Young Love

On Halloween, Griffin turned to Isabel and said, "Hey BatGirl. You look good tonight." 

BEST. LINE. EVER.

Halloween 2013

Monster Dash 2013

 

This year I ran the Monster Dash for the second time. It's funny how running a full-marathon changes your perspective on almost everything. Last year, I was freaking out about this race. Not only was I trying to break the two hour mark for the THIRD TIME, but I felt completely unprepared due to my vein and heart issues. The day before last year's race involved drinking lots of water, obsessing over my fueling, and, for lack of a better word, panic. Fast forward to this year, and I was COOL as a cucumber. I knew I would be running with Chad and Jessica, and I knew that I didn't have a PR on mind. I was hoping to stay under two hours for Chad's sake, but neither of us really cared. We just wanted to run a race and enjoy ourselves.

I barely drank water the day before. I ate Chinese food for dinner. And I stayed up later than I normally do on a Friday night. (Let's be honest, though, it wasn't that late). I slept great, and I woke up without knots in my stomach. Tackling 13 miles literally didn't phase me. And for that, I am thankful. The end of the race proved to be a little tough, but for the most part, I simply had fun catching up with Jessica and listening to Chad curse us under his breath! He claimed he hated us, but later on he thanked us :) Less than 2 hours later, we crossed the finish line. Chad broke two hours for the first time, and I didn't feel like I was going to die. It's all about perspective, folks! Hoping to have a repeat experience next week in Disney. Who knew running 13 miles could be so enjoyable?

Caribou Preschool

Grayson and I have started CARIBOU PRESCHOOL! Just like when Griffin was younger, I do not have the means to take Grayson to preschool during the school year. Although he goes to preschool in the summer, I feel somewhat guilty that he misses out on school during the actual school year. To make up for it, I will take him about once a week to Caribou for some one on one school time. I love getting that personal time in with him, but we are also working on skills that will help him when he enters Kindergarten. We started this week with learning how to write our name using lower case letters :)

Two of my favorites...

Doing my favorite activity!

Fun-Filled MEA

I love my job. I truly believe God made me to be a teacher. I have no doubts that God gave me the ability to teach both at my church and in the public schools for a laundry list of reasons. I love getting kids excited about reading. I love inspiring kids to start running. I love challenging kids to answer the question, "What is your integrity worth?" I love showing my own kiddos that school is IMPORTANT. I could go on...And like Johanna said (click here for an AMAZING post), isn't it amazing that we serve a God who made us multifaceted? He made me to be a teacher and a mother. Both roles are important for their own reasons. God made me to be both, and this is more than okay.

With that being said, I also love breaks that allow me to soak up extra time with my own kiddos. Over MEA, we covered lots of ground. We made memories. I cherished their smallness (what's left of it anyways). And I loved on them. We read. We went to Zero Gravity. We snuggled and watched movies. We went to BlackOut at the Mall of America. We read some more. We made crafts. We went to the most LOW KEY wedding ever. One that allowed us to show pictures of our wedding to our boys. One that allowed us to have our OWN table. It was a joy to be able to share in Laura's special day, but I also loved that we got some QUALITY family time too. We went to church. We read some more. (Did I mention that I read four books during the long break?) And we cuddled some more. Could I have done more cleaning? Of course. But that doesn't matter, nor does it bother me. What matters is my family loved on each other.

We did a ton, but at the same time, nothing was stressful or seemed overbooked. I am blessed.

My kiddos are growing up TOO fast...

BUT FOR NOW, they can still fit in my lap  and cuddle :)