Funny Stuff

 "Look, they put a leprechaun from the slot machines on a building!" -My mom when she saw the Boston Celtics mascot on the side of the stadium while we were in Boston for the marathon.

Me: Did you fall back to sleep after you got up to potty at 6:30?
Carter: Oh, I didn't get up to go to the bathroom. I woke up when I was in the hallway. I ran out of my room because I was having a dream that I needed to vote.

Ty: I did not appreciate the whining while we were waiting.

Elise: I did not appreciate the waiting.

Me: Next weekend is Mother's Day so we need to plan what we're gonna make for the grandmas and great grandmas.

Carter: Isn't next week teacher appreciation?

Me: Yes

Carter: Wow, momma, you're doublin down!

"You're so loud. I just woke up, momma." -Carter

Carter: Storm troopers definitely love physics.

Me: Why?

Carter: Because whenever they get shot, they jump in the air.

"I look calm on the outside, but inside I'm blowing up because I'm so excited." -Elise

Elise's friend: My tummy hurts.

Elise: Do you want some Tylenol?

Elise's friend: No

Elise: Do you want Children's Pain and Fever?

Elise's friend: What? No!

Carter got his first Gardasil shot and as we were leaving the doctor, he said, "I think my arm hurts too much to finish picking up my room."

"What if someone's name was timber and you said tickle me timber." -Elise

The nurse kept taking Elise's temperate and Elise said, "My head is undetectable!"

Elise at the orthodontist: They are 4 minutes late! I want this to be over with already!!!!

Carter was sleep walking and yelled out, "That's crazy!" When I got up to check on him, he was standing right in the crack of our bedroom door that was open and was talking about a rack. I walked him back to bed and he said, "I'm just gonna take a nap," and got back in bed.

"That party was actually really fun. Anytime you have Opa and Uncie Taco in a room, it's so funny. You have someone who makes a lot of mistakes and brings up embarrassing stuff from the past and someone who is so good at roasting." -Carter

I was getting dressed and Elise walked by and said, "Why don't you have a shirt on, my mommy?!"

I was doing my strength training in the living room so I could watch the Olympics as I did it. Carter said, "Mommy you are really doing good!" as I was doing push ups. Nothing like a hype man when you're doing something you feel like you're terrible at!

A co-worker texted "Happy first day of school" to Carter and Elise. Carter's response was, "Thank you, I am very stressed. I hope you were less stressed on your first day of middle school!"

Carter yelling from bed: Mom, do you still have a womb?

Me: Yes

Carter: So it doesn't fall out when you have a baby?

Me: Um, no.

Carter: Is it shriveled up?

Wordless Wednesday

We spent the last day of my summer break at a water park at Lake Keystone.

1st day back at work!

Blue hall back to school bash.

Dropping the kids off with my parents for a week since I went back to school a week before them.

My hallway ready for Meet the Teacher

1st Grade Teachers

Ready for Meet the Teacher

Fun earrings for Meet the Teacher

Carter was working on his project and the kittens took it as an invitation.

6th Grade Orientation

My first day of school!

Literary Cat Co.

First Day of School 2024

This year was a big year for us with Carter moving up to middle school. He was super excited and also a bit nervous and anxious. That morning he was very chatty and talking through everything. Elise was very nervous about being in a new grade and not having Carter at school with her. She was so nervous she wasn't able to eat her special breakfast which she had been so excited about. She was really disappointed about it so she had a waffle with Nutella and strawberries as an after school snack. Her bus was on-time on the way home and Carter's was 5 minutes early! I am so thankful for amazing bus drivers who get the kids to and from school safely and in a timely manner, it's not an easy job! Read past first day of school posts here: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 Elise, 2020 Carter, 2019 Elise, 2019 Carter, 2018 Elise, 2018 Carter, 2017, and 2016.

Elise's 1st Day of 4th Grade Interview

• My School Is: Zarrow
• My Teachers Are: Sra. Izquierdo (homeroom and math), Sra. Tschida (reading), and Sra. Chavez (science and social studies)
• My 1st Day of School Is: August 20, 2024
• Height: 53" or 4'5"  
• Shoe Size: 4   
• Weight: 70 pounds
• I Hope I Get to Learn About: Science! 
• When I Grow Up I Want to Be: I want to be a teacher. 
• I'm Really Good At: Art
• I Want to Get Better At: I want to get better at art. 
• This Year I Want to Learn: Art and science projects. 
• I'm Excited About 4th Grade Because: Of my teachers. Carter says they are nice.  
• My Favorite Thing About Myself Is: I am good at art.

Elise getting on the bus in the morning.

Carter's 1st Day of 6th Grade Interview

• My School Is: Carter
• My Teachers Are: Ms. Naff (math), Mr. Ballew (science), Mr. Miralles (spanish), Mr. Wise (geography), Ms. Evans (technology), Ms. Hargett (musical theater), Mr. McGuire (language arts), and Ms. Dyer (advisory)
• My 1st Day of School Is: August 20, 2024
• Height: 60" or 5 feet tall   
• Shoe Size: 8 in men's
• Weight: 105 pounds
• I Hope I Get to Learn About: More advanced things.
• When I Grow Up I Want to Be: I don't know yet.    
• I'm Really Good At: I'm good at animating and video games. 
• I Want to Get Better At: Definitely animating! 
• This Year I Want to Learn: Better Spanish.
• I'm Excited About 6th Grade Because: It is going to be more different than elementary.  
• My Favorite Thing About Myself Is: That I'm awesome!

Carter getting on the bus in the morning.

Twisted Oak Trail 7 Miler

The Twisted Oak Trail race was on my radar for a while before I signed up. I wasn't sure if we'd be in town because we needed to drop the kids with my parents that weekend and were thinking we would go up and spend the weekend with them. I started back to work a week before the kids' first day of school so they would spend the week with my parents. Elise got an invitation for a birthday party that weekend so we decided we'd stay home and then meet up with my parents to drop the kids off on Sunday. Once that decision was made, I signed up for the race. The party ended up getting rescheduled because the birthday girl got sick, but I was already signed up for the race so we stayed in town.

Race weekend was on the way and we had a forecast for a couple cooler days. Then the forecast started to include rain. The day before the race they posted that they may push the start back an hour or 2 if it looked like it would be beneficial with the storms. My alarm went off at 6 am and I got up and started getting ready. It was raining and there was quite a bit of lightning. I remembered there was a chance the race start would get pushed back so I checked the Facebook page and it said the race was still set to start at 7:30 as pushing the start back didn't look like it would be beneficial. I did yoga once I was ready and then dragged my feet leaving the house because I didn't want to get to the race only to find out the start had been postponed. I checked multiple times and there were no updates so I left the house around 6:40. It rained the entire way to the race. I had planned ahead the night before and had a bag packed with all dry clothes as well as dry socks and shoes. I used an umbrella to walk to the car so I also had that. I wasn't thinking when I arrived at the race and left my umbrella in the car. I walked all the way down to the race start area to get my bib and realized I forgot my water bottle in the car so I had to walk back up to get it. I still had plenty of time to wait around in the rain before the race started.

There were quite a few race day registrants and they weren't using a professional timing company, they used a system created by the robotics team the race benefits, so they weren't ready to start the race at 7:30. They were working on getting everyone entered into the system right up until the wire. We started at 7:40 and went straight up a long gravel hill before turning onto a single track trail. So many people took off sprinting up the hill and I wasn't interested in that. I ran up the hill at a normal clip. Then we hit the single track and people slowed to a jog and I was stuck behind them. When we turned on the trail and crossed a gravel parking lot, I sprinted around everyone I was stuck behind and was able to stretch out to my race pace which felt great. My first mile was 9:16 and I felt good about that. The trails weren't super technical, but they were moderately technical with lots of rocky sections. They were definitely more technical than Lubell, Mooser, and Bales which I do most of my trail runs on. Mile 2 was 9:10 and I was feeling awesome. When I went through mile 3 in 8:53, I decided to try to make the race a progression run with each mile faster than the next. I knew that may not be possible because with a trail race the pace varies due to terrain and elevation and I didn't know the course. Mile 4 was 8:50. I was drinking from my water bottle about every 1.5-2 miles. I could see someone behind me a bit as I did some of the switch backs, but other than that, I never really saw anyone else. There were a couple points when I saw lightning, but the storm had slowed to just rain by the time the race started, thankfully!

Mile 5 had a decent amount of decline and I went through it in 8:29. I knew that would likely be my fastest mile of the race and I was right. Mile 6 was 8:49. I really took off the last mile. That last mile was the most technical and there were sections that were super sloppy with mud and I slid around a little bit. I ran that mile the hardest of the race and it was my slowest mile in 9:19, but with the elevation gain in that mile and how technical it was, I was surprised I ran it so close to the same as the first mile! I finished out with a kick at 7:37 pace. I was first overall female and 4th overall in 1:03:11 which was 8:58 pace. After the race I changed into my dry clothes and used my umbrella to stay dry while waiting for the awards ceremony. I had so much fun and the trails were absolutely beautiful! I plan to go back next year. They do a duathlon which includes a trail run, a mountain bike ride, and a trail run. You can do the race as a team and I think it would be fun for Ty to do the mountain biking and I'd do the running on a co-ed team!

Wordless Wednesday

3rd fastest carousel in North America at 15 mph! Faust Park

Butterfly House at Faust Park

Morning run past the Butterfly House in Faust Park.

I came up on 2 adult deer with a fawn who was nursing on my run, then went on to see 2 armadillos and 6 turtles!

"Look, I'm Miss Kitty!"

While we were visiting my grandma our pet sitter sent me so many cute pictures of the pets!

Elise with her friend at her friend's Girl Scout Troop's art show.

Pin the tail on the axolotl at a birthday party.

Before getting her braces off.

After getting her braces offf.

The kids wanted to do one of our anniversary pictures with all the pets.

Green Feather Book Store in Norman for an author event.

Katee Roberts book event.