Training for the Turkey Trot 2008

So this November we, as a family, are going to compete in our first race. Each kid has their own race and and the parents have theirs. The adults have an 8k, 7-12 year olds run a 1/2 mile, 5-6 year olds run 1/4 mile and 2-4 year olds run 50 yard dash! It sounds exciting and I can't wait to do it with the kids. Right now we are trying to figure out how to do the run and make sure we get the kids back for their races. Anyway, we decided to "train" for the trot a couple of nights ago, so we headed over to a nearby track and just let the kids run. John ran a 1 1/4 mile, Emily ran a mile, Kiley ran a 1/2 mile and Karli ran 3/4 mile (without stopping but just a few seconds between each quarter). Jason and I were dying laughing. We couldn't believe our eyes. Karli was the funniest because she stopped and she wasn't even out of breathe. We kept asking her, "Are you ok?" "Keep going mommy!" We had a good chuckle! John loves that Jason runs the marathon and really wants to win this race. I am so glad that we have a hobby as a family. I wish growing up that we did more active things so I hope this instills in them a desire to be active and enjoy excercising and keeping your body healthy and strong...and having fun while doing it! I'm excited to see how I do at the Turkey Trot and see my progress in my training! I think it will be a lot of fun! Well, I am now going to trot off to sleep! Good night!

The Caterpiller and shooting stars

Day four has ended and I am so glad with this week. Yesterday was a tough day, but we are slowly getting into our routine. John loves having "classmates" and the girls are getting into school work. They are even doing some of John's work just so I can combine stuff and they are doing well. One of the things I loved today was them trying to recite the poem they are learning for grammer. I didn't even ask Karli to try, but she got up there and said most of it no problem. She was even helping one of them during their try at it. I love the poem and they can't wait to be able to put on a show for dad when they have it down pat. Here is the poem:

The Caterpillar by Chirstina G. Rossetti

Brown and furry

Caterpillar in a hurry

Take your walk

to the shady leaf or stalk.

May no toad spy you

May the little birds pass by you

Spin and die

To live again a butterfly.

Actually, I really like this poem and it has been fun to learn along with them. One of the other things is that Jason encouraged the kids to help clean up their school room when they are done because kids in a class room do that too! The kids were excited and then I threw in the surprise I had a helping hand that I was going to award to the kid(s) who worked the hardest. Man you should have seen them go! Afterwards I told them that I would not hand them out everytime,but would surprise them with. I had to hide my smile and laughter when they all shouted at each other..."We have to do this everytime! Maybe mom will give us a helping hand award!" So today when it was time to clean up they all kept asking who was going to get the award while they were cleaning like busy bees. I reminded them that it might not be everytime. At the end everyone had such a great attitude and worked so hard, they didn't know it, but they all were awarded the Shooting Star award for great attitude. You should have heard the eruption! It was crazy! They were dancing and screaming and hugging each other. So I joined in! Hey I love celebrations!!! So the helping and hands and shooting stars are being displayed along the ceiling of the stairs going from the school room to downstairs. So whenever they walk down the stairs they can't but help seeing their congrats! It was so cute. A great way to ended the fourth day of school. I am really enjoying it this year. I hope it lasts!!! 8-)

School starting and a new pet peeve!

Today we started back to Smiley School (for those that don't know, we homeschool and the kids named our school the Smiley School)! It was good to get back into a routine. I am excited about the year and it seems at this point the kids are too (although it has only been one day!). Later on today I ran into my a big pet peeve of mine that has slowly growing bigger and bigger! When did doctors, dentist and other offices stop just having books??? I get so frustrated when I walk into a waiting room and there is a huge TV staring at you! I have always brought books for my kids and I to read during those long waits...some of the most fun times we have had at doctors and etc. Recently all of the offices have started having TVs in the waiting room. It isn't enough that there are tv's, but that they are so big and that you can't do anything BUT watch them. Beside the fact that I might not like what is on for my kids. Last year I took them with me to my doctors appointment and a soap was on, I have nothing against soaps, but when my kids are sitting there and there is no where else for me to go and certain scenes come on...you get my point. I even asked them to change the channel and apparently that was the only one they got. Whatever! Why do we have to have the tv on to constantly entertain us wherever we go...even in the checkout lanes now!!! Ugh!!! Trust me I LOVE TV, but seriously does it have to be everywhere?? Thanks to the eye doctor I went to today my kids missed out on a good 1/2 hour of reading time with mom. I tried, but when there is a TV the size of the wall and it is a waiting area smaller than one of my kids rooms...there is no way not to look. I tried, but SpongeBob won...UGH!!!

Our last summer days in MI

So we headed last Wednesday to one of our favorite and relaxing places of ALL TIMES Michigan! I love going to my in-laws house. It is so relaxing. Jason's birthday was on Tuesday so it was a great chance to go and celebrate the big 31! We went Thursay morning on a pontoon boat that a friend of Wes and Sharon's (my in-laws) had and we spent a couple of hours on Paw-Paw Lake. Each of the kids got to drive the the boat and honk the horn twice. They LOVED it! It was really nice of her to let us do that. Then Jason and I were off to South Haven to a B&B called The Carriage House. If you ever want a great place to relax and that is beautiful that is the place to go. We walked all over and enjoyed a night with the breeze and cool evening. It was perfect. We sat out on our balcony and just talked and talked and talked. It was great! It was a great chance for us to discuss where we are in life and what we are doing. The conclusion, we are so blessed and exactly where we want to be, we couldn't ask for anything more. We are truly blessed and thank God for EVERYTHING that we have, experienced, get to serve and help people...the list goes on. We are so thankful! After the B&B we just hung out together and then later the next afternoon met the kids and grandparents back at Silver Beach in St. Joe, MI. We had so much fun...it was so wavy and we enjoyed every bit. Saturday morning we woke up and went blueberry picking and then after lunch headed to go canoeing on Paw-Paw Lake. We found a great channel and Jason appeased my desire to go turtle hunting! I have to talking about it ALL summer long. I wanted to catch a turtle and bring it home!! So we tried. We almost had a mom AND two babies, but I accidently banged the boat and PLOP they went in the water. Then we found one that was laying on a log and went in the water when I went to go for it, BUT was very BRAVE because he stuck his head back up out of the water...that is when I GOT HER!!! The kids named her Jane. Jason's parents havent' used that canoe in years so we get to bring it back home and enjoy whenever we want. We are very thankful for that! I am sure we will be fishing a lot more! It was a great week...but watch out...school begins on Monday! Back to regular life. 8-) I can't wait for fall! Did I mention that I love life and just can't wait to experiece more and more of it.

(Note: we also got to pick FRESH corn out of grandpa's garden and it just made me stand in amazingment at what a creative God we have to engineer such a wonderful creation! He is so amazing and so powerful and so imaginative! Something I continue to strive for...to be more creative like Him, to think OUTSIDE the box...just imagine what is instore??!!!! Wow! Oh, to be more like Him!)

Disrepecting...no playdate

So, John decided to be disrespectful to me this morning over something so small I can't even mention it because well I still can't believe it. But, no matter the reason he was very disrepectful to me. So the only thing that would be harmful to take away was his playdate with his best friend, Nathan. He of course responded saying he didn't really want to go and play with Nathan anyway. Whatever, we all know the truth. I told him he really lucked out this time then. We had a long discussion, with breaks for emotional calm downs so we could discuss like normal human beings. He finally settled down, delt with his attitude and was very remorseful for what he did to me. We prayed together and our relationship grew. It seems recently that whenever there has been an issue of disrepect and I am hard on it, we grow from it and I believe he respects me more. I am writing this more for myself to look back on and remember and to not forget. Love is sometimes really hard, but so good. I am growing a Man, not a boy. It ended well today. Hopefully, I can be strong next time too!

Mr. __________ or Mr. Bob???

So a couple of people and I were discussing the other day about how kids in our society today seem to be more disrepectful to their authority. When I was little I use to call other adults Mr. and Mrs. Last Name. But, when I got older I started saying Mr. Bob or Ms. Kathy. So, when our kids were born there were people that were so familiar to them that it just seemed to formal to do the last name thing, so we started going by Mr. First Name or Ms. First Name. No one has really said anything about it, although on occasion I will get an adult who corrects even me and asks me to have the kids call them by their last name with the appropriate prefix. But, in our conversation it came up about kids even calling adults just by their first name alone. Could this be one of the reasons there is such a lack of respect toward those in authority??? My thought is that the prefix in front shows the respect needed and the first name shows familiarity. Just curious what your thought is on the situation??? Or are the different situations that call for different titles (outside Doctors and dentists)??? What do you think?

We got them!!!

Every time I have to sign the kids up for the park district it is intense! You have to get online before 9:00 when the registering opens. And most of the classes are full by 9:03. Piano is even harder, you better be there with your finger on the button as soon as it hits 00:00. Thankfully, I was and got John in piano and soccer, Emily and Kiley in soccer and later I have to go to in person registeration for a craft class the three girls are going to take! We did it! We got all the classes we needed! My day is done!

Six Flags Great America!

So we went to Six Flags thanks to some free tickets that friends of ours had. We had such a fun time! We went on the Whizzer, all of us, which is a roller coaster and it was so much fun! We were so proud of John because he had to hold one of the girls in his lap and they only had a seat belt. Kiley was a little afraid, but she did it and we were so proud of her! They LOVED the fun machine which twirls you around and around. John went on the American Eagle with Dad and their blue team one (American Eagle has a red coaster and blue coaster that go at the same time and they see who wins). We tried out Wiggles World and did a few other things. It was great just to take our time and enjoy the place. We picked up Burger King and Subway on the way home. The whole thing only cost us parking. What a fun summer day!!!

2.23

So yesterday I ran 2.23 miles in 30 minutes! I am so excited! Only a little over 11 to go!

After School Program, it might actually be happening!

So Jason met with the principal at the school that is at the corner across from our church. Jason and I have talked for a couple of years about adding an after school program to have for the kids there. After working with the youth on Wednesday nights we saw that this was a real need. We were not sure how to go about it. Last December the school approached us to put some information about a fundraiser they were having for some things going on at the school. When Jason was corresponding he also mentioned that if the school needed our parking lot for parents in the afternoon it was open and nothing was going on at the church so it was welcome to be used by the school, and also mentioned if there was anything else we could do for them let us know. Well, last week the principal contacted Jason about meeting and seeing how we could work together. I was great! The principal was open to so many opportunities to do and really seemed focused on making sure that the students needs were met. So we are now talking with them about how to go about doing something like that. Also, on the same day, someone from the Lutheran School down the street came and approached Jason about working together for the community. It was very exciting! We are excited to see what is going to happen.

Dancing Salsa and visiting the Rainforest!

So Saturday was a great day! I headed downtown to reunite with my friend Donna from high school. She moved up to Chi-town a few years ago and we have seen each other off and on. She introduced me to the fun and excitement of the FREE, yes FREE workouts at Millennium Park. So we decided to meet for the Salsa workout. It was fantastic! Jason brought the kids down to play in the fountain and do some stuff at the Family Fun Tent near where we were doing our workout. So since Donna had her camera you get wonderful pictures of me dancing! I think they are wonderful because they are of me...you may not think so...this is my blog! 8-) So enjoy the pictures! Afterwards, I treated Donna for her birthday to breakfast at the Bongo Room. A qaint little place near the loop. You would have never known it was there. A special treat! Later we met up with Jason and the kids at the fountain. Donna headed home to meet some friends for some more fun later and Jason, the kids and I headed to take a FREE trolley around downtown. Jason and I showed the kids where he proposed to me and we took a glimpse of the American Doll Place, where Grandma and GG will be taking the girls when they are a little older. Then it was to the Rainforest Cafe. We got to relax with all the animals and the kids were excited about the fact that they weren't scared of the thunderstorms anymore. What an accomplishment! 8-) Then off to bed for the kids and Jason and I wishing it were out bed time too!

So what do you think?

Ok, I only put this because people keep saying it...so what do you think? Does Karli really look like Shiloh Jolie-Pitt?

The 3C's

You are probably wondering what the 3 C's are...in this blog they stand for Cancer, Church and Contemplative thoughts. Random, I know, but hence the title of my blog.

First, for those that don't know. Last year my father-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They went in and it was the most aggressive kind. They removed and he was given a 1 1/2 - 2 year chance. It has been over a year and he has been on constant chemotherapy, but has done tremendous on it! The doctors have called him a miracle, which we all agree. If you had never known he had brain cancer, you wouldn't be able to tell. He and my mother-in-law actually just got back off of an Alaskan cruise...they love to travel and have done a lot of it in the past year! He went for a check up this past week. Every week he gets blood work done and every two months he gets a MRI to make sure everything is going fine. This time they found some swelling on his brain, where there has not been since before his last surgery. They don't see anything, but they are going this week to have the neurosurgeon check his results and make sure that there isn't anything. We are praying that this is just some small swelling. The doctors are just concerned because there since there is swelling, that means something is going on...what is the question...we are praying. I will keep you updated.

Our church is a cute little church in the middle of Chicago. My husband says it is about as close to a small town church as you can get in the city. I would have to agree. Our church is a church for those that might find it hard to fit in anywhere else. One of the things I love about it is how open everyone is to new things. A few years back we had a blind couple come and visit our church. I am still amazed at them, they have taught me a lot of things, they have such determination. It has been great we actually have two that are on our worship team up front and they read the songs from their brialle song books and it is just great! Amazing! Sometime back I went through a stage because we are still in the growing process of our children's ministry (sometimes my children being the only ones) and I was teaching every Sunday, I started having a pity party focusing on the fact that if I had a choice ______ church is where I would go because then I could sit and be ministered to on Sunday morning and send my kids off to their sunday school. Wow, has God worked in me a lot this past year! He has taught me a lot about being thankful for a church where the sky is the limit and the pages are open to be written on. It is a great experience being at a church where in a sense you are on the ground floor of something amazing, that no one can see yet, but something truly amazing and special. That is how I feel and I have just had a renewed passion for serving in anyway I can. If you know me I like to plan and my mind can't stop...God has blessed us amazingly with the small, little church. I am so thankful and feel so priveledge to be here. I truly feel that Jason and I have been given such a treat and priveledge to minister to the people that we are...I can't wait to see what He is going to do! Never underestimate the power and might works of God. He is just simply AMAZING!!!

Chicago Summer Reading Program...Accomplished!

Today I was so proud of my kids as we headed to the library to get the final books checked off on their Summer Reading Program Chart. They were so excited to get their tee-shirts! They did a great job. John actually read 25 books this summer. His reading took off because of the incentive to get the tee-shirt. Emily and Kiley dind't ahve to read the boosk, but just listen and fill out a book report form (as did John as well). Karli just had to listen. It actually became a full-time job to accomplish all the different books and sit and listen and check off the boosks for each one. But, they did it and I was proud. And they wre proud of themselves. Kiley quoted, "I am so proud of myself for working hard to get this tee-shirt. Mom, I know you are proud of me too!" Yes, I am.