Our Rallying Cry.. the reason we can renovate NOW!

Over labor day, instead of living it up by the pool, we moved out of our house into a rental down the street.

 

Why? Because instead of building a house, we decided a while back to just renovate the house and make it the home that we want and need. Our location is ideal and the house is great. It just wasn't OUR house... it was my parent's home.  That's one of those weird things that I never thought about until living in the house I grew up in as an adult and parent!

So, while the start of the school year is the absolute worst time of the year to start a home renovation, we are doing it. I really started back in the summer with the girls rooms and have been slowly building to the level of insanity we are at now.

But we are surviving. Primarily cause we are good at living in chaos. ;) But more than that, we are surviving because we have a plan and a rallying cry!

A what? 

A RALLYING CRY!!!

Doug brought home the book The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family by Patrick Lencioni

This book was the difference maker. I read it in one sitting and then ran out to staples and bought our white board!

Doug and I bounced ideas back a forth a couple of days and ended up with this as our family board.

It was a great experience and really got us on the same page so that we could move forward together. I often feel like while we are on the same path and absolutely on the same journey, we are often taking turns leading and following, rarely walking side by side.. hand in hand.  And maybe that is exactly what we are supposed to be doing within the the give and take of a relationship, but I truly enjoyed hashing out our family rallying cry with Doug!

With "Make the House Our OWN" as a rallying cry, it was easier to walk into the insanity of packing our entire house and moving us four houses down the street for 4-6 weeks. I want to see our plans and dreams fulfilled. And how do we know that we are on track? Well, the defining objectives are things that we want to accomplish along the way. 

The kid's rooms are done: CHECK! 
Because the moving out to renovate we used this as a chance to simplify and sort for a garage sale. So CHECK and CHECK!!

The only piece that we are struggling with right now is the Plan the Week objective. That will get better, but it is hard to plan the week and prep meals in the middle of the start of school and moving!

And since I am sure you are wondering, the Standard Objectives are things we want to do or continue no matter the goal or rallying cry. These are the things that we value as a family and don't want to neglect.

Tuesday morning the renovation started.

It's going to be very different. I'm not sure yet if that is good or bad...

but it will be OUR home.

So I guess mid October we will be looking for a new rallying cry. Hopefully this next one won't involve a move!

Our 7th Kidney Walk

The 2016 Fort Worth Kidney Walk has come and gone. This was our 7th year to participate in a kidney walk and it really is such a special day for families whose lives are touched by kidney disease.

This year we had Maddie's Colorguard instructor and some of her colorguard friends join us along with some other good friends. It was really nice to have friends as our family was scattered and couldn't attend.

The best part of the Kidney Walk is remembering that we are not alone in this journey. So much of our life is defined by urinalysis and blood work. Here, every family and every team understands our walk.

  

There were so many people! I didn't even want to start my pace tracker as we had to walk so slowly getting started!

 I really loved seeing this. Maddie with her tribe. Makes a mom smile.

They messed up the course and the volunteers didn't seem to know how to get us going in the correct direction, so instead of being a 3 mile walk, we ended up with only a 1.3mile walk.. But you know, for us, that was okay.

Maddie had never completed the walk. She had never been able to walk under the finish sign. 

Well, because they didn't have us turn around and walk back the correct distance, she was able to finish!

That was a big deal! And since it was such a big deal, we sent her back through with our different friends.

 We finished the day with Kylie getting her face painted.

All in all, it was a really nice day.

Next year, maybe Maddie can walk the entire 3 mile course.

A gift for my dad

My dad is an amazing man. He is a daily example of unselfish love. 

Over the years he has spent countless hours helping me with my art program, tackling chores that most people not only don't want to do, but never see. For example, just last week he sorted, washed, dried and stored a thousand soiled flag blanks for me. And these weren't just dirty.. they were rodent soiled from being in cardboard boxes in a storage building. UGH! 

So anyway, I wanted to do something to show my appreciation and I've been wanting to try a new art project, so I figured this would be a good time. When I think of my dad, I think of music and art. Specifically, screen printing... and I just happen to have access to some of the screens that he used in his business for twenty plus years!

I pulled this photo off my dad's facebook page. This is so him!  In fact, this was him in his early twenties.

I took the picture and edited it in photoshop and used it to draw on the silk screen. I used a couple of different kinds of sharpie markers as I found that the plain sharpie dried a grey color, but the one that was created for fabric dried black. You can see the difference in the two below.

Here is the piece in process. I ended up going over the entire thing a few times as I liked the dark contrast on the screen. (If I had time, I would have used both shades to create more depth.. but no time!)

Here is the piece complete.

It was so much fun giving him the gift. 

I have to say, this was one of the best gifts I have ever made. I loved creating it and I loved giving it! I know that what made it special was the meaning behind not just the piece but the screen as well.

Family Fitness

As you know by now, I am always looking for a new challenge. Be it artistic, academic or athletic.

So this weekend, when I saw this video, I immediately had to try. 

Let's just say that my reality isn't much better than the video example (make sure you watch the entire video.. NOT just the CRAZY COOL person at the begining!)

Anyway, after laughing at my miserable attempts at the jumping push-ups, Doug tried. And he ROCKED them!!

So I asked him to do it again so I could video. My first attempt at the video had him finishing and sitting up looking like he was dying. So below is take two. That's a lot of jumping push-ups!

Then Maddie decided to give it a go! Can you believe this girl? This was Sunday night, one week after being in the emergency room with a bad asthma attack and a kidney flare. Then a week of breathing treatments every four hours and a HUGE steriod burst.

She is a BEAST!

My video is obviously missing. Contrary to what Doug thinks, my drive to be able to do this has nothing to do with his ability to complete it. It has everything with my desire to be the best me that I can be and my desire to learn something new physically as often as I can.

As a female, growing up, I never had an athletic goal. I was strong as a child and could be strong when needed, but I was never given the chance to "be strong" in school settings. While I did twirl a baton in middle school, I didn't have any physical goals. For that matter, I was never encouraged too.

So now as a 41 year old high school teacher, I have athletic goals! I want to improve my marathon by 30 minutes over my first marathon! I want to complete 10 jumping pushups! I want to ... yeah.. I have goals!

And I'm on my way.

I read recently on a local sign that the best goals are ones that you are already 1/2 way there. Well, I ran 15 miles on Saturday (I've run 31 miles in the last 4 days. that is HUGE for me..) at 2 minutes per mile faster than I did two years ago during training for my first marathon.

I can do 3 jumping pushups at a time. I'm rather proud of myself for just that!

My "inspirational" video will be on the shelves soon... 

Having too much fun to take time to blog!

We are in the wonderful busy time of the year called SUMMER!!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I'm still getting up around 6am most days to workout, but heck, the first number isn't a 4, so that's really sleeping in late for me. :)

Over the last few weeks I have been vacationing a lot and scheduling in my classwork in between and all around the fun.

Over the July 4th weekend, we went on our 11th Annual Lakehouse Vacation. We had so very much fun! As my girls have gotten bigger, this has become more and more fun for me. When they were little, it was good, but a beat down as relocating little kids to a lakehouse for a few days with 20 people and not very many bedrooms/bathrooms was hard work! But now... it's just fun!

Here's to 11 years of perfectly normal behavior!!! #maxwelllakehouse #awkwardfamilyphotos

A photo posted by emilymclemore (@faithhopeandart) on Jul 4, 2015 at 5:29pm PDT

Doug and Maddie missed out on the trip as they had other commitments, but the little girls and I played hard!

Then we came home, washed clothes, regrouped, and went to Galveston Island. Our girls had never been to a real beach or the ocean/gulf, so we surprised them with a trip! It was fun!! They knew that we had to be in a city 3 hours away for a wedding on Friday, so we told them that we would just go early and play. On Wednesday morning, we loaded up and headed out. When we got to our destination city and were eating lunch, Doug said what if we just kept on going and went to the beach. The little girls were shocked. Maddie had figured it out the night before as we were packing.

So after lunch, we loaded up and drove another 3 hours to Galveston.  It made for a LONG DAY. But totally worth it.

They LOVED the beach and the waves.

 

I enjoyed running along the seawall and doing handstands on the beach. :)

Galveston! Love. #handstand #healthymama #fitmom

A photo posted by emilymclemore (@faithhopeandart) on Jul 10, 2015 at 7:16am PDT

And if the beach wasn't enough, we played at the condo pool till exhaustion or hunger took over.

From Galveston, we drove back northwest three hours for a wedding. Kylie was the flower girl. The rehearsal was ROUGH! Kylie was not sure about this process. But Saturday dawned and a well-rested, full-tummied kid was ready for the day.

We even had time to visit Texas A&M for Maddie. I hadn't given it much thought..it was just a look see. Then as we were walking around the campus, she got mistaken for a senior on a real visit by a couple of male student workers in the library, and well.. this mom got a little teary!

And then it was time to get ready for the wedding. Kylie went from rambunctious kid to  

DIVA FLOWER GIRL!! She was adorable!!

Look at this girl.

My beautiful flower girl! #flowergirl

A photo posted by emilymclemore (@faithhopeandart) on Jul 11, 2015 at 5:01pm PDT

The reception was in at a vineyard. I couldn't pass up the chance to get some pictures!

We arrived home Sunday afternoon and went every different direction Monday morning.

And this week we even met with the builder for our house!! WOOHOO!! I really can't believe it. After talking about it for 15 years, we are actually getting ready to build a forever house.

Busy times. 

I wouldn't trade these moments for anything.

(Oh yeah.. and how are my classes? Well, I have a week and a half left of this semester, so let's just say I'm going to be busy. But six more hours will be finished! I'll have 18 graduate hours completed in eight months. wow. And only four classes remain. I can do this!)

Finishing the year with a little reflection

I have no regrets for 2014. Sure there are things I would do differently. But I am so thankful that this has been a year lived well!

I was thinking of doing a recap or something, but there is just no way. Not with my very full life and three kids. I know I would end up leaving out something super important.. so instead, I'm going to highlight a couple things that really spoke to me about our year.

2014 was a year of reflection and figuring out who I am. Something about turning 40 will do that to you I guess. I realized that I can be a runner and really fit and STILL LOVE DONUTS! I also realized that I am never going to overcome the anxiety of thinking that I'm not going to be able to wear whatever pair of pants that I have in my hand, that have been in my closet for a long time and that I have worn more than a dozen times. I have accepted that part of my food issues will always be my internal struggle of thinking I am fat; whatever the size of pants I am wearing or whatever the scale says.

This year I started acknowledging that I am an artist. Something about oil painting freed my soul and allowed me to let go of all of the fear and doubt and just create.

This year I also started competing in triathlons. I am going to continue this! I had to realize that my running goal was going to suffer because of the training for tri's, but my overall fitness improved. I ended 2014 with 767 running miles but almost 1000 cardio miles.

One of the things that I enjoyed the most this year was running with my sisters

and my friends! We celebrated the end of the year with 5k this morning in 21 degrees! For these central Texas bodies, that is COLD!

This year was also a year of vacations. Doug and I went to Mexico and then we had our big family trip to Disney World.

There was just something extra special during these moments of togetherness. We live life in such a rush that taking these vacations together let us recharge and reconnect.

My 2015 plans are to simply keep doing what I am doing.

I have some fitness goals.

I'd really, really like to run a sub 2 hour half marathon, a 57 minute 10k and a 25 minute 5k. In order to get to these goals, I am going to have to eat better. I think that focusing on the goal and what it takes to get there is more helpful for me than trying to deny myself the occasional donut.

I started taking this to heart this morning.  I drank a smoothie. Actually I drank almost 2 of them. INSANE. I found out that smoothies that are made from just fruits and veggies are fine, it's the dairy in them that I don't like.

Proof..

I even got my girls to drink some. That's part of my 2015 plan. More fresh, less processed!

I have some art goals.. like create a piece a month. As I sit here looking at my bag of supplies that I bought home to work with over Christmas break, I realize that this is not going to be easy. In reality I'll probably create a little here, a lot over summer and hopefully finish the year with a dozen new pieces.

I even have some eductional and work related goals, but those are boring. So I'll move on.

In the end this year was a big year.

I turned 40.
Doug returned to pastoring a church after 12 years. (I realize as I type this that I don't know if I ever blogged about that!)
Maddie started high school.
Lexi showed rabbits.
Kylie started kindergarten.

And boy were we busy!

Don't think it's going to slow down in 2015. Better grab your running shoes and a smoothie if you want to keep up!

Family Christmas Celebrations

There are times throughout the year that I feel bad for the rest of you. Yesterday was one such day. Yesterday, we had our traditional Maxwell Family Christmas Celebration.  We had so very much fun. Below is a recap.. I almost hate to share our joy as it seems wrong when I know that others don't have what I have. But I'll share for those of you that enjoy seeing the antics of my family!

The first thing we do is eat. We have a wide variety of foods. We start with dessert. It's not that we plan to, we just like to snack.. so we ate some "Christmas Crack" along with some prosciutto and mozzarella.

One of the great things about my parent's retirement house is that we can all eat together in one room. We had to do some shifting, be we got everyone together!

After eating, we do our annual family picture. I love these pictures! I did finally realize that the reason my face is never focused cause I focus the camera and start the timer and the run and jump in the picture at the end. I really need to get one of those remotes so that I can have a non-blurry face!

After the real picture, we take the crazy picture. These are truly some of the best pictures we have! They are adorable!

Moments later we are ready to open gifts.

oh wait.. a picture with me? :)

One of the best parts of this process is not what is in the packages, but the absolute joy on everyone's face. And in case you didn't know... joy is LOUD!

After the kid's craziness abates the adults do a gift exchange. We have themes every year. This year we did "free trade" gifts. I bought earrings from Noonday. I brought home a cool bracelet from Ten Thousand Villages. This was a really fun theme.

After the exchange we played. Kylie asked for skates and Mom bought them for her and her same-aged cousins. The three of them had a ball!!

 

My dad has a model train that he was given as a child. I LOVED that train growing up. He got it out after years in storage and the kids loved it. Hudson seen in the picture below LOVES trains and was in his element sending it back and forth over and over again!

The weather was gorgeous and we spent hours outside. (okay, I was cold and it was was windy, but the kids didn't care.) 

One of the favorite activites is always tossing the footballs. Well, this year, tossing the football was taken to a new level.

It started innocently. Dad mentioned that the guys could knock off the rest of the pecans out of the tree with the footballs.  Well....

3 footballs stuck in the tree. 

Here is what followed.

yeah.

My dad... up the ladder, into the tree, standing on a branch, holding a stick...  his four daughters yelling at him to get down!

That's when I went inside.

Thankfully he came down... well long enough to find a bigger stick.

Anyway,  we had a blast. The kids love playing together and my sister's and I enjoy talking and laughing and watching our children renew their bonds.

These moments are special and fleeting I know. How thankful I am.