Dance Recital, Races, Scouts and last days of school

This year was the 1st year that our girls got to participate in the end of the year recital. All of productions the studio puts on are on Sunday but this year they for some reason they had Friday, Saturday and Sunday performances this year so they were able to participate in the Friday/Saturday performances. 

Kelsey performed a dance called "Blueberry Pie". 

It was as cute as it sounds. 

 Jocelyn did a tap routine called "Cho cho chaboggie".

 She did a great job and loved being on the stage.

A friend tipped me off about these kid's Road Runner Races a running club does each summer. 

We decided to try it out and the kids really liked it.  

Jackson's age group had to run a half mile. 

Jocelyn's age group had to run 1/4 mile. 

Kelsey's group had to run 1/8 mile.

Jocey and Kelsey finished in the middle of the pack. 

It was easy to keep track of Jocey as she was running

 because of her blonde hair.

Jackson's age group was actually timed. 

He finished right around 3 minutes and 40 secs each time.

 Jackson and Jocelyn both had field days but unfortunately 

I forgot my camera on Jocey's field day. This is Jackson's 1st grade class. 

 Jackson completed his Tiger cub badge and was crossing over to the next level which I think is bear. They actually had him cross a bridge and have his family meet him on the other side. 

 We had to get a picture of Jackson's teacher Mrs. Ruhf on her last day of teaching ever. 

She retired this year and she will be missed. She absolutely adored

 Jackson and loved Bryce just as much.

My Birthday and the 5K Race

When I was asked by John-David what I wanted for my birthday this year, I didn't really have an answer. I did want my hair professionally highlighted but I told him that was too expensive. John-David took things into his own hands and arranged for me to get a massage, a pedicure and a manicure on the night of my birthday and then the day after he had taken off work and made arrangements for me to get my hair done (refer to family photos to see hair). I got pretty pampered alright. A girl could use to this kind of treatment on a more regular basis. I think it was up there with one of the best birthday presents I ever received. 

A few weeks after my birthday. I ran my first 5K. I never thought that I would run a 5K although I have for awhile wanted to. I have never been a big runner but I just thought it should be something I should do to prove to myself that I could do it. Back in January I discovered the new St. Luke's hospital had a gym and free daycare offered 3 hours of the day. I decided that this was my time to start really exercising. After a month of so of working out I felt confident that I could do a 5K and knew of one in a neighboring town that was in May and it included a kids fun run right before the race. 

My training program wasn't exactly what you would call well planned. About a month before the race I would run 3 miles on the treadmill once a week and the week before the race decided I better run it once on the road to get a feel for it. I don't think you could call my training competitive but I figured since I was working out that it couldn't be that bad. My goal was to not finish last and to finish in under 40 minutes. Once I started racing, I added two more goals: to not be passed by anyone pushing a stroller and to not stop except to tie my shoes. I was happy to report that I achieved all my goals and I actually finished it in 29 minutes and 52 seconds. I finished 245 out of about 575 or so. Not too bad for my first time. After I finished the race John-David asked me if I wanted to run a marathon. I promptly answered no. Maybe in a another lifetime. 

WARNING: These photos are neither beautiful or flattering (the ones with me, the ones with kids are very cute). The photos are merely posted for documentation purposes only. 

 The racers 

 Jackson in the 7-8 years category. I believe he finished in 3rd place. 

 Jocelyn in the 5-6 year category. She was somewhere in the pack but her smile won first. 

Everyone always talks about this girl's smile and she runs with it on too. 

 Kelsey in the 3-4 year category. She was all smiles until the race started 

then the crying started and she decided she was done. 

 I was the lucky winner who got to run with Bryce and Kelsey the 600 feet. 

Guess which child got carried for part of the race because they were crying so much? 

It wasn't Bryce. 

This was the start down main street of Coopersburg. 

I look like an intense runner. 

A family of racers (minus Dad but we'll get him next time) 

I thought I had downloaded a picture of me crossing the finish line but apparently I didn't. Just envision me in the picture above breathing hard and that's about what I looked like.

 Do you think I am on track for qualifying for the Boston Marathon? 

 It was 9:00 in the morning but who can pass up on free ice cream. 

We sure can't. 

Family Photo Shoot

We've needed a new family for awhile and we finally got a round to doing it. Getting a family photo taken especially with Bryce, and it being at night, was no easy task. For most of the photos we were pinning Bryce down and Kelsey did at times look as if she might doze at any moment but aside from all that, they turned out really nice and maybe we can finally put a new family photo on the wall. 

Here are a few of my favorites!

Happenings in May

For Mother's Day I got breakfast in bed. Jackson made his World famous, okay maybe it's only famous at our house, but at any rate he made me a bowl of his oatmeal. 

 I hadn't had a picture taken of me with all four of the kids so we snapped a few before church. Love these kiddos.

 The day after Mother's Day I got to join Jocey at the annual Mother's Day Tea.

Jackson played baseball this year. His team was the Rockies. 

They got rained out a lot but he had fun playing in the games that weren't. 

 Favorite picture of the season. 

 Here are the preschool co-op girls. They are like sisters and Kelsey 

is going to miss spending so much time with them, 

 Elly, Kelsey and Maren

 We got front row tickets to another Iron Pigs game. 

Couldn't miss out on that opportunity. 

 Every year the elementary school has a fun run. 

The kindergartners run 1/2 mile. We encouraged Jocey

 to not stop running during the race and to complete 

the whole thing. She did a wonderful job at doing both. 

 Here are Jocey's three little best friends from her class this year. 

I am not kidding when I say little because they were on the smaller 

size in the class and Jocelyn was on the exact opposite side of things. 

We just measured her and she is a little over 49 inches 

tall. She had grown about 1 1/2 inches since Christmas. 

 The first graders had to run 3/4 a mile. They ran the

 competitive run and then the fun run. 

 Jackson placed in the top ten for the competitive and 

1st by about 100 yards in the fun run. The kid likes to run.