I'm enjoying the journey and all I really care about is that I finish and don't have to be rescued midway or scraped off the trail. We'll see . . .

A Day in the Life Of . . .

Well, since my hubby thinks blog postings are more interesting with pictures, here's what we've been up to: :)

Homework . . . .A little football in the yard when dad gets home from work . . . .

A LOT of eating . . . .

Practicing piano . . . .

Acting goofy . . . .
Watching The Cosby Show before bed . . . .

Murphy waiting around for someone to throw a toy for him . . . .

Devotions . . . .

And peaceful sleeping . . .

Other than the normal routine, soccer season has begun! Big time commitment . . . but the boys totally love it, and it's great for them to burn off some energy, learn about teamwork, and build some self confidence.

Grandma and Grandpa Roisum made it out for a visit, and were totally at Jack and Noah's beck and call. Whatever they wanted to do, Grandma and Grandpa did!! Aren't grandparents great that way?!?

And the boys were in a fashion show. :) Totally cute - although they didn't get the point of a fashion show - thought the whole idea behind it was silly. It sort of is, isn't it?

Backstage before walking the runway - cool as cucumbers . . . .

What you can't see in these pictures - off to your right - is the hundreds of women in the audience off the end of the runway. But the kids didn't get nervous at all - I was so proud of all of them!

And we had a wonderful Easter. I've been studying the book of John for the past 7 months in my bible study, so I saw Easter a little differently this year. We had an egg hunt at home before church, had a beautiful church service, then went to my mom and dad's for a fabulous dinner - done like only my mom can do!

Jack and Noah helped my mom put out her massive collection of bunnies -

And read out of my dad's enormous ancient bible -

We topped the day off with a fun evening at Chuck E. Cheese with some dear friends we hadn't seen in a while. The perfect day!

And the countdown has begun - 6 weeks of school left! yIpEEeeee!

Jack and Noah-isms

A couple of interesting things have come out of the boys' mouths in the past week . . .

I was explaining to Noah where your kidneys are (not like I even know exactly where they are, but moms have to act knowledgeable about these things - at least I do, or he makes me go look it up . . ), but I described them as being sort of on the sides of your back.

My sweet Noah, who has developed cute little semi-love handles, said "ooohhhh, is that why my sides are fluffy?"

Loooove it. (and him!)

And then Jack. His comment wasn't as funny. He told us "I don't want to be 'Jack and Noah' anymore - I want to be just Jack." And my heart broke a little for him. An identity crisis at the ripe old age of 8. He's also requesting time away from Noah - which I actually totally understand - they are together for EVERYTHING. They live together, go to school together, Sunday school together, sports together, etc. Can you imagine? I'd need some space too. And the sibling rivalry has gotten really bad over the past few months. So, we're processing this and trying to figure out how to separate them more. Not so easy!

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get serious about this marathon training business (1/2 marathon, that is). Uggh. My muscles are hurting, but I'm determined. Two weeks into it, I've made it up to 3.5 miles. I have a LONG way to go. But hopefully I'll work off some fluff in the process . . . .

A Whole Lot of Normal

I just realized it's been over 2 weeks since my last post, but it's just been a blessedly normal 2 weeks. We're just up to our regular routine - school, piano lessons, basketball practice, Awana, bible study, church, work, etc. Basically just pressing on towards SUMMER. We are all getting so anxious - especially me and the kids - Jack and Noah . . . . for obvious reasons and me . . . . because I GET MY KIDS BACK and the total lack of commitments summer offers!! We're getting the camping itch, but still have a few more weeks to go.

A few other tidbits:

• Jack just recovered from strep throat (2nd time in 6 months) - the poor kid seems to pick it up anytime someone in a 5 mile radius has it. And his tummy does NOT like antibiotics!
  
• Mark "made" me sign up for a 1/2 marathon in June. !?!?? He had such a great time last year he wants me to experience it with him. I'm in trouble. So, I've been hitting the streets with Murphy - training has officially begun. The thought was that I could walk much of it with my dad (he signed up too) but my dad walks about 5 mph, so I'll need to be jogging most of it. I am determined, however . . .
  
• For a few short hours this week I thought I was going to Israel in October. Wow, huh? A great opportunity presented itself . . . . but God was not on board with my plan. I have a tendency to run ahead of Him (which never works) and I'm trying to break that habit. Anyway, I'm not going. But it was fun thinking about for a short while. The long and short of it is that I'm totally addicted to my kids and it became clear I couldn't be away from them for 11 days. :)
  
• Grandma Rayne and Grandpa Paul came from MN for a quick visit last weekend. (Her name is actually LaRayne, but the kids have called her Grandma 'Rayne since they were tiny, and it just stuck). They are great to have around - so attentive to the kids and willing to do WHATEVER Jack and and Noah ask!! :)
  
• This is our last week of basketball, and oh joy we start soccer this week too. No time off in between. Two practices and 2 games a week. I'm trying very hard to improve my lousy attitude but haven't had much luck in that area.

Next time I'll be back with some pictures. Of something. Not sure what. Mark says these posts are much more interesting with PICTURES. Maybe I'll just take some of him.

Basketball

We are well into basketball season - actually only 3 games left - and I finally decided to bring my camera on Saturday and get some pictures. I drag my feet with sports photos because it's an incredibly frustrating excercise to get a decent picture! It's much better with my new camera, but any suggestions would be most appreciated. Anyway, you get the picture. (ha ha.)

The first four pics are of Jack - unfortunately I always end up with more shots of him because the child ALWAYS has the ball. He doesn't trust anyone else with it (except his brother). To say the boy is determined would be an understatement. We're working on the whole "TEAM effort" concept with him . . .

And while Noah doesn't have possession of the ball as often, he's really come into his own this year and can SHOOT. He's calm, confident and accurate. He leads the team in points scored. After painfully watching his timidness last year, I'm one proud mama!!

Moving on - funny story: the other night we were watching the Cosby Show (our new favorite family show - we're buying the seasons on DVD and the kids are LOVING them) and one of the Cosby kids was discussing writing on the blackboard at school. A couple minutes into the narrative, Noah hits pause on the DVD and says "okay, what's a blackboard??" Sign of the times, huh? :)

Now I leave you with some photos of Murphy. We are loving him and he's driving us nuts all at the same time. Is that possible? I'm just banking on the fact that by the time he's 2 or 3, he'll be the perfect dog. There's a reason God made puppies cute: so you don't kill them. :)

He adores his boys - snuggles with them at every opportunity.

Lounges on the couch and watches me work on my bible study:

Until he gets bored with that and falls asleep:

Is a clown:

Sleeps exactly in this position on Mark's lap on the couch: (yes, that's Mark's hairy leg)

And pretends he's a stuffed animal on our bed (I literally couldn't find him one evening because he just blended right in, sitting there as still as a statue):

Goofball.

What a week . . .

I am SO GLAD it's Friday, but we are in for a really busy weekend, so I don't know if it will even be distinguishable from the rest of the week! I am getting so desperate for summer and many consecutive days of nothing . . . . so am hoping these next 3 months go fast and we make it through in one piece!

Highlights of the week:

• Had a business dinner with Mark's boss who was in town from Sioux Falls - totally interesting experience now that my brother and sister-in-law come to these dinners! (My sister-in-law works for Wells Fargo too and reports up through the same people). Anyway, it was a very nice evening.
• Struggling a bit with my leadership role in my community bible study - had to do something in that role this week that was terribly difficult and it put me in a foul mood for the next 3 days. Still sorting out my thoughts.
• Signed Noah up for spring soccer and signed Jack up for spring soccer AND baseball. Oh joy. Now we can look forward to spending April and May running to practices and games every night of the week. (Yes I need an attitude adjustment).
• I cleaned and did laundry and cooked and did laundry and cleaned and cooked and did I mention I did laundry?? I seriously feel like that's ALL I DO in the little bit of free time I have at home!!
• Wednesday, our 7 month old puppy, who from all outward appearances seems to be totally housetrained, peed all over our nearly new sectional couch in the family room. ??? Can't figure out why. Which is an issue for me because I always need to know WHY. In the midst of the ensuing chaos (and in my moment of anger) I mumbled that I was going to kill him (which, obviously, I was NOT), which scared my sweet Noah. He told me I couldn't do that, because that would be a sin. Still under the influence of my anger, I harshly informed him that killing animals was NOT in fact a sin and haven't you read the Old Testament, they did it all the time! At which point Noah says "the only time it's not a sin is if you are hunting." :)
• Wednesday night at AWANA, Jack recited John 14:1-6 perfectly. TOTALLY makes up for the rough spots this week and makes my heart happy to see Jesus working in his.
• Are beginning to remodel our playroom - the toys are going to get sorted this weekend and 80% of them are headed out the door. I figure if the kids are done with them, we don't need to be storing them!! And we're doing a few things to turn it into a gameroom. May post pictures Monday if it turns out.

Have a great weekend!!

Jack and Noah are making the rounds in the blogging world!

Want to see what they've been up to?

Go here: http://www.theoutdoorgang.blogspot.com/ (their aunt and uncle's blog)

and here: http://www.gordostyle.blogspot.com/ (go to the 2/18 post).

(More from me once I get done with bible study on Wednesday!!)