5th graders with big hearts

One of Brenden's fifth grade classrooms won 500 books in a contest. The class donated all 500 books to 4 different organizations because they wanted to help more than one organization. They donated to Lutheran Social Services, Job and Family Services, another local organization I can't remember then name of, and Children's Hospital in memory of their friend and classmate Paige Weaver who died in 2008 from a brain tumor and she spent a lot of time at Children's during her fight. Wow. I'm speechless and so proud of these guys. To remember and honor Paige that way is amazing. And to think of the kids in the community as well who can use these books...What a great bunch of 5th graders we have at Tarhe Elementary. I'm honored to be a parent of one of them.

The long awaited Spencer's birthday post

This post just got away from me. Sorry 'bout that. I had to load the pictures on my computer which I just kept forgetting to do. So anyway, on May 2 we had Spencer's birthday party at the bowling alley. He turned 7 on May 1. He invited some friends from school and of course our nieces Haley, Hannah and Hope. Spencer loves WWE wrestling and his newest favorite wrestler is Shawn Michaels who recently retired. So for his birthday he requested the Shawn Michaels My Journey DVD and so we got that for him as well as a Shawn Michaels t-shirt. And it was time to upgrade bikes so we got him a new bike as well. He got some presents from some of the kids but mostly he got money and lots of it. In all, including gift cards, he made out with $90! He spent it so wisely too. I can't remember everything he bought with all his money but some include a WWE action figure, some WWE cards, and he bought the kids version of cornhole (the bean bag tossing game) for $20. He's so great with his money. He really thinks about everything for a while before he makes his final decision to purchase. That's so awesome. So here are some pictures of his funfilled day.

Here he is with his bike. We actually gave it to him the day before the party which was his actual birthday anyway. We couldn't figure out how to take the bike to the bowling alley. Miss grouchy pants. She wouldn't smile. In her defense, she was up late the night before watching a movie and she didn't have a nap on party day either since the party was at 3.

What an amazing race

Yesterday I ran the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. I finished it in 46:21. The time also includes about a 2 minute potty break at 1.5 miles. So I did beat my time from my first race just 3 weeks ago by 1 minute. Megan saw the time and asked what my time was at the last race and she saw we were cutting it close so we just started sprinting. After I crossed the finish line I had to sit on the curb quickly, I thought I was going to throw up. I pushed myself very hard in this race. The hills were no fun at all. I did have to walk some and I'm okay with that. There were other runners that were taking walk breaks too so I felt much better about myself seeing that. There were 50, 286 people at the race. It was amazing.

I was on Heather Pick and Stefanie Spielman's team. They are both prominent women from Columbus who have passed away in the last 1 1/2 years. Both were young, I believe Heather was 37 and Stefanie was 42. Both leaving young children behind and husbands. Heather started the pink wig tradition and it is carried on. There were several times I cried before the race began. They had 2 trolly's full of women currently undergoing treatments for breast cancer and when I saw this one woman crying and waving I started crying. When Maria Durant, a local newscaster who is a breast cancer survivor herself, started crying, I cried then too. The moment of silence for all who've lost their battles, cried again. It was a very emotional day. There were families running with their survivor, husbands wearing pink wigs, a woman being pushed in a wheelchair, it was just a great show of support. I wore an in celebration tag for my aunt Jane who is a breast cancer survivor and an in memory tag for my cousin Marquita who passed away just a few years ago from her battle with breast cancer. When I was writing those tags was the first time I cried that day. I was so proud to be running in honor of them. At the last mile there is something called thunder tunnel where motorcyclists line up along both sides of the street and rev up for us in support and that was so cool. So many people were out all over the place clapping and cheering everyone on. It was just the most wonderful race experience I could have asked for.

This is the picture of Heather and Stefanie's team. Me and Megan are way in the back.

These are my tags honoring my aunt and cousin.

This is Me and Megan.

My next 5K

My next 5k is tomorrow. I'll be running the Race for the Cure Columus to fight breast cancer. I'm on Heather Pick and Stefanie Spielman's team. Heather is a local newscaster who lost her battle with cancer about a year and 1/2 ago and Stefanie lost her battle in November. Everyone on their team will be wearing pink wigs in memory of them. I will also be wearing an in memory tag for my cousin Marquita who passed away a few years from breast cancer and an in celebration of badge for my aunt Jane who won her battle 17 years ago. I'm very excited to be running this race. It will be an emotional race. Details to come in a few days. Wish me luck!

Please vote

I'm asking my readers to consider voting for Katelin and Phil for a 60K dream wedding at http://www.elevenelevenwedding.com/. Kaetlin is the daughter of a lady who works for the same company as me. All of us girls know that if we would have had the chance for a paid dream wedding we would have wanted it. Let's give this young couple a chance. They are one of 10 finalists. Thanks!

My Mother's Day

I know I still have to get Spencer's birthday post done, but I wanted to post really quickly about Mother's Day. I've been working so hard this past week and running everyday and I just haven't had the time to do my blog this week. So anyway, this morning Richard got up with the kids and they made me breakfast in bed. I had french toast, hashbrowns and chocolate milk. Yummy! Each kid carried something into the room and Cassidy said Happy Valentines Day then corrected herself and said I mean Happy Mother's Day. So sweet. And Cassidy had in her hands a picture frame with a picture that Richard took of the kids yesterday with them holding up the words Happy Mothers Day. (see above picture) That's so sweet! So I ate my breakfast, Richard brought up the paper and the kids left me alone. I came dowstairs about 1/2 hour later and the boys gave me cards they made at school and Cassidy gave me one she colored for me this morning. (Brenden's card stated that he wouldn't fight with Spencer for 1 day...if he meant that to be today, he's already broken that one!) Then the kids gave me a card they bought for me and gave me some gifts. The gifts were 3 running shirts, a visor to wear while running and Cassidy's pick was a box of chocolates. So I guess my theme here is I will run for chocolate LOL! And now Richard is doing some cleaning, the dogs are outside, Cassidy is watching Spongebob and the boys are playing video games in their rooms. Now I just need to teach the boys to do laundry which is something they both had in their mother's day cards that they will do and it just turns out there's a weeks worth of laundry just waiting for them. Lucky them....Lucky me! Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Birthday pics coming soon

Spencer turned 7 on Saturday May 1. We had a birthday party for him at the bowling alley on Sunday. I'm on a quick break from working so I'll post more in a few days as well as pictures. Got to go downstairs and grab something to eat and back on the phones.