You Don't See That Every Day

Way back in the middle of summer, The Girl Who Swims, and Runs, mentioned she would not be running on the cross country team this year. Admittedly I was a little sad. I enjoy running, and I enjoy seeing my kids compete in sports. After a short talk together, basically "think about it some more, and "how are you going to stay in shape fro swim?" and "it is your last chance ever" she changed her mind and joined the team once again. This last week was the end of it. Her last high school cross country meet. And it was a fun one. She stayed in the top group most of the way and finished up in 9th place. Which meant she did not qualify for moving up to the State level. I wasn't sure how I would find her at the finish line. With some tears in our eyes, we hugged and she said "I don't have to run anymore!" So now on to her favorite sport: swimming. ((This girl has been a water baby since she was born. Never wanting to get out of the tub, always drawn ...

We spent Saturday farmin' This is what the younger ones farmin' looks like: I'm told it was a volcano. My sisters and I spent the time weeding the garden. The rows seem to stretch on forever, so the good advice was to not look up ahead very far. Kind of like the advice when you are on a bridge and they say don't look down. Sort of like that. The next day was much more relaxed. Thankfully. Mother's Day isn't a huge deal for our family. In the past years the kids and husband make sure I don't have to cook. Sometimes we go to the beach. This time around we stayed local; took a nice long nap (It's official, I'm a grown-up, I enjoy naps.) In the evening 3 of my girls were in their final choir performance/play. The oldest girl had one of the lead parts. My 2nd girl had a role, a silent role, but it was hilarious. And the third got to sing a line solo, and then sang with the choir. These girls make me laugh. And they make me so proud! I ...

The holiday was busy this year. Even though I made a point of not stressing out, I still did. I didn't send cards out on time, but am doing a little every day this week. So, my blog posts suffered, but I'm back to share how our Christmas went. In installments, Because all at once might put you to sleep. So on the 23rd, even though one child had a cold, we went caroling. Oh My Word, that was fun! We joined a group from church and went to a local grocery store to sing. It was kind of like a flash mob, only the manager knew we were coming. It was so cool. We moved on from there to a retirement home and sang to the residents. This was my favorite part. The smiles on their faces when we sang; some sang along with us; I fought back tears as I watched man feed his wife every bite. Afterwards we talked with the residents, handing out candy canes. They seemed to enjoy the kids the most, although there were plenty of smiles at the adult singers. At the next retirement home, a lady ...

It has been a week since I last went for a run. I've walked, I've shopped! I've cleaned and scrubbed for exercise; but it isn't the same, and my body wants to run. I just haven't found the time! The days are shorter on both ends now, dark mornings, and dark afternoon/evenings are not conducive at this point to luring me out the door. I don't relish running in the rain, but I would if it was a light mist. So trying to find the time for a run in between all that has been, well, non-existent right now.  I've got the presents wrapped (finally), except for a couple of them I am making for my nieces. We just finished up with school this week, although I still need to grade the last day's work. My boss, ie. the principal of this academy, aka. my husband, asked me, "Is this a normal day?" when he saw school starting around 10 am or 11 am or 1.30 pm - depending on which day it was this week. We've not been home as much this week; I'm still try...