London's Run

London's Run was incredible. Our family had a blast! Kaylea rocked on her 2 miler and Mandy pulled me through the entire 1/2 marathon! (Notice that I ran behind her.) I could never catch up, and if I did... she just ran faster. So I decided it was best if I just stay behind. Thanks Mandy for not letting me stop running.

The motivational signs all along the route were pictures of kids who were sick with cancer and a note from them saying things like, "keep running," and "thank you for helping me," or "you can do it." But my favorite of all, that kept going through my head over and over... AND when I wanted to stop... when I thought I couldn't run anymore... put it right to the point...

"Cancer is hard, running is easy!"

Well put! I can run, I am healthy, I will help these kids. That is the least I can do.

Running is easy!

Then our medal! A trip to my favorite restaurant.

Oregano's!

an entertaining afternoon

I asked the kids to entertain themselves for an hour while I cooked supper. This is what they did.

Daniel giving Samuel skateboard lessons... but the thing is, Daniel doesn't know how to skateboard himself. Just laughing at this whole scenario.

Later I called them inside to eat.

Daniel said, "Mom, you said we had an hour to play."

I replied, "That was an hour, you cleaned up for 10 minutes... so really an hour and 10 minutes."

Daniel, "Wow, that went by fast. It only felt like 15 minutes."

How's that for entertainment! Happy kids!

clash day

This week the kids had spirit week.

monday... pj day

tuesday... clash day

wednesday... twin day

thursday... sports day

friday... school spirit day

100th day shirt

It all started when I taught 2nd grade... Celebrating the 100th day of school. Everything was revolved around 100. Math, Reading, Science, art, music, snacks... and of course our clothes. So, when my girls started school, I knew immediately what kind of shirt I was going to make for Kaylea. I sewed 100 bows onto a t-shirt.

Well, Claudia wanted to wear the bow shirt this year and Kaylea wanted a new one. So after much thought, she decided on 100 stripes. And we came up with 100 ribbons on a white shirt. 10 of each kind in the colors of yellow, black, and pink.

A masterpiece! Aren't these girls cuties!

The 100th day of school was also clash day... so we worked with what we had.

duathlon

Daniel and Kaylea have been planning this duathlon for a couple of days now. So we decided on the day of the race. They were waiting and ready. One lap on bike around the soccer field and then one lap again running around soccer field. The first one to tag the sign is the winner.

Ready... Set... Go....

....And while the race was going on, Claudia and Samuel were keeping themselves busy...

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The race was close... Kaylea was right behind Daniel the entire time and lost her shoe along the way.

Kaylea was pleased with her race but ready for a rematch, anyway. She ran even better during the second race! Daniel, for sure, has his work cut out when it comes to racing his sister.

kaylea's family home evening

Kaylea cannot get enough of school. She comes home most days and plays school with her sister and her American girls. During the day, she picks through her teachers recycle trash can to find anything that she can use in her own classroom. (Seriously, she is her mothers daughter!) When unpacking her backpack, I am always asking her if this paper is homework. She says, "no, I just wanted to use it for my classroom."

Anyway, her favorite teaching moments now are to plan and prepare the Family Home Evening lesson. She totally gets into it with choosing the songs for singing, the lesson, fun games, and delicious treats. BUT most importantly she has a live audience!!!

I will have to honestly say that I can't remember much about the lesson and what she taught us... but it was the way I felt, we all felt! The spirit was there with us all, laughing, smiling, and learning about how much our Heavenly Father loves us. That is what I know Family Home Evening is really about.

pine wood derby

Daniel's first Pine Wood Derby race. Even though he didn't win any races... he still had lots of fun learning the ends and outs of racing a car. He designed the car, sanded, and painted it with very little of Scott's help. We were very proud of Daniel.

Those kids built some amazing cars. Lots of details! Daniel thought of many ideas as he watched and learned from the other cars that raced. UUMMMM what will he think of next year?

Well, done... my son! Now, off to the soccer game!