I signed up for....

my first 5K! It will be April 24th here in Lancaster. It is the 5K run/walk for Strides for Mental Health. I just saw this online when looking for local races and wanted to do this one since it will be smaller than the 5K Race for the Cure in Columubs May 15 that I'm also doing. Doing this smaller one will be less intimidating for me and will help me feel more confident when I head to the bigger one. My friend Natalie is running both of them with me. I am very excited about the fact that I just signed up for my first race.

Got Snow?

I know all of us in Ohio do. The only person in my family who doesn't have snow is my brother in Florida. The boys had the last 2 days off of school. We built a fort in the front yard. By we I mean Richard. But I did shovel some snow into the cooler to make one load for the fort. I got hit in the face with an ice snowball. Thanks for that Spencer. The left side of my face was red and swollen for a day and then I had a mark on my face that looked like a burn. It was mostly gone by the next day. Games were cancelled last Friday due to the Friday and Saturday storm we got. Friday the kids got sent home early from school for that storm. I'm going to be taking my exam at the college next Thursday to receive my certificate of completion of the insurance course and then I take the state exam for my Life and Health Insurance license. Very excited to get this done and nervous to take the tests. Now that I'm almost done with the insurance course online I can devote time to running again. You'll notice on my daily mile ticker that I've done 5 miles so far this week. 2 on Monday and 3 on Tuesday. Didn't get a chance to run yesterday but will get on treadmill tonight. Have to prepare for the 5K in May. Have a happy valentine's day everyone!

Spelling Bee update

We just got back from the spelling bee. Brenden made it three rounds finishing in 7th place out of 19 students in the spelling bee composed of 4th and 5th graders. The word that got him out was beige, which I must add was not on the list of words the principal gave the kids to study. None of the words he gave were on the list so I'm not sure what list the principal was looking at. So Brenden did great for not ever seeing these words before that he spelled today. He was one of nine 5th graders in the spelling bee, so out of @80 5th graders he's in the top of the class for spelling. He did a great job. I'm actually upset because of the whole list issue. I don't think that was very fair at all. He's been working on those words since last week making sure he got everything right. He had big words like consonant, straightforward, celebration, etc that were on the list that he mastered and then to get one that wasn't on the list.....not cool Mr. Knight. So, Brenden, great job bud. We are so proud of you. And I didn't take pictures so I wouldn't make him nervous. Your welcome Brenden!

Spelling Bee

Brenden is in the spelling bee! There are 3 from his class and he is one of them. The preliminary spelling bee is this Friday during the school day at the school and then if he advances he goes on to the county spelling bee, I believe, and then state from there. He was a backup last year if one of the 3 from his class last year was sick then he would have been in it. So wish him luck! We are very proud of him. And the spelling bee starts from grade 4 so Spencer isn't eligible to be in it for a few years.

Did you see them?

OMG! I think I called everyone I knew last night! They were on TV! Brenden, Spencer and Richard were on screen all night long! They were right there everytime they showed the wrestlers with the crowd in the background. It was so freaking exciting! I called my Dad, he called Julie, I called my mom, my brother, Josh and Jenny and 2 of Brenden's closest friends to tell them he was on TV. That was one of the most exciting nights of my life. Such a proud mom moment watching your kids on tv. I know they weren't on there for something they were doing rather at an event, but still they were shown all night long! And today they have a 2 hour delay so they were able to get some sleep since they didn't get home until 12:05 and got to bed at 12:30. What a memorable night for them. And they'll have a dvd as proof they were there for the rest of their life, so when the memory fades in 20 years they'll have something to watch to remember. I showed them the beginning of the show before they went to bed and we are going to watch it today after school. Thanks to everyone who took my crazy sounding calls. I don't think my dad has ever heard that screachy pitch in my voice ever in his life. That high pitched screech stayed with me all night. I was flipping the dog out with all my cheering. And Cassidy stayed up with me to watch it all too. Richard said it was so cool to watch how excited the boys were and I told him it was so exciting for me to watch them all night from here. It would have sucked for me though if they hadn't been on tv. What great tickets I bought. Couldn't have been a better spot!

Edit: 4:30pm boys are home from school. Brenden said everyone in his class saw him on tv last night and so many kids are coming up to him at school saying they saw him on tv last night. Spencer said a lot of kids in his class said they saw him. They are like celebrities in their school right now. How cool for them!

The boys are at....

WWE's Monday Night Raw! They were so excited before they left. Spencer is wearing his wristbands, hat, chain and shirt and Brenden is wearing his hat, shirt and chain. They both made signs to hold up and Richard did too. The dvr is set to record the show so the boys can see if they are shown on tv. I can't wait to hear their stories when they get home.

Meanwhile, I'm watching the Bachelor for now, but I'll be changing it at 9 to watch wrestling so I can see if I see the boys. Cassidy and I cleaned her room, scratch that, I cleaned Cassidy's room, while wondering why in the world it is necessary for her to dump everything she owns and play with it all at one time and then just leave it. She tries to clean it up but really she just pushes her mess to the side of the room. And when she does pick it up she combines dress up with barbies and ponies with the food for the kitchen, etc. I mean really, how hard is it to put the things back, together with like items, in the container they came out of instead of mixing and matching! But I give her credit for trying. It was completely overwhelming sitting on the floor in her room (which I had to find first to make a spot to sit) amongst my little ponies, dress up clothes, baby dolls, doll house and doll house accessories, barbies and food from the play kitchen all over the place. And of course the typical mom statement came out of my mouth, you know the one, "If I ever see this room like this again I'm going to sell it all!" which of course I won't but I say it to make a point. So, we'll see how that works out. I think all mom's know how that works out.....we see it messy again, we clean it, threaten again, and the drama contines. All part of being a mom.

Oh my goodnes....

I'm taking a quick break between chapters of studying for my licensing test. I'm now learning about annuities, variable and taxes. Holy Crap! I'm already mathematically challenged and then you throw in annuities and equations. So you see why the break was needed. Got to clear my head and be ready to concentrate. I say I'm mathematically challenged but I do our taxes every year and have forever. So I guess math is just one of those things I get worked up over nothing about. But it is one of the subjects I must concentrate on to get it, you know. I never had to work hard at learning any other subjects except math. Kara, you know this because you tutored me in math in high school. So, stand by your phone Kara in case I need to call you with questions! Just kidding. Wish me luck. Gonna grab a snack and back to the books!