Relay was a success!!

It is a lot of work.
It is a lot of fun.
I am glad we do it.
I am glad it is over.
We are making plans for next year.

Two of our goals were to have 20 teams and raise $38,000.  We had 21 teams, 208 registered participants and collectively we raised just over

 $42,000!!!

I am very proud of the teams and committee that worked so hard to achieve these goals.  Thank you all for your hard work.

And, thank you, friends and family supported us financially and emotionally!

If you ever wondered what love looks like...

 My parents have been in love for over 43 years.  And it shows.

Thanks, Lesley!  Once again you did a fantastic job capturing moments of our families lives.  

You always create treasures.

You asked me how I"m doing...

I have been called "over emotional" many times in my life.  I'm used to being told I wear my emotions on my sleeve.  I own it and accept it as a part of who I am.  I do, however, try to control it, particularly when I'm feeling negative. (Josh, notice I said I TRY! ;))

With nearly every emotion, my response is to cry.
I hurt physically or emotionally - I cry.
I am happy - I cry.
I get angry - I cry.
If people are rude to me - I cry.
If people are nice to me - I cry.
Perhaps boredom doesn't evoke tears, which is ironic because of the phrase "bored to tears".
But, I don't get bored very often.

So, pile on heartache and weariness to my usual emotional self and I am a basket case.
(If you haven't heard what is happening in our lives right now, go here for the latest.)
I am heartbroken.  I face the day to day of life as a distraction of the constant thought of death...and how we go on after it.  My faith is strong, my hope is focused, but my heart is selfish.
I am tired.  I am a lack-of-sleep, can't turn my brain off, don't want to miss a minute, pre-Relay exhausted, kind of tired.

But in the last week or so, it has been the kindness of others that has made the tears roll down my cheeks.  The kindness of people who have no idea how tired and weary I am.
~The dentist who showed great, great kindness to my mom.
~The woman at Walgreen's who gave me a significant, unrequested discount on my photo order.
~The gentleman who obviously gave up a prime parking space for me.
~The person at my girls school who told me I am a good mama.
~The older couple walking hand in hand in the store.
~The little boy at school helping his friend.

I don't mind these tears because they represent blessings.  I see them as reminders that no matter how much heart break is coming, God has me in His arms.  He is providing reassurance that He is my refuge, providing comfort in the most basic of ways.

So, if you pass me on the road and I'm crying my van, all alone, just know that I am blessed...and very, very tired.

We mustache you for a donation....

Brenna is working on a fundraiser for Relay For Life (I hope you'll come out and support her and us...) She is selling mustaches of all kinds...paper, painted, suckers, finger, and whatever else she can come up with in the next 2 weeks.  Here we are testing out her designs...

The paper 'stache

finger mustache

Piper engrossed in her own design.

Another finger 'stache option

Seriously, come join the fun on May 18th.  

I highly recommend the Survivor Walk (at 7pm) and Luminaria Ceremony (at 10pm).

We will have all kinds of games and food.

And ALL proceeds to straight to the American Cancer Society which is used for research and patient services.

Proud Mama

This one opened her first savings account last week.

She technically has more money than I do right now and 

hasn't yet decided if she is saving for a house, car or college.

I assure her they are all fine things to save for.

We actually do more than just take pictures of ourselves...

 I accidentally snapped this picture of Piper and when we all got done laughing she wanted us to duplicate it.

 Ugh.  What else can I say?

 

 

I tried to capture a sweet moment with Miss P to find THIS is what I got.

She is still stinking cute!

This time, I counted and waited just a second to push the button.  As you can see, it almost worked.   She's got the wild eyes coming off of her silly face. 

 

This time I just joined in.

Success!

Suessical Jr.

I have tried to upload the video from B's 2nd grade program for 2 weeks now.  It just isn't going to happen.
So, here are the still shots:

The entire second grade participated in Suessical, Jr.

This is after the matinee performance.  B had a great time and felt good about her solos.

B had the opening line of the whole show:

"It's great to learn something new and exciting,

So we'd like to present something fun and inviting."

She also had a solo singing part.  She opened the song "It's possible"

"This might be a pool that I've read of in books;

connected to one of those underground brooks."

A happy girl!

We truly could not be more proud of her.  The whole show was delightful and all the kids had a blast.  Thank you, Ms. M., Mr. F. and all the 2nd grade teachers for your hard work!

Leprechaun Traps

Our school (and probably many others) has a tradition that the Kindergarten classes try to catch the Leprechaun that wreaks havoc on their rooms around St. Patrick's Day.

Apparently for a few days leading up to the 17th, the little pranksters were turning over chairs and leaving messes all over the room. Then all the Kindergarteners join forces and create their own traps. Let me tell you, this is an amazing Leprechaun because he managed to escape the 100 or so traps set for him. And there were some impressive traps. After evading all the traps, the guy dumped chairs, spilled paint-leaving foot prints all over the classrooms (but not the halls...hmmm), overturned boxes and dumped confetti in each K room.

This picture is to show how that little Leprechaun was SUPPOSED to fall in the hole while reaching for the jewel. 

We hope the K class of 2013 has better luck next year!
By the way, the kids had to clean up his mess, which I personally love!

A little concert from our family to yours.

Gena, please don't feel threatened by this overwhelming raw, natural talent. Bahaha!

Our Brush with Stardom

A few weeks ago, a local university was fortunate enough to be able to host Rick Steves on his "20 Cities in 20 Days" Tour. He spoke for about an hour and a half to a packed house, with a sold out overflow area.  His speech was titled "Traveling as a Political Act" and was about how traveling makes our world a better place. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk, even though I don't agree with him on everything he said. I found him to be funny, insightful and made me think about some things, which is always a good thing.

I was hopeful that we would have the opportunity to get an autograph, so I came prepared.  He did say he wouldn't have time to pose for pictures, but we could take as many as we wanted.
So...

Where are my eyes???

I was laughing during this shot because it reminded me of the time I posed like this in front of the back of Bart Conner, who was on his knees carving a pumpkin with his kid.  All you can see is me and a blonde guy having a nice family moment.   Josh and I were cracking up as we took it and still do.

Here, Rick is autographing for us.  When I said I came prepared, I wasn't kidding.

I busted out our expired passports from 1994-2004.

 I have stamps from Brazil and Europe in there and know I will keep it forever. It only seemed appropriate to have this guy who is famous for traveling Europe to sign my passport.

Ok, at this point, you can take a break from your jealousness and switch over into mockery mode.  Go ahead, click on that bad boy to make it bigger.  Take in the early 90's bangs, frames and turtleneck. I know you can't see it, but you need to know that turtleneck is covered in Daffy Duck.  Yes, my friend, I was all about 1994!! (I don't have written approval to post Josh's, but his picture isn't as entertaining as mine.  Other that the thick shock of hair he was still toting, he hasn't changed a bit.)
The picture at the top right is my current passport pic.  Not much to note, except, um...why do I have to take off my glasses?  I squint when I can't see and my eyes disappear...oh wait, they disappear when I smile, too.  Maybe they are never really there.

I got the impression Mr. Steves had never signed a passport before.  He even asked if it was legal (I told him I wouldn't tell if he didn't).  I was a little proud for thinking outside of the box.  This way I didn't have to buy a book or expose body parts.

Backyard

Last night I was out in the backyard picking up the random items that have made their way out to the nether regions of our yard and sweeping the back porch.  The girls were out happily playing and Sam, the cat, was enjoying the company.  It was a lovely evening to be out.  In an effort to delay my return to the dirty dishes, defrosting dinner and waiting homework, I started pulling the weeds that have sprouted up along my patio edge. 

Piper asked me: "Oh, are you pulling the wheat?"

Which gave me a brilliant idea.  I'm just filing with the city for an agriculture zone and calling it good!

This the day after the silly photo shoot

B is thinking she is pretty cool with those waves.  P is thinking she is as cute as ever with her waves. :)

We are a silly sort...

Can't ya just hear the giggles?

This was a pretty typical Saturday night in our world, only there were braids...

lots of braids, for wavy hair on Sunday morning.

This is a good as it gets...in every sense of the phrase.