The Ragnar Relay is tomorrow and I'm very nervous and excited. Of course I procrastinated getting things together so here I am at 10:30p instead of sleeping. Who needs sleep anyway? Happy Running!!!!

On Saturday our family was able to participate in a family fundraiser fun run for a friend who lost her baby. I was so amazed with the event and how wonderful it was to see so many people support it. I'm sure it was a hard thing to do but what a positive way to mourn such a loss. People are truly amazing with what they have to got through. Each of us have different trials that we face and yet it seems that those trials match to what that person is able to handle. I am impressed each day with people's talents, motivations, and strengths. You all inspire me-thank you!!!

I can grow a garden!

Here is living proof that I CAN grow a garden!!! I am so amazed and proud of my little garden. You see, in the past, every plant that I ever tried to keep alive died so I was very hesistant to create a garden but really wanted to try it. So thanks to the motivation of my good friend Rachelle I started a garden. I started small and only planted romaine lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower. I did have a bell pepper plant but my dog ate it-oops! I love it! If you know me well I absolutely love salad so I just go snip some lettuce off and then add my cauliflower and broccoli. It was not as hard as I thought! Aren't they pretty? Happy Gardening!

Mike and Tiffany Move

The dreaded day finally came......Tiff, Mike and Jonas moved to Michigan Saturday afternoon. Goodbye's are never easy, I will truly miss hanging out with them and I know Ryder will be asking for Jonas for the next little while. They play so well together and have such a great time. Luckily, Jonas got to spend his last night with our family. Ryder was so happy and content!!! I wish them the best with this new adventure and look forward to seeing them in July at Grandma Wasden's 90th birthday party!!! Love you guys!

Its late right now (if you think 9:50pm is late) and I'm really tired. Today was a beautiful day well spent at the train park with Ryder, Amy, Jack, Tiff, Jonas, and friends Jen, Lilly and Lucas. Its amazing when there are a ton of slides to play on my kid just wants to eat fishy's and hang out with me (I guess I should cherish that he wants to hang with me.) Anyway the kids of course loved every minute, I of course loved Ryder's stubborn personality when it was time to go and he just stood there. Later in the day when Max and Maci were home from school I decided that we would go on a family run. Ryder in the stoller, Max and Maci on their bikes, the dog tied to to the stroller and me pushing it. Sounds great, right? Well, me not using my brain (shocking I know) decided to run in the house to get some water just in case the kids got thirsty on our little adventure and this is what happened....As I was almost to the my kitchen sink I thought to myself, "that wasn't really smart to leave the stroller unattended with Ryder in it and the dog tied to the stroller", so I turn and run outside and see that the stroller is on its side with a screaming toddler and my neighbor who was already staring at me while getting us all together was running over frantically! There goes Mother of the year once again I thought! The funny thing was that my neighbor was more concerned about my dog than Ryder. Anyway there were no scratches or bruises and we left for our run. Maybe it knocked Ryder out because he fell right to sleep. The run itself was beautiful and my kids rode 3.5 miles on their bikes with no complaining-there was my Mother of the year award!!! Goodnight!

All about Maci!

Apparently this week has a lot to do with Maci. Anyway, I forgot to post this really cute picture. The last week in January their school celebrated its 100 days of school. Each kid could make something with 100 hundred things or bring 100 things, so Maci wanted to put 100 foam stickers on a shirt and then her teacher gave her the cute glasses she is wearing. She was so giddy while we were putting them on I was just laughing. I think we should all go back to kindergarten they do the most fun things and they seem to get the most field trips!!! Maci must be my favorite kid this week. I wonder who it will be next week????
I received a surprise package in the mail today that totally made my day. Amy B (sister in law) sent me some cups and a frog that dances (it would take to long to explain). I was laughing hysterically because it just goes right along with our fun and crazy weekend that we had-I loved every minute of it! Thanks Amy!!!

On Friday evening we went to Claire's and Maci got her ears pierced! She was so nervous but yet really excited! She didn't even cry. They gave her their Claire bear to hold and she didn't even flinch until the lady went to do her second side! Her reaction was priceless! The next two days she kept saying, "Mom, do I still have holes in my ears?" and, "I can't believe I got my ears pierced!" She showed everyone in sight including people she didn't know (Maci is a very friendly girl). I hope you all enjoy the video if it downloads. I'm technologically challenged so if anyone has advice on how to download faster please let me know!!! Alright (very frustrated!!!!) I cannot get the video to download so when I do I will post it because it is very cute!

Valentine's Day

We had lots of special valentines this weekend. My sisters, niece and nephew came to visit. Aubrey, Forrest, Alisha, Amy B., and Parker. Parker had a soccer tournament down here and did very well. We spent all day Friday making sugar cookies that could definitely give you a heart attack with how much butter was in the recipe but, ooooh were they delicious. So basically we ate cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It between cookie eating me and Aubrey went to Maci's class valentine ice cream party and then moved on to playing with Max and his buddies at recess. There were at least 20 kids against us in a basketball game-there was no score keeping but I'm almost positive me and Aubrey won. We even took two kids out-j/k!!! It was a blast and luckily Max still thinks its cool to hug his mom goodbye-I love it! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Maci got her ears pierced on Friday evening. I have pics that I will post tomorrow because I'm to tired!

Challenge

For some reason all of our kids have been getting up all week long. Well, of course there is usually a reason, they were getting sick- at least the boys were. Max ended up with an ear infection and Ryder ran a fever last night and seems to be pretty miserable with a cold-oh, the joy!!!!! I can't remember if I mentioned that I started a healthy challenge with 55 other women and one of the things we are to do is write in a journal once a day. So I am trying to be more diligent and use my blog as that. It hasn't been super easy because my life isn't that exciting to be writing everyday so on the positive side of things it is making me be a little creative and use my brain-OUCH! There are 10 parts of this challenge and already in this first week I have actually seen a difference in some areas of my life. There are two specifically... 1-SWEETS! Part of the challenge is no sweets, junk food, or unhealthy snacks. If you no me well I love sweets, crave them and just love, love, love, love, them! Now you also might say that I work out enough to eat a sweet a day-I totally agree! The problem is I seem to eat one, then another, then another, another, another, and you see the pattern! So this is one of the reasons I've taken on this challenge. How have I benefited from this in only a week? I have noticed an extreme change in my moods-SHOCKER! I seem to be a little more patient, not so up and down, not as tired, and I feel better. This not only benefits me but my sweet husband and kids. 2-The other thing I have benefited from is a personal goal daily/weekly, just something to work on each day. Not only am I getting things done but I love the feeling of accomplishment. Sometimes my mind thinks to much about everything I need to get done and when I don't get all of it done I feel disappointed. This has helped me to focus on one thing and be proud of that one thing getting done! Sounds simple, doesn't it? Most of the time is seems that life runs better on doing simple things!!! I do love challenges in all forms-good and bad because in the end we all come out having learned something we either like or dislike, we will have found more strengths or weaknesses we never knew existed and we will have created something new inside ourselves! Have a beautiful day!

I was cleaning out one of my shelves that badly needed it on Monday and came across 2 disks that apparently had pictures of when we first moved here. It flooded my mind with so many memories when Max and Maci were little and we had no schedule or anywhere to be each day. We would go to the gym, the park or just hang out with others with kids their age. I don't remember those days always being fun but it made me miss my kids at that age. I've realized lately how fast it goes by. Max is 8 and while that may not seem very old to some, in 8 more years he'll be driving-AAAHHHH!!!!!! Maci we'll be 6 soon and one of her and Max's favorite things to do is figure out how old they will be when the other one is a certain age. I remember doing the same thing when I was little and as a kid it seemed like life went by slow but for a parent it seems right around the corner. Ryder we'll be turning 3 in April and although he can be tough at times (those who know him know what I'm talking about) I have really enjoyed spending one on one time with him and being home with him-especially at the times I hear him say, "I want mommy or I want to hold you!"
I look at this picture and just laugh at what they were doing. I remember that they got into a lot that day. The next picture after this one is of them playing with a package of straws they had poured all over the floor! I was probably frustrated with having to clean up another mess but very glad I have the pictures to remind me of that time! I love being a mom!

"While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about." Angela Schwindt