Mom-ma

Today would have been Mom-ma's 92nd birthday! She died in 1996 but 15 years later I still miss her sense of humor and remember how smooth and soft her skin was when I'd kiss her good-bye.

Mom-ma in her moo-moo :)

We love and miss you!

Some videos

It's been awhile since I uploaded any video of the kids....so here ya go!

Silas doing kung fu with the sprinkler


Silas riding his bike on 5/30/11


Si's first attempt on 5/31/11


Superfast El-meister


Si doing great (except for the wall there at the end!)

Memorial Day Weekend

What a BUSY and FUN long weekend - it was a great mix of fun, productive, family and friends!

Friday was Silas' last day of preschool - as you can guess, it was very emotional for me!  They had a clapout at school and it was so sweet.  He is ready and excited for Kindergarten...he wanted to start this week!

Wednesday night will be the "official graduation".

Saturday night Justin and I went to a concert (The Avett Brothers) with Sarah, Brian, Donna and Lee. It was a PERFECT evening for an outdoor concert...warm & breezy. Justin even got to to take a little mini-nap in the middle of the concert.

Sunday the garden finally got planted and we got the flowers in the front beds and baskets.  Just in time for the 90 degree heat!!

Ella is very much like her mom.  She told Justin that "she wished everyday could be like today".  When he asked why she said because she "got to lay in the hammock and read and eat watermelon" :)  My little summer girl!

Sunday afternoon we went to a family cookout and then got to spend the evening with the lovey neighbors at another cookout. Delicious food and great company at both!

Today was blazing hot and the kids got their bathing suits and sprinkler out. Si decided to try out Ella's grass skirt :)  They ran around and got the squirt guns out and had a good old time, which was much better than the morning when they were fighting like cats and dogs!

A couple weeks ago we got Si a new bike.  He was way too big for his other one and we decided to go up to an 18 inch.  Problem is, they don't have training wheels on that size, so now we are trying to teach him to ride it without them.  We went to the school and after a few wobbly minutes, he was actually getting the hang of it, except for the sharp turns he'd decide to randomly take.  I think if we practice a few times a week, he'll have it in a couple weeks!

It was a great weekend with a lot of cherished time just being together.  Perfect. But what I didn't get much of this weekend was REST...I need to go get that now!

A Week of Downs and Ups

Last week felt like a roller coaster ride. Monday started off with the horrible news that a longtime friend had suddenly passed away.  I had know Tim for almost 30 years, and practically everyone around Hilliard knew and adored him as well - all of us "old Hilliard" people certainly did.  Sadly, he leaves behind a wife and 10 year old son.

Kym, Tim and Cameron

One of the sweetest things was during the funeral procession - some of the homes on his mail route had signs on their mailboxes and there were a few little old ladies standing out to say a last farewell.  He was buried on their 16th wedding anniversary.

Another emotional ride was seeing my friend Jenny.  She has cancer and our Senior Choir classmates from school arranged for the current Sr. Choir members to come over and sing The Lord Bless You and Keep You to Jenny.  This was the song we sang anytime a member or alum needed prayer and support.  It was wonderful to see all the choir members and Mr. Brenneman and Mrs. Bundy came also.   The news came too and took some footage!  Please keep Jenny in your prayers!



This, coupled with other things that have made my last couple weeks very emotional, created a lot of stress.
Luckily, we had our annual couples' Hocking Hills trip planned and it was the perfect get away - lots of good food, great drinks and being able to hang and talk with the best of the best of friends.  And we actually had a beautiful, sunny weekend!

My husband picked some flowers for me, we got to go on a (kinda muddy) hike to the waterfalls - it was lovely and very theraputic.
We came home on Sunday to more great weather, a soccer game for Ella and some outside playtime.

Ella plays in the All Star soccer game this week and Friday is Si's last day of preschool!  He's on to Kindergarten next year (sniff, sniff!).

YOSP and Random Updates

So, it's been awhile since I updated the YOSP - it's seemed to slow down in the last month or so but now we are hitting the house hard again.  Amanda is here and getting settled in, Justin is framing the basement, I still continue to go through clothes, boxes, etc for donations.  I'm feeling hard-pressed for time because I pretty much doubled my work hours (which started mid-March) but that has really helped with our 1st goal of the YOSP (making some headway financially!).

2. Get the house organized.
 - besides the basement, I've been trying to keep up with just the regular stuff like laundry!  And piles of stuff everywhere, and grocery shopping and, and, and...it never ends!!

this is the basement right before Justin started framing...

3. Health and fitness...get into better shape!

 - still making good progress here!  I've been continuing to run - doing two 5k's  (the Wilds run and today the Race for the Cure!).  I wish I could wake up every Saturday and have a run to go to.  Today the annual Race for the Cure was wonderful.  Sarah and I (and Donna and Lee) ran it, and Margie, Beth, Emma Lou and Sarah J walked it - and then we went out for a delicious breakfast at Easy Street Cafe afterwards. So much fun!

4. Do more family activities. 

Our family time has mostly been consumed by soccer games!  For Mother's Day though, Ella and I and the Masco gals went to see Mary Poppins and then an early bird dinner.  It was a great show!

5. Spent more time on our interests and hobbies. 

 - Still lagging in this area!  Getting a little time to take photos - but not much.  I guess working around the house is Justin's interest and hobby, so he's been getting to do a lot of that!

6. Decrease my anxiety about death, dying and cancer. 

 - better, much better...

7. Spend more time with my husband. 

 - yeah, not so much.

7b. No more kids, so I have to watch just how much time I'm spending with my husband. 

 - see above...

Other random stuff...

• we MUST go get Silas a new bike this weekend - his knees are literally scraped up because they hit the handlebars of his current bike.  not cool!
• Ella hit a new record on her pogo stick - 1,067 jumps!  
• Silas scored 2 goals in his soccer game today!
• At Ella's 8 yr check up, she was in the 20th percentile for both height and weight.  She was not happy when her doctor told her she'd probably be 5'1 or 5'2 (which I've been telling her...) 
• We had our annual Kentucky Derby party at the Mascos again - JP seems to have the Mint Julep down.  I asked him if he used a different recipe - he says he ditched the recipes and is just "winging it".  Sounds about right for him!
• Silas saw the squeeze butter on the table tonight for dinner and asked if it was sunscreen. Justin said, "sure, slather up next time you got outside to play!"
• Ella did something funny today but I can't remember what...if I remember, I'll come back and fill it in here :)  Oh, now I remember...we had the neighborhood garage sale this weekend - we don't participate but the kids like to go around and buy a few things.  Ella was leaving the house with her wallet and Justin stopped her to check her money situation. Good thing because she was about to go out with $68 in her wallet!  God only knows what she would have come home with!

Happy Mother's Day Dear Moms!

Motherhood is scary business...sometimes it doesn't seem like it at the beginning - when things go perfectly and you ease into mothering that newborn baby that sleeps well, eats great and never has an ear infection (like Mason), you might think "hey, this isn't so bad...I can do this!"

You may catch a whiff of fear the first time the baby sleeps through the night and you awake in a panic and rush to make sure he's still breathing, or the night that a fever spikes suddenly and you call the doctor's office in a panic.  Or the loud "thud" and screech of a first broken bone.

Almost 16 years into Motherhood, and I'm still amazed at how much turbulence the heart can withstand...it's capacity to stretch, expand and contract with pride, joy and fear.

The snuggle, first words, a Thank You, kindness when playing with other kids, good grades, great effort...

Losing your 3 year old for 10 minutes at the store, a lump on her neck that sends a cold chill through your body as you think the worst, being bullied and teased.

And so much more that I haven't gotten to experience yet as a Mom.  It's a blessed but scary road.  One that I wouldn't trade for all the wine in the world... 

Thank you Mom and to all the Moms that I know and love!

Ecothon 5k

I ran my first official 5K this weekend at the Wilds out in Cumberland, Ohio.  It was wet and muddy and SOOO much fun! 

(Colleen, Paula, Me, Patty, Cheri, Marilyn, Donna 

and Danielle -- pre-run)

 This was the view as you headed to the finish line (the blue arch)

You can barely see, but those are people running up to the first

(of many) hills.

This was me almost to the finish line.  I tied with this 60 year old guy :)

I came in 105 out of 208 runners -  I'll take that for my very first 5k.

I think this was great training for the Warrior Dash coming up on June 4th.  THAT should be something!!

If you haven't heard of the Warrior Dash - check out the video: http://www.warriordash.com/index.php