The mascots

Tonight we went on a nature scavenger hunt with the Girl Scouts. I couldn't help but smile at all the little people who were dragged along on this adventure. One of my friends pointed out that all of the girls in our troop have younger siblings and therefore they all have these wonderful, caring natures.
Here's some pictures of the little mascots of our troop.

Writing a book

That is what I want to do! If I could write like this incredible woman then I would be all over writing a book!! I've thought for a long time that people should know there are words in the English language that you never thought would go together until you have children!
Tonight I heard my husband's gentle voice say, "A. don't sit on Z.'s head." Huh? Double take.... no not anymore - I'm used to this type of crazy conversation.

Here's some other examples that I've had in my 10 years of motherhood:

Don't put your toe up your sister's nose.
It just kept coming (pointing at the toilet paper all over the floor).
Do not toot at your sister.
No growling at the baby.

Mom's out there - I know you know what I'm talking about. What are some of your favorites? I promise I won't steal them - I won't be writing that book. I think it's God's plan that we should learn these things on the job - no one would ever believe us anyway until they live it!

Pictures from the Turkey Trot

Before the Turkey Trot
Jason, B, Shawn, Sherry (sporting a neato turkey visor), Justin

Mark was jealous of my way cool hat!

See he even got a profile picture of it!

The boys (minus Jason who was in the back with me)

Check out that stride! Check out that grimace on his face... hee hee!

Smiling and pleased with his 1668th place finish (30.19 overall time, average speed 9.47)

Happy Thanksgiving

We are home safe and sound. With that out of the way I'm going to start this blog with a story.

Tuesday afternoon I talked to my Mom and she told me about this little 5K that was going to take place on Thursday morning, the 14th Annual Turkey Trot. I looked it up asked Jason if he was interested and he said, "sure, why not!" I jumped on that asked B&K if they wanted to participate too (B said yes, K said something about sleeping in to save up strength for pumpkin pie), I was able to sign the three of us up about 15 minutes before the deadline. I called my brother, Mark & his family and asked them if they were interested - they seemed hesitant but said they'd decide Wednesday. We left early Wednesday morning, met up with Mark and his family in Sherman at Chic-fil-a had lunch and proceeded on our journey to Ozark MO. After several near miss Z potty breaks we made it to MO in just over 12 hours (today we made it home in just over 10 - potty breaks really eat your time!). While we were traveling I found out that my nephew Shawn was planning on running with us and then after just a little bit of persuading Justin joined the ranks too. We got up EARLY Thursday and made our way to downtown Springfield in 28 degree weather - brrr. Turns out that this LITTLE 5K is actually the biggest in the state (according to the race officials) and this year they had over 5000 participants! Wow - this was the biggest 5K I've ever done. It didn't really occur to me until we started lining up that I hadn't thought out how we would meet up with all the boys at the end - thankfully Mark showed up to take some pictures and he decided to stay. Phew - he kept an eye out for everyone and collected B when he was done. Jason & I started the race together. We were cruising along smiling and waving at any cameras that we saw (hoping to get our moment of fame on TV) and checking out the fun costumes. Before I knew it I had gone over a mile (without walking!). At that point I decided that I had to try for 2 miles without walking. Somewhere in the midst of that I lost Jason but kept on running. Something I learned from my friend (and coach) Adrien was positive self talk - instead of saying okay when I get to that stop sign I'm going to walk I said to myself, "when you get there you can evaluate why you want to walk." By the time I finished mile 2 I knew that I had to run the whole thing - funny thing is that I never dreamed that this would be the race that I would run the whole thing - I honestly intended to walk quite a bit of it (not sure why). As I ran up the slight incline by the church where I married the greatest guy in the world almost 15 years ago I continued my PMA (positive mental attitude) and said, "look how much you've done you can't stop now, you can do this!" I ran through the square and down a hill. At the top of the hill I had a very brief moment of dread thinking that when you go down you have to eventually go up again but I couldn't waste time thinking about that. I continued on like the little engine that could until I came around the corner and my moment of dread was realized - a short but STEEP hill was right in front of me and at the end of it was.... you guessed it the finish line! I put my head down and said there was NO WAY I was walking up that hill, I refused to look at the top of the hill and just kept chugging. I did it!! I ran a 5K without walking, I felt like I won that race - who cares that I came in 2574th (do they do medals for that?). It didn't matter, I ran farther this Thanksgiving than I ever have in my life and I am so proud! The best part? My nephews, husband and son did this with me AND the boys were all on TV and on the front page of the newspaper (okay so you need a magnifying glass to see them but I can see them!).
Pictures of the race to follow - waiting on my big brother to send them to me. Until then I have some that will make you happy.

The "Cousin It" look

Now isn't that better?

Presents from Our Debbie & Our Michael

B with his flock of geese (at the park)

My sweet girls making the ride go faster this afternoon

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to MO we go!
We will be leaving tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with my family in southwest Missouri. I'm anxious to see them all. Pictures when we get home - Jason has had the last two days off (in other words - time to take apart my/the kids computer). Otherwise I would have pictures of A's new haircut...

Just one camping picture

I'm posting one picture - so you will know we are home safe and sound. Montage to follow soon - hopefully tomorrow but don't hold your breath.

Only 6 of our Girl Scouts were able to go but it was SO much fun!
We earned our Polar Bear patch - it got down to freezing and for those of you that will fuss about us being in cabins wait until you see the picture of our holey cabin!

Happy Birthday Debbie

Today is my Debbie's birthday. Legally she is my aunt but she is far to young to be my aunt so she has been dubbed "My Debbie" by my children and I.... because if she can't be my aunt then she can't be their gr**t aunt!

Happy Birthday My Debbie - hope you have a wonderful day!

My all time favorite picture of Debbie (helping K play the piano).