Sunday, June 3, 2018
Jillian’s Graduation
How can it be that my
sweet baby niece who was just born is graduating high school already? Sunday I
got teary eyed sitting in Mass watching her receive a special blessing as she
starts a new path in life. I’m excited that her new path will bring her closer
as she will be attending MMU in the fall, but I can’t believe how quickly it
all went. It was awesome watching her cross the stage and having her seminar
teacher move her tassel confirming her graduation.
William Richmond Memorial Scholarship
At our end of year honors ceremony at our school, we once again had the privilege of presenting a student with a memorial scholarship in honor of Will. This year was so incredibly special as many students had such a prayerful connection to Will and we just feel so grateful for their outpouring of love and support. One student, in particular, this year holds a special place in our family as he sang at Will’s funeral, sang at the Angel of Hope ceremony and I know has held us in his prayers when we needed them most. As my principal read the description of the award, before he even knew that it would be presented to him, he was filled with tears. There was no doubt it my mind that he was the right choice for Will’s scholarship. After the ceremony his mother stopped me and said of all awards that Nolan could receive, this one meant the most to their family. I have no doubt we did our boy proud today.
Additionally, it was a big pat on the back for our World Language Department at the honors ceremony. Three awards are given each year to faculty and this year they all three went to Spanish teachers. Alexis was presented the Excellence in Teaching Award, Vicki the St. Francis Xavier Award and I was presented the City of God award. It was humbling to receive such an awesome award but I truly was more excited to see my amazing colleague acknowledged for their hard work. I teach with some awesome people!
Graduation week was an emotional one. Some phenomenal students are graduating this year and the senior speaker (Peter) addressed his class at Baccalaureate mentioning Will by name. As he recounted his junior year, the Cubs winning the World Series and praying for our sweet boy, it felt like it was all just a blink ago. It made my heart ache to think of how much we miss Will, but it was so heartwarming to think of all the people that he touched and to hear others say his name aloud. This class holds a special place in my heart, but I know they are off to do great things.
First day of Sumner
Summer is here!! Last Friday I buttoned up my classroom and though I’m ready for a break, I’m excited at what the fall holds. I will be spending the summer writing curriculum for 2 new classes that I am teaching in the fall (one psych class and one business class) and also revamping my curriculum for my Spanish classes since we are moving to block scheduling. Lots of big changes in the fall, but I am excited for new opportunities and challenges.
Summer won’t be all curriculum though…we’re ready to enjoy! We started our first day of summer swimming with friends in their pool! Since the local pools haven’t opened yet, it was a fun preview to the water fun that awaits this summer. We’re finding our summer routine and we’re enjoying our slower mornings. Emma has her gardens all planted (squash, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries) and though it’s a lot of work, we’re enjoying the beautiful gardens at our new house. It’s hard to believe we’re coming up on a year being in the new place. Fingers crossed we have a yummy harvest filling our tummies soon (and not our deer friends).
National City Moms Blog
Eek!! My article on Children and Technology got picked up and published nationally!! It was chosen as one of the must-reads for the week on the City Moms Blog.
Sunday, May 13, 2018
SMART Girls
This spring we ran our 6th season of Running Club at the girls' school. We had a great group of girls (some really speedy ones as well) and had a fun season preparing for the Girls on the Run 5k. We kicked off our 5 de Mayo with beautiful weather and happy hearts as we prepared to run the race. With facepaint, fun ribbons, great music and incredible friends we toed the start line.
The St. Matthew Awesome Running Team is not only fast, but clever too! It has been so fun celebrating the power of girls and reminding them that they can BE and DO anything they set their mind to. SMART girls RULE!
My running buddy did such an awesome job. Running is not her first love, but each week she set a goal for herself to go just a little farther or a little faster. She sometimes got so caught up in trying to beat other people she failed to realize that her greatest gift is not her speed, but her determination. Her dedication was far more inspiring for me to witness than even the speediest of runners.
Everything is more fun with friends!
Check our our mascot Maeve! She even matched us with her yellow "born to run" shirt.
Half way there...still going strong!
Finishing strong!
A little WillPower to help carry her through!
What a fantastic season!
Grace made a fantastic coach helping out this season, but on the side she had set her own goals. She's been working on getting her mile time down and was able to come in under 30 minutes on her 5k!
Emma's end-of-year presentation
Emma presented her end-of-the year project on Thursday, so I got the chance to see her teach her class about dogs. Of course, she needed a volunteer to help her with her presentation, and Hazel seemed more than happy to oblige. She did a great job with her power point and visuals and enjoyed getting to be the expert in class for a little bit.
Though Hazel would have stayed in class all day, Emma still had 30 minutes left of school after she presented so Hazel and I hung out for a bit waiting for the girls to get out of school.
It was so funny seeing how confused Hazel seemed leaving school without Emma. She parked herself on the front lawn, watching the kids play at recess as if counting down the minutes until her little humans got out of school. :)
Grace's Concert
Thursday night Grace had her end of the year concert for band and choir. She has enjoyed being a part of both this year, but has decided her time in band will be done with this school year, so the concert was a little bitter sweet.
Left side (red arrow). The highlight of the concert was definitely the listening to the Greatest Showman, "This is Me" (followed by a close second with Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror.")
For her band concert she played "Spirit of the Wolf" and "Declaration and Dance" and the ended the night with a little "Sweet Caroline." She's on the front left again (red arrow).
Soccer season
Fridays and Saturdays have been spent at the soccer field again with Norah. She loves soccer and it is fun watching her play as she averages a couple of goals each game. She doesn't love going to practices and she has an interesting dynamic this year with her coaches both being 12 years old, (don't get me started on that one), but given that she still plays very well.
Norah on 4 defenders and she still dribbled in for the goal. What a beast!
Turning it around and heading back down to the field.
GOOOOAAALLL!
She always ends with a smile on her face. (The yummy snacks help too!)
Indian Creek
My days of working part-time are numbered as I head back full-time in the fall, so I've definitely been taking advantage of as many field-trip / volunteer opportunities with the girls as I possibly can. Wednesday, I got to accompany Norah's class to Indian Creek Nature Center. It was a fun afternoon of hiking the trails and getting to have Norah all to myself.
She loved walking the trails and getting to explore all the different paths and plants.
Norah and Sarah loved the butterfly seats.
What a fun day with this crazy bunch!
Camp out
After the GOTR 5k it was off to camp! The girls took off for Camp Wapsi for their spring Daddy / Daughter Campout on Saturday. This was Emma's first time getting to sleep in the hammocks under the stars so she was probably the most excited of the three. They packed their bags, lots of snacks and left me in the dust. I made sure to book my weekend full of lunch / beverage / dinner dates so that I could take advantage of my free time to catch up with friends while they were gone.
Hazel was sure that she was going with them for the night.
All taped up and ready to play!
Not sure Grace has the best form for shooting BB's. :)
Emma was loving the archery though!
Norah always loves the Burma bridge!
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Welcome Spring!
There is nothing quite like recovering from a marathon like getting 4 cubic yards of mulch delivered!
Whew, this yard definitely keeps us busy with its landscaping, but 140 wheelbarrow and wagon loads later... we have re-mulched the back terrace. It was long overdue. In the fall we chopped back as much of the landscaping as we could as it had completely overgrown. Now that spring has hit and we've had a chance to see what survived the hard prune and what maybe we need to rethink...we're hopeful that this new facelift will have things looking fresh and healthy for the rest of the summer.
BEFORE
AFTER (ish) Still have to do the middle section.
CRANDIC Marathon
Mark has been training for months in some not-so-great weather conditions to prepare for his first marathon. He truly made it look so effortless. Had I never run one before I would really question if it was easier than people say it is. It's not. He's amazing.
We started the morning off early with a 6am arrival to the start line. He quickly made friends with some other runners and we left him to settle in and head down to the next start line. The beginning of the run was great. CR had a lane blocked off the entire first half so there was plenty of room to run and pretty scenic views.
While the miles disappeared under Mark's feet, the girls and I drove to North Liberty to meet up with my sisters and find our own start line. My sisters and Tristan jumped in my car and the girls jumped in with my brother-in-law for a fun-filled morning of cheering on runners. They had their signs all ready to spread some energy to exhausted runners!
My sisters, Tristan and I headed to the start line for the half. It was a bit chilly to start, but we all knew that once we got moving it really was the perfect weather for a run. Jenisa and Tristan planned to start a little ahead of Jessica and I, so we bid our farewells and the next thing we knew the gun went off.
The beginning of the run was beautiful around a pond and some really pretty houses. By the time we hit the trail though, things started to get a bit congested. For Mark, he really enjoyed running Hwy 965, but once he arrived in North Liberty things narrowed down to one lane and it got a little tight for him. The marathoners combined with the half marathoners and things narrowed to a trail (and at times even a sidewalk), so it was difficult for him to pass other runners. Coupled with the fact that we ran straight north to south, there was no break from the headwind all morning either.
Even with the congestion, headwinds and ending mile 25 on the hill at Hawkins Drive, Mark clocked an amazing run at 4 hrs. 10 min. It was a really hilly run and after talking with others who have run multiple marathons, one of the more difficult courses that they have run.
What an incredible day for an inaugural race. The CRandIC did not disappoint and Mark and Jessica both knocked off a bucket list item!
So grateful for such an awesome support system! As we did the Hawkeye wave standing inside the stadium, it was hard to not get caught up in all that has happened since we were across the street. Thinking and praying for all of the families at UIHC when we were there and the ones that are there now. Praying for all of the kids at St. Judes and knowing how lucky we are to be healthy enough to run for them. Thankful for all of those that donated to St. Judes heroes and praying that they'll never know what the inside of St. Judes looks like.
Not very often we both get to run in the same race together. It was awesome having family willing to hang with the girls all morning so that they could be at the finish line. This will definitely be one for the memory book!
Of course, the girls had to do a few touchdown dances in the endzone before we left. What an awesome experience to see what it is like to run like a Hawkeye FB player!
Post race beverages in honor of a first run and a super sweet boy that helped us get there. 65.5 more miles logged with him by our sides.
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Grace's 12th birthday party
Saturday we celebrated Grace's GOLDEN birthday! It's so hard for me to wrap my brain around how quickly Grace is growing up. However, she still maintains her rather sweet, helpful demeanor so we're counting our blessings that we haven't moved over to the moody pre-teen version of our sweet girl just yet. Fingers crossed she continues to be level-headed, respectful and kind in the coming year.
12 on the 12th. What a golden birthday it was!
So many candles, the head started to melt the frosting!
Thankful for all the family and friends who came to help Grace celebrate her special day!
The littles had as much fun as the bigs!
Friendly reminder from her crazy-uncle not to use her birthday money for drugs. :)
Happy birthday, sweet girl.
Live Healthy Iowa 5k
Saturday morning we woke up to 30 mph winds, rain, and freezing temperatures. What better thing to do than run a 5k! The Live Healthy Iowa 5k runs in our neighborhood so I have a hard time not signing up for this race each year even though I know each year it is a cold one. This year Grace even braved the cold temps and winds. She did a great job digging deep through some nasty headwinds to sprint to the finish and end strong. I was so proud of her!
Races are always more fun with family!
Ready for the start gun...
Grace's friend Ava is in running club with us at school so it was fun to run with friends!
Half way point headed back into the wind...
So proud of this girl for finishing strong!
Time for Norah's race. She took on the 1k with her friend Brooklyn.
Thankful that the rain held off for her as she quickly finished her race!
She did a great job in her first race of the year!
Brave finisher...time to head home and find some warmth!
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