Tiny Dancer

Willow started taking a dance class a few weeks ago, and she loves it!  Tights and leotards and new shoes???  I'm pretty sure it's the shoes that gets her the most excited.  She's been asking to take dance lessons for quite awhile and all summer she kept telling me, "I'm going to get a medal in ballerina!"  Guess at the end of the year if she's not satisfied with getting a dance costume, I will go get a little medal for her.  :)
The studio where Willow dances leaves the blinds on the windows open so we can watch and I managed to take a few pictures this last week, in between the blinds no less.  :)  She is so cute to watch.

Apple Harvest

This year for apple picking we had Papa here to help us!  We all went out to the orchard and then I went back to grab an apple picker to help get the apples up top.  By the time I got back out to the orchard, Royal, Papa, Jayden, and Willow pretty much had all of our boxes full.  It took them like 15 minutes to pick 125 pounds of apples.  I didn't even have to pick one this year!
Day 1 : Pick the Apples

Day 2 : Cut, Cook, and Mill the Apples

(and take a break on the porch with Papa)

Day 3 : Cook the Applesauce and Can it!

Riding with Papa

My dad has been here visiting for the past week and last Friday my dad took a riding lesson with Jayden, just so he could ride a horse with him.  It was pretty hilarious to watch.  My dad has ridden horses pretty much his whole life, but he's never taken an formal lessons.  The ladies who run the riding lessons don't always speak in the kindest way, they are often condescending and talk to you like they think you're an idiot.  But then 2 seconds later they're all sweet and nice and "You're doing a great job!!!"  So, it was pretty hilarious (not so hilarious for dad) to watch these ladies getting all over dad for doing everything wrong.  Dad was just walking and trotting around the arena trying to "learn" his horse - what he's always done, and these ladies were yelling at him, "Tighten your reigns! Loosen your reigns!  Put your heels down!  Bill!  What are you doing???"  I was chuckling, watching it happen, wishing I would of warned dad of how these ladies were.  Dad pretty much wanted to run these ladies over with his horse.  Then dad "figured out" his horse and was trotting around the arena and all the sudden the ladies changed their tune, "Bill!  Great job!  Wow!  Nice turn!  Bill's the new leader!  Everybody follow Bill!!!"  And from then on out, dad was the favorite student of the lesson.  :)

Willow really wants to get out in the arena on a horse herself, but for now we are letting horseback riding be Jayden's thing.  So, Willow rides these horses and practices standing up in her stirrups and making her horse run fast.

See Jane Run Half

Saturday morning I ran half marathon #11, at the See Jane Run race.  It's a women's only race where at the finish line you get champagne and chocolates.  Finally a race where there is motivation to actually cross the finish line.  A finishers medal is nice, but champagne and chocolates?  I'll take it!

I knew going into this race that I was going to be pushing it training wise to get ready.  I always have such high aspirations of keeping up my running when we go to Washington in the summer, but it just never seems to happen.  I did do the Seattle to Portland bike ride, so it wasn't like I was completely sedentary, but bike legs and running legs are totally different.  When we got back to Wichita, I was pleasantly surprised by the cooler temperatures we were having for summer here, so getting up and running in the morning didn't start off to bad and I thought I was acclimating pretty good.  Well then came the 90-100 degree days with high humidity and it was only cooling off to the mid 70's at night and all the sudden my running game turned on it's head.  I went for a 9 mile run and it was terrible, almost bad enough to make me quit running all together.  So, the next weekend, instead of increasing up the next week to 10 or 11, I tried my legs again at 9.  It was a better run, but I still felt like I was sucking swamp water and I was so glad to be done at 9, I did not want to run anymore.  And the on Monday night of that week I came down with a terrible cold.  Of course I did, I was close to an endurance race.  So for the next week I didn't run at all, I barely got out of bed.  I got up in the morning, got Willow off to preschool, did Jayden's lessons with him, went and picked Willow up from school, fixed the kids lunch and then went back to bed for the rest of the day.  It was brutal.  Being sick is really the only time I really hate homeschooling.  And that following weekend (the weekend before the race) I was going to run just 6, but I was still so sick I didn't get out and do it.  I kept talking with Royal about maybe not running the half at all, he of course didn't really care what I did as along as it was what I thought was best.  But then (when I could finally breath out of my nose again) I just decided to do it.  I have been struggling with a bunch of personal issues and I just needed a "win" in my bank.  I needed to do something hard and I needed to finish it.

So, Saturday morning I got dressed and went through my ABC's.  Advil and Apples, Banana, Caffeine - I use Arbonne's Energy Fizzy Sticks, Drink lots of water, Extra trips to the bathroom, and Foam roll.  Then drove to the start line and met up with the girls I usually run with when I'm running with my running club.

I wasn't expecting to run with anyone, since I felt like I would be so slow, but that's one thing I love about all the ladies I run with, is there is usually someone who will stick by your side for a good portion of the race.

The race itself wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  My legs felt surprisingly good.  It must of been the 30 minutes I spent on my foam roll the night before.  By mile 10, I was definitely feeling it, but trying to convince myself that a 5K more was totally doable.  I saw Royal and the kids somewhere between mile 10 and 11, and that was a nice surprise since I wasn't expecting them out on the course at all.  Then I got to the mile 12 water station, downed a huge cup of water and pretty much knew I was spent.  I had 1.1 miles to go and I was looking for the finish line around every corner.  And brutally enough the finish line was on the top of a hill!  You had to run up the bridge to get there!  That was not exactly super fantastic, but it was a finish line and that means water, food, and no more running!

I was pretty surprised at my time.  I finished officially in 2:05:17 and 28/105 in my age group.  Going into the race and knowing how my training had gone, I was hoping for 10 minute miles, which would of had me finish around 2:12, so 9:37min/mile was fantastic I thought.  I'm not too sore, mostly just my knees and hips, which isn't surprising since I hadn't really "pounded" them down enough pavement before the race.  And really I find myself just so thankful for a body that can do this.  In my miserable miles of the race, I really found myself being thankful that God has given me legs that can run, and a mind that is strong enough to keep going, and a family that lets me disappear for a couple hours every Saturday morning to go running (or cycling or whatever), and for friends that I can run with.  I really am blessed, and sometimes I just have to remind myself of the things I do have, and the things I can do, and just be satisfied being thankful for that.

Ride 'em Cowboy

Jayden started horseback riding lessons last week and he loves it!

He is doing great!  He has a lot to learn, and each week after watching and listening to what is going on in the arena I am preparing myself for the "you can't quit, you'll get better, just keep going, finish out the session" speech.  But he gets off his horse, brushes her down, feeds her some carrots, and despite being told what he's doing wrong for an entire hour, he can't wait to go back next week.  In fact, he keeps saying he wishes he could go everyday.  So, I think we've found a good thing for him!

Slip and Slide

It has been so hot here and I was so sick of being 'stuck' in the house because it's just not fun to play on the street when it's 100 out. So, on Monday, the "last" day of summer,  I decided to do something about it and we rented an inflatable slip and slide and invited a whole bunch of people to our house. It was chaotic and crowded and fun and totally worth it.

 

Willow's 1st Day of School

Willow's 1st day of school ever, could not have gone more differently than Jayden's.  Oh, how different these kids of mine are.  Jayden, we prepped for months (years?) about school, and then even on the first day I still wasn't sure he was going to go.  Willow has been asking, quite frequently now that Jayden's been doing school, when her first day was.  We decided that for Willow's pre-k year, we would send her to school, and then next year for Kindergarten we'll decide if we want to homeschool her with Jayden or keep her in "traditional" school.

Willow woke up this morning and crawled in our bed and I looked at her and said, "Hey Willow.  Today's the day!  Today you get to go to school!"  She replied, "FINALLY!!!!  I have been waiting for this day for YEARS!!!!"  We get up and she insists on wearing some of her new clothes, despite the fact that they are probably going to be a little warm on our 95 degree day.  But I have learned to just not argue with Willow and her clothes choices.  As long as she's modest and her body is covered up, then I'm just gonna let her wear what she wants.   The big shocker of the day though came when she came running into my bathroom and said, "I'm ready for you to fix my hair!  You can fix my hair everyday for school!!!"  Hallelujah!  I usually only get to fix her hair on Sundays for church and then every other day is a quick while she's eating, I pull it up in a messy ponytail just to get it out of her face.  She is been cursed blessed with hair just like mine.  Kind of curly, kind of straight, kind of wild, and kind of the type of hair you have to do something with or it looks like mice live in it.  Although, even when I'm "allowed" to fix her hair, she still has opinions.  "1 braid, 1 high pony tail, 1 pony tail down low, 2 pony tails, but no braids and no ropes just hair, etc..."  She's got opinions that's for sure!

When it was finally time to get in the truck and head to school, pretty much the entire ride there she was singing/shouting, "It's finally time!  It's finally time!  It's finally time for school!  It's finally time!  It's finally time!  It's finally time for school!"  Jayden kept checking with her to see if she was feeling nervous and she just kept saying, "Nope!  I'm not scared!"  Jayden insightfully said, "Man, I was NOT this excited for school at all!"

Inside, by her locker.

She immediately wanted to play in the sand.

But eventually, we got her to go grab a book and sit on the circle and wait for her new friends to show up.

And then Royal, Jayden, and I left.  And I'm pretty sure she had the most fantastic day.  When Jayden and I came back to pick her up, we saw her out on the playground and when her teacher blew the whistle to come in, she hops right off the slide and marches with her arms swinging and her little piggy tails bouncing, right over to the line, with all the confidence in the world.  I was just so proud of her.  A friend of mine asked me if I was sad to see my last little kiddlet starting school and I thought about it and, really, how in the world can I be sad when she is SO excited!  The world is not a scary place for her.  And that is another reason I am glad Jayden is predicted to be 6'3" and is a bit timid of most things because he will be able to grab her from jumping off a bridge after her friends and drag her back to the house.  Willow, I think, will push Jayden's comfort zone to get him to try things he wouldn't of been able to get himself to do, but I think Jayden will be a great balance to Willow's crazy (because we all know it's coming - I refuse to call her trouble and instead tell her how much fun she will be), and I'm going to teach him to sit on her when she's thinking of something stupid unwise to do!  :)

When Willow got in the truck, I got a little video of her talking about her first day.