May 11, 2010
· Filed under Family, The Ranch
I’ve been writing about marathon training a lot lately, with only occasional tidbits about other things going on in life.
I think the biggest thing happening lately is that our oldest son is learning to drive. He’s actually doing a pretty good job of it. Last Saturday I took him driving in my little old truck, which has a 4-speed manual transmission. The only other time he’s ever driven a stick was in his grandparent’s truck out in a hay field. I gotta say I’m proud of him. Not only was this the first time he drove a stick on the road, but I actually took him out on the highway for the first time too. He does very well on the road – parking lots are a little scary. He particularly needs to practice driving in reverse more. I think I only yelled a couple of times :) and I sure laughed more than I yelled. Anyone who drives a stick knows that starting off in first when pointing up-hill is tricky. At one point he stalled 4 or 5 times trying to get out of a parking lot. It got to be pretty silly.
William is getting to be more and more consistent with using the potty. Only peeing so far, but going through two or three pull-ups a day is lots cheaper than a bunch of diapers.
Vincent is getting bigger and bigger – we think he’s got a tooth coming in, and he’s trying to roll.
Elizabeth will be taking first communion on the first Sunday of next month (if all goes as planned!). Both Elizabeth and Teresa have cute new *short* hair cuts as well – nice for summer, but also nicer to brush as there are fewer tangles.
Julianna is really starting to talk more and more. She asks for things and is starting to use multiple words together. She also likes to sing “Old McDonald” and will sing out “E-I-E-I-O….COW!” :)
Allena has been running with me (and on her own) too, and is beginning to see the results with some slimming down. We’ve both been trying to eat a little healthier too, and I think that’s helped.
On the farm, we have one doe left to kid, and one ewe (maybe) left to lamb – we’re not sure about the ewe. I also managed to pretty much destroy the chicken coop trying to move it. It’ll have to be re-built. Meanwhile the chickens are all pretty pissed off.
So, that’s the update – anything going on in your lives, oh loyal readers? :)
May 9, 2010
· Filed under Family, Marathon Training, Sunday Morning Post
Well, finally! I have lost some weight – I’m down to 276 this morning, which is the first time I’ve been in the 270’s since about September of last year.
My running is improving – this week I went for 35 minutes at a time, and ran for 5 minutes / walked for 1. I only ran twice last week (I’m going to try to run today, hopefully that will work out). I’m at the point where I *think* I could run a full mile without stopping (gasp! how amazing! lol). Of course, Week 7 calls for running 2 miles. As I said, I had to step back from the training schedule so that I’m only running 3 times per week instead of 4, to keep my shins from aching. Week 7 may have to have a week 7a, 7b, and 7c just to build up to that full two miles :)
In other news, William has started using the potty with some consistency – he still goes through several pull-ups per day, but he’s using the potty as often as not. Woot woot!
April 18, 2010
· Filed under Family, Sunday Morning Post
I missed a day again this week, but that’s ok – I’m now getting up at 5:00am to run, instead of trying to do it after work which just wasn’t working out. So by Saturday I was running two minute intervals, and walking one. I feel that be continuously nudging this up, I’ll get to the point where by the time I’m just supposed to run I’ll actually be able to. In other news, Allena has taken up running with me – she has no marathon aspirations but would like to run a 5k.
In other news, we went to the zoo today. Springfield has a small but nice zoo and we bought a family pass so we’ll undoubtedly be going back before long. I took several pictures with my cell phone – we’ll see how they look when I upload them. I was able to get some remarkably close shots – the animals just felt like being near the observation points I guess. If any turned out good, I’ll put ‘em up.
January 12, 2010
· Filed under Family
January 1, 2010
· Filed under Family, The Ranch
Happy new year every one!
Well, our latest child failed to show up in time to save us a bunch of money – we’ll just have to pay the deductibles again. Easy come, easy go. He also failed to show up early enough to be “first baby of the year” which would have been a conversation piece at least. No, he’s decided to take his own sweet time and just come when he feels like it. I guess all babies are that way really, but it sure is making Allena uncomfortable.
We didn’t do anything exciting for New Year’s Eve – we figured out several years ago that the kids get up early even when we stay up late, so we were in bed by 10:00. True to form, Julianna was up at 6:00am, so our strategy paid off.
Anyway, I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for everyone, filled with many blessings!
