You Don't See That Every Day

It has begun. Track season is well under way, and the girls had their first meet this past Thursday. Way back in February, the Girl Who Swims did not want to go out for track. We managed to convince her, with our parental ways, that she should however. And seeing her smile as she ran at the meet confirmed my parenting skill this time at least. She's trying something different this year - not long distance! She is running the hurdles for the first time ever and loving it. I think she likes challenges. She also was in the 4x100 relay and the 4x400 relay! Another new-ish thing for her. The younger daughter is running long distance this season - this time around she did the 1500 and 3000. I think she wants to do the 800 also, but she needs to work on her speed if she is going to try that. I ran that back in the day (and it was my favorite) so it would be fun to see her try it.  

** Dear readers, I'm trying a new format for my blog. Hopefully it will spur me on to write more often here .** Dear Brother, Last Friday night I made it home by 1 am. I know now that I am no longer a 'spring chicken'; my recovery took all weekend. I was out with The Mr. watching our kids run in the State Track Meet. It was so exciting! On Thursday, the Girl Who Swims, and Runs, ran the 3000 m race at State. She's only a sophomore and she, and her teammate, qualified for State! We were pretty proud and excited at the Districts meet when she came in 2nd behind her teammate - knowing it was the time and place she needed to go on. So anyway, all season the meets have been either held in the rain, or hail, or cold. Until State. It was warm, really warm, and I'm pretty sure my girl was not used to it. She didn't have a great time, but she didn't come in last either! The next day more excitement came our way. We headed back to Eugene ... the only two day...

The high-schoolers had their District Track meet this week - two days (roughly 11 hours) and what excitement and entertainment they brought to the spectators. Out Girl Who Swims and Runs is heading to the State meet next week in the 3000. She came out strong in the beginning, staying at the 2nd for most of the race. Towards the end though there was a girl in 3rd who looked like she really wanted that spot. (Only the top 2 advance to the State meet.) We were screaming, yelling, encouraging her loudly, to pick up the pace because there was a girl right behind her! Ok, it was probably more like 10 feet .. but it was too close for comfort. But our Girl picked it up at the end and took 2nd. As a sophomore, she's heading to State. The Boy also had a good meet. He placed 3rd in his 100m dash and 400m run, which wasn't quite what he wanted. But he also runs both relays and his team took first in both of those - so on to State for them! I'm pretty impressed by all the runners...

Two more birthdays happened. Ok, actually a lot more, but in our little house, we had 2 more celebrations. April is one long party around here - so we left the decorations up all month. Even when the house appraiser came to take pictures. We now have 3 teenagers in the house. And there are days that we feel it. The grocery bill is inching its way up, despite my attempts to keep it low. I am really looking forward to summer and the fresh fruits and veggies from the farm! I have plans to can and freeze and dehydrate a lot of goodies this year! But back to the birthday girls. The Girl who Cooks is now 13. Hard to believe my little 9 pound baby is this old. She had school that day and track practice, but we were able to celebrate in the evening with all of us at home. And my baby - my last born - my snuggler - is now 6. Cliche I know, but wow how time flies! For her special day, she did not do any school work (easy to do in kindergarten!) We went out for lunch at Burger King - one of he...