Everybody's Working For The Weekend

We're just finishing school for the day, and we have a huge list of things we need to do before Brian and I leave tomorrow.  I usually do a load of laundry every day, but I'm combining days this week to make up for us being gone, and yesterday I watched Running Wilde while folding the boys clothes, and it was so funny.  And while posting the link, I noticed episode 2 is up; it's a good thing I've got more clothes to fold.

Oh, I'm so excited for this weekend.  I know I went to Seattle with Brian in March, but that was the same week of our move, and even though it was fabulous to sleep in the hotel room while he went to his classes, I didn't know that I was going until just a few hours before we left, so I didn't get the chance to be excited for it.  But this time, I've had a few weeks to count down the days until I would have a child-free weekend.  And every time I hear Ethan say, "Mom, I have bad news," which happens quite frequently throughout the day, I just sigh and think, "Just two more days...just two more days."

Brian's birthday is on Friday.  He's been planning where he wants to eat his birthday dinner for the last month.  "Planning" is the key word here, because I don't think he's decided yet.  It sounds like it's a toss-up between all of his favorite Portland restaurants, of which there are many.  Brazil Grill, Todai's, Cheesecake Factory, I don't know which he'll pick, or how many others are in the running.  See?  He's excited, too.

The kids are thrilled to have Grandma Roses staying with them, and Alyssa and Ethan are super excited for their slumber party with cousins after that.  My parents are going to Spokane on Sunday to walk with my sister in Step Out*, a walk to fight diabetes, and they'll take Marcus with them, while leaving Alyssa and Ethan with Mike and Tallia.

So now that school is over, I need to get the kids lunch and get started on our to do list, so we'll be all ready to go.  We need to pick up pull-ups for Marcus, a prescription for Alyssa, finish all that laundry, change the litter box, pack all of our clothes, turn in our library books that were due yesterday, dye my hair 'cause I'm so tired of the gray sneaking in**, figure out the easiest way for the kids to have school with my mom on Friday, find someone to take Alyssa to her bird watching field trip on Saturday, and everything else that comes up.

Did I mention we're excited?

*My sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 5 years ago.  If you'd like to sponsor her team for the walk, go here.
**I think Ethan's, "Mom, I have bad news"es are a big factor in graying my hair, along with the "Mom!  Marcus just-"s, the "Marcus has been-"s, etc.

We Did It!

So Brian and I ran the Indian Summer 5K on Saturday.  I discovered that I prefer running in the dark at 5:30 in the morning to running in the bright sunshine at 8:00.  I think I'll wear a hat for the next run, which will be the Howl n' Scream Scram on October 23rd.

On Thursday I ran for five minute blocks with 2 minute intervals of walking between, and it was actually pretty easy.  So I decided to cut my walking time down to blocks of a minute and 30 seconds for the actual race, and it was tough!  I beat my Thursday time, which was my goal, but it was definitely hard to do.  On Thursday I kept thinking, "Maybe I'll try to do the 10K in October instead of the 5K," but after Saturday I've decided that I should improve my 5k time and increase the time I actually spend running before I attempt a 10K.

Brian and I were walking and running at different times throughout the race, so we kept passing each other and saying, "Hello," which was fun.  Brian was about ten paces behind me at the end, so he caught up to me and grabbed my hand, and we crossed the finish line together at 32 minutes and 8 seconds.  At the beginning of last week I was praying that I would finish under 40 minutes, so I am quite proud of myself.

My favorite part of the whole thing was running beside two teenage girls, whose conversation went like this:

Girl 1: Are you sweaty?

Girl 2: Yeah, are you sweaty?

Girl 1: (slight pause) No.

Liar!  How can you not be at least a tiny bit sweaty after running two miles in the sunshine?  My goodness - I almost laughed out loud, but I'm glad I didn't.  When I told Brian about it later, he said she must have been "glistening" instead of sweating.

This Week Is Going By Way Too Fast!

I can't believe it's Thursday already!  Thursday!  Wasn't it just Monday?  Wasn't it just Sunday? 

Ah, Sunday.  Sunday I both gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting and did the lesson for Gospel Doctrine.  It was crazy!  I woke up Sunday morning and put the finishing touches on both, and I had facts and quotes and comments from both the talk and the lesson floating around in my mind all morning, and I was afraid that I would start to talk about Amos and prophets during my talk on prayer.  My talk went better than I expected, but I don't think I prepared for my lesson as well as I should have, because I kept getting lost from going between my notes and the lesson manual.  It felt so good when they were both over, though.  It was so wonderful to sit in relief Society and think, "I'm done!"

Monday was a great day.  Alyssa did wonderful at school, and after lunch we took her to MCP for P.E.  Alyssa has the best P.E. teacher, and she loves that class!  She was also so excited to see her new friend, Sara.  The best part of Monday was that I was able to drop Ethan off with my sister when we picked up her daughter (Emma) to take with us to MCP.  Marcus and I went grocery shopping (shopping with only one child!) and then we ran our groceries home and then hurried to the orthopedic surgeon's to have him check Marcus' broken collar bone, which is healing very well.

We practiced "A Child's Prayer" for Family Home Evening, because our family is singing it for the Primary Program.  Alyssa's extremely excited for that!

Tuesday is Alyssa's full day at MCP, which also makes it my day to mop the kitchen and dining room and catch up on other chores. I let the boys just run and play and watch tv on Tuesdays, to give them a break from our daily school routine.  Nothing significant happened on Tuesday, but it was a good day.

Wednesday (yesterday) I ran my first practice run four our 5K on Saturday.  Going back and forth from running 5 minutes and walking 3 minutes, I did it in 36 minutes.  I was shooting for 40, so yea!  And this morning I shortened the walking from 3 minutes to 2, and I did it in 33 minutes.  I'm taking tomorrow off to rest.  I'm so stoked for the race on Saturday.  It's my first ever, and I really feel like I've prepared well.  Brian hasn't had time to go running, and he keeps saying that I'll beat him.  Wouldn't that be cool?  I highly doubt that I will, because Brian will most likely push himself hard and kill himself in the process, but it would be a huge ego boost to run faster than my long-legged husband.

Alyssa also had ballet yesterday, and I'm so proud that she's doing a better job of listening to the teacher and following directions without complaining.  Last night they had old tu-tu's for sale for $2, and Alyssa bought a bright yellow one with some of her birthday money.  She's working very hard on being able to do the splits.  She's such a cute little ballerina!

Tonight Ethan has gymnastics.  We started him in the Parks and Rec program, and he is loving it.  He's doing a lot of jumping on the trampoline and walking on the balance beam.  On our way into the building on his first night, when he had no idea what gymnastics was, he walked all along the curb like a balance beam, and I thought, "This is the perfect class for him!"  I think that he also likes to have his own special thing to do by himself. 

Home school is going splendidly.  We still have our moments, of course, but for the most part we have our routine down, and the kids know what is expected of them.  Marcus is our difficult one right now.  He is just so busy, and he's constantly getting into things.  I've started to strap him down in a booster chair to keep him from bothering Alyssa while she's working, but he likes to push the table over onto Ethan, which is just one of the crazy things he does throughout the day.  I've been looking on Craigslist, and I found two desks that are similar to Alyssa's that we're probably going to buy this weekend, so each kid has a space of their own, and a place to keep their school supplies.  I'm excited for that!  I know Ethan's ready to start doing more school-type work, and he will love having his own desk, just like his big sister.

Speaking of home school, I started this post during one of our five minute breaks, and the break has lasted just a bit longer than that.  I'm not even sure exactly how long, but the kids have been happily playing on the purple couch for quite some time now.  We only have Math left to do, then we can have lunch, and I'm hungry!

Have a great day, everyone!

Badger Mountain

the view from the top

On Saturday we hiked up Badger Mountain with my brother and his family. It was raining just before we set out, and it sprinkled a little bit while we were out. The rain made it nice and cool, and we had a great time.

When Brian and I were looking for directions to the trail head in case we got seperated from Mike and Tallia, we found this review of Badger Mountain on Yelp, which I thought was hilarious. "In southern California, we live by the mantra: Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

It doesnt matter how much you spend on clothes or who designed them, if you are overweight, you are not going to look good. Piercings and tattoos cant make you look better in a bathing suit.

Remember, the only person who prevents you from staying in shape is you. Not a professor, parent or law enforcement officer. You dont need consent and there isnt a minimum score on an entrance exam. Nope. Just YOU vs. YOU. Its sad how many people value 45 minutes of eating over hours of being healthy and looking their best. Life is simply more enjoyable when you feel and look good.

There are four flaws in my argument, however. That mantra is almost true. Guinness, bacon, ice cream and cheese are known exceptions to this.

After moments of weakness (and/or weekend binges) there is a way to recover from your debauchery. Badger Mountain.

This may be the easiest way to burn 700+ calories and tone your core, butt and leg muscles. A one hour investment is all you need.

The cost to transform your body is nothing. Start at Badger Mountain today. Who knows, by summer time, you could be catching the attention of someone you thought was out of your league."

All of the reviews talked about how hiking the mountain made you use muscles in your legs that you didn't know you had, and I can tell you that it's true. I even got a bit of an extra workout carrying Marcus for part of the time.

Most of the group...and my finger

Brian, helping Marcus along when he didn't want to walk

Pronounced "Gecko," With A "W"

When Brian first started optometry school, and he first started attending the weekend event put on by the Great Western Councel of Optometry, I jokingly called it "Opticon." You know, "opti" for "optical" and "con" to make it sound like a crazy science-fiction convention. Yeah, I know...he didn't think it was funny either.

GWCO is every fall in Portland, and it is a huge event. It's the first big conference and Continuing Education opportunity that optometry students at Pacific University College of Optometry are exposed to, and I remember Brian getting excited for it each year. The students were allowed to enroll in the classes for free (they even needed C.E. credit while they were still in school), and they were also encouraged to volunteer as helpers for the conference. GWCO, for us, also meant that Brian's parents would be coming into town, and Brian would go spend the night in Portland with his dad so they could go to their classes together. Poor Brian usually had to sleep on the floor, but he still had a great time, probably because they would go out for sushi and other nasty stuff that his wife doesn't feed him.

I think it was Brian's first or second year of school that we went to one of the conference's dinners with his parents. I loved seeing all of the doctors who were done with school (it meant there really was an end in sight!) and it was fun to have a night out in Portland.

Now Brian's graduated, and he really wanted me to go to GWCO with him last year, but it was the same weekend that I was in Tombstone Tales. I missed GWCO, and Brian missed Tombstone Tales, and I promised Brian last year that I would go with him this year. Luckily, the two events don't cross over this year, and we'll be able to do both!

Marcus has started a stage where he does the scream/cry when he doesn't get his way, and I've spent the last couple of days continually saying, "This is a tantrum and tantrums are unacceptable" while putting him in his room and telling him to come out when he's happy. That strategy has been working pretty good, because he's quick to figure out that screaming isn't getting him anywhere, but with the whole scenario I've been having daily headaches that last for hours, and by the time the day is over, I am ready for bed. I've also been cleaning up poop and potty, because Marcus is officially potty training (and doing really good the last two days!) and Ethan, who is usually our best behaved child just needs to learn to stand up for himself instead of whining, "Mah-hawm! Marcus fill in the blank with any unbelievable this you could think of. Wahhh!" That's not too much fun either. My mom and sister-in-law have wonderfully accepted to watch the kids for the weekend, and I am so looking forward to having the time off.

So the whole point to this post is this: We're going to GWCO. Is anyone else going?

A Beautiful Baptism

Alyssa's baptism a couple of weeks ago was just wonderful. She was so excited all day long, and it was fun to do her hair and get her into her pretty white dress. She was baptized with her cousin Marian and her friend from church, Ashley.


Ashley chose the prayers and songs, and Alyssa and Marian each chose a speaker. Marian chose her mom and Alyssa chose Grandpa Jacks. We sang, "Keep the Commandments," and "I Know That the Savior Loves Me," and all three girls and their brothers and sisters and cousins sang, "When I Am Baptized" for a special musical number.

I loved being a part of the baptisms as a mom. It was so fun to help the girls change into their white jumpsuits, and I loved being able to stand with them as they watched each other be baptized, and I especially loved the behind-the-scenes view from the side of the font as I watched Brian baptize Alyssa. I know that she was making a good choice to follow the Savior's example to be baptized, and I felt the Holy Ghost testify of the truthfulness of the ordinance of baptism and the love Heavenly Father feels for these girls.



While Alyssa and Marian were changing out of their wet clothes together they were exclaiming, "I want to do that again!" and "That was so much fun!" My sister and I enjoyed watching them talk with each other about how they felt and how excited they were. They are such sweet girls, and I know they're trying to make good choices to be closer to Heavenly Father. I'm so proud of them!

A Brand New Day

Thank you, everyone, for all those wonderful comments yesterday. It helped me so much to feel that support and to know that I'm not the only one who feels as I did.

Today is going to be so much better. Brian and I were both asleep by 9:00 last night, and when my alarm went off this morning, it was so much easier to get out of bed. I went running with my sister again. We're doing the Couch to 5K program, and we completed Week 3, Day 1 this morning. At the end of every run we say, "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." We'll see if we're still saying that in a few weeks. Brian and I have signed up for a 5K on the 25th, so we're preparing for that. I'm excited!

Anyway, Ethan must have woken up while I was gone, because he was asleep in our bed when I came home, and all of the kids slept long enough for me to have enough time to decently get ready for the day. And, yes, I'm wearing makeup today, and I do feel better about myself.

We have our September progress meeting with our adviser at MCP this afternoon, mostly to talk about our weekly schedule and plans for home school, then Alyssa has her first ever Achievement Days activity. I am so excited about that! I can't believe she's old enough to go to Acheivement Days.

It's funny, because the things that have been weighing on my mind lately are still there, but they're not weighing me down as they did yesterday. It's amazing how much a good night's sleep can change your perspective on life.

Blech

I know, I'm a horrible blogger. Probably not such a thoughtful mother, either. Alyssa was baptized on Saturday, and I haven't blogged about it. She deserves a beautiful post to go along with her beautiful baptism, but I don't think it's going to happen today. Instead, I am selfishly posting about myself.

I don't feel up to posting a happy-go-lucky, life-is-wonderful post today. Believe me, life is wonderful - isn't it? - I'm just not having a very good day. It started out okay, though. I woke up at 5:20 to go running with my sister, and we talked and laughed and were out of breath the whole time, and we even stood in her driveway and talked for ten minutes when we were done. But then as I walked in the door, I heard Marcus coming down the stairs, and I wasn't ready for him to be awake. It was only 6:15.

I guess it didn't help that Brian went fishing last night, and didn't get home until way late, and I couldn't get to sleep until just a bit before he came home. I am seriously cranky.

So Brian was getting ready for work, and Marcus was so happy that he was awake early enough to see Dad in the morning, and it was really cute to watch. But then Ethan woke up, too, and Brian left for work, and when I told the boys I needed to shower, they both wanted to join me, so I gave them my phone and told them to sit on my bed and play Angry Birds while I attempted to shower as fast as I could while praying that they wouldn't find the Emergency Call button and dial 911. But Marcus didn't want to share the phone, so Ethan kept coming in and whining that Marcus wasn't sharing, so I stopped hurrying and just let the hot water rinse over me for a while. I would have locked the door to begin with, but I wanted to be able to listen to the boys to monitor them and their game-on-the-phone use.

It got quiet after a minute, and after I got dressed, I found all three kids at the computer watching some penguin show, and they all complained when I turned it off and told them to get ready for the day, and I went to brush my teeth, but I didn't put any makeup on. I've been trying to wear makeup every day for the past year or so in order to: 1) not feel like a twelve year old trying to look grown up when I do my makeup for church each Sunday, and 2) to feel pretty every day, even if it's just my kids (mostly my kids) and my husband seeing me, so I can feel good about myself and not feel like a frumpy mom, which happens sometimes, although it doesn't happen as often as it used to. But I just didn't want to bother with it today.

The kids did reasonably well at breakfast, although Marcus emptied the entire kids cup drawer after I filled it, and even though it was cute that he was building rocket ships out of them, it was also a bit frustrating, too.

I gave up on having school this morning, because I know that I need a nap. I know that just a little bit more sleep is going to change my entire outlook on life. I just hope the kids don't burn the house down while I'm sleeping. Alyssa is downstairs watching Jim Henson's, "The Storyteller," and Ethan keeps coming upstairs and asking when I'm going to be done with the computer, because he doesn't like what Alyssa is watching.

I probably look like such a whiner. My mom and sister probably think I'm such a whiner, because I already called them this morning, and both times they helped me feel better, but also after both times something happened which made my mood plummet again. But does anyone else have days like this? Days where you feel like no matter how hard you try, you're always behind, or days where you don't feel connected to anyone and you just get lonely for no reason at all, or days where things aren't going right and the part that just kicks you in the pants is that you sit down to write a cheerful post about your daughter's baptism and instead you look at everyone's blogs and get jealous of all the crafts and activities and home improvement projects that you wish you had the time and money and energy to do?

And now the post is over, and I'm realizing just how therapeutic it is to write all of your feelings down. I really do feel better already. I'm also realizing that when I write therapeutically, I use very long, drawn out sentences with very little grammar.

So I'm going to secure the children as well as possible, put a load of laundry in the wash, and go to bed, and when I wake up in an hour or so, we're going to start over. We'll have school, lunch, probably some more school, then go meet the bookmobile at the park (I'm really excited about that!), and come home for dinner. I know today will get better.