It was definitely a busy week here. It seems that always happens with the last couple weeks of school and track season. Like many people in the US, we were able to see the eclipse. We had about 80-90% here and all went outside to have a look. Some of us like to make sillier faces than others. Mr. Serious was off to Arizona for a conference, but we all managed two days of back to back races, yucky weather and more. After the first day of the race where we got pretty drenched and N ran a 1600m, we came home and did some legs up the wall as instructed by her coach. I was happy she asked me to j ..read more

This past week was Spring Break and we didn’t really plan anything. We’ve found our better trips and vacations are around our February break and Fall Break. Of course it does feel strange with everybody else out and about. But it was nice taking a break from running… HA! Break! There were definitely no breaks. The oldest two had group runs everyday except Sunday, and the younger two ran three times. I also had three runs to get in. So, yeah, no running breaks, just no running pictures. The oldest had work, the next oldest secured work, and there was a lot of running around and going places, s ..read more

E had a pretty big PR last week at her race, and because of that and the way she raced after skinning her knee (see large bandage a week later), shoulder and hip, the other coaches selected her as one of the runners to recognize. The other girl was out sick, so I did a stand in hand holding her gift card. Our middle school team had the week off for racing, but we still needed to get our respective runs in. Between races at the high school, N ran with Mr. Serious and I ran with E and B. Of course, we forgot to take our picture after the run, but grabbed one at home after warming back up a bit ..read more

Very last minute Tuesday, I decided to walk up to our voting location at dismissal time (which is also our elementary school), grabbed B and walked into the school to vote. It was only a primary for presidential election and pretty silly to even vote because the candidates are basically determined. But, I needed to remind myself it’s a right to vote and show this kiddo that we get to vote and should. So, I got my vote in. This weekend was a tizzy of races that I managed to get to both to see all of our runners run at least one race. That meant a 35 minute drive in one direction, and hour dri ..read more

Somehow, it’s already Monday again, and we’ve “lost” an hour of sleep. Arizona is looking more and more appealing! Monday was busier than a traditional Monday because it was a virtual learning day, so there were a lot of appointments, work shifts and tasks. And of course, runs still needed to happen. E’s running buddy wasn’t feeling well, so after already doing 2 other (non-running) workouts, I joined her for her run. Thankfully, she’s willing to still run my pace! I managed to drop my phone from my flip belt (I think really, it never made it all the way in), but it lived to see another day ..read more

It was another double race weekend, but also a try divide and conquer. I drove 90 minutes northwest with the middle school team and Mr. Serious got to go to an away meet that was almost as close as our high school. The middle school kids participated in several different races, and E was able to do her first 4x800m relay and open 800m. While the relay won’t have an official PR time, according to what I recorded, it was a PR for her. And then the open 800m run was an official PR for her! It’s been a nice start to the season. Here she is finishing her run strong and coach mom cheering her on an ..read more

Another year, another trip around the sun for E! I still remember her birth like it was yesterday and here we are celebrating her last year before becomes a teenager! The day was busy from before sunup to sundown, but we tried to make it special for E. Mr. Serious made pancakes for the girls and E got hers delivered to her bed with a candle! Then, after school and practices, she requested we have dinner at Chuy’s, so we hustled home and all got in one vehicle for dinner. After our tasty dinner, we headed home for her to open her presents and have some cake. The Potato Hoodie was a big hit ..read more

It’s been a very busy week involving a lot of planning, coordinating, moving cars and moving people. And that’s just the kids keeping us busy! In addition to the usual practices, school, work and life, E had an award ceremony for all A’s for her first semester of middle school. I’m not sure who told them to keep growing up, but it keeps happening. Friday night, I was able to see the oldest two at the first track race of the season. I’m going to miss quite a few races being with the middle schoolers, so I was glad to attend (even with the terrible traffic and after 12 bedtime!). The oldest go ..read more

Mr. Serious sent a funny video to me and when I watched, I knew the girls had to see it too. I have no idea what part of the video it was, but I think it’s funny we are all having very different reactions to it. Mr. Serious made sure to snap a picture…it’s been a minute since there was a randomly snagged mommy and me monday picture. N had to do her runs a little differently because of a band obligation, so she joined us in the garage on the treadmill while Mr. Serious and I knocked out the 120 minute live ride with Mr. Wilpers. Her run was done and we still had about an hour left of the ride ..read more

Homemade tortilla making is a family effort. N had a babysitting gig, but helped me mix up the dough. For some reason, when I’ve made them on my own, they end up thick and the wrong texture. So, I was happy she helped me mix them. Then, B came over to shape them into little balls for them to sit before cooking. I was getting a picture with B and N decided to hop on into the picture. N went off to babysit with the oldest, and after the tortilla balls rested for a while, B and I got to pressing the tortillas in our tortilla press and then cooking the tortillas. In no time at all, we had our t ..read more