Swim Meet Time

After doing the practices for a year, Peanut finally decided he'd try a swim meet with the year round team. Actually, he agreed to a series of fun meets--just their team, every Friday for a month to kick off the season.

We missed the first week, and he was not feeling 100% the third week, but he got out there and swam his best each week. He ended up shaving 9 seconds from his IM in one week's time, and another 4 from his 50 free the same week. He's got a good breaststroke to work with, and tried backstroke, too. (He's not a fan of fly, and that one is so hard, I don't blame him.) Proud of him for trying something that was a little scary. Maybe he'll even do another meet or two during the season.

Miss Molly

We had to say goodbye to our sweet girl today. She's been part of our family for a lot of big and small stuff. She and I have walked thousands of miles together, she sat outside the door for hundreds of night feedings and even pushed her way in when she could tell I was getting frustrated with the crying baby. She's traveled the country and adjusted to new homes without much complaint. 

Managing the kids' grief as I was dealing with my own was not an easy thing to do at all. 

They were devastated and needed a lot of comfort, which I found hard to give as I was trying to comprehend what life was going to be like for me, losing this friend who was such a part of my daily routines. 

I ended up having the kids say goodbye at home and then I took her to vet on my own so I could have the time I needed with her, one-on-one. The vet staff was amazing and let me take as long as I needed, and then made a paw print that we'll get in a few weeks.

 So grateful for the 8+ years we've had with her--she was such a sweet dog, and the perfect match for our family.

We're Gonna Make a Fish Out of Him

Peanut moved up a level at his swim lessons yesterday! This guy has taken his time to warm up to swimming, but he made a major break through at the end of the summer and we're jumping on that with continuing swim lessons all year. My hope is that by next summer, he'll be able to join the swim team with our other two fish.

He's on his way--face in, gliding for several seconds, and didn't even fuss about forgetting his goggles today! Just keep swimming, Peanut!

It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye

It’s felt like we’ve been saying goodbye for weeks, but Tuesday was pretty rough. The kids all had their last day of school, 

which meant I had to fight tears through the elementary school hallway, saying goodbye to so many great teachers and friends we’ve made over the years. I didn’t even get out at the middle school because I didn’t want to deal with goodbye’s, but it didn’t matter because watching Bean’s teachers come running over to hug her before she left got me all choked up again. She’s been so sad about leaving behind her friends and teachers.

 Bug isn’t quite as emotional about it, but he’s had a fabulous experience this year, too.

Then we got to come home to a yard full of kids. Within an hour or so, there were 6 extra kids running wild through the forest with our three, having their final adventures. And then the goodbyes started. First, the Perez family had to take off. 

Then, we had dinner with our neighbors at Jason’s Deli, a surprise apple pie with friends from church who came by for a final goodbye, and then around 9:30, the kids had to say their final farewell to V & M. It wasn’t the happiest of times and we spent the next hour trying to get overly tired, very sad kids to bed so we could get back to packing and cleaning.

And we got to get up the next morning to continue the long process. Actually, it was a lot longer and messier than we’d hoped because the final packing up and cleaning always takes longer than you think. I had it in the back of my head that it would be nice if we could leave by 8, but probably wouldn’t make it out until 9. And, 6 hours later, we finally hit the road.

It could have gone much worse. The kids were not happy to get up and Bug was actually refusing to get out of bed at all and I knew that we were in for a difficult day, but then the Perez’ surprised us and showed up to help us take care of whatever we needed and seeing friends was just the right boost we all needed—kids stopped crying, we got to work on the cleaning, and we had someone to hand all the stuff off to that we couldn’t take with us.

I had been worried that having to say goodbye again was going to be too hard, but it was worth it for the happy distraction, and we just said see you soon—now to find a way to make it happen.

We had neighbors stop by all morning on their way to work to wish us well, which was both great, and really emotional for us all. 

 

Our containers were picked up (Note to self: Do NOT pack all the books in one container next time—it looked like the forklift might tip over with that one,) the house was clean, we stopped next door at Mary’s to do some last minute printing, said what we thought was the last goodbye, except for the house. The kids had been waiting until we were alone to say their goodbyes and get a good cry in—and cry they did! It was pretty intense—it’s really hard to leave this home we’ve all loved for so long. And when we finally did try to leave, we had issues with the garage door closing and had to run back over to Mary’s place for a battery. 

And FINALLY, we got a bunch of crying kids, a depressed dog, and a clueless guinea pig in the car, but we still had to stop at the post office and for a really late lunch. Luckily, feeding the kids made them stop crying, so they didn’t actually cry all the way out of town. It’s pretty surreal, though, that we drove out of Charlotte for the last time for who knows how long.

The Family That Runs Together

 

3rd Annual Green on the Green! I love events that get us exercising together as a family. and this race is extra fun since it benefits the school and is full of people we know. 

We didn't really train much for this year, so expectations were pretty low, which led to all of us being pleasantly surprised.

 

Bean beat her time from last year by quite a bit, and almost tied her best time, which was the first year when she was in running club and had been training for the race for months. I think she's more determined to train for next year and get a personal best.

 

Bug was the surprise contender. After last year's disastrous "run"

 (quick version--Bug made me drag him pretty much the entire 3.1 miles and whined the whole 54 minutes and 34 seconds it took us to finish), I was very skeptical when he insisted that he was running with Bean and I. It was Daddy-o's turn to walk with the boys, but since Bean and I weren't really thinking that we'd be able to run fast, or the whole time, I figured we could at least let Bug start with us and then when he stopped running, Daddy-o would catch up with him.

Instead, guess who ran the entire thing? I don't know when he turned into a runner, but he stayed with me for the first mile or so, and then slowly started pulling ahead. He actually would have beat Bean if he hadn't been so concerned with staying close to me. I was so proud of him and excited for the possibilities now that he knows he can push himself to do something hard and really succeed. Good life lesson.


Bug actually forced me to keep running, which I had not been planning on doing. I haven't run much at all for over a year because of a couple nagging injuries, and my training for this race never got above running for 2 or 3 minutes at a stretch, so it was push for me to try to keep Bug in sight.

 

These two came in faster than we'd expected, too. Peanut only got out of the stroller to run to the finish line, but he got a taste of what racing is all about.

 

All in all, this was probably the best race we've ever done as a family. Good times with everyone at Corvian!

It's Not Easy Being Green

Time for the second annual Green on the Green 5K. I love that the kids' school puts on this race. It's such an awesome family friendly, health focused activity, and the kids like getting to see all their friends and teachers along the way.

Peanut has done the race twice now in the stroller. Somehow, I have a really hard time imagining that he'll be able to do it on his own in 2 years which is when he'll be able to officially enter. Maybe because we have another kid who thinks he's going to die each year about 1 mile into it.

I'll tell you, I love races, love the idea of family ones, and like supporting this community in this way, but doing a 5k while essentially dragging a 60 pound person along behind you who keeps telling you that he's dying and he can't make it, really isn't my favorite. I wasn't even feeling all that competitive and hadn't planned to run it at all, but when there are 3 and 4 year olds passing you, and we can't even sprint the final few yards, it's painful. I have a lot of empathy for Daddy-o, who got that job last year. Love my middle child, but I don't think we'll ever be running partners :)

Post race festivities included rock climbing, a bounce house, and free pizza. Add in some warmish weather and lots of sunshine and it made for a good Saturday afternoon.

A Lifelong Dream

On Tuesday afternoon, I completed my goal for the month--to write a 50,000 word novel in 31 days. 224 pages. Hours and hours of writing, in Panera, the car, my bed, and curled in a blanket on the couch at 6 in the morning.

Typing those last few words felt exhilarating. Almost as good as the feeling of giving birth (and I guess it is kind of like bringing in a new life--one main character, a few strong supporting characters, and a dozen other little bits of lives were brought to life this last month.)

I've been on a high the last couple days. I've been writing since I was about 10, but I've only ever finished two long pieces before this, and the last novel was when I was about 12. (Incidentally, Bean found that one in a box and read it last year and said she really liked it. I haven't been brave enough to read it.) I haven't made the time to write much since having kids, so this felt like a big undertaking. But it was surprisingly possible. A couple hours a day, 6 days a week, and it added up to what I needed.

Maybe the most amazing part is that I was able to sit down at the end of December, plan out a few things I could cut out of my life completely (Candy Crush , she admits with head hanging), and a few things I could do ahead of time (menu plan for the month, some of the cooking), and then with Daddy-o's help on the weekends, free up 2 or 3 hours a day. Makes me wonder what other big projects I could tackle if I decided to make them a priority. Some of the things I've neglected need to find their way back into my life (exercise time has been very short most days), but some should probably stay banished so I can get more done.

And now, it's time to get back to work: reading it over, editing, figuring out if things work, especially in the middle when I was writing day-to-day, trying to keep my momentum going even though I wasn't sure the story was moving how I'd expected. And I need a title. I didn't think that would be so hard, and was okay beginning without one, figuring it would come to me as I wrote, but I'm at the end and still feeling lost on that.

I've started reading it out loud to the kids. Actually, the second I typed the last word, they starting demanding to hear it, so we read the first chapter and I was happy that they liked the beginning (which I also really liked). They talked me into two more chapters, and dinner was a chaotic rush that night before Daddy-o and Bean had to run off to the church, but it was fun to get a little feedback immediately. They aren't loving it quite so much now because it isn't all sunshine and roses (Bug begged me to change a crucial plot point that the entire story depends on, and got really mad when I said I couldn't, but you have to have some drama or something to keep things interesting), but I'm hoping to win them back eventually.