"I was a running"

Thanks to Forrest Gump for that title line- if you still haven't seen Forrest run, you should. :)

We have been running around here- it is the season in Texas for a million and eight races. Two weekends ago we did the BlueBell Fun Run in Brenham, TX where the BlueBell Ice Cream Factory is. Not only was there all you could eat ice cream bars before and after the race, you got to run through beautiful bluebonnet country. It was a bit hillier than our regular runs, and it took a little more out of us, but it was still fun. Nick left my mom and I in the dust and finished about a minute before we did.
After the 10k we stopped by the ice cream factory to get a few pictures before driving home. It was a fun event and all of the proceeds went to fund the high school athletic program, so we will probably do it again. (Side note: when we were waiting for the results in the H.S. gym a little boy threw up...seeing chocolate milk come out of his nose with his parents nowhere in sight was not a fun part of the day.)
The next weekend we participated in the Rise & Shine Fun Run that supports the Rise School here in Houston (a school for the mentally handicapped). Nick's company, Transwestern, is a corporate sponsor. We headed downtown early and ran the 5k- Nick again left me and my mom in the dust and finished, again, about a minute ahead of us. My mom ended up placing 2nd in her age group and got an award; I placed 4th in my age group and would have run faster if I had known I was only 14 seconds away from getting my first award. Nuts.
It is a really fun run- it starts at the convention center and runs around the ballpark and on an overpass thing and then back. It was a beautiful morning too! And we even saw some of Nick's coworkers there as well. After the run they have part of the convention center set up with all sorts of booths and bouncy houses and climbing walls and activities for kids...it is always a good time and next year I plan to medal! :)

We don't have any more races planned (unless you count my biathlon on May 22nd...but that is sort of different and my mom and Nick are not doing that one with me), but I am sure we will find some more before the summer is through!

Make mine a double

So I have decided that my first triathlon should really be a biathlon instead. I was quite nervous about the swimming and just didn't have the time or weather to train enough before I needed to register. So I made an executive decision to skip the swimming this time. There are many mini-tris in the area throughout the summer and I am going to find one later in the summer to complete in full.

On another note, Nick has been sick and he took his very first sick day yesterday...like in his whole professional career! Too bad it was because he was actually sick...I cleaned the house while he tried to do a bit of work from home and then we watched The Fugitive before I had to go to work.

Today I cleaned out my closet...at least part of it. Part of the closet belongs to you-know-who and he would notice if I "cleaned" his side. But I pulled out all sorts of things that were hard to say goodbye to and tossed them- sometimes you just need to. I feel better already.

Other than that we don't really have much to report, nor do we have any cool pictures. Perhaps May will be more exciting...

Chutes and Ladders

Okay, so this game was provided in my Primary manual for my lesson today. I printed it out and colored it; I did not make pieces for each child, but instead made a little shield that was our collective piece (our class needs more comparison/competition like a hole in the head). We took turns answering questions and if they answered correctly they got to move ahead. Sounds simple, right?

They LOVED it! I have never seen better behavior or heard more correct answers out of this class. They even wanted to play it again after the prayer while waiting for their parents to pick them up. They were shouting things like "Jeffrey R. Holland has three kids!" and "Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread!" They were so excited that they knew the right answers and I was ecstatic to hear that they heard things during our lesson!

While there is always room for improvement, there was no whining about going home or how boring the lesson was or about not getting treats. I came home feeling like today was a success and knowing that this game is going to reappear in our classroom often :)

Weekend Pics and the HEADBOARD! (finally!)

Last weekend we made a really quick trip to San Antonio for Olivia's blessing. Here is Nicholas playing with Belle (he was supposed to be taking a nap while she and Uncle Gordon made lunch for their picnic.)

Enjoying the picnic... (Isabelle had made "icky fruit" for them all while Gordon provided the fruit punch)
The best picture we could get...just pretend that my mouth isn't open and that Nick's eyes are half shut...it is cute of the girls (especially Livi!)
I think Isabelle looks like Alice in Wonderland in this pic...she just needs her dress to be blue!
And finally, onto my headboard project. I couldn't find pics of "before" or even "during" but here is it finished. I started with two wooden doors from an entertainment center. We put 2x10s on the sides to make it wide enough and I sanded it all. Then came the paint...and boy was it a process!
We slapped a few legs on the bottom to raise it up a bit and that was that! (It is solid wood and so heavy!)
We like having a real headboard...it is nice to not just lean up against the wall to read and such. And it makes the room look more finished for sure. I was going to paint our (black) nightstand drawers white so they kind of matched, but I haven't gotten to it yet and now I am not sure if it is really necessary...perhaps when I get bored!

I haven't forgotten about my blog...

...I have just had a lot on my To Do list lately and blogging hasn't been near the top. I had a showcase this past weekend for all of the Arthur Murray students. It went really well and was fun to see how the students have progressed. Chris (another instructor) and I threw together a quickstep during the week and performed it at the showcase...and for only working on it a week I felt really good about it. :)

That was all day Saturday. Then Sunday morning, not bright because it was so early, we hopped in the car and drove over to San Antonio to be able to attend Olivia's blessing. It was a quick trip as we returned home that afternoon, but it was fun to be there if only for a few hours. Belle is getting to be very smart and still loves to play with her Uncle Nick. Olivia is a pretty sweet baby- she was very content to lay with me on the couch during lunchtime.

Now I am currently working on the paper from home- we are trying to print by the middle/end of this week and so I am busily working here at my computer. It is nice that I can work in my sweats with no makeup :) Koshka definitely enjoys me being home. I will be taking a little break this evening so I can run to the studio for a few hours to teach, but then it is back to work at home. I promise though that I have pictures of my finished headboard that I am going to post as soon as I send the paper off...and clean the house...and maybe go grocery shopping. :) Until then...