April Running Update...

I will not get much running in the month of May because I cannot run for two weeks after my surgery and then I will be on vacation for 12 days. But the month of April wasn't too bad.

My total for the month of April is 44.87 miles.
My year to date total is 191.01 miles.

I know I will not do great on my half marathon. But at this point, I just hope to finish it. Then I will have a base time to beat next year. And then hopefully all my medical issues will be behind me for a while and I can train better. I will still try, I am just not going to be so hard on myself. Wish me luck!

Tatiana's School Music Program

Tatiana and all the 3rd and 4th graders put on their music program and did a wonderful job! It was a lot of fun to watch and even Ben and Andrew sat still the whole time and were mesmerized by the music an actions of all this great kids!

Tatiana is in the peach colored vest with the sunglasses on. They are doing their Beach Boys song dedicated to the principal (he's a big fan!)

Doing her actions and singing her heart out! Good job Tatiana!

Here she is in a closer picture without the sunglasses. Such a pretty girl!

More Biddy Ball for Ben!

Ben shootin' hoops, lookin' good buddy!

Water break!

Big brother, Nick, helping keep little brother, Andrew, happy so mom can watch and cheer Ben on! Thanks Nick!

Andrew playing with his animals on the bleachers, another favorite past time that helps keep him quiet while we watch. Andrew loves his little bag of animals! Almost as much as he loves balls!

Random Fun...

The other day when I took Ben to my friend's house for preschool I picked up her younger daughter to ride in the stroller with Andrew while I went for a run. The two little friends had a great time together and were very cute. And I got 5 miles in! The is Ben's little girlfriend, by the way, he LOVES her! Isn't she cute?!



The boys enjoying some ice cream cones, hmmmmm, good stuff!

Another spcial day at the Portland Temple!

Nathan and I were blessed to be able to spend another wonderful day at the temple this past Saturday. Our friends were going through for the first time and were sealed together as a family. It was a wonderful day and we were honored to be a part of it. Here is a picture of my friend, Angie, and me on her special day.

Tatiana's Birthday Party!

Tatiana had her "friend party" for her 9th birthday after school on Friday, April 23rd. It was quite a site to see 15 girls get off the bus and run the block to our house all squealing with excitement. We had a monkey themed birthday party in our back yard and the weather was perfect for it. Tatiana wanted a giant rice krispy treat in the shape of a monkey frosted with cream cheese frosting. Yummy!

We played many games including "Monkey in the Middle", "Monkeys and Zookeepers" (just like cops and robbers), "Jungle Stomp", and the played on the trampoline, the sandbox, and other yard games. It was a lot of fun!

We also had frozen chocolate bananas with sprinkles, yummy!!!

Just look at all those cute little monkeys!

Andrew and Ben's trip to the fire station!

I took Andrew and Ben to the fire station for a preschool field trip. They had lots of fun and were in little boy heaven!

Andrew is in the foreground with the yellow coat and Ben is the fourth kid from the left in the blue coat. Cute boys!

What a handsome pair of boys!

Just look at that smile! Ben is loving this!

And Andrew is so excited, he doesn't know what to do with himself! That tire is bigger that he is!

Nick's Invention...The Travel Buddy!

For the science fair at school, the 5th graders are assigned to do an invention project. Nick knew right away what problem he was going to solve with his invention idea.


The problem? Ben drops things in the car and then complains that he cannot reach his toys, books, coloring pages, etc. Mom gets frustrated because she is driving and cannot help Ben.

The solution? The Travel Buddy! Special features include sides so that toys cannot roll off onto the floor, holes to hold coloring materials, side pockets to hold toys, books, and coloring books, a lap pad so it is soft on the legs, the lap pad is removable to be used as a pillow if the child gets tired, the desktop is painted with chalkboard paint to use as a chalkboard, numbers and letters stickers for educational uses, a strap that holds the whole thing onto the child lap securely so it will not fall off.

Here is Nick with his display board... Good job! He included photos of himself actually building the Travel Buddy and photos of Ben using it.


His display board (click on photo for larger view to read what he has...)

Nick had me bring Ben into the classroom for his oral presentation so that he could demonstrate how to use the Travel Buddy. Ben was a big hit, he is such a little celebrity at that school! And Nick's invention was a big hit too! A few kids want to buy one!

Nick is such a great big brother! Ben loves his new Travel Buddy and really loves his Big Brother! We used the Travel Buddy on our road trip to Idaho over Spring Break. It was very successful and I am very happy with Nick's invention! Thank you Nick!