Twister Olympics

We play a different version of Twister in our house. We always start off with the traditional rules but then quickly change gears to use the mat in a completely different way. We come up with "tricks" each player has to perform on the mat. For example, hop on one foot staying on one color or do a forward roll and land on one single dot. It gets very silly and the kids come up with some very creative ideas. Ben and I try to do some of the tricks but it's not very pretty! Luckily, the only injury has been to the mat itself. All five Schwables are still in one piece.

Safe!

Corbin's baseball team played in their first tournament this weekend. It is so fun to watch nine year olds play baseball. They are old enough to take the game seriously and look like a real baseball team but not quite old enough to remember to go the bathroom before the game. Nothing is cuter than a delay in the game due to the fact that the batter is in the bathroom (thankfully not my son). Corbin had some good plays and good hits but this picture definitely captures his shining moment of sliding into home. Too bad I had to shoot it through the fence. I have actually gotten pretty good at shooting through a fence and not being able to tell but I wasn't fast enough this time.

Gymnastics

Josie loves gymnastics. She takes two classes a week and goes to a two hour play date on Fridays at the gym. She practices constantly at home and even has her own beam in my office. On Monday, Josie did cartwheels down the soccer field at her very first soccer practice. We probably need to have a little talk about that. Josie may not love gymnastics next year - next week for that matter, but for today, I have one very happy little gymnast!

Strep Throat and Cloudy Days

Within hours of coming home from my weekend with my mom, my son began complaining of a headache. By 3:00 in the morning we knew he had strep. Corbin always has stomach issues and a headache when he has strep. He rarely has a sore throat. By morning his temp was 105.5 but he always runs a high fever when he's sick. In fact, he can look at someone with a cold and spike a 102 temp. We don't get too concerned about his fevers but we did take him to the doctor for a strep test. Positive! Two shots in the legs later he was home and moaning on the sofa once again. It's been three days and he's still at home moaning in the family room. The poor little guy can't eat, can't move around because of his head, and he's drowning in homework.

The sky is dark, the rain is falling, and the temperatures are dropping outside. It is just one of those days when it seems perfect to cuddle up on the sofa, drink coffee, read a book or watch a movie and take a break from every day life. I am not motivated to do anything but type this blog and snuggle with kids. Of course I'll keep the hand sanitizer near by.

I hope you have a cloudy day every once in a while!

Let's Get Away

Sunday, my mom and I decided to head to Lake of the Ozarks for a two day get away. Because of my mom's cancer she has not been out of town in 23 months. She has spent many nights in the hospital but this was her first fun trip in quite a while. What better way to spend time than shopping? We found a lot of bargains but I'm not sure we saved any money because of the gas and hotel. We try not to focus on that!

I brought my point and shoot camera along and kept it in my purse. I didn't want to lug the big one around but now I wish I had. The funny thing about putting anything in my purse is that once it's in there, it may never be found again. I only took a couple pictures and none of them are anything special but they will remind me of my trip with my mom for years to come.

Ruby

Have you ever tried to take a picture of a very hyper dog? Meet Ruby. She is my two year old golden-doodle. I've always been told to be eye-level with your subject but doing so with Ruby meant that her enormous tongue was headed straight to my lens to check it out. That didn't seem like a good idea. Instead of this image being an exercise in lighting, it became an exercise in patience. It took much longer than I expected to capture the true personality of my dog.

It is a lot harder to decide the one topic for my picture than I expected. Josie had gymnastics today and I considered taking a picture of her but I can only shoot through the very dirty, smeared glass. Although it's good practice, the picture will never be clear. My mom made a fabulous dinner tonight and I thought that would be a great picture also. Trying to keep my three starving children away from the table long enough for me to play with the settings on my camera (I'm trying to learn here, remember) was a lost cause. I had an hour while Josie napped that I should have used to take some pictures, but I had brownies to make and ended up falling asleep as soon as I put them in the oven.

So, I ended up with a picture of Josie and her "ribbies". Josie received one of these little blankets from my friend, Cari, when she was a baby. After she grew very attached to it, Cari made her another one. I made her a third one when we kept having go back home for a forgotten one. She calls them blue, pink, and green (blue is really purple but she won't change it now). She keeps them draped over each hand and one on her face. She likes to rub her lips and fingers against the fabric. We're still trying to figure out how she'll make it through the day without them once kindergarten starts! As a well-adjusted adult who slept with a blanket until she married, I am not at all concerned about breaking her habit any time soon.

My picture for today actually makes me very happy when I look at it. Josie has a little spaghetti sauce on her face from lunch, her little sticker earrings from doing all her walks accross the tall beam without any help, and her very favorite ribby, pink. I took the picture without flash and practiced using my spot meter on my Canon 40D.

Today, March 18 2010, begins the first day of my 365 project. I hope that I will be able to have a record of my family's activities and improve my photography skills. I am excited that I also made this my first day back running.

Almost eight years ago I began running. I didn't just start with a 5k, I started training for a marathon. "From the couch to the finish line in four months," the coach promised. I had my doubts but I did cross the finish line (in DisneyWorld!!) and became hooked on marathons. I ran several more full marathons and many half-marathons before hitting "the wall." I quit running completely two years ago and I miss it like crazy! I miss my running partner and all the great talks we would have, I miss the way I felt after running 20 miles (a mixture of exhaustion and euphoria), I miss having that hour of me time, and I really miss being able to eat whatever I want! It is time to get back off the couch and on to the trails.

I took this picture of my very good friend and new running partner, Michelle. Michelle keeps me laughing, listens to me complain, and helps me keep moving. We've known each other a long time and I am looking forward to sharing many more miles with her. We've run Disney and Country Music half marathons together and I know we have a few more miles to share in the future.