Football and Breakfast

One of the funny things about living on the west coast is that we get football games starting at 9am.  I really wanted to watch a game recently so we watched my Michigan Wolverines and had breakfast on the rug in the family room Saturday morning. 

Another cool thing about living out here is being able to see Mt. Rainier from the side of our house.  Even after 4 years of living out here it is still amazing to me.  This morning it was completely visible and was painted pink by the sunrise.  Amazing. 

Running!

I have been running this summer.  A lot.  The weather in Seattle is perfect for running, if you don't mind running in the rain occasionally.  It never gets too hot or humid and never gets too cold either!  It was fun up until 3 weeks ago.  I had decided to train for my first half marathon.  Let me just say I am not one of those natural runners.  Working up to a higher mileage takes a lot for me.  It was great, though, to have a goal to work towards and to have the time this summer to go for it.  It was also great to have something that was just about me, not the kids.  One of the things I love about running is that no one talks to me or asks me for anything and I am not refereeing children during that time!  I made it up to 11 miles.  I even did the 11 mile run 3 times and was ready to go for the half marathon.  The last time I ran it though, the recovery was pretty bad.  I have had achy feet and knees that were getting progressively worse, among other things.  I took a week to think about it and decided not to try the 13 miles.  It was REALLY hard for me to back down from that goal but I was afraid if I had another bad run I would ruin running for myself and not be able to keep doing it this fall.  I am just going to choose to be proud of myself for running 11 miles, because that is a feat I never would have dreamed I could accomplish before this summer.  So my dear friend Amy, who would have run the half marathon with me, came over and we did a 6 mile run last Sunday on a trail near my house and I am calling it my "end of the summer run".  It has been 5 days now and I still haven't been out running again!  I hope to get my motivation back soon.  I really would like to do something different like swimming or aerobics or something but haven't been able to find an easy way to do that.  Running is so convenient.  Anyone have any ideas for me??

1st day of school

Last week these 2 sweet boys started school. Austin started 3rd grade on Tues. I still have heard nothing from his teacher and its driving me a little crazy! He has not even brought home any papers or anything! This might just be the way it is as he gets into the older grades. I'm used to getting a letter from the teacher letting us know some things about the classroom and what to expect this year or a little about their schedule...something!...anything! Next week we have a curriculum night where we get to meet the teacher and hear a little about what they will be learning this year. I will definately be there! Austin of course does not say a lot when he comes home. I have learned not to ask questions because he never gives me much of an answer anyway. Often I get the most info from him voluntarily when I walk him to the bus stop in the mornings, or at other odd times of the day when something pops into his head. I think the beginning of the year is going well for him.

Christian was pretty excited about his first day of school, especially the bus ride.  I didn't even cry when I had to put him on the bus which surprised me.  I cried the day before thinking about it but the day of wasn't as bad as I expected.  I do miss him though...so does Ezra.  We have had some emotional drama at night this last week which I think is related to starting school but he continues to be excited this week when it comes time to get out the door and go to the bus.  He is in half day kindergarten in the afternoons.  His first day was even more exciting because there was an unexpected fire drill in the afternoon.  Apparently some piece of equipment malfunctioned and set off the alarm but there was no actual fire.  Christian didn't seem worried about it, his only comment was that "we had to stand out on the hot field for about an hour!"  I'm sure that was a bit of a dramatization but what else would we expect from our drama king!

Last weeks of summer...

I feel like these last few weeks before school starts I am kind of in limbo.  Our weekly activities like school and church small group and soccer games haven't started up yet.  I know I am going to have to go back to substitute teaching soon.  The school supplies are bought and waiting in the closet.  This is not my favorite time of year.  I always feel in the summer that we are busy enough that I don't know how I make it through all the activities that we have to add in to our schedule during the school year...but somehow we always adjust and find a way to get it all done.  I am also one of those people who hate to see summer end because I love warm weather and sunshine.  Usually by the end of September I am still in denial that summer has ended.

 Christian had a kindergarten assessment this week and I was able to go with him to meet his teacher.  We really like her and got a good first impression.  It went about like I thought it would.  He is not really dreading school that I can tell but somewhat uncertain and nervous about it.  When we walked in his teacher greeted him enthusiastically and asked him if he is excited about school and he hesitated and then nodded his head.  But I was thinking he was only doing that because he didn't know what else to do and didn't want to answer the question!  He answered most of the questions she asked him with flying colors.  He is definately a beginning reader.  He can read 4-5 letter words and can sound out longer words with not much help.  He isn't really reading books by himself yet but he is practically there.  The teacher asked him to start at 1 and count as high as he could.  I kind of had to smile to myself because I know he can count to 1000 but he started counting and I could hear him (I was across the room) count to 5 and then as he kept going his voice got quieter and quieter until his mouth was still moving and counting but no sound was coming out.  He just got super shy!  Sweet boy. 

Soccer practices started this week. Ezra had his first ever practice and it was very cute. Pictures are below.

Our last week in Michigan

We feel very fortunate that we could have a vacation in Michigan long enough to warrant two blog postings!  We went somewhere I've never been before...my sister-in-law's family has a cabin 3 hrs drive north of my parents on a lake called Starvation Lake.  Kind of a strange name but it was a beautiful place to visit.  Very relaxing.  There were tons of things to do.  We rode the quad bike/arv on some trails on state land.  We also were able to go out on the pontoon boat to swim/fish, and there was a speedboat for tubing.  One surprise of the weekend was that the boys were excited to play with badminton raquets.  They played badminton a little but then the game turned more into baseball.  Ezra used the raquets as a guitar and sang for us.  He got pretty comfortable and put on quite a show.  He is not my shy child.  My mom and aunt put together all the food for the weekend so it was more relaxing for me than a normal camping experience.  The cabin we stayed in had indoor plumbing and 2 bedrooms and a kitchen so we were not roughing it.  My parents and brother and sister in law were with us and we all had a lot of fun together.  We had picked up Tim in Detroit 2 days before.  So good to have him back with us again.  We also had a family picture session on Lake Michigan before we came back home.  Don't have the pictures back yet but hopefully I'll be able to post them somehow.