A New Personal Record for Jake!!!

Richard and I took the little kids to Jake's cross country meet today after school. It was at Glencoe again and he really gave it his all. He made a new personal record and finished the 5K course in 19 minutes and 48 seconds(last week he did the same course in 20 min. 29 sec). It was a very exciting race and we were so proud. Joseph and Annalina had a great time cheering him on and playing on the bleachers.

He sprinted all out and came across the finish line very strong!

Another week of firsts

Yesterday was my big day! After weeks of enjoying the kids being off at school, I too am joining them! I took my first class in Anatomy and Physiology I yesterday. It was a good thing, but I must admit I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I haven't gone to school in 8 years and I am not as young as I once was. Also, because I had taken this class once before my counselor waived the prerequisite BIO class and told me to go directly into A&P. Well, I have forgotten most of the Chemistry and Basic Cell stuff that is taught in that class. My teacher recommended I try to reveiw it all as soon as possible, which means lots of extra studying this week and next!

Luckily going to school the last time has put me in a good position to finish up my prenursing courses and enter the RN program. I am doing this very slowly to start with. If I can handle this term I may just add a class or two next term. With any luck I will be a nurse in four years! I know, that seems like forever away! But you have to start somewhere!!

I am going to classes twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-5:50. My lab ended just before 6pm, so I rushed to Annalina's soccer game, watched the last half, then we headed home where I swapped her for Richard and off we went to Annalina's back to school night. Finally I was home for good around 8pm. A long and busy day. Richard will be going in from 6am-2pm so he can be home with the kids in the afternoon. He fell asleep early with me studying body regions late into the night. I woke up trying to remember the term for the back of the knee. Its popliteal if you were wondering!

Today Joseph went to his first day of preschool on his own! Yippee! He is so excited to be a big kid and is very ready for the social and learning aspects of preschool. He attends the Tidy Tots Glencoe High School student run preschool. There is a 1-1 teacher-student ratio. The high school students get credit at the community college towards early childhood education. Its a neat program and Joseph just LOVED his first day. He took his stuffed monkey Joey today since it was stuffed animal day. He strung beads on a necklace and painted and had crackers as his snack. It was a great day! He came home very happy!

I guess if my kids can suffer through first day photos, I can too!

My dear sister

My sister Megan is having a baby!!! She has two adorable kids now, Leila who is 5, and Nathan who will be 4 in December. Joseph and Nate are good friends and Leila and Annalina are as well, even though they are about a year and a half apart. Anyway, Megan has wanted this baby for a long time and I am so happy for her!

Well last week I got a call that Megan was in the ER! I had no way to reach her and was worried about her all evening. We had gone and worked out together in the morning and I was feeling very guilty for dragging her along! She called when she got home from the hospital and let me know the baby was ok, but she will be on bedrest for a while. We got to have both kids over on Wednesday and Nathan spent the day with us Thursday. I haven't been much help since, but Megan has a lot of friends and support and I am grateful for that.

Megan has ALWAYS amazed me. She worked and went to school while pregnant with Leila, and she worked when she was pregnant with Nathan and with a little tiny Leila to take care of. She was so excited to be able to leave work to stay home with her sweet children. I am happy she gets to be home with the kids during this pregnancy, although perhaps this was not what she had in mind.

Megan is doing well right now, taking it easy, though probably not as much as she should if I know my sister. And hey, I did it for 20 weeks and know how hard it is not to cheat!! But she is taking care of herself and that little baby and I am so proud of her! We are all looking forward to the arrival of the newest Conser kid.

A clean pantry

Richard is gone for the week, so its just me and the kids. He had to travel to Everett Washington to visit the IT department at Fluke. They will be merging IT people soon and he is up there learning their systems so they can best decide how to make the merger work best for all involved. He rode his motorcycle up since the weather is supposed to be beautiful all week long. We miss him already, but unlike camp we can talk to him on the phone. So that is nice. He called this evening and Annalina and Joseph both enjoyed chatting with him for a while.

When Richard is gone, I feel an urgency to nest, maybe its more about staying busy to pass the time. Not that I am not always busy, but for some reason big projects come to mind when I am home for an extended time without him. Today I organized the pantry. It has become a disaster and I found things in there I had no idea I had ever purchased. I threw out the outdated stuff(good thing tomorrow is garbage day) and I must say its looking pretty good in there right now. I want to get some of those canned food dispensers, but for now I am happy with the pantry. Tomorrow I think I will try to do a thorough cleaning of the kitchen, from top to bottom. For some reason I feel so much better about life in general when the kitchen is sparkling clean!

This weekend we watched The Black Stallion with Annalina and Joseph. It has been so many years since I last saw this. I told Richard that it is probably the girls equivalent of Star Wars. It was much anticipated and viewed many times by my friends and I when I was young. And since Annalina is so into horses these days, I thought she would enjoy it as well. She did!!

Saturday Richard and I drove an hour and a half to Monmouth to watch Jake in his second Cross Country meet. We got stuck behind a tractor and made it with just minutes to spare before his run. It was fun to watch him warm up with the other Varsity boys. He ran well. He did the 5K(3.1 miles) in 20 minutes and 29 seconds which was a minute and ten seconds faster than his last meet. The terrain was fairly flat, but it was pretty warm out. I was so proud of him. He continues to amaze me with his intensity towards anything he tries. After we stopped by Uncle Rich and Aunt Renetta's house, but they weren't home! What a beautiful house, I am looking forward to a visit sometime in the near future!

I am the lone parental figure right now, and my teens have been hanging out in my room with me since they got home from their dad's tonight. It makes me feel so good to have such close relationships with them both. They are wonderful kids and I am so very blessed to be able to know them, and to both teach them and learn from them!

OK, so it may not look that great to some, however if I had a before pic to show you, you would be VERY impressed! :-)

A good day

Yesterday was a beautiful day, it started out cool in the morning so shortly after getting all the kids out the door to school, Joseph and I went on a nice hour long walk. It was very sunny, so Joseph spent half of the walk under his "blanket tent" in the stroller. I think its very nice of him to let me push him in a stroller even though he is such a big boy now. We have a great time talking and he loves to point out all the exciting things he sees, like school buses, boys on skateboards, tractors, dogs, airplanes (which he always calls angels now, every since seeing the Blue Angels flying around at the airshow this summer). I always enjoy this time with him and it gets us out in the fresh air. Well, I promised him that today we would go to the play place, which is the kids club at the gym. He loves to play while I go work out and I'll admit it is sometimes nice not have to keep up a toddler conversation while huffing and puffing. We left as soon as Annalina was gone and I got in a little over an hour, 45 minutes on the elliptical and about 20 minutes on the stationary bike. It felt good, at the time! I am a little sore now, but a good nights sleep should help. I've decided that along with the dramatic changes to come, I will start creating some small change of my own in myself. No more excuses. I am determined to get healthy! I will get in the exercise I need and set a good example for my kids. Except Jake, he sets a good example for me every day! Maybe someday I can run a marathon with him!!

This evening Joseph and I took Annalina to her soccer game. What fun it is to watch them play! And there are so many parents there I always have fun chatting with someone about something. Today Jennifer Roberts told me all about her trip to England this summer! And then we exchanged stories about our California/Utah/Idaho trips. Her husband was on sabbatical most of the summer, so they got to play a lot and ended up going on a vacation very similar to ours!

We got home and Richard had a bunch of holes dug in the front for us to plant bulbs in, crocuses and tulips. It will be very pretty in the Spring! Lots of neighbors were out and about so we had fun visiting and Joseph got to ride trikes with Jake for a while. It was a good day!

My Quick Athletic Son

Jacob is in High School! How did that happen?? Thus far he has been pretty enthusiastic about it, getting up at 6am, even though he doesn't have to leave for school until 8am. He is also on the Cross Country Team and has practice every day after school. Last night they had their first meet, and he did GREAT! He was on the JV team, but his time was so good that he is now on the Varsity team! He ran 3.1 miles in about 21 minutes. All of his daily runs have helped him build up a great deal of stamina.

Jacob is taking three classes of PE this -his regular PE class, Strength Training, and Fitness Conditioning. So on his A schedule days he has two PE classes and on his B days he has one. He put these down as electives, hoping to get at least one of them, but for some reason he got both and his regular PE in the same semester. I hope he does not sweat away to nothing! He is also taking a welding class that his basketball coach from last year teaches as well as Seminary. He loves both classes. He homework load will not be so bad this term, but I am curious to see what happens next term as he will have no PE classes at all.

Rock Star Jake really looks ready to take on the world!!

My smart talented daughter...

Adrienne seems to be enjoying school so far, yes, its only been three days, but she likes most of her classes and has changed those she did not like. She has taken an interest in programming and computers. Two of her classes are Digital Electronics and Programming. She loves them and is the only female in one class and is one of three in the other class. She has been given the option of interning at Intel on a part time basis and may actually do that if her work load at school is not too intense. She would have a great chance at any position as she is considered to be a "technical female" which is a minority in the high tech industry. What a cool term!

She is also taking Advanced Placement English, Accelerated Algebra and Advanced Chemistry. This means she will probably be a very busy girl for the school year, but I know she can do it. She also manages to do a lot of babysitting, both for me and for neighbors! She spends a lot of time with her little siblings and even has a class with Jake this year, Seminary. And she is my friend on facebook, yes, she is one of those elusive wonderful teenagers. She is making wonderful choices in her life and I am so proud of her! I cannot believe my sweet Adrienne is a Junior this year! Where has the time gone?

Adrienne's Self Portrait, Photoshopped by her last year
Isn't She BEAUTIFUL!!

First Day of School...Part 2

OK, so we all know Annalina started school on Tuesday, well so did Jake. Adrienne started Wednesday so I got photos of all the kids together on her first day. Instead of "first day" photos, we will just call them back to school pictures! Aren't they cute? And isn't it funny how similar Adrienne and Jake's shirts are? Trust me, this was not intentional! If they didn't both love their shirts, I am sure one of them would have changed! Annalina told Jake he looks like a Rock Star!

Annalina is thinking, "didn't we do enough of this yesterday?"Notice how tall Jake is compared to big sister??

Lovely straight hair. You can't tell she has very naturally curly hair, she spends hours with the straightening iron! She looks great in curls or with straight hair! My lovely Adrienne!

First Day of School...for most

Annalina started first grade today! She looked so grown up today and was very excited for her first day. Richard, Joseph and I took her in to meet her teacher and left her working on her very first project. She got off the bus after school in an excellent mood. She has lots of friends in her class and her teacher Mrs. Volk is a very kind teacher. Annalina could not be happier!
After dropping Annalina off, Joseph and I ran some errands and he said to me, "It's just you and me Mom!" I think he is happy to have me to himself. We went to the library and played with some puzzles. Then we fed the ducks and geese! Some of those geese were almost bigger than Joseph and they are very aggressive when it comes to bread crumbs. One big one took an entire slice from Josephs hand, I guess we are lucky it did not get a chunk of his hand as well.