Trail Run time

3 of my close friends and I ran a 5K in March.  We then decided that it went so well that we should run a 5K a month together.  One of us found a trail run in April and we all jumped on board and decided to run it.  It was filled with a lot of steep hills and it was hard, really hard.  I was really wishing I had trained more.  We all run a different speeds and don't try to stay together.  We start at the finish line together, run our own pace and greet each other at the finish line.  Both races we have been in so far Molly's family is there to cheer us on at the finish line and it helps me so much when I hear their voices.  

I used to run cross country in high school.  I don't love running and I go back and forth between running on the treadmill and doing workout videos in the living room.  We are already have our May run planned and we are signed up for our October run.  I am so glad I have these women in my life.  They are inspiring in so many ways and I am happy to being doing life with them!  I may wonder how they convinced me to do these 5ks while I am running but the feeling of completing a race without walking and without dying makes me love them for pushing me.  Maybe at some point I will start enjoying running. 

The Last Supper...Stewart style

Our church has a Maundy Thursday service and supper.  Kids are of course allowed to attend but it just would be too stressful to keep them all still and quiet so they don't disrupt the service for other people.  Late Thursday night we still had not had dinner because we were playing and the night got away from us which is what happens when we don't have school the next day.  Suddenly Vincent and I had an idea at about the same time.  We can have our out last supper and act it out.  Our dog Pete was obviously going to be Peter.  The kids all got into it!

Washing feet

Washing Dean's feet

Washing Pete's feet

Offering him sour wine while he is on the cross

We had crackers, cheese, smoked tenderloin, fruit, veggies, and break for dinner.  The kids were thrilled.  We used wine glasses for our water.  Joel was Jesus, not sure how he was assigned that job.  Cecilia and Vince were both disciples and the guards that arrest Jesus.  Joel washed our feet with baby wipes before we ate, he even washed Pete's feet, he also got to break the bread and pour the "wine" I told him what to say.  It was fun, amazing and perfect!  After dinner Jesus prayed and then was arrested.  Then they pretended to beat him and put him on a cross.  Later they moved the chairs so it was like a cave and told him he had to stay there for the whole 3 days but they would bring him water and food and he could leave to go to the bathroom.  I stopped that fiasco from occurring and told them we were done acting for the night.

The love our kids have for Easter and the Easter story is amazing!  I am so proud of them!

School Pictures

I never order the spring pictures they send home from school.  We do family pictures in the summer and we order the fall school pictures.  I let the kids pick out their own clothes and I stay out of the way.  But these came home and they were cute and hilarious.  Vincent knows I don't order them so he was trying out his serious face but combined with the clothing choices he looks like he lives a terrible life.  Vince thought it was great when the package came home and it said check out this smile and Vincent was not smiling.  I love Joel's mohawk and his Illini shirt so I ended up getting a 5x7 of each.

Egg Coloring

Coloring eggs for Easter can be fun.  It has been fun.  However 4 kids, eggs and food coloring mixed with water and vinegar can end in disaster.  We colored eggs on Good Friday.  All the kids were off school and it made it a good time to work on it, especially since we were running out of time with Easter being on Sunday.

After putting the kids in clothes they didn't like or having them put robes on I handed out the eggs (each kid got 10-it gave me extras in case any cracked) and the kids went to work.  Dean had all his eggs done (mostly yellow) in about 10-15 minutes.  It would have been faster but I kept ignoring him when he would ask for another egg and tell him his egg had to stay in the cup longer.  Joel was a close second.  Vince was third.  Cecilia was last.  By the time all 3 boys had colored their eggs Cecilia had finished her first egg.  That is no an exaggeration.  She had an idea in her head out to do it and wanted multiple colors on it and she fuss and fidgeted with that egg until it was perfect.  When she was down to 5 eggs left she lost interest (hunger took over) and I helped her color the rest a single color.  I love her determination!

Cecilia 

Dean

They were all beautiful!

Vincent

Joel

Birthday Celebrations

Joel's birthday fell on a night Vincent had baseball practice and on the day Brad was heading down to Farmer City to start spring field work.  We told Joel we would celebrate the night before.  We had pizza, cupcakes and ice cream.  Grandma Diane, Grandpa Craig, Uncle Bob, Aunt Sarah, Karoline and Keith were all able to make it to the last minute birthday dinner.  Joel was thrilled!

A bag of red doritos from Grandma for his birthday.  Mommy doesn't buy them very much.

For the kids' birthdays Uncle Bob gets them whipped cream.  The kids love it!  Joel was goofing around eating the whipped cream out of the can and was making a mess so I sent him and Cecilia outside to finish eating the whipped cream they had on their hands and face.  I took a paper plate, filled it with whipped cream, went outside and told Joel to come see what I had for him.  I smashed it in his face.  He had it inside his ear.  He loved it and was laughing so hard.  He tried to get me but I ran in the house real fast, so he and Cecilia smeared it on the outside of some of the windows.  It was a blast!  

The aftermath

Joel loved it!

Singing

On another note Vince was drinking a Stewart's orange pop in a glass bottle.  Brad put a brown paper bag around it so it would look like he was drinking some sort of alcohol.  Karoline then took a video of Vince and said "Hey Vince what are you drinking?" and without skipping a beat he said "Beer!"  We also have a video of him crying when he was almost 2 because my dad was drinking a beer that was in a green bottle (Vince's favorite color) and we wouldn't let him have any.  He was crying "I want Beer!" and was completely distraught like any toddler that doesn't get his way.

At the birthday dinner Joel insisted on watching a movie since he didn't get to at his other party.  Lucky for me the movie he wanted to watch was only 30 minutes long!  Afterwards we did our traditional night before your birthday pictures.

Mommy and Joel

The whole family...my arms are not long enough we might need a selfie stick.

Daddy, Dean and Joel

Vincent and Joel

Cecilia and Joel.  She wore that shirt because she knows Joel likes Tom and Jerry.

Daddy and Joel

On Joel's actual birthday we sang happy birthday at breakfast and dinner.  Then Joel got to celebrate his birthday one final time at Easter with 3 other people who had birthdays close to Easter, Papa Razzi, Claire and Annie.  After a week of celebrating his birthday we were done celebrating Joel and eating entirely too much junk food!

Cinnamon Rolls and candles for breakfast

Baseball Practice Dilemmas

Vincent has started his second year of baseball.  His love for it depends on the day and what else is going on.  We were practicing at a field close to our house which was awesome because it is rare to have an activity on our side of town.  The field was near a park, but the park was not super close.  It was far enough away that I couldn't see the whole thing from the field only half of it and the kids wouldn't hear me if I yelled.  Joel and Cecilia playing there without me is ok, but not Dean.  Although Dean doesn't share the same opinion, he is after all a toddler and should be allowed to do all things the big kids do.    I finally relented and told the kids I would go to the park with them.  We were half way there when Cecilia decided she had to use a bathroom.  The only bathroom is the Port-a-Potty that was on the opposite side of the field from the park.  Dean wouldn't hear of waiting and Cecilia was convinced if we didn't run to the bathroom she was going to have an accident.  I did not have time for terrorist negotiations.  Joel said he would take Dean and watch him.  I love Joel to death but I worry about his ability to take care of himself let alone keep his eyes on Dean at all time and make sure Dean makes safe choices.  I agreed thinking by the time they got to the park we would be heading that direction and I would be able to see them from across the field.  Plus Dean adores Joel and probably wouldn't leave his side.


Standing outside the bathroom I was able to keep an eye on the boys.  Cecilia took a bit longer in the bathroom than I expected and I had to go in and help her.  Then I was no longer able to watch the boys at the park.  Dean is usually good about making safe choices but this was a park he had not been to before.  Cecilia and I ran to the park and the boys were fine.  Dean was mad because Joel was walking up the slide and Dean wanted to go down it.  They both were happy and having fun!  Apparently my stress was for nothing.  I still don't plan on repeating that scenario anytime soon.

Joel's birthday party

Joel started planning his birthday sometime shortly after Christmas.  His original plan was to have his whole class over to watch Aladdin in the basement and to play games.  Over time it changed to Veggietales movies and something else.  I wanted Joel to actually play with the kids that came over and not be distracted by a movie.  Last year when everyone came over for his birthday he went a did one thing while everyone else was playing in the basement.  It just wasn't ideal.  I didn't want a repeat.  I went as far as to offer to have the party at Bouncetown for him and he turned down my offer.  He wanted the party at our house.  I decided to offer up some ideas for games and activities and ignore his movie requests.  At that point he had not mentioned a movie at his birthday party in over 2 weeks so I figured if I didn't mention it we would be fine.  We decided on a pinata, his request, decorating cupcakes and a pin the sword on the Minecraft guy game.  The weather forecast was good and the party was only 2 hours long so the plan was that any extra time could be spent playing in the backyard.

Our Pinata

The cupcake decorations ready and waiting

Grandma Diane made frosting for me and I colored it.  Lots of sprinkles too!

The cake!

The week before the party Cecilia and I looked on Pinterest to learn how to make a Minecraft TNT pinata because the only one I could find was too expensive and unless I paid overnight shipping it wouldn't have been here in time for the party.  We learned a lot and it looked great.  We had some issues with the string you hang it with coming out a few times during the breaking of the pinata, but we know how to fix it for next time.

Pin the diamond sword on the minecraft guy

Cupcake decorating

Lots of fun!

Joel getting ready for his turn

I made birthday party invitations and sent them to school with Joel.  I couldn't remember exactly how many kids were in his class and he wanted to invite his teachers so I sent a few extra to school.  He had extras so not only did he invite his classroom teachers but also the reading specialist and his OT.  It warmed my heart that he liked them enough to invite them!  The night before the party Joel informed me that he wanted a cake too, not just cupcakes.  Which meant a last minute scramble for Minecraft toys to decorate the creeper cake with.  Thank goodness for my friend's son who let us borrow his Minecraft Lego guys for decorations.

Kids playing in the barn.  They were trying to pull the scooters with the balance bike.  Brad was pretending they were a tractor pulling a planter.  He had the kids trying to throw balls into the garbage can like they were seeds going into the ground.  

Cake time

I wasn't sure how many kids would come to Joel's birthday.  He talks about a few kids from school but he has never been invited to a birthday party so I wasn't sure what to expect.  We had 9 kids and all the kids that Joel was really hoping would come were able to.  We had girls and boys and they all had a ton of energy!  They did all the activities we had planned plus playing in the yard, barn, and visiting the horses.  Joel was playing with them and goofing around with them and it was so great to see!  It was a busy 2 hours but worth it to see Joel have so much fun!

Cecilia and I decorated the leftover cupcakes

A Date Night

The night before Joel's birthday party Diane had invited the kids over for a sleepover so I could clean the house and get things ready for the party.  They were so very excited to have a sleepover at Grandma's house.  While I was at home getting things ready Brad came in from the field and asked if I would go along with his idea.  I told him it depended on the idea.  He mentioned riding horses and I immediately agreed.  He even caught and saddle the horses while I kept cleaning the house.


We went for a ride on Croc and Peter Pan around our property and his parents' property.  Peter Pan is not a horse I have ridden very often.  I am usually riding with Dean and I like to stay on Hank who I trust wholeheartedly.  Peter Pan we have had for a little over a year.  He is a good boy and he is quiet enough we trust him to carry the bigger kids.  While we were riding we noticed that our cat Bugs had followed us on our trail ride.  He followed us everywhere!  All the way to the back of the property to what the kids call the love tree (the tree where Brad proposed to me).  Poor Bugs was open mouth breathing by the time we got back there.  He is usually only in the barn and a long walk isn't something he usually does.  Bugs made it home and back to the house.  We were just hoping our other cat, Juanita, would not see him.  She doesn't like other cats, and Bugs is not smart enough to stay away from her, but if she saw him all tired out she would have gone after him.


It was great to have time alone with Brad and also get to ride a horse.  We need to be better about planning and having date nights!

Road to Resurrection

A little over a week before Easter the church my dad attends was having an event called The Road to Resurrection.  It was a family event where they take you back in time to all the events that Jesus encountered and endured during Holy Week.  It was interactive, people were in costumes, it was amazing!   My dad joined us and we had a great time complete with a family craft at the end.

The decorations and costumes people were wearing were amazing!  All the volunteers did a great job staying in character.  They even had someone playing Jesus and walking a donkey in the sanctuary, there were sheep in the atrium, they went all out!  As someone who organizes Vacation Bible School for only 30 kids I can only imagine all the work and organization that goes into hosting an event for 1 night for hundreds of people.  They had tours starting every 1/2 hour from 5:30-8pm.  They were booked and we had to go to the 8 pm tour.  It made for a very late  night but it was worth it!

Some of the stations were the streets of Jerusalem where we waved palm branches as Jesus rode (walked) a donkey thru the sanctuary.  We went to the upper room and saw the left overs from the last supper and then to the garden where Jesus prayed.  We got to go to the prison and hear Barabbas talk and to the cross and hear from a soldier that was there when it happened, and finally to the empty tomb.  They did an amazing job of bringing the story to life.  The kids loved it and we loved it.  It was a great way to get into the Easter spirit.

A Big Boy Bed

Before we went on vacation Dean slept in his pack'n play or his crib.  He could climb out but he would happily go up to his room to sleep.  It was a really wonderful system that I was sure was going to end soon.  On our trip Dean slept on a crib mattress on the floor of the RV.  He did really well and seemed to like it.  He would fall asleep without anyone laying with him.  It was wonderful.


When we got back home he wanted to sleep in Cecilia's bottom bunk.  That had been the plan since he was born as long as Cecilia wasn't having night terrors anymore.  The first night went well.  He wanted me to lay with him and I did.  Dean and Cecilia were both really excited.  Cecilia even agreed to turn off the light in her closet and just be happy with the bathroom light on.  Monday night things didn't go so well.  Cecilia was in and out of her room 10x or more complaining about Dean.  I went in there and slept next to Dean so he would fall asleep.  It worked!  Tuesday night was a disaster.  Cecilia didn't want Dean in her room anymore.  I reminded her that she had been begging and crying to have someone sleep in her room with her.  With disgust and disappointment in her voice she said "But I wanted a GIRL!"  I took Dean out of Cecilia's room so she would go to bed, it had already been an hour after bedtime.  Dean and I went up to my bed where he wouldn't stop talking.  I finally took him up to his room.  In the staircase up to his room he flipped out and stretched his legs and arms out so they were touching the walls.  I couldn't get him to budge for a minute and then I folded him up and put him up in his pack 'n play.  I had to sit at the top of the stairs where he couldn't see me and yell at him anytime he tried to escape from the pack'n play.  He finally fell asleep after 30 minutes of crying himself to sleep.

He is a big kid now :(

I needed a better plan.  I needed him to like his room.  I went to Target the next day and bought Paw Patrol wall decals for $10.  I put those up in his room.  Put the pack'n play away and moved the crib and gave him some room for his crib mattress on the floor.  I showed him all the stickers and his bed and the shelf by his bed for books and stuffed animals and he was sold!  He has been sleeping there ever since and being so good about it!

Dean and his Paw Patrol friends.

Mountain of Laundry and Back to School!

6 people, 10 days, 1 dog and bedding for 5 beds meant that we literally could not walk thru our laundry room without climbing on a pile of laundry.  It took many days to get it all washed and put away.  I was pretty excited when it was all done!


Being back to school brought some challenges for us. You see we went from playing, riding bikes and being physically active a majority of the day.  The kids slept well, ate well and were overall very happy.   However once the kids were back in school they were sitting in school, having indoor recess because of the rain, and coming home to sit and do homework.  All the kids, but especially Joel, were bouncing off the walls.  It was crazy around here or rather I was going crazy and wishing we were back on vacation!


We went from Joel needing fewer reminders to being unfocused.  He actually remembered to put shoes on before going outside without us tell him to on vacation.  He suddenly knew how to brush his teeth and find his clothes.  It was wonderful and amazing!  Then we came back home and he is unfocused and nocturnal again.  Although I am not sure you can even call it nocturnal because he doesn't sleep during the day.  He just comes alive around bedtime and has no desire or really need to sleep.  On the bright side it is almost summer and I can keep him physically active most days and sleep with return.  We just need to make it thru the end of May.  My sanity may or may not leave me before then. ;)


Joel's usual statement at night (no matter what we have done all day); I really wish there was something fun to do or Mommy what fun things can we do now?  I respond with sleep and he is never happy about that.

Home and Gone Again

We arrived home Sunday afternoon.  I was hoping to get back on Sunday afternoon so I could get to my aunt's house and see my cousin on her brief stop over before she went back into the mission field.  Plus my grandparents were going to be there and they had just returned from their winter in California.  After unpacking the RV and starting a load of laundry I was going to take Cecilia and head to my aunts and leave the boys at home.  Great plan until Cecilia invited Vincent and Joel.  Then Dean figured out what was going on and insisted on coming too.  What I still don't understand is that after hours upon hours in the RV they wanted to get back into a vehicle.

Abram and Dean playing piano

It was a good visit with my cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, my Dad and my grandparents.  I am glad the kids came with and got to see everyone.  My nephew (8 months old)  was so excited when the kids walked in he just started squealing until they went and talked to him.  It was adorable!

Cecilia and Joel playing with my Nanno.

Side Trip on the Way Home from Tybee Island

Brad and I talked Friday night and decided that since we were so close to the Smoky Mountains we should go for a small hike.  We thought we would get to the ranger station hike for 3 hours and head out of town.  Well, that didn't happen at all.  We got to the ranger station at the time we wanted to (giant surprise there!).  Heard about some great places to hike, took a short hike to a waterfall, and then climbed into the RV and headed to the next hiking location.  Some things we learned: The Smoky Mountains are busy, lots of people enjoy them.  The parking lots are not big enough for all the cars, let alone the RV, despite what the ranger told us about there being plenty of parking.  Brad is an amazing driver!

Me with Joel and Dean

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Funny faces

We wanted to go check out a bigger waterfall.  When we got there parking was at a minimum.  As in people had driven over curbs to park in grass.  Someone pulled out and Brad did a U turn (in a 35 ft  RV) and then parallel parked.  There were a ton of people watching and he did it flawlessly.  I was so impressed!  Dean stayed in the Ergo on my back for most of the hike, but anytime there were large rocks near the trail to climb he wanted out!  The climb was mostly up hill at a decent incline.  And there were no railings on the edges of the trail which made Brad and I nervous.  The kids did a great job!

Anytime the older kids got close to the water Dean would get worried and try to pull them back onto shore.

Brad and Dean

Not pictured..Dean worried that they will fall into the water

Vincent and Cecilia

Vince taking some pictures for his 4-H project

Parallel parking

Cecilia took this photo

Vincent took this one

Family photo by Laurel Falls

There was another trail that just opened up that day so Brad thought we should drive and find it.  It was called Clingman's Dome.  It was another very busy trail and this time a chance to park on the edge of a cliff because the parking lot was full.  Brad, Vincent, and Cecilia went to climb it because Joel and Dean were sleeping.  They came back from their hike and they were so excited about it and insisted that I climbed.  Joel was awake and I bribed him into coming with me, Cecilia was ready to climb with me too, and so was Brad.  We had to twist Vincent's arm to get him to climb again.  We woke Dean up, put him on my back in the Ergo and climbed the short and extremely steep path to Clingman's Dome.  Along the way we saw the Appalachian trail and hiked on it for a short bit just to say we did.  The view at the top of the dome was beautiful and I am glad we did it all together.  

Steep incline just outside our door

Brad, Cecilia and Vincent

She loves Vincent so very much.

Cecilia and Brad

Vincent and Brad

Vincent and Cecilia

Family photo at the top

Joel was given a walking stick by someone and on the way down he and Cecilia walked and talked together.  It was adorable!  After our hike was over the kids climbed on the big boulders at the beginning of the trail.  We had to peel them off the boulders to get back into the RV.  We made the mistake of taking a drive through Gaitlinburg on our way out of the park.  It was 7pm.  It was a poor choice.  It was bumper to bumper traffic and took 30 minutes to go 2 miles.  It gave us a good chance to look at all the shops and restaurants as we slowly crept passed.

My athletic little beauty

She is his protector

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Dean loved climbing rocks

Joel and Cecilia climbing off the boulders

Vincent wasn't too happy about taking a picture with me

After 24 hours in the Smoky Mountains we left for home.  Amazingly after a long day of hiking Brad was able to get us all the way to Louisville, KY for the night.  Like I said, he is amazing!