make us or break us

Luke and I were the only ones out of my family that signed up to run the Cherry Festival race this year.  With the end of the school year being so busy and me feeling so overwhelmed with life we didn't get to running as early as I would of liked.  I hadn't been running since the fall and Luke and I have never ran together so this would be a first.  I wasn't for sure what to expect from it all, I figured with the relationship Luke and I have it could either make us or break us.  So our first run together went okay and our second ended with me leaving Luke behind and running home without him and therefore we never had a third run together.  

Luke and I are constantly working on our relationship, it's a daily work in progress.  I think it's because our personalities are SO much alike that we constantly butt heads on everything, Heath says that we fight like brothers and sisters.  I tell Luke that it's something that I'm never going to give up on and in the long run when we get it figured out we will probably have the closest relationship out of everyone.  Regardless of it all  I love this boy like crazy and know that he was a perfect gift from God given to me.

With race day quickly approaching we came up with a few goals since we hadn't been running, 

we kept them pretty simple for the two mile run:

try to finish in under twenty minutes

run 4 minutes walk 1 minute over and over

think positive words 

just the two of us would celebrate with a treat when it was done 

 Our bible verse to keep us motivated:

Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me"

It was finally race day. 

Luke was a little nervous but really excited at the same time, he just couldn't wait to get the race started.  We had our goals but I told him to just let me know what he was needing throughout the race and I would do whatever, but at the same time push ourselves as hard as we could because it would all be over in twenty minutes.  So the gun went off and we started running and kept running for over seven and a half minutes before we took our first break, then after a few short seconds we were running again, we took just two other short breaks before we were in the home stretch.  I told Luke I was going to keep picking up the pace so we could reach our goal and I had to laugh when he said, "You mean we haven't picked up the pace yet?"  He was determined to reach our goal though and kept asking me to check the time to keep us on track and can you believe that we did not argue once during the race, it was nothing but positive.  As we ran across the finish line you could see how proud he was by the smile on his face, I loved it.

Even better was when he won FIRST place for his age group with a run of 

20 minutes and 33 seconds.

If asked I would say this race MADE US even though when I asked Luke if he thought we made a pretty good team, he just shrugged his shoulders and was like I don't know (like why are you even asking me this mom) and then I knew things were back to normal between us.

A few shout outs to the rest of the family that did so AWESOME,

we just happen to all fall into different age categories

Hailey: First Place

Papa: First Place

Nicole: Third Place

Grammy: Third Place

Me:  Nothing

camping trip number two

 We loved camping trip number two.

We had the most perfect weather. 

We added a few lights to our Charlie Brown tree.

I guess we are into a little decorating this year. 

We enjoyed some sister time. 

We enjoyed watching the boys get put to work by Papa.

carrying and stacking firewood

and they didn't complain once.

We always enjoy some great food. 

We love our cooks,

most of the time.

We love to head out for a little fishing.

We are a lot of work for Heath to get us all ready to fish,

between the tangled lines and baiting fish hooks,

he doesn't get to do a lot of this.

 We all enjoy it though.

 

We keep busy catching tadpoles when we' re not fishing or

we relax and take in God's beauty or

we take care of the worms and try to feed the fish we catch

a worm before they are thrown back in.

We even had a visit from the tooth fairy this time.

We are always tired by the end of the day, 

including Miss Ruby.

We even did a little fishing at night, 

there were a few fish caught.

We were busy getting packed up when Cody gave his brothers

a little bible study, it was Sunday after-all.

He brings his bible everywhere.

We came up to a bad accident and sat in traffic for almost three hours.

We stayed busy by reading our library book, talking, playing on ipods

and sitting in the shade next to the mountain.

We did our best to not complain because we were blessed

to have our family all alive and safe, unlike the people in the accident.

We missed having Matt and his family up camping this time but 

he was busy back home winning first place in the truck driving competition.

Way to go Matt.

Looking forward to trip number three soon.

Hello Summer

Even though the kids still had a week of school left

our summer started over Memorial weekend 

with a rainy but fun camping trip.

Thanks to Matt we had a few new things

added to the campground this year.

Our flags.

Our fort.

We worked through the sunshine and rain to get as much of the fort done.

Everyone did their part in helping out, my job was to sand everything.

It's still a work in progress, 

Matt plans on adding a zip line and some more camouflage

and who knows what else.  

The boys love it.

Matt and I also worked together on this project.

A little log bench for the kids to sit on under their fort.

Ryan and Kimber look a little cuter sitting on it though,

don't you think?

We ate so good up camping.

The boys do most of the cooking

which we all love

and there is never a shortage of food around there.

 Of course we did some fishing too

It was raining so not all of us joined it

just these three brave boys.

Ryan was the only one with a catch and 

he caught this one on it's back.

We also did a little early celebrating for my birthday.

Not only did I get some awesome gift cards and money gifts but 

also some homemade rhubarb crisp and carrot cake

some of my favorites, thanks sis!

After camping we came back to finish up our school year.

Cody's had an awesome ending.

Not only did he receive straight A's

(in fact we only had one B out of all the kids)

but his name was drawn at the end of year assembly 

for positive behavior and he won the BIG prize!

An ipod touch.

He was so excited and in complete shock

we were so happy for him.

The last day was finally here.

Luke was dreading it because he was going to miss his friends so much

but I couldn't of been more ready. 

Good bye First, Third and Fifth grade,

and hello SUMMER.

 The summer fun started off right away.

Right after school we celebrated Abigail's belated birthday with a pool party

then Saturday morning my birthday celebrating started right back up again

with an all day shopping trip for Amanda and I.

We had such a great day and found some great things.

I came home to my boys who had a few surprises for me

the new chair that I wanted to go with my new desk

and a home made double layer cake made by Heath.

My boys are so good to me.

Sunday was my actual birthday so right after church

we did some more shopping

then met up with my parents for lunch and headed to the movies

to watch Iron Man 3.

This was probably one of my favorite birthdays in a long time, 

I've felt so special and loved with all of my cards and their sweet messages,

my gifts, my phone calls, my lunches, my flowers, and my surprises.

I'm really liking 37.

Thanks! 

This week's been a little quiet and laid back.

The kids have had some play dates

we've been swimming at the pool

going to the library

enjoying the sunshine

and just getting some stuff done

so it's felt good.

 We also made a little trip into the eye doctors for Luke.

So we knew that he would be needing glasses soon from his last appointment

and I told him that if he didn't get them in third grade then for sure he had to have them

to start off his fourth grade year.  Well Luke isn't good with changes so he was fighting me 

on getting glasses all last week and then like a miracle the day before we had our appointment

he was at peace with the idea and was good to go.  Now this kid couldn't be happier

and can't stand that he has to wait until his actual glasses come in, his biggest problem was

trying to decide which pair to pick out because he loved so many of them.

I think he looks so great in them, such a stylin boy.

Oh and just in case you were wondering about 

all the shaggy hair you are seeing in these pictures

it's getting cut today. Cody even asked if he could have a haircut.

  It's back to camping for us....

yipee.

one month later...

I've been gone awhile so maybe I should introduce myself again to everyone.

It's me, Melissa

and I'm so thankful that life is starting to get back to normal,

I really like normal.

So it's obvious that I have not done well with the changes that have happened recently.

All great changes but it's not easy going from la de da doing whatever I want when I want

to having to manage my time, plan way ahead and run errands on the weekend

I hate running errands on the weekend

All of this right at the same time life is the craziest 

with sports, school, holidays, birthdays, home projects and going back to work.

I know this is just normal stuff people do everyday 

work, take care of a home and juggle being a parent

but all of this stuff going on at once was a bit overwhelming for me at times.

With that all said, I'm happy that the school year is coming to an end

and hopefully if I get to work again next year I will have myself a little bit more prepared.

So a little catch up is in order...

Our new carpet is in and we love it, it feels so good on our feet.

But with new carpet comes having to redecorate some of the rooms 

why,  I don't really know but it's sure causing me a lot of work

I think I'm going to really love the rooms when it's all said and done though.

I like my job.

The kids are of course my favorite part, 

some of the challenging kids or the super shy are some of my favorite.

One sweet little boy picked me dandelions on recess 

while another asked me if I just farted while walking down the hall next to him

I never know what I'm going to get day to day.

I've even done a little subbing, which isn't my favorite thing

but have taught 4th grade, been the PE teacher and tomorrow will be the music teacher

which really is just hilarious so we will see how it goes.

Sports are wrapping up this month for us, thank goodness.

Luke finished up flag football and came a long ways.  He started out a little intimidated and unsure

but ended up being the most improved player and gaining a lot of confidence.  In the fall he will be playing tackle football so I'm sure we will be starting from square one with him once again on his confidence. This poor kid has anxiety about everything and has started having sleeping problems so it hasn't been fun.

Ryan will be finishing up karate this month and then we are taking a break over the summer.  He still loves it but I'm just not a fan of having to pay for year round sports, this momma and her checkbook needs a break.

We celebrated a nice Mother's Day in Emmett this year with the family,

everyone that is except Tucker.  We don't even know who he is anymore, he is so busy with work and his days off rotate through the week so we never get to see him.  I haven't seen him since Christmas!

I do love being a mother to these three boys!

 Even when they are being like typical boys and are gross and disgusting, I love being their mom

and sometimes I can't help but laugh even at the disgusting stuff.

For instance,

when my oldest son tells me he is going to try really hard to get in the habit of changing his underwear everyday.  My response, you don't already do that?  Gross.

when my youngest son comes out of the bathroom after a long time and shows me a grenade he made out of an empty toilet paper roll stuffed with toilet paper, apparently we had run out of toilet paper so he had to stuff it with some clean and some already used toilet paper.  My response, throw that away and go wash your hands.

No matter what though I love them and am thankful for each of these days.  Most of them anyway.

 Right now we are looking forward to our first camping trip of the year over the long weekend

and finishing up school and work next week.

I can't wait for some long hot summer days.

Thanks for coming back and visiting me.

Hallelujah!

It's finished!

We survived the last few weeks of life around here,

it was a lot of hard work

and I'm one that doesn't mind a little work

 but there were a few days that I was wondering if we would even make it

but thankfully we did.

If we weren't at work or running the kids to a practice or a game

then you could find Heath and I at the house

painting two bedrooms

ripping out the carpet and padding

in four bedrooms, two living rooms, and the hallway and stairs

pulling out all the staples

vacuuming all the rooms with the shop vac

scuffing, cleaning, taping off and painting all baseboards that touched carpet

and

moving furniture
we worked non stop every single day until it was done.
It was such a sweet surprise when our favorite neighbors showed up the day before the carpet was getting installed to help move the last of the furniture and clean up the kitchen, Amanda offered to clean bathrooms but there was no way that I was going to let her do that (I wanted to keep her as a friend after all.)
And then my wonderful mom came over to help us put the house back together and ordered dinner for us,
it was a great way to celebrate the ending of our big project.

So now that our new carpet is in 

life has slowed back down

and we can get back to some normal days around here.

So the other thing that has changed around here is that I now have a job.

I'm working (actually getting paid this time) at the kids' school

as a para helping out the Kindergarten, First and Second grade kids 

that might need a little extra help.

It's only 20 hours a week but it's a perfect job for me right now

having the same schedule as the kids and being right there with them 

I couldn't ask for anything more.

I wasn't really looking for a job right now but it all just kind of happened really fast

which is probably a good thing because if I had too much time to think about it

I probably would of freaked myself out.

It's so strange saying that I have a job right now

after being a stay at home mom for over eleven years

lucky me I only have six more weeks of work and then I'm off for the summer

and from there we will see what happens for next year with my job.

Looking forward to a very normal, hopefully boring week around here.

lucky 7

It's hard to believe that my little boy turned seven yesterday.

Ryan kept telling me that he wanted to have a friends party even though I had no energy or desire to plan one (does that make me a bad mom?).  My mind has been full and overwhelmed with all of our house projects, life stuff and me going back to work (more about that later) so I was hoping to skip a party this year, but he wouldn't have it.

He originally talked about having a Star Wars Angry Bird party and Amanda (my party planner) and I came up with some great ideas and it would of been the coolest party ever but I couldn't get myself to go any further with the planning.  So with that said, an email was sent out to his best buddies (which happen to be the kids of my best buddies) and the after school party at Bounce was planned. The kids had a great time, I got to visit with all of my friends, see some family I haven't seen in awhile, there was no stress or cleanup, it was awesome-the perfect kind of party! 

 Ryan's birthday morning started early with presents.  He was so excited to get his very own  Chargers jersey.  Heath was a little less thrilled, he can't understand why none of his boys like any of the teams he loves, but it's true he doesn't have any Tennessee Titans or Mississippi Bull Dogs fans around here.  I think it's pretty funny because the boys who love the Steelers and Chargers, like these teams only because of their mascots or because of how their logos look which is another reason it drives Heath crazy, he should just be happy that they love football.

Ryan's favorite gift that he got from us and Mawmaw Teresia was his very own ipod touch.  Now he can be just like his brothers and everyone should be happy that there will be no having to share, how sad is that.

 Ryan was so willing to let me take a few shots of him before school, he was all into giving me some action shots.  He's loving his new hair cut too, he is always calling it his faux hawk which I think makes him look so much older.  Like all mothers always say, I really can't believe my baby is seven today, where does the time go!  We sure do love this kid, it's a job  joy to be his mother and get to love on him everyday!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

in a nutshell...

Over the past couple of weeks we have:

Celebrated a little girl turning one

I just had to buy Kimber some squeaker sneakers like Ryan wore when he was learning to walk,

hearing the little squeaks each time he took a step was just too cute.

Cheered Ryan on as he earned his Tiger Yellow belt, he soon will be moving up to the big kids class.

Luke was my only kid to make it to school all week long, Cody missed three days & Ryan two. 

Thankfully we are all back to healthy.

I enjoyed a kick boxing class with lots of the family, always wanted to try one and now I can say that I did.  It was fun, I liked it.

We have watched a couple of Luke's flag football games in not the greatest of weather.

The coach put nicknames on the back of the jerseys for the kids.

Luke's just says McMullen, he wanted either Falon or Terrance (names from a wolf book he likes) but I wouldn't let him because we have never called him those names but he was hoping that we would start, sorry dude not happening.

Over spring break we watched a few movies, The Life of Pi, Parental Guidance (again) and The Croods.

We also picked out new carpet for the house so that meant a whole new list of projects to be done.

Things like painting a couple of rooms, painting all of the baseboards, and ripping out all of the old carpet.

I'm already tired but only ten more days of work and it will all be done.

Easter at my parents with the family.

Pictures after church, which always makes everyone so happy.

(I uploaded them too small so they don't look so good)

but I promise you that we were all looking fabulous.

The egg dying, Easter egg hunt, angel food cake, golden eggs, ceramic painted bunnies

all things you see year after year

We also celebrated this big guys birthday.

It was a little early but the family was all together so it worked out best.

Ryan didn't care he was loving every second of it,

plus he still has a friends party and his actual birthday coming up, so it's a win win win for him.

 He loved all of his presents but we all had a little fun with this one.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, it was so nice being outside.

Easter day was wonderful, 

it was that night when Cody, my mom and sister all happened to get the flu

the rest of us were thankful that it didn't spread anymore.

 Life is not slowing down at all 

if anything it's about to get a lot more crazy around here.

stay tuned