To play or not to play...

Bruce had a soccer game on Saturday.  Thus far, Aaron has been the one who has taken him to all of his soccer games this spring.  What a treat it was.  All I can say is he has a very patient coach!  While he is in the game, he is usually pretty focused (by Bruce standards this means maybe 75% focused - not bad).

Give him a break from playing, and this is where you find Bruce while the other boys are on the sidelines.  It's hard to compete with a big tree, stick, and a bucket.  

Braces and Honor Society

Elizabeth's excitement for braces was drastically diminished this week as she realized how much pain they cause.  On the bright side, a diet of pudding, yogurt, and popsicles for a few days sounds yummy, right?

Last night she was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society at school.  Justin was also eligible, but wasn't interested.  Elizabeth is so responsible when it comes to school work and is always working a few days ahead.  She will come home and actually study over the weekend for a test on Wednesday!  We're so proud of her!

Signing her pledge.  Good work, Elizabeth!

Happy Mother's Day?

This was how my weekend started...Will came home from school and was in one of his moods. I took the kids to the park while Elizabeth was at piano lessons and he was fighting with Bruce and said some really mean things. After learning he would not be allowed to go to a movie that night, he completely lost it and was so mad at me. He said some mean things to me and then came home and went in his room. I went in to try and talk with him and he gave me back this picture of us that sits on his nightstand, tape included. Great start to Mother's Day weekend, right?!
Thankfully, he came around and everyone tried to make yesterday special for me. I wasn't allowed to cook or clean in the kitchen at all yesterday. I was served breakfast in bed and received lots of cute homemade gifts, cards, and a Kindle Fire! I feel so lucky to have a husband who respects my role as wife and mother and is teaching our kids to do the same. Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mom's out there!

Is it summer yet?

I bought this swimsuit for Naomi today and she insisted she wear it the rest of the day!  I can't blame her because it was a warm 65 degrees outside.  If I looked this cute in a swimsuit, I might wear mine all day too...okay, maybe not!

Elizabeth's 12th Birthday!

This has been a big year for Elizabeth...moving, starting middle school, and making lots of new friends. Here are a few of her friends she celebrated her birthday with. It was so fun to listen to them talk about nails, school, and yes, even boys!

As requested, she had an ice cream Oreo blizzard cake from DQ. This girl is not a big eater, but she loves food! She is the first to ask everyday when she gets home from school what I am making. After I tell her, she usually says, "Oh, I love that!" Every mother's dream!

Another big change is coming for Elizabeth at church. She will now enter our youth program. I am really excited for her to interact with the other girls. I know she is going to love it and it will help her develop into an even better young woman than she already is!

Here are a few things I love about Elizabeth:

• she is my "go to" girl - she is such a huge help and she likes to do it (usually)
• so kind hearted
• a loyal friend
• loves the mall (and wants to go all the time now)
• loves to paint fingernails and toenails
• paints her sister's fingernails and toenails (they love it)
• very responsible with her schoolwork
• attempts to make me more fashion conscious
• fun to be with

Love you, Elizabeth! Here's to another great year!

If I kept a running journal...

this would be worth writing about. I was recently talking to a friend about my marathon training and I told her how hard my 18 mile run was. She told me she was going to go home and look up how her first 18 mile run was. She emailed me a couple of days later and shared what she had written.
Who knew losing toenails was common amongst marathon runners? I didn't. Then again, I hadn't ever run 18 miles in one day until last week. I've been averaging about 30 miles of running a week. Next week I peak at 40 miles and then it goes down until my race on June 2nd. Yikes! My feet have never been pretty, but they now scare my kids. Naomi frequently asks me why I have boo boos (blisters) on my feet and Elizabeth about died when I took the polish off my toenails and she saw how bad my nails look. Aaron just keeps kidding me that our bodies are not made to go this far. I have been soaking my feet in hot water with Epsom salt at night, followed by an ice pack on my right hip. It's hard to believe I am self inflicting all of this pain, but I really do love it! Despite all of the physical challenges, the biggest challenge of my training is finding the time. Aaron has been so supportive and takes the boys to their soccer games on Saturdays so that I can get my big runs in. (Consider this my one and only running journal entry).

Catch up!

Where did the month of April go? We've been busy doing a little spring clean-up around here. As you can see, these two girls were so much help!

The boys were very happy there was still mulch left to spread after school.

Will earned his wolf badge at his most recent Pack Meeting. I also earned a wolf pin for the long hours I put in helping him!

Madelyn has been busy partying it up in her last few weeks of pre-school. Last week they learned all about space. This week she got to go on a field trip and rode on a bus for her first time. Talk about excitement!

Aaron installing our new dishwasher. We no longer have a dishwasher door that is a safety hazard to our family. Unfortunately, this new dishwasher is not self-loading or unloading which was a big disappointment to the kids.