Milestones and Marathons

Better late than never seems to be my mantra when it comes to blogging.  I saw a post the other day on a blog I follow about how to have a successful blog.  The top two things listed where frequent posts and unique subject matter.  Neither of which I have, but I'm not in this to be successful, just to keep an online journal of our oh-so-exciting life.  This will be so fun to look back on in 10 years when I wonder where my babies went and on their graduation days. . . oh how the tears will flow.

This is the cutest graduate I have ever seen!

Speaking of graduations. . . .I mentioned in the last SOF that Noisy Man had a preschool graduation last week.  It was the cutest thing ever and I was totally amazed that I didn't even tear up.  I was SO proud of him and how well he did, but nothing got me overly emotional.  Not even the adorable little slide show of pictures they did.  Putting him on the bus today for his last day of preschool, however, did make me choke up just a tad, no tears, but choked up.  I just keep thinking that after this summer he is going to be in school all day, every day (except for summers and weekends) until he leaves me. . . oh how sad I am to think about that.  When will I get my Noisy Man play time?  This is going to be tough on this mama.  Anyway, I digress.  Back to the graduation.  He looked so adorable in his cap and gown and they sang the cutest little songs.  Almost every kid messed up the whole crossing action of shaking the Principal's hand and grabbing the diploma, even though they said they practiced.  It was a pretty short little ceremony, but cute nonetheless. 

The Preschool class

The cake and birthday boy

Another milestone for Noisy Man was his recent birthday.  FIVE?!?!  When did I lose my adorable little toddler and get a handsome little boy?  Have I mentioned how traumatic it has been for me to switch from shopping in the toddler section to the big boy section.  I just about can't handle it.  Thankfully, he still fits in 5T pants and shorts and I can ease myself over to the big boy section for shirts and such.  I need a slow transition.  Again, I digress.  We pulled off the pirate birthday bash with a bang.  Everyone had a blast, the cake turned out (despite it's attempt to melt and have the bow of the ship fall completely off), the weather could not have been better and the treasure was found.  His favorite gifts (he loved all of them, but a few stand out) turned out to be a bathtub shaving kit (which thankfully his sensitive skin handled without breaking into a rash - I was a bit nervous) and a light saber sword set.  I must admit seeing your 5-year-old shaving is a bit of a puller on the ol' heart-strings (thanks Aunt J) and the light sabers have been a ton of fun.  We have a daily battle.  They light up (of course) and make all of the fun noises a light saber should make.  They even attach in the middle, which has proven to be more of a hazard than anything, but quite impressive.  Uncle M gets kudos for this one and it might even make up for the small Obi Wan Kenobi (totally had to look up how to spell that) figurine, with 6 - yes SIX!- tiny guns and tiny light saber, he gave him for Easter.  Lastly, with his influx of very generous birthday money, he was able to buy the Buzz Lightyear toy he has been saving for.  It cost $35 which is a pretty hefty amount for a 5-year-old, but he did it!  It made me so proud to watch him count his quarters and dollars and save them up, but at the same time was very generous to his savings and tithing as well. 

The pirate birthday boy

As for the marathon, it was great.  I was so nice to be able to run healthy.  Last year was such a bummer to have trained so hard, just to feel so yucky on race day.  I was spent at mile 6 last year, but made it clear to 10 this year before I even really started feeling a bit tired.  Thanks to my awesome running pal and her GPS watch we were able to pay close attention to our times and make sure we were on track to finish in our goal time.  2 hours 10 minutes and 46 seconds!  A 9:59 min/mile average!  This shaved 18 minutes off my last year's time.  Again, many thanks go out to many people (the 1st 3 in order, last ones not particularly):

Julie, Charles and I (Charles, Julie's cousin, left us in the dust!)

#1:  My Awesome God for giving me the strength and endurance to be able to do this. . . . if you knew me in high school you would be amazed that the girl who never ran anything over 100M is doing 1/2 marathons, so it is only by the grace of God that I am able to do so.
#2.  My Amazing Husband for buying me a treadmill so I didn't have to get up at 4:45 am to go run at the Y, for being overprotective and making me run with pepper spray, for staying home with the kids while I ran, for dragging the kids up to the marathon to watch me finish, and for being so supportive and loving.  Truly, I've got the best catch around!
#3.  My kids for being the best cheerleaders ever!  They always were so interested in my runs and how I did.

Julie and I trying to look like we are going fast

#4.  My friend Julie for running with me and not getting mad at me for asking how we were doing according to her awesome GPS watch every single mile! :)
#5.  Again, to the volunteers of the race who took the time to put straws in the water cups!  SO much easier to drink out of a straw while running.  :)

You can see my bright green shorts
crossing the finish line

#6.  The fun cheerleaders along the race path and your amusing signs that kept me entertained.  A special thanks to all my friends I saw (even though many of you weren't there to specifically watch me it was still great to see a familiar face) the Robertson Family, the Hofer Family, the Rash family, Danya, Kim, Julie & Terry, and especially to Brooke who made Julie and I our first ever personalized race sign cheering us on!!  Can't wait to have you join us next year, Brooke!
#7. My sis-in-law for letting me crash at her place the night before and shower there when I was all done. 
#8. My awesome friend Bly, who is one of my biggest encourager's when it comes to my wanna-be-runner status!
#9.  Dennis Hofer for taking some awesome pictures!



 I know I am missing so much more, but I am running out of blogging time once again. . . .