Run for the River 2012

2012

2011

I purposely wore the same outfit as last year so I could compare my pictures.  I find it unfortunate that I think I looked better a year ago - a year in which I have worked out 5-6 days a week for anywhere between 1 and 3 hours a day and still gained 30 pounds.  Last year, I hauled Tiffany along with me.  This year, I met up with Charlotte, who "just needed to run a 10 mile training run anyway" so she decided last minute to Run for the River.  The rest of us aren't crazy and we did the 5K.  For a little while, I thought Whitney stood me up, but I found her after I wandered for 45 minutes, waiting for the race to start.  She is my boot camp instructor.  It was a good run, I was a bit disappointed, but it was still 2 minutes faster than last year.  I was on schedule to be 4 minutes faster than last year, but I had a side cramp and couldn't breathe.

One week until our triathlons and I just finally put my pedals on my bike.  I haven't ridden my road bike in 9 months or so.  I've only been to the pool once since the last triathlon.  Next Saturday might be rough...

Brenden and Nolan have been training.  They run on the treadmill, ride their bikes around all day, and I took them to the pool last week to make sure they can at least make it up and back in the pool (Nolan with a life vest).

Summer has been so much better than I expected.  Honestly, I was kind of dreading having everyone home, mostly for the mass destruction of the house.  It has been cleaner since they have been home than it was for the entire previous 9 months.  They have been very helpful.  Ahhhh the joys of slave labor.

This is how "northroaders," as we are called in Nikiski, grade their yard.  "Northroaders" is the Alaskan form of "redneck."

If the last days have plagues, the mosquito plague is most certainly in Alaska.  We are all covered in bites and can't stop itching!  I think there are just as many of them in our house as in the yard.  Nolan is having a great time catching them and sticking them into the mosquito zapper.  It doesn't get dark enough for the mosquitoes to actually go toward the light themselves, so the children direct them there.

If I finish my project that I started the summer we moved here next week, I might show you a picture.  You'd never think it would take me 4 years to finish, but it's almost done.  Makes me wonder what I have been doing with my last 3 summers...?

Mud Run in the Paper

Brenden and I made it to the front page of the local paper.  View it here.  The girl who wrote the article took my phone number and email address so she can talk to me about Brenden and Nolan's triathlon in two weeks.  Maybe they'll be in the paper again!

Mud Run

Brenden and I did the mud run today.  It was 3.6 miles and Brenden did awesome.  He was the only kid who ran the race!  The rest were all adults.

Doug calls the first series of pictures “Cut off and throw down.”

Double super powers!

Nolan waiting with my flowers for finishing.

Brenden and I won the award for the best entrance to the mud pit.

We won a canned ham because we “hammed” it up.  Brenden promptly opened it and my car smells like cat food.

Matt, Brenden’s best friend’s dad, came from the fire department to hose off the finishers.

Unfortunately, upon entry to the mud pit, we forgot to take off Brenden’s implants.  One was lost in the mud for about 10 minutes and they had to drain the mud pit so we could find it.  Ooops.

We’re still not sure if it works.

Brenden and I had a great time together!  We finished in 51:10 and we’re watching for ourselves to be in the paper tomorrow.

Last Day of School!

Today is the last day of school.  Last week the whole school made tie dye shirts and all of the kids and teachers wore them today.  Every year on the last day, the school has a picnic, but it is raining so we “picnic”ed inside.

Yesterday was Ethan’s Pre-K graduation.  His teacher, Miss Pala, was also Nolan’s teacher last year.  She has been so fun.

The morning and afternoon Pre-K classes.

Classic Ethan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethan and Thayne (or “Fayne” as he says it)

Cameron loved the cake balls and the balloons.

Melanie made an awesome cake. Each of the crayons has a graduate’s name on it.

Teacher gifts:“I am so fortunate to have had you as my teacher.”  The chinese takeout boxes have fortune cookies kind of like this:

(the ones with the sprinkles), but I forgot to take a picture of mine.  The Extra gum says: The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little extra. Thanks for giving that “Extra” for me!  You’re extraordinary!

Also, for Miss Pala putting up with the Boehme boys for 2 years straight, I made her this:

I am very happy with the final product, but disappointed in how the picture shows it – that’s what happens when you try to take the picture at midnight instead of with natural light during the day.  The cardstock is under the glass, but the crayons are glued on top of the glass and modge podged over so they have a nice looking finish on them.

It has been a great school year and the boys have had great teachers.  Brenden’s teacher is retiring, Nolan’s teacher will have Ethan next year, and Nolan will have one of Brenden’s former teachers who had Brenden for two years in a row.  Well, that’s all true if I get the teachers I requested.  I am relieved to know that our speech therapist is not retiring (yet) and we’ll get another year with our deaf ed teacher too.  Next year is panning out to be just as great!

Fun for Mom

The day before Mother’s Day, Doug told me I had to leave the house for a while, so I did.  Doug’s plan was to have the house totally clean when I returned, as a special Mother’s Day treat.  What he doesn’t seem to understand is the reason the house is never completely clean.  We have 4 boys.  Cleaning never progresses as it should.

Ethan thought he needed the whole bottle of Clorox wipes to disinfect the toilet.  It was really clean though – until the first boy went into the bathroom and peed all over it again.
Doug eventually gave up and told me I might as well come home because the clean house thing just wasn’t happening.  I came home to find Ethan up to his armpits in dishwater while scrubbing dishes, Brenden folding laundry, Nolan in time out for refusing to clean, and Cameron undoing the cleaning that had happened.  It was a good effort though.

Doug bought me my new mountain bike that I used for my triathlon as a Mother’s Day gift, so I wasn’t expecting anything else – at all.  Mother’s Day morning, Doug made a delicious breakfast – bagel sandwiches with bacon, eggs, and cheese.  Each of the boys gave me an orchid plant.  We went out to get in the car for church and I glanced over and saw this:
in the back of Doug’s truck.  I had been complaining about our grill a few days before – one knob doesn’t turn without using a pliers, the gas is temperamental, and in general, it sucks.  We found it on the side of the house when we moved in, so obviously the previous owners didn’t think it was anything great either.  It lasted us 4.5 years though.

Grills are important things.  It is all thanks to a tiny Coleman camping grill that I can call Doug my husband.  I was outside my apartment cooking chicken on my new grill when Doug spotted me and had to meet the girl with the grill.

Doug made me dinner – grilled salmon, asparagus, and corn on the cob.  It was delicious.
The following weekend was the father and son campout.  I was planning on keeping Cameron home with me so Doug and the other boys would have a chance to ride bikes, hike, and scale large boulders.  The morning of the campout, Brenden asked if Cameron was going and when I told them no, I was confronted with 3 begging big brothers who wanted Cameron to be there with them.  Fine with mom!

I asked our friend Matt to save Doug a camping spot since he had to work and the boys loved camping next to the Quiners last year.  Matt said he left for a few minutes to take one of their kids to the bathroom and came back to find several boys had a dirt fight while he was gone.  I wish these pictures did it justice.

Cameron had tons of fun.

Nolan found a walking stick.

Nolan also fell down and scraped up his nose.

And it appears Brenden was having too much fun to stop and pose for any pictures – or maybe Doug was too busy chasing a one year old to take very many pictures.  They took their bikes and scooters and Brenden took his bow and arrows.  They all came home dirty, stinky, and exhausted.

As I was laying in my bed not listening to snoring, children talking in their sleep, or the buzz of the baby monitor, I realized it was the first night in over 9 years that I have spent alone.  I missed my family, but boy did I sleep well!