Fight or Flight?!?

WARNING:  If you visit my blog for pics, this post contains NONE!  You are free to quit reading.  

After moving out of the apartment (June28), I became lax in my running.  Okay, I just quit all together!  It was harder to motivate and time and summer and house stuff...I could keep going with excuses.  July 12 we moved into our house!  Everything unloaded and in it's spot for most part in the same day.  Including the treadmill...hidden nicely in the corner of our bedroom.  In fact you can enter the room and never know it's there!  My excuse now?  I want to get a pad to go under the treadmill so it doesn't damage the hardwood floors! 

Last Monday (Aug 13), I put on my running shoes and hit the pavement!  Scared I wouldn't make it, I only did 2 miles.  It felt great!  Tuesday, I went for three... a little harder, but I attribute some of that to the downpour that came halfway through my run!  Something about soaking wet shoes that make them SO heavy.  I finished the week proud of myself for running M-F!  And this week I've even made it four miles two times!

I know you are starting to wonder about my title...I'm getting there!

I'm normally a treadmill girl with my TV on CC and tunes blasting.  Who knew how enjoyable an outside run could be by yourself!?!  That's always been my excuse (I can find one for anything):  I wanted someone to run with if I was gonna run outside.  But I have throughly enjoyed my tunes and God's creation.  I have found I AM running with someone:  My Heavenly Father is right there beside me.  Cheering me on, encouraging me not to give up and just given me sweet revelation of Him with me.

I have loved seeing all the little things I would have missed on the treadmill!  The bunnies are so adorable, the butterflies and dragonflies are brilliantly colored, and even the creepy crawly things that come out after/during the rain seem so meaningful.  Then there are the smells!  It takes everything I have not to stop and try the honeysuckle!  And there is one spot that every time I close my eyes and am immediately transported to my childhood neighborhood.  I can remember the smells as I would walk down the street to play with the "older" girls!  So very thankful for this new found joy in running with Jesus!

Okay, if you are still reading you are my real friend and I can share openly with you!  Yesterday, I helped out at K's school so my morning run didn't happen.  After spending three hours sorting papers (that's a whole other post), I came home for lunch and devoured more than my fair share of potato chips.  So after the kids were tucked in bed and the hubs was busy in the garage I decided to go for an evening run.

Because of the time I thought I should only do two miles.  Well, at my mile mark I looked at my time, I was doing good so I thought I'd press on.  As I crossed to the other side of the street to run towards traffic, I noticed 4 deer in the thicket area; three does and one small buck.  (This is a regular occurrence since we are so close to Berry College.)  It's normal to see them in the back yard grazing or along the side of the road.  But I'd never come up on them while running...I must say I was a little excited.  Then I noticed the one closest to me was no longer grazing but headed towards me...

Fight or flight?  Well, I wasn't sticking around to see which she was gonna choose, I chose flight!  I turned right around and decided I stick to my two mile plan!  I was pretty sure she could outrun me and I was NOT about to find out for sure.  And I did not want to make headline news: Runner Attacked by Deer!  Google it, it can happen people!

The life of a 5 year old!

 WOW!  Mark always says "Five is the best age to be!"  And I'm starting to believe he is right! ;o)

Kate the great is really starting to shine.  I love her to pieces.  We (I) am finally coming to terms with the fact that we are SO much alike.  

Both kids went in for teeth cleaning in July.  Blake had a perfect report of excellent work keeping his teeth clean and no cavities.  Kate was informed she had two on the verge of wiggling!  (We won't talk about the three cavities.)

So ever since our dentist appointment we have been in the wiggling mode.  Every moment she had a finger or tongue free to wiggle she was!  So much fun seeing her this new experience through her eyes.

Just in the past month so many "firsts" have happened for Kate!  She is now the proud rider of a two wheel bike.  (This was a much harder sale than I thought.)  She is doing great minus getting started...still haven't quite gotten that down yet.

Kindergarten of course!  She has amazed me with her bravery & her memory.  She had her lunch number memorized before the first day of school.  Today she told me she went to the office all by herself before class to look for a lost bow from yesterday!  WOW, she is growing up fast.

Last Saturday, we had a pool party with some co-workers of Mark.  What a blast!  The kids were in the pool from 2 until we dragged them out around 9 with only a momentary stop for dinner!  They even skipped dessert to get back in the pool.  (No worries they found their way to the cookies in between cannon balls!)  There was however a minor accident.  Kate's goggles came apart and she asked me to put them back together...no problem.  Then she proceeded to throw them to me...problem!  They swung right back around and cut her directly under her right eye.  I wasn't sure if it would ever stop bleeding.

Well, with all the swimming she was out cold on the way home.  Apparently so out, that in the middle of the night she rolled OFF her bed and hit her night stand....yep you guessed it:  right eye!

Our first shinner at 5!  She's actually doing better than Blake...(uh, Grandma?)!  lol

It's looking better and should be gone by fall pictures on Aug 22...pray tell how is that fall pictures?!?  More like late summer pics...I digress.

Another first!  Kate received her first American Girl doll from Lolly & Pop.  (This may well be her only!)  It was perfect!  McKenna is the 2012 girl of the year.  A gymnast (I'm sure b/c of the Olympics) and she looks just like Kate!  Kate of course has been begging for nothing else but gymnastics classes since we moved to GA.  (We will be signing up next week....I wanted to see how wiped out she might be from school first.)

SO we come full circle...

All she wants for her birthday are her two front teeth! ;o)

(I'm sure she'll have by Christmas so I had to modify!)  

They both came out tonight.  I was showing her how loose they were and encouraging her to go ahead and pull them when the dental floss got hung on it and twisted it.  Daddy to the rescue pulled the first and the second after much convincing.  It was barely hanging on...I was really afraid she'd swallow it in the night!  Good thing the tooth fairy is prepared! ;o)

Oh, to be 5 again!

First Day of School

08-08-2012

The best birthday present ever?  Sending both my children to school!  ;o)

The first day of school for Blake and Kate was my birthday...Seems so EARLY!

They were all smiles...though I know both of them were full of anxiety!  Kate the good kind...she could not be more excited.  Blake was not looking forward to another NEW school.  He is a great kid and makes friends easily, but change is still change!

Since we were unsure if we would be able to go to the county schools, I did not buy school supplies until the day before school!  (If you are reading this, you know me well and know that I was NOT comfortable with this!)

 They are at separate campuses, so we headed to the Elementary campus first (third - fifth grade).  So the good news is that every third grader there is learning the campus not just Blake!  ;o)

Blake and his home room teacher, Mrs. T; she teaches reading, spelling & language arts.  Mr. F is his switch teacher for math, science & social studies.

She was just beside herself!  I don't think we could get to the Primary campus quick enough!  ;o)

She was leading the way!  Mind you she's only step foot in the building two times and the first time we didn't go 100 feet past the front doors!  

Mrs. M and Kate the great!  Can you believe she's been teaching K here for 20 years?!?  And her parapro has been with her for 16 of those!  It's gonna be a great year.

Still smiling, though I think she was a little tired!  So proud of her.

The greatest answer to prayer!  See that smile?  He LOVES school.  This is a huge thing.  I am beyond words at how our God loves us so much that He takes care of the smallest of details in our lives!  Praising Jesus for carrying my children through this transition.

A huge shout out to my amazing husband who surprised me and stayed home to help see the kids off and spend the day with me celebrating!  Another way I know my Jesus loves me.