Thursday, March 29, 2018

I Want To Remember part 4

The end of March is near... and these are the things I want to remember:

- The sun keeps setting a little later each and every night... with that, it rises a little earlier each and every day. I have a love/hate relationship with it... I pretty much love everything about it, except that the kids are awake WAY too early for my liking. Bring on the extra cups of coffee (which I really don't have a problem with.)

- This month, Charlotte won her first "Terrific Kid" award at her school... To be a "terrific kid", means she demonstrated a positive attitude, good character, and responsible citizenship...  the word for this month that she displayed well, was "inclusive"... "To be inclusive is to be kind and welcoming to others; to use our empathy skills to identify others that are feeling alone or left out and include them." WOW... when I heard the news, I cried tears of joy. Charlotte struggles academically... she gives it her all, but for some reason, it's just not her thing. But this... this is SO much more than academics. I love that her light is shining in school, and that someone noticed. This speaks volumes to my heart... proud Mom over here.

- Jo is SO ticklish on her feet... so ticklish, that when we have to put socks and shoes on, it takes 4x as long as it should take.

- We're making the most of the sunshine we've had... playing outside in all the daylight possible. We even had a day that was in the 70's. The bubbles have come out, the sidewalk chalk is out... and soon we will be busy with planting. We pull the panel mat outside to practice somersaults, create obstacle courses, and work out with the sun hitting our faces. It's been lovely... the only not so lovely part, is when the babies make a run for our street... which is ALL the time. They want to go see our neighbor's chickens or their puppy... or just galavanting... the only solution I have for now, is to park in a way in which they can't escape. Usually the natural forest is a barrier, but the driveway leads out... to stop them, I park the van in a very intentional way (see picture.)

- Marley has always been able to use her "big girl" scooter... but, she's finally learning tricks on it (taught to her by Charlotte, of course) and it's so awesome to watch her delight in all that she can do.

- Mable is talking more and more lately... even more than Jo... She's usually the quietest little thing, but it seems as though she's found her voice.

- Jo's love for her blanket that her Oma knit, runs DEEP. She takes it everywhere... when she's upset, all you have to do is give her the blanket, and she's back to normal. All of my kids have loved their blankets, but this one, she takes that love to a whole new level.

- We've started building a rock wall to contain our huge flower bed in the front yard... It slopes down, so the wall should help hold the mulch in it a little better and of course makes it look super pretty. I'm really excited to get it done and start planting in it some more.

- My current jams come from a guy named Roo Panes. I'm adoring his songs "Land of the Living" and "Open Road"... the folky sound of his music, makes it super fun to listen to while I edit photos, sew, clean up... or just unwind from the day.





















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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

It's Working Out

Crossfit... it's something that my husband got into years ago... he fell in love with while we were stationed in Korea, which seems ages ago. He began building a home gym shortly after his love for it began, and it grew immensely during our 3.5 year stay in Oklahoma. It began with ordering a pull up bar and bands... and then added a weightlifting bar, and weights for that bar... and then a rower... followed by installing a rig into our home in Oklahoma. He began to find deals on Craigslist... kettlebells and dumbbells priced just right, an old school Air Dyne bike...the garage gym was growing... and I was still pretty skeptical about this whole "Crossfit" thing. When we moved from Oklahoma to Washington... all we kept was the rower and our barbells... he had a completely different idea of what he wanted his home gym to look like in Washington. Before we even settled into the house, his order from Rogue was delivered... squat rack/yoke, sled, a box jump, more plates and barbells... a ski erg came along later, as well as more pull up bars... his garage gym has grown so much... next up, is a rope climb station on one of our big trees outside. I'm sure he can tell you each piece of equipment in purchase order, the way I can with my camera gear. It's his passion, his thing...

For almost a year, I've stepped into this part of his world that I used to roll my eyes at... I was that person that said "I'll NEVER do Crossfit." (insert eye roll)... and here I am... doing Crossfit. After I graduated from my bootcamp class in April of 2017, I jumped right into class at one of our local boxes. We were never able to workout at the same time, schedules just wouldn't allow it (especially since the twins were so much younger at the time)... and so I would hit up a later night class (my very first class was a 5:30 am class). I still remember the first time I back squatted... the bar, which weighs 35#s felt like it was crushing me... I laugh at that now. Fast forward a few months... at the end of November, my membership to the box was expiring, and the hubby had already moved along to a new box (and left that box... class times just weren't matching up well with his work schedule)... At that point, we were working out with each other on the weekends, it just felt natural to hold each other accountable and workout with one another during the weekdays as well. I mean, we had ALL that equipment in the garage gym to use... so why not! 

Getting started wasn't a problem. We knew we loved the programming that Ben Bergeron put out, so we decided to carry along with that... We live 3+ acres between our neighbors, so we blast our music and go to town. Friends have joined along the way, which brings even more fun/enjoyment to the workouts. Weekends are usually filled with at least 1 person stopping in (this last weekend we had 4 others join us!) The kids love being at home while we workout... they get inspired... they build their own workouts, and execute them (Charlotte especially)... they are little monkeys, that see and do what we do. I call that a win. I'd say that working out in the garage gym... has been working out for us. Right now, there's no where else I'd rather be...























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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

The arrival of Spring

It's the first day of Spring... it's one of those days that my soul craves for, for so long. These last few days leading up to Spring, haven't been too bad, and have given us quite a taste for what was to come.  50 degree weather (one of the days, it even hit the 70's)... sunshine pouring through the windows... blue skies. Dishes, laundry, vacuuming can wait...it's time to play.




















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Tuesday, March 06, 2018

I Want To Remember part 3

The things I want to remember about closing out last month and starting a fresh/new month:

- February, flew by... which I was so thankful for, because January took FOREVER. 

- This new month, brought a new after school activity for Charlotte. She started a running program called, "Girls On The Run." She's been asking to be a part of this for quite some time. It's a group of girls that get together twice a week... learn to how to be confident and bold all while training for a 5k.... which coincidentally I have to run with her as a buddy. She's loved everything about it so far... the running, the giggles, the pep talks, her new water bottle... her favorite part? Writing notes of encouragement on her arm with marker to look at while running. This second week, the coaches said she ran 4 more laps (in the time allotted ) than the next top runner... whew. The girl is unstoppable. 

- I was singing "Wheels On The Bus" to the babies while changing their diapers, and Finn came in. I was at the point where the babies just cried on the bus, so the "Mama on the bus, goes shh shh shh." And Finn exclaimed, "Mom, the Mama doesn't say shh shh shh, she says NO NO NO!"... noted Finn. 

- Mable and Jo love going outside. They bring me their shoes all the time, because they think if I put them on, I'll let them go outside. Marley has taught them how to forage pine brush... and make bouquets out of it.

- My Oma (grandma, in Canada) just moved into an assisted living community apartment. The kids and I spent some time this week creating artwork to send in a "welcome to your new home" care package. Lots of lovely oceans and rainbows to hang on the walls.... I love watching them create... they beam when they show me their creations. I adore it... makes me think of how our Creator, must beam at the sight of us.

- Completed 18.2 and 18.2a this last week, for Crossfit's Open. What a doozy of a workout.. my legs felt like jello after. My favorite workout song currently: Cake by Flo Rider.

- Survived another week with the hubby being away from us... lots of work away lately... It always disrupts the routine/rhythm that we have going on. Thankful for when he surprises us with early returns... those are always the best. 

- The kids have been waking up earlier and earlier each morning... it's time for Daylight Savings. 


















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