stuff i've been doing....

Believe it or not, I have been doing fun, constructive,happy things with my days. Things that involve much less drama than concussions, old boyfriends, and buckets of crazy. Some of them are more bittersweet than others, but it's all good.....

The first Saturday in May, I participated in the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure". I signed up to run with my niece just as I was getting over the rheumatic fever. Walking was still painful then, and I really wanted a goal to work toward. I've always been very active--taking step aerobics, using the elliptical machine, walking at a 15 incline on the treadmill---but I've never been a runner. I trained really hard to be able to run at least some of this 5K. Turns out it was sooooooo crowded that we couldn't have ran if we wanted to! Ah well!!! Brittany, my niece, made it fun! She thought we had a great "conversation" during our speed walk. Sweet, sweet Brittany--conversation involves TWO people, and really what we had was me having a case of the verbal diarrhea that seems to so easily inflict me since this divorce. I'm sure if there had been any traffic, my non-stop jabbering would have made you run out into it! (That's just me trying to be funny again--except that it's sadly true too :)!). Thank you so much though Brittany. The whole thing would have been a bore without you! And thank you Heavenly Father for my ability not only to be able to walk again, but maybe even to run!

There's not a picture of it, but I got to wear an "in memory of my mom" sign on my back. The small cell cancer in her eyes, brain, lungs and liver that finally killed her was a result of metastasized breast cancer. It was neat to see women who had survived this disease all around us, and others running "in memory" as well. Very powerful.

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Happy Birthday James! I love a kid turning 2! I COULD have had a fancy-schmancy kind of party, but why bother? All he cared about was blowing out these candles over and over and over again! What a sweetie! He also sang the birthday song to himself throughout the day. "Happy Boo-day du me.... " Love this boy ;)!

Liam, of course, had to give him a little help!

He got a gallon of chocolate milk (I call it his 'kiddie coffee' since it's what he always asks for first thing in the morning!) and books for presents. Again-- he was as thrilled with it all as a teenager would have been getting a new car! And yes, that is Brad holding him. Difficult on my heart to do these "family" things--but I'll keep doing them because I know it is still such a blessing to my children to have us be able to get along and be together.

AND FINALLY........

Since the boys will be attending public school for the very first time in the fall, we decided we'd check things out and attend the ****school carnival*****:

Do you guys remember these things being so crowded when you were little? It was like being at Disneyland or something---lines for EVERYTHING!
Zane helping Liam at the golf game. He won a kazoo!
Ethan and his friend after a visit to the face painting booth.
Ice cream was a big hit. It was still nearly 95 degrees that evening! Kind of wish I'd had some wet wipes with me afterwards though.....
All in all we had a really fun time. We only lost Liam once.

I found a nice lady willing to take a picture of all of us. We have far too few of these, and I want my kiddos to remember that I really was there!(says the invisible woman :) ). And if by chance you happen to click to enlarge it, I look horrid. 4 hours of sleep a night and too much stress has not been kind to my poor face---but the smile is genuine, I promise. Look at these sweeties I'm with. How could it not be?!

Thanks again for putting up with the randomness! Have a great day! (and by the way, is it just me or is this new Natasha Bedingfield song not incredibly catchy?! I gotta pocket, gotta pocket full of sunshine.....)

*update: Wednesday night: How many rounds of Guitar Hero do you think David Cook had to play to be able to jam along with ZZ? Has anyone else passed that level :)?!