Craziness!

I completed another race this morning. Brought home the gold trophy and everything. That's right, I was the first woman in the 30-or-so person field. :) Most importantly though I shaved nearly 70 seconds off my time since Thanksgiving. There was a young girl in the race whose father was a bit, shall we say, enthusiastic. She started out in the lead and it didn't take me long to figure out that her dad was drafting for her, pointing out bad spots on the course so as to elliviate the need for her to watch the road I suppose, and keeping a close eye on me and how far behind I was. I tell you, my heart ached for this poor girl. I only hope the drive to compete is hers and not her father's. I had had plans to run the 12 mile dam to dam race in Des Moines in June this year, but it was moved up to the last weekend in May and I already have plans that weekend (Girls weekend in KC....YEA!!!!) so will be missing that joy. Heidi and I are already trying to find a substitue half-marathon or like race. Maybe the Omaha Marathon in the fall. We'll have to see.

I am now making a solemn vow to never again leave my babies. And Chris is fully supporting this method. I left them with Chris last night to go to a local meeting, then again this morning so as to run the race and hang out afterwards for awards and door prizes. I had a great time doing all of it, and Chris and the girls got along fabulously....until I got back. And then the floodgates opened. It seems they are punishing me for being away, and have been cranky with me all day. We're hoping they are both finally asleep, but it's doubtful. Mia has gotten a new tooth and has at least one if not two more that look as if they will just pop out the front of her gums instead of bothering to drop down. The poor dear, it must hurt terrible bad.

We had planned to babysit a gaggle of kiddos tonight....the local Catholic Church Ball is tonight and we opted out, but it didn't work out, so we sent L to play with Addie a bit but mostly have hung out here tonight.

Chris and I are taking the big step into home improvement. Not do-it-yourself stuff, but the contracted kind, given that neither of u knows a darn thing about home improvements. We're expanding our master bedroom closet and hoping to redo the floors on the first floor. We are looking to put a laminate wood in our kitchen/great room as well as entry way, hall and master bed room. I HATE carpet. It's dirty and hard to clean. I don't mind sweeping three times a day, but the dust and dog hair that gets trapped in my carpet is gross to me. We're excited to get to the closet project....it's something we've been looking to for quite some time.

Hopefully the remainder of the weekend will be less teary and more joyful. Mom is coming up next week to go to the Backyardigans Live with me and Ella in Cedar Falls. I can't wait! I think Ella will love it. Then it's only a week away until our semi-annual trip to Texas! We're going to be able to get out a little earlier than usual and plan to travel a little farther on our first night than usual. We'll stop about two hours north of Sherman and stay at a hotel, then take our time in the morning, letting the girls swim and play until checkout time. Then Chris gets to fish and the girls and I get to play on the ranch. It looks like Chris is gonna take off fishing on our final day and enjoy the ranch with us. So much fun. Much gratitude to the Breeze family for always welcoming us. Ella is already asking about JD and squeaky. And she reminded me today that doodle-do had to leave and go to his home. So precious.