A Fun "Run"

I decided several months ago that I wanted to do a 5k. Before I had hip surgery I asked the dr if I would ever be able to run a 5k, thinking maybe someday I could do one with Danielle. He grimaced and told me I probably could do one, but only if I didn't run to train for it. Well, I don't know how you train for a run without running if you've never run that far...plus it does hurt if I run for any distance. So, I am destined to be a walker. That's ok. Before my hip surgery, I could hardly walk around the house. Even now there are times, especially when I'm walking at the park and enjoying the sites and sounds and breezes, when I remember how bad it was, and I'm so incredibly thankful just to be able to walk without pain. Running isn't really necessary.

I thought it would be fun to do a 5k together as a family. Ron and Danielle thought it would be fun and agreed to do it. Tyler took a little more convincing. When he finally stopped saying "absolutely not" and instead said "whatever", I took that as consent and signed us up.

We walked The Christmas Story Run 5k/10k on Saturday and we had a lot of fun. We stayed with Ron's parents before the race and had a great visit with them. The race was a lot of fun, and I think we're all glad we did it. Even our reluctant walker enjoyed himself. It was a fun atmosphere. My brother runs in this race every year, so we were excited to be able to see him and hoped we'd get to watch him collect a prize afterward. This year he had his sights set on winning the Masters Division - the over 40 age group.

You can certainly tell which one of us was in it to win it.

We hoped to finish in an hour, but actually finished in just a little over 45 minutes. Tyler and Danielle walked just far enough ahead of us that they could say they beat us. It was funny watching them turn around to look for us so they could be sure they were still far enough ahead. A couple times they slowed down and we almost caught up to them.  One time Ron was about 4' behind them when they turned around. They laughed and quickly picked up the pace.

It was a fun time and I'm glad we all did it together.

My brother did a great job and did win the Master's Division. Unfortunately his chip malfunctioned so they didn't have a record of his time. It was so sad watching the award that should have been his be given to someone who was at least 30 seconds slower. He did receive an email today that said they reviewed the videos and see that he was the winner. He will probably receive his major award in the mail. Hopefully it will be marked FRAGILE. It's not the same as getting it right after you've earned it with your family all there cheering for you, but it's something.

Our Thanksgiving

For some reason, I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year! We only had 2 days of school last week and had 5 days off. I'm sure that was part of the anticipation. It was so nice to have a little break. Thankfully the long holiday weekend was just as relaxing and enjoyable as I had hoped!

One of the weekend's highlights was having family over on Thanksgiving day. Ron smoked a turkey, my mom made a meatloaf, and we filled in the side dishes with a little something for everyone. And of course there was plenty of dessert. Oh, I almost forgot one of my favorites - my breakfast! I have been hungry for a gooey cinnamon roll for weeks. We enjoyed Cinnabon rolls for breakfast and they were every bit as wonderful as I remembered them being!!

 

 

This sign was by the register at the place I got our pies.

Jack was in the hospital right after Tyler's birthday and then we were busy, so we also celebrated Tyler's birthday on Thanksgiving. He wanted a strawberry cake with strawberry icing again, so that's what he got. Danielle bought me some decorator tips for Christmas last year. I haven't used them because we've been avoiding the sweets but we decided to try them out on Tyler's cake. Danielle had fun attempting to use them. The flowers turned out more like Smurf cowpies, but you can't be unhappy about more icing on a cake!

This is how we spent the afternoon - watching tv, eating dessert, talking, putting together legos, eating more dessert. It was just about perfect.

We have so much to be thankful for - high on that list for me is Jack's recovery after being so sick. It was so nice to spend the day enjoying each other's company...and eating desserts (did I mention that part?).

Ron and I got to spend a lot of time together over the long weekend, and we had some good family time, too. It was a very nice Thanksgiving break.

Honor Band Weekend

Tyler was nominated by his band director to attend Capital University's Honor Band. He has been nominated to participate in Ohio State's Honor Band the past two years, but after being nominated, participants are selected by a lottery system. For this honor band, nominations were actually reviewed and then some students received invitations based on their qualifications and submissions from their band directors. Tyler and one other student from our school were invited to attend.

He missed school yesterday to attend. His day started early, though, with chair auditions. Earlier this week he received an email with audition music attached. He also had to play a difficult scale and sight read a piece. He has auditioned for chairs in his own band, but never in front of strangers in a formal environment, and I don't think he had to sight read a piece then. I'm sure he was nervous, but what a great experience! Something like that can only make you better.

After auditions their day was filled with practices, master classes, campus tours, lunch & dinner, and concerts by a local high school band and the college's concert band. His day ended around 11pm last night. He reported at 8am again today and did more of the same. The weekend culminated with a concert this afternoon. All said, they had around 6 hours of actual playing time together. Keep that in mind when you listen to the pieces they performed. It was amazing!

Tyler had a great time! He said it was so neat to be surrounded by so many talented people. Even their first time through, the music sounded decent because they all knew what they're doing. The conductor was a famous composer/arranger who has written a lot of the music they've played in band. He thought that was neat. This was a super experience for Tyler and I am so very thankful he had the opportunity to be a part of it!!

The first piece is my favorite. The last piece is Tyler's favorite. My cell phone recording does not do the sound justice. The first piece is long, 5 minutes. The rest are shorter. The 3rd song is Indian and has a droning sound through the whole thing that my phone doesn't really pick up. The 2nd song has a guest performer who is playing the flugelhorn. (Sorry it's a little shaky at first.) We have joked with Tyler for awhile about getting him a flugelhorn because it's cool to say and looks kind of like a big trumpet. It was neat to listen to someone play one. 3 of the 4 songs were composed by James Swearingen, the gentleman conducting.

 

 

We went to dinner afterward. Doesn't everyone dress up for Chipotle? I know he had a good time because he chose to talk to me about his weekend during most of dinner rather than texting or surfing on his phone. Danielle had a college softball showcase out of town today so she and Ron couldn't go. We scheduled it at the end of summer and couldn't get a refund. Sounds like she had a great day, too. One of the college coaches remembered her from a previous tournament and commented several times on her speed. It's fun to watch the kids excel at what they love, but it doesn't just happen. They both work very hard.

Smile!

Danielle's big, beautiful smile got a little shinier today.

She is sore tonight but making the best of it. She will have to have rubberbands, so that is sure to be an adventure. If everything goes as planned, she will only be in braces for 12-15 months. I'm counting on the 15, but hoping for the 12. She's always had such a beautiful smile. Now it's even more dazzling. :)

Here are a couple more pictures of that beautiful smile from this weekend.

Celebrating Our Kids

Our kids are pretty awesome. It's nice when other people realize it, too. :)

Danielle was recognized at school last week for her leadership and Ideal Characteristics. I really appreciated the note the teacher who nominated her sent home. It talked about Danielle helping a struggling classmate, but I know there's more to it than that. Not only does the classmate struggle with the material, but she struggles socially, too. Danielle's talked about it at home.  We want to stop the violence and make the world a better place? This is how it's done. By being kind to people because "you never know what they may be going through" (quote from my daughter), and by loving people simply because it's what God calls us to do. This is how Danielle is going to change the world - one struggling student at a time. I love her heart.

Tyler was nominated and selected to play in Capital University's Honor Band this coming weekend. It's kind of a big deal. Only 2 people from his school were selected. He will miss classes on Friday and has to prepare an audition piece. There will be a concert Saturday afternoon. I'm excited for him! He also has concert band auditions this week. Today the squad leaders and seniors left school to play for a veteran's day assembly. Danielle snapped a picture for me before he left home this morning. He looked so handsome. 

 

I absolutely love listening to him practice. He has a real talent for playing, and I'm so glad that it's being recognized and encouraged.

This is Us

My family cooperated for some pictures today. It was extremely cold, the lighting was difficult to work with because of the time of day we went, and ultimately none of us was happy with how we looked in the pictures. But... wrinkles, acne, wind-blown hair, too much smile, no smile, sweaters that make our hips look too wide... the reality is that this is who we are and what we look like at this moment in time. There will never be a perfect time and we will never look perfect. I think we will all look back one day and not see any of those flaws in these pictures anyway. So, here are some pictures from today. For better or worse, this is us.

 

 

Of course, the selfie cell phone picture is my favorite:

Softball Road Trip, Part 2

Danielle's team played 3 games on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Since it was a true showcase, there wasn't any bracket play. Everyone played 5 games, and it didn't really matter who won or lost. The point of a showcase is to give players the chance to show their skills to college recruiters.  It's neat to see all the college coaches and recruiters standing behind home plate, taking notes and whispering to each other. Of course, everyone there was competitive & wanted to win, but that wasn't the ultimate goal of the weekend. It changes the game a little when you aren't necessarily playing to win. Sometimes the coaches will put one player in over another so the college recruiter can see them in action. That means you aren't always fielding your winning defense. It's definitely a new game for us this year.

Yes, that's her breath.

Our games started early, with warm-ups starting before sunrise on Saturday. With the time change, we started right around sunrise on Sunday. The lights on the field welcomed us in both days. It was cold and frosty and early, but it was softball! I was entertained by the melting frost on the grass on Saturday and watching the fog roll in on Sunday. Ron and I both expended a lot of energy complaining to each other about being cold. :) Ron says he's missing a lot of insulation this year. It's definitely an adjustment!

 

Danielle plays centerfield this year, which is her favorite position. She loves it because she gets to run and make plays that a lot of girls can't make because they're not fast enough. She had some great catches again this weekend. It is so fun to watch her fly across the field and snag a ball you thought for sure was uncatchable. She generally is in the top 3 batting wise, but she really struggled this weekend. We're not sure why, other than sometimes it just happens. I think sometimes when you have a bad game, it gets in your head and snow balls. I know she was frustrated with herself and felt like she was letting her team down. Realistically, she ended up 6th out of 12 batters for the weekend, so it wasn't terrible. It just wasn't her best and she knew it. Softball certainly offers a lot of opportunity for building character.

 

 

We went to dinner and a movie Saturday evening and then were back at it early on Sunday. Sunday was a little better, but still not stellar. We finished up early in the afternoon and then started for home. The scenery on the way back was so beautiful. The leaves through the mountains were beautiful. We listened to Christmas music all the way home, Danielle finished up her homework, and we stopped a few times to eat and use the restroom, finally getting home around 9:30pm. I'm pretty sure we were all in bed by 10. It was a weekend full of ups and downs, and it was a long weekend. But, it was a weekend of watching Danielle play softball, spending time with my husband, and talking to Tyler through text way more than he would have talked to me if I'd been home.