What a wonderful weekend!!

Well I have to say that I think this was the best birthday I have ever had, and that is pretty good that I can say that since I did turn 40!! That is a lot of birthdays...of course, I really can't count ones from my younger days (under 15y) because 1). I don't really remember them all that well and 2). parties when you are a kid are suppose to be the best!! But in my adult life I can't remember a more appreciated and more fun birthday. First of all, my parents and my inlaws came down to help us celebrate... But my wonderful husband and one of my best friends planned a SURPRISE party for me on Saturday afternoon. Now... I will admit I kinda had a feeling something was happening. There were a lot of phone calls going on between Kerry and his Mom, Kerry had bought some things on Thursday at BJ's that were questionable but he talked his way out of it... but then on Friday he made a mistake, he left out the guest list and menu in our closet and I saw it. I tried to get him to admit something was going on without telling him I saw the list and I was asking all my friends "what are you doing this weekend" to see what they would say LOL

The Mom's and I went out to lunch and to the salon. I kinda figured something was going on so I had a facial and then had my hair done before we left. I thought I might have time to get in and put make up back on but no, when I drive up Kerry tells me to come to the back yard. I told him NO I need to go in first I know what you are doing. Then he told me my College Roommate drove down from Durham for this so I had to go out there sans make up and hug her!! Then I ducked inside to change and put on make up. OKay party time!! It was so fun, Kerry and my family took care of everything, told me to get out there and mingle and enjoy it. SO I did!! I got to catch up with everyone and have conversations. They would not even let me really clean up after!!

I will add pictures later but it was a great party and a great weekend!!  Thank you to everyone involved from planning to lying to me to helping out to just coming for me!!! I really felt loved by all my friends and family. And to those who could not come, you were there in spirit!!

My friends Sharon, Hannah and Tiffani (we are all doing the Relay for Life together.

My friend Jenn

My college roommate Dawn and JohnMy great friend Tammy (Lainie is going to marry her son Wade)

And of course a family picture!

It's my 40th Birthday... and I can...

Nope not going to finish that.. I am not going to cry instead I am going to scream it from the roof tops!! I am 40, I am 40!! Yippee!! All week everyone has been asking if this is a big deal. Well yes and no. Yes it is a big deal, I am entering a new phase of life. I have heard many of my "older" friends say, the 40's are our prime time. I don't feel old (like I said last week), I think that is half the battle and one reason some people get so bummed out when they turn 40. Well if you feel like an old foogy then of course you would be upset. Well I don't feel old, I am probably in the best shape I have been in since before kids (I think I was in pretty good shape there for awhile prior to Alex coming along). Alex will be 10 yrs old this year, hard to believe!! I got to thinking.... on my next "big" birthday at 50 yrs old I will have on child in college (hopefully!), one learning to drive and one becoming a full fledged teen age girl (of course I am sure we will have already been acting like one before the offical 13th bday). So I think I wills savor turning 40y because I think it is going to be way easier than the next big one! I might not feel so young then. LOL

And they're off!!

Last night Alex's Scout Pack had their first ever Cub Races. Basically each Den built a simple wooden car made of 2x4's and some wheels and a few other items but it is pretty easy to build. Kerry came home and built both our boys one after they started on them one night in a Den meeting. So we met at a new housing development here that had a pretty good size hill and ample space for us to park our cars and not really bother anyone living there. The hill was probably about 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the top to the bottom. The boys had such a great time. I don't think they much liked having to lug those racers back up the hill after their turn but the ride down was fun enough to make it worth it. They made sure each boy went down at least 2 times. Nik and Lainie had a great time cheering them on!! Here are a few pictures of our adventures last night.

It took a few weeks....

It took a few weeks but Piper is warming up to Charlotte finally!! Yesterday we caught them outside playing. He really can't run but he was being very playful with her and she thought he was chasing her. He would kind of pounce towards her on the patio and she would run away thru the bushes and back. It was really heartwarming to see Piper actually play again. It has been a few years. Maybe getting a puppy was not such a bad idea if he keeps him feeling a tad happier. Then this morning they actually curled up on the pillow together and took a nap. Usually when Chartlotte would approach the pillow if Piper was on it, he would immediately jump up and walk away. This morning he stayed put and let her lay next to him.

Here is a couple of pictures of them together!!

Just so proud to call them my In-laws, my family!

To everyone who knows my inlaws this won't surprise you but they went above and beyond yesterday to help some stranded college girls who's car had broke down just off the interstate Saturday morning. Terry, my FIL, was out delivering parts for work when he saw them on the side of the road, he stopped to see if he could help. He recommended a local repair shop for them to have the car towed to and called my MIL, Rachel, to come sit with them until it arrived since he had to get back on his route. So Rachel finished up her tea (she was relaxing, enjoying her quite Saturday morning after working all week) and drove to stay with these 4 college girls who were from a school in MA, on their way back from spending their Spring Break with friends in Richmond. But by the time the wrecker got there the repair shop was closed so he told the tow truck driver to take it to his house and he would fix it. Rachel then took the girls to McD's to get some lunch and then back to her house. She let these girls use her computer all day to email professors and family to let them know they were stuck in VA for a few more days. My MIL spoke to their mom's to let them know they were in good hands. It was one of the girls birthday's so Rachel made them brownies and pound cake to celebrate.  My MIL baked with them, taught them to knit, spent the whole day helping them... then they drove them down to Richmond to meet up with a cousin that was going to take them in until Monday. My FIL is going to fix their car on Monday and either drive it back to Richmond to pick them up or meet them half way so that they can continue their journey back to MA.


This situation did not surprise me at all but just demonstrates who they are... they took time out of their weekend to help others, they are going to get this car fixed and help these girls out. We need more people in the world like Terry and Rachel Jacobs and I am very proud to call them my family!!

Wanted to share some pictures from this weekend

I took some new pictures of Nikolas and the puppy playing, some of Lainie and Nik playing and some of Lainie and our next door neighbor's son Jacob playing.... it has been so nice out the past few days so had lots of outside time!!

For as much as I love Spring...

I hate allergy season!! The boys started sniffling and had itchy eyes all week and I felt good so thought I might be in the clear but alas, it hit me like a ton of bricks last night. Meds are keeping me from being congested but my throat is killing me and I still have the congested feeling. I really really really wanted to get a run in today b/c I did not yesterday but I am afraid to try, don't want to wear myself down farther. So I will try to have some restrain and just hope I feel up to it tomorrow!! I did run everyday day this week (Sun to Thurs) so I guess taking a couple of days off is okay! :)

Boys had soccer this morning, it went really well. Nikolas just seems to really love it while Alex is just "there". If the ball comes to him he will kick it but he makes no effort to go to the ball!! It is frustrating but I guess I am happy that he is at least attempting. He likes playing goalie and does not seem to understand why he needs to have soccer ball skills. They don't really use goalies with the short sided games b/c they want the kids to focus on using their ball handling and aiming skills. Alex is just not my atheletic one but I give him credit for always trying. 

Alex has been working on his piano recital pieces, so far he has gotten his duet piece that he will do with his teacher. And she told him she might let him perform his Davey Jones Theme song that he has been playing for months so he has started practicing that after not really playing it for a month a two. Pirates of the Caribbean interst has switched to Indian Jones over the past month or so... so we are onto a new obession!!

Reflections

Well I am one week almost from turning 40 yrs old... do I feel that old? Nope! I remember thinking at 20 yrs old that 40 was going to be horrible... Now that I am on the doorstep about to enter a new phase, I don't feel that way at all. I am more than ready to kiss 39 good bye.. last year was not my best year by any means. Yes, it did have many wonderful moments but it also had some not so nice moments. April thru August were the worst, from that first moment when I could tell from the look on my Drs face that something was not right to finally getting thru all the treatments and getting on my medications so I could start to feel normal again. So yes, I am ready to walk thru this door and enter my 40's with happiness and excitement of what is to come... because I know it can only go up from here.

I challenged myself to get in better shape since I had gained weight last year with all that was going on and I challenged myself to try to run a 5K. Half of me really did not think it would be possible. While in my younger days I did run track, I played soccer for many many years, I cheered all 4 yrs in high school... I was a pretty good all around athelete back in the day. I wanted to see if I could try and get some of that back. And so far it is working. I can run 3 miles now, I feel physically good and I am looking forward to a new chapter starting next week!!

Thankfully things are quiet!

Have not had much to say here lately LOL :) Things have actually been going pretty well. Everyone is healthly, knock on wood!, and it is just business as usual around here. Soccer got postponed last week on Thursday and Saturday due to all the rain we were getting. So I know they will be excited to get back to it this week.

Update on me: Well I finally got to get in an "outside" run on Sunday morning and it felt pretty good. The distance I ran was about 3.2 miles. I did walk for about 30 seconds twice, not used to the slight terrian changes on the small hills here. But all and all I felt good about it. Had a pretty good time going too. The race is about a month away so I will keep working on improving my mile time (ran a mile in 11 minutes yesterday on the treadmill) and being able to run the whole distance without stopping to walk here and there for short periods.

Kids are doing well.... Alex got a 100% on his big Fractions test last week. His teacher was very happy about that. She knows he is a good smart kid so when he flubs up she gets just as frustrated as we do! Nik's class had to build their own Lepreachun traps so Daddy and Nik worked on that, hopefully he will catch something at school tomorrow. Lainie's dance routine is coming right along, she loves being there. It was so cute last night when all the girls saw each other they hugged and said "I missed you" it had only been a week!

Kerry is busy at work, even with all the "bad" info out there, they are still selling cars. They sold over 20 cars last Friday alone. So we are happy that things are not as bad as they could be.

Charlotte is doing well! House training is improving but we still have a ways to go before I will trust her. She loves being outside and Nikolas just adores her. He is so cute when he is playing with her. I think they will probably have the best bond out of the all the kids. Kerry is warming to her, I think once she grows up a bit more he will like her better. She is still trying nibble on toes and jump up so he does not like that part. She is just a love bug, loves to cuddle up with me on the couch at night. All the kids in the neighborhood love her and coming running to pet her. Taking her to the Vet today for her last vaccine!!

So that is how things are here... just the run of the mill household with 3 kids, 2 dogs and busy parents!

I just graduated! Finished the Couch to 5K program with a bang!

Today was the last day of my Couch to 5K offical program, Week 9 Day 3 (I started on Week 4 so I have been doing it for about 6 weeks b/c I did not always get all 3 done in a week). I started this on January 24th. So in just over a month I went from be hardly able to run for 3 minutes to running for 36 minutes for 3 miles!! Anyone can do this! I promise you!! I really wanted my last workout to be what the program actually called for... running 3 miles... it was hard b/c the farthest I had done so far was 2.5miles. I thought I was going to pass out when I had about 1/4 mile to go but I pushed thru and finished. But believe I stopped right at 3miles, no illusions of going any farther today!! My first 5K race is in about 5 weeks so I think I will be ready if I can just maintain and stay with it. My goal now will be to continue being able to run for 3 miles, once that gets a little a little easier then I will focus on improving my time! Heck I will be so happy if I just can finish this race without passing out!!

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Most of you know that we are not happy with the Middle School we are zone for at the current moment. Our house is for sale partly because we want to move so the kids won't have to go there (and because the kids don't like being upstairs with us downstairs). Well I finally put the kids in the lottery for a magnet school here in Harrisburg called Carolina Internation School, http://www.carolinainternationalschool.org/ incase you would like to read about it. Anyway, they have to follow the same core studies at the regular public school but they can teach it however they want. They do a lot more project and hands on studying.

So we got our numbers and Alex got #15, Nikolas got #39. I knew the chances of them both getting in were going to be pretty low but if you have one child in the school, the following year siblings get priority. So if Alex were to get in for the fall then Nik would go next year and then Lainie too! We have several friends with kids there so my kids would have friends and I so think it would be a good opportunity to learn more for them.

So in June we hope to hear that they have a spot for Alex, he is happy about and hopes to get in to! It will take several students not returning for whatever reason and several people on the list ahead of us declining the spot but I plan to pray and hope that if this is suppose to work out it will.

If he/they can go to this school then it takes some of the moving pressure off as far as school goes. We can always hope the kids will outgrow their fears of the upstairs. But we have been wanting to move over to Harrisburg for awhile so we will keep trying to sell. Say a prayer for us on that too! I think a tad smaller house will help me alot, I hate cleaning!! :)

Basketball is over....

Well today was the end of basketball and I think they both enjoyed it very much. They both had moments were they were frustrated but over all it was a good experience. Nikolas had some trouble getting enough power behind his shooting, he just could not get the ball up high enough to hit the basket but he did score one basket, so he was happy. Alex struggles with his confidence because there were some boys on his team that were very skilled and you could tell they have been playing awhile. It is hard for him to remember this was only his 2nd season. He would get flustered when the boy guarding him would not let him shoot or move around. But the main point is that they learned more about this sport and they took chances! I did not purchase pictures from their photographer, figured I could take them on my own and they would look just as good (*wink*) . So here are my pictures of the boys from today at home!!

Now we are moving on to soccer!! We are starting with a new program. It seems really well organized and the main focus of this league is to actually TEACH the kids how to play!! This league has travel teams for the 8 yr old and up kids and their goal is to grow soccer players that play thru high school and college. They said they placed 60 kids into colleges last fall with scholarships!! If the boys work hard and we stay around here this would be great. Not sure I am up for the whole traveling soccer team thing but who knows...down the road we might be able to do that if one of them wanted to try out and made it. Time will tell. Right now I am just very pleased that they have coaches who know the sport and that will teach them the skills needed! A good portion of the coaches are UNCC Men's and Women's Soccer team players and coaches. I will keep you posted on how this develops. I am excited just because I played soccer most of my childhood and loved it. Hoping at least one of my kids falls in love with this sport!! :)

St. Jude Trike A Thon totals...

I was just reading a note sent home by the director at Lainie's preschool and the preschool raised $5000 to give to St. Judes! Thank you so much to everyone who donated in Lainie's name to this wonderful cause!!

Woohooo!! So Proud of Myself today!!

Just had to write this down because I am so proud of myself and happy with myself today!! I ran 2.5miles in 31.30 minutes. That is a 12.3 min/mile!! I have been averaging 13.3 min/miles or more over the past few weeks so I am thrilled that I shaved some time off. It was hard, and I am worn out. It felt good for the first mile but boy that last one was tough!! Anyway... just had to share my good news!! :)

Things are improving!

Well just a quick update... Nikolas is much better today (Tues), fever has been gone about 8 hrs and no vomiting for almost 24hr. Alex started with it about 7pm last night and has not gotten sick since about 11p and is currently eating his bland cheerio breakfast right now. Both boys wanted to stay home and with some possible bad weather moving in, I said okay! So here I am home with all 3. Heading up to work shortly to pick up somethings to do here at home to try to make up some hours!! Boy this working with sick kids things is tough!!

Puppy Update: She is such a love bug! So calm most of the time. She loves to get outside and run around with the kids but inside she is pretty quiet (whines a little occasionally when I put her in the crate and she can still hear or see us), still working on the house training. Had to explain a few things to the kids this morning. They got up before us and let her out of the crate... well of course she had to go. So they know understand that she stays put until Mommy gets up and takes her outside. I put her on the leash for awhile yesterday and she did really well. She is pretty smart so I think she will catch on to things quickly! She still wants to play with Piper and he wants nothing to do with her so I have been trying to give him quiet time without her around and give him lots of attention!

Ugh!!!!!! It has hit us again!! This time it is Nikolas....

Should have known we were getting to lucky... Nikolas now has the tummy bug Lainie had last week. Hopefully it will pass as quickly for him as it did for her. He has been sick since 5am this morning, hers lasted about 12 hours so he should be fine by later today!! **fingers crossed** So no work for me today! Guess that kinda worked out so I get another day with the puppy to work on things.

Puppy Update: She did great last night in her crate, went to sleep and did not whine all night!! She is doing great with pee, so far no accidents there but I am still working on our poop timing. Will take a few days to learn her routine and for her to adapt to ours. At one point last night Piper was laying on his bed and she crawled up on the edge and laid down and he just stayed put so they were both sleeping together. It was cute. My camera was upstairs so I did not capture that moment. Hopefully it will happen again!! She is not leash trained at all so that will be my first goal along with house training.