It's kind of like I quit blogging...

And I was okay with that, until George said he wanted to run the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5K with me....



Then I knew I would need to post pictures about that! If I were to say something about what I most want out of life, on the list somewhere would be to have kids who love running. Much like some of my best memories are of running races all around the US with members of my family, I would really love to run races with my kids, all around the world!

So I told George he could totally run a 5k if he wanted to. After all, he can come home from school any day of the week, and run 2 miles on the treadmill, so 5k is just 1.1 miles further. I told him I'd do it with him, but he had to train.

He trained MINIMALLY. He could have trained more, that's for sure. But knowing my George the way that I do, I knew that the experience and the emotions of a race would be something that would only benefit him. I knew that physically he could run 3.1 miles, and that emotionally he would be soaring. So I wanted to help him accomplish his little dream.

The race was on Wednesday after school, and when he came home from school, he nearly talked himself out of it ten times. And I was having a hard time knowing what my role was. I DID NOT want to be some crazy "stage" mom who wants to throw their kids out there for all the world to see, how great I AM. I only wanted to help him accomplish something that he wanted to do. But I'll admit that I was struggling with the line I was walking.

In the end, I told him if he didn't feel ready for it, there would be another race on another day. But ultimately, I didn't want him to feel disappointed in himself or regret that he didn't do it. He came back to me in about five minutes and just said, "Mom, I'm going to do it!"

So off we went.

It was 100% the correct decision. To experience, all of the struggles, challenges, joys and excitement of Georges' first 5K race are almost too much for me to put into words.



When he saw that he was the only kid there, he grew about two inches taller. When the race started, and he looked back and saw that he wasn't going to be the last person to finish, he grew another two inches. When we turned around at the half way point to run back to the finish line, and he saw all the adults STILL BEHIND him, he was completely shocked. And when he saw Darin and the kids parked a little ways up the road, all standing in front of the van cheering and clapping, I thought George's heart might burst. And for all those moments of realization for my George, well, it's basically priceless.

The last half mile were totally hard for him. He wanted to stop, but then he told me how hard it was to start running again after you stop running, so I knew that I should just help push him through. I decided to tell him the story about when he was born.





Once labor started with George, things progressed really fast, and I basically pushed once, and he was out. So I crafted that memory into a story for him during the last half a mile to help him forget how hard the running was getting. And I told him that ever since he was born, I knew he was going to be a really fast kid, because he was born so fast. He liked my story. And before we knew it, the finish line was in sight. And right as we turned up the way to the finish line, all the adults who had already finished gathered around and totally started yelling and cheering, just for George. And I felt so proud, because he totally earned that applause. Because running 3.1 miles is hard for lots and lots of people, and he did it, he totally did it. And he's only 7.



And the thing is, I knew he could do it, but I'm not sure if he knew he could do it. It's so important to have experiences in our lives, when we surprise ourselves. It builds our confidence and helps us remember to set the bar a little bit higher the next time we have an idea, and that's how you achieve things. And I think George is here to achieve things. I just do.

The race director was so excited that a kid came out to participate in the event, that she wanted to give him a prize. I guess they were out of airplane trophies, because instead, they gifted George with a ten pound frozen ham! And then I learned a lesson, it pretty much doesn't matter what the prize is, people just love to win a prize. George wanted to carry that ham around with him for the rest of the day. And if you bump into him on the street today, he'll probably tell you that he won a ham at the race yesterday. And he's totally excited that he's providing the meat for our Sunday dinner this week. He really, really is. Just ask him.





So, that's the story that made me want to write a post on my blog again. I hope you agree, it's a good story.

And while I struggle as a mother with all the tiny details of my responsibilities towards all these amazing people who call me "mom", you have no idea how grateful I am that I was physically prepared for the day when my son told me he wanted to run a race. That I could run with him and comfortably pace him and talk to him and pull him through, because it was not physically taxing to me at all, I realized how grateful I am for my body. I spend a lot of time hating my body, because I'm a girl, and we do that really, really well. But through this little experience with George, I realized that it can accomplish things, and I should just be really grateful that it's strong and capable. I love learning new lesson/being reminded of old lessons.

And now it's Thanksgiving, and I feel all full of things to be grateful for. Like when I look from the kitchen to see the Major surrounded by his adoring off spring, all cracking up at the latest family friendly video on U-Tube.

Or when I look at my ladies, and remember the time when I pleaded with all my heart to the Lord for ONE little girl, and He answered my prayer with TWO.

That's all I have to do on any given night, to remember all that I have to be grateful for. It's a lot, I know.

A few favorites...

This outing:

We managed a trip up to the Seoul Grand Park last Friday. Korea is really offering the most amazing fall you have ever seen. I know you think fall is beautiful where you live, but I'm just saying, it might not have anything on Korea. The weather was perfect. The kids were delightful. The company was lovely. It was darn near a perfect day. Everyone wanted their picture taken with the fox ears.

"Say Cheese!"

This photo...

The Barbies and Princesses got replaced for a day, by the Cabbage Patch dolls. My ladies were so enchanted with their game of "pretend you're mom", that Jane had to line up all the babies for a photo shoot. You know she's seen real moms do this a thousand times. When downloading the photos, I wanted to remember the sweetness of that day.

This outfit...

Jane walked out of her room all decked out. She was delighted with each element of the outfit and wanted me to admire the addition of each one. And with only the addition of some leggings, I absolutely told her she could wear it to the movies that afternoon. Who am I to judge?! (Not to mention that daddy is out of town, so we're all acting a little crazy.!)

This smarty pants...

For making the Principle's List of 4th graders with straight As for the first quarter!!

They sent home a notice that there would be an awards assembly, but they didn't tell you if your child was going to get an award. I figured my odds were pretty high, with Henry as my 4th grader, so I showed up to the assembly. The Principle's List students were the last ones honored, so he sat nervously through the whole thing, wondering and worrying if his name would ever be called. He thought straight As meant you had gotten an A on every single worksheet and homework assignment since the first day of school! Which he thought meant that he had not qualified. After the assembly was over, he told me, "Mom, I really wanted to get an award, but I was just so nervous that I hadn't qualified for straight As. So I just decided to cross my fingers and hope I'd get lucky!"

I loved his innocence and humility. I'm pretty sure I had a huge lump in my throat when they called his name. I'm just so darn proud. And so happy that crossing your fingers is still believed to be a tangible solution! I love the magic of childhood. I just love it!!

And those are my favorites from this past week.

Dorothy, and Glinda, a Zombie and Yugi, oh my!

Good morning November 2nd!! We survived another year of Halloween. But like I say every year on the Monday after Halloween, "good riddance Halloween, we will not miss you for these intervening twelve months. You were good while you lasted, but good bye now. " And least you think that is a bad attitude, I will let you know that it did not in the least prevent us from fully celebrating almost everyday of last week.


Dorothy, Yugi, Zomumbie (say it out loud, it's the combination of a zombie and a mummy, although the mumminess didn't really get added until the next party!), and Glinda the good witch, were all dressed and ready for the Tuesday night PTO Halloween party.

On Friday we successfully attended the pre-school class party, without a camera, and the elementary school wide parade. Later that night we made it to our church Truck-or-Treat, again without a camera but with a winning pot of chili (although it won for most "unusual", so is that really winning?!).

On Saturday we (maybe it was mostly Darin?) managed to carve four pumpkins. George vowing this year to be able to pull out the pumpkin guts, and carve his own jack-o-lantern face, all without loosing his cookies. Happy to report no cookies were lost, but neither were very many guts extracted without parental involvement!

Carving pumpkins somehow turned into roasting mini marshmallows over candles. The candles were burning in an attempt to help Ruby stay in the same room as the pumpkins. Have I mentioned yet that we are an extremely smell sensitive group of people?!

Later on, dressing up for the final time to go trick-or-treating. And I'm pretty sure that by this point I was not the only one getting tired of this routine. But I am positive that I was the ONLY one in this house who was getting tired of eating candy. These kids (and maybe Darin too?) were eating it like it was the very manna from Heaven. The candy monster may or may not be coming here VERY soon to snatch all the candy from the children while they are sleeping some sad night this week...

trick-or-treating

candy inventory, weighing and sorting.

So you see, it was fun while it lasted, but it's time to move on. The girls are 100% focused on their birthday. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day are all just road blocks to their ever important birthday. This morning on our way to school they were down right jubilant as they announced to me, "Mom, it's almost Christmas now, and that means it's almost our birthday!!"

Slow down ladies, we all just need to slow down.