Last Meet

So the swim season must sadly come to an end. The kids last meet was on Tuesday night and it was against the 1st place team in the county. Translation our undefeated season is no longer undefeated :) We had a great season though with a 5-1 record and both kids improved their times by quite a bit. Jackson is a seriously good backstroker and has made so much improvement in fly and breastroke. He'll be going to the county swim meet on Monday and Kate will be helping us in the cheering section. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last meet of the summer.

Too Cool...

The push-off

New personal best time 24.53

Kate LOVES coach Melanie

Team cheers

Another one bites the dust

What a smile!

Jackson's front tooth was hanging by a thread today, so I stepped up and yanked it out! I actually hate doing that too (it gives me the willies). But that is how much I love my son. :) Jackson is in such a funny, awkward stage now, with crooked emerging teeth, missing teeth and remaining tiny baby teeth. I'm thinking it will probably pass in about another 10 years. Right?

PS- Is it me or are these 2 clones?!

2 Wonderful Wednesday Stories

So, with the exception of one week, Jackson has been keeping up with his story writing. Beginning is still the hardest part for him but once the pencil hits the paper he is having an easier time adding the details. Here are a couple of recent stories from our Wonderful Wednesday story time.

Story #1
One of the Twelve Apostles Spoke

I got to do something cool last Sunday. At Stake Conference an apostle spoke to everyone in church. I got to shake the apostle’s hand at the end. His name was Russell M. Nelson. He spoke about holding onto the iron rod. I will remember that day forever.

Story #2
My First Summer Camp

Have you ever been to a sports camp? I went to sports camp last week. In camp you get to do volleyball, tennis, soccer, basketball, and swimming. The swimming was my favorite part. My coach, Craig, can do a slam dunk. I went to camp with a friend named Taylor. He lives across the street and is funny. Camp was really fun. I’m excited about my next camp. It’s called Camp Invention.

Bye Hatch Family!

So it took me a few days to post a note about some of our closest friends, the Hatches, who have moved to San Antonio. We have known since February that they would be leaving but it still stinks! Since they left on Thursday I have thought thought about calling them several times only to remember they weren't here anymore. I have looked for the girls at swim practice and tried to catch a glimpse of their family at church today. I wonder when I'll stop doing those kind of things.
Although I know we'll be lifelong friends, we sure are going to miss our daily interactions with them. Those people in San Antonio are pretty lucky to be getting such a neat family. We miss you already Hatches!!!
PS-Get your blog started Anne...I need details! :)

My Mom ROCKS!!!

Anyone who knows my Mom, knows that she is AMAZING! She seems to have a sixth sense about what needs to get done and she does it. What a lifesaver she was last week. She arrived last Wednesday night so that she could help out with the kids on Kate's chemo day. Then on Friday I began my stretch of 6 shifts. Each day she "played" with the kids at the pool, (actually it's a lot of work but she called it playing) cooked us dinner, ran errands, shuttled children to activities and helped me get a few things organized. Of course I cried when she left yesterday because who will take care of me now?! (ha-ha)
So...we moved into a new house in March. Kate became ill in April and school let out in May. In between all of these life changes I feel like my world is in complete disarray. OK, maybe not my world, but certainly my house. There are no pictures on the walls, nothing has been decorated, the office and guest room are still in boxes and until this weekend, you couldn't even step into the playroom. I felt paralyzed by all that needed to be done, but she stepped in and helped me knock out the playroom and now it looks like a Montessori classroom. :)

Kitchen area

Wall o' baskets

Oh my goodness, I can see the floor!

You'll notice a lot of open floor space and that was purposeful. We have 2 large storage areas in the playroom that house tumbling mats, tee-pees, tents and other large items. They can be brought out and used in the open space and then put away so that the room can be used for other activities.

View from back stairs

I still have to decorate the walls in the playroom but I have some ideas for that.
Here is a shout-out to my Mom who knows me better than anyone in the world and who kept me motivated enough to actually finish a project. I love you! (And when are you coming back to help me with the office? Seriously...) :)

New suit

Ava is truly a water baby. No doubt this comes from her spending every summer minute of her life at the pool but she is getting too bold for my taste. A few weeks ago she began pushing me away from her so that she could swim (I mean SINK) on her own. That wasn't working for me so I went looking for a good floatie. I have to give credit to my friend, Laura Chappell, who discovered this swim suit/floatie combo from Land's End. A few of my favorite features:
1. The vest clips into the bottoms so the vest doesn't ride up
2. You have a cute suit when she is out of water and doesn't need the vest
3. It keeps her upright
4. The vest dries quickly
5. The vest zips in the back so she can't take it off herself
6. Sears sells Land's End so you can see it up close before you purchase it
I'll have to post some pictures of Ava in the suit. She swims all over the pool now and loves her independence. Me too!

Close Call

I am still a little wound up from last night's swim meet. It was against a team that we lost to by only 8 points last year (out of like 700 points). It was painful! Well, this year we were very evenly matched and from my perspective our swimmers weren't at their best. Apparently we were good enough though because we won...by 1 point! Everyone said they have never seen a meet go that close before. What a fantastic night that I think the kids will remember for a long while. That makes our record 5-0 with our last swim meet next Tuesday. The season goes so quickly!

300 Atlanta

The Proof

We went to a great bowling alley last week when Jason's parents were visiting and loved it so much that we brought my Mom there today for family night. I know that it is goes against everything you know bowling alleys to be but this one is clean, not smoke filled and well designed. They have created this alley to be a comfortable, fun and clean environment and the kids love it. Ava jams to the music, and the kids bowl their little hearts out. We have such a great time there! Tonight I had a particularly great time...mostly because I beat Jason for the first time ever! One of our very first dates was bowling. He scored in the 160's and I barely reached 100. That pattern has seemed to continue for our marriage until today. Jason wasn't too thrilled with his performance but I will relish this night for I don't know if I'll ever have a repeat performance!

Summer Swim Meets

Go Barracudas!

Fly King

New Backstroke Personal Best 25.00 seconds

Well, it is swim team season and I am loving it! We have won our first 2 swim meets and last week we beat a team that we have never beaten before. I am most decidedly a competitive person (ask anyone who has ever played Scattegories with me) and I get very excited watching the teams compete. There are so many last minute calls and it is completely acceptable to scream words of encouragement during the races. I love it! The kids love the competition but here is their top 5 reasons why they love swim team-
1. Pushing the coaches in the pool when they win and then jumping in themselves.
2. Getting ice cream at Brusters when the meet ends.
3. Learning new team cheers and seeing what funny costumes the coaches wear to the meets each week.
4. Getting cool ribbons!
5. Writing all over themselves with Sharpies before the meet. (This was new to me but something that all swimmers do?!)

The team has daily practice for an hour and a half. Kate hasn't been to even one practice because she's been too tired and Jackson hasn't missed a practice. Kate did however, want to compete in the first meet and did great! She swam her freestyle and backstroke quite slowly but deliberately and with good form. Jackson is the youngest in his 8 and under age group and is learning to worry only about his time and trying to improve it. With the new age group comes the new strokes of butterfly and breast. He is pretty darn good at butterfly but not too sure about breast stroke. He took 4th place in fly and 1st in backstroke in the last meet. I am really enjoying watching him hop out of the pool and ask the timer what his time was and not look around to see what place he came in. He is also learning about how his winnings contribute to the team winning. All good stuff... These are a few pictures of Kate is her swim meet.

Nice Backstroke!

Kate's Freestyle side breathing

Peek-a-Boo

Happy 2nd Birthday Ava!!!

I can hardly believe that Ava is 2 years old. I clearly remember holding her in my arms in the recovery room and falling in love with her angelic face 2 years ago. Everything has changed in two years and yet some things haven't changed. She still has that angelic face. She still is bald and she definitely still has a huge spirit in a little body.
Since Gramma and Grampa weren't here on Kate's birthday we had a double celebration for Kate and Ava. Ava graciously shared the day with her sister and they even shared the same birthday present -- a new trampoline!!!
It was the most fun I've had decorating as Jackson and Kate helped me make the decorations and put them up. The birthday cake was a special order request from Kate, a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. It was yummy!
We are blessed with 3 wonderful children, entrusted to us from heaven.

Jackson's 1st Triathalon

Swim

Bike

Run

Proud finisher

Jackson participated in his first triathalon this morning and had a blast! At 5:30 am we woke up to drive to Peachtree City for the Annual Peachtree City Youth Triathalon. Jackson was so excited that he didn't even mind be awakened at such an early hour. He swam 100 meters, then rode his bike for 3 miles and ran 1/2 a mile. He looked like he was having a great time and was pretty proud of himself. It is such a confidence booster for kids to complete an event like this. He must have had a good experience because he has asked us when he can do another race. I am on the case and looking for more adventures!

Wonderful Wednesdays and Lost Tooth

Look at the cute missing front tooth. Jackson lost his first tooth on the top on Monday. Here is a close up of his darling new smile!
Jackson and I have come up with a few times each week where we do some fun educational projects. One of them is called Wonderful Story Wednesday. I am trying to get him to come up with original writing ideas and expand on them. This was the most difficult thing for Jackson in 1st grade. I was talking to Jason's Mom (a recently retired elementary school teacher) about it and she gave me a great idea. It is called the 5 finger paragraph. For the first finger, the child introduces the story in one sentence. The next 3 fingers are a sentence each and are details about the idea. The last finger is a sentence that concludes or sums up the story. We also talked about editing and worked together on moving sentences around for a better flow. This was very easy for Jackson and not stressful! Here is his first entry. Enjoy!

Kate’s Leukemia
I have a sister named Kate and she has leukemia. Leukemia is a sickness in your blood that is called cancer. Kate must take medicine for two years. She has a port under her skin where they put the medicine. I hope Kate will get better soon.

End of the School Year

Mrs. Wise and Jackson - We LOVE her!

Award Ceremony

Pirate Party

Wow, it is the end of another school year! Jackson received his advancement to 2nd grade this week with an award for making the Prinipal's list and a Citizenship award. We are so grateful for his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Wise. She is one of those rare teachers that considers her job to be more than just a job. She loves her students and is as concerned about their academic progress as she is about them demonstrating kindness, patience and empathy for the other students. We were so blessed to have had her in our lives this year!
The last of school was celebrated with a pirate party complete with a silly string fight AND a water balloon fight. Can you imagine a better way for 7 and 8 year olds to party? They had a blast and I think were a little sad for it all to end.

Tiger Cub

Jackson and his bud Oliver

Award Presentation

Tiger Paw

Jackson's first year of scouting came to an end at tonight's Pack Meeting. These are a few pictures of him receiving his Tiger Badge and having fun with his den. Jason can hardly wait for the campouts to begin...(no sarcasm there)!
Today was kind of a rough day for Kate so the girls and I stayed home but Jason took a bunch of pictures and gave me the low down. Now aside from swim team, we have no activity commitments for the summer. Yahoo!

Book Addiction

My sister-in-law, Shauna, has been telling me for months about the book Twilight and how awesome she thought it was. I won't even tell you what it is about because it was a turn off for me when Shauna told me the plot line. I have to give her props for being persistent though, as she ignored my lack of enthusiasm and bought me a copy anyway. I am so glad that she did!
I grabbed the book on my way out the door last weekend as we headed to beach and started reading it in the car. I finished that 500+ page book before the end of the day and then persisted in bugging all of my family members to read the book too. I convinced my sister-in-law, Jenny, and she too finished it in a day. Since we were both still on vacation and had little else to do with our time we went to the authors website to see when the sequel was going to be published. Turns out that the sequel, New Moon, had already been published so we ran to Target and bought 2 copies. We polished that book off in under a day as well. The books are actually classed as young adult fiction (so they are very quick reads) and have a fun story line. If you are up for some pool reading this summer or some mindless fun I highly recommend these two books. The next in the series, Eclipse, is going to be out on August 7th so if you hurry up you can read that one too!

Soccer Tournament

Jackson participated in his first soccer tournament this weekend. His team played one game yesterday and 2 today. In order to advance to the final they had to win all 3 games. They had 2 wins and 1 close loss by only 1 goal. One of my favorite moments of the weekend was when Jackson's teammate, Chance, ran up to Jackson after he scored a goal, jumped up and they butted chests. Too darn cute.
Jackson has really found his stride these past few weeks. He learned to challenge the other players in possession of the ball and also how to slide while kicking. He even scored a goal today on a left footed slide shot. It was awesome!
On a different note, I think that I might need therapy. I have found that I am physically unable to verbally control myself at soccer games. It is a bit ridiculous that I have to continually shout words of encouragement and even "suggestions" from time to time for the duration of the U-8 game. I just get so swept up in the game and I really can't contain my enthusiasm. (At least I am not asking what the score of the game is or even caring who wins.) Gratefully, Jackson doesn't mind my enthusiasm and even looks over from time to time and gives me a thumbs up. What a great kid!

Arrrrgh Matey!

Does anybody remember how awesome field day was in elementary school? For me it was a magical day of contests, eating treats and playing games against the teachers. What a wonderful way to wrap up the school year! Now I get to live vicariously through Jackson as he enjoys his field day. Last year I was able to volunteer for field day activities and this year I so wish I could have been there. The theme was pirates and the kids looked adorable all decked out. A Mom in Jackson's class made the cute bandanas for the kids to wear and keep as a momento. So Cute!! Here are a few shots of Jackson, some "in character" and others just of our sweet little man.

Happy Belated Mothers Day

A friend emailed me this article and I loved it! It captures so much of what I have been thinking about recently. Happy Mothers Day to all of the women in my life!

By Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through unreliable haze of the past.
Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.
What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.
Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.
When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing.
Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow.
I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.
Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the, "Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame." The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, "What did you get wrong?". (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?
But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages
6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner,bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.
Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be.
The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top.
And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

Movin' on up

Jackson moved up a level during his last day of swim classes last week. He has been working hard for months to achieve this and I am proud of him. Here are a few pictures of him after he rung the bell (what they do when the kids move up a level). Summer swim team at our swim/tennis club begins next week and Jackson is very much looking forward to it. It is more fun and less stress is placed on swim stroke technique. We are hopeful that we'll all get to hang out at the pool quite a bit and enjoy this beautiful Atlanta weather. Summer is my favorite time of year!

Kate's New Blog

In an effort to keep family and friends up to date with Kate's progress and treatments, I have created a blog dedicated to her and her journey to a cure from leukemia. There is a link titled "Kate's Journey" on the margin and the web address is katesleukemiajournal.blogspot.com. Thank you all for your kind words of support, your love and encouragement. They are most appreciated and needed. Please continue to keep her in your prayers!

Diagnosis

Kate's bone marrow results came back this afternoon and she has been diagnosed with pre-B ALL. This is a subtype of leukemia. It is hard to believe that our sweet little girl that was running around giggling last week has luekemia this week!
Our med flight was approved by insurance and we are heading back to Atlanta tomorrow at noon. We will be transported directly to Egelston, the children's hospital in Atlanta. Kate's chemotherapy will begin on Wednesday we will take it day by day after that. Right now we are just trying to breathe...

Waiting and more waiting

Gratefully, Jason flew up on Saturday and is now with us in New Hampshire. He felt so much better once he saw his Kate and was able to hold her. I feel so much better to see him, to hug him and for us to be able to lighten the other's burden.
We were originally anticipating being discharged this morning but ran into a complication. Kate did perk up after the blood transfusions but she also developed a distended abdomen and fevers continued to spike to 104. For this reason our physicians felt that she would not be stable for commerical transport and wouldn't discharge us to go. Because Kate's white blood cell count is so low and she is exhibiting some signs of abdominal infection they were concerned about her being away from medical attention for 8 hours. So then a new plan was formed...
Here we are in the middle of the new plan. Kate is currently undergoing a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy. After which she will immediately have a central IV line placed so that she won't get any more "pokes". That poor girl has already had to have 3 IV's placed and have 2 additional blood draws. Late last night her new 5 hour old IV infiltrated and swelled her little arm so much. It was heartbreaking to hear her beg me (again) not to let them give her "any more pokes". After we receive the bone marrow results this afternoon we will know what the diagnosis is and will be able to have a better idea of where to go from here.
Meanwhile, the transport team in Atlanta is fighting with our insurance company to try and approve a medical flight back to Atlanta tomorrow. We are praying that this will be approved and that we will be able to get back there quickly and safely. We are hopeful that this will happen. We are also praying that Kate's procedures will go well and that she will not experience much pain as a result.
We are touched and quite in awe at the outpouring of love and kindness that we have been shown by our families, friends, community and complete strangers. Now we can only pray that all of the prayers offered on Kate's behalf will be answered.

Kate

I am hoping that this will be a cathartic entry and that I'll be able to sleep afterward. Here I sit in Dartmouth hospital in New Hampshire at 4:30 in the morning with my dear sweet Kate. This was to be a long since overdue, "girls weekend" with my best friends Susan and Sarah but the day we arrived Kate became markedly more ill. Her pallor, fatigue and pain brought us to the ER where she was then transfered up to the pediatric clinic. They started an IV, began hydrating her and sent quite a few labs off. The CBC showed several very concerning abnormalities. Her white blood cell count was dangerously low rendering her incapable of fighting any illness and her red blood cell was so low that we were told she'd need several blood transfusions. The differential diagnosis for these gross abnormalities, we were told, was 1. Viral suppression of the bone marrow 2. Aplastic anemia (meaning the bone marrow is not producing any blood lines) 3. Leukemia (which means that cancer cell have taken up the space in the bone marrow where the developing blood cells need to be. After more bloodwork the hematologist/oncologist told us that she thought that ALL (leukemia) was most likely but we'd need a bone marrow biopsy to give a definitive diagnosis. Because we don't live here though, we need to get Kate stable enough to transport back to Atlanta so that we can be admitted to our children's hospital for the biopsy and treatment. Since our arrival Kate has had 2 transfusions, 3 rounds of antibiotics and fluids. After she received the transfusions she began perking up considerably and is not scaring me to death with her unresponsiveness.
We have been so grateful for the kindess that we have received thus far. Two church members that are residents came over and gave Kate a blessing. It was a wonderful blessing and did help to ease the pain of it all. Susan's husband, Chris, who is also a resident here was amazing in helping us navigate the system and getting us set up comfortably. Our sweet bishop called the heme/onc physician at Egleston hospital and had a transfer already arranged before we were even seen by our heme/onc specialist in Dartmouth. That took hours of negotiating and worry away. After I spoke with the specialist in Atlanta I knew what the plan would be and she worked with our specialist here to help make it happen. My best friends are meanwhile caring for Ava and checking in on me which was most desperately needed tonight. I seem to mostly be ok but have mini breakdowns when the reality and hurt suddenly wash over me.
Kate is really doing much better now. Her fevers are controlled, after a difficult attempt she has a 2nd IV in that is working and she is sleeping soundly. We just want her to get better quickly so that we can get home to Jason and Jackson. Please keep us in your prayers as we go through the next few days and try to get a definitive diagnosis.

Snuggle Bunnies

Ava has recently decided that she is too old to be left out of anything! We tried to put her to bed the other night while we read scriptures with the kids and had bedtime stories. Well, she continued to squawk from her crib until we finally gave up and brought her in to join the party. When we brought her into Kate's room with her big toothy grin she lept out of my arms, ran up to Kate's bed, climbed in and wiggled her way to the middle between Kate and Jackson. Then she pulled the covers up to her neck and giggled. Jason said it was so cute he had to grab the camera and take a few pictures. Ava definitely has us wrapped around her little finger!

My Challenge

"Go confidently in the direction or your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." -Henry David Thoreau

Although I have everything that I want in life, a wonderful family, fulfilling and challenging career and fantastic group of friends I have recently felt some emptiness and couldn't quite explain why. I think that it is because inside I still believe that I am a fit 16 year old gymnast. Externally, however, I am a 32 year old mother of 3 who still has 10 pounds of pregnancy weight about her middle. Don't get me wrong, I love the part where I am a mother of 3. It is the getting older and more out of shape part that is not in sync with living the life that I imagine for myself.
So a few weeks ago I started toying with the idea of doing a triathalon. First step for me was to read a book about triathalons and see what they had to say. One night of reading and I was on board. I think that this was the kind of positive and exciting goal that I needed to help me feel motivated and break my routine. There is no reason that I can't become that fit, energetic woman who I imagine myself to be.
Just wanted you to know that I am so looking forward to this physical and mental challenge I have given myself. On May 5th I'll be competing with Jason in both of our first triathalons. I don't know if I am more excited for the event or the process in getting there. Thus far it has been just what I needed. Did I mention that I am pumped!!!

How to Post a Comment Tutorial

Although I do not expect comments in response to any of my blogs, it is fun to hear your responses. That being said, my friend posted a blog on her site in response to several inquiries regarding how to leave a comment about a blog. I too have had those questions and thought it might be a good idea to let you know how to post a comment on blogger.
1. You can leave a comment on each post. At the end of each post there is a number (0,1,2,3 etc) in front of the word 'comment' at the bottom of the text.
2. Scroll over the word 'comment' and it will highlight.
3. Then click the on the word 'comment'.
4. In the box labeled 'Leave Your Comment', type your message.
5. Below that box are three choices Google/Blogger, Anonymous and Other. If you do not have a blogger account click on 'Other'.
6. When you click on 'Other' a box titled 'name' will pop up below. Type your name in this box.
7. Below the name box is a box titled 'Your Web Page'. If you have one, type it here. Otherwise, leave it blank.
8. Finally, click on the box titled "Publish Your Comment".

That's it! Your comment should pop up just after publishing. When you click on the word comment afterward you can see comments that other people left as well.

Spring Break

What a great week we have had! Jackson and Kate had spring break and we took the opportunity to spend the week hanging around town and doing those fun things that we don't get to do when school is in session. On Monday we went to the zoo with the Andersons and loved every minute of it. Tuesday Jason stayed home, Kate went to play at a friend Olivia's house and Jackson and Jason made a model airplane. Wednesday Jackson went with his good bud, Caleb, to the Fernbank museum and Kate and I got to exercise and hang out together. Thursday we tried to go to Six Flags for free admission sponsored by a radio station. Were we surprised when en route, at 6 am, we heard on the radio that they had already reached their capacity of 15K people! A disappointed crew of Caleb, Jackson, Kate, Carter and I turned around and headed to Dunkin Donuts. We made a new plan and instead went to Monkey Joe's and spent hours jumping on inflatable toys and running around. Friday we spent time riding bikes and playing outdoors. Saturday was a fun filled day of dying easter eggs and hunting for eggs at the Stowell's egg hunt. Phew, makes me tired thinking about all of that fun...boy do we need a vacation from all of the fun! :) We have loved spending so much time together as a family and are anxiously anticipating summer!

Easter Sunday

Jackson gave a wonderful talk today on the Easter story and specifically on how Jesus came into the world to do the will of Heavenly Father. He did a great job and it was neat to watch the primary listening so quietly to him. I taught Sharing Time and also spoke about how Jesus Christ came into the world to do the will of the Father. We memorized D&C 19:24 "I am Jesus Christ. I came by the will of the Father and I do his will". We talked about how it was Jesus's mission to do the will of the Father and it is our mission to follow Heavenly Father's commandments. I felt teary nearly all day as I have been thinking about the Savior and His sacrifice for us. How truly blessed we are to know what we know, that He is our redeemer and that we can live again!
When we came home we found that the easter bunny had hidden the baskets and our eggs in the back yard. The kids had a great time finding them and we tried to get some cute pictures but Ava wasn't having the photo shoot. This was the best that we could do...

Easter Weekend 5K

The PA program at Emory sponsors an Easter weekend 5K every year to support the Good Samaritan clinic in Atlanta. We took advantage of this opportunity to get some exercise and support a good cause. As you will notice from our attire this was an unseasonably cold weekend though! At 19 degrees we were shivering in our thin fleece jackets!
Jackson has been more interested in running since he saw me run the half marathon and has wanted to run a race. They had a kids 1 mile fun run before the 5K so Jackson jumped at the chance to run in his "own race". We were a little nervous for him and tried to talk to him about pacing himself. He told us that he didn't need to though because he could run fast. Turns out that he can run fast and that Jason, who was running along side Jackson, had to keep asking Jackson if he was tired and needed to slow down. (hee-hee) Jackson finished 3rd with a time of 7 min 15 sec and was pretty proud of himself.
I ran the 5K with our friends Nate and Allison Anderson and Jason was stuck with babysitting duty during this race. Next race he'll be a runner too though. We had a great time and are looking forward to another opportunity to run.