Welcome back!

Yesterday Conner had a tournament in Woodburn.  Mike was out of town at a stake YM's activity, so that left me with all the kids and an early morning game.  I had one of Conner's coaches pick him up at 6:45 and take him to the field.  I followed an hour later with the girls.  We actually had a good morning and were all able to get out of the house, with breakfast even, in time and no yelling.  A HUGE accomplishment at my house!  We got to the field about 8am, right before the first game started.

 

Now let me back up a sec and fill you in on a few things.  First off, Conner has not had the best baseball season.  He isn't playing much and basically only plays the outfield.  He doesn't mind, but it drives Mike and me crazy.  He's a great athlete, why wouldn't they play him???  After some nice discussions with the coaches (really!  I didn't yell or anything!) we realized that Conner has been copping an attitude with the coaches.  Totally NOT acceptable!  Apparently there had been an "issue" with him throwing out a smart remark to a coach at a practice a week or so ago.  We talked with the coaches about it and then we talked with Conner about it.  I decided to take the girls to his last practice on Friday night to keep an eye on him.  He actually had a good attitude and was playing really hard.  He also had asked the head coach if he could practice playing short stop.  That's where he has played in the past and really enjoys.  He was able to practice there, as well as a couple other infield positions.  I also made him asked him very nicely to apologize to the coach that he had made the comment to.  That was difficult for him, but I felt that he needed to do it.  Ok, back to the Saturday game...

So, come Saturday I was hoping for something good from him, but not holding my breath.  We unloaded our house few items needed for a day at the park and settled in for the game.  Conner started out by sitting on the bench...again.  Ok, I can deal with this.  The next inning, he was out in left field.  No biggie, no balls either, but no big deal.  He got up to bat, but I don't recall what happened there.  The next inning he was up to pitch.  He did pretty well, but the team had 6 errors in that inning, so the other team 5 runned us (that's when they call the inning regardless of how many outs there are because 5 runs were earned in 1 inning).  Conner took that really hard.  I think that's the second time that has happened to him.  I tried to explain to him that the coaches WANT him to pitch so the other team can hit the ball, it's a team sport.  It's not all about him and his pitching.  There are 8 other boys who need to take responsibility for that inning as well!  Anyway, he was back in outfield for the last 2 innings of that game.  We earned a win, 9-7.  Close game but the boys were just getting warmed up!

 

These boys seems to play much better in a second game when they're back to back.  The next game, they were ready!  I don't think I can recall exactly how it all played out, but I do believe that the 2nd batter of the game hit a home run.  That will get the boys excited!  Conner started out playing left field.  The next inning he played center field.  Then he hit short stop.  He LOVED it!  He also had a couple good hits.  One really nice one over the 2nd baseman.  He had one that he should have been out, but the pitcher over threw the ball to the 1st baseman, so that hit allowed 2 runs to score and we ended up 5 running them.  That put a smile on Conner's face!  He was in it now!!!  I don't think any balls were hit to him while he was playing short, but he was able to "be in the game" because he had to be aware of where the runners were in case he needed to cover 2nd on a  steal.  I don't think Conner has had that much fun in a game all year.  He was happy and smiling.  It was awesome to watch!  Anyway, they ended up winning that game as well 11-1.  It was  a really fun game to watch.

 

I felt like I had my happy little boy back.  That was very important to me.  We have been having some real struggles with him and his "whatever" attitude.  Not that it's "bad" really, just  "I don't really care".  That has been hard.  We've been trying to instill responsibility in him and have been very frustrated lately.  It was nice to see him own up to his error in the way he spoke to his coach and then in turn, have a great, fun game.  I sure do love that kid!  I know that it's really tough for him.  Being the only boy, and the oldest with 4 sisters.  His expectations are probably higher and definitely different than the one's placed on the girls.  He usually exceeds those expectations and it was nice to feel like he's back!  So Nonnie, my love, You are amazing!  Thanks for being such an awesome kid!  I am very proud of you and I love you!!!

Just another ordinary, average day...

I'm heading out for girls camp on Monday.  So for the past week I've been frantically trying to get my "stuff" together.  One of the things that I'm responsible for are "love gifts" for the girls in my cabin for each day of camp.  My friend Maria brought over some paint and I decided to run outside and grab some rocks to paint.  Everyone needs a prayer rock, right?  Of course, Adrie and Caile HAD to help too!  So here are my rocks:

and here are Adrie's rocks:

she actually did pretty well.  I was impressed.  Well, other than the fact that she wouldn't let the paint dry before adding another coat...  I think they still might be wet a week later!

 

I was finishing up and I may have even been on the computer, when I heard an odd sound.  I turned around to find Adrie under the table and this is what she was doing:

Apparently the dining room chair and floor needed a little more color!  I was NOT happy here, but at least had the sense to grab my camera :)  After the trauma was over this is what she looked like:

Then she realized that I had the camera:

All better now.  And then seriously, like 2 minutes later I turn around and Caile was creating her own art:

Yep, that's marker on the leather couch.  Luckily the older kids had only left out crayola markers not sharpies!!!  This is the aftermath of that situation:

Yep, just another day in paradise!

Race Day

So, the house is pretty quiet and I don't feel like I'm dead tired (for the moment) so I think I can try to tell the "Race Day" story.

 

Let's see, Conner spent the night on Friday night with Sarah and her family so that he wouldn't have to get up super early to hang out with us.  We picked up Sarah at 6am and headed out for Blue Lake.  The surprising thing was that I actually slept like a baby the night before.  We got to the park around 7am and loaded all of our stuff on our bikes and headed off for body marking and to find our transition spot.  Because Mike and my numbers were in order, we were able to find a transition spot right next to each other and right on the end.  Sarah set off to find her place and that was actually the last that we saw of her.  Mike headed to the bathroom and I finished setting up.  Apparently they only had 10 porta potties for the 1000 participants, not to mention the spectators...hmm, maybe we need to let them know that that is NOT enough!  While he was gone for 30 minutes, I got to know my "neighbors".  They were 2 extremely nice ladies who were trying this all out for the first time too.  That's one thing I noticed.  Every one was super nice and totally supportive.  I love that!  After Mike came back we went and checked out the lake, tried to figure out where all of the transition places were.  I'm glad that we got that squared away before we were actually in the race.  Not what I expected!  After that, it was almost time for Sarah's wave to start, so we decided to wrangle ourselves hop into our wetsuits.  That actually didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would.  I think I was in mine in less than 5 minutes.  Apparently it's motivating when you're standing in front of 200 people in a speedo swimsuit trying to cram all your fat into something the size of a piggy bank.  Now I know what a sausage feels like.  Then it was down to the lake for the start of the waves.  They divide everyone based on age and/or ability.  The first 20 are considered "elite", like they might actually win the whole thing.  Then they go by age and gender up until the end and then it's the first time guys with the first time girls a minute later.  We kinda cheat though, us first timers, we only have to swim 1/4 mile instead of 1/2 mile.

 

It was fun watching the other waves start.  We flopped around it the water some and got ready for our start.  I was able to chat with some of the women in my division and made a buddy, Jen.  Mikes wave was off and then it seemed like seconds (ok, I know it WAS only 60 seconds, but c'mon!) later they were counting us down.  Now to back up a sec.  I have practiced swimming in the pool.  Ya know, you can stop every 25 yards and catch your breath if you need to, so the whole "open water" thing was pretty scary for me.  Oh well, too late now!  OK, so the count down is on and then we're off.  Right off the bat there is a lady who starts bobbing.  Someone asked if she was ok and she said no so I stopped swimming and headed over to her.  I stayed with her trying to flag down some help while she was treading water.  Finally someone started rowing over, as soon as he was close enough I started out on my real swim.  I think I wasted about 2 minutes there, but who cares, right?  It's not like I'm actually gonna win or anything!!!  Off we go.  And Jen is right there with me.  I actually LOVED swimming in the lake.  I didn't feel too tired or anything.  I figured that once that was over, I'd be in the clear because the swim was the hard part, right?  Nope.  It's ALL hard!!!

 

You run from the water up a hill and into the bike transition area, it's probably 50 yards.  I was able to get half of my wetsuit off before I even reached my bike.  Sarah was smart enough to tell me to bring a small cooler and use it as a seat in transition.  Way good idea!!!  I hopped down, pulled the wetsuit off and threw on socks, bike shorts, bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses.  Grabbed my bike and it's about 50 yards in another direction to the bike route.  Have you ever tried running in bike shoes?  There is a reason they are not called running shoes!!! But I got there, eventually.  Hopped on my bike and was off.  It was a bit windy, but not too bad.  It's a strait shot with only 1 hill, so not too bad.  The problem was the headwind on the out.  It wasn't too bad on the back though, so I think I picked up some time there.  I made the ride in about 50 minutes.  Not too bad.  Then the transition to the run.

 

Back to the transition area.  Shoes off, helmet off, running shoes on.  Oh, can't forget my hat.  Then I start off on the run.  I really had NO idea where I was going.  That was pretty comical.  Then I realized that I forgot to put on my race belt that had my number on it.  Had to stop and ask someone if I had to go back.  Nope, I'm good.  Oh and I grabbed some water off a table but there was no trash can, so I had to run with the cup for like 1/4 mile until I found one.  Then I missed on my run by and had to circle around, pick it up and actually put it IN the can.  Seconds wasted, I tell you.  But basically, I SUCKED at the run.  Like seriously.  I'm pretty sure that I had to be running backwards to make such a horrible time.  I didn't even know that it was possible to move that slow in a "run".  Actually, I probably could have walked and been moving faster.  I actually felt pretty good, buy my legs just couldn't move any faster.  It was crazy.  I know that I need to work on my run now!  But I eventually made it back.  Even before they closed the race.  Mike came after me and ran the last 1/3 mile with me.  That was nice.  Oh, except that he was "encouraging" me.  Ummm, ya, that's NOT what I call encouragement.  That's being a drill sergeant!  "Dig, Dig, Dig, you can do it.  Up the hill.  Come on.  Pick it up."  I think we kinda got into it a little there.  Something along the lines of "Way to go, your so close.  Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you'll get there."  is more of what I was looking for.  But you know know that whole Venus, Mars thing.  I guess that's where it comes in!  I crossed the finish and Conner came in about 2 minutes behind me from his kids tri.  That was cool.  Then we all just basked together with our new medals.  We found Sarah and her family and just kicked it for a little bit before saying goodbye to our first Tri experience.

 

On the way home Mike was unwilling to commit to another tri, but I did notice that when I woke up from my nap, he was checking out local ones, so I think we're in this!  As for me, my next one is August 2nd and I can't wait!!!  Oh, and I'm hoping that one is warm enough that I can get by without the wetsuit wrangling!

 

I DID IT!

I don't really have the energy to write out the whole experience right now.  But it was AMAZING!  Mike finished 5th and I don't know where I was in the standing, but I'm pretty sure it WASN'T 5th!!!  But it was awesome.  Everyone should challenge himself to something that seems insurmountable, then see it through.  If I get brave, I'll post some pics that Conner took of the race.  But that's about it for now.  I need to crash!!!

 

Oh, for those of you who DON'T know.  It was a triathlon!

And WHY am I doing this, again?

Only 2 days until my first Triathlon.  Oh my goodness.  What was I thinking?  I don't know if I can really do this.  I was looking at the list of people competing in the Try It.  They are so kind as to list the shirt size of all participants.  Guess what?  I'm the ONLY fat chick.  There are a couple big guys, but we all know that it TOTALLY not the same!  So now the anxiety really gets to come out.  Not to mention that I decided to rent a wet suit so I don't freeze in the lake.  That was an adventure just in itself.

 

My friend Sarah found a place in Portland that rents Tri suits.  They are NOT like regular wet suits.  They are more like divers wet suits.  They have a rubber outside and the neoprene inside.  The key with these wet suits is that you can't pull on the outside or the rubber will tear.  Therefore, you need to turn the suit inside out and pull from the inside.  Did I mention that they don't actually make wetsuits in my size?  So I'm trying on a men's suit.  For a man that's like 6 feet tall.  Um, I'm only 5'2".  Can you see the problem that I might have?  I can't tug on the outer layer of the suit and I'm a whole foot shorter than the person who's supposed to be in it.  The suit is "rolled" down so I'm trying to pull on, essentially, 2 layers of suit.  Maybe I should have prefaced this whole thing by mentioning that there is a roll of paper towels in the dressing room to wipe off sweat because it's that hard to put these thing on a NORMAL person!  To try to make a long story short, I had the lady that owns the store in the room with my trying to cram me into this suit.  Oh, by the way, I never thought I was claustrophobic until I tried putting that thing on.  And "try" is the magic word here.  Because after 30 minutes, and the suit not even covering my butt, I gave up!  I took the dumb thing off.  Seriously, this HAS to be a sign that I shouldn't do this!  But no.  Karri came back with ANOTHER death trap wet suit.  However, this one was a little easier to put on.  It didn't have the rubber on the outside, so it was much easier to pull on.  So, I guess I am set, right?

 

This week I have made 3 batches of cookies and eaten most of them.  I'm a total wreck!  I don't feel prepared.  I feel fat (ok, I know I'm fat, but I FEEL it!!!).  I'm stressing.  I don't know what to expect.  I'm on edge.  UGH.  Come Saturday afternoon, it's gonna all be worth it right?  Right?  RIGHT?

 

Ok, enough about me.  I'm sure I can find something else to post about later!

Happy Birthday Princess Adrie!

I know I'm a little late with this post, but here it is:

 

Adrie turned 3 this week.  We lucked out because Ann-Elise's game was canceled, so we were able to spend it together as a family (ok, for a few minutes before the kids just HAD to go play with friends!).  Earlier in the week we had given her her  gifts.  She received a Dora bike and "glass slippers".   Just what she had been asking for.  We celebrated on Thursday (her actual birthday) with cake.  It was fun.  She is a doll.  I look at her and am constantly amazed at this feisty little spirit who adds so much to our family.  

Love you Adie!

 

And I just LOVE this picture of Caile.  I had to add it too!

I'm back on the wagon

So we all know how the weight "wagon" goes.  I think I've spent more time in the dirt than actually riding on it, but I think that's pretty typical.  As long as I don't decide that it's better in the dust and mud.  Well after taking a nice long shower, I've decided to hop back on.  Again.  I know that my determination will only last as long as I "feel" like it.  So, as long as I keep moving in the right direction, I'm moving ahead.  I don't know if any of that made sense, but I'm going with it!

 

Willpower and determination only get you so far.  It actually takes work too.  Ya know, I spent about 4 months in those Weight Watcher's meetings.  I was totally excited and paid my money every month.  The thing I didn't get was that you have to do more than that!  You actually have to like eat right and exercise.  Who knew? 

 

I hadn't been to Jenny Craig in a month due to some financial workings on my part.  With gas so stinking high, I was having a hard time justifying the cost.  But I went in yesterday and do you know what???  I actually lost over 2 pounds.  I also had my councilor take my measurements again.  I was down another 7 inches for a total of 12.  OK, that's some motivation right there!

 

So, now I'm back on.  I can do this.  I will do this.  It's hard.  But what in life that's worth anything, isn't?  I know that I'm gonna quit.  A lot.  But as long as I get up and decided to start again, then progress will be made.  So, here I go again!

Way to go Huskies!

Conner's baseball team had their first tournament this weekend.  They started off at the ball field at 8 in the morning (OK, so I was late and he got there at 8:15) they had pictures at 8:45 and we had him stay at the field with his coach until their first game at 11:45.  The boys hung out and the coach had them working on batting.  The first game went really well.  The boys finally woke up the bats and had some great hits.  They ended up calling the game because we had a 10 run lead.  That was kind of fun (ok, it was A LOT of fun.  These boys have worked so hard and their regular season has been really hot and cold, so it was nice to be on the winning end of a blow out!).

 

The next game was scheduled for 3:15.  That gave us enough time to run home and put Caile to bed.  Conner, again, opted to stay at the field with his coach and watch the other games.  We got back in time for the start of the game.  You could tell the boys were tired.  The first 2 innings were ended due to the other team scoring 5 runs each time.  We didn't return the favor, so we were down.  Conner did some pitching that game.  He was doing ok.  The boys were just really tired.  The bad news was that if they lost this game, they had to play again right after this one!!!  But that wasn't enough motivation to pull out a win.  They lost that one.

 

So, we ended up playing again at 6.  That gave me enough time to pick up the babysitter and drop the babies off at home with her and get back to the ball field, again, right as the game was starting.  This time the boys were on fire.  They played amazingly well and pulled off another big win.  Now they were in the "medal" brackets.  They would play twice on Sunday.  Once to determine which game they'd play in, for either 1 /2 or 3/4.  Then the second in the actual game for that place.  Following me???

 

Well, we don't play on Sunday's.  Period.  So that meant that Conner wouldn't get to participate in the actual games.  The first one was scheduled for 8:45.  We called his coach at around 11:15 to find out that they had won the first game and would be playing for the championship at 1:15.  Conner was pretty excited about that.  I must just add that this is (one of ) my difficult child.  Everything is an issue.  But bless his little heart.  NEVER did he complain about missing the games to go to church and spend the day with our family!  NEVER ONCE! 

 

At church I happened to glance at the clock right at 1:15 and was filled with so much love for this little boy who never questioned a decision that we have stuck by even when it's difficult.  I am truly blessed!  That's a hard one, no playing on Sunday.  But we've made it a family priority and his coaches know this and respect it.  Thanks Chip and Walter!  We have had coaches trying to "convince" us that they needed Conner and could we please just this once, make an exception...  So having coaches respect a decision and not try to talk us into changing our minds was great!

 

OK, so I get a call in the middle of church (I was teaching the lesson, so I didn't really think I could answer!) and let it go to voice mail.  Mike came into my class to pawn off Adrie and I had him check the message.  THEY WON!!!  The boys pulled it off and won the whole thing!  I told Conner right after church and he was so excited!  So, all in all, it was fabulous.  I'm sorry we missed it, but it was an awesome teaching opportunity. 

 

Great job guys!!!

 

*disclaimer*  I am NOT judging anyone who allows their kids to play on Sunday's.  This is OUR FAMILY'S decision.  Don't get mad at me and think I don't like you!!! :P