Mud Run

This past Saturday Bobby and three guys from our church participated in the Collins Home Mud Run.  One of the kids on Sammy's Upward team lives at the Collins Home so we were definitely interested in helping raise money for such a wonderful cause.  Plus we know Joe & Anne Rackley, the founders of the Collins Home.

It poured rain all day Friday before the day of the race.  Lovely.  The morning of the race dawned bright and chilly.  Extra lovely.  Thankfully Bobby's team didn't start until nearly noon so it had warmed up a bit weather wise (or spectator wise) but unfortunately the mud hadn't warmed up much.

This was a crazy course filled with nearly 40 obstacles.  One of Bobby's teammates was 12 y/o Nathan, who has a slight fear of heights.  But he never whined or complained once.  Several of those obstacles were high (like the 9 foot wall and the cargo climb.)  I'm so proud of these guys!! 

The kids even participated in the Kids Run which included 20 obstacles.  They loved each and every one of them.  Their first time through they barely got muddy.  I guess all of those years of yelling at them to not get in the mud (don't get dirty!) paid off.  Once I convinced them that I had brought towels and extra clothes for them they went right back out and actually rolled in some of the puddles!

I had so much fun just watching everyone.  The wives, grandparents, and several other ladies from church sat together and chatted while we waited for the guys to finish.  We cheered for the other teams as they finished and just had a good time enjoying some fun fellowship together.

I love looking at these pictures!

--Nate F, Bobby, Scott M and Nathan M--

 The guys patiently wait for their turn to begin.

 Almost time...

 The guys lay down and get ready to start.

 Bobby is first to get up the nine foot wall.

 And he helps pull Nathan up.  Many of the obstacles required teamwork.

 After the nine foot wall we couldn't see the guys anymore so the kids began their run.

 I took pics of all of the obstacles but I'm only going to post a few.

 This was the puddle they ended up rolling in!

 Sammy's favorite obstacle was the mini cargo climb.

 The kids after their first time through...

 The kids after their 11th time through.

 Bobby & Nate approach the cargo climb.

 The team finishes together.

Amos @ 9 Months

At nine months Amos --

• Sits unassisted
• No longer hates tummy time because...
• he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back & forth.
• Nurses four times a day.
• Loves baby food, especially sweet potatoes, corn casserole and bananas.  
• Is really hesitant to eat table food but loves Texas Toast and cheese quesadillas.
• Covers his face with his snuggle blanket when he goes to sleep.
• Says "Da Da" all the time and "cat", "na na" and "bye bye" randomly.
• Has two front teeth on the bottom.
• Loves our cats, his books and anything that rattles.
• Is super snugly and so incredibly happy!!

Miniature Greenhouses

Science the past few weeks has consisted of gardening - soil, seeds, watering, etc.  The kids have been working with Bobby, getting our garden ready for the summer.  It's nice that our every day household chores count as school work!   We have also worked on making mini greenhouses out of clean chicken rotisserie containers (I got ours from Ingles.)

It's a pretty easy, self explanatory process so I'll just leave you with the pictures I took.  

 

 

Cousins

I'll just quickly tell you about our trip to visit Bobby's brother and his family.

Not long after we returned from Florida, we packed again and headed to North Carolina.  David and the twins have March birthdays (within a week of each other) and we wanted to help them celebrate.  Catherine and Samantha are two years old!  Wow!  Where has the time gone?  I hate that we don't visit with them more often.

We all had so much fun playing with them and seeing how much they've learned and developed over the past year.  Our first night there we just had a quiet dinner at home.  The next day we went to the Science Museum and then out to eat that evening.  Outings with five children was loud and crazy and fun!

We dragged our feet about leaving that final day.  It was hard saying goodbye when we had such a brief visit and we know it will be a while before you see them again.

 Really Dave? 

Orlando

As you probably already know, the second part of our Orlando trip was not fun.  Our fourth night there Hannah, Samuel and I came down with a terrible stomach bug.  Bobby kept the kids on the pull out bed in the living room and was up with them all night long.  The poor babies couldn't even keep water down.  I was in our bedroom feeling so miserable from being sick and not being able to take care of Hannah & Samuel.  Praise the Lord that Amos slept through the entire night - which included Sammy vomiting in our bed and housekeeping coming to change the sheets & clean.  

The next day (Wednesday) we were keeping fluids down but still tired and blah.  Our housekeeping lady, Jag, was such a blessing to us!!  She cleaned our room like it was her favorite thing in the world to do.  She gently carried Sam back to bed after she put fresh sheets on and then made swans out of (new fresh) towels to entertain the kids.  And let me tell you, with three people sick we used ALL the towels and the kids didn't always make it to the bathroom/trashcan.  I loved her.

The day we left she hugged the kids goodbye.  I filled out the survey card for her and plan to write a letter on her behalf.  

We still struggled over the next few days.  Hannah was sick a couple of times Thursday morning but was better by the afternoon.  I was worried b/c we had planned to meet Bobby's aunt and cousins for supper that evening.  We made it though.  Sammy was sick a couple of times Friday morning but thankfully recovered so we could finish Universal and head home.  We only stopped once on the way home because we still didn't have appetites and were still exhausted from being sick.

We survived though.  I was humbled by not being able to be in control and giving that job over to Bobby.  Who was amazing by the way!  He has always been the best husband/father ever but that night was just more evidence of this.  

Here are pics of our supper with Aunt Patti, Mike, Sean and Mary as well as our last day at Universal...

Beautiful

I have so many blog posts in my mind...I need to write about our last day at Universal Studios, our trip to Durham to visit Dave & the twins and what we've been doing with home school lately.  We're finally getting settled down now that Upward is over and we're home until May.  I've been spring cleaning and organizing like crazy but our house definitely needed some TLC after months of neglect.

Today was such a sweet day.  We didn't do a lot but I feel like I got so much accomplished.  I sat in the floor with the kids and played what they wanted to play.  We worked on mini greenhouses (made from empty rotisserie chicken boxes) for school.  I'll post pictures soon.

This afternoon, as supper was cooking in the stove, I gave Amos a bath in the kitchen sink.  He splashed happily and "chatted."  From where I was standing I could see Hannah & Samuel, dressed in their new cowboy/cowgirl outfits, jumping on the trampoline. 

It's these small moments that encourage me as a mother.  Bathing my plump little baby and smelling his hair as we snuggle.  Watching my two older children playing happily and laughing together.  I know I'm probably not making a lot of sense.  It's just hard to put into words that feeling that catches you by surprise as you go about your day.  That feeling that, even though it is so hard sometimes - and there are times I want to just walk out the door - this job of being a mother is fun and crazy and full of adventure.  It's sweet and wonderful and I don't want to be anywhere else or doing anything else.  Soon enough they'll be grown and all I'll have are these pictures and memories.