Cannon Beach

Over Spring Break we headed to Cannon Beach... a first for me.


I LOVE this guy... and I love that he spoiled me rotten over my birthday week!

after all these years we still have stuff to laugh about...

and we have the cutest kids... ever!

the little man is not a big beach person... so when he ran towards the ocean to find me and his sisters and fell... let's just say things took a turn for the worse!

oops not again...

this would prove to be an idea that they regret in about 2 minutes... when the clouds pour in.

"I do NOT want to go out there..."

High tailing it back to the warmer part of the beach, away from the water!

trying to warm up...

after our WHOLE 1.5 hours at the beach we packed up and walked around the shops of Cannon Beach, then we drove back towards home and ate at Spaghetti Factory and stopped at a few shops. A great wonderful day with family!

[plumb] tired.

I am tired.
I am not used to working so hard in so many different directions.
For example this past week... (and don't forget Syd's elbow issue) I had HOME, WORK, PATHFINDERS, and CHILDREN's MINISTRY.... :)
sunday: laundry... and a 2 hour practice with my team for Pathfinder Hand's in Motion.
monday: teach, prep after school, race home to make dinner, race back to church for another 1 hour practice, and then 2 hours of Pathfinder Baking Honor... followed by a staff meeting. I crashed into bed at 10pm.
tuesday: teach, prep, piano lessons, HOME!!!!, dinner, correct papers, laundry... watch a tiny bit of tivo'd tv...crash in bed.
wednesday: teach, prep, talk with my bro, more piano lessons, dinner for the kids, a late (8:30) drop off at the airport... dad's coming in for a day! Home to watch a couple tivo'd tv shows... while working on the CM newsletter for church this Sabbath... Crash at 11:30pm
Thursday: DAD's Here! teach, prep, pick up Jack, home to make dinner, drop kids at school, head off to get my hair cut, back home for laundry, correcting papers and the Biggest Loser... bed.
Friday: teach (before teaching everyday there is the whole get 5 kids ready for the day... pack 6 lunches... backpacks, brush hair.. you get the idea) visit from Julie (the teacher I am subbing for) dismiss at 2pm... I leave at 4:30, drive to get gas in the car, home to type the children's church schedule and then to the church for rehearsal...(thank goodness for Andrew who got all the stuff upstairs for me, and Jasmine & crew who prepared, made, & cleaned up the meal, and Janet & Brian for doing everything else...) home at 8:30pm... straight to bed.
Sabbath: up early... thank you Jack. leave for Sabbath School 10 minutes early and someone had already taken our spot... arrive at SS only to be pulled out for a pressing issue that needed to be immediately taken care of... sit for about 5 minutes of Jack's class then get up to prepare the rest of the stuff for the morning Children's Church. (again thank you CM team for ALL your help) Make it through the "Alumni Extended Version" of CC... we had to add about 25 extra minutes to the program which was interesting.... take down everything, head home to change, race back to church to go on the Unit 2 girls 10 mile hike in the drizzly NW rain. Hike. Now I can't move... tomorrow is going to be a bear or something like it...

this week + me = tired... [plumb] tired.
notice that I mentioned nothing of doing dishes, vacuuming, reading, scrapbooking, blogging... there is a reason.... no time... and too tired if there was time.

highlight of the week: Dad's brief 40 hour visit (of which I saw him about 2 hours)
low point: cranky with friends and loved ones.
highlight: new haircut... new color
low point: laundry up the kazoo... it is waiting for me tomorrow. Did I mention that it pretty much rained or poured everyday this week?
highlight: TINA IS COMING next weekend!
low point: found out about 2 more marriages that are over... so sad & depressing. One was about 10 years... the other almost 20. ugh.

Next week... God has a way of refreshing the soul and laying out all kinds of promises that make you realize that ultimately He alone is in control.... and that my life is really good! I feel refreshed just thinking about the grace and peace He alone can give. I am thankful that I have a great support of friends & family... and only 7 more weeks until my life will slow down. God will get me through this busy season! Who knows, maybe I will start next week off with a blog post... one that has a photo or two?

Salmon Creek Trail

Last Sabbath we went walking... I can't really call it a hike since it was paved and we stopped every few minutes to look at some sort of wildlife... but we were out in nature with the fam and it was fun!


the fam + Mariah... emma's bff and our adopted daughter.

some of the wildlife we were able to see... there were quite a few turtles and the kids were loving them!


my main man... I love him.

my fav shot of Mariah and Emma.
after our walk... time to play in the park...

looking at this...

makes me want to wrap my leg around his just like this...
have I mentioned that I love my life?

Shamrock Run 2010

So I have never run a run/race before. My friend Jasmine convinced me that I could indeed run a 5K... so last Sunday (after hardly any sleep) Josh and I jumped in the car and drove down to downtown Portland and ran... (along with 20,000 other people)

Our particular run the 5K had 7,500 people in it. The distance is 3.2 miles... and I ran it in 31:35... Yeah for me! Not only did I run... but I averaged a 10 mile and for being 36 (for 6 more days) and having birthed 5 kids... (just to name a few of my major accomplishments! :) I was proud of myself...

Anyway after the run I came home and poured a cup of coffee and ate a cinnamon roll... there is something wrong with that don't you think? I should probably been eating a celery stick and a protein shake... but whatever! :)


I was looking fabulous don't you think?
It's okay... you can tell the truth.
I know you can smell me through the screen.

note: I jumped in the shower right after this lovely documentation was taken.

when Josh gets the camera...

Here is what I found on my camera...
photos that Josh took when I was gone...
they made me smile...


the dog at our front door...


Lucy... one of our real dogs.


Mr. T??? How did that happen?

I don't know what he shooting... but it is kind of fun to see things through his eyes!

{pitcher}

So last year I found this super cool pitcher at TJ Maxx
[have I mentioned that I love that store?]
anyway... the pitcher sits on my kitchen counter and is filled with whatever random beauty I can find...

Today:


Cherry Blossoms from my yard...
I feel super super happy right now!
and btw, these photos do not do justice to my counter at the moment!

Breathing

So as you know my little man was SUPER sick last week... and the week before that.
After treatments in the hospital ER and the Dr's office our friend let us borrow her nebulizer to help Jack when his breathing got bad. His inhaler has been a way of life practially since birth...
RSV @ 6 months...
hospitalized with RSV last year...
and now pneumonia & possible RSV this year.
(thankfully he is MUCH better now)

He never wants to take a treatment... but he does and he does such a great job holding it in his mouth and breathing away...
my sweet, sweet, boy.

Random Silliness...

you only THOUGHT you missed us!
here's what we were busy doing...
(in between work, laundry, & other important things!)



And YES... we really do have this much fun at our house! Wanna visit?

Beach Book Day - 1st & 2nd Grade Style

There is a wonderful phenomenon that hits the halls of MG school in March of every other year...
Since I am subbing in this wonderful school I GOT to decorate my room as well! :)
First I must give thanks to 2 people... Jenny & Lindsay Salsbery who did pretty much all the manual labor since I was otherwise engaged with Jack at the Pediatrician... (a story for later)
anyway here is the room...


the water... this was a hit due to the presence of "Dolly" the inflatable whale/dolphin


under the sea... the entire classroom was wrapped in blue with last weeks art project ... puffer fish, hanging from the ceiling!


Party Hats..


beach tents... friends who read in the tents enjoyed a great case of "static" hair!


fire pit... for optimal story telling...


In PE the kids got to play beach ball basketball.... it was a hoot to watch!

Reading... Reading... and more Reading!

note: all photos are of Sydney because she is my daughter.... I have TONS of pictures of all my kids but since they are not my own children I am not posting their pics on my blog.

Anyway... in other news the day was a HUGE success... it is always a great day when kids are loving to learn!

Life of a Working Mom...

These past two weeks have been rough.

I love all the kids and being in the classroom... I wasn't sure how I would take to going back into the classroom, but I realize now that once a teacher always a teacher... it nevers leaves your blood. I have loved being with them every day, and feel super thankful to have this opportunity!

The rough part has been [home] Jack has been sick... really sick with pneumonia & a secondary infection. We have been to urgent care... the emergency room... twice to the pediatrician... and on the phone with the doc multiple times. Multiple medications & breathing treatments have become a normalcy... and my poor pale little man mostly lays around and watches the tv. When I get done working I just sit on the couch and cozy with him... and he comes into my bedroom early in the morning and snuggles with me.

That is the hard part of working full time... I can't take off and stay home with him. It gets me counting the weeks that we will be apart. (9 more) I realize one thing... I don't want to work full time again until he is in school, 3 years from now.... this time is so short... and he still needs me.... and I still need him.

To all my FTWM (full time working moms) I don't know how you do it... but I applaud you! You amaze and inspire me. The juggling and multi tasking you do everyday to meet the needs of everyone in your families... and still be able to work outside the home is a testiment to how AWESOME you all are!

[Stickers]

So we all know that Jack loves Cars... it is like the understatement of the year...

He has this book of Car stickers... and I don't know which is better

1. Cars that race...
2. Or cars that stick...

You decide.