Fun Run

Every year, Clayton's school does a fun run as their major fundraiser. Each child can try to get sponsors, but whether they get sponsors or not, they get to participate. I like this for several reasons. First, they aren't trying to sell some random overpriced junk that no one really needs. Second, it promotes fitness. The kids are out there and they're active. Plus they make it so fun! Third, when they get sponsors, the donation is completely up to the sponsor, so people can donate $1 or $100. Whatever. This year the goal of the fun run was to raise $18,500. Not all the donations are in yet, but they've raised over $16,000! Impressive! This is, by far, the best fundraiser that I've ever seen a school do. Ever.

Yesterday was the event. Parents and siblings were encouraged to come out and support the students as they ran/walked/skipped around the track. Clayton had been looking forward to this fun run for a couple of weeks and he was so excited when it was finally fun run day. Justin, Noah, Josie, and I went down to Clayton's school to cheer him on. When we got there, the kids were stretching. SOO cute! Then it was time to run. I didn't quite realize what a big deal this fun run was. They had music (and real 'on the radio' music, not just kid stuff), a mascot (a cheetah named Max), pom poms for the younger siblings to use to cheer the runners on, race numbers for each kid to stick on their front or back (it made it seem like a real race), and popsicles for everyone when the kids were done running (which excited Noah to no end). It was a great event and I'm so glad that we all got to go down there and support Clayton.

Clayton really impressed us. He ran almost the whole time (if I had to guess, I'd guess he ran about a mile). He's like his mother, slow but steady. He would get so excited when he'd run by where we were standing and hear us scream for him.

Here are some of the pics:
Here is some of the stretching. They did some really funny stuff that I wish I'd have gotten on camera, but it was hard to get a good angle of Clayton because it seemed like no matter where I moved, there was a kid blocking my shot!


I love this action shot! Check out that form!
He would always look at us and smile and wave when he passed us. I'm so glad that we were there to be his fan club!
I thought this was cute. At different times we all went out and ran a lap with him. Noah and I went first, and then Justin ran a lap with Clayton towards the end. It was nice because I think Clayton was starting to get tired, but having Justin out there with him was the boost he needed to keep running!
Yum! A nice cold popsicle after a hard run race!
I felt kind of bad for Noah because he saw all the kids getting popsicles but I thought they were just for the students. I was trying to explain that to him when a woman came around and gave him a popsicle. He just lit up. It made me really happy to see him like that! (And those are bug bites all over his face from the Father's and Son's campout last weekend. I swear this kid is like dessert to Mosquitoes!)
Clayton and his 'team' (class) with Max the Cheetah.
I was so proud of how Clayton did!
Justin was pretty proud of him too!
This was funny. Josie is quite the dancer these days. When she heard the music she really wanted to get out of her stroller and dance. We were hesitant to let her though because we didn't want her running down to the track and distracting the runners. After the kids were done, however, we let her loose. And she sure did get down! I tried to get it on video, but I wasn't fast enough. Sad.
This is a little blurry, but I think it's insanely cute so I'm including it anyway!

This was such a fun event! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Noah's Turn!

(Taken on orientation day. Doesn't he look so grown up!?!)
For over two years now, Noah has been watching Clayton go to school. At the beginning of every school year, we go through the same dialogue. We put Clayton on the bus and then Noah begins question after question about when it will be HIS turn to go to school. This year I finally got to tell him that he would be able to start a few weeks after Clayton. He was so excited and has been asking me every day if it was his turn to go to school.

Yesterday was the big day (sort of). It was orientation day at school. This meant that Noah got to go into his classroom with his teacher while I went in a seperate room for a parent meeting about what to expect. He was only there for an hour. When I went to pick him up after orientation, he cried and told me he didn't want to leave. It took a hug and a promise that he could come back from his teacher before he finally relented and came with me.

I learned that, unlike his older brother, Noah is a wealth of information! He was so chatty on our way home from orientation. He told me what he did, what he played with, who he played with, what his favorite things were, etc. It was so nice!! Getting information out of Clayton is like pulling teeth so I was ecstatic that Noah was so willing to share how his day went.

Today was his first actual day of school. He woke up at the same time as Clayton and begged me for hours to help him get ready. He even attempted to dress himself (but there was NO WAY I was going to let him leave the house in the outfit he put himself in...ah children). Soon enough it was time to leave. We went to the school and he ran right in, greeted his teacher and threw me a wave over his shoulder. He literally didn't even look back. I love that I've raised such confident and independent boys but a little hug or 'I'll miss you' would be nice. Sheesh.

It was weird around here without him this morning. Josie and I went to the grocery store and then sat around the house counting down the minutes until we could pick Noah up. It definitely won't be like that every day, but I was a little nostalgic today. I missed him.

When I went to pick him up he ran to greet me and gave me a big hug. Noah is by far my most affectionate child and I love how happy he was to see me. I remember that picking Clayton up from preschool was so hard because he threw fits about leaving. Noah didn't do that at all. He'd had a great day, but he was happy to come home with me. It was perfect.

It's going to be nice to be able to do things with only one kid three mornings a week. I'm looking forward to spending some one on one time with Josie, but Noah has a definite presence around our house and today his absence was noticable. He's going to have a great year! I'm glad that it's finally his turn!

Here are the pictures:
This is one of my new favorite pictures! He's so happy and excited and is just hamming it up. This kid has always known how to work the camera.
He kept telling me to quit taking his picture so we could get going. I hope this means that he's going to love school just as much as his older brother.
Hanging his tote bag on his hook. His school requires tote bags instead of backpacks. So I made Noah a Buzz Lightyear bag. His eyes were so big when he saw the fabric. He was even more excited to see the finished product. There are even Thomas the Tank Engine pockets inside. That was a surprise for him. He couldn't stop staring/touching/wearing it. He loves it. I'm glad.
With his teacher. For the life of me he wouldn't look at the camera. There was just too much excitement I guess. It's fitting though. Clayton has a first day of school picture with his preschool teacher that's identical to this. Noah thinks his teacher's name is "Miss Holiday". It's close so I'm not going to correct him. I think Miss Holiday is going to be a wonderful teacher for him!
Good luck in school this year Noah. You're going to be amazing!

Swimming Lessons

In order to attempt to get caught up I need to post a little bit about the boys swimming lessons this summer. They took swim lessons for four weeks and did much better than they did last year. I don't trust them in the water by themselves by any means, but hopefully in one more year they will have finally caught on.

With the exception of living in Vegas until Clayton was 2 we've never lived in a place where learning to swim was considered a critical skill. It's not as if Vermont and Indiana are exactly full of pools. I think it'd be a little more important for them to learn to rake leaves and shovel snow.

However, they did take swimming lessons and I'm proud of them. They each handled their lessons in their own style. Clayton was full of anxiety that he was going to drown and, while he did make progress, there were some days where I wanted to pull him out of the pool and just forget about it. He is careful to a fault in this case. Noah is the opposite. He had to be constantly reminded to join the group and pay attention. He just wanted to do his own thing his own way. Unfortunately, his own way includes a lot of recklessness which is no bueno in a pool. So I had one kid who was clinging to the instructor every second that his feet couldn't touch and one kid who would get distracted in the middle of the pool and have the teachers hurry over before he fell off his noodle.

So that was swim lessons in a nutshell. I'm hoping that we'll be able to find an indoor pool to practice in over the winter. Otherwise there's no telling what they'll forget by next summer.

Here's the pictures (these are in no order other than Noah's first):
Noah loved to go down the slide, off the diving board, etc. Once he just decided that he was going to go down the slide. There was quite a scramble as teachers/parents rushed to get to him before he landed in the water!
Trying to backfloat with Miss Andy. Miss Andy was a really great teacher, but I didn't approve of her swimsuit. Just so you know. Also, Noah is an amazing backfloater in the bathtub, but he didn't like being told to do it in the pool. Typical Noah, if it's not on his terms, forget it!
He always looked so happy in the water. I think if he would learn to swim without the noodle I would never be able to get him out of the water! He's a fish!
I love this picture of Noah, but as I said before, I do not approve of Miss Andy's swimsuit. He was in a class with some friends from church, Daxton and Chloe. It was nice that he had friends in his class!
I didn't realize until just now that I don't have as many pictures of Clayton swimming as I do of Noah. It's probably because Clayton's face looked like this so much of the time:
That's his anxiety/concentration face. I love how careful he is and how badly he always wants to follow the rules. It's such a great skill, unless you're learning something new that doesn't come easily to you (cough cough, swimming, cough cough). Sometimes you have to - literally - jump in and learn as you go. Unfortunately for Clayton, you can't learn to swim before you get in a pool.
However, by the end of the four weeks, he could backfloat by himself for 10 seconds at a time AND when we took our trip to Wisconsin right after swimming lessons had ended, he was able to swim completely unassisted almost halfway across the pool! I'm so proud of him, especially because I know how hard and scary this is for him. He really did try his best and that's all I can ask of him!

I'm not going to be sending the boys to the pool alone any time soon, but I'm proud of the progress they made this summer! Good job boys!

Half Marathon!

I ran 13.1 miles today!! If someone would have told me a year ago that I would do this, I'd have laughed in your face. Seriously. I never think of myself as athletic and I honestly didn't think I had it in me. When we moved to South Bend one of my friends convinced me to train for a half marathon. It was a 10 week training program and there were times when I would come home from a run and just cry because I was certain that I couldn't do it. Then I'd have an awesome run and I'd be pumped because I'd feel like I really accomplished something.

Yesterday, Cami, Carissa and I left to drive down to Arcadia (where the race was held). We spent the night there because it's 2.5 hours away from where we live and we wanted to be close since the race started at 7:30. It was such a fun trip. The marathon kind of loomed over us and none of us got particularly good sleep, but they are so fun to be around and we laughed...a lot.

I started to get really nervous as we were stretching, looking at all the other runners. I was so sure I was going to be dead last. I knew I'd finish (I wanted that medal, dang it) but I was worried that I was going to have to walk it. Right before the race started though, I got really calm. It was weird. It was like I knew I was going to do it.

Sure enough, I did it!! I had a few moments of doubt (around mile 8) where I was starting to question my ability to finish, but once I got to mile 10, I knew I was going to do it. As I hit the home stretch, I got just the boost I needed. Justin was standing there waiting for me. He ran a little bit of the home stretch with me and was so encouraging. Totally what I needed right then. A short time later, I saw Cami and Carissa. They are awesome and had finished about 30 minutes ahead of me but they even came down to run part of it with me! Love them!! As the finish line came into view, I got an extra bolt of energy and I crossed it running faster than I'd run any part of the course!

I had two goals going into this race: I wanted to run the whole course and I wanted to finish in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I was so excited to find that my time was 2:23! Better than what I thought I would do. I feel so happy right now (and a little tired). I feel like I accomplished something that I never would have ever thought I'd be able to do. I know I'm going to be insanely sore tomorrow, but it's so worth it. I even mentioned to Justin that I think I could do this again. (WHAT??)

Here are some pictures from today:
This is right when Justin came into view. I had about half a mile left at this point. (Yes, those are spandex pants. Try not to be too envious that you don't go out in public in a pair.)
Me crossing the finish line. YAY!!
So happy to be done!
Cami, Carrisa, and me. Yes, they look MUCH better than I do in this picture. I like to think it's because this was taken right after my run was over and they'd had 30 minutes to rest and get refreshed while I was still red faced, nasty sweaty, and not in control of my smile. (Cami and Carissa, if you looked that good crossing the finish line, please don't tell me.)
Me and Justin. He's been so supportive throughout my whole training. There were times when I didn't think I could do this and he would encourage me and tell me that he knew I could. I truthfully couldn't/wouldn't have done this without him.

I have so many people to thank for all the help and support they gave me. I couldn't have done this alone:
Justin: I already mentioned how critical he was to me in this process. He was my biggest supporter and fan.
Cami and Carissa: I wouldn't have even signed up for this thing if it wasn't for them. I actually had a great time. I'd love to take a girl trip with them that perhaps could be enjoyed without the looming threat of a 13.1 mile run!
Jared and Kerstin: They came and watched the kids for me so I could go on my long runs. Plus Jared stayed overnight last night so that Justin could come watch me race. You guys are the best!
Eminem, Rhianna, Ke$ha, Jay Z, Linkin Park, Breaking Benjamin, Angels and Airwaves, Jason Darulo, Blink 182, We the Kings, and Cascada: Couldn't have kept going without you all.

I am so proud of me today. I ran 13.1 miles (and no, I never get tired of saying that)!

First Day of School!

Today was Clayton's first day of first grade. I am still having a hard time believing that my little Clayton is in first grade. I used to teach first grade and Clayton somehow seems younger than my old students used to. Perhaps it's because he is a little young for first grade or perhaps it's because he's on the short side. Most probably though, it's because he's my baby and I have a had time accepting the fact that my kids are growing up.

Our morning started off with a bang. Minutes before I was supposed to wake Clayton up, I heard someone banging around in the boys' room. I assumed it was Clayton, eager to get started with the day. Wrong. It was Noah. Naked. Banging around in the dark looking for new underwear to replace the ones he'd wet and then stealthily hid from me (that's always a joy). The second I entered the room though, Clayton jumped out of bed, made it, and flew downstairs in record time. After neutralizing the Noah situation, our day got back on track and we were able to get Clayton ready with a few minutes to spare (it always helps that he's so cooperative at the beginning of the year).

This is where the morning gets hectic. Minutes before Clayton's bus is supposed to arrive, I load a pajama clad Josie in the stroller and Clayton, Noah, Josie and I make the 30 second walk to the bus stop. Because I'd anticipated being back to our house within 10 minutes (hopefully less) I left Disco out. 20 minutes later, we're still waiting. The location of Clayton's bus stop is also the bus stop for two other elementary schools. Clayton's bus is supposed to come first. We saw both of the other busses, but Clayton's was nowhere in sight. After 25 minutes, I informed Clayton that we were going to have to hurry back home, get in the car and drive. He was so upset. He loves riding the bus and had his heart set on it. After a few hugs and one threat, he walked back to the house and got in the car. I hurried and buckled the other kids in, and backed out of the garage. As I did this I saw, in the distance, a bus!

I yelled at Clayton to hurry and unbuckle and run to meet his bus. I've never seen him move so fast! I grabbed his backpack out of the passanger seat and chased him to the bus. When we got there, the bus driver looked at me and said, 'It's the first day of school, we're always a little late on the first day.' I bit my tounge and smiled and nodded like 30 minutes qualifies as only "a little late".

When I got back to the car (where I'd left Noah and Josie) Noah was screaming, "Help me! She's left us!" at the top of his lungs (lovely). Upon entering the house, I noticed that Disco had missed us so much in our absence that he'd gotten us a present. Chewed up pen. Delightful! When I opened the door to let him out (as a reward for his thoughtfulness) he bolted past me and ran away. I considered letting him go, but decided that the kids would probably pester me about his whereabouts until I found him. So I went on a Disco hunt (mind you, I was NOT dressed to do more than sit at the bus stop where no one but my kids would see me). I trooped through the forrest that sits adjacent to our house and then through the neighborhood where I found Disco in a barking match with a large dog (it was a snickerpoo or a cockerpoo or something like that - some dog breed names are silly).

I walked my dog back home and decided that tomorrow must go smoother.

Here are the pictures:
Clayton's school this year requires uniforms. While I hate the thought of uniforms (especially since I bought his kindergarten clothes with the intention of him using them for two years) he loves it. Plus, it does take the guesswork out of what to wear each day!
I think he looks very handsome, and VERY grown up!
At the bus stop. Waiting...and waiting...and waiting.
Noah starts preschool in two weeks! He can't wait for his turn. (He had an allergic reaction to a bug bite. That explains the eye.)
I don't know what me and little miss girl are going to do when all of our boys are gone! She's going to miss them for sure!
Whew, FINALLY on the bus! He's so excited to start school again. It's been all he's been able to talk about for about a week now. The school he's going to this year is a magnet school that focuses on science and technology. Can anyone say, 'taylor made for Clayton'!?! I think he's going to love it!
I think he's going to have a great year and I love how excited he is to go to school. I hope he never looses that excitement over school and learning. While I wasn't as emotional today as I was this time last year, I'm going to miss having him around during the day. He's my buddy and such a good helper now that I feel like I'm loosing an extra pair of hands. It was a hectic morning, but I think it was the perfect way to kick off a new school year! We're going to continue our tradition of homemade cookies and milk when Clayton gets home today. I can't wait to hear all about his day!

Something new!

As always, I have so much to post about and, as always, I'm SO far behind! I hope I can get caught up before Clayton starts FIRST GRADE next week, but it's not looking good. I have swimming lesson pictures to post as well as pictures from our awesome mini-vacay to Madison to see two of our favorite people EVER (of course I'm talking about Vanessa and Rick)!

However, all the pictures from the events I've just mentioned are currently saved on my laptop upstairs and, due to the 11.4 miles I ran this morning, the thought of walking up the stairs right now isn't appealing. So, I'm just going to post what's available to me here on the PC. Luckily for all of you, that includes a sneak peak of the family pictures we had taken a few weeks ago and some shots of the kids that Vanessa was kind enough to take for us when we went to Madison.

On to the pictures. The first series are some shots taken by a photographer named Lillian. She is so talented and I have loved looking at her pics for a while now. She always takes the pictures for my brother's family, and I've loved what she's done for them so I was happy to have the opportunity to have her shoot our family before she (sadly) moved out of the South Bend area. She got some really great shots. Thanks Lillian - it was so fun to work with you!
These are not in any kind of order:
I just love this pretty little girl and her big blue eyes!
She captured his personality alright! His new catchphrase is, "But I was interested!" (He tells me that after I've caught him doing something naughty.)
I love the vibrant colors and, of course, this face! He looks so old to me!!


I'm not sure what Noah's doing here, but I like this one!
I love the expression on Noah's face here. This is one of my favorites of the whole day!

I've gushed before about the amazing photographer that Vanessa is. She just has an eye for what will look good and she know my kids so well that she knows just what to do to get them to take a great picture. When we went to Madison, she took a few shots of the kids for me. I love how they turned out! Thanks Vanessa, you know I think you're awesome!
Seriously, could this kid be any more handsome!?! He's the spitting image of his dad and I couldn't love it more. He's devistatingly handsome when he's posing, but I'm also a sucker for the squinty-eyed face of joy! (And yes, he needs a haircut. It's on our list of things to do before school starts.)

This kid is Mr. Personality! When he turns on the charm, it's impossible to resist, but he's got a stubborn streak in him that runs so deep Michael Phelps would drown in it! (Pictured above, the dashing Noah - pictured below, Pootie.)

What can I say? I just love these pictures and this girl. She's got such a sassy personality. She's definitely the diva of the Smith house and, even though it's frustrating at times, I wouldn't change it!
I've been very fortunate these past few months to have two very talented photographers take our pictures. I'm not the most savvy photographer (and will probably never be) so I love it when someone who knows what they're doing takes charge! Now my biggest problem is deciding which ones to frame (although I've got some pretty good ideas)...

Six...the celebration

I love traditions. I look forward to them and look for excuses to create new ones. For that reason, I was so excited for Clayton's birthday. It's a day that has become full of tradition. Now that he's old enough to fully appreciate all that his birthday has to offer, it was doubly fun. Because Justin was on-call on Clayton's actual birthday (boo) we started the celebrating a few days early with the traditional trip to Toys r Us so that the birthday boy could pick out one special present. I love this tradition because it's great to see the way my kids' faces light up when we pull into the parking lot of the toy store. That in and of itself is like a gift! After walking through the whole store, Clayton chose an Imaginex Toy Story Castle (which was fitting seeing that Toy Story was the unofficial theme of his birthday this year).

At the checkout, the cashier gave Clayton a balloon and a birthday crown and a membership to the birthday club. (I think we could have left without purchasing anything and Clayton would have been completely satisfied.)

On Clayton's actual birthday, he came down the stairs wearing his birthday crown. We then had the traditional birthday breakfast of muffins and scrambled eggs (since I've been married to Justin I've gotten very lazy in the breakfast making department - but at this point, my boys know that muffins and eggs is very special.)There were, in staying with tradition, gifts with breakfast. It was obvious from the beginning that Clayton knew exactly what the day was about.
After breakfast, Clayton got to wear his new birthday shirt. I usually just draw on the shirts with marker, but this year I decided that I'd try sewing a shirt instead. I really like how it turned out (even though it took a lot longer than drawing).
That afternoon, we picked up Landon and I took the boys to Chuck E Cheese. All three of the boys were estatic. I love it when I choose just the perfect activity. My friend Natalie was kind enough to watch Josie for me for the afternoon, so I actually got to enjoy our time at Chuck E Cheese as well!


There were, of course, more presents with lunch.

Love all three of these boys! **Side note - I didn't pay to do the "party package" that Chuck E Cheese offers, however, when we got there and they heard it was Clayton's birthday, they gave him the same stuff that they give the kids whose parents pay for the package. It was awesome and I got out of there for less than $30! You can't beat that!
After Chuck E Cheese we headed back home and watched Toy Story 2 (one of Clayton's birthday gifts). That evening for dinner we had mac 'n' cheese and hot dogs (guess who chose the menu). We ended the celebrations with Jared and Kerstin and the kids coming over for cake and ice cream.
The cake (to go with our unofficial Toy Story theme):
He had been waiting literally all day to blow out birthday candles. I love this look on his face when he finally gets to do it!
His new birthday gifts. He made me write his name on the bottoms of their shoes just like in the movies. Cute.
He had a great birthday and I love that we got to pull out all of our traditions. I also love that it doesn't take much to make this kid happy. I still can't believe my baby is six years old. Happy birthday buddy, you can start counting down to your next birthday now!