Running can be the Pits!

Sunday I ran in my 2nd 10K.  This event was held to raise scholarship money in the name of a fallen NY State trooper. The official website for the race is http://www.pitrun.org/ it tells how the trooper was killed off duty stopping an armed robbery.  Very Touching.

When we left our house at 730am it was pooring cats and dogs, cold and plain right nasty but we had hope that accuweather would be correct.

We arrived about 5 minutes before the kids race, the sun was shinning and the bbq were smoking! did I mention the free BBQ afterwards – by the best in the state.  Seriously, brooks BBQ has been on the food network more than once.

I ran over to registration while david signed the kids up for the kids race.  Emma was happy chilling in her stroller with her snack but tyler ran!

Tyler is in the white long sleeve shirt!  It was really cute, each kid had a bib #1! they were given these nice draw string bags with coloring books, magnets, pencils and more. 

The 10K and 5K started off together.  We had to walk to the main road outside the park that the event was held in for the start. 

We had a quick family photo before I started

Every one was lined up and ready to go.

So I saw 2 people run the race without any shoes. That just freaks me out thinking about it. I mean I walk around my house in the summer or at camp without shoes all the time but to run a 10K? that is crazy.

Back to the race.  At the 5K/10K split I really wanted to just go to 5K course! my leg was cramping and this was before the hill from hell.   But I didnt .  The hill was so deceiving. You would go up a hill and it would look like around the corner it would level off, then you got to the top of that corner and realized there was more and more and more and more. it was about 1.5 miles of steep hills.  I had to walk twice.  My leg was so crapped and it was only one leg. 

Finally down hill for about .75 miles, it was a steep down hill run glad we didn’t go up that side! 
Before I talk about the rest, Mile 1, 3, 4 they had people calling out your mile splits.  At mile 3, I thought they said 41minutes. I was like WTF – that is way off my normal pace and this was just at the start of the hill.     Mile 4 was just as we started descending from the hill and they said 42 minutes so I felt much better that I was on track. Well I was hope full that I had misheard the mile 3 person and not the mile 4.

At mile 5 I wanted to walk but I could smell the FREE AMAZING BBQ!! so I kept going around a turn where there was another small hill.  Then we went back down to main street. I thought that I just had to cross the bridge and run towards the center of the park where the finish line was.  I need to read better.  I sprinted down main street and 1/2 thru the park before I realized we had to pass the finish line to the other side of the park and come back.  RUN FOREST RUN!

OMG were my legs burning. I had no idea what time it was. I could hear the names of the people crossing the finish line but not the times. I wanted to push but I had already sprinted.  Finally I made that far turn and headed back towards the finish line.  I thought I could read it as 60minutes so I started  digging deep for anything I could find.  I sprinted as hard as I could.

I wasn’t sure of my official time but knew I hit it out of the park!! my old time was 68minutes.  My new time was :

This photo is so funny, I look like I was in pain but everyone just stopped in the road just over the finish line.  so here I am like a steamroller sprinting to the finish ready to take out the hundreds of people standing there.  it was like a scene from running of the bulls.  I really wasn’t in pain I was just trying to back it down a bit!

Sorry I don’t have a photo of the BBQ. Tyler ate my roll, Emma at half my chicken, baked potato, and cookie and David ate my cole slaw. 

I am very happy I finished with a better time! So I guess on the next one I hope/plan to break the one hour mark!  I am so tired today I went to bootcamp to work of the bbq and cider donut I had! we went to a cute and fun apple mill on the way home!

Kindergarten Flooding

Its funny how time just flies buy.  It seems like just yesterday Tyler was born, then he was walking, then he was in Preschool and now Kindergarten. 

Being a mother that fights change like the Democrats fight the republicans, the last few weeks have been challenging.  It would be so much easier if Tyler was going to Mrs. Murphy's class again.  She was an amazing teacher – and I hope it works out that Miss. Emma gets to go to her too.

Before taking Ty to school we snapped two photos at home:

The way our district starts school for the kindergarteners is unique.  On Wednesday we took Tyler to school at 9am.  We all met in the cafeteria until the teachers came and took the students and parents to the room.  There we stepped over each other to sort out supplies and find cubbies with our children’s names.  Most of the students were excited to be starting school and all the new things around them.  The moms were fighting the tears while taking in all the new things around them! In the middle of this David asked me what is wrong…really why would you ask that?!!!

After things settled down the parents left to sit in the cafeteria to have their first meeting with the principal.  No matter what I do I always end up in trouble!  The kids got to read a book, play a game and go on a bus ride.  After the bus ride they were given ice cream at 10am – yes that’s right the district wanted to show them how cool school is ice cream before lunch!  We finished up the day with a game before going home by 11. 

It was nice to go to school with them and see everything and be involved.  However, it was emotional all day.  It feel more like the band aid was slowly being ripped of me.  In some ways I was just looking forward to putting him on the bus and waving good bye.

Thursday was to be the first full (non parent at the school, riding the bus) day of school.  The bus was going to arrive at 825 at daycare….However, at 630am we were put into a 2 hour delay for the flooding of 2011.  Half of the town was underwater thanks to topical storm dumping about 5” of rain in less than 24hours.  By 7am that delay had turned into a cancellation as Route 233 was closed from the thruway to 12b. The town was a mess.

Friday became the new First full day.  David was home so I ran to work and was going to meet them at daycare to see Ty get on the bus.  These are the photos David took:

Think he is excited?!! lol

 

Dad really no more photos!! I just want to get on the bus!

And with that the bus pulled away with one happy kid aboard.  And pulling in behind the bus was mommy – who missed the entire damn thing. I didn’t get to wave goodbye. I didn’t get to see him climb those stairs that are half his size!  Ugh.  I drove to the school and watched him get off the bus.  I tried for him to not see me (but he did) because I wasn’t suppose to be there.  This was suppose to be his moment.  He wouldn’t look at me. I felt awful..what kind of mother misses that?  Everyone keeps telling me its no big deal the teachers don’t get to see their kids get on the bus. But they have 5 yrs to mentally prepair for that – I had to accept that as I pulled into daycare after a 10 minute road rage behind a stupid tractor trailer. No family photo, no sunshine, no mommy.

He seemed to love his first day.  He was happy and hyper all night.  The funny part – he had a sign around his neck that said eating lunch at school and buying lunch was his favorite part!  Lunch had been my biggest fear! lol.  So the day went down in history not matching up with my supermom visions that I had been dreaming of but it was a good day.

Just wondering….

Do you think 13 years from now when he is 18 and going off to college I will still see this little boy standing outside the high school?

I can not believe he is going into Kindergarten.  He calls it “kindiegarten”

Growing up! and Moving on

This was September 2009.  Tyler’s First day of preschool!  (Flash Back to my blog entry from that day here)

This was the last thing we saw ..tyler and Jenna just standing there!

Here is today, our little graduates!

Where did the time go?  Emma wasn’t even 2 months old that September day and now she is almost 2 years old.  Tyler has come so far.  He knows how to count, rhyme, add and subtract.  He is just so smart!  He wants to be a UPS drive, a police man or a racecar drive!

It wasn’t always easy.  What do you do with a boy born in November to parents that both suffered from a learning disability?  We both struggled in school, we didn’t want that to happen to our children.  I swore the day he was born that he would wait an extra year, be the oldest in his class not the youngest.  But then came the time to take that step.  was I doing the right thing? would he be bored?  Should I send him to kindergarten, will he even remember that he went to preschool 2 years?  Thankfully I went with my gut and waited.  This year in preschool was awesome!

He did so great! He had such a great time and made some great friendships!! (including a Girlfriend!!).  His favorite things..gym, crafts, and play time!!

This is his awesome teacher Mrs Murphy!  I told her to rest up, she has a year before its Emma's turn!!  Each kid was voted class something as they were given their diplomas.  Tyler was voted Most likely to succeed!

It was great day! Now to prepaid Mommy for kindergarten.   My biggest fear for kindergarten is the lunch issue! tyler is so picky with food!  But I am so glad I am not worried about how tyler will do in school!

Here is our great Family photo!  I wish everyday could be like today!

Kids!!!

This morning Emma took every opportunity to write on herself with a marker.  Orange on her legs, red on her hands and blue on her face.  I asked her what she was thinking?  Then tyler says:  “Emma if you keep this up you are going to turn into a rainbow” it was so cute!

Tyler stole my camera today when we started the garden:

the worms he found in the garden!

The garden is started!!!! We hope to finish it up during the week or monday!

Growing Kids and Growing Family

When did my kids grow?  Who gave them permission..they need to be put in time out.  Lets start with Tyler:

First he knows his address and his phone number.  He can logically argue with me, and make statements that I can not dispute.  Tonight on the way home he told me that when he grows up he is going to be a: Policeman, a UPS driver or a racecar driver!

A few years ago, we were driving to Stephanie’s and Tyler says:  “Mommy look the moon is following us to Stephanie’s house!”  For years he has believed and mad comments about the moon following us.  But today he said: “mommy, I don’t think the moon follows us to Stephanie’s.  I think the moon is so high in the sky that the WHOLE earth can see it.”  Yes Tyler you are correct.

Its may not be significant to you but to me it was, a chapter closed with that statement.

Little miss thinking (aka Emma) is also growing leaps and bounds.  Last weekend she was counting.  1-2-1-2-1-2  She has been singing songs like Twinkle twinkle little start and Rock a-bye baby!  It was so cute.  She even makes sentences now.  Like today she said: where did Jenna go!  She has to do everything tyler does!

This morning when she walked out to the car I realized how big she is getting.  She put her own boots on that she had to pick out from her shoe collections.  she put her own coat on and need her hat perfectly straight.  Her lunch pail was over her shoulder like a purse with her juice in the other hand, just like mommy carries her coffee!  As she walked to her car door she was signing …oh oh oh oh ( from Beyoncé's Single women song).  She was even bopping her butt up and down! DIVA

Now tomorrow our family is growing more!  Our 20 baby chickens arrive at 1030 tomorrow.  We were not suppose to get them till April but they are coming tomorrow all 20 of them.  So while it snowed this week and its been only a high of 32, we are getting chickens!  I am excited to get our own eggs!  Emma will love them and so will Tyler.  The last 2 years we have raised pheasants.  I really wished it would warm up so I could start my garden…I have major spring fever.  I will post photos of the chickens later this weekend!

Project board

For the first weekend in a long time we didn’t have any place to be.  Finally the house got a damn good cleaning.  Then there is the 8 loads of laundry!  But the best part of the weekend was some projects we completed.  I have wanted to make the kids Project boards that they could could all there artwork and projects on.  Today we did it!
Tyler painted his camo colors and pappy helped him add a buck to it!

Emma’s is pink and brown like her room with some flowers and butterflies.  It was not easy to get a photo where you could see the board and a good photo of emma:

Saturday night the kids played dress up:


Friday was a hectic day for us.  Wyatt had to have surgery to remove the fatty tumor from his back. they discovered more then that.  He had a baseball size tumor in with his boy parts that they removed.  So now the poor thing has a ton of stiches and is missing a lot of fur!

Also on Friday, Tyler and David built a wood duck box.  They are going to send the below photo into a magazine contest about wood ducks.  If you ask tyler he will tell you all about how he made it.  He will then tell you that they are going to put it by the lake (AKA Swamp) and watch the wood duck family move in.  The side slides open so he can look inside and see the nest.
He will finish the story telling you how in the fall, he and his dad are going to go out to the lake and shoot them because its duck season.  My husband is raising a redneck…
Next weekend we are hoping to take the kids to maple weekend at VVS but also to start our planting! more to come I am sure!
Have a great week!

5 Times the Fun!

I really do not know what happened, just last weekend it was August and now it’s Thanksgiving week.  Really where the time go?  I feel like I am in a never ending state of playing catch up.  I broke all my rules with Tyler’s Birthday party this year.  I booked the zoo a month or so ago but then I never took action on anything else until 2 weeks ago. 

We decided to do a “friends” party at the zoo from 2-4 then have a family party at the house at 6pm.  Well I never let the family know until last week and then just today I noticed that I had not given 2 people their invitations.  This is so not like me. I typically have everything determined in October, party supplies no later than Davids birthday.  I ordered my normal cupcake rings but this time they arrived on baking day..danger!  I hope I can pull it together by Xmas.  Here are some of the great photos from the events:

My Goodie Bags	The Cupcakes
Can I just tell you as a mom, buying this pails are such a great investment because they can go with any theme	This year since the party was at the zoo we of course did Diego the animal rescuer
The Kids were able to feed the camels, by stuffing boxes with bamboo and paper

Then our we were able to have visits from 3 animals

And then it was cake time!

I know what you are thinking..Where is Emma?  She missed the zoo party but was at the party at the house.  She has pink eye

But its not getting her down!