365/273 Her People

Syd plays with her Little People every day; lining them up and two by two putting them back into whatever container she is using that day to haul them around.

The dog {Ruby of course; Pepper would never chew anything} has chewed on every one of them and they are all missing parts and pieces. Most mothers would toss them because of the chewed parts but I don’t have the heart to; she loves them regardless of their flaws.  Even at 3, she sets a good example for the rest of us.

Thank goodness Grammie gives Syd new Little People in her stocking every year.

365/272 The sweatshirts arrived

We ordered team sweatshirts at the beginning  of XC season and JD brought them home this afternoon.

Every year the shirts have a saying on the back chosen by the captains {all seniors} and the team members love collecting them all 4 years.  We were eager to see what saying was chosen for this year’s shirts.

We think that this one might get them in some hot water with the football players {JD said that he was not worried, the XC team could just out run them}.

365/271 New favorite food

Syd has fallen head over heels in love with Trix cereal. She wants to eat it morning, noon and night. I will not be buying another box for a while because she refuses to eat yogurt or, her old favorite, strawberry applesauce.

Also she has refused to sit in her highchair since CJ donated hers to Little Man. She is trying to be such a big girl.

365/270 1st Varsity race

Today JD competed in his first Varsity race. He got a new PR {Personal Record}, but it was not fast enough to keep his varsity spot. He missed it by less then 5 seconds. It is hard for him to celebrate the new PR because he so wants to get 3 varsity points and get his letter.

It was also the first race of the year that we took all the girls with us {it will probably be the last if it is up to me - Syd wanted to run on the course}.

This is the varsity team about 30 minutes before the race started. They were chilling, stretching, and doing some homework.

365/269 26 LO in 26 Days!

I did it! I completed 26 LO in 26 days!

I need to thank my family for putting up with this adventure; the girls for enduring all the basement play time and MJ & Hubby for dealing with the absent Mom who was running downstairs for a “minute” and returned an hour later after getting absorbed in the details of a page.

Here are the stats of what I completed:

2 @ 8.5X11

24 @ 12x12

4 about JD

3 about MJ

6 about CJ

5 about Syd

1 about all 4 kids

2 about my brother Brent

1 about our old house

1 about CJ and JD

3 about Syd and CJ’s relationship

13 were preplanned up to a point

13 were on the spot & surprised me with what I came up with

and for every one that I was not sure I liked when I completed, I love them now because of the memories they captured and because this it what it is about….

My kids enjoying the stories that are about their lives and learning what my perspective was on our life as it was happening. I love this hobby and thank my family for sharing with me.

MotherLOAD 26 The final day

Day 26

Could not have asked for better

This LO has been in the works for while now. Two years ago a friend of mine lost her sister to a freak accident {she tripped while jumping a fence at her son's high school track meet and hit her head on a rock and it killed her instantly}. I felt so sad for my friend and it kept me up most of the night thinking of how I would feel if I lost my only brother.

I wrote most of the journaling that night and knew which photo I would use with it but life happened and the slip of paper got filed away. While going through the Photo Freedom class I unearthed the note and all the feeling came back from that night so long ago and I knew that this page had to be created.

365/268 Snuggled up

I came back from taking JD to his XC practice to find the girls all snuggled together watching TV. I love to catch them getting along.

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Day 25

12 was quite a ride

365/267 Friendly Competition

JD and ZH have ran together on the Fleet Feet team but now they run for rival schools. They push each other, encourage each other, race each other and even help each other. Most races your will find these two neck and neck right to the finish line.

Today’s race was no different. JD said he needed ZH’s help to pass some of the the sea of white and green that is the usual top 15-20 runners from another school {a very fast team}.

Today they eeked their way into the herd and came up 13th and 14th with only 12 white and green in front of them. It was a great 2 mile race by both of them ZH finished 11:24 and JD, 11:24.5. These are 2 fast freshman.

At the end of the race I heard them congratulating each other and giving each other high fives {makes a mom proud}

*JD earned a varsity point {1 down 2 to go to get his letter}

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day 24

Do Big Eyes

365/266 pile it on

Homework, homework and more homework. MJ brings it home every night. She does as soon as she can and sometimes all evening long.

Funny I don’t recall JD having this much homework at this age but then again MJ is getting all A’s and JD at this age… not so much.

Everybody has there strong suits and MJ is good at putting her nose to the grind stone, JD likes to fly by the seat of his pants.

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Day 23

1st “Race”

365/265 Homecoming date material?

JD had a long day I guess. I found him like this about 6 in the evening. I think he has been staying up a bit too late this week, he is also having trouble getting up for school.

I brighter note he spilled the beans tonight that he has a date for Homecoming! Now I have to find him clothes to wear. His date told him she was wearing a pale yellow dress and to find a pale yellow tie, JD tried to get her to wear bright orange but she declined. {maybe she now is second guessing her decision to accept the date with him}.

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Day 22

Goodbye Hometown

365/264 holding the wall up

When CJ gets out of school the teachers have the class line up against the brick wall to wait for their parents. Every day they say “Hold up the wall kids”.

Well it looks like Syd has been listening. When we arrived today to pick up CJ today, Syd ran right to the wall and put her back to it.  I got a chuckle out if it.

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Day 21

When I’m 18?

365/263

The kids did not know what to do with themselves this afternoon. MJ celebrated being able to come home from school and start her homework immediately instead of rushing back out the door to deliver papers. She even had time to sit and relax in her super clean room.

JD’s day was not all that different from normal due to XC practice but he did not miss MJ complaining about have to delivering his route while he was running in practice. He was happy to just hang in his room and chat on the phone. {life of a teenager}

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Day 20

A Natural... this boy was born to run

365/262 The end*

*for now.

These were Sunday’s papers waiting for the kids. Little did we know that Sunday would be the last time they would be delivering papers…

This morning I got a call from the kid’s manager. She said “I just filled the 3 routes and the new carriers want to start immediately, would the kids mind?” Mind? Are you kidding, they were elated. They were supposed to deliver papers until Oct. 2 and MJ was not looking forward to this. She was really getting bogged down with school work and the 3 routes.

They will miss the clients and the money, but at this time the routes are 4 plus miles from our house and don’t fit into our busy schedules. Ones closer to home {within walking distance} and smaller would be perfect.

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Day 19

The treat you gave me

Another LO taken right from a blog post all about the first time Syd said and signed “Open” for me. A big milestone for her. {I cried}

365/261 Last day of Birthday celebrations

MJ has had a 3 day Birthday celebration and tonight we finally made cupcakes and lit the candles!

With all the ickies that has been going on in our house and the busy XC schedule we had to break up the festivities to fit them all in.

I think she is just happy to blow out the candles and dive into the cupcakes she and CJ helped make. 

I still can’t believe she is 13……

MotherLOAD 18

Day 18

“Backpack”

I was attracted to a flyer I got in the mail from The Dow Center for the Arts. The whole side of the flyer was the circles. I knew it would be difficult to replicate not to mention very time consuming. So I cut the flyer apart and used the circles I loved as is. That also dictated the size of the page and the color scheme.

365/260 Boy, how plans change

Our plans for the day derailed at 4:30 AM. CJ woke us up by throwing up in our bed. That meant we all were not going to JD’s race today and MJ was not going to get the day to herself like she wanted.

After the paper route, my day took a turn for the worse when I suddenly felt ill {I will spare you the details of that} and I basically slept the morning away on the couch. As soon as I started feeling better around noon, MJ laid down with a headache and stomach pains. What a way to spend your birthday, aye?

The good news is that CJ is as fit as a fiddle and Syd has not thrown up in more than 24 hours.

Hubby did escape to watch JD run and got a few pictures of the race. JD ran his Personal best today, 18:49. He was the second of his JV team to cross the finish line and just missed the chance to run Varsity at the next race by a second or so!

He is the one in Blue with the yellow M

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Day 17

Don’t Mess with ‘Lil sis

This is a story that never made the POD because JD asked me not to but I had to make a LO of it.

365/259 Happy Birthday {a day early}

We decided to celebrate MJ’s 13th Birthday one day early because we have a busy busy day tomorrow.

As usual in our house when it is your birthday the decision is your as to what/where we eat dinner. She chose Pizza Hut. She opened presents {the storage ottoman at the top of her want list, big pack of gel pens and pok-a-dot sheet set}. All just before JD ran out the door to a football game with his friends. We then took her and the girls out for DQ.

The rest of her evening was spent painting her nails and watching TV. She had to go to bed early so she can rise at dawn to delivery papers

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Day 16

Funny Face I love you