The Muddy Angels

Not so long ago, my dear friend Lauren had this great idea of doing the Dirty Dash 2012 together with my niece Stephanie (also a friend of Lauren). She knowing I am not a runner, purposely failed to mention (you know its true Lauren) just how many K's were in a "couple of K's" race. The answer was 10k's. 10. Lets move on. So upon realizing that this race was not a 3k, or even a 5k, but double what I had anticipated, I decided to go running a few times before the race in prep. Our team was affectionately titled The Muddy Angels.

Race day (Sept 22) came  and was lovely. Who wouldn't want to go wallow through large mud pits while covering 6 miles of uneven terrain?! We psyched.

There were different heat times and ours was at 10:20. Even with the break up of heats there were quite a few people and it got very crowded at times, especially around the different obstacles. I did end up with a huge bruise on the pack of my right thigh from two of the obstetrical. All in a year's mud run.

We helped each other complete the intimidating obstacles, such as climbing cargo nets that were very high up (I am usually deathly afraid of heights, but apparently had no time to focus on that or look down) lifting our booties over high wooden walls, etc, and of course, walking through mud pits. (Just FYI- they totally dug random, dips/holes before filling said pits with water-turned-to-mud.)  Thankfully we each had goggles to wear. Toward the end Lauren and Steph stopped using theirs, but I wasn't about to loose a contact or get dirt/mud in my eye. I can handle mud all over, but when it comes to my eyes, I draw the line.

Almost done! Waiting in line to go down the huge slip n' slide.

The Muddy Angels, complete with wings.

We don't mess 'round! Or, uh, we play dirty. Take your pick.

Eating post race peaches. No we did not wash our hands. No we didn't care.

 My only complaint was that my shoes were so heavy and the extra weight torqued on my weak ankle. The course was great- the obstacles felt well spaced. The muddy water was freezing. The company couldn't have been better. It was a blast!! I totally want to do it again next year.

We Choose Our Battles

Amelia is a night owl, and LOVES to sleep in. However, with the bus coming around 8am I have had to go in and wake her most  mornings to get ready for school. Bed time can sometimes be a struggle with my sweet girl, as she loves one on one time with mom. Last night, after tucking Amelia into bed, (which involved talking, snuggling, and saying prayers) she came into my room. Normally I would have been stern and made her get back in bed, but I decided to let her climb into bed with me to talk/snuggle/be silly/take pictures.

So happy together

Silly Faces

I feel I can be too serious as a parent. Lately I have really tried to lighten up and take time to be silly and laugh with my kids. It has been making a great difference in our relationships, and has helped them to better understand the important of things when I get serious.

After about 15 minutes of quality one on one time, Amelia willingly climbed back into her bed and fell right to sleep. 

Saori- A new addition to our family!

No we have not adopted a baby, but this is probably the closest we'll get to international adoption for the time being.

While on vacation this summer visiting Tim's parents, my mom called and mentioned that she received an email from a friend of hers, who helps students from Japan find host families to stay with, and that there was a student coming at the end of August who was needing a host family. I asked Tim (while my mom was on hold) if he would be interested in hosting an exchange student. He asked for the phone, and said without much thought, that yes, we would host this student. We didn't know anything about the student at that point, other than that she was female. Once home we got an email with a bit more limited information.


We had a few weeks to prepare a room for her to stay in. We decided clean out our office and put things in storage, and a computer in our family room so that she would have a place to stay. Then at the end of August, I went to pick our student up from the airport.

Saori became a member of the church in 2009 and then served a full time mission in Japan till March of this year. On the ride home, I learned that she was less than a year younger than myself. She has a degree in Psychology from a university in Japan, and wants to attend graduate school here in the US. In order to do this, she needs to improve her English (which she is already quite good at speaking- we communicate just fine- but not to the level necessary for grad school). She is attending an international school in our city for her English studies.

After only a few days in our home, it was crazy to think that she hadn't been living with us all along. She is a great friend, helps with chores, enjoys playing with and engaging our children, and has even cooked a few delicious Japanese meals for our family.

Home with us for two days, needing a picture of her host family to send her family back in Japan.

The kids waiting patiently at Walmart while we got Saori hooked up with a pay as you go cell phone.

Amelia and Saori decorating each other's hair with flowers.

Delicious Japanese fried rice!

More girl time outside.

Another meal, this one- prepared as part of my birthday dinner. The kids, especially Amelia, all enjoyed eating it.

Another outside picture of Amelia, Saori took while they were spending time outside.

Saori with two of my nieces at a family birthday party.

Showing off the boys to a friend on skype. (Really, they wouldn't leave her alone and instead of getting frustrated, included them in what she was doing.)

We have loved having this new addition to our family. She enjoys calling me her "host mom" even though i feel like we have more of a sister relationship than a mother-daughter relationship. (Remember, we are alike 10 months apart.) Unlike others who have host/ed teen exchange students, I don't need to remind her about chores, homework, etc, which is great.
Its been great fun having a continuous taste of another culture in our home. We are just waiting for our amazon order of chopsticks to come so we can implement those in our daily eating. And I'm sure with time/weather changing, we will also adopt the use of the house slippers. 

Kindergarten Conundrum

Amelia is attending public school kindergarten this year. Yes, it's true. If five years ago you had told me that I would send my little girl to a public school I would have gotten offended and we might not have been friends afterward. Before I even had children- or was even married, I have wanted to home school my children. There is a "home school" label for my posts on this blog for crying out loud. I did however say and plan to involve the Lord in my children's education plan. I knew that it would be a matter of prayer and that if for some crazy reason my child/ren were to attend school, and I would do whatever I was lead by the spirit to do. I was home schooled from grades 3rd-9th and I loved it, because of several personal challenges school was intellectually and emotionally challenging. I was dealing with some massive PTSD and a learning disability and I feel that I would not have made it though those years of my life had my mother not decided to home school me.

For months before school started this year I prayed and fasted about what rout would be best for Amelia's education. Then I prayed some more to know what to do. I was feeling at this point that I could make the decision myself, that I could choose. I felt I would have the blessing of the Lord no matter what and so I moved forward with my desire to home school.  I felt that having a set curriculum would be the best option. I started looking into set curriculum. I really liked Abeka and decided that we would go with that for this first year of home schooling. A friend of mine uses the curriculum and let me look it over to determine the best grade of books to order. After making this decision and having a plan to work with I felt uneasy. So uneasy that I applied to have Amelia attend two of the local charter schools. When I got the letter saying she didn't make it in via the lottery and that she would be on the waiting list (numbers 17 and 137 respectively), I was a bit disappointed since at that point I was feeling like school might be the place she needed to be.

There was more praying, lots of  tears, talking with other moms-specifically my sisters. I voiced my worries and concerns about public school. I was reassured that most of my worries were normal mom worries. We talked about the girl Amelia is and how much she needs to stay engaged. We talked about the things she would learn with what I am hoping- will be more easily and more efficiently than if she were at home. She would make friends. Hopefully the experience would be fun for her as well. If it didn't go over well or if I wanted to pull her from public school, I would always have that option. I knew that if she attended public school, she would not be gleaning much, if anything academically.

In the state we live in to be tested into a grade level above what they should be enrolled because of their age(for Amelia to go into 1st instead of kindergarten), she have to test two complete grade levels above, as though she had just completed 2nd grade (our tax dollars at work my friends). Amelia is reading well into the 2nd/3rd grade levels, her penmanship is not perfect but she definitely knows how to write her letters and numbers, count to one hundred, do simple addition and subtraction, etc. So still the feeling that she needed to attend school, knowing she knows almost everything kindergarten has to offer academically. It would have been much more difficult to do if I didn't know it was the right thing.

Amelia needs structure and to know that other kids have the same expectations as she does. among other things she needs to learn to wait her turn (something she has always struggled with) and to have a positive attitude when she does have to wait. Come on people- she's five years old after all- its only natural. Something Tim and I have both been seen with other home schooled children and peers, is that if it doesn't come from mom or dad, it's not really valid.  That this is something specific they struggle with- having someone in an authoritative position that is not mom or dad. (Note: I understand that attachment with mom and dad is the most important and most of the time, we want only the parents to be the figures of authority- but this can be a problem for accountability with the boss at work, a professor at school, or even a spouse.) Even when it does come from us, Amelia's parents, she some times thinks it is unimportant.

So we moved forward with enrollment at our local elementary school. We went to the back to school night and met with her teacher. Her teacher and I talked about implementing things to challenge Amelia academically and keep her engaged. I am really hoping that this will happen more and more since I haven't noticed any academic challenges after the first week and a half. I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic as I know she has 24 other children she is responsible for. Amelia has yet to come home with assigned home work, but we still work together at home after she gets home from public school.

Amelia loves to ride the bus with her cousins in the morning, and then home from her half day with her kindergarten friend in our neighborhood. I swung by the school as she was finishing and when she saw me was quite upset and worried that she wouldn't get to ride the bus home. Silly girl. 

Amelia at the bus stop on her first day of Kindergarten.

So there you have it. Never in a million years did I think we would be here, but we're here.