Sunday Funday

Luis Palau was at church this morning! It's so funny because every time he speaks at our church it's on a Sunday we miss but FINALLY!!! Came home and whipped up GF waffles and sausage for tomorrow's breakfast. I always make GF pancakes and sausage or turkey bacon for Monday morning and Abby has been turning her nose up at the pancakes so I thought I would do waffles with strawberries tomorrow. Got lunches made, went to football and then Abby and I had a mother/daughter run today. She lasted 2.11 miles. It consisted of running, walking, jogging, some sort of pony prance and sprinting. It was probably my best run ever.        
I love all the laughing we did.

Weekend

Baseball pictures and baseball game today. 4 loads of laundry. Vacuuming. Changing sheets. Dusting. Mopping. Kitchen Cleaning. Dishes. Cleaning out closets. Meal Planning. Grocery list making. Cooking. Ironing. Not exactly a day off but better than being at work because I get to be with these guys.

 

Keep On

keeping on.... kids didn't have school Monday and it's hubs' normal day off so he was home with them. Abby's friend's mom came and picked her up for a playdate so Aidan and daddy went to the park to practice his baseball. Boo that I had to work :-( Tues/Wed Rick tackled painting the downstairs bathroom. Yayyy. Progress. It's amazing how fresh paint makes it all look so new...and clean. Wednesday Aidan had his 2nd game of the season. Thursday was a half day for me as I had an appt and got in a few errands. Friday gymnastics. More laundry, house cleaning, groceries, baseball, football. We are coming up on our last week of soccer so that will free up an evening. I finally kicked it into gear and got 20 miles in this week. Gearing up for another 10 mile run with hubs for my birthday (he doesn't know this yet)
Photo Dump:

 

Weekend

Gymnastics. Baseball. Nap. Chores. Church. Football. Nap. Birthday party. That was my weekend. My mom bought Cooper a bed! Last night Aidan finally slept through the night. Much needed. Haven't ran in 3 days and I feel like a blob.

Untitled.

What a week. Somber. In a way I feel numb to it. Newton I cried every day for a week or more or longer... Maybe I'm still processing. Normally I don't run on Tuesdays because I go to Barre at night but I got up Tuesday morning and ran for Boston. I still went to Barre that night and my body didn't want to cooperate. My arms actually gave out on the side planks- I couldn't even hold myself up. 

 Every month the parents of the different grades at the kids' school host a lunch for the teachers. This month it was the Kindergarten parents' turn- soup and salad theme. I signed up to bring salad. I got up this morning and made this fabulous Asian Chicken Salad and delivered it promptly at 10am as noted in the email. Glancing around when I got there as to why no one else was there I figured it's just because I'm so awesome and on time. I drove away thinking surely I didn't get the day wrong did I? It's not next week is it? I rush to my desk at work not even getting down to actual work, powering up to my personal email doing a search for staff lunch. There it was in BOLD AND UNDERLINED. THURSDAY, APRIL 18TH.
I wanted to crawl under a rock. I immediately called the school secretary, told her what I did and to spread that word so that it gets eaten. I emailed both kids' teachers telling them I can't find my brain and I brought my salad a day late. Now... combine this with my heightened emotional state of watching the news when I shouldn't, and being up with Aidan until 2am, and PMS, I was ready to burst into tears OVER A SALAD.
To my relief I received the following emails from the staff:
"everyone loved the salad! it was gone in a blink of an eye"
"It is so good. Would you be willing to share the recipe"
"It was actually a nice treat to have it the day after.  There was so much food yesterday.  So it was fun to have something today."

"We were so glad you thought it was today because we are all enjoying your delicious salad!  What a blessing!"

How gracious they are. 

The past few years I've been really trying to focus on contentment. Just being content. I find myself with a grumbling heart and I remind myself that others might have less. When I had a temper tantrum earlier in the week about cooking dinner I saw how ungrateful I was because I actually have food to cook when others don't. Or  the fact that there were people laid up in hospital beds losing limbs in Boston while I was whining...

I saw a post on FB tonight that says "Live Gratitude." Begin your day by feeling grateful. Be grateful for the bed you just slept in, the roof over your head, the carpet or floor under your feet, the running water, the soap, your shower, your toothbrush, your clothes, your shoes, the refrigerator that keeps your food cold, the car that you drive, your job, your friends. Be grateful for the stores that make it so easy to buy the things you need, the restaurants, the utilities, services, and electrical appliances that make your life effortless. Be grateful for the magazines and the books that you read. Be grateful for the chair that you sit on, and the pavement that you walk on. Be grateful for the weather, the sun, the sky, the birds, the trees, the grass, the rain, and the flowers.

I have so much to be grateful for. 
Praying for you Boston and Texas.

Football Sundays

Weekend.

The weeks seem to be flying by... I guess that is what happens when the calendar is full. More soccer, baseball, flag football and gymnastics...homework, spelling tests, math tests, bible verses, reading. 8 weeks to go! Aidan had a pretty good cold earlier in the week; 3 nights of getting up with him each of us taking turns. I had some blood work done yesterday because I haven't been feeling well. I sent the results to my mom since my own dr left for Maui. She says low grade virus and that I continue to be anemic despite taking iron pills for over 20 years now. Spending my time these past few nights cleaning house and now it's time to prepare for another week. Today ended up being a full day of laundry and housework (aside from baseball practice). It is what it is... but it's hard spending your days off doing more work. I sure am missing our annual "big" vacation that we have taken the past 3 years. Rick's work is busy (crazy) as usual and mine is about to erupt in chaos. We are going to be integrating our Canadian office's accounting into ours to get them back on track as well as finalize an acquisition of a company in England. Things tend to slip through the cracks when my mind is full- like um... forgetting to pay February's daycare bill. There are never enough hours in the day. My devotional last week mentioned "do not make your to-do lists become an idol directing your life" guess I need an intervention as that is how I am able to remember anything or get things done. Hoping to tackle painting a bathroom, pressure washing outside and figuring out our annual
garage sale day(s).

Circus.

I posted this on FB this morning: There needs to be a reality show showcasing the mornings of working mothers. Some of them you would cheer for like GO GO GO you have 3 min 18 seconds to get out the door and you still have to pee the dog, do your hair, grab a can of tuna and crackers that you call lunch, and load up the car. You would be on the edge of your seat, heart racing, yelling YOU CAN DO IT. And others, it would be like a train wreck where you don’t want to look but you can’t help it. You would want to say, honey child just throw in the towel and call in “sick.” You would have your favorites where you would really be pulling for them to get.it.together. Some not so favorites, like… sister you have no business being a part of the working world. And then when we finally make it to our ‘sanctuary’ of work, where we don’t have to spend 8 hours looking at the unorganized chaos and mess that we call ‘home,’ we sit in meetings, sometimes only half-listening because we are still mulling over the fact that our 6 year old son asked if he could have a princess themed party at his next birthday. From there, your thoughts turn to the romanticism of it all, that he must truly love this girl to make such a sacrifice. I mean, it never hurts to have a plan in place to woo the love of your life especially when your birthday is not for another 8 months. Now that’s love. Once we settle in and get down to the business of work, we proudly marvel that today’s act of getting out the door was a true miracle and we can’t wait to see what tomorrow morning brings. Seriously I feel like some mornings I am a monkey in a circus. It's comical when I look back at the morning and think how hysterically funny that would be to re-play and watch. Over and over.

Yayyyyy!!!!

What a great email to receive from Aidan's teacher today: "Aidan prayed with me this morning and asked Jesus to be his Savior! We talked about what the Bible teaches and he seems to understand his decision. I am also sending home a certificate to remind him of this special day."

Magic Treehouse Live Reading Tour

Crazy but Good.

Monday was soccer. Tuesday barre. Wednesday baseball. Friday gymnastics. Saturday baseball... was cancelled Yay!! But still had a haircut for Aidan and a birthday party. Today was church. I had Sunday School duty and ended up leading worship songs. Um... I can't carry a tune but hey they were 3 and 4 years old so I don't think I scarred them. Aidan also had flag football today- it dumped buckets, was freezing cold and he is already sick with a cold. It was all I could do to not go out there and grab my baby and haul him off back home and swaddle him and cuddle him. Finally, after the torture was over we headed back to Camas to visit my Uncle. My cousin is here from Oklahoma so it was nice to see her.   In other news Rick got all the barkdust spread and his wedding ring back from being sized and polished. I really need to start organizing this house but another week with activities every day and night is upon us. I've just learned to not have expectations.