May Long and Other Adventures

I did a really dumb thing last week. I broke my toe. Really not the smartest thing to be doing when you are training for a half marathon that is a week away. I wish I'd broken it in a more glamorous way like booting a soccer ball, or getting stepped on with a cleat, but no, it was pure clumsiness. In the middle of the night I got up to close a window. Instead of walking around the bed to get back in I thought I would do this flying leap over to my side of the bed. Seemed good in theory. I guess I'm not as limber in the wee hours of the night because I whacked my toe right into the corner of my hope chest at the the foot of my bed. The pain took my breath away and it throbbed for the rest of the night. I hope that it was just a bad bang but when the next couple of days revealed swelling, a black toe, and no ability to bend it, I knew my half marathon hopes were over.

I could just kick myself. Just four days before I had done a 12 mile run with my running partner and we were really feeling ready. Instead I ended up running an aid station and wiping away tears as I watched my running partner zoom by. I don't do very well as a spectator. It killed me to not be in that race with so many of my colleagues. It just sucked. PERIOD.

I've been really careful with it and I'm hoping to be in good form for the upcoming family fun run in mid June.

Reggie kicked at his track meet this year. He finally has figured out where his talents lie, and was smart with his event choices.  Last year he signed up for shot put. Yup, that's right SHOT PUT. Reggie and I are pretty much built the same. I told him, "Reg, have you looked at our arms? People like us don't do shot put." To spite me, he still got fourth, beating out kids who outweighed him by 40 pounds.

This year he went in long jump, triple jump, 800m, and 1500m. He got first in all of them. The best moment was when he did his last long jump and beat my standing school record. He was so happy and so was I. It was a memorable mother-son moment. (Technically, my record still stands because he is a boy ; )

For the May long weekend we braved the weather and decided to go camping in Waterton. There were a few sunny moments that we took advantage of. The kids love camping no matter what kind of weather there is.  We did a short hike to Bertha Falls. Another dumb decision on my part. I wanted to test out my toe, and it killed afterward. My sister and her family, my mom and dad, and my brother in law and his family were there as well. It was a nice change of scenery.

 

 

House progress has been non-existent, as I have been at the mercy of my contractors and the weather. I don't really like to talk to much about it, because it makes me too mad. They say they are coming to start framing Wednesday. I'm not getting my hopes up though. I'll only get excited when there are actual hammers and nails flying up there.

All three kids are playing on the summer games soccer teams. It has kind of spun our schedule out of control. My calendar has no white space left to write in. I suppose it is a good thing though. I would rather having them super busy than sitting at home vegetating or bugging each other.

June go quickly!

Mother's Day

I've never felt like I've been a very good mother. Parenting weaknesses abound and patience often runs thin. I distinctly remember saying to Cam, "I could never be a single parent. I think I would check into the nut house in no time flat." Well...........about that.............It is pretty scary to think how close I have come to checking into the nut house sometimes. There is definitely a reason families are supposed to be made up of a mom and a dad.

When half of the equation is cut out it is hard. Very hard. I don't really have the skill set to be a successful single parent. However, some compensatory blessing make it possible to keep going when the slogging is tough. One of these bonus blessings is the children I have been given to raise. Although they are far from perfect, they are perfect for me. They teach me so much. I feel so lucky to be a mother to THEM.

Cooper sneaked into my bed at about 2:30 AM as he often does. Usually he continues to slumber while I get up and get ready. Today though I heard him awake and check the clock. After seeing it, he leaped from the bed and began dashing out of the room. He thundered downstairs organizing the rest of the troops and shouting orders. Although the attempt to keep the noise to a minimum was duly noted, there was a lot of pot clanging, drawers slamming, and timers dinging, interspersed with a lot of SHHHH BE QUIET! SHE'S GOING TO HEAR US!  The breakfast parade then descended upon my room with Coop leading the way, beaming. After making sure I ate every morsel of my food, they begged to bring in the Mother's Day gifts before we started getting ready for church.

The high point of the day for me was Reggie's talk in church. He did it all on his own last night while I was out watching 'The Avengers'.  (Didn't really like it, but that is a post for another time). It is so weird to see your kid standing in front of a large audience competently speaking about you. I tried not to get emotional and make a fool of myself on the stand, but it was hard to hold back tears. I had the revelation that maybe I am doing a couple of things right and the sacrifices I make are noticed.

Motherhood is often unsung, less than glamourous, and very, very exhausting, but the rewards are out of this world.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Missing in Action

Well, I guess I deserve the prize for the most inconsistent blogger ever. Life has been so crazy that I just haven't found a moment to jot anything down. The other annoying thing is I think my phone was stolen, so all the fun pictures that I would have had to post are POOF! I was pretty ticked at first, but I am loving the new iphone I bought.

Where do I begin............How about with some categories?

House

Basement is done!  It is all completed and ready to begin framing. The problem is my framers got behind on their other job and now my framing job can't start until May 23. Boooooo! So frustrating. Road is done, and not without some major miracles. There as been a long standing disagreement with the Town of Cardston and I about this road. I thought they should be contributers, as it is a town road, and they thought I should foot the whole bill. Finally, I called up the mayor and the town admin and had them meet me and Dad up at the build site. We emphatically explained our case and asked for some concessions. They said they would see if council would pass them. A few days go by and I was standing there teaching my grade 7  class when I looked out my window and saw dump truck after dump truck heading to my property. I dashed up there after school to find out that the town agreed to pay for the grader operating cost, donate 26 truck loads of clay, and haul it in to boot! Miracles I tell you! Soooooo happy about that. That being said I do need to say that general contracting my own house was pretty much the stupidest decision that I have EVER made. Definitely over rated my abilities on that one. Basically, I have aged at least 10 years since the process started , taking at least that much time off my life span.  I just want a break from being in charge of every little thing. It would have been so nice to share this process with my best friend.

School

I have had some very stressful decisions to make in the last few weeks regarding school. First the vice-principal position came up at my school and several people encouraged me to apply. I hmmmed and hawed for many days and then decided it was not my season to do that kind of thing.

Then another opportunity presented itself to transfer to the High School. It is so hard to make a decision when both options have positives. I decided to stay put, which will have me teaching something completely new--grade 6 and a choral class. Big time stretching for me as I have been in a comfortable place for several years.

Other Stuff

Soccer season is in full swing. I decided to coach Marin's team this year, which has me coaching two nights a week. All together we have soccer three nights a week. The kids are loving it, but it a is mach speed life. I finally got my favorite color (orange) for my team color this year and I think it is a good omen. My players are trying to convince me to call our team the School Bus so that they can yell a chant at the other team each game, "We'll take you to school!" They are so funny. Today we were able to get outside and play some ball. I bet I pitched at least 100 pitches in the back yard. The kids never tire of it. Then it was on to some kids against mom soccer. After taking the lead, Mar says to me, "Mom, if you are going to play adult soccer you'd better step it up. I mean, you've got to me able to beat kids,". Touche!