Timed...

If you are running on the treadmill, and you hit the button of the speed you'd like to run, then immediately turn off the display before checking to make sure you hit the correct speed.... you just might be able to cut 1 minute off of every mile you run time wise. Then you are pushing yourself faster than you thought you were possibly able to go. Accidentally. You just might be proud of yourself when you are thinking this just isn't your running day and turn back on the display just to check how many more miles you have left before you are done. Exhilarating. And exhausting. And a run worth noting.

myTunes...

I'm running a 5k on Saturday. Nothing big, but it's still a race. And my little sister Katelyn is going to be joining me. I seriously was in desperate need of an ipod update. My running tunes were getting stale. When you know exactly what song is coming next and start singing the first words before the artist, you know you are in a rut. With a new computer comes a new iTunes set up. Time consuming? Yes. But necessary. After all the cd's I wanted were loaded, and all the songs saved on my hard drive transferred, I headed over to the itunes store to redeem one of my gift cards. I consulted Katelyn for some good running songs. Kennedy was by my side the instant she heard music coming from my computer. Of course she wanted to weigh in on every decision I made. "Mom, you have to get disturbia and SOS by Rihanna. I really need them on my ipod too! Pa-leeeeeese?!" Lucky for her, they are good upbeat songs. (How does she even know about these songs?) I bought 8 songs. 6 good running ones, and 2 just because I like them. This morning I had those songs playing in the kitchen on my ipod dock. I poured Landon some cereal and then went to go sort laundry. When I returned Landon wasn't at the counter.

Me: Landon. Where are you?
Landon: Over here. (behind the counter)
Me: Why aren't you eating your cereal? It's going to get all soggy.
Landon: My body just won't quit dancing! It's crazy! (He was striking all kinds of poses and dancing moves)

Good to know I chose upbeat songs to get this body of mine moving. Hopefully today running will be more unpredictable......in a good way.

Finish It....

Shawn had to go to work Monday. Because the weather had been soooo beautiful all weekend, I called Ashley (who happens to live a few blocks from the house we were staying in) and asked her to meet us at a park. She took us here: Awesome. Only. It was freezing. All our coats were back at the house. The kids played for about 45 minutes before I called it quits. I was too wind blown freezing to let this activity continue. Even though the ones running around seemed to be fairing just fine.


I gave the Science Center as an alternate activity as to ward off any tears. They all obliged. It was warm inside. And kind of fun. We've been there so many times that the novelty has just about worn off. It was able to provide 1 1/2 hours of entertainment before we called it quits. Just enough.

When we woke up Tuesday morning, the weather was back to it's glorious 65 degree status. We headed back to the same park, this time adding Jodi to the pack. We stayed 2 1/2 hours this time. Just what I love. Free fun. And energy busting.

Wednesday we were lazy. I guess I should say I instead of we. I don't think I even showered until 3. Luckily there was a Spongebob marathon on so nobody was in a hurry to go anywhere.

I guess it helped that they knew Shawn and I had some big plans for the evening. A place called Incredible Pizza. Wow. The people in charge of publicity for this place sure did name it right. It was an all you can eat buffet of pizza, salad, bread, pasta, and of course dessert. The Kemp family was in town for a few days so they agreed to join us. It's nice to have friends for the kids to be entertained with. And other adults to enjoy.

The food was sub-par. That isn't why we went. It was for this:

Yep. Go-karts. And miniature golf. And miniature bowling. And bumper cars. And every arcade game imaginable. We were able to eat until we were full, play everything unlimited for 90 minutes, and then eat some more. It cost a pretty penny. And it was worth every cent. It was incredible. All the kids looked like this the entire time.

Except Presley. Who looked strapped in.

Poor girl spent the better part of the week in this stroller. And she never complained. I think she was just glad to be watching the action. And she is a really laid back gal. Gotta love that. Thursday it was cold again. Missouri. Variety I guess. I'm just glad I had my girl Ashley to hook me up with the inside scoop. There was a musical performer by the name of Bobaloo who would be making his debut that morning at a local mall. Of course we headed over. Ethan and Kennedy weren't too excited, but I had them strapped in the car before they even knew what hit them. We waited in line (like city folk do), then crammed into the Pottery Barn for Kids where Bobaloo had a bubble machine firing bubbles at everyone in the vicinity. I sat in the back on a turned over bucket with Presley while the other four grabbed seats on the floor. Except Jack. When the bubbles stopped he came and stood next to me. For the next 30 minutes we were all entertained by songs about school teachers, vomit, underwear, and all the typical things young children find fascinatingly hilarious. Landon was up boogieing down with all the other preschool aged children, while Ethan & Kennedy tried to be inconspicuously sitting in hopes they wouldn't be noticed. At the end when the toilet paper blower streamed toilet paper out into the crowd they both jumped to their feet forgetting how old they were and who was in their proximity. Loved it. Never too old for good old toilet paper streamers. I was proud of them for their full on enthusiasm. Of course afterward warranted time on the play place. And inside the pet store located next door. "Mom, there is a pet store in here! All these stores in one place, and a pet store too?! Crazy!" Yes, we are small town people.

After 30 minutes of listening to Landon cry from lack of sleep the night before, and Kennedy trying to convince me how we should take a puppy home with us, I decided it needed to be a food court lunch. We were joined by Ashley and her cute girls.

After lunch I needed somewhere to completely exhaust my brood. Monkey Joes. Jodi mentioned it at the park when we were there. Lovely. One ginormous room full of nothing but jumping apparatus equipment. And big slides. And 3 hours of entertainment. Exhausting. Just what we needed.

Amidst all of the weeks activities, we made many trips to Target, the shoe stores, the malls, and various other shopping locations. I tried to get out alone as much as possible. Shawn was gracious enough to entertain my need for solitude. On Saturday we all knew our vacation was coming to a close. Once again the weather was gorgeous. Ethan said to me, "Mom, just call Ashley and ask her where another cool park is." Funny. At the beginning of the week he was questioning my need to consult Ashley on all the hot spots. He learns quick. Thanks Ashley for telling about all the little gems we never would have found on our own. This is where she sent us this time.

We pulled away from the house Sunday afternoon about 2 o'clock. Without Shawn. Having him stay behind was really hard. On all of us. He mentioned how quiet and weird the house was without us. I mentioned how I would love to be alone in the quiet house while he was driving 3 hours with the 5 that made the house loud. I was sad that spring break was over. I believe that is the first time I've ever in my life felt that way. Next Tuesday Shawn will return for good. Until his board review course in Chicago. But that will only be 5 days. A breeze compared to 3 months.

Meet Me In St. Louis....

Spring break was bound to be the longest week of my life. The second week of March is when it fell this year. The weather was iffy at best. We do live in Missouri. Lucky for me Shawn was renting this full size house for the month. He was actually only renting the master bedroom, but happened to be the only tenant at the time. For a few extra bucks we got invited to be his guests. (I've mentioned all this before. Just a reminder for fluidity.) Me and the three little ones had the van loaded so when Ethan & Kennedy got off the bus Friday afternoon we were St. Louis bound. When I say loaded, I mean packed to the hilt. Every crevice was filled with something. Kids and belongings. I need a suburban. (That is for Shawn to read.)

We made it just in time for bed that night. Glorious that Shawn was there so I could shirk my responsibilities off onto him.

This is what a typical morning resembled:

Kids parked at the kitchen table eating honey nut cheerios and Presley rolling around on the floor. Another perk to this house. I could piddle around all morning getting ready and nobody complained about boredom. There was a forest behind the house to explore, and a TV in every room to zone out with. Nice.

Shawn had the weekend free, so we decided to do something big each day. Saturday was the zoo. The camera must not have made an appearance. At least I can't seem to find any pictures. It was in the high 70's and we heard a lot of whining that day about the heat. A-L-O-T of whining. Shawn had forgotten that that is what kids do a lot of. I enjoyed watching him slowly remember what my reality is on a daily basis.

Sunday we headed to the arch. We haven't been there since Landon was in the front pack. We even bought the tickets to the top. We all came down a little nauseous because it was windy that day. We were told the top of the arch sways 6 inches side to side and let me tell you. Every inch felt like a mile. We loved every minute.

What a beautiful city from way up high.

I'm going to have to save the rest of the week for tomorrow. Bedtime calls. So do my loud children.

Messages...

I was in Walmart with my 3 littlest kids this afternoon. I must have missed a call because when I got in the car I heard the reminder beep. I pulled out of the parking lot while punching in my code, and this is the message I received:

"Hi Mom. This is Kennedy. I'm calling to ask you two questions. First. Can I have some strawberries cut up with sugar? Well, I don't know why I asked you that because I am already cutting myself some. So, I'm having strawberries with sugar right now. Second. Can I go to Abby's when you get home? Um, just call me back when you get a chance. Thanks Mom. Talk to you later. Bye."

Adorable. I loved it. I used to get messages with just incessant babble. That lasted for 3 minutes at a time. Irritating. My girl is growing up. And she obviously listens to the messages that I leave people.

S-P-E-L-L-E-R....

A few weeks ago Ethan came home with a list of 1,000 words. He was chosen to represent his 3rd grade class in the school spelling bee. He would be competing against 4th and 5th graders. Ethan has never had an issue with confidence. Knowing that he'd be the youngest age group competing only motivated him. We practiced. The first week we went over quite a few words. Then it kind of lost it's excitement. I would mention to him every once in awhile that we should be practicing, but he kind of shrugged it off. This last week we were in St. Louis with Shawn. I tried to practice on the drive over, but 10 minutes in he was done. So, I left it. I decided this would be the time where he would learn that practice is needed to excel at something. Only Shawn wasn't willing to give up. I think they spent 6 hours or so poring over the words. Shawn went through the extensive list and put dots by the ones he kept missing so I could review them with him. We made it through most of them this morning during breakfast. Ethan was acting like his typical over-confident self. Not in the "I can't stand this kid" kind of way, just the "so what if I'm in 3rd grade. I've practiced" kind of way. Hmmm. I tried to let him know that I only expected his best. Winning isn't always necessary to feel good about ones self. The bee started at 3:45. Let me tell you. I was a nervous wreck. Not because of all the finagling I had to do to get my other kids from point A to point B (thanks Krystal and Christmas), not because Presley had gotten her 6 month shots 1 hour prior, but because my son was going to have to stand in front of an entire audience and spell words correctly. I was scared for him. Scared for him to fail and feel like a failure. Scared that my "lesson" on the importance of working hard would backfire and he'd just feel like a loser. I found my seat and my stomach was in knots. Ethan entered with the rest of the spellers and I hurried over to tell him to go slow, take his time, and then I kissed him on the cheek. I don't know if that embarrassed him or not. I was too nervous to care. 50 spellers started out. They started with the easy list. I was surprised when some kids got out on words that are commonly used in the English language. I'm sure nerves played a huge part. After 4 rounds there were only these 8 kids left:

Yep. Ethan was one of them. Surprisingly there were a few 3rd graders. Ethan attributes that to the confidence that age brings. "The 5th graders aren't going to study because they will just think that 3rd graders can't win. Us 3rd graders are too scared NOT to study". He is pretty bright for only being 9. After the 5th round they were down to only 3 competitors. The one looking at the camera was one of them.

Wow. At this point I thought he actually might win this thing. 3 people left. Two were 4th graders. One was my son. Crazy. He was up. His word was "isthmus". He spelled it without a hitch. And later admitted it was a complete guess on his part. The next two girls spelled their words wrong. He was asked to spell one more word correctly to be declared the official winner. "Turquoise". (Sadly, I will have to spell check this before I publish just to be sure I spelled it correctly.) He was declared the official winner and given a 50 dollar savings bond. And he holds the title for the 2nd 3rd grader in all of the schools history to win the spelling bee. My Ethan. Hard work does pay off. Being a natural speller helps too. But it's the work that helped you win.

Gender Specific...

Remember when I went on and on about how I loved this "vacation" house? And how Shawn was the maid because we were in his domain? Apparently the newness wore off after 24 hours and we are back to our typical familial roles. Last night Shawn was gracious enough to let me head over to the mall with Ashley while I left the kids to him. I was so excited to not have to feed them dinner, bathe them, or put them to bed. Only when I walked in later that night the kitchen was a disaster. Just like home. I cleaned it, started the dishwasher, made Presley her bottle for early morning, and headed up to bed. Shawn was on the computer relaxing. All the kids were tucked in tight, which was glorious. But they were all dirty from lack of a bath. Hmm. Looks like we are back to normal only living in someone elses house. At least we still get to see Shawn, and I have access to major shopping and various activities throughout the days to entertain my kids. I guess it's okay that we are back to routine. Even if this is still my vacation.