What I did and learned this weekend

It was a typical weekend in our house. Full of crazy and fun moments. Doug was out of town, so no long distance running for me, but other than that we were in our normal busy state.

Maddie performed at the football game on Friday night which makes for a fun but late night. She is incredible to watch! 

Once again, I'm so lucky to have friends with good cameras! Thanks Tammy!

Saturday morning I coached Lexi's volleyball team Crush and we won! Lexi even got one of her serves over. That was huge.

Then I worked on a quilt.

And I painted some on decorations for a friends baby shower.

The littles and I cuddled.

And they made paper doll fashions and had multiple fashion shows for me.

And then I hurt my toe. :( 

And sadly, there isn't even a good story to go with it! I just randomly knocked over something while getting something else and it landed on my toe. It hurts.

I am thankful that it is just bruised and not broken!

Anyway, in the midst of all the mundane, I learned something interesting about myself and the rest of you in bloggy land. 

I didn't realize that all of you out there couldn't visualize EVERY SINGLE bed you had slept in since were were four years old... Yes, I know, I'm weird. But I can tell you about pretty much every room I have ever slept in... Ever. And I didn't know that the rest of you out there couldn't. But now I know. And now you know.

So if you need to know how the bed is positioned in relation to the door in say a hotel in Mobile, Alabama, I can tell you.. A youth hostel in Vienna... I got that too. Every house my parents owned, yep. I've got that covered and every single friends house I've ever spent the night at...even friends from Kindergarten. 

Well, I'm out of time. Kylie is making pictures/shapes out of coins. She's pretty good at it. We are an odd family.

Oh life, how good, but how busy you are.

Whew. We are so very busy that I can't catch my breath much less blog!

This week was crazy, plus more! Our beloved Yellow Jacket football team played on Thursday night instead of the normal Friday so that they could be broadcast LIVE on ESPN2! It made for a truly crazy week and a long, long week.

But here is a recap.

Kylie loves school, soccer and playing. Her imagination knows no bounds. Here she is figuring out tricks on Lexi's skateboard.

Lexi loves to read and is the top reader in 4th grade at this point in the year with close to 10x the AR points of most of her peers!

She also is playing volleyball and really improving. I'm her coach. Her improvement is despite my coaching.

This past weekend she went to church camp for the first time. She LOVED it! 

Maddie is tearing it up on the football field as a colorguard member. This is HER THING! How fun to watch her excels at something physical.

Maddie is also doing great in school.  She is seeing a new specialist in a couple of weeks and we are hoping that will help one of her ongoing health battles, but overall, she is doing better than we could ever have imagined at this point in high school!

I've tried to post her performance from Friday night. If you click on the link, it might take you to the video...Post by Emily Maxwell McLemore.

And what have Doug and I been doing besides driving children from place to place? Well, we have been considering a lot about life. We are in that midpoint of our lives and have to ask ourselves if we are the people that we want to be. Are we the people we have been called to be? Are we doing what we are meant to do? Lots of questions. For me, this means going back to school. I'm going to work on getting an additional advanced degree in Education. No, I have absolutely no clue how this is going to fit in our lives. But I do know that I was created to teach others how to teach and at this point in my life I'm not doing that. So I'm going to work on that. 

And what about running? Well, I'm feeling great and so strong these days. Not fast, but my running and fitness base is solid. And sadly, there is no time to race. We have commitments every Saturday from now to Christmas and beyond. So I'm looking for a fall 1/2 marathon on a Sunday that's not too far of a drive! I'll keep you posted cause man am I feeling great!

That's all I have time for.  Hope to post again soon!

Soccer, Painting and Weight Loss

Kylie's first soccer game was Saturday. In typical Texas weather, it was 90+ degrees and it had to be 100% humidity. The little girls did awesome in their very first 5 and under soccer game, but man were they tired! 

Here she is before the game. She was READY!

And here are some stills from the game...

  

 

 

 

The games aren't really that long, four 10 minute quarters, with a number of breaks, but it was sooo hot! Not sure who won, they don't keep score, but thankfully our team made enough goals that it could have been us. (probably not)

Anyway.

We are ready for fall!

Next up... My newest painting. 

I love seeing my paintings ready for prints! It is fun!!

I haven't had much time to paint lately, but I need it. It keeps my stress in check! Lately we are so busy and stressed that I can feel it taking a toll on my body. not good.

And last, I'm back trying to lose these pesky last 12 pounds.  Well, to be honest, as of September 1st, it was 17 pounds, but I've already shed the five that I had put on those last weeks of summer. So now I'd like to get to my goal. 

In fact, if I can do it, I'll be smaller than I was when I was in college. I haven't decided if it's realistic yet. I currently wear a size 6 and am the size I was when I met Doug many moons ago. 

So why do I feel the need to lose more weight? It's that I am solid muscle from running long distance and training hard... UNDER a LOT of fat! This fat is that fat gained from eating fast food... for the last 15+ years. 

I want it gone.

I've even stopped eating donuts.

and I'm eating quinoa for lunch.

I mean business and tracking it all through My Fitness Pal (free app!)

More than all of that, I desperately want to run a under 2 hour half marathon. My best time is 2 hours and 13ish minutes. If I can get my eating under control and lose the top layer of fat, I think I could do it!

My times are improving and I feel ready.

Not sure when it will happen. Life is so busy right now that I'm not even competing in this weekend's triathlon that is happening in my town! ouch. 

But we have colorguard, ballet, volleyball and soccer .. oh and yeah, we work full time jobs. Needlesstosay, my desire to compete on Saturdays has to take a back seat to my children's Saturday games. Especially when I am the volleyball coach. (Go Crush!)

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the goals. Hope to report next week that Kylie has made a goal and that I've lost more weight!

A very busy, but very good life!



We are so busy. With Kylie starting Kindergarten, this just added to the insanity!

 

Here is what we have been up to.

 

Kylie has been painting on her easel that she got for her birthday from her grandparents. She LOVES it!

 

And we are working on sight words and readers. Kylie loves school and Lexi is really enjoying playing school with her and being the teacher!

 

 

We also have a soccer girl. Two practices a week and Saturday games are going to be interesting!

 

Lexi is busy with volleyball. She is a great passer. I'd provide pictures, but she won't let me take them and I'm too busy being the coach!

 

But I did get a picture of her tshirt quilt that I made for her. No, picture of her with it. I'm soo documenting the efforts I make to take pictures cause one day when she complains that there aren't any pictures of HER doing things, I will point her to my blog and say I TRIED!!

 

 

And Maddie is staying crazy busy with colorguard practice. They performed at the first football game last Friday and she did FANTASTIC!! It was soo much fun watching her do something that she is not only good at but obviously loves!

 

Doug and I are doing well. Just trying to keep our heads above water!! I've got a painting in the works and a triathlon in a couple of weeks.